Author: missionspaul

WASH FEET or clear the dog deposits!

John 13

Jesus and his disciples are going for dinner.
The roads are dusty, their feet are dirty. No one wants to be near smelly feet. No one wants someone’s feet to be anywhere near their food. On these low dinner tables that is exactly what would have happened without the foot washer.
Every home had a foot washer.

Many years ago, I led a church into a building into the centre of the town. I loved this church, people and building! Every Sunday morning I would go down to the building very early to pray over the pews (later the chairs!) as if I was praying for the people themselves, they usually sat in the same place so it was easy to visualise!
One of the very first Sunday mornings I went to the church and approaching the side door noticed a town dog had deposited something not very nice on the step! I duly stepped over it deciding that prayer was more important. I went into the building and began petitioning God for the people, wanting a great day, wanting God to move etc. But I couldn’t get this picture of the deposit (not sure what to call it in a devotional blog!) out of my mind. I kept trying to press in with prayer but it was just there on the step of the church. I had thought about leaving it for my assistant to clear it (good training I thought!). But I was beginning to hear the direction of God to go and do what I should have done when I first entered. So I did.

When Jesus enters the room and starts eating the meal he notices no one has stooped down to become great.
So he does what they should have done.
Today, do what you should do. Become great.
Tomorrow, I will tell you more.

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IT IS STILL POSSIBLE

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

Mark 1: 12-13 You may be in a dry and barren place and you cannot find a way out, but it is still possible.

Mark 2: 3-4 You may face one obstacle after another to receive your miracle, but it is still possible.

Mark 2: 14 You may feel you are the unlikeliest person God would use, but it is still possible.

Mark 4: 37 You may be about to go under in the biggest storm of your life, but it is still possible you will survive.

Mark 5: 26 You may have given and done everything but your situation is unchanged and in fact it is worsening, but it is still possible.

Mark 5: 35 The desire of your heart may be over, but it is still possible.

Mark 6: 37 You have been called by God but you feel totally incapable, but it is still possible.

Mark 7: 32 There may be a physical diagnosis of disability made on you, but it is still possible.

Mark 8: 24 You may only be part healed, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 18 You may have failed to be successful in the works of God, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 22-24 You may be battling with doubt and unbelief, but it is still possible.

Mark 9: 38 People who should know better may try and stop you serving God, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 14 You may be hindered in your pursuit of Jesus, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 23 It is hard for the rich to be saved, but it is still possible.

Mark 10: 27 What is impossible for some does not mean it’s not possible for you.

ALL THINGS

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My God blows my mind!

Isaiah 9:6-7

Let us just take one word, the first one …. WONDERFUL.
It means amazement, surprising, astonishing, awesome, fascinating.
WONDERFUL.
This is the God you will talk to today.
He calms the storm – “The men were amazed and said ‘what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’
He walks on the water – ‘Then those who were on the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’
He preaches – ‘All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips, ‘isn’t this Joseph’s son?’
He is wise – ‘He said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this they were amazed.’

I cannot work Him out, I cannot get a hold of Him.
I carry a contradiction in my life of seeking to see someone invisible; of knowing one who is unknowable; of understanding One who is beyond understanding; of being satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time, like Peter wanting desperately to follow Him and be a disciple but at the same time crying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinner.”

He blows my mind! He is WONDERFUL.

The Apostle Paul wrote the great doctrines of faith, justification, righteousness, adoption, sovereignty of God, surely He has understood God, surely He has it all worked out. But immediately after these doctrines, he writes:
Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God;
How u searchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out, Romans 11:33.
At one time he tells Timothy, “I know whom I have believed’ but also says to the Corinthians, “I know in part’ and to the Philippians, ‘I want to know Christ’.
There is so much more.
HE IS WONDERFUL.
Let’s not rule out the wonder of God. I’m all for restoring this. For He blows my mind!

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HE IS MARCHING ON PARADE

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS MARCHING, v7 is the time when you feel like giving up.

He is making a way before is so that we follow.
The march is a walk of dedication. This walk is only for the desert times. Determination is for when it is tough, when you want to give up.

But it is a march for the future, with a promise:
v9 a march of refreshment and abundance for you
v10 a march of establishing you
v10 a march of provision for you.

It is not a hidden march:
v24 He is revealing Him in you.
v25 it is loud!
v27 it is always led by the least likely, the smallest tribe. But those willing to praise, to lay their lives down.

Join Him in this march, learn how to usher in His presence through constant praise in your life.

A victim of the Holocaust scratched a Star of David on a house wall in Germany:
I believe in the sun – even when it does not shine.
I believe in love – even when it is not shown.
I believe in God – even when He does not speak.

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

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HE IS RIDING

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS RIDING, v4-6 is the time of the presence of clouds.

