Devotionals

Proverbs 18:21, NIV
“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

An encouraging word can make all the difference in a person’s life. People are thirsty for words of encouragement, and, as water in a dry parched land, so is a word of encouragement to those bowed down with the cares of this world. A smile and friendly word can drive back the clouds of depression. There are those who wander aimlessly around busy city centres, simply because they’re lonely and need to connect with people who can offer them a kind and friendly word.

I was listening to a testimony recently of a young man who, as a child, had never been encouraged, and who felt excluded from others in his peer group. One day, a church leader simply said “Hello, it’s good to see you again”, and continued to greet him with kind and encouraging words whenever he came. It was years later that the man revealed to the pastor that he came time and again just to hear those words, for they ministered hope to his young life. Today he is living for Jesus, and enjoying walking in the purposes of God.

Jesus, the source of life itself, made time to go and sit with the lonely woman at the well. His timing is perfect – He knew she would be there. It has often been said that she would probably have been drawing water in the heat of the day, because she knew she was despised, not only as a Samaritan woman, but also because of her lifestyle. But Jesus didn’t despise her. He didn’t just make time for the crowds, He made time for the individual.

David’s prayer, which forms the scripture for today, is one of the most profound and effective prayers that anyone can pray. For if we really mean the prayer, God WILL answer it. And as we listen carefully to the things that he shows us, we have a wonderful opportunity for getting our lives back on track – not our track, but God’s – His track for our lives. I once passed a railway siding in which there were hundreds of old and rusting goods vehicles. That picture in my mind reminds me of the dangers of not praying a prayer such as this at regular intervals. None of us want to finish up in a siding, rusting away and going nowhere! God has much more for us than that. When we truly pray the “Search me” prayer, it can be the beginning of God’s “rescue mission” for our lives!

Prayer: Search me, O God, examine my heart, test my motives, show me my sins and help me to know the things I can’t see for myself, so that I might change and be led by You in the way everlasting. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Psalm 139:23-4, NIV
“Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

None of us can look at ourselves with a totally pure and objective heart. Our motives are easily diverted from truth and reality. The natural instinct of fallen mankind is always to put a gloss on anything that’s less than savoury in our lives and pretend there’s nothing wrong! In order to really know ourselves, therefore, we need help – and what better help could we get than that which David asked the Lord for?

God will always tell us the truth, however unpalatable it may be. It takes quite a lot of courage to pray this prayer of David with a totally open heart, when we realise that there is absolutely nothing that is hidden from God. We may find out some things about ourselves, and how we relate to others, which we would rather not know about!

When, for example, we take offense over something or someone, we break relationship with whoever we think has offended us. And when we break relationship, we lose the blessings that could be ours through that particular relationship. And when we wrongfully take offense against a fellow human being, we not only break relationship with that person, but we put a barrier between ourselves and God!

No wonder the Psalmist was keen to ask the Lord to show him if there was anything in his behaviour which had its root in offense. He didn’t want to be out of fellowship with the only one who could forgive sins. So he comes before God with his whole life on an open palm, and gives God full permission to share with him anything about himself that God knows about and which needs remedial attention.

David’s prayer, which forms the scripture for today, is one of the most profound and effective prayers that anyone can pray. For if we really mean the prayer, God WILL answer it. And as we listen carefully to the things that he shows us, we have a wonderful opportunity for getting our lives back on track – not our track, but God’s – His track for our lives. I once passed a railway siding in which there were hundreds of old and rusting goods vehicles. That picture in my mind reminds me of the dangers of not praying a prayer such as this at regular intervals. None of us want to finish up in a siding, rusting away and going nowhere! God has much more for us than that. When we truly pray the “Search me” prayer, it can be the beginning of God’s “rescue mission” for our lives!

Prayer: Search me, O God, examine my heart, test my motives, show me my sins and help me to know the things I can’t see for myself, so that I might change and be led by You in the way everlasting. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will g…

2 Timothy 4:2-4, NIV
“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

I was reminded today of how a frog in a saucepan of cold water doesn’t notice that the water is, ever so slowly, getting warmer – until it is too late! The frog could easily have jumped out of the pan when the water was cold, but by the time the frog realises that the water is getting dangerously hot, it is too late and the frog dies in the now boiling water.

This is a picture of what can happen when, little by little, we dispense with what Paul describes as ‘sound doctrine’. We don’t think a little change from the foundations of truth will do us any harm and then, when we have become used to the change, we are tempted to dispense with a little more, and a little more and a little more, until suddenly we come to our senses and realise that we have walked a very long way from God’s clear pathway for life and have turned our ‘ears away from the truth’.

So much of the church today has compromised on so many aspects of Scriptural truth, especially in the area of morality and Christian behaviour, that many believers no longer know what the truth really is. They choose to follow teachers who will support their life of compromise. They are like the frog, swimming around in a saucepan of increasingly warm water, not realising that the warm fuzzy feeling they are getting is not the blessing of life, but the kiss of death!

