Apr 5

“So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD…” 1 Chronicles 10:13

The Bible directs us to live our lives for God in His strength. Without His Spirit, our own efforts will result in weakness and failure. Saul ceased early to lean on God. His pride played on his emotions, and he became churlish towards life, foolish in his behaviour and careless in his obedience to God. We may not place a great deal of importance on our transgressions, and dismiss or trivialise our sins against God, but if they remain un-repented of, they will cause the demise of our moral being, and eventually result in spiritual and eternal death. The scripture is clear, Saul died for his transgression against Yahwah. Saul was guilty of a number of gross sins, for which the Bible does not tell us, he ever repented. He usurped the command of God, in the matter of the battle against the Amalekites; unjustly pursued David, an innocent man, determined to kill him; commanded the senseless slaughter of an innocent priest of God, and sought help from a woman practicing the occult to find direction in life! He flew in God’s face with his transgression, and remained at variance with God. Even if at times he was emotionally stirred, it was but a temporary reprieve to his habit of disregarding God’s law. All sin is worthy of death, and there is in essence, no sin greater than another when it comes to its final result, but it is sin for which we remain un-repented that will cause us to die the second death. Saul’s departure from this world, was a dishonourable death, not such as was worthy of a king and a man belonging to the people of God! While death is not of itself anything to be necessarily wanted or desired, it can nevertheless take place with honour, when it is the result of selfless sacrifice or service to the King of Kings! Unless the Lord returns beforehand, we will all die physically at some stage, but what will be the unwritten epitaph describing the real reason for our decease? Let us live for God in such a way, that when we die, even in death we may bring glory to the Lord and be a memory of the sweet savour of His grace and of godly faithful service unto Jesus.

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

Apr 1

“Therefore judge nothing before the time…” 1 Corinthians 4:5

There are different words used in the Greek and translated in English to ‘judge’. In some scriptures we are actually encouraged to ‘judge’, in the context of testing, proving, trying, evaluating, discerning or reckoning. We are clearly able to align a matter with scripture, and determine what can be seen as a ‘work of the flesh’, as being sin, incorrect and against God. Such ‘judging’ is within our scope and even necessary in order to maintain a right walk with God, and discern truth from error. There are however hidden things, which are not only hard to judge, but upon which we should avoid passing any personal appraisal or criticism. In matters of motivation, inner thought and what may be in the ‘heart’, it is not really possible for a human to pass unerring judgment on another. Such things are hidden to us, and without a clear vision and knowledge of the real facts of the heart, judgment there is outside our reach. Ultimate judgement therefore belongs to God alone. It is to Him that we are all finally accountable.  As fallible humans, limited and unable to see and know everything, it becomes important that we are slow to judge any matter. Even when we can rightly evaluate, making certain that all the facts are known and factored in, is a quality of wisdom and careful behaviour, desirable in all human beings and particularly in believers. Our text is clear that judging matters pertaining to anyone’s eternal destiny, belongs to the Lord, and only He can bring to light the things of the heart of man, good and bad, and one day He will! It will then be open and obvious, what our motives have been. We must ensure to purify our hearts and minds before God on a daily basis, and be ready for that day of God’s revealing judgment.

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

Feb 22

“…Man shall not live by bread alone…” Matthew 4:4

Jesus had been fasting for forty days. When tempted to miraculously supply for Himself bread to sustain His physical life, His scriptural response to the tempter was taken from Deuteronomy. There we are reminded not to think that our survival depends upon bread alone, for that is at best only sufficient for the physical being, but that true life in a man, is produced by adherence to “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”. It is a common mistake among humans to judge and measure our sufficiency and success by physical, temporal and fiscal factors alone. We usually consider a person to be successful, when they have money, own property and are generally ‘well-off’ in physical, financial terms. God measures by a different yardstick, and clearly being economically well placed, does not amount to being spiritually successful or wealthy in God. Many are financially rich and socially well positioned, but are yet destitute in their soul, empty of godliness, impoverished in spirit and untouched by the grace of God! Having all that satisfies the physical needs and wants, does not preclude the necessity to seek that, which is essential for the health and wealth of our mind, heart, soul and spirit. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’, as a divine principle, reaches into the deepest recesses of our human intuition, and tears out all our pre-conceived ideas and ideologies! It destroys the endless human pursuit of the tangible, material and temporal world only, and lifts our gaze to a higher plane. It is there we see the bigger picture. God made man to be more than just a physical being! His mind, soul and spirit require life giving sustenance also, and that ‘food’ can only come from the word of God! No other source will do, no spiritual life can result from the philosophies and thoughts of man. The human replacements of man’s wisdom to feed the mind, human experience to feed the emotions and pseudo spiritualism to reach the soul, cannot bring to man the spiritual and eternal life God had intended for him. Without the spiritual plane of life given by Yahwah, we have only a temporal physical existence and are brought face to face with the futility of our struggles and briefness of our earthly survival! We need divine, heavenly food, for true life on earth, for worship and service unto God, and for life eternal. That is what we were designed and created for, and nothing short of fulfilling our created purpose will satisfy. Man shall not live by bread alone, for that life will soon pass and an eternity of death will follow - unless during this brief passage on earth, we realise, accept and make ours the eternal life which comes from hearing and obeying every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!

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

Jan 25

“…from the presence of the Lord…” 2Thessalonians 1:9

The everlasting destruction of those who persevere in their wickedness against God is an act of justice. The Word of God presents this topic over and again, as a standing warning to all, and no man will be able to claim ignorance of the love and just severity of God, at the judgment bar. The devastation mentioned in these verses is interesting, in that it is an explanation of at least one aspect of what it means for the wicked to be everlastingly ‘destroyed’. The context presents this punishment as a permanent separation from the presence of the Holy God and all He provides, a continual banishment from the benefits and faithfulness of His endowing power. In a very small measure it would be something like the doom of those poor wretches who, for the term of their lives, were imprisoned in dark, damp cells, deep in the bowels of the earth, away from the warmth, light and beneficial effects of the sun. Sin against the Everlasting and Infinite God, unless repented of, will reap the wages of everlasting and infinite punishment. This is the awful consequence of sin. Yet in spite of the mess and chaos we bring into our lives through sin, so many still largely choose to ignore, mock and decry God’s warnings as mere fables, and religious make-believe. By the time these same people face their eternal destiny, it will be too late to re-frame their belief system. Their minds will be changed in spite of themselves, as they stare at the reality of God face to face. Their knees will bow in acceptance and confession that Christ is indeed Lord, but it will be too late to benefit from this submission. The time of salvation will be past. They will be expelled from the presence of God, to spend a dark eternity in the dreadful torment and realisation, that all they had ever wanted in life was in fact just that – the wonder, beauty and blessing of the presence of the Lord!

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