The clouds of life are the vehicles for carrying His presence.
v5 The clouds of having no one to guide and instruct you and you feel vulnerable and unprotected.
v6 The clouds of loneliness and of feeling trapped.

But the presence of clouds is not the condition for our praise, but the confirmation of our praise.
We praise because of His name, ‘The Lord’, which is the name in Exodus 3:15 when Moses stands before the burning talking bush and hears ‘I AM’. It is hard to understand the meaning of this name. But to know that ‘I will be all that I AM in every situation’ comes close.

HE IS NEARER THAN YOU THINK.

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HE IS RISING

My God is nearer to me than sometimes I realise.

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Psalm 10:1

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Psalm 22:1

When God seems not to be there, He may be the nearest He has ever been.

Psalm 68 tells us God is never dormant.

HE IS RISING, v1 is the time of the presence of an enemy provoking you.
You need to pray ‘God arise in my situation’. Not ‘my’ enemies but ‘his’.
It is not what opposes ‘me’ but ‘Him’ that is important.
Some enemies are important, they need to stay. We need to know which.
For the presence of an enemy in your life can be the greatest means of GRACE ever experienced.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 “You do not need anything more to deal with the enemy that I am never going to remove.”
“My unconditional love, kindness, Grace is enough.”

The presence of an enemy in your life can be the greatest means of POWER ever experienced.
2 Cor 12: 9 being too weak to remove an enemy is the time when you are the strongest.
So why do we pray God arise (Psalm 68:1)? It is because the things that should not be there are removed and what He wants there remain.
Therefore the focus of our praying is not to get the enemy out, but to get God in.
HE IS NEARER THAN YOU REALISE!

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HE CAN CHANGE MY SITUATION

My God always can do what I sometimes think cannot be done.

Exodus 14

They were trapped between the sea and Pharaoh. Do you know this situation? You cannot go forward and you cannot go back. So often we try to escape.
God says ‘Move on!’.

We all know God will make a way where there is no way.
But what some don’t know is that though God opens the way for a change in your situation, you need to walk in it.
Walking through a miracle can be a frightening experience. It takes great faith.
Problems will still be in front of you and if you want to continue to see a God who can you will need to face those problems.
Many do not move forward because they think they cannot.
But that is only in your mind.
You serve a God who can.
Some will say the timing is not right.
But that is used often because we think it is too difficult or our mind says it is impossible.

What do you think cannot be done in you or your situation?

HE CAN!!!

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YES HE CAN CHANGE YOU!

My God always can do what I sometimes think cannot be done.

You may be the person waiting for the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-37.
This person is always left with enough life to be revived again, v30.
Your enemy would love to do the last rites over your faith. Some of you may have wept over what has been robbed from you, such has been your grief, that you have forgotten what is left.
Your joy, passion, power and boldness. Stop the pity party. Grab a hold of what is left and be what God says you can be. How?
Your miracle is not in what you lost but in what is left.
Think of creation.
Adam was a man but until the breath of God came upon him he was not living, Genesis 2:7
Potential is not enough. We need the power to reach our potential.
We need God to breathe upon us so that we can live. So that our ministry, gifts, calling, relationships can thrive and be. That they move further than being a form of what they could be.

Ezekiel 37: 1-14

A potential army but not a working one. What good is this?
v1-2 you must be willing to confess your situation, “I am bone dry!”
v4 you must again turn to God’s Word.
v5 you must hear your potential.
v7 you must be ready for some uncomfortable shaking and rattling to get you free from complacency.

But God can get you into being what you can be, v10.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John 3:8
Has the Holy Spirit blown on you?

HE CAN CHANGE ME!

HE CAN CHANGE ME

My God always can do what I sometimes think cannot be done.

Whenever God speaks, breathes or touches then the person or their problem is never the same again. There is an immediate change.

Whether it be for God to bring into place what is not …
“And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light” Genesis 1:3

Or to get a demonic oppression off you …
“With the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:4

Or whether it be to change you into a person of courage …
“Saul accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.” 1 Samuel 10:26

… God can do what sometimes you think cannot be done.
God can work a miracle in your life today.
He can bring about change in your service and situation.

HE CAN CHANGE ME
You may be the prodigal son/daughter, Luke 15: 11-32
The prodigal is someone who knew God, who worked for Him, used of Him, spoke with Him, lived closely with Him but chose to leave all that for a life away from Him.
Within that prodigal the gifts of God and God’s call for that person to become all that they can become, though now weakened, pressed down and held back is still there.
The prodigal always knows the way home. Along that path back home they will meet, ‘My God always can do what I sometimes think cannot be done’.
He will restore them, change them, bring them back into service, equip them and cause them to become all that they can become.

God can do this for you.

It’s not over

2 Samuel 4:4
(Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

I was dropped.

I didn’t fall on my feet like others do.

I was overlooked by man.

But it’s not over …

What an encouragement!