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

Apr 15

“…walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Genesis 17:1

Some thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, God appeared to Abraham. He was then, ninety-nine years of age. Yahwah renewed His covenant with Abraham and it is at this time that God first tells Abraham that he will father a son from Sarah, and that the child shall be the son of promise. The encouragement the Lord gives this faithful man, is to continue in his walk of uprightness and sincere faith. The concept of ‘walking before God’, means to walk in faith and dependence upon Him, in obedience to His laws and in awe and respect for His authority in our lives. The command to be ‘perfect’ is indicative of God’s desire for us to be complete and mature in His sight. The text does not imply an ‘absolute perfection’ - that belongs only to God, but a relative perfection, one which is within our grasp, through our communion with the Lord and knowledge of His Holy Word. God calls His people to a life of holiness and separation, a positive and consecrated life, which has as its goal the highest, most perfect ideals and purposes for which man can possibly live! When we choose to live on any other plane, we are living on a lower scale, and are not fulfilling the design for which we were created. Unless we strive for the perfection for which we were conceived and fashioned by God, we are selling ourselves and our Creator short of the mark. The excellence God has always had in mind for us, is not some unrealistic, unattainable, illusionary ideal. It is a tangible, sentient and joyful accomplishment, for which purpose God not only saves us, but also empowers us, that we may reach it. Perfection then, far from being too high a calling, is an actuality and a necessity of the believer’s life, and the evidence that he is walking with the Almighty!

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

Mar 17

“Rooted and built up in him…” Colossians 2:7

The apostle Paul here uses two metaphors together, to convey the strongest concepts of the quality of the walk we ought to have in God. The foundation of our faith has been laid and is established, and that Foundation is Jesus! Through salvation, we are positioned on this Foundation, the firm rock of the Lord’s teaching.  Paul alludes to the way we should continue in Christ. He states that “as we first received” Him, we should also walk in Him. This walk is intended to be a progressively more profound experience with God! Like roots of a tree digging deeper and becoming stronger, even so, as we walk in the Lord, we must go further in the truth and understanding of His Word, and so become more firmly held, into the true and solid foundation Jesus has laid. There is no other foundation necessary, but there is for the believer, a necessary work of going deeper in His truth, deeper in love for Him and deeper in desire and obedience towards the Lord. No true believer can continue in a surface or shallow relationship with God. We are planted in the ‘good soil’ of His truth, and there, we must put down deep and healthy roots. Thus Paul firstly indicates the necessity of a deepening walk in Christ, and along with that and of equal importance, being built up in Him. We all recognise this is an ongoing aspect of our relationship with the Lord! Being firmly gripped into the Foundation - Jesus Christ, we can now, if we allow the Lord to work in us, become the kind of structure and edifice for God that He desires us to be. Here too we see a progressing and continuing work, as stage by stage, the Lord helps us to build, enlarge and improve on what we have had to date. It is again important to realise that the believer cannot remain stationary in his growth in God. Stagnation for the Christian would be like a structure that is partly built and then abandoned. It is God’s will that His people are growing people, constantly learning and becoming more perfected in His ways and principles. Spiritual growth is a process which will endure through life, and we can facilitate it by being willing to both go deeper and higher in God! Jesus is both the ground into which our roots can grow deeper, and the solid foundation upon which our edifice is established! 

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