Devotion Thoughts - 26/04/2011

Judges 6:1-40


A prophet was instructed by the Lord to point out the sins of the people (v.8).


When someone points out any sin we have committed, how do we react? Accept correction? Be defensive about our sin? The smart option is to admit to sin, ask God for forgiveness, believe that it is yours, and move on. That's what David did (2 Samuel 12:7), and received God's forgiveness. His response is recorded in Psalm 51. God will forgive confessed sin. If there is any unconfessed sin in your life take this comment as a word from the Lord and confess. As always, the Lord will bless and you can move on with your life.

Luke 22:55-71, Luke 23:1-10


If we are in the company of unbelievers there is the danger that, like Peter, we will deny the Lord. Remaining silent when the Lord's name is used as a curse is a form of denial. Peter's problem was that he did not yet have the presence of the Holy Spirit in him, helping him to control any wrongful tendencies. After Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was in control of his life, Peter boldly witnessed for Jesus (Acts 2:14). Without God's power to help us we will also hold back with our witnessing.

Proverbs 14:5-6


Good habits must be developed; become a way of life for us. Bad habits are not only about lies; they include being unreliable, that is, not doing things you have committed yourself to do, or focusing only on your own interests and not going out of your way to do things for your neighbour. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-36) gives three examples of reactions to a problem that were probably the result of an habitual way of life:

1. The priest chose to ignore the problem completely;


2. the Levite saw there was a problem but did not have the will to do anything about it;


3. the Samaritan went out of his way to sort the problem out.
   
   
   

Self-centredness does not please God;we must get out of our comfort zone on behalf of others(v.37).

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CHRISTIAN POETRY

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. (Romans 14:13)

THE CHALLENGE

I could not sleep for I was challenged
by an overheard remark.
'Call yourself a Christian? Then I don't need it!'
Not said to me personally,
but nevertheless a challenge.
For I am part of that body;
the Christian body
to which all believers belong.
It is the body of God's people;
called to be one; united in Him.
But we behave like separate parts;
by wrong actions that speak louder than right words,
thereby hurting that holy body.
Is our faith irrelevant? Like a rainless cloud?
Those not of Christ's body think so.
They will never find God, scorning Him
thanks to the members of His body; like you and me.

They despise our unconvincing pretensions to spirituality
that switch them away from learning about
He Who can give them Life Everlasting; Salvation.

'O, Lord, let it not be I
who cheapens Your image,
and withholds Your love for those not of Your body.
Correct me and all those in Your body
whose loveless deeds turn others off.
Make us one; united in Your love'.

With troubled mind
I slip out of bed and, broken,
bow my head low.
I unburden before God.
I weep for myself and my brethren.
I claim forgiveness for what I have done
to hurt my Lord and others.

God is so gracious!
Slow to anger; swift to forgive!

There is release! My burden is gone!
Yes, I, too am guilty but, hearing my confession,
my Lord forgives and forgets!
Praise His name!

I know I cannot change others;
only God can do that (if they ask Him to).
But He has changed me. Right after my confession.
With God's help I will learn to love all others.
Without conditions. Just as Jesus did.

And now I can sleep!
…………

CONFESSIONS OF A CHRISTIAN

8 October 2009.
Hi there!
I guess it had to happen sometime. After a lot of thinking about whether to go ahead or not, I have decided to go ahead with an account of my Christian experiences. The idea is for others to learn from my experiences (mostly mistakes!) so that they can avoid making the same mistakes that I did. At 70 years of age (as at September 2009) I have had a lot of opportunities to make many mistakes! But thank God for the peace He gives when we acknowledge our wrongs!

This is not going to be only an autobiography although I will share some of the events from my life. And it certainly will not be in chronological sequence. As I think of something I will be writing about it. It will be a sharing of what I have learned about being a Christian through the years since I became a born again believer on 25 October 1957, just before I wrote my matric. I will be including other writings such as short stories and poetry which I hope you will enjoy.

