Peter Horrobin

“Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any offensive way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:23,24, NIV

In yesterday’s Seed of the Kingdom, we saw how David, the psalmist, recognised that there is nowhere we can go to escape the presence of God. As a result, we can know also that there is absolutely nothing that God doesn’t know about our lives from the moment of conception till the present day. Even though our first thought might be – ‘Oh no!’, in reality it is wonderfully good news that God knows the very worst there can possibly be about us and His arms of love are still wide open for each one of us.

David, of course, had first-hand experience of God knowing what he had done. Even though David had desperately tried to cover up his sin, in 2 Samuel 11 we read how God told Nathan the prophet to go and confront David about his adultery with Bathsheba and then arranging for the death of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. It must have been a devastating moment for David to realise that nothing of what he had done was hidden from God.

But as you read more in Scripture about David’s life, you soon realise that the sins of David’s past do not define his future. God still loved him and we read in Psalm 51 about David’s journey of healing and restoration. But God also knew that unless the past had been exposed and healed, David would always be on the defensive, trying to hide something sinful he was ashamed. Bringing it into the light so David could look at himself in the ‘mirror of life’ was absolutely essential for David’s future calling and destiny.

Indeed, David realised how vital this process is in his daily walk, looking for the guidance of God in the affairs of life, that he came to God with the prayer which is our Scripture for today. Search me Lord, know my heart, test me and see if there is anything in me that offends You. The King James version of the Bible is even more blunt, “see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

This is the prayer of humility which releases the healing and the power of God into our lives. The relief which flows through the spirit of man when everything is laid open on the table before God is like the waters of a river that have been blocked by a dam suddenly breaking out, washing away all the debris and leaving everything clean again.

Truly knowing that you are still loved in such circumstances is one of the most healing experiences anyone can ever know. Not only does it release the past, but it clears the channels so that we can once again hear God for ourselves with a clean heart, trusting that he will indeed continue to lead you in the way everlasting. This is the joy that comes from healing through forgiveness!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that there is nothing about me that you don’t already know and that you still love me. I ask You, Lord, to truly show me myself as I look into Your mirror so that I can put right all that You show me is wrong. Thank You for Your continued leading and direction in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”

Psalm 139:1-3, NIV

There are few places we can go these days in a big city, travel by train, bus or plane, or be almost anywhere where people gather, without some sort of surveillance camera catching our every movement. Even in the small market town where we live there are hidden closed circuit TV cameras, recording what the local people are doing – all in the name of security.

In today’s environment we almost take such observation cameras for granted as being necessary for our safety. We are relieved when they are used to record some criminal activity and apprehend the culprit. No-one is really interested in what the majority of us are doing. But when something bad does happen the police are very interested to see if surveillance cameras have recorded the incident.

On a much wider front, whenever there’s an international sporting festival such as the Olympic Games, or a major incident occurs anywhere in the world – everything can be instantly screened via TV into the living rooms of everyone on the planet!
If, with man’s very limited knowledge and ability, these amazing things are possible, it should be no surprise that the all-knowing God is also able to watch over every detail of our lives and know everything that has ever happened to us from conception to the present day! He doesn’t need security cameras to keep an eye on us!

This is something that David, the psalmist, knew instinctively and in Psalm 139 he recognises that if there is nowhere he can go to escape from the presence of God (verses 7-12), then there is absolutely nothing that God doesn’t know about everything we have done – the good and the not-so-good – and will do. And there is absolutely no circumstance or place that any of us can be in where we cannot cry out to God for His help and guidance.

He postulates being able to fly on the wings of the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea and declares “even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (verse 10). He didn’t think it would ever be possible to walk on the moon, but when James Irwin, the Apollo 15 astronaut, turned to prayer when he had a problem on the surface of the moon, he had an extraordinary encounter with the living God who heard and answered his prayer. He came back to Earth a changed man and devoted the rest of his days to sharing the truth that Jesus really is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Wherever you are in God’s great universe, God is there with you.

I discovered in my business years that God is the best businessman I have ever known! The supernatural ‘coincidences’ and the ideas that could only have come from God were always the most successful and profitable developments. I learnt to trust the ideas that bore the hallmark of God’s Holy Spirit and was never disappointed.

