Devotionals

Ephesians 5:1-2, NIV
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

In our early years we learn the most by copying our parents. We watch what they do, take it into our mind, think about it and then we imitate them. Often it is a huge shock to parents to see just how closely their children have been watching and copying them – and it seems as though the children find it easier to copy the bad things than the good things! What Mum and Dad do becomes the example they will follow.

God intended that the way godly parents conduct themselves would teach their own children about godliness. But what He didn’t intend was that mankind would use their free will to rebel against God and thereby conduct themselves in ways that are far from godly, thus introducing their children to the rebellious ways of their parents.

Paul was well aware of the problem in the Ephesian church. There was a lot of very ungodly behaviour which he was drawing their attention to in his letter. Then he tells them that there is only one way to put things right – to forget the ungodly lessons they have learnt from ungodly parents and start imitating their heavenly Father – the only Father who will always give us a good and right example to follow.

But if we’ve never seen God, how is it possible for us to imitate Him? The answer simply lies in the character and nature of His Son. For Jesus is a perfect imitation of His Father. When we look at Him, we can know exactly what the Father is like. And if we take our standard of living from His example, as opposed to the defective examples that many of us have had to follow, then He will build in us, and then in our children, an image of love – that sacrificial love which Jesus had for all people and which is constantly drawing people to Him and then to the Father.

When we imitate Him, our lives will be a fragrant offering to Father God, which will bless Him and then be a blessing to all with whom we are in contact for the rest of our days. We all have a wonderful Dad we can copy – and it’s wonderful to have His Son as our Brother!

Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for showing us just what Your Father is like, so that we will know what a wonderful Heavenly Dad we all have. Help me, Lord, to do what Paul says and imitate Him, so that our lives will be a fragrant love offering to God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Ellel 365 – Online Training School

Forgiveness – The Master Key – Book by Peter Horrobin

Genesis 27:41, NIV
Esau held a grudge against Jacob, because of the blessing his father had given him.

The English word, grudge, is so expressive. It sounds exactly like it’s meant to. Not very nice! Show me a person who is carrying a grudge against someone else, and I will show you a person who is limping through life with a serious disability. The extent of that disability is directly related to how deep and bitter the resentment is in the heart of the person who is bearing the grudge.

Esau bore a grudge against Jacob for the way he lost his father’s blessing. Jacob did not behave well and had cheated his brother. As a result Jacob had to be on the run for his life for many years, because of Esau’s grudge and his murderous anger. It destroyed the rest of Esau’s life too, and robbed him of so much.

The fundamental issue at the heart of carrying a grudge is always unforgiveness. When unforgiveness grows in intensity and become hatred, it turns into a grudge, and a person with a grudge can then turn in his anger against whoever has hurt him, sometimes even in violence. When a serious crime has been committed the police will always look for a motive for the killing. When they find it, so often they uncover a long-held grudge which has eventually become an uncontrollable force in the person’s life leading to them committing a crime.

I feel the Lord very specifically directed me to this Scripture for today, because there will be people who are reading this devotional who are carrying long-held grudges against certain individuals who, like Jacob did to Esau, have hurt them, robbed, them or cheated on them. What has happened is fact and cannot be changed. But there is one thing that can be changed – and that’s your attitude towards the person or persons involved. Carrying a grudge against them can only ever create more problems for you.

Unless you forgive, that grudge will be like a developing lameness in your character and personality, which will eventually rob you of your capacity to live and enjoy life. And it could even lead you to do something that you would forever regret.

I realise it may be hard, but may I encourage you to live the Lord’s prayer, and forgive, as you would want to be forgiven. Allow Jesus to take the pain and the hurt and trust Him with the outcome – and watch Him heal your limp as the change in your heart releases you from the bondage of the enemy – and, even, brings His blessing into the life of the person who hurt you. That is what Jesus did for us – won’t you do to others as you would want Him to do for you? Carrying a grudge is always destructive. Forgiveness is always life-transforming.

Prayer: Help me, Lord, to forgive anyone against whom I’m carrying a grudge. I don’t want to be limping through the rest of my life because of the attitude of my heart. I do want to live the reality of the Lord’s Prayer. Help me to overcome the resistance of my own carnal nature and walk in your ways. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Start 2010 with Ellel 365 – Online Training School

Forgiveness – The Master Key – Book by Peter Horrobin

Psalm 37:4, NIV
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Don’t you just love the promises of God?! Like any good dad, He rejoices to bless His children. He wants them, whenever possible, to know and to enjoy His provision and his blessing in their lives. But there’s a condition attached to the promise – it’s a simple one – first delight yourself in Him.

