Category: Devotions

Hey Jude

How flexible are you?
Do you still know the feelings of compulsion?
Can you still feel the urge to change your mind when it matters most?
Can you beg? Will you beg? Are you concerned enough to do so?
Is it worth it?
“I was going to write about salvation but I cannot, I must write to you to encourage you to remain strong in the circumstance of so many false teachers” v3
I was going to … It felt the right thing to do, at one time.
But now things have changed … I cannot.
Are you observing the circumstances? Are you seeing how they can change your message, responses, approaches to people?
Are you stubborn? Does the world have to fit into your message? One size fits all. Or does your message fit the world?
How have things changed for people you love? Write it down. Think of what they need to hear from you. Then write that down.
Post it.

So who was he?
3 John
Gaius.
A dear friend who is loved by John. Everyone needs friends.
John had a friend who he loved and the value of this friend is that Gaius:
Had a happy soul. He was positive on the inside.
He would speak the truth there was no pretence.
He was hospitable and gave to strangers.
Do you have a friend like this?
Do you have so much you want to tell them?
Do you long to see them face to face?
Send them Peace.

So who was she?
2 John
She is an elder, a leader, someone with responsibility, a woman!
She is chosen, she was meant to be there, God-appointed.
She has children, though this could be Johns way of talking of her church as he uses that word previously in such a way.
She has children who walk with God and some who don’t. She knows joy and the pain of that presumably. And so do we.
She is being mentored by John to continue in love, to persevere and not lose what she has. And so must we.
She is being taught to be on her guard against those who deceive. And so must we.
She has a sister, who is in a similar calling. She is not alone. And neither are we.

Don’t let anything get in the way of you and the Lord. Think.
1 John 5 the last verse
There are 2 major themes:
God is Light with no darkness. Contrasting the modern man who was deceptive and a liar.
God is love: so you go ahead and copy Him.
Don’t let anything stand in the way of these 2 themes.
Live in Light and with Love.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
1 John‬ ‭4:4
The stories of terror and wickedness of ISIS are not the only stories. Recently a 10 year old displaced girl who had lost everything was being filmed receiving a coat and she said “I am so thankful for my coat as I do not have anything”. Millions have seen this girl and others who through social media are forever grateful.
Evil is not having the last word.
Boots on the ground?
Strategic bombings?
No, just genuine love from a heart that is so huge.

We have been overwhelmed at the number of people and churches who have been moved to give to those persecuted in Iraq over the last 6 months. Thank you so much for your support. Because of the nature of the work and the people that are being reached, we are re-launching our IRAQ APPEAL and asking that people give to help PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. As ISIS gain ground in Iraq and Syria we want to stand with our Christian brothers and sisters, we want to pray with them and we want to give so that we can practically serve them and see more come to know Jesus Christ. http://elim.im/middleeastERA http://ow.ly/i/8TkmN

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭17-18‬ ESV)

Peter Singer a well known philosopher of our day, gives us all an interesting thought experiment to ponder on.

The Drowning Child – Peter Singer
New Internationalist, April, 1997

‘I ask my students to imagine that their route to the university takes them past a shallow pond. One morning, I say to them, you notice a child has fallen in and appears to be drowning. To wade in and pull the child out would be easy but it will mean that you get your clothes wet and muddy, and by the time you go home and change you will have missed your first class.
I then ask the students: do you have any obligation to rescue the child? Unanimously, the students say they do.
Does it make a difference, I ask, that there are other people walking past the pond who would equally be able to rescue the child but are not doing so? No, the students reply, the fact that others are not doing what they ought to do is no reason why I should not do what I ought to do.

I ask: would it make any difference if the child were far away, in another country perhaps, but similarly in danger of death, and equally within your means to save? Virtually all agree that distance and nationality make no moral difference to the situation. I then point out that we are all in that situation of the person passing the shallow pond: we can all save lives of people, who would otherwise die, and we can do so at a very small cost to us: the cost of a new CD, a shirt or a night out at a restaurant or concert, can mean the difference between life and death to more than one person somewhere in the world.’

It is such a blessing to see people being blessed. Tracy and Paul Gill, missionaries in Malawi, were able to give out seeds to farmers whose crops had been destroyed in the floods. Here are some fantastic photos of the 400 farmers who gathered for the presentation! http://elim.im/malawiseeds

An eye on the past
I am still at the beginning, it’s huge!
1 John 2

v7
Whatever new happens it is because of the old. In fact, all things new are often actually not really new, they are the old which is renewed, refreshed and is experienced as new. For example today you could fall in love with the knowledge you have a Saviour. It can feel like Jesus is saving you for the very first time such is the intensity of the moment. But of course, your Saviour was there on day one and you met him then.

v13,14
We need more fathers. Actually, we need more fathers who have known Him. Who have walked the walk. Who have gone through the years and have withstood the test of time. Who can speak of the stories of the past. Who can tell of the miracles of yesteryear.
We need fathers who know God is. They have a past knowledge of Him but it is a present reality. They talk of Him now, today, His work in the present year from a perspective of the past that strengthens not detracts.
We need fathers who have a beginning. We need fathers who were on the first page. The ones who gave us the baton.

v24
The beginning has to keep making the impact on you. Your first love is still important. Remain John says. Let the beginning remain in you. It’s not about pursuing your alpha male or being one. But it is about worshipping the God who is alpha, He is the first, the beginning and continues to be the beginning every day for someone in this world. The next time you tell someone, “God can give you a new beginning, a whole brand new start,” then realise again this is not just powerful words, this is not just amazingly true, it is everything, absolutely everything, something that must never be let go of!
Someone today, maybe you, needs to go back to the God of the beginning and stay awhile.

Don’t diss the past
1 John 1

There are a lot of conversations about the end.
The end times. The end of the world.
The Internet has colossal sites devoted to this subject.

There are a lot of dreams about the future.
People believing that their utopia is just around the corner.
Prophecies suggest that life will get better. Perfect satisfaction is about to be experienced. It is ours to reach for.

There are a lot of desires to forget the past and move on.
The old has gone the new has come, we love that verse.
We can feel failures of the past, jealous of the beginning, threatened by any sign of the beginning beginning again.

John is a guy who thinks the beginning is important. The first few words of his gospel mirror the words of Genesis, “In the beginning …” In his letter he does the same, “That which was from the beginning …”

It is in the beginning:
* that the original plans are created.
* that the calling was first given.
* that life was simpler, less was in our life, but we had more time to appreciate what we had.
* that promises were made.

John was saying it was in the beginning:
* when we first heard of Jesus.
* when we first saw Jesus.
* when we first touched Jesus.
It was in the beginning:
* when we first encountered Jesus, when we experienced Him for ourselves, when we gained a voice to speak of Him.

The key is to be able to mine your past, to get to the beginning and draw everything there is to draw for your future. Above all to draw on Him who is from the beginning. Who was there at your beginning and who is with you now.