In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul urged Timothy to guard his doctrine, for adherence to the truth would be his salvation – and that of those he would teach. Nothing has changed today. May I urge you to guard your doctrine, jump out of the saucepan of compromise and be willing to receive careful instruction so that you will not discover the consequences when it is too late!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for those who have taught me sound doctrine in the past. Please forgive me for the times I have walked away from living according to Scriptural truth. I choose today to jump out of the saucepan of compromise and diligently apply the truth’s of Your Word in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales, rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for the present life and the life to come.”1 Timothy 4:7-8,…

1 Timothy 4:7-8, NIV
“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales, rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for the present life and the life to come.”

Fiona and I drove to the top of a Forestry Commission road in Scotland. It was a steep climb on a rock-strewn road, even for the car! Close to the top we parked the car, let our dog out of the back, and thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful walk, taking in the sights and sounds of Scotland at its best on a gloriously warm summer’s day.

As we walked back to the car we were greeted by what, in that particular place, seemed quite a remarkable sight – a young woman in running gear, almost casually striding up the hill as if it was a level road! I shook my head in amazement and was full of admiration for her energy and fitness in making what was, to us, a steep climb, into a light canter in the afternoon sun! She was obviously very fit.

We saw her again on our next walk and found out that she did this run every day and no, she wasn’t training for the next big athletic event, she was doing it ‘for fun’ – just because she wanted to keep fit! I was puffing and panting walking on the almost level ground and was amazed at her determination to just enjoy being fit. Yes, her fitness had some value, as our Scripture for today reminds us. It is important that we look after the bodies God has given us, but there is another form of fitness which not only has value in our earthly walk, but has value for eternity as well.

Paul uses the illustration of training to be physically fit as a picture of the sort of training we should be doing in order to be spiritually fit – training in godliness. It is true that the moment we become believers, receive Jesus as our Saviour and make Him Lord of our lives, we are, “clothed in righteousness divine”, as Charles Wesley expressed it in his wonderful hymn, “And can it be?”. However there is also a reality that it takes time, effort and commitment to translate the clothing that God gives us into a character which is a true reflection of the nature and character of God.

As we drove back down the hill, and realised afresh how fit that young woman must have been to almost effortlessly run up that steep hill, I was challenged afresh in my heart about the calling of God on our lives not just to accept the wonderful gift of salvation – and be clothed in righteousness divine, but to equip ourselves with a knowledge and understanding of the truths in God’s Word and then apply them to the core of our being. Training in godliness requires a determination in us to be overcomers of the problems (the steep hills) we have to face when running the race of life – God doesn’t just want us to look at the hills (the issues and problems) but to be trained in spiritual fitness so that with the Lord by our side we can, indeed, become levellers of the mountains which we sometimes have to face.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the illustration Paul uses to teach us a profound spiritual lesson. Help me, Lord, to day by day be fit and ready for whatever opportunities and difficulties I may encounter on life’s journey. I want to be fit, Lord, both for my earthly spiritual journey and for sharing with you in the blessings of eternity in the life to come. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Ephesians 2:1, NIV
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”

I wonder how many of us realise the extent of our need for a Saviour. It seems to me that unless we feel a great need for a Saviour, we don’t feel that Jesus Christ is a great Saviour! When you listen to the news, and hear people speak, you notice there’s often no fear of the Lord, and no sense of the great need of a Saviour. Man feels he can do everything he needs to do. He can sew fig leaves for himself, and fix everything himself.

We need a Saviour who can forgive our sins and take away our punishment, but that’s not the whole story. The reason we need a Saviour is not that we’re in the doghouse with God and need to be forgiven for offending His glory. We need a Saviour because we’re in the morgue!

In the doghouse, and on the naughty step, you might whimper and say “sorry”. You might make some new resolutions. You might decide to cast yourself on the mercy of God. But what can you possibly do if you’re dead, in the morgue?

We don’t just need an ordinary Saviour – we need a great Saviour! By nature we’re ‘deserving of wrath’. Rebellion runs in our DNA. Left on our own, our default mechanism is to sin! ‘All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:3).

In being alive to disobedience, we’re dead to obedience. In being alive to rebellion we’re dead to godly submission and to the Lordship of Christ. In being alive to unbelief we’re dead to faith.

Our great Saviour, Jesus Christ, came to give us a new nature! He breathes into us a spiritual life, so that our hearts will be changed forever. Only then are we drawn, by the Spirit of God, to trust Him and obey Him.

We’re made to be in intimate relationship with God. Jesus said if we love Him we’ll obey Him. He’s worthy of all our love, trust, honour, obedience, thanks and worship. We can only do this by the power of the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us richly. Jesus said ‘Let him who is thirsty come, whosoever will may come. Let him take the water of life freely’ (Revelation 22:17). Let’s come to the water of life and drink.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for breathing new life into us through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and saving us from a life of disobedience, rebellion and unbelief. We exalt Your name and recognise what a great Saviour we have in You, and that we now have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Thank You, Jesus, we can now lay hold of the Covenant promises made to Abraham. Thank You that the gift of eternal life is ours through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature . . . if you live by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”Galatians 5:16, NIVThere is only one way of never coming under the law and its consequences and that’s …

Galatians 5:16 and 18, NIV
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature . . . if you live by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

There is only one way of never coming under the law and its consequences and that’s never to break it! If you are a driver and always observe the speed limit there will never be any danger of you seeing that blue flashing light in your rear view mirror which speaks of an impending speeding fine! A traffic policeman only ever has any authority over you when you break the law. When you break it, you come under it and have to face the consequences.

