Aug 1

 “...for his great love wherewith he loved us.” Ephesians 2:4

How could we who were dead in trespasses and sins ever find life or even hope for any improvement from the finality of our spiritual death? There is but one answer: God! The Almighty God who is rich in mercy and possesses an everlasting love towards us, made a way! This has to be the greatest story of love that we as humans have ever heard of. Why should the Holy and Supreme God, regard or care for a world of lost and dying malevolent sinners, particularly when rebellion against Him was the choice we made? We had rejected His love and provision, rebelled against His purpose and plan, and selected our ways of death in place of His way of life. In human terms we would say, we got what we deserved, and reaped the wages of our disobedience. God could have remained still holy, righteous and eternal, above all and separate from the humanity which had rejected Him. Except for the fact that God is love! Yahwah, the Eternal Ruler of the universe is rich in mercy, and has as the essence of His being a love which permeates His every action and purpose. A lesser deity might have turned away from the awful mess mankind had landed itself in, distancing itself from the problem of sin and its effects, but not this God! Jesus is the Spring of Mercy, the Ocean of Love and the River of grace! In His benevolence and tenderness of heart, He by mercy overlooked the injury and offence humanity was guilty of, and treated the offender better than was deserved! His grace, to save and rescue those who will hear, is the outflow of that incomparable mercy and reaches into the soul of every individual who chooses to receive it. His dealings with mankind are always motivated by His great love. This is the very nature of the Almighty. It touches everything He does and blesses anyone who understands even the least aspect of it! Like the ocean, God’s love is immense and great because it is the nature of the Immense and Great God! It stems from the One who fills the universe and knows no bounds or limitations! God’s love is great because it is not like the natural love we are able to give, which is based on merit, character, relationship and largely limited to those who are close to us and who reciprocate love to us. God’s love is given freely to all mankind and is not limited or exclusive. 

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

July 21

“And hath raised us up together…” Ephesians 2:6

Our status as to our spiritual condition was officially ‘dead’! The wages of sin is death, and there is no human who is not affected by this tenebrous influence. The Bible proclaims that ‘..all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God”. This makes our human destiny a dark one indeed, were it not for the light of God’s love and grace! God has made a way to raise us from the dead! When we come to the salvation He has provided, that is, we accept the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, and participate in His death, burial and resurrection, we pass from death to life! We are raised together with Christ! In His victory over sin and death, we find our victory also! We overcome death, sin and the world, because He overcame them. It is the only solution to the sin/death problem which plagues the human family.  This is the ‘good’ news of the gospel, that while in our natural state, we are the inheritors of death, Jesus made a way to give us life, and that more abundantly! It is strange how so few comparatively, choose to have life instead of settling for eternal death. Logic and wisdom would seem to make it a simple choice, but because it requires faith to believe that God means what He says (and for many to believe He even exists in the first place!), not so many choose life. Those who do believe and accept in faith what God has given discover the wonder and blessing of His truth! They become alive where they were spiritually dead, and awake to the reality of all that God has in store for His followers. Maybe some stumble at the simplicity of the gospel. They might feel that if God had demanded some difficult task, such as climbing a high mountain or killing a beast with their bare hands, in order to obtain salvation, it may be more credible. They miss the point that God wants to make salvation available to all, and that means all must be able to come to salvation the same way. The one thing that all humans can do, regardless of age, opportunity, ability or background, is believe! God has put in all humans ‘the measure of faith’, that is, the ability to believe. Ultimately man could not do anything of his own anyway, no matter how great the exploit, to purchase his personal salvation. Only Christ’s sinless life was an apt sacrifice for sin. Jesus gave His life freely; He did it for all humanity, and that is why faith and not our own provision, is essential! Why should we remain dead in trespasses and sins, when Jesus has made a way to resurrect us and give us life eternal? Let us allow God to work in us, and through the faith He has given us, accept the loving gift of salvation, that we may be born again, resurrected and inheritors with Christ of eternity.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

