Jan 28

“For ye are yet carnal…” 1 Corinthians 3:3

Although in Christ, there was evidence among the Corinthian church that carnality was still being given place. This can be true of a lot of believers and it is this condition, of lacking in total spiritual commitment and reflecting at least in part the world and its ways, which has caused more problems for the church than possibly any other. It is mostly based on this complaint that the cries have risen against believers, cries that hypocrisy and insincerity are rife in the church. The defence is made that ‘Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven’. While it is true that even as believers we are in the process of change, that God is still working on us and we are not yet where we should be, this should never become an excuse for continuing indifferent and unconcerned, in poor, un-consecrated and fleshly service unto the Lord! In fact it is the express will of God that we are sanctified for his service, and Jesus made it very clear that perfection (at least in the sense of being complete) is certainly something we should strive for and make efforts towards, in all aspects of our lives. The problem is that developing such perfection is hard work, requiring spiritual discipline, the diligence of daily studying God’s Word, along with much prayer and soul-searching. These tasks are not pleasing to the flesh and so, many Christians capitulate to mere religiousness, which is a half-hearted, at best lukewarm effort towards God. They belong to a church, but they do not belong to God! This inevitably results in carnality reigning. Four times in as many verses, and raising examples of their behaviour and treatment of each other, Paul points out the open carnality and fleshly mind-set of the church he was addressing. Lest we should rise in criticism of the Corinthians, and seeing God’s Word and principles apply just as much to us today, how do we rate when aligned to the same values?

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

Jan 14

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…” Psalms 19:7

The doctrine and teaching which the Lord has revealed to mankind via His Word, is complete! It lacks nothing which may be needed by man to live a fulfilled, purposeful and useful life. The perfection of the laws of God, is observable in the fruit of righteousness and goodness which they bring forth in the lives of men and women, who live by them and obey them. The most prosperous and successful of countries in history, have been those whose governments based their rules, upon the law of God as found in His Holy Word. We can easily note, in various Godless regimes, but also and especially in more recent times in western cultures, that the departure from God’s law and principles has resulted in huge problems with immorality and instability, in what once were recognised as civilized and Christian societies. Human nature is fallen and naturally tends towards evil. Man cannot merely be controlled by law; he must be converted by it! Man’s law may change some of the behaviour of some of society, but cannot change the soul of any individual. This results in either an increase the amount of force and means necessary to control and direct individuals, or worse, the redefining of what is wrong, sinful and abhorrent, so that less control is needed, doing further damage to mankind and departing all the more from God’s original plans and purposes. God’s law is perfect, and can change and convert the soul of man through faith and obedience, from a lost, sinful, rebellious and spiritually dead individual, to a godly, fulfilled, loving, faithful, and spiritually alive person. This means a person will ‘want’ to do what is right from the inside, not merely because of some rule which society imposes on him. All this, God performs through His Word! Tampering with what Gods has set down and provided for humanity, can only result in precisely what we see in our human family today – increase in crime and immorality, a loss of worthwhile and godly values and ultimately self-destruction and death. God’s statutes, commandments and directions for man’s relationship with God, his fellowman, and all other things created, remain and are eternally established, they are the best way for mankind and they can’t be improved on by man’s intuition, revisions or intelligence for they were perfect to begin with! 

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