Now what does that mean? First and foremost it means you must know Him and love Him. You cannot delight yourself in someone you don’t like or love! If you have an idea that God’s not loveable then you will probably have had some difficult experiences in life, especially when you were young, that have made it difficult for you to trust and love God. God is able and willing to heal those as we forgive those who have hurt us.

Then, when you really love someone, it’s your joy and desire to find out what will bless them. And as you do so you discover that you are getting blessed yourself, and the things that you desire change, so that you are looking for those things that will be a blessing in your relationship with God. It’s in this process that we discover the amazing dynamic taking place that the desires of our heart have become the things that God wants to bless us with.

Yes, there are often tough times in life as well – but if our relationship with the Lord is right, then He will sustain us through the tough times and even then, we will discover the amazing truth that our desires, at those times also, are those that will bring joy to father God – and those things that bring joy to Him are also the things that will bless us the most!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your amazing love and that you delight to bless your children. I choose, Lord, to delight myself in you and trust you to then give me the desires that you fill my heart with. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Hebrews 13:14, NIV
For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

On Boxing Day 2004, thousands of people were enjoying themselves on the beaches of Thailand. It was a glorious day for holiday makers from all over the world, who were enjoying a Christmas break in a warm and inviting climate. Conditions were idyllic when, quite suddenly, the sea began to go out exceptionally quickly. People were fascinated and confused by what was happening. Boats, that a few minutes earlier were bobbing happily on the water, were now stranded on the sand.

A few informed people knew what was happening and began to flee the beaches and head off inland as fast as they could possibly go. But the majority were left playing on the empty beach. Far out to see the biggest wave that anyone had ever seen was gaining momentum, as the sea was simply responding to the consequences of a huge, underwater earthquake. Even when the huge wave could be seen approaching the beach, it was beyond their comprehension and people had no idea what to do. The majority were just swept up in an unstoppable torrent of water. On that day about 250,000 people lost their lives in the biggest tsunami the modern world had ever seen.

This is all fresh in my mind because I’ve just watched a film made up of the video clips from the cameras of those who were caught up in it all. The frightening suddenness of the tsunami was totally overwhelming. But as my wife and I watched the unforgettable images of disaster we realised that not only were the pictures a record of unparalleled disaster, but they were also a parable for an unthinking world.

None of us have any idea when Jesus will return, or what traumas the world will have to endure before that great and terrible day when God winds up the clock of the ages, but right now it feels as though the tide has gone out on the beaches of life and the world’s people are playing on them as if there’s no particular problem. They don’t see the terrible consequences that will one day come, as a result of the hidden earthquakes that are shaking the world’s financial, political, religious and moral systems. In recent months the world’s financial systems have been severely shaken. The tide is going out and it seems as though a world shaking tsunami is gathering momentum.

There is only one place where mankind can be safe when such a ‘tsunami hits the beaches’ and that’s to be hidden in Christ. He is our only absolute security, for, as our Scripture for today says, we don’t have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Christ has gone on ahead. he is preparing a place for us. He is our, and the world’s, only hope. How important it is that we know who we are trusting in, and that we pray with greater intensity and urgency for the people who are playing on the beaches, ignorant of what is happening.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that in You I have absolute security and that even though we have no enduring safety, in You we have eternal security. Open my eyes, Lord, to the needs of those around me so that I may use every opportunity to warn those who are unconcerned about the need, to urgently find their place in the Kingdom of God – where believers will dwell in our eternal and enduring city. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Ephesians 4:14-15, NIV
Then we will no longer be infants . . . instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him, who is the Head, that is Christ.

Children don’t behave like adults! They have so much to learn when they are very young. It is only little by little that they grow in understanding and behaviour and develop their character and potential in God. Everyone is so happy to see the children grow up like this to maturity. That was God’s desire and intention from the beginning.

But if a person should remain a child, way beyond the years of childhood, it would be obvious to everyone that something was seriously wrong. How sad it is that so many people in the Body of Christ do remain like children in matters of faith and doctrine and living the Christian life, but hardly anyone seems to notice!

It is vital that those who are the Pastors (shepherds of the sheep), should be encouraged to speak the truth in love to people, so that they will take up their responsibility to grow up in Christ, teaching them how to grow to maturity as believers and disciples of Jesus. For if they don’t, the witness of the Body of Christ to the society in which we live will always be weak and less effective than God intended.

Each and everyone of us is an evangelist to our friends, neighbours and family. It’s so important that our witness to them, should be one of Christian maturity and love. Jesus called us to follow Him and that also means being an agent for the King as we represent His Kingdom on Planet Earth!