That born again experience determined how I view conversion. There are those who claim that they do not remember a time when they did not love the Lord and thought of themselves as His children. They cannot remember any dramatic change in themselves. For me there was a dramatic, clearly evident change. One day I was unsaved, using foul language like, as the saying goes, a trooper, and smoking to prove I was a 'man'. That night I acknowledged to Jesus that I was a sinner who was not worthy of going to heaven, and asking Jesus to be my Saviour and take my sins away. I immediately sensed the change in me. From that moment I stopped smoking, no longer used foul language or told dirty jokes, and knew that I was a different person. Why? It was explained to me later that the Holy Spirit of God came to live in me when I prayed for Jesus to be my Saviour. He immediately forgave my sins, making me clean spiritually which made it okay for the Holy Spirit to come into me and begin to change my habits, attitudes, and thinking.

I will be sharing many joys, victories and blessings that have come my way through the years. But I will also be sharing the not-so-good parts of my life with the view to helping others as they try to cope with their Christian walk. I know the experience of being a backslider when for 6 years I never went to church (back in the late 1960's) and the wonder of discovering that during those years God had never forsaken me. I will be sharing the lessons I have learned from the Bible; what it is like to live by faith when there was no guaranteed income; and many other matters that are part and parcel of life along the Christian road. I will also share my disappointment with the way many Christians - including me, as I found out afterwards - have not lived as they ought to have.

Have I any regrets? Yes, plenty of them. With the way God treated me? No, definitely no! But I have plenty of regrets about the way I have disappointed others, and not been as obedient as I should have been with God. I know now that I just never trusted Him as I should have. I was too arrogant, had too high an opinion of my own abilities for my own good, and so missed many blessings and caused heartache and anger in others. What am I doing about it? Well, I can do nothing to stop the memories of my stupidities, my wrongdoings etc from popping up in my mind from time to time. For years I would feel angry and despise myself when that happened. I would be miserable, which would have its effect on the joy I normally had in life. Paul the Apostle must have felt like that at times. You will remember how he went around arresting Christians and throwing them into jail, sharing in when they were getting killed - usually by stoning. He must have caused much harm to Christians and the cause of Christ. Fortunately God the Father is loving, gracious, patient and forgiving. He saw the potential for good in Paul, for Paul was doing his best to honour God, thinking that persecuting Christians was the way to do it. Seeing such commitment and honesty, God in the person of Jesus met with Paul on the Damascus road and made him realise he was actually fighting against God in the person of Jesus. That was Paul's conversion to Christianity. That could be expected, because Paul was determined to serve God, and when he realised that Jesus was God he became the greatest missionary the church has ever had, writing many of the letters that now appear in our New Testament. Paul's advice? 'Forgetting those things [mistakes] that are behind I reach for [God's] prize [for me].' (You'll find the whole verse in Philippians 3:13).

Incidentally, I have a different take on 'sins' committed against Jesus. Having learned that Jesus (God the Son) is loving and patient, I believe that He will accept any who confess their sins no matter the nature of their sins. A couple of years ago I was at a house church prayer meeting down at the South Coast (of KwaZulu-Natal) led by the pastor of a local Baptist church. He had a solid, vibrant testimony for Jesus. I found out afterwards that he was once a satanist, doing many satanic things. But even such activities does not put anyone beyond God's love! Just as God tells us that we should love our enemies, so God's love reaches out to all, even those who purport to be His enemies. God does not expect of us (e.g. loving our enemies) what He is not prepared to do Himself! But there must be an acknowledgment of sinfulness and a turning away from a sinful lifestyle and a turning to Jesus before God can pour His Spirit into us. Satanists who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord will lose out eternally, as will any others - atheists, agnostics, rebels - who refuse to honour Him.

That brings me to a related matter. When people are openly showing their anti-God ways it is easy to identify them - and PRAY for them! So it is with satanists. At least they have the courage of their convictions, as Paul did when he went after the Christians. I brought this up because of the anti-Jesus blog on Facebook that is drawing a lot of criticism - the one where they give Jesus the finger and the F-word. My initial reaction when I heard about the blog was anger. But when I received a second email about it, I began to think a little. Here we have a group that is anti-Jesus just as much as any Satanist. Can they be converted? Of course they can - provided they recognise who Jesus is and turn to Him in contrition. How many people have not done just as badly by using the name of Jesus as a swearword? We've all come across them - and God is waiting for them to also confess and turn to Jesus. And many, many have been converted and stopped using the Lord's name for a curse. Praise the Lord for His wonderful love!

Well, I think I've rambled enough for one evening. If you've read this far, may you be richly blessed in body, soul and spirit!
Saint Ed.