Category: Devotions

The beauty of His glory

2 Corinthians 3

This beautiful section reminds us during this Christmas season that it is in the unveiled Christ that we see the glory of God, we see and know God!

The beauty is in the fact that you have experienced this individually. Obviously you have not seen Him in an outward physical form but however, you have seen Him in a greater way. For you have experienced His reality to change you. He has written upon your heart His life. His submission to the will of His Father is printed deep in you. This glory has taken hold of you and you now know that it is what He wants from you also. From manger to cross He carried the marks that indicated His life was not His own, He was here for others. This is what others see in you as you have seen this in Him.

Stuck on guidance?
2 Corinthians 2:12-14

Paul went to Troas to meet Titus who was going to give him the response from the Corinthian church to his first letter to them. He was anxious for this response as it had been quite forceful. When he arrives at Troas though there was an opportunity to preach and he could have done so, he was not in the right state of mind because Titus wasn’t there, he was so anxious to meet him and get the news. So he moves on.

Isn’t this great? The Apostle Paul having to be so flexible and he also says I had no peace of mind because it didn’t turn out the way he thought it would have done.

Some days are like that aren’t they?
The whole Christmas story is about a turn of events that were not perfect by any means. Flexibility was needed, changes to decisions, anxiety, there was so much going on.
And yet the beautiful thing is that Paul continues:
But thanks be to God
Who always leads us in victory
And through us spreads influence everywhere.

So if your day doesn’t turn out how you had expected then feel free to make a decision. Don’t sit there wondering what God wants you to do. Make a decision. If you don’t know what to do as a friend. But know this:
You must keep on in thankfulness to God
You must walk in the victory He gives
You must continue to influence wherever you go.

This is the guidance I like.

TRUST
2 Corinthians 1
Trust is knowing that the gauge for what God wants us to go through is not our ability to cope, v8.
Trust begins when we are no longer in control of a circumstance, v9.
Trust does not mean we will not be defeated, but if we are then it means we will re-emerge, v9
Trust is fuelled by the prayers of others, v10-11.

I am in Macedonia!

1 Corinthians 16:5-9

It may or may not be the Macedonia that Paul spoke about, but I am in the Skopje of Macedonia, not Athens of Greece. Confused? Just Google it.

Anyway Paul was going through Macedonia. He decided he would go to Corinth because after all it was along the way. He is not fully decided how long he will stay, in fact he uses the word ‘perhaps’. He doesn’t want a short time with them but He is hoping the Lord makes it possible for a longer stay.

I love this!

I do not believe in waiting for every piece of the ‘Jigsaw Guidance Puzzle’ before we move. I used to be a Christian petrified of stepping out of the will of God I never made any steps! But now I believe in strategy and I believe God has given us a creative ability to build that strategy based on knowing who we are in Him and His gifting in us.
Several weeks ago a potential missionary couple came for an interview and during the course of that meeting we were able to get the map of the world out and have fun building some strategic moves of where this couple should be placed. They and I loved it, it was a fresh approach for them and they will be heading to Guatemala in 2015, a brand new mission field for us!

In the verses that we read today, Paul is flexible according to his situation.
He had an overall strategy for his journey.
He knew that God can and does intervene but this is not from us asking Him to do so but from our journey.
God does step in but within the steps we are already making.
Those who sit waiting will sit waiting.

So whatever you are doing in life have some fun. Don’t feel contained and restricted in anyway. Don’t worry about God, He will intervene if He needs to. You love Him and love His world and enjoy life serving Him!

“All I have left is my eternity. The enemy cannot take my eternity.”

The lady had been raped continuously by several men for over half an hour. Before and after the dark event her life was as opposite as you could get.
What a precious privilege for me to sit with this lady and to hear that though her enemy had taken everything that was sacred from her life, all that she was, all that she could give and had severed the relationship with her husband, there was one thing the enemy could not take.
That one thing the lady hung on to like a treasured possession.
I had what she had, but I learnt that day to hold my eternity with such gratefulness and joy as this lady, for one day I may also only have that one thing left.