Prayer: Help me, Lord, to recognise those areas of my Christian life where I have not grown to maturity, so that I can grow up and be more effective witness for the Kingdom of God in the community in which I live. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Micah 7:7, NIV
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Saviour; my God will hear me.

When I was a child, Christmas Day was the most exciting day of the year. My brother and I would wait in great expectancy for Christmas morning. But it wasn’t just us who were excited. Mum and Dad were just as excited as they watched with great pleasure and joy at our reactions when the annual pillow-case was opened long before dawn. I can remember even now some of the childhood gifts that made the greatest impact on me!

For hundreds of years God’s people had hung on to the promises of the prophets. One day they knew there would be an astonishing event that would transform the world, when God himself would fulfil the expectations of the waiting people and their Messiah, God their Saviour as Micah described Him, would come.

But as the centuries rolled by and the people of God went through times of great distress, you can understand their constant questioning of God as to when it was all going to happen. But each time one of God’s prophets spoke out what was on the heart of God, it seemed as though the promised coming of the Messiah was still on God’s agenda. And that was what Micah was saying in our verse for today – ‘I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Saviour.’ He’s still coming!

Just as children feel that Christmas will never come, but eventually it does. God’s people thought Messiah would never come, but then He suddenly did. We have so much to rejoice in and give thanks to God for. Sadly, most of the Jewish peoples didn’t recognise Him when he came. But today we are seeing a new day dawning, with more and more Jewish Messianic believers joining with the Gentile believers and together worshipping our Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

I pray that this Christmas will be a time of great rejoicing for you and your family as you look to the One who is Saviour and Redeemer – the one who opened up the way for all God’s children to enter once again into relationship with Father God. Just as my parents rejoiced at how we loved our presents – Father God rejoices when we welcome His Son – the greatest gift the world has ever known!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that your promises were gloriously fulfilled in Jesus. Thank you that this Christmas awe can celebrate the fact that Jesus came and that we can look forward to the time when He comes again. Thank you for the joy of knowing the One who is God my Saviour. In His Name, Amen.

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John 8:31, NIV
To the Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”.

There’s a certain pride in men, and maybe in some women as well, that wants people to believe they can do things, without anyone else telling them how to do it! Commonly, for example, people will set about assembling a piece of equipment without first reading the instructions. Eventually when all their efforts have failed and somehow or other the equipment doesn’t look or function like it should, they will dig out the instructions and start again!

Sadly, many believers adopt a similar approach to living the Christian life – they try and work it out for themselves, without reference to the instruction manual. Often, it’s only when things seem to be getting really out of order that people begin to think they may have got something wrong. And by the time that happens there could be serious problems in their life.

Many people look to Jesus for the freedom He has promised, thinking that, as believers, such freedom is theirs by right. They can’t understand why God isn’t answering their prayers! Our Scripture for today contains one of the most important keys to the problem. Of course, it’s true, that Jesus wants people to know His freedom and experience His healing. Jesus says as much when he clearly states that ‘the truth will set you free’.

But before that, He equally clearly says there’s a condition attached to the freedom He promises, and that is ‘if you hold to my teaching’. Or, in other words, if you read the instructions and put them into practice in your life! A disciple is not just someone who believes in the truth, but someone who obeys it. And that is the vital point that Jesus is making.

As believers we can expect God to honour the promises in His word, but only when we fulfil any conditions that are attached to them. In order to fulfil the conditions, we first need to know what they are – or read the instructions! The Bible is God’s instruction manual for the human race – if we ignore it our pride will always get us into trouble!

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You not only want us to know Your freedom, but You loved us enough to teach us what it means to follow and obey You. Forgive me Lord for my pride of wanting You to bless me when there are things in my life which are not in line with Your will and purposes. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Ellel 365 – Online Training School

Healing Through Deliverance – Book by Peter Horrobin

John 14:5-6, NIV
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.”

Sometimes life is a bit like an unknown jungle or a maze!

In the jungle, there are tall trees rising up out of heavy undergrowth, interspersed with many different tracks and pathways and, apparently, no signposts. I once watched a film, telling the story of what happened to a boy who was lost in the forests of the Pacific North West. Whichever way he looked, all the pathways through the forest looked the same – there was no indication whatsoever as to which was the way out. From ground level the jungle is an impossible barrier to escape from.

In many of our great houses, the gardeners built a maze of thick, high hedges, for the entertainment of the family and visitors. The more complicated the maze the harder it was to get to the seat where you could rest in the middle of the maze. But once in, there was only one way out and it’s easy to get trapped.

