Devotional messages written by Peter for Seeds of the Kingdom from Ellel Ministries
“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus …
1 Peter 2:4, NIV
“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The Christmas season may be over, but the Christ whose birth we celebrated on Christmas day is ever-present in the lives of those who know and love Him. The experience of Christmas is a living daily reality every day of the year for believers, who are likened, in our Scripture for today, to living stones – stones who are built up into a spiritual house, into which people who do not know the Lord can run from the surrounding darkness, discover that Jesus is the Light of the World and be introduced to Him as their Saviour. This is the role of the Church, to be a home where sinners can be made welcome and receive salvation, healing and deliverance.
It’s so easy to think of the Church as a building, or an enjoyable club, a place where we have fellowship with other Christians or to which we go for teaching so that we may grow in our faith – all of which are true – but if we forget that God intends His Church, first and foremost, to be the place where those who do not know Him will be welcomed into the Kingdom of God, then we have ceased to fulfil the primary purpose for which Jesus came – that the lost may be found and that sinners may be saved.
To some, that may sound terribly old-fashioned – maybe – but that doesn’t mean to say it isn’t true. It’s still what Jesus did on that “old wooden cross” that transforms lives. Praise God it is AN OLD FASHIONED MESSAGE – 2000 years old to be precise – but truth cannot be changed – and what was true then is true now. There may be different ways of presenting the Gospel, but Jesus is still in the business of saving sinners and if we fail to give sinners the opportunity to discover Jesus for themselves, and build their lives afresh on the One who is the Rock of all our lives, we fail to fulfil our destiny as the Church.
Today is the first day of a New Year. My prayer for you at the beginning of 2016 is that you will take time out of the day to thank Jesus for dying on that old wooden cross, and resolve to be a living and credible witness to the One who redeemed you throughout the coming year.
The times we have lived through in recent months, from the terrorism of ISIS to the ravages of unprecedented floods, are prompting more and more people, of all religions and none, to ask what is happening. Our only security in time and eternity is the unshakeable Rock. We may not have all the answers to today’s questions – but in Jesus we are in relationship with the One who is THE ultimate answer to every question mankind can ever ask.
Prayer: Help me, Lord, in the midst of the turmoil of the world to both trust You, whatever happens, in this New Year and to look for every opportunity to share Jesus with those who cross my paths. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
“The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”Ezekiel 12:1, NIVWe are living in days much like they were …
Ezekiel 12:1, NIV
“The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”
We are living in days much like they were in Ezekiel’s time. We are living among a people who have eyes to see and ears to hear but they have chosen to turn their backs on the living God in favour of a god of their own making. They choose to substitute God’s laws with man’s choices and reject the Creator in favour of a self-creating universe which invented itself.
It’s easy for believers to look out on the world as we know it and reach those sort of conclusions about the world at large. But God says similar things to his own people – those who do know Him, but still choose to do their own thing and pretend that God won’t mind if we adjust His commands a little bit to suit whatever our own situation might be. The end result is a people who give the impression that they really know and love God, but at the same time are living out a lie in the privacy of their own heart.
In His letter to the Church at Laodicea, Jesus called such people luke-warm and because they were not a true reflection of the nature and character of the God they said they served, Jesus said that he would need to ‘spit them out of His mouth’. God hates hypocrisy which is another word for luke-warmness in our relationship with God.
But the good news of Revelation 3:20 is that Jesus says to those who are luke-warm, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” There is a place for repentance, change and personal transformation for those who have been closing their ears to the voice of God and closing their eyes to the ways of God.
Prayer: Lord, I am sorry for times when I have closed my eyes and shut my ears when You have been trying to get through to me. Please forgive me for the rebellion that there has been in my heart. I choose today to open my eyes and my ears and ask You to forgive me. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.
“Jesus told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they both not fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.””It is a fact that students learn from and grow to be …
“Jesus told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they both not fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.””
It is a fact that students learn from and grow to be like their teachers. What their teachers teach becomes the knowledge which is the foundation of their lives. For that reason, teachers are specially accountable before the Lord for ensuring that what they teach is faithful to God’s Word and need to check their spiritual eyesight regularly!