So, never think that your situation or problem is beyond the knowledge and wisdom of God or beyond Him being able to provide a solution. He can and will hold you fast and show you the way to go.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for these wonderful words from Scripture. I know that I can trust You to lead and direct my steps wherever I am. I pray that you will help me to overcome the problems I have to face as I listen to Your voice and watch for Your leading day by day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

John 14:1-3, NIV

One of the most comforting and encouraging truths about being a Christian is that believers are ‘in Christ’. When talking about different aspects of the Christian life, the Apostle Paul uses these two precious words on seventy-two occasions! For him to be ‘in Christ’ was everything. For when we are ‘in Him’ we have the extraordinary privilege of sharing in who He is, and we are always – now and for evermore – in His presence. To be born again is to be set free from the grip of the enemy and to be released into the arms of our Saviour.

So, when Jesus began to prepare His disciples for what would be His final trip to Jerusalem, where He would lay down His life, the disciples were clearly distressed. They were not just dismayed by the fact that Jesus would no longer be with them on Earth, but where would that leave them when it was their turn to die? They would have realised that Jesus was going back to Heaven – but what about them? If He wasn’t with them, how could they be sure of anything anymore?

The disciples hadn’t yet grasped the amazing truth which Paul clearly understood – that to be in Christ Jesus covered every eventuality, even death. And that because of who He is, there could be no reason to fear the eternal unknown. If you are in Christ, and Christ is in heaven – then that’s where you are going to be too! So, Jesus spelled it out for them in very simple words.

There’s no need to be afraid – you already trust in God, and you can also trust in Me. You can’t go with me just yet, there’s work for you to do here – but I’m in you and you’re in Me, so I can never forget you. Don’t worry, I’ll be preparing a place for you. And then, one day, I will be coming back for you, so that you will be in the same place as Me. There’s nothing to be afraid of!

One of our longest serving prayer supporters lay in a hospital bed, eyes closed and seemingly unconscious. She was very close to the end of her life. I leaned over the side of the bed and spoke right into her ear the words of our Scripture for today. She opened her eyes and gave me a huge knowing smile. She was at peace, comforted deep in her heart by the same words that Jesus used when He spoke comfort to His disciples.

She knew where she was going and, at that moment, she knew her Saviour was coming for her very soon, just as He had promised. She was ready and waiting. Less than an hour later she was in the immediate presence of her Lord.

What joy for her and what comfort for everyone who knew her – she was home!

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for the incredible comfort it is to know that when we are in You, we have nothing to fear. Thank You for preparing a place for me. Help me to live the rest of my days without fear, knowing that I can trust You every step of the way through time – and then into eternity. In Your Name, Amen.

“Moses received living words to pass on to us. But our fathers refused to obey him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.”

Acts 7:38-39, NIV

Israel was a nation under oppression and persecution from their Egyptian tormentors. God heard their cry and their groaning and sent Moses back in to Egypt to set them free (Acts 7:34). Through an extraordinary sequence of miraculous events they left Egypt and began the journey to their Promised Land. But once they had left Egypt they began to complain. Even though they had been severely persecuted in Egypt, they missed the comforts of their former way of life and hankered after the things that had been left behind.

Having left Egypt they faced the challenge of walking in obedience to the Lord under the direction of Moses until they reached their destination and fulfilled their destiny as the chosen people of God. But obedience didn’t come easily to a people who, because of hardships became rebellious in nature, resisting their leader and opposing God. The end-result of opposing the plans and purposes of God is never good. Eventually every one of this rebellious generation died before the next generations entered the promised land under Joshua’s leadership.

Many is the time when I have had to listen to the heart cries of those who had done exactly what the people of Israel did under Moses – they went back to the things they had escaped from. The desires of the carnal nature overwhelmed their spiritual desire to follow after God and walk in His ways. Their heart choices became their undoing.

The writer of Hebrews says “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:7). He goes on to remind us that God’s people were not able to enter in to the land God had prepared for them because of their unbelief. I pray that today’s Scripture will encourage you not to fall in to the same trap of disbelieving the promises of God for the future and allowing the temptations ‘of Egypt’ to rob you of God’s promises being fulfilled in your life.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that you have a land of destiny for each one of us to enter. I pray that you will forgive me for the mistakes of the past. Help me, Lord, not to hanker after the things of the past and so miss out on Your best for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

”Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV

‘All’, ‘All’ and ‘Any’ are the vital words which bring our Scripture for today to life in a very personal way. Some people feel that God is not there for them or that, perhaps, He loves other people more. They are not surprised when other people experience God’s blessing, but they don’t expect any blessings for themselves!

