June 28

“…The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.” Ezekiel 32:11

In the narrative of Holy Scripture we find God’s involvement in the rise and fall of nations. Far from being the indifferent, remote and disinterested God that some would have Him to be, Yahwah is clearly close to the events of history that seem to have shaped the destiny of nations, peoples and civilizations. In these passages from the book of Ezekiel, we have the prophecies concerning the fall of Egypt, at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Though in due course Babylon too would find retribution for its violations and pride against the Almighty, at this time the great kingdom would be used as a tool to bring judgment upon the sin and idolatry of Egypt. Two things we must keep in mind as we read these passages. Firstly, the Lord is in authority over all and any kingdom of man, even those who by their laws show they have no regard or consideration of Him. As the Supreme Potentate, He is capable of using and directing the events, and the ultimate outcome of all human affairs, to suit and fit His own purpose and will, if He so chooses. In our modern world so aloof and self-sufficient in its technology and scientific advancements, little care or place is given to the power and majesty of God. He is not glorified in the dealings of the present nations of this world as a whole. Actually quite the opposite is true, most of the world’s powers and governments are antagonistic to God, His law and His ways. They promote immoral and sinful lifestyles which deny and defy God’s power and authority. They mock, decry and belittle the ways of the Almighty as old-fashioned, archaic, out of touch or inapplicable, mere myth. History has clearly shown that when God has had enough of man’s pride and foolish boasting, He will come in judgment and will make quick work of all man’s self-aggrandizing and self-glorification. Secondly, we must remember that the Lord is longsuffering and patient, and as believers, we must be like Him. Even when we might think that the wicked is ‘getting away with it’, and that nothing is happening to bring about justice and righteousness, we must remain patient and leave the timing and call of action to God. He has the knowledge and wisdom necessary to bring about justice in the right way and at the right time. His longsuffering is bound up in His love for mankind, for in spite of man’s sin and self-destructive nature, He is not willing that any should die, but desires that all should come to repentance. Nevertheless the time will come when He will close down the opportunity for mankind to choose His righteousness. Then will come the judgment, and like that which fell on Egypt and many other great nations, it will fall upon the whole world, it will be sudden and it will be final. It won’t be the power of one nation pitched against another at God’s bidding, but a judgment conducted by His own personal power and presence, for “..in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!” Our task is not to complain about the conditions of the world, worry about God’s timetable, or suggest what He should do, but to stay faithful and pure till the end; to continue to trust, love and believe in Jesus and His Word; and to reach out to as many as we can with the gospel of salvation while there is yet time!

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June 27

“…Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?...” Nahum 3:7

Nineveh again becomes the centre of God’s attention and the recipient of His judgment, because of its gross immorality and wickedness. Once before, God had sent the reluctant prophet Jonah to this same city, with a message of impending doom. In those days, this great city was so large that it took three days to walk it from one side to the other. It has been estimated that it had a population of around one million inhabitants, a particularly large city for those days. Only upon their swift repentance with sackcloth and ashes, did God avert the judgment which was about to be poured upon it. Now again under the ministry of the prophet Nahum, Nineveh’s sin, idolatry, witchcraft and immorality is brought into focus and its destruction is prophesied. With the accuracy of detail that can come only from the Omniscient Yahwah, Nahum tells of how its ruin will happen, and the manner of its fall. History shows the events took place in this very way, to the last minute detail! Nineveh had become such a scourge and pollution of many nations, and where in the past God’s mercy had covered, the time had come, where no such healing could be promoted any longer. Nineveh would be destroyed, laid waste and there would be no one to weep over her! No one that would not agree, this was a just and correct judgment upon her! The patience and longsuffering of God is remarkable and sets us in awe of His greatness, when we consider how much room He allows, and how long He deals with the human family, in an effort to bring us to repentance. There is however in God’s economy an end to His striving with man. There comes a time when for God to continue striving, would mean having to bend man’s will, or allow him to violate His holiness - and the Lord will not do either. He has allowed man a free will by which he can make his own choices, for or against God. Yet the Lord will also tenaciously defend His holiness and protect it from allowing man to go beyond his allowed scope. There is therefore a time limit which God sets for all men, nations and people. That time is known of the Lord alone, and when it comes, there is no holding back on the judgment of God! It is a time of reckoning, a time of judgment, destruction, cleansing and restoration of righteousness. Time then will have run out, it will be time ‘no more’, in regards to possible repentance and change. Nineveh and all the civilizations that have gone before, teach us the great lesson that there is a limit and boundary to the longsuffering and mercy of God. It is wise for us to repent quickly while there is yet time, and while God is near and calling. If we insist on remaining in sin, violating God’s law and repudiating His love, the time will come when the opportunity to make it right will no longer be available. Wise are the words of the prophet Isaiah when he exhorted the people saying “seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”! 

