[Friday's Devotional] Called to bear lasting fruit

One of my favourite ways of spending time when I am travelling is to read a Christian Magazine or book.

The last Sunday before my departure to Southern Africa, an announcement was made for us to pick up a book for reading on our way out from church.

The book I chose was entitled "Seven things that steal your joy" by Joyce Meyers. I really enjoyed reading it.

Although the temptation was very high to keep it after reading it, I chose to leave it in Southern Africa. One of the conditions of my church's "walking book" scheme is for members of the congregation to collect books, read them and then pass them on to another person. The hope is when we do so, the book might persuade someone to follow Christ and be saved.

There are many ways to go out and preach the gospel to the whole world as our dear Lord Jesus teaches us in the gospels. We don't all need to be authors of books, but one sure way to spread the gospel is to read good books and pass them on to friends or other family members.

The good and lasting fruit we have been called to produce is as described in this week's bible reading plan in one year:

⁷Thus, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one [especially] wicked person who repents (changes his mind, abhorring his errors and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of life) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.   Luke 15: 7

For me every life event or activity is an opportunity for us to share the love of God and to be a blessing to the nations. However without discernment we will never know what it is all about.

All bible quotations are from The Amplified Bible.

To follow our bible reading plan in a year, read Psalm 44-45, Deuteronomy 15 – 23 and Luke 13 – 16, this week.

Farai Mutsambiwa

[Thursday's Devotional] Strive to believe the impossible

Years ago when I left my motherland in response to God's direction, my parents were shattered.  They never believed we would meet again.  This is because in our family culture and tradition nobody had ever taken such a hard decision to go and leave abroad.

Over the years, as the land was devastated by hunger, unemployment and inflation, God led me to be faithful in supporting my extended family back home.

By his grace I have also been able to return and see them several times when we all least expected this would happen.

As my parents and brothers and sister often remark, they think after all, I made the right decision. They reminisce over what would have happened had I not paid heed to God's calling for me to move.

To me (and I am not bragging) it is all about having a different spirit like Joshua and Caleb in the Old Testament.

Jesus says the same in this week's bible reading plan, in particular Luke 13 vs 24:

²⁴Strive to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

If you want the things of God, you have to lay aside your own wisdom and understanding and lean only on what God says. Forget your culture and traditions, forget what people say.

My previous pastor once said to me, "when the Lord gives you a vision or steps into your situation, even me your own pastor will not be able to contain it."

I am glad my current vicar also said the same thing recently "when God gave …. (a church member whose name I can't remember), a vision about doing something for the homeless in Rugby, the vision was just too bright for me to do anything on my own."

The point is if you really choose to believe everything God says in the bible, your own mother, father, brothers, friends and even your pastor may not be able to take it.

Even Jesus himself was laughed at when he declared someone who was dead was not dead and that he would be able to resurrect him.

All bible quotations are from The Amplified Bible.

To follow our bible reading plan in a year, read Psalm 44-45, Deuteronomy 15 – 23 and Luke 13 – 16, this week.

Farai Mutsambiwa

 

[Wednesday's Devotional] Only Believe

On my recent trip to Southern Africa, I spent time with my mother. She had just recovered from serious battles with Satan including victory over a stroke that nearly left her side paralysed.  She also nearly lost a son to death but thank God she did not. And most recently (during my visit) she almost lost a grandchild to robbers.

As she was going through these life battles, I remember giving her words of encouragement that she would overcome. However, at the time, it felt like what the psalmist felt in Psalm 44 vs 9 – 11:

⁹But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies.  ¹⁰You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves.  ¹¹You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations.

If you are child of the Most High God and are experiencing battles and struggles unexplained, do not be perplexed or discouraged. Just like Job felt, your set backs do not necessarily mean God has forsaken you.

Rather and just as the psalmist later discovered in Psalm 44 vs 22 which reads

^"No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

Your struggles are for God's sake. You are most probably doing very well promoting Kingdom business and guess who is hurt and seeks to hinder and revenge – your adversary Satan.

Like my mother experienced, cheer up, express your faith by speaking only the truth and do not magnify the problem. You will overcome.

If you have been looking out for a sign from God, receive my words by faith and begin to expect manifestation of your answer from now on.

As I was believing with my mother for the wellbeing of her grandchild, my wife called me and said some words of faith which seemed far from what was happening. However, when I decided to believe, it was God speaking through my wife, He immediately honored my prayers and gave us the miracle were expecting

All bible quotations are from The Amplified Bible.

To follow our bible reading plan in a year, read Psalm 44-45, Deuteronomy 15 – 23 and Luke 13 – 16, this week.

Farai Mutsambiwa

[Tuesday's Devotional] A Good Accountant

As I reflect on my recent trip to Southern Africa, one of the things I did was to go to church and worship the Lord with other believers.

Despite the bright scorching sun and many other odds against them like poverty, I was moved by the faith and love of God of Christian folks in motherland. They all sat quietly and attentively in an unfinished four walled building, without a roof. That was their new church building still under construction.