When Paul was training Timothy to be an apostolic leader, he told Timothy, “Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). Paul was making it clear that good teaching will save Timothy’s hearers, but implying that bad teaching (from blind teachers) will lead them astray.
So, back to the blind man – if a leader is blind to God’s truth and is going astray, then their blindness will become the blindness of those who hear and follow. If someone is teaching false doctrine, then those who hear are in danger, because they are likely to believe the same way as their teachers. It is absolutely vital, therefore, that we learn how to use the gift of discernment, through which the Holy Spirit can warn us of beliefs that are wrong and of spiritual pits that we are in danger of being led into.
In these very testing days, when there are so many un-scriptural beliefs gaining ground and influence inside various sectors of the church, we need to be very much on our guard – for things are being taught that are not true to the Word of God. We need to look carefully at what the Word of God says, so that we will have a true plumb line against which to measure whether or not what we are being taught and what we believe is faithful to God’s truth or otherwise.
These are severely testing days and Jesus warned us twice in Matthew 24 about the dangers of deception from false prophets. In our Scripture for today He warns us against being led by a blind man into a pit. How important it is to check out the spiritual sight of those who lead us! There is a popular series of advertisements on British television from a firm of opticians which shows people making huge, and sometimes very funny, mistakes because their sight was defective. The adverts always end with the words ‘Should have gone to Specsavers’.
The plumb-line of truth in the Scriptures is God’s equivalent to Specsavers! It’s important that we all have our spiritual eyesight tested against God’s Word. But the mistakes we can make when we can’t see properly are not funny, they can be of eternal consequence – none of us want to hear the equivalent of words such as these spoken over our own life at the end of time – ‘should have gone to Specsavers!’
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for warning us against being led astray by blind leaders. Help me to discern truth from error in my own life and to regularly check out my spiritual eyesight against the sight chart of God’s Word. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son, has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”1 John 5:11-12, NIVAll the people on Planet Earth today are said to be ‘alive’…
1 John 5:11-12, NIV
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son, has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
All the people on Planet Earth today are said to be ‘alive’ – but in reality only those that have the Son of God in their hearts have life! And by ‘life’ I mean life that is not restricted by the physical limitations of our human ‘life expectancy’. The world is totally consumed with not dying – physically. However, it seems totally unconcerned about having ‘life’!
The curse of death is upon every single person that has ever lived – ever since that moment when mankind submitted to Satan’s temptation in the garden, and gave Satan authority on Planet Earth as the god of this world. At that moment man entered into the same destiny and ultimate destination as Satan, as described by Jesus in Matthew 25:41. Death is our inheritance – and that means a double death – physical and spiritual, in time and then in eternity.
What a wonderful encouragement, therefore, is our Scripture for today! The limitations of earthly life are completely overwhelmed by the glorious truth of the Gospel for those who are in Christ – those who are born again and are alive in Jesus, the Son of God. Believers have the same destination as Jesus and are set free from the curse of death and we can look forward to being with Jesus where He is (Acts 2:31-33).
So, whatever you’re feeling like today, lift up your head, rejoice and give thanks to the Father for the incredible salvation that he gave to us through His Son – in Him we have LIFE!
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the amazing salvation that you have provided for your children. I am so grateful that because of Jesus the Son I have a home in Heaven to look forward to. Alert me, Lord, to the importance of sharing your love and truth with those who do not know you. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
John 16:22, NIV
“Jesus promised, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.””
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, spoke out against Hitler’s dictatorship, his euthanasia programme and the Jewish holocaust. At the end of 1944 he was in the main prison of the Gestapo condemned to death by Adolf Hitler. It was while he was in circumstances beyond anything any of us have ever experienced that he wrote these words in a prayer to God, ‘I want to live these days with You’.
Bonhoeffer was finally transferred to the concentration camp Flossenburg, where he was put to death, four months before the US army liberated Flossenburg. Bonhoeffer is now famous for a book he wrote called ‘The Cost of Discipleship’.
Recently his words ‘I want to live these days with You’, came to my mind. The words have since become my daily prayer, “I want to live this day with you, whatever it may hold.” The words are the title of a daily reading book containing Bonhoeffer’s writings which I read several years ago and have picked up again. Shortly before he died he wrote to a friend, ‘Only the suffering God can help’. His eyes were fixed on that suffering God, his faith firmly rooted despite the horrors he faced.