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

May 29

“The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty…” Psalms 93:1

The Lord Jesus Christ, Yahwah, reigns! The verb here is in the continuing form, signifying an ongoing status that has not, and will not cease. He is King over all. This is a truth affirmed time and again is scripture. Many Psalms begin with this declaration, and in many other portions of the Bible we find the same statement of truth asserted. It is therefore a fact we must remember and keep present on our minds, while as weary pilgrims we travel these tumultuous times of life, through a troubled world, to our heavenly home. When we see the ugliness of much that is taking place in our world today, it may be sometimes difficult to reconcile in our minds the fact that God still reigns. In fact many use this very evidence to excuse themselves from believing in God. They say something like “if God existed, He would not cause such and such things to happen”! They fail to see the bigger picture, or understand how God works. God does not ‘rule’ or reign as we imagine in our carnal and limited minds. His ways are far above ours and His power beyond our understanding. He reigns from a platform of love and longsuffering towards us, His creation, not willing than any of us should perish, but that all should come to repentance! With this in mind, we should consider briefly why then we can without fear believe that our Lord reigneth. Firstly, the reign of God is seen in the fact that He continues to employ the nature He has created, to function, sustain and maintain life on this planet. All things depend upon Him and consist by Him, and without the upholding of His Almighty hand, nothing would function or remain in place as it is. Secondly, we can verify He still reigns by the testimony of the millions of faithful, those individuals who desire and allow for His presence and His will to be carried out in their lives. This experiential evidence is too large a body of proof, and too enduring an empirical factor to be ignored. It includes humans from all nations, all walks of life, all backgrounds and varied upbringing, all of whom are willing to bow a knew to the King of Kings, and even by itself this is compelling evidence that He still reigns! Thirdly, we acknowledge that as supreme ruler, God allows for man to impose his own will, at least to a certain point, and to a degree. This proves His supremacy and demonstrates that He still reigns, because He is not influenced, changed or derailed by man’s evil or iniquity. He has demonstrated in the past, and will do so again in His own time, that when He, as supreme ruler deems it enough, He will bring judgment upon all those who have disregarded His authority and violated His laws. Man may think himself powerful and in control, but Jesus made it clear to Pilate, who at the time appeared to have control over Him, that he would have no such power except it was given him from above. This means that above and beyond what appears to be man’s power and autonomy, is a greater Power, a Supreme Ruler who yet reigns over all! For those who accept the reign, control and power of God as King and ruler of all, there is an added blessing! They can see and appreciate the majesty with which He is clothed! It is unlike anything any human king or ruler has ever even remotely approached to or imagined! It is breathtaking Majesty, awe inspiring Majesty! In glory, power and wonder, His Majesty is something truly and literally ‘out of this world’! One day every eye shall see it and behold it, and every knee shall bow to His Majesty, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Some will do so to their everlasting destruction, and some to their eternal salvation! 

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

May 24

“…for ye were the fewest of all people:” Deuteronomy 7:7

It is said that there is ‘strength in number’. This usually means that the more numerous a group of people, or a nation, the more powerful, noticeable or resourceful it may be. When God selected Israel to be His people and to be a nation that would proclaim His principles and be an example of His Holiness, there were already many large and powerful nations, which could have commandeered His attention. Before Israel was a nation, God called one man, who through faith, became the father of the faithful whom God would make His. Abraham, his family and the families that would follow, remained a relatively small number of people among the many and larger nations of the world that surrounded them, for quite some time. By His choice, Yahwah emphasised that His motivation was not how impressive and numerous they were as a people, or what resources they had accumulated by their own ability, for none of those things mattered to Him. God showed that His choice of Israel was based on His love, and His faithfulness to the promises He had made to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God keeps His promises.  Predicated upon His unchanging faithfulness, constant love and inimitable longsuffering, Israel survived, and remained His people. The same can be said of the church today. Those same qualities which God displayed with them, He continues to demonstrate to us. Yahwah is unchanging; He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His laws and ways are established from everlasting, and His purposes are determined from eternity. Like the Hebrews, the church also has grown. Yet though it may number many more followers than just the early disciples, by comparison to the unsaved - the Christless masses of the world, the term used by Jesus calling the apostles a ‘little flock’, is still applicable to the church today! We are encouraged therefore, by the fact that God’s love and not our numbers, defines our calling. We are sustained with the knowledge that it is not by our works and ability, but by His love, grace and power that our salvation is provided. We are strengthened in the conviction that He, who has elected the church, will fulfil the promises He has made, and that if we remain faithful till the end, we will live forever, because ‘he is faithful that promised’!