As the word of God on giving to the Lord was being preached the congregation spontaneously responded by moving to the altar to give their offerings.  Some were ululating whilst others sang songs of joy as they gave to their Lord. They were fully determined to build the house of the Lord and they really believed that God loves a cheerful giver. Some like Hannah (1 Samuel 1) who did not have the means at the time made money pledges towards building sand, bricks and for meeting other building expenses.

As we follow our God-given plan for this year to "read the bible in a year", let us remember the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 16 vs 1 which read:

ALSO [Jesus] said to the disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a manager of his estate, and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that he was squandering his [master's] possessions.

Let us discern and understand that life is not about earning money just for our enjoyment. Like everything else we have e.g. the breath we breathe everyday, money is a gift from God as explained in the book of Haggai, "all silver and gold is mine, says the Lord"

God therefore expects us to worship him with all our possessions and everything about us and that includes money. He expects us to give to the poor, to build his church, to be a blessing to others and not to hoard it.

Above all God loves people that remember him just like we all want to be remembered on our birthdays. He has already said he will honor those who honor him (1 Sam 2 vs 30) so there is nothing to fear or lose when we give our time, talents, skills and possessions to God. On the contrary we can only fear the consequences when one day the Master asks us to give an account of how we used the possessions we were given

Our desire should be to hear the Master say "well done good and faithful servant"

All bible quotations are from The Amplified Bible.

To follow our bible reading plan in a year, read Psalm 44-45, Deuteronomy 15 – 23 and Luke 13 – 16, this week.

Farai Mutsambiwa

[Monday's Devotional] Trusting in the Lord

I have just returned from a two weeks overseas visit to Southern Africa and this week I am going to reflect on the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

I don't know about you, but when I am travelling I get concerned about almost everything. I think about the weather, where I am going to stay, how I am going to travel, the people I am going to meet and whether my assignment will be successful. Sometimes the task may seem insurmountable or like one is preparing for battle. However, as a born again son of the Most High God, I have learnt to read the scriptures and pray about every little detail with fantastic results.

One of my favourite bible verses is Deut 20 vs 1 which reads:

WHEN YOU go forth to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

In my prayers, I begin by practicing the presence of the Lord "who brought me out of Egypt". I go to a quiet room and pray to the "unseen Father in heaven who sees what is done in secret" and promises to reward us publicly. I bring myself to remembrance of past battles and how the Lord has granted me victory. After prayer I have also learnt to trust in the Lord and this means if what I originally planned to do does not happen the way I thought it should, then I must not be afraid. Instead I should trust and thank the Lord for a better plan.

As it turned out, I had planned and prayed to fly a certain airline. Then on the day of making flight bookings, my colleague responsible for travel arrangements, made an error and made reservations and payment with the "wrong" airline to the same destination. When she discovered this she was so disappointed in herself and asked if I wanted a change irrespective of the hastles involved. Although I had the choice of joining in her disappointment, I chose to respond differently. I said "No problem with me" and later I prayed and thanked God for a better plan which he had in mind for me.

I did not only have a safe flight back and forth, but the Lord added many other things for my enjoyment. Who doesn't enjoy driving a new car or living in a new house, particularly one bought for them for free? Well, maybe it's only me - but I cannot explain why the Lord decided to fly me onboard a brand new aircraft. And on my flight back to Heathrow, guess who was on the seat right behind me, a beloved cousin whom I had not met in the past ten years. Furthermore, despite my worry of carrying excess baggage (I had many presents for my family) I was allowed onboard without extra payment for excess baggage because the flight was unusually half full on that day.

All bible quotations are from The Amplified Bible.

To follow our bible reading plan in a year, read Psalm 44-45, Deuteronomy 15 – 23 and Luke 13 – 16, this week.

Farai Mutsambiwa

[Friday's Devotional] Treasure in Heaven?

Some years ago as part of some training I did an exercise around imagining what you would do if you knew that your life had a limited time to run.  As the 'time' was gradually reduced from a year to a few days it became clear to me that people and relationships were far more important than doing and having things.

"Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15 [NIV]

And then Jesus tells the parable of the Rich Fool, a man who has a lot, builds bigger storage to keep it all in, and then dies unexpectedly; all his stuff is of no use to him.

There are regular stories in the media of celebrity figures who have so much stuff but in reality have nothing of real value.

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God." Luke 12:21 [NIV]

I am sure that it is true that our relationships and interactions with others are far more important than the stuff we have.  Our impact in growing the Kingdom of God is entirely through what we do and say, how we live our lives, rather then through the stuff that we have.

The question for us is whether or not we have the right balance.  Do we hold our possessions lightly?  Do we use what we have for God?  Where do our priorities lie?  I wonder how much of what we have we would readily give up if that is what we were called to do; and what we would feel that we couldn't possibly do without.

Do we strive to store up treasure on earth or treasure in heaven?

