Devotionals

Devotional For 19/09/2016

I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! (Deuteronomy 32:3)

That’s one of the great decisions that a person can take in his/her life. One of the meanings of the word proclaim is “to announce officially and publicly” and if that’s a decision that we have taken regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it will surely bring glory to the Lord. Some may ask, “Will it do any good?” It will surely.

So when was it that you announced publicly what the Lord has done for you? Of course, some may tend to see only the bad things that have happened to them and ask, “How can I when so many adverse situations plague my life?” That’s understandable and the Lord understands too, but praising him in adversity and proclaiming his name in adversity can bring great peace into our lives- the peace that passes all understanding.

David sang to the Lord in his time of adversity saying, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. (Psalm 34:1). This he sang when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

Here’s a passage from the gospel of Luke of how the Lord values our praises.
“When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:37-40)
If we keep quiet, as the Lord said, “the stones will cry out”. So shall we proclaim the name of the Lord day in and day out, for surely he is worthy of all the praise that we can give him.
 
Devotional for 20/09/2016

He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised. (Deuteronomy 26:19)


We read a couple of declarations in Deuteronomy 26 as the chapter ends. The Israelites made a declaration and so did the Lord Almighty. God declared that he was going to set them in praise, fame and honor because of a declaration that the Israelites made. The Israelites had declared that the Lord was their God and that they would walk in his ways, and that they would keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that they would obey him. (Based on Deuteronomy 26:17)

They declared a lot but couldn’t fulfill what they declared. Of course, the Lord was their God, but they ran after idols too. Very soon they would no longer be keeping his decrees, commands and laws. They were disobedient and that is how they landed up serving their enemies. The book of judges is a fine example of how they suffered because of their disobedience. For long years they were afflicted by several enemy kingdoms, but when they repented and cried to the Lord, God raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of their enemies. The book of Judges ends on a sad note. It says, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. (Judges 21:25)”

If we start living as we see fit, we walk away from God’s divine protection over our lives and make ourselves easy prey for the devil. The Bible says, “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.(Jude 1: 20-23)

The Holy Spirit is able to keep us from falling and present us before God’s glorious presence without fault and with great joy, but for that we must be obedient to God’s Word as long as we live. He will then finally set us in praise, fame and honor forever and ever.
 
Devotional for 21/09/2016

He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. (Deuteronomy 10:21)

Moses tells the Israelites that God is their praise and reminds them of the awesome wonders of which they were eye witnesses in Egypt and in the wilderness.

The Psalmists sing about God’s wondrous works in this manner:
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. (Psalm 40:5)

Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy. (Psalm 65:8)

We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. (Psalm 78:4)

Often we tend to forget the great deliverances that the Lord has wrought in our lives. Maybe we are forgetful or the present problems cloud out the works of the Lord in our not so distant past. If we kept a diary and jot down at the end of each day all that the Lord has done for us that day, there will be much to testify at the watch night service on Dec.31st. Of course there may not be any spectacular event every day, but being able to breathe freely and being able to enjoy the food that we eat each day are itself great things.

Ask the Asthmatic who is on oxygen in the ICU and he will tell you the value of a breath, because he is often short of it. Ask the one who suffers from Gastric Ulcer and Reflux and he will tell you the value of a good alimentary system for he can rarely enjoy the food that he eats.

Have a bed to lie on? Thank Jesus, for there are many who sleep on the streets and outside closed shops. Have a bed and can sleep well? —that’s even a greater blessing for there are many who hardly sleep because of fears.

Jesus is our praise. Let’s look back often and remember the goodness, kindness and compassion that the Lord has had on us and our families.

Small or great! Many are his works in our lives. So let’s praise him all the more.
 
Devotional for 24/09/2016

Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, "Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly." Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God. (Exodus 18: 9-12)


Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law or Zipporah’s father praises the Almighty God for his mighty acts in saving Moses and the Israelites from Pharaoh and his army. He has come to a realization here that Moses’ God is greater than all other gods. This happened because of Moses giving his testimony to Jethro. In v. 8 of the same chapter, we read, “Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.”

Our testimony can work wonders in the lives of people who are yet to know the Lord as we have known. A few words of how the Lord has taken charge of our lives after we have given ourselves to him can sow a seed of the gospel in the hearts of many.