If you are high up, however, you can look down on the jungle or the maze, and see at a glance which is the right way to go to get out of the mess you’re in. And if you’re on the ground and have a mobile phone, the person who is high up, looking down on you, can easily direct your steps, so that you know exactly which direction to go at any moment of time.

Long before man invented the mobile phone God showed man how He could speak directly into the hearts of His children. He didn’t need a phone, but we did need to have our ears of the spirit open to listen in to the communication channel we call prayer. He is high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1) and from His vantage point He can see everything that’s happening. No matter how thick the jungles of life may be or how complicated the maze seems to be, we don’t need to be lost.

Jesus expressed this wonderful truth so simply, but powerfully when He said to Thomas “I am the way!” It’s not a pathway we need to follow – it’s a Person – a Person who can see the way ahead and who longs to speak to His children and give them the benefit of His wisdom and direction. He has promised that He will show us His way for our lives. One of the songs we used to sing at our Church Youth Group was:

‘My Lord, knows the way through the wilderness,

All I have to do is follow!”

The words may be simple, but they are incredibly profound. Following Him requires us to humble ourselves, submit to His authority in our lives and walk in obedience – and we will find then our way out of the jungles or the mazes of life.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you have promised to show me the way. Help me to have my ears always open to listen to your voice so that I can know where to put my feet on my journey through life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Ellel 365 – Online Training School

Healing Through Deliverance – Book by Peter Horrobin

Revelation 22:6, NIV
The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

If you know a word can be trusted because it is true, then you can stake your life on it. I once crossed the notorious Morecambe Bay sands on foot.

They are notorious because when the tide comes in across the sands, it can travel at the speed of a galloping horse and many is the walker who has been caught out by the incoming tide, sometimes at the cost of his own life. A few years ago some Chinese cocklers were gathering the cockles from the sands at low tide and a number of them died because they had misjudged the speed with which the water was coming in.

But the sands are not just dangerous because of the incoming tides, Morecambe Bay has many areas of quicksands which will not hold the weight of a person, and it is very easy to be sucked down into the sands. Some have never been seen again!

So how did I get across the sands safely? Because I was being taken across by Cedric Robinson who knows the sands and their dangers so well that he has made a successful career of guiding walkers across the Bay. When Cedric says walk here, you know it’s safe – he’s crossed the Bay hundreds of times. His word is trustworthy.

When the angel spoke to John, and John wrote it down, you can know that the testimony is trustworthy because it’s true. Many people have tried to discredit the prophecies of Scripture, but as the centuries roll by, more and more events demonstrate the truth of the Word of God. We can trust what God says in His Word.

This world is coming to an end. There is still time for people to find their Saviour, but for how much longer? No-one knows, but one thing we do know, Jesus is offering the free gift of the water of life now to all who come to Him (Revelation 22:17). His word can be totally trusted and revelation tells us He is coming again. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that Your word tells us the truth about your first coming and the truth that You are coming again. Help me, Lord, to so live that I will always be ready for when that moment comes. Amen

Ellel 365 – Online Training School

Arise and Build – Teaching DVD by Peter Horrobin

Ezra 1:5, NIV
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites – everyone whose heart God had moved – prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

If you are gathering a group of people to share in a task together, what sort of people do you want on your team? Would you like to have people who didn’t want to be there, but who were helping you out of a sense of duty? How about people who didn’t really agree with what you were doing? How about those who were full of pride and were always wanting to do their own thing, instead of what was needed to be done?

How about those who would say ‘Yes’ to your face, but then go off and have a quiet sleep somewhere? And would you like to have people who talked about you behind your back, always trying to undermine your leadership? I’m sure you could think of a few other categories of folk that it would not be good to have on your team!

The job in hand was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. God only wanted people on Ezra’s team who really wanted to be there – and not because Ezra had asked them to join the team, but because God had already spoken into their hearts, and they wanted to be there because this was their place of calling in Him.

I’d rather have a team of unskilled people who are willing to learn, but whose hearts are totally right towards God, than a team of experienced and skilled folk who didn’t want to be there. Isn’t it interesting that when Jesus was selecting the disciples, who would form the foundational team for the Church, he didn’t select anyone who had prior skills at teaching, leading prayer meetings or any of the other things that church leaders might do. He chose those whose hearts God had moved to respond to the call, ‘Come, follow me.’

If God has called you to something, and you really know it’s God, then go and do it with all your might. And if you are a leader always look for those whose hearts God has moved, to join you in the task – they are the ones who will faithfully give their all for the sake of the Kingdom.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the privilege of sharing with you in the work of the Kingdom of God. Help me always to do those things that you have called me to do, with all my heart and all my strength. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Living the Life – Book by Peter Horrobin