Mar 21

“…Look on us.” Acts 3:4

The lame man had since his birth, sat daily at the gate Beautiful, looking for alms. He had probably developed an ‘eye’ for individuals likely to give him a coin, for his physical sustenance. He had no idea what was about to happen, and what kind of gift he was about to receive from God through His servants. It was necessary however that he should have faith to receive, and to this his attention was summoned. He might have been distracted by his usual habit of looking around at anyone who might give to him, but not today - today he was to look with expectation, to a different source. He gave heed to the apostles, who under the unction of God’s Spirit were being used as channels of God, to bring him deliverance. The text says he looked “expecting to receive something of them”! When in faith we look to God, we can expect to receive. The look of faith sees beyond the natural and physical realm. It perceives the greater and bigger spiritual reality, the plane above, from where God works. It is this look of faith that sees hope in despair, strength when weakness exists, and answers when we are faced with problems. There is room in this action to look on those who in faith are attuned to God’s Spirit, and are moving in harmony with His directives. We are inspired to have faith, by looking at men and women of faith. We are encouraged to believe when we look at those who by believing God, are achieving His purposes and receiving His blessings. By looking at individuals who are aligned with God, we are not turning our gaze in the wrong direction! If they are standing with God and line up with His Spirit, there is no harm in others looking in ‘their direction’, because we are really looking at God’s direction with them! They are not the source of God’s blessing, but can be the channel of it, when God so determines. In that sense then it is appropriate for someone in need to ‘look on us’, and what others will see is Jesus in us, and the power of the Lord through us. As the apostles were quick to point out, when questioned later about the healing of the lame man, the work, miracle and blessing is not something we can do, but it is performed by God and the glory for which belongs to the Lord! 

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

Mar 20

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…” Hebrews 1:3

Jesus has existed from eternity as the one and solitary ‘person’, the Only Eternal God, The Father. God became incarnate when He overshadowed the virgin Mary, and the child Jesus was born. He was the Son of God, the ‘body’ of God, the incarnate God, the Messiah, the Sent One. Jesus on earth was still the Jesus of eternity, not a separate person, but rather the same eternal God in a different office, fulfilling the function of Redeemer of the world and Saviour of a lost humanity. The Son (God the Father, in flesh), was born for the purpose of showing the invisible God to the world and dying as a substitute in payment for the sin of the world. The role of Sonship, was specific in purpose, and pre-determined in outcome.  Everything Jesus did while on earth as the Son, was intended to glorify the Father (Jesus in Eternity), teach man how to obey the Father, and show humanity the way of salvation which the Father has provided. Our verse clearly reveals the identity of the Son! Jesus on earth shone the brightness of His own eternal glory, as the Father in heaven! No man could ever stand to see the raw brightness and glory of God, but in Christ, humanity saw it. God’s glory, brilliance, intensity of power and wisdom, is seen and revealed through Christ Jesus, as the Son on earth. All we know and understand of God and His will for us, has been brought to us, via His incarnation. The entire tenor of the teachings of Christianity, revolves around this very glory, the bright light of truth which has challenged the darkness of man’s sin. The eternal God is a Spirit and has no bodily form, except in what He showed us through Christ Jesus. Jesus as the Son, while on earth, was the express image of the eternal God. What could ever be seen of the substance of God, is seen only in Christ! When we reach heaven, once again we will only ever be able to see the Eternal God, in the One and singular person and substance of Jesus. Jesus will have fulfilled His role as the Son, and will continue to be the Eternal God (the Father), He has always been! God did not send another to show us His glory, express His substance and die for us - He came Himself!  

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

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

Mar 18

“Thou hast given him his heart's desire…” Psalms 21:2

David had desired to fulfil all the counsel of God. He had wanted to be granted nothing that was not in the heart of God. It is such praying that honours God. It is born not of a selfish and self-consumed mind and heart, but issues from a yielded and devout spirit. When God fulfils His will in such a heart, there is great rejoicing, greater than if all the richest prizes of life, and the most munificent bequests of wealth had been given. God is always very willing to provide the desire of our hearts, when we desire His will and want His purposes. It should be noted that David considered it an immense personal privilege to be granted fulfilment of a desire which reflected God’s heart! This should be also our genuine joy and pleasure, to see all that God wants for us, take place in our lives, without hindrance or hesitation on our part. We spend a great deal of time cataloguing our ‘needs’ and wants before God, making our prayers laden with our own requests. David’s approach suggests that our prayers should start with wanting what God wants, and requesting fervently that He may satisfy and bring about first and foremost, all that He desires in us. Then we might find as David did, an unmatched joy in the knowledge that the Lord has indeed granted the desire of our heart.  As bible commentator E. R. Conder suggests, this is possibly a very practical test of both our desires and prayers. “Of our desires. Are they such as we can put into prayer? Are they pure--such as God can approve; reasonable--such as we need not be ashamed to put into prayer; unselfish--such as consist with the great law of love; unpresumptuous--within the scope of God’s promises? Of our prayers. Do they indeed express the desires of our heart? Prayer without desire is a dead form; a featherless, pointless arrow that will reach no mark.”