That would be a sign of gratitude on our part for what Jesus did for us on the cross. In the Old Testament, we read of the Psalmist decision for God’s awesome work in his life.
“How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. (Psalm 116:12-14)

Not all may respond positively to our witnessing but we are all called to sow the seed and God will work in his own way in his own time to work out his purposes in that person. Maybe we are the 1st or 15th or 50th person to sow the seed in a person’s heart regarding the agape love of Jesus but it is all very important for God to work in that person’s life. So let’s not shrink back in testifying regarding the wondrous acts of God in our life and let many more praise God and accept Jesus as Savior when they realize the great works of God in our lives.
 
Devotional for 25/09/2016

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)


After witnessing great miracles (the parting of the red sea, the Israelites walking through the sea on dry ground and Pharaoh and his armies being drowned in the sea while pursuing the Israelites) , Moses here exalts the Lord saying that God is his strength and his song and that God has become his salvation.

Has God become your song??
Young men and women often tend to sing about their love, when in love. Where do they find the words? Where do they find the praise? It just flows out of their heart.

When you delight in someone, words come flowing from the depths of the heart.
Moses, here is rejoicing because he and the Israelites had come out victorious from a seemingly impossible situation. The Red sea in front of them and Pharaoh and his armies behind.

God can do the impossible even when all doors seem closed. He’s the one who opened a way in the sea; a way which none of them (the Israelites) saw until it was in front of their eyes. A way in which they were already walking before they realized it. A way that closed as soon as they (the Israelites) had crossed over.
A way that was opened only for them.

Search the Red Sea and you wouldn’t find the path the Israelites trod on, because it was just for them. And so it will be for you. A path through the sea (your problem) in front of you. Please expect the unexpected to happen (for your good) because your God is the one who does not change and rejoice like Moses and the Israelites did when you experience the deliverance you longed for so long. Give your God praise.
 
Devotional for 26/09/2016

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children. (Genesis 29:35)


Every time that Leah bore a son on the previous three occasions, she had a great expectation that at least then her husband would love her. When she bore the first child to Jacob she named him Reuben saying, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” When she gave birth to a son again, she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too and she named him Simeon.” When she gave birth to yet another son, her expectations were very high. She said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons. So he was named Levi.

But things did not work out for Leah as she expected. Though Jacob had bodily union with Leah, he did not love her or perhaps his love for Rachel was greater and it was evident to all including Leah.

She finally seems to have accepted her (unloved by husband) situation and so when the fourth son was born, she did not expect Jacob to love her any more than he actually was loving her, but she took a decision to praise the Lord instead.

If some situations in your life are seemingly impossible, it is better to concentrate on the Lord and focus upon his goodness and blessings and praise him rather than grumble/worry unduly about things that have not yet worked out. God can do the impossible, but sometimes we have to wait.
The Psalmist sang: I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD - in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD. (Psalm 116:17-19)

Will you sacrifice a thank offering? Will you praise him? It will give you peace of mind.
 
Devotional For 28/09/2016

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. (Isaiah 51:1, 2)

"When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many."

The call came to Abraham and he set out from the midst of idol-worshippers to a land that God was going to show him. When God called him, He gave him a set of promises which He fulfilled eventually.

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:1-3)

With Abraham set out many others and they too were blessed. Abraham was a man of worship and wherever he went he set up an altar to the Lord and worshipped him there. Because of his obedience and faith in God, God blessed him in all things.

And the promise is for us too. The Bible says,

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

God has called you through Jesus Christ to be a part of His kingdom here on earth as well as in eternity and there is no greater blessing than that.
 
Devotional for 29/09/2016

Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right. (Psalm 106:3)


Is there anyone who constantly does what is right other than the Lord? I doubt. Maintaining justice and constantly doing right is no easy thing. Many people think that what they do is right, but unfortunately in the Lord's eyes it proves to be different.

A woman caught in adultery was once brought to Jesus. We read,
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. (John 8:3-9)

Jesus is full of compassion. It's not that he was siding the person who was sinning. He wanted to give her a chance to change her life. Not only that, He wanted to show her accusers that they were no better. Thirdly, He also wanted to show that " Mercy triumphs over judgement"

As James writes,
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:12, 13)

Hope we too can find wisdom in that.
 
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