June 21

“…as Christ also hath loved us…” Ephesians 5:2

The Holy Ghost through the Apostle Paul here instructs us to walk in love, in the same manner that Christ loved us. The high calling of the believers in Christ includes the privilege, honour and responsibility to demonstrate to one another and beyond reasonable doubt, the kind and quality of love that they have learned and experienced from Jesus. The love of Christ is open, manifest, constant, selfless and available to all. When such qualities are evident in ‘our’ love, we are approximating the example of Jesus and delivering a true message from heaven to those around us. It is noteworthy that we do not actually have anything like true love of our own, that is, in our natural fallen nature. Any love which is morally appropriate, godly and scripturally correct, is therefore a reflection of what God has imparted to us, and of what we allow Him to work through us. The best exercise we can enter into when considering love, is to look to Jesus and observe closely His pattern of love. The purity, altruism, gentleness and firmness of His matchless, unparalleled love, strikes our hearts with a sense of reality and causes us to long to be more like Him! We cannot imitate His Omnipotence, or His Omniscience and are limited in our physical ability to be in more than one place at once - but we can all learn to love more like Jesus does and follow the example He gave us! This is doubtless one of the ways by which we can most readily emulate the Lord, His manner and life. It is within the reach of every believer, and every day brings to us ample opportunities to practice His love. He told us this was His new commandment, the one by which others would identify us as His true disciples, that we would love one another by the standard and quality of His love! Even our love for God is quantified and qualified by the love we hold for each other! I think we can all readily admit that we are thoroughly challenged by the benchmark He has set for us, and that we all, even when we have been at this for a while, and may have made some progress, have yet a long way to go!  

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Feb 18

“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3

As can easily be verified by a reading of the Epistles, even from its beginnings, the church was adversely affected by the factions, divisions and strife so common and peculiar to our flawed human nature. The exhortation before us is a hearty encouragement to work hard and consistently, at the maintenance of the ONE mind and accord, identifying the ONE Body of Christ, into which we have all been baptised by the ONE Holy Spirit! There is no division in God! His unity should be reflected in us as His people. Firstly, by each of us being truly one with Him. This means taking on His life, His ways, His will, and making it our own, and in this way aligning ourselves with Him. Secondly, by being united one with another, in purpose, manner, desire, peace and love. This harmony clearly does not happen automatically, nor is it our natural bent. It takes effort, and it is a clear Christian duty and endeavour, to instigate and keep the kind of unity and accord which pleases God, and correctly reflects His nature. Without God’s Spirit in us, and a willingness on our part to yield to His influence, we will not be able to remain close, even less in true concord. This is one of the wonderful aspects of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which God pours into each believer, when we come to salvation! God’s Spirit strives in us, to preserve the unity God desires in His church. When we yield our personal preferences, agendas and control, to the Holy Ghost, and humbly follow His lead, we place ourselves in the best and most favourable position, to help maintain the kind of harmony and connection, God wants for His people. Our carnally induced contentions, frictions, criticisms and discontents, cannot but produce divisions and obstruct the condition of peace and unity, which must exist among believers. The bond of peace is a strong bond if we remain ‘in the Spirit’, but can conversely become fragile, when we step out of the flow of the Spirit of God and into our own fleshly mode. Those who claim to be believers yet insist on bellicose opinions, antagonistic behaviour, negative conversations and contentious unedifying attitudes, are not walking worthy of the vocation of peace-keeping to which the Lord Jesus has called us, and which we must in all humility of heart fulfil.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Jan 27

“Honour thy father and mother…” Ephesians 6:2

We are reminded that this is the first commandment with a promised attached, although we do understand that in all obedience of God’s commandments, we find blessing and life. The directive here is to honour our parents, and to do so towards them both equally. This means to hold them in great regard, to esteem and appreciate them and give them due consideration, because of the position they hold as the physical originators of our lives. This is not a negotiable suggestion, based on whether we approve of them as individual human beings, or of their respective actions and performance in life. Their value as parents and their position has been mandated by the Lord, to deserve our honour. What of the situations, however, where parents do great damage to their children and act in the most deplorable ways towards them? Is it possible to honour parents and yet lack respect for them? The idea of honour is automatically attached to the position of progenitor and is definitely commanded of us. Respect however, though it should and often does accompany honour, is more in nature and connection to honour, what trust is to love; it is not always automatic or commanded, but rather earned through the actions and consistency of the individual in focus. For instance one could say that he honours the leader of the country for the position he fills, but have little respect or trust for the individual, due to his personal failures or ungodly proclivities! Woefully, this is more than ever the case with many of our contemporary leaders! The same concept extends to those in other privileged, leadership positions, including fathers and mothers. As more  parents turn away from godly living, abandon their God ordained responsibilities, and fail in their personal lives to be a good example to their children, it is increasingly difficult to find families where true respect is both earned and duly given. Sadly this has become just as true among professing Christians, and it is an ever increasing epidemic, the result of worldly and sinful choices. For believers who intend to uphold and obey God’s Word, it is nonetheless necessary to honour father and mother in faithfulness to God, and in loving response to His Word, even if we may feel that as individuals, our parents may not merit our wholehearted trust or respect. When in turn we become parents, let us remember the privileged and honourable position we have been granted by God, and be careful to maintain our relationship with God in good order.  Wisdom and discipline for us will mean to keep earning through correct behaviour, and never taking for granted, the respect and trust that our children deposit in us as their examples, friends and leaders.    

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion