Aug 6

“…Hear…. the statutes and judgments…..that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.” Deuteronomy 5:1

Moses, Israel’s leader called the people together that they may hear, learn, keep and do the commandments of God. In the New Testament, Jesus similarly told us that it is a wise man, who both hears the word of God and performs it. Hearing only without the doing of it, results in failure and tragedy. How appropriate that this all important concept is consistently presented in both Testaments of the Bible. Knowledge of the things of God is all important, for without it there is no opportunity to do righteousness. To that end, God has gone to immense trouble and pains and ensured that His Word has reached the ears of humanity all over the world. The Bible is the most sold book in the world, and has been translated in more languages than any other! Particularly in our western world, it is not lack of information or opportunity to do well that lacks. Sadly our problem is by far more serious. We are guilty of having heard long and plenty of God’s directions, instructions, commandments and warnings, but having turned a deaf ear. Overall as western nations, we have turned our hearts, minds and choices away from God and His purposes, rather than towards Him. Naturally this is done to our own detriment, for we are accountable and it will be required from all of us, by the Almighty and Just God! Wise is the man that heeds the instruction of Moses and Jesus, firstly to hear the statutes and judgements of God, then to learn, keep and obey. This first step of ‘hearing’ in itself requires our commitment and willingness to apply time and effort. In the busy lives we have made for ourselves, we find it increasingly difficult to ‘make time’ for God and His word. The single greatest excuse for people not being at church or making time to listen to the teaching or preaching of God’s word is ‘lack of time’. We are too busy with other things and prioritise all else ahead of the necessity for God. There is still plenty of time to listen to one’s favourite music, or watch one’s favourite shows, but time for God is simply too big a stretch in many cases. The next level of commitment however, is even more relevant. Some in response to guilty consciences, a sense of what is right or due to peer or family pressure actually take time to be ‘at church’ or attend bible studies, but this too means little unless it is followed with a heart to learn, remember and do what is heard! Again in other areas of life, we find no difficulty with this aspect. We allow the lyrics of our favourite songs to be so imprinted in our brains that we can scarcely forget them, and we can easily recount to friends in vivid detail the scenes from our favourite shows, games or activities! Should even the smallest amount of the same attention and passion be paid to the Word of God, we might find that our lives and the lives of others would be impacted in very powerful and positive ways! Jesus is still looking for faithful servants who will not only listen, but learn, remember and perform His word. He says this is the test of our true love for Him. How does our personal life line up with this all important biblical standard? 

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

July 19

“And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables…” Deuteronomy 10:2

God had supplied the first set of stone tables, and written on them by His own hand the commandments He wanted His people to live by. When Moses had returned from his encounter with God on the mountain to the Israelite camp, he found they had broken the very laws he was bringing to them! In anger and disgust at their idolatry and short lived faithfulness to Yahwah, who had delivered them from Egypt, he threw down and broke the tables of stone, and judgment was visited upon the people. The scripture tells of three thousand who were killed on that day, and plagues which came upon the Israelites because of their sin. The second set of tables were carved out of stone by Moses, but again written upon by God Himself. The accuracy and veracity of the original text, was in this way preserved by the Lord. God has always been interested in keeping His revelation to man, free of mistakes or tampering. All subsequent scripture was therefore given by inspiration of God, so that the writer was merely the hand on the pen, but the Author was still Yahwah. This process of full verbal inspiration lifts the Bible above any other book ever written, and on a plane unique and superior to any work of man. The accuracy and veracity of the scriptures have been challenged and verified many times, in various spheres of science and observation. Personal experience also confirms the content of the Holy Writ and provides further evidence of its truth! People from all walks of life, from all cultures and of all levels of education, have found God’s Word to be true, trustworthy and a reliable source of guidance, light and learning. God wrote then, and wrote again while here on earth, resulting in the forgiveness of a woman who had been caught in sin. His writing was and is a letter of love, direction and instruction. Today He still writes -this time not on tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of our hearts. There He lodges the truth and conviction of His principles and inscribes the reality of His love and grace. In our hearts He engraves the knowledge of His will, and stores the confidence of our salvation! Praise God for all that He writes and communicates with us, for without Him and His Word, we would have no knowledge of right, no understanding of our purpose, no love for one another and hope for the future!

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

June 22

“…This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it” 2 John 1:6

The scriptures labour at length to teach us all about that which is necessary for us to fulfil the will of God. In this verse we are taught that we can only truly love God, when we are obedient to Him by walking in His commandments! Many, in their own versions of the Christian faith, have divorced the necessity of unrelenting obedience unto God and His Word, from any evidence of our love for Him. They have made loving God a mere ‘fuzzy, warm feeling’, akin to what we may feel towards a favourite song, picture or other comfort; an emotional, temporary response to God, based on how we feel at the time. Given the ‘right’ circumstances, today we might ‘feel’ love for God, but not so much tomorrow, when the circumstances have changed, and the comfort or ‘warmth’ is no longer there! Such ‘love’ for God is at best a poor imitation, and is not a reflection of the true love, which the scriptures teach we are to have for God. In God’s economy, obedience to His Word, His directives, is the way we can measure and determine the reality and quality of our love for Him. The text also insists that God’s standard on this has not changed. The commandment of God, meaning His entire revelation to man through His Word, His entire counsel on how we should live our lives and please Him, has been the same from the beginning! Keeping His word then means to obey what He says we should do, make it our life, walk in it and reflect it in all our directions and dealings. It means determined obedience, even when it is not comfortable to do so, when others mock, disagree or disapprove. By walking in God’s commands, we are not making our obedience and therefore love towards Him, an isolated instance or once of condition. Walking intimates a continuing process, an ongoing exercise and a progression towards a goal or direction! Love for God is the greatest motivation for our service unto Him and cannot be based on the whimsical nature of human feelings. It is directed, strengthened and supported in response to the obedience we give the Lord. Our relationship with Jesus grows nearer and closer as we willingly  yield more of ourselves to His will and ways! What a privilege to know the Lord and to have the benefit of His word to teach us how to love Him the way we should!