In his letter to the Galatians, who were clearly having some problems with ungodly behaviour, Paul makes it clear that those who pursue immorality in its variety of forms will not only suffer real consequences but says that “those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” These words of warning from Paul should be a salutary caution to believers who sometimes think it’s OK to play fast and loose with what God says in His Word.

Many times, however, people have asked me how, when there are so many temptations, it’s possible to live a pure and godly life? In our Scripture for today you will find the only real answer. These words are pure gold which, if we follow them, will not only prevent us from falling into many varied traps which the enemy lays for us in our daily walk, but will also save us from the eternal consequences as well. If we break the law we come under the law – but if we don’t break the law we are free from it!

So Paul tells us to live by the Spirit – which in very simple terms means listen to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit in your heart and take note of His warnings. The Spirit knows the heart of God and the laws of God. And He knows when we are thinking of trespassing across the boundaries of sin. If we ask Him to, He will speak those words of warning when we need them, and words of guidance as we move forward with all that God has laid before us for our lives.

We receive salvation when we receive Jesus, our Saviour. But when we receive the Spirit, God equips us to work out our salvation in the day-by-day experiences of life. And if we listen to the gentle voice of the Spirit and obey Him, we will not, as Paul tells us, come under the law. All of which is great news for believers who are desirous of living a godly and power-filled life. I pray that this is your desire.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that when You went back to Heaven You promised your people the gift of the Spirit. Thank You Lord that we can listen to His voice and be led along true and right paths. Help me. Lord, to always obey the voice of the Spirit and never to come under the law. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Ephesians 1:11-14, NIV
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…”

God’s great desire is for us to be adopted as sons and to feel secure and safe in His love and His great power. I wonder how many believers actually feel secure and safe? Everything in life can be very unstable. Things that we would like to stay the same can change very quickly. We can go to the doctors and get a prognosis which can change our future in a heartbeat. What about jobs – how many have gone to work to find out that was their last day at work and that their jobs have been made redundant? There is nothing safe and secure about jobs these days. How about money? I worked in Threadneedle Street in the City of London for many years and we dealt with people who had millions in stocks and shares in their portfolio. On Black Monday, when the stock market crashed, a man came in and said previous to the crash, he was worth 2 million pounds but now after the crash, it was all gone. That night he ended his life. Where was his security? It was totally in what he owned. When his security net had disappeared – he could not carry on.

Our security is in Christ alone. Our hope has got to be in Christ alone. Even when we fall, He promises to catch us and to be there for us. From the outset when you and I made Jesus Lord of every area of our life, we signed up for the most dangerous mission in the world! Apostle Paul describes it as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword. He says we are to be regarding ourselves as sheep to be slaughtered. In 2 Corinthians 11: 25, he describes the tribulations and terrible dangers he faced daily for the mission of God. How could Paul do this? How did he manage to avoid a nervous breakdown and be so stable and powerful in his soul despite carrying the weight of many mission churches?

The stability and power of Paul came from his security in God`s love and power. Even when everything else gives way on us, God is our eternal and unshakeable foundation. He seals us with the Holy Spirit to make us secure forever.

We know that sin is rebellion against God. But really sin is an effort to feel secure in anything else other than God. It is because God wants us to feel secure in His love and power alone, that Paul writes these letters about the Holy Spirit being our seal and deposit of our inheritance. He seals us as believers with the Holy Spirit which guarantees that we will come into our inheritance, praising his glory. God is so passionately committed to have a people for His own possession to live forever for the praise of His glory that he is not about to let our eternal destiny depend on our soulish powers of willing or doing.

He commissions the Holy Spirit to enter our lives and to make us secure forever. How good is that? If the Holy Spirit seals us, it is a stamp of ownership on us. He seals in faith and seals out unbelief and apostasy. That is the sign of God`s reality in our lives. The Holy Spirit marks us with God`s seal and protects us. The message of our seal in the Holy Spirit is a message of safety and security in God’s love and power.

By sealing us with his Spirit, who is our down payment of our inheritance, God is saying, ‘My greatest desire for those who believe in me is that you feel secure in my love. I have chosen you before the foundation of the world and I have predestined you to be my sons forever. I have redeemed you by the blood of my son and I have put my Spirit in you as a seal and a guarantee. Therefore, you will receive the inheritance and praise the glory of my great grace forever and ever.’

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that I have been chosen by name and predestined according to Your purpose. I am redeemed by Your blood and sealed by Your Spirit. My inheritance is sure and I commit myself to live for the praise of God`s glory. Please seal this truth into my spirit; that no matter what circumstances I find myself in, I know that underneath me are Your everlasting arms and that I can rely on Your love and Your almighty power to see me through. Amen.

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