1 Corinthians 15
Let us preach that Christ was raised, v4.

Our preaching is not in vain and we are not liars, Christ was raised, v14-15.

Because Christ was raised we too will be raised in eternity, v16.

Christ is raised and our faith is true and we are free, v17.

The last enemy of our life is death, it has been defeated, v26.

Eternity makes suffering worthwhile, v32.

This body with its pain and disease will waste away but our eternal bodies are powerful, v43.

When everything is stripped away all one has is their eternity.

Do you disagree?
v18 of 1 Corinthians 14
If it brings forward mysteries.
If it builds us up individually.
If it means our spirit is praying.
Then why do we not use it more often?

I have been impressed by those who can preach with charisma.
I have been awed by those who speak through a filter of heaven itself.
I have been excited by those who speak for God.
For those with wisdom and knowledge, those with huge faith levels I have given the deepest of respect to.
But what always stirs my heart are the givers, of what they have and of themselves, laying everything down before God and man.
1 Corinthians 13
These are the people we usually admire and aspire to become. Oh how we rave about these gifted, skilled and sacrificial people!

But do they love people?
Is love for others the motivation behind their gifting, their action?
Loving really matters.
How you treat people counts!
Without love all you have is nothing.

I am disturbed
1 Corinthians 12

Last week I was privileged to be in the DRC. It has had I believe one of the most profound effects upon me than anywhere in the world to present. Moving as near as was safe to do to the rebel areas we were taken to very brave communities. So why the profound effect?
Was it the fact that they were living underneath an active volcano which clearly had erupted not so long ago? Was it the fact that last year the rebels came and looted, destroyed the farming, raped the women, killed and maimed the men? Was it the fact that these people despite their trauma were so thrilled to be worshipping God with passion, their faith still strong in God?
Maybe. But I actually believe I have been so effected because I connected to these people with the recognition these were my faith family. They are part of the body of Christ of which I am also.

Last night a Pastor from Pakistan posted a video on facebook of Christians being brutally massacred. I was speechless. I was numbed. I was deeply moved. It stayed with me overnight. Was it because of the act upon them? Was it because of disgust that a crowd gathered to watch? Maybe. But I believe it was because of the connection that I have with these people. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ. They are part of the body of Christ of which I am also.

They are the body of Christ that I am part of. There are many parts but one body, v20.
I cannot say because they are a people so different to me, have a different language to me, live culturally so very different, in a different part of the world that I have no responsibility to them. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it, v26.
I belong to them and they to me. I cannot forget them nor should I, v27.

This is why I do what I do. Please join me.

Will the meetings today do more harm than good?
1 Corinthians 11:17
When they met men and women were competing to be the prominent person and those within marriages were the worst!
Within their community they couldn’t cope with the differences between each other and so they just argued.
When they took communion, it was more like a bring your own buffet and there was plenty of alcohol available, it was more like a party than a remembrance of a sacrificial death and a selfish party at that.
The problems were within their worship.
So will the meetings today do more harm than good?
I guess that will depend on whether we have finished duelling with the opposite sex appearing to be more spiritual than the other. Let the women look up in wonder of God and the men bow their head in submission to God.
It will depend on whether our differences are so important that we stay together in division or separate and go to the other church round the corner.
It will depend not on the style of communion we take but whether being in communion we honour the body of Christ.
I guess for some the meetings will do more good and sadly some will do more harm.

If only …
1 Corinthians 10
If only people could finish as well as start, v1-5
Maybe today the crowds prefer the starting line and what will happen and what will be experienced rather than the finishing line and what did happen and was experienced.
The starting line isn’t exhausting.
Many start few finish.

If only people could live in light of Christ’s death, v14-22
Some either over emphasise the Lord’s Supper, communion or mass turning it into something supernatural and others under emphasise it turning it into something unrecognisable to what Jesus had in mind.
Why don’t people having partaken in Christ learn to die like him? Some are doing this right now but others are concentrating too much on living.

If only people could be free without hurting others, v22-33
But they use their freedom to please themselves.
Often pleasing yourself will hurt someone else.
There needs to be a new understanding of freedom.

If only.