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

Mar 16

. “…that Wicked…whom the Lord shall consume…” 2 Thessalonians 2:8

The wicked one referred to in this verse, is the antichrist. The term wicked here means literally ‘lawless’, for he considers himself above and beyond the law of God, and urges all men to follow him, in this lawlessness. We are told that the essence and spirit of antichrist, is and has been in the world already, but soon will also become apparent and tangible, in and through the ‘man of sin’. In His wisdom and foreknowledge, God has already informed His people that these things will happen. We will be able to verify what God has revealed to us, and see this entity rise to a position of power and authority, abuse his station and set himself up as God to be worshipped. The world will fall for the deception of the man of sin, who will ultimately lead all humanity into rebellion and rejection, of the One True God and His law. There is no doubt we are seeing this same spirit at work in the world today, but it is only going to get worse! In light of this, how relevant and imperative that we develop and maintain a strong and intimate, personal relationship with Jesus! Nothing else is going to sustain us in the times we will soon face. When we relegate the importance of building our relationship with the Lord, to the lower levels of priority in our lives, we are already preparing ourselves, to fall prey to antichrist and his regime! For Christians this would be the most disconsolate condition, for having known in advance about the devil’s devices and plans, we should most certainly not become his victims! This is a time to stand strong in Jesus, fight and be counted on the Lord’s side! Ultimately the battle is the Lord’s and He will end this evil reign promptly, and with unquestioned superiority! The Lord will consume ‘by the spirit of His mouth’, the lawless one and all who choose to align themselves with him. This is an awesome and frightening concept! There is glorious and staggering creative power, in the words which are uttered by God’s mouth. All it took was for Him to ‘speak’ the universe and everything in it into existence, and it was so. There is however, also terrifying and indescribable destructive power, in the words God can speak! At His voice and command, the heavens can roll back like a scroll, and all matter, which consists and is held together by His power, can collapse and be abolished in a moment! The battle of the Lord against this ‘wicked’ one and his followers, is not going to be a lengthy or drawn out epic! The same eternal, omnipotent voice that created all, will utter the words that will consume and destroy, leaving nothing of the pride, realm and rebellion of the lawless one. Let us remain close to God, watchful and alert, making sure we stay on the ‘winning side’ with Jesus!

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

Mar 15

“…behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

We see that in human life there is a time for everything. When it comes to the spiritual realm, there is not in the present, a God-ordained time to be or remain unsaved, and separated from the grace of the Lord! This is why we find the prompt and urgent exhortation to partake and benefit from the salvation Jesus has supplied, expressed by the very pressing term ‘now’. It was relevant at the time the Apostle Paul wrote it to the Corinthians, and it is still pertinent today. The ‘now’ spoken of here, is not so much a time of the clock, as it is a dispensation, a period during which God’s salvation is still available to mankind. In the past this glorious condition in Christ, could only be alluded to, by types and shadows, but was not yet accessible. In the future again, there will be an end to the possibility of finding safety and redemption in Christ. In the present however, it is a real and obtainable spiritual condition. ‘Now’ – we can be born again and be free from our past; now – we can know the joy of forgiveness and the resurrected life; now – we can live with Christ in heavenly places and prepare for eternity with Him! There is another way to consider this expression of present urgency and opportunity. No human being has a guarantee of tomorrow. For each of us, part of life is the very present, and without-regard-of-person, reality of death. Young or old, rich or poor, healthy or ailing, we could suddenly and without notice, cease to exist in this physical realm. The exhortation of our text, takes on the meaning of urgency for us personally, as individuals. While salvation maybe yet available tomorrow, and others may have the opportunity to participate still, there is no surety of another day for any of us. Today, now, therefore, is the most relevant and appropriate time to respond to God’s call, and make our soul right with Him. Too many have thought of acting upon the good will and grace of God another day, but never lived to see it. There are some things we cannot afford to put off, and salvation is the primary item in that category, the first entry on the list of ‘to dos’! All else is dispensable, but not this! Today, now - while God is near, while His salvation is available; while the heart is pumping, the lungs breathing and life is yet coursing through our bodies; while our minds are exercised and challenged, by the reality and possibility of such great salvation; while our souls are being drawn to the Saviour, let us answer with wholehearted and positive acceptance, to the plan and gift of salvation, Jesus extends – right now – to each of us!

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