June 10

“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world…” Galatians 1:4

What an amazing thought! Jesus who as the Eternal God needs nothing, and is Supreme above all His created work, didn’t merely spend out of His treasury to rescue our lost human race. He didn’t just trade some other property in exchange for our freedom, but rather gave Himself! This is the loftiest and most incomprehensible view of God’s love for mankind! We who had nothing, were without hope of ever be free from the slavery of our sin, and were enemies of God, would even merit the least of His attention, never mind His personal sacrifice! It is truth sublime and without parallel! This is the love of God, which He has freely shown to each of us, and which merits our hearts’ greatest gratitude and praise. Our best response to such love is to live the life for which He made such sacrifice. He did it so that we could be delivered, saved, rescued and made free from ‘this present evil world’. Creation itself, the physical world God made is not evil, but the sin which is perpetrated by the human race in this world, makes this present world wicked and evil beyond imagination! It is out of this spiritual darkness that Jesus desires to save and deliver us. Even the casual observer would agree that the condition of our world is becoming more desperately wicked and increasingly vacuous of the values and morals of God. Sin reigns in our world’s societies, and all efforts made by human government to police and curb, malicious and evil behaviour, overall fail, and are met with progressively less manageable challenges. There seems to be no end to the wickedness, and no answer to the sin problem, except in Christ! Jesus gave Himself for just such purpose. He Who had no sin, gave Himself for our sins! He made this deliverance open to all who will receive it and available to people of all ages, background or nationality. There may be many things that we cannot do as individuals, but we can all learn to love Jesus! To love God, means to believe in Him, partake of the salvation He has provided, and obey His commands and words so that we may live the kind of life He has always intended us to live! A life that testifies of His goodness and reflects His love to others; a life blessed and fulfilled by His purposes and lived for His glory! Like all things made and conceived for a specific purpose, we too function best and are happiest when we live the kind of life He created us for and made us capable of. Jesus gave Himself for us, it is only fitting we should give ourselves to Him!

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

May 26

“And when he heard of Jesus…” Luke 7:3

The centurion’s servant was on point of death. It seems clear from the narrative that being dear to him, the centurion would have made all efforts possible and perhaps expended all he could on physicians, and to seek medical help for his servant, but to no avail. This is not an unfamiliar set of circumstances. Both in what we read in scripture and in what we may experience in our lives, we find many situations, where we come to the end of our resources. We seek help but cannot find it, we hope for solutions but none appear. When empty of answers and without hope, we may become taken with despair, and perhaps become a little more sensitive to the fact that there is One who can help! Christ’s reputation as a healer had come to the centurion’s ears! Someone had spread the news about Jesus and what He could do, and the centurion heard it! When he heard of Jesus, new hope filled his heart.  When he heard of Jesus, a door was opened where there had been none. When he heard of Jesus, faith took hold in place of despair. When he heard of Jesus, he acted quickly on behalf of his servant, pleading that his urgent need may be met. How important it is for us all to remember Who Jesus is; what is can do and what He has already done! How vital for us to allow faith in Him to fill our minds and hearts, and displace the distress and anguish that may plague us, believing that He is the answer to our problems. He holds the key to the door, and is willing to help and meet us in our difficulty with strength, encouragement and answers. Faith and trust in God are both necessary when we walk with Him. Faith says that He is God, and is able to do whatsoever it is we have need of. Trust causes us to rely on His wisdom and will, and accept that He is God and He knows what is best in every circumstance of our lives! We are no doubt personally glad we heard of Jesus, and have verified for ourselves that He loves us and is there for the challenges which face us. We need to make sure that others hear of Him also, so they too can have an opportunity to find out what a close Friend and wonderful Provider He really is! 

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

Feb 25

“Who gave himself a ransom for all…” 1 Timothy 2:6

In order to free a slave from his captivity, a redemption price or ransom had to be paid. Clearly from his enslaved position, the slave himself would never be able to pay such a price. To free such a man then, someone else would have to pay the price of his freedom, on his behalf. Such is the picture painted in our text. Like poor and hopeless captives, we too were all slaves to sin, under the hand of the tyrannical and wicked master, the devil, who cared nothing if we died. Our situation was so beyond repair because the price for our liberty could not be paid by any other human being. Everyone else was in the same condition as us, for all have sinned and as such, were in the same chains and bondage that defined and restrained us. How could such a situation be remedied? What price could possibly be paid, as a ransom for all of humanity? Jesus is the answer! This is the motto some have puzzled over. They wonder if Jesus is the answer then what was the question! The question was they, me, us, all of humanity, our sin and lost condition and the how we could ever be delivered from our slavery and the captivity of Satan – that is the question to which only Jesus is the answer! He is the True Redeemer, who didn’t just give in order to ransom, but gave Himself, His precious sinless blood, as the price and full payment for our freedom from slavery! To further expound the dimension of Christ’s redemption, consider this: He became the ransom price for ALL! Yes - all of humanity; all who have been enslaved by sin and iniquity; all who are in captivity and spiritual chains! This is a remarkable thought! The price of delivering on slave from his slavery was considerable but the price of delivering humanity from its slavery is incalculable! The praises and hymns of thanks should continually flow from the mouths and hearts of every human being on earth! Yet what is obvious is that so many remain in the bondage of their sin and enslaved by satan - why is this the case? The single and simple requirement for receiving this freedom is accepting the salvation Jesus has provided! So many remain in spiritual slavery, for several reasons. Firstly because they do not know about the Saviour and the price He paid on their behalf, and therefore cannot in faith act and partake of His salvation. This is why the task of those who are saved, is to share the ‘good news’ of the gospel of salvation and help others receive their freedom! Let’s remember that every effort is made by the powers of darkness which enslave the souls of men, to stop this process of evangelism, quench the passion and vision of Christians to share the gospel, and to adulterate the message of salvation, minimise it, compromise it or alter it, in any way possible to lessen the chances of a slave becoming free from sin. The second reason why so many are yet in chains of spiritual slavery, is that the salvation and ransom given freely on their behalf, astonishingly is rejected by them! Although it may seem unthinkable, illogical and unlikely, that a slave would reject the only means of his liberty, yet this is exactly what is happening on the spiritual plane! Either deceived in believing that is not really their spiritual condition, or that there is some other way to freedom, or worse unwilling to make Jesus their new Master and Lord and serve Him for the love He has shown to them, they reject ‘The Ransom’, and choose rather to remain in spiritual bondage and slavery, where they will die eternally for their sin! Through all this, the grand plan and message of God continues to sound out for all who will hear it, and His salvation is still available to all who will receive it – Jesus – The Ransom for all! Jesus is still the Answer!

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