In these precious two verses Paul spells out for us that God’s comfort is sufficient for every situation – whatever it might be that we are going through. Paul explains that He is the God of ALL comfort, and that His comfort is sufficient for ALL our troubles.

Through the Holy Spirit God is the Comforter of those who mourn. He’s the Comforter of those who have suffered all kinds of loss. He’s our Comforter when suffering trials or temptations. He’s the Comforter who enables us to press on, even when it seems as though everyone is against us. He’s the Comforter who fills our heart with encouragement when we are feeling down and almost out. He’s the Comforter who understands the darkest of days and most difficult of situations. He’s the Comforter who stands with us in times of sickness or ill-heath. There is, in fact, no limit to the Comforter’s ability to be alongside us every step of life’s way and to be there for us.

A parent who sees their young child hurt will rush to their side, scoop them up in their arms and comfort them with buckets of love. The reason parents do that is because we are all made in the image and likeness of God. We do instinctively the same sort of things our Heavenly Dad does. And if that’s how we behave, then that’s exactly how Father God behaves towards ALL His children. Love is His motivating force – and He has an endless comforting love – for HE IS LOVE (1 John 4:16).

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that Your very nature is Love and that we can at all times trust You to be our Comforter in times of need. Help me, Lord, to bless other people with the same measure of love and comfort as we have received from You, so that they will experience the touch of God on their lives through what I do for them. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God.’”

Mark 15:37-39, NIV

Nearly two thousand years ago, some Roman soldiers were carrying out their orders – crucifixions. Putting criminals to death was part of their job. The centurion on duty will have seen many people die in the abject agony caused by this most cruel form of execution. But there was something different about this crucifixion – or more specifically, something different about the man they had just nailed to a cross.

No-one else had ever cried out to God asking Him to forgive those who were carrying out the execution. No other execution had ever been accompanied by an extraordinary three hours of darkness. No other execution had ever been marked by an earthquake. No other prisoner had ever cried out to God, as if He really knew him, saying, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” No other prisoner had spoken out words of encouragement about life after death while he was dying, as He said to another victim, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

This man was different – very different. As the centurion stood at the foot of the cross and looked up at Jesus, trying to make sense of it all, his mind was full of questions. Then, in the earthy reality of a soldier, he just spoke out his conclusion with what must have been divine revelation: “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Out of the mouth of a hardened Roman soldier came the revelation which every Jew and every Gentile needs to hear. Many people wear a cross round their neck or have a cross tattooed on their body, but most will have little understanding of what the cross really meant and still means today.

At the same time as the centurion was reaching his conclusion, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, declaring in the most dramatic of ways that a new way had been opened up for believers to enter into the holy presence of our holy God. For when, as believers, we are ‘in Christ’, as Paul described a Christian on many occasions, then we are at one with Him, with free access to the Father because of what the Son did for us at Calvary.

As I was writing this devotion the great cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was being consumed by a devastating fire. In an iconic picture of the cathedral’s devastation the following morning, the huge empty cross was still standing and shining as if lit in gold at the end of the nave. I was reminded of John Bowring’s amazing hymn:

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

What a glorious and comforting symbol the cross is to those who understand what it means. The comfort of knowing that the price for sin has been paid, my sins are forgiven and that because of Jesus there is a home prepared for me in Heaven. Comfort indeed! Truly amazing grace!!

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, that You were willing to go to the cross for me. Thank you that a Roman Centurion simply looked up to You and knew who You were. Today, Lord, I look to the cross as a symbol of my redemption – and I look to You Jesus, my risen Saviour who opened a to the Father through the curtain separating a holy God from sinful man. Hallelujah, what a Saviour. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

John 14:2, NIV

How comfortable we feel, can be directly related to how secure we are – especially about our future. Once, in my business days, I was trying to find a place to stay for the night. I was getting increasingly uncomfortable as I tried hotel after hotel. I wasn’t relishing the idea of sleeping in my car. But as soon as I found a vacancy, all my anxiety dissipated and I was immediately at peace. When a major airport has to close down and all the passengers are stranded, uncertainty, discomfort, distress, and even panic, can begin to spread among the passengers like a contagious disease. There is nothing comfortable about future uncertainty.

