Mar 19

“…and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalms 32:2

Webster defines guile as “Craft; cunning; artifice; duplicity; deceit”. The context of our verse is the blessedness of the individual who has been freed by the Lord from the charge and guilt of his iniquity – that is the description of what God does. Our part is to ensure we remain blessed because when God looks, He can see no duplicity or hypocrisy in our hearts! The ‘new’ man has a new spirit! He no longer attempts to hide his sin or colour his performance, through craftiness and deceit. He is a new creature, forgiven and freed to bring glory and honour to God. This is the blessedness of our life in Christ that we are delivered from the sentence of death which was hanging over us, and that we now walk in the purity of spirit, mind and heart, which glorify our Saviour! How incongruous that while claiming salvation and newness of life, we can yet uncover ulterior motives in our hearts, which align us with our past desires and works of the flesh! Such things must not be found in us, yet often we mar our blessedness in God, because they still exist, though hidden and under cover! What is worse is that we attempt to hide them from God, as if there was really a way we could keep any of our thoughts, words or actions from His scrutiny! If there is truly no guile in us, then our primary concern will be with how God sees us. We will not concern ourselves with the impression others may have of us. We will not attempt to cast a larger than life image of ourselves, highlighting our achievements and status. We will not mind admitting our faults and showing our mistakes. We will have no desire to be seen as anything but a saved, born again, cleansed and living holy, child of God! The idea here is not that we can claim perfection and innocence before God, but that we may have the honesty to confess our sins and faults to God without concealment. May we truly live as the blessed people God intends us to be, that the world around us may see and ‘taste’ of the wonder and glory of God’s salvation and of righted, pure and honest  Christian lives!   

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

Feb 11

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above…” Colossians 3:1

The apostle Paul raises here a powerful argument for our consideration. He establishes in previous chapters that we are buried with Jesus in baptism, and our sins removed, we rise with Him into a new life by His Spirit. This fact accepted and proclaimed, he then sets for us a ‘litmus test’ (a simple test that produces a clear, objective answer) of that which should naturally follow the resurrected life! IF we are in fact new creatures, resurrected individuals, born again believers, THEN our desire, affinity and passion should now be DIFFERENT to what it USED TO BE! Our minds and hearts cannot possibly still long for the dead things of sin and degradation we were saved from! It should be inconceivable that we should want anything to do with that which we claim to have left in the grave! IF we are resurrected with Jesus, we should make our priority and propensity the maintenance of spiritual life and sturdy spiritual health. No longer can our proclivities be of the world and the things of the world. Our appetite, inclination and taste should be for those superior things, the things ‘which are above’, the things of God! How self-defeating and injurious to the cause of Christ are those who claim to be ‘born-again’, but still live like they are dead in trespasses and sins! They have changed neither manner nor habits; neither company nor preferences; neither vision nor desire! Carnality is their banner and they know nothing of the holiness of God. They are just as empty of spiritual life as they ever were, but wear on the dead toe of their spiritual corpse, the tag of ‘born-again Christian’! They remain in the mortuary of dead religiousness and have the zeal and passion of those confined to the morgue! Where is the evidence of the resurrected life in Christ? Where is the hunger and seeking after God first and ahead of all else? How can we tell that we are genuinely new creatures? The test is simple! We should take it regularly! What do we pursue? What is our primary desire? Is it for God or for our flesh? Do we long more for the things of God or are we still totally taken and attracted by the things of the world? Let true believers stand and show the testimony of the resurrected life they have in Christ by their fear of God and hatred for sin, their love for others, the spiritual nature of their choices, the quality of their service to God, the Christ-like humility of their self-image and the intense passion  to obey God's word and to fulfil God’s will and purpose for their lives!

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

Jan 20

“…he deceiveth himself.” Galatians 6:3

Generally speaking natural man has this very flaw prominent at heart, he deceives himself. Forgetting the frailty bound in his physical being and that it is only by God’s grace that he is kept alive and breathing, he deludes himself with all sorts of notions of grandeur and self-glorification. Ultimately, this pride and forsaking of God, will result in the most traumatic and destructive end for humanity. The most insidious self-deception, is the self-aggrandizement which causes us to believe we are better and greater than is so in reality! This is particularly dangerous for the Christian. This kind of self-deception can make us think we are more spiritually apt and mature than our lives give evidence for. It causes many to stop growing, depleting true desire for searching the scriptures and deepening biblical knowledge, and killing the reliance we should have on God, through faith, trust and prayer. The Lord in His love and consummate knowledge of our flawed and fallen human nature, has given many warnings against the trap of pride and self-exaltation. The prime example of this ancient sin, was the fall of the mightiest angel Lucifer, who lost his original estate through pride, to become the defeated, and doomed, arch-enemy of God. The infection of his sin was passed onto the human family shortly after creation, and has plagued us ever since in many varied forms. The greatest single expression of sin continues to be pride and rebellion against God. This is what marks and stains human beings from conception, and will cause the eventual eternal damnation of all the human family that refuses to accept the only antidote and remedy available for the sin-sick soul – God’s salvation! Coming to know Jesus means also coming to an understanding that without Him, we are nothing but lost, miserable and dead in iniquity and sin - in other words, a realisation that we have nothing to be ‘proud’ of! This reality check and the development of a close, intimate relationship with the Lord, should arm every believer with the correct degree of genuine humility! It is therefore totally incongruous, that a Christian should give way and subscribe to pride in any form, and be self-deceived when he knows that outside of Jesus, he is nothing. Any good thing that he is able to perform, any good action, thought or motive, any useful and charitable expression, is only through and because of the One from Whom all blessings flow, and Who is the author and finisher of the our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ! 

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