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Apr 12

 “The Lord was as an enemy…” Lamentations 2:5

As the Creator God, Yahwah, is a benefactor and lover of all of His creatures, particularly so of man. It is not God’s default condition to be or behave as an ‘enemy’ to man, especially to His own people! Israel had found God to be their Friend, Protector, Leader and Ruler, but when they turned their backs on Him, they also experienced the reality of His enmity! We learn a great deal from the Lord’s dealings with the people of Israel and can draw much personal instruction from their experiences. God will not play ‘second fiddle’ to anyone or anything else in our lives. Some think that because judgment has not instantaneously fallen upon them, when they violated God’s law that somehow they have got away with it, or that God no longer rules or cares. This could not be further from the truth!  There is a time stored up for the wrath of the Almighty, and in that day, woe to them who find Him to be their enemy! The God, who is love, is also a just and fair God. He will visit his antagonism on un-repented sin. He will reply to the defiance of the atheist and the questions of the skeptic, with answers which will forever silence their tongues, and settle their eternal destiny. The Almighty is not a whimsical God, who simply chooses to turn on His creation. He has given plenty of time for all mankind to turn from sin and make things right with the Creator. When in the final analysis, man chooses to remain the opponent of God, he will find that the Lord is indeed a formidable and terrible foe! How inane for a man to go against the Almighty! How senseless for limited and finite humanity to question and defy the Eternal and Omnipotent! Why does God allow it? How can He put up with it? It seems God is not lessened or harried by man’s defiance. His mercy lingers still and His longsuffering prevails, and there still remains a choice for mankind. The time will come when He will say “no more”! Will He be then your personal Saviour, or your eternal Judge? The choice for now is still left to you and me!

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

Mar 25

“…but will ye weary my God also?” Isaiah 7:13

King Ahaz and the people had again gone astray from the ways of God. The repeated warnings and rebukes of the prophets had fallen on deaf ears. They had continued in following after their own ways and totally disregarded the Lord. Isaiah points out that they had already exhausted the patience and efforts of the men of God. Now Yahwah, through the prophet offered them a sign, so they might listen, but they turned down that too! To this Isaiah attaches the grievous warning, a charge of ‘wearying’ also the eternal God, whom he serves. God is longsuffering and ever so patient with mankind, and particularly so with His people. It is clear from scripture however, that Yahwah sets a limit to the abuse he will allow from man. A boundary is set in God’s mind to how far man can ignore His love, kindness and forbearance. In our day especially, we are most blessed, and have been given much more again by the Lord. We have knowledge and personal experience of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the full revelation of God’s Word in writing, to teach us the details of His will. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us, and lead us into all truth and righteousness. We have the established record of the millions who have gone before us, and have lived unto the Lord, their testimonies bearing witness of the reality and power of God. We have an ever deeper and greater understanding of the created world around us, shouting the glory of God, by its divine design. What else can God do for us to convince us we must serve Him, and turn from our flesh and the mindset of the world? What more can God supply to show His great love and care for us and the desire for good things He has towards us? If we continue to disregard His messages, and turn from His ways are we not wearing God? When we prefer the world’s tinsel and baubles, the material and perishing things, to the spiritual treasure of God’s Word and principles, are we not trying His patience? When we insist on a lukewarm spiritual walk, empty of fervent prayer, riddled with complaints, irritation and criticisms, are we not abusing the goodness and kindness of God? When we are empty of spiritual righteousness and works unto God, but full of the works of the flesh, are we not teetering on the edge of the precipice and meriting His judgement? May we wake up to the many blessings and provisions the Lord has given us and in true thankfulness, with an attitude of gratitude, reach out toward heaven, and wholeheartedly embrace all that God has for us, without wearying Jesus one minute more!

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