But while such things may be stressful at the time, they are totally trivial events when compared with the journey that one day we will all, without exception, have to make. And Jesus recognised the importance of preparing the disciples for their own journey from time into eternity. But, as He told them that He would be leaving them, discomfort, even distress quickly became evident.

The disciples really loved Jesus. They had developed close relationships with Him and with each other and the thought of Him being killed and leaving them behind was something they hadn’t previously contemplated. Seeing their distress, Jesus immediately began to comfort them – not with nice, but meaningless, words of false comfort. But with words of truth and reality about the future that He would be preparing for them.

Yes, it was necessary that Jesus would die for the sins of the world and then return to Heaven – but the Jesus who had embraced them with His love while on earth was now embracing them with real comfort about His plans for their future.

Just as good parents prepare for the future needs of their children, Jesus was telling His disciples how He would be making preparations in Heaven for their eternal future. It’s always comforting to know that your future physical needs have been taken care of. But there can be nothing more comforting than knowing that when this life is over your future needs in eternity have also been taken care of. So take comfort – for those who know and love the Lord, there is a heavenly architect at work preparing a place for each of God’s children – even you!

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, that You have not only died to save us from the consequences of sin, but that You have also promised to prepare a place for those who know, love and are following You – like those first disciples. Help me, Lord, not to be afraid, especially when the time of ‘going home’ to be with You comes near. I am so grateful that You are preparing a place for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”

Proverbs 3:7-8, NIV

There are many sayings in the book of Proverbs which link the fear of the Lord with godly living. One leads to the other. But this proverb takes the principle a very significant step further. It’s saying that there can be a definite link between our behaviour and our health.

There are three steps to wholeness explicit within these sayings. The first is simply a recognition that the wisdom of God is more important than the supposed wisdom of man. We can make assessments of a situation and, even though our conclusion is different from what God has said in His Word, if we decide that we know better than God, we are being wise in our own eyes.

A good example of this in today’s amoral world is having sexual relations before marriage. The world says it’s OK – and almost everyone does it. Even, sadly, many believers who, instead of being salt and light in the world, have brought the darkness of the world into the church. Man, supposedly, knows best and now that we have reliable contraception, “why not?”, people say. If you do not understand that when man and woman are joined together in sex that they become part of each other – and both are now different people than they were before the relationship occurred, you will not have any understanding as to what the consequences might be.

It is only fear of the Lord that will keep people from sinning (Exodus 20:20) and give us the courage and wisdom to avoid evil – not just the evil that man might consider to be bad, but what God defines as being evil (sinful) in His Word.

By shunning those things that God defines as evil, we avoid walking on Satan’s territory. If you walk through mud, your shoes will carry the stain onto the carpet when you go into your house. If we walk on Satan’s turf we will carry the stain of sin, and sometimes the powers of darkness as well, into our inner being, even our body which should, as described by Paul, only be “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

We can now see how the health of our body can be affected by the consequences of not avoiding evil. This helps us to understand how it is that sometimes people are physically healed through repentance and deliverance. For when a spirit which has brought infirmity into the body is driven out, then healing can follow – something that I have seen on many occasions as we have prayed for God to deliver and heal. These important principles are carefully taught and illustrated in my book Healing Through Deliverance (Sovereign World and Chosen). James, also, was very explicit about these matters when he said, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

So, there is not only an eternal spiritual benefit of living a godly life, there is also the temporal physical promise of good health. I am sure that when Solomon wrote these words, he had no idea that the blood is made in the bones. But the knowledge and wisdom of God was in what he was inspired to write. We read in Scripture that “life is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11) and now, also, have the knowledge of medical science, so we can more fully understand the significance of these words. Healthy blood leads to a healthy life. If our bones are being nourished, then all of us is being blessed!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the detail that You have placed in Your Word. I am sorry for the times when I have not avoided evil and I have suffered as a result. I pray that You will forgive and cleanse me, so that I may be free to be healed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed because of their duplicity.”

Proverbs 11:3, NIV

Today I want to look at how it’s possible to walk into the future with both faith and confidence.

There are some key words in today’s Scripture – integrity, upright and duplicity – that will help us understand the principles involved. Integrity means that you are the same all the way through. Upright means that you choose to live your life according to God’s Word and His laws, not your own good ideas. But duplicity means being two-faced, dishonest and deceitful.

If a person is two-faced, it means that they are presenting one side of their character or personality to one party and another side to a different party. They can be saying one thing but thinking another. They can be flattering you with their words but despising you with their thoughts.