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

June 19

“…ye shall throw down their altars…” Judges 2:2

The great conquest of Canaan land had taken place and it should have marked the beginning of a golden age for Israel. The second chapter of Judges however, records some very sad events, at a time when the greatest rejoicing would have been in order. The death of Joshua, the Lord’s faithful servant is mentioned, but sadder than this is the message which the angel of the Lord brought to Israel. His message from God can be summed up in the question he asks them “why have you done this?” He was referring to their disobedience in following God’s commands regarding the clearing out of the heathen nations which occupied the land they were given. Part of the covenant which God had set up with them, included their need to stand against any association with these heathen nations, and to destroy their altars of worship to heathen gods. They had disobeyed the word of the Lord, and the result would be that these same people would eventually enslave them, and their gods would become a hindrance and a trap for the generations to come, separating them from Yahwah. God had wanted to protect them from evil influences, but they had not regarded His love, wisdom and plan. The people that heard this wept openly, and had good reason to! They could have had the unique and amazing opportunity to live in a country which was totally dedicated to the worship of the One true God, free from any evil and corrupt influence; they could have raised families without fear of loss or persecution; they could have had the blessing of continued fellowship with the Lord and the joys that brings! Instead their disobedience allowed for the cancer of idolatry to take root early in the history of their nation. By the end of this same brief chapter, marking the time directly after the death of Joshua and his generation, the people of Israel are already described as doing evil in the sight of the Lord, forsaking the Lord and the ways of their fathers, and taking up the worship and service of the heathen gods of the nations which surrounded them, reaping early judgement from the Lord God, for their actions and wickedness! What great blessings we miss out on, because we choose to do things our way and disregard the commands of God! What great quality of life we lose because we hold on to our thinking, and fear man rather than to fear God! What damage we do to ourselves and our families because we are weak in our obedience to the word of God and compromise instead of standing constant and strong! Why do we do this? God’s people have always been “in this world, but not of it”. Unlike Israel the Christian Church, has never had the opportunity to live in a country where the influence of the world and its sin is banned and wickedness considered illegal! The opposite is true, like pilgrims we are to travel through this life and to the Promised Land of heaven, surrounded and constantly tempted with all the enemy offers, without ever really belonging to this world and the things of it. Our task is still to stay true to God, throw down the altars of idolatry in our own lives and not sell out to the devil, the enemy of our souls. God’s requirement of faithfulness and obedience are still the same, and His promises and rewards are ever true! There will finally come a time when we will rest from all the turmoil and strife, from the temptation and affliction, in a place of permanent peace, joy and glory. There will be no sin there, no sorrow and no evil influence any longer, and the struggle of our flesh against the Spirit will forever be gone! Let us be faithful that we may rejoice eternally and be blessed with all the Saviour desires to bestow on those who overcome!

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

Jan 29

“…This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded.” Numbers 30:1

It is of paramount importance to have God’s authority behind any moral or social concept we adopt. The world is in trouble with understanding the ‘why’ of any moral code, because man has chosen to remove God and His authority from the picture. All of a sudden sin becomes mere preference - not wrong, just differing from one person to the other; and morality becomes a plastic medium to be bent at will, depending on the circumstances and situation. After all, once God is ‘removed’ as the Ultimate Authority for right living, who says it’s wrong? It all becomes just opinion! The new morality adopted by our modern society, largely states that provided ‘no-one-gets-hurt’, then the practice, in whatever context, is acceptable. The problem is that the clauses used in replacement for God’s mandates are very vague and too flexible, easily redefined by various situations and individuals. Sin becomes ‘normal’ when viewed in this way, and is therefore encouraged and fostered in our society through a filter of modified morals, which is supposedly based on the wish of ‘consenting adults’, in a context where no-one-gets-hurt! Not for one moment does modern man consider that God may not consent, that He speaks against sinful practices, however camouflaged or justified, and that sin will always hurt the individuals who participate in it, regardless of their age! God’s law is not so easily shunned or bypassed, without serious personal consequences. Israel knew then, as we know now, the revealed will of God. Through His written Word and the ministers who faithfully remind us of His commandments, we learn the value they bring into the life of each individual and society that chooses to observe them. We also learn the consequences and hurt that will come to us, when we disregard them. Pray that there will always be faithful leaders and ministers of God’s Word, teaching us and preaching with anointing, the Lord’s principles and values. Pray too, that there is willingness in each believer’s heart to repent, readiness of mind to recognise that - “this is the thing which the LORD hath commanded” - and the courage of faith to obey what He has said!


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