For each of us, at some time or other, there is suffering on the path of life. We have our times of sunshine and of shadow; times of joy and of sorrow; times of turmoil and of rest; times of strength and of weakness; times of fulfilment and times of being set aside; times when we long for God’s presence and times when He’s closer than the closest friend. None of us will escape the times when, above all else, we need the comfort and abiding peace of the suffering God who comes alongside with His presence and His grace.
Living each day with our Lord is the way to inner stillness and peace of heart and mind. It is to rest in the peace Jesus promised to His disciples. Peace independent of circumstances; peace dependent upon the fulfilment of His promise. So if the road you’re travelling just now is rough, don’t give up. Remember you are not alone because He has promised He will never leave you nor forsake you. The rough road will come to an end and the lessons learned on it can become a way of life for the future.
It’s easy to look at the circumstances and difficulties we’re caught up in and see them as overwhelming. What God asks is that we look at Jesus, surrendering to Him and praying for His perfect will to be fulfilled, whatever that may be, and even if it’s not what we would choose. We’re not victims of our circumstances, but children of a compassionate Father, whose love is infinite and unfailing.
It’s futile to want our way instead of surrendering to His perfect plan. When we trust God to do what He chooses, rather than try to work things out ourselves, inner turmoil is replaced by the stillness of knowing that He’s God and we’re safe with Him. We desperately need Him.
To live each day with Jesus is to live a day at at time. His name is ‘I am’. It’s not ‘I was’ or ‘I will be’. We have the promise of His presence; the presence of our Saviour, Lord and King, who is also our best and heavenly Friend. Thus we receive the gift of peace and peace, a fruit of the Spirit, which is worked in and through us – a deep abiding peace.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, please teach me to live each day with You, trusting You with all the days that will follow, whatever they may hold. Thank You for the peace Jesus promised – the peace which banishes fear. I receive that peace as a gift today, thanking You for Jesus, who’s made the way possible for me to know You intimately. Thank You that I’m not a victim of circumstances, but I’m secure in You. Amen.
Psalm 105:4, NIV
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
Former church buildings being used as warehouses, shops, and industrial units are sadly a common sight in towns and villages across the UK nowadays. I passed one recently which was being used as a gym/fitness centre. On the board over the entrance to this building were the words ‘Give me strength’. I found this not only sad, but rather ironic. In the past it would, no doubt, have been a place where people could regain their spiritual strength, but now it was only a place for improving physical prowess.
Although we need to take care of our bodies, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, it shouldn’t be to the detriment of our spiritual well being. `Train yourself to be godly. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come` (1 Timothy 4:7-8, NLT)
It’s so important that we look for spiritual help and strength in the right places. Going to church, reading books, listening to CDs, watching Christian TV, and attending conferences can be beneficial and it’s important for us to share in fellowship with other believers. However, if these things make us “feel good” but do little to deepen our relationship with God, help us grow spiritually and move on in our walk with Christ, I would suggest that we have something out of balance. Feelings are a part of our make-up and do give us a good indication as to how we are doing. The great danger is that we can be so intent on nurturing our souls (of which our feelings are a part), to make us feel better, that we neglect the spiritual aspect of our being.
We are tripartite beings, consisting of three parts, body, soul and spirit. It’s important that we look after all three parts and keep them in balance. Just as a three-legged stool with one leg missing, damaged, or shorter than the others, is out of balance, or at dis-ease, so it can be with us if the three parts are not cared for, nurtured and allowed to develop in the way God intended.
God made us and is the one who knows everything about us (Psalm 139:2-4). Isn’t He the one to turn to for help to address any imbalances in our lives? The psalmist declares ‘God is our refuge and strength an ever present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1). As a loving, caring Father, God wants the best for us. He’s given us his Word to guide us, His son Jesus as an example to follow, and His Spirit to strengthen and help us, so we can become the person He intended us to be, completely whole and fit in body, soul and spirit.
Prayer: Dear Lord, Please show me if there is anything out of balance in my life and please give me the courage to face whatever that issue is, and, with Your help, take the necessary steps to put the matter right. Amen.