And in terms of our relationship to God, it means that on the outside we are giving the impression that we love the Lord and want to serve Him at all times, but that the inner motives of our heart are very different. We then become unbalanced and it is not surprising, therefore, that it says in James 1:8 that “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” An unstable and unbalanced person is a danger to themselves and to anyone who chooses to depend on them.

The saddest form of spiritual duplicity is when people swallow their own lie and try to deceive themselves. They can believe one thing but, in reality, the truth about themselves is very different from the image they present. They can use this false image to try and manipulate others and, even, try and manipulate God! It’s sometimes not easy to see what is going on – even in our own hearts. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to truly reflect back to us the picture of us that He sees, so that we can become single-minded and not be vulnerable to being imbalanced.

The words integrity and upright are easier to understand. An upright person is not only one who follows and obeys the Lord, but one on whom you can trust not to change their behaviour or beliefs to suit their circumstances and impress whoever they happen to be with. A person with integrity is someone on whom you can trust to always be the same in their beliefs, reactions and behaviour. So, a person who is upright has integrity, and you know that they can be totally depended on. That is the sort of person we need to become and remain before God – so that He can always depend on us to not only walk in His ways, but to do His Kingdom works. We won’t then fall into the deadly traps of unfaithfulness caused by duplicity.

It’s an exciting but awesome thought, that God depends on us to be true to ourselves and true to Him. When you look at Christian history, these are the people on whom God has depended to do His work. They could be depended on to act with integrity and be upright in all their dealings, so God trusted them.

So, do you want to be unfaithful, with duplicity as a hallmark of your character? Or do you want to be faithful and live an upright life of truth and integrity. You can be sure that if your heart’s desire is the latter that God will rejoice to be at your side to help you in all the stages of life’s journey. Proverbs 13:6 tells us that “Righteousness guards the person of integrity.” And Proverbs 4:18 tells us that, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”

Prayer: Thank You, Lord Jesus that in everything You said and did You acted with truth and integrity and that, as a result, we can unconditionally depend on You. Help me, Lord, to so live that there is no duplicity in my heart so that You can depend on me to always be available to do whatever You want me to do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”

Proverbs 27:6, NIV

When someone you know, love and trust, takes the huge risk of sharing something difficult with you, it may be hard for you to receive and even hurtful, like a wound. But such can be life-changing and life-giving, specially when they come from someone with a pure heart and no ulterior motive. We need to take notice of even tough words, when they are spoken in love, no matter what it is they are saying.

There are times in my own life when friends with a genuine and rightful concern have come to talk with me – sometimes with a real issue and at other times for clarification of something they didn’t understand. But when you know their heart you need not fear their motive.

Conversely, when someone flatters you with nice words, especially if they seem to be out of the context of today’s reality and are ‘over the top’, even too good to be true, you are right to be suspicious. You begin to suspect an ulterior motive and then wonder what it is that they are wanting from you. No-one likes to be patronised with deceptive words.

However, because we all like to hear nice things said about us, flattery can sometimes make us lower our guard and become vulnerable to making serious mistakes. It could potentially trap us into doing something that can have unfortunate, even dangerous, consequences in our lives.

There are many times when people have come for prayer about something in their life and instead of praying about their presenting symptoms, I have had to challenge them about something that is out of order in their life, which lay behind the problem they were wanting to solve. They needed to hear the faithful words of a friend, even though, at first, it may have felt like a wound.

Sometimes the initial response is anger, before reality makes them realise the truth that they are having to face. It’s not easy to confront people over what are often very sensitive issues, but if you don’t you run the danger of missing a golden opportunity to help them get right with God.

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16), he was expecting a spiritual answer. But Jesus looked right through him and touched the idol in his heart when he said “go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The reality for this man was that his wealth had become more important to him than following Jesus!

There can be many things which have become idols in our hearts and when a friend, in love, has the courage to come and touch that thing, we may be initially angry at what they are saying. But to God had chosen to answer the prayers, sometimes desperate prayers, of your heart. If we open our ears to listen to what God is saying to us, then such encounters can prove to be the most important days of our life!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord that You care enough about each one of us to confront us with the truth. I pray that, just as You spoke to the rich young ruler, You will speak clearly to me about anything that is out of order in my life. Show me from Your Word or through someone You send to me. Help me not to reject wounds that will bring healing to me, nor to be deceived by flattery. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.