Lord, help us strive to do your will. Show us how we should use what we have in your service rather than accumulating for our own personal comfort.

Amen

Mike Iredale

Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 42:6b-11, Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22, Luke 12:1-34

[Thursday's Devotional] Thirsting for God

Yesterday we thought a little on connecting with God. Today's Psalm picks up the same theme.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God." Psalm 42:1-2 [NIV]

Does your soul thirst for God? These words convey a sense of intensity, desperation almost; a sense of striving with everything that we have, an intense desire to know God more and more and dwell in the knowledge of His presence more and more. What would our worship be like if we all had that approach?

Although all that we do is an act of worship to God, we might best start with our approach to the times we meet together with explicit intent to worship Him; on a Sunday morning.

Do we approach our Sunday worship thirsting for the Living God?

I wonder how often we are distracted by the burdens or difficulties or irritations of our lives to the extent that we don't focus on God at all. I wonder how often we end up focussing on personalities of leaders or style or the way in which things are done or what songs are sung rather than focussing on God. If we were truly thirsting for God would these things matter to us at all?

Take time today to reflect on how you approach the worship of the Lord our God. How can you focus more on God when you come to worship him?

Lord, grow in our hearts an ever increasing thirst for you.

Amen

Mike Iredale

Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 42:1-6a, Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20, Luke 11:33-54

[Wednesday's Devotional] Greatest commandment

Today we look to the Old Testament reading.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 6:4-7 [NIV]

This passage, part of the re-iteration of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, is the basis of Jesus' response to the question posed by one of the teachers of the Law in Mark's gospel; "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" Mark 12:28.

The greatest commandment; to love God with all that we are, to grow that connection with God, to be more and more rooted in Him; so that through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit we are more able to show the love that Christ has shown us to others and 'love our neighbours as ourselves'.

The Israelites were then instructed to keep the commandment on their hearts and to teach them and discuss them and probably think about them at all times. Can we learn something from that instruction today? If you are like me then you might go for very long periods without thinking about God, or thinking about how Jesus would want us to live / respond / speak in the varying situations that we encounter each day.

If we 'connect' with Jesus more often, even for short moments then we are more likely respond to encounters as He would want; we are more likely to be open to inner transformation so that the Fruits of the Spirit become more evident in our lives.

Connection might be made in a wide variety of ways from planned Bible reading / quiet time or a picture or Christian symbol on the wall of the home / office or taking time to gaze on the beauty of the created world around us or listening to music or a different screensaver or...there are countless ways to connect with God.

Take time today to think about ways in which you can connect with God more often and so live more consciously in the continued presence of God.

Lord, helps us know you more and more; continue your work of transformation in us as you will.

Amen

Mike Iredale

Read the Bible in a year:  Proverbs 8:32-36, Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25, Luke 11:5-32

[Tuesday's Devotional] Who is my neighbour?

Today's gospel reading contains so much; too much to do justice to in a short Devotional.  There is the Good Samaritan, Martha & Mary and the Lord's Prayer.  First thing to suggest is to read it all again!

Jesus answers the question, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' with a question of his own; 'how do you read the law?'

"He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and "love your neighbour as yourself." "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied, "Do this and you shall live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And, who is my neighbour?" Luke 10:27-29 [NIV]

The parable of the Good Samaritan that follows is very well known; I wonder if too well known.  Perhaps we are so familiar with the story that it no longer impacts us as it might. How might it look today?

Imagine it was you walking through a street in Rugby when you were set upon, mugged, and left injured and bedraggled on the roadside.

How would you feel to see one of the town's priests cross over the road and walk on by?

How would you then feel if a well respected church member, obviously in a hurry, crosses over and walks on by?

And how then would you feel when the Big Issue seller, on their way home from a day of sitting outside Smith's, stops, wraps their arms around you, takes care of you and then somehow finds a way of getting an ambulance to you...?

Who do we see as our neighbour; who do we most readily take time out to help? Our reality is that 'our neighbour' is so often 'somebody like us'; is that true for you?

Lord, open our eyes and open our hearts to see where those 'not like us' are in need, and grow in us the desire to go to them and show them your love.

Amen

Mike Iredale

Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 41:7-13, Deuteronomy 3:1-4:49, Luke 10:25-11:4

[Monday's Devotional] What is the cost?

The daily readings this week help us focus on aspects of our interrelationship with Jesus.

"As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus aid to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family. Jesus replied, "No-one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God"  Luke 9:57-62 [NIV]

Jesus calls us to follow him, to live our lives as He would want us to, to answer his call whenever, whatever...

In today's reading we see 2 men who respond with, 'First let me..' and 'but first let me..', and Jesus didn't seem to think too much of that!

When we first came into the realisation of our faith we might have thought that we would follow Jesus whenever, whatever...would we still now? How much would we (do we) place caveats or conditions on our discipleship? Is our response something like, 'I will follow as long as I don't have to give up doing...', or 'I will follow as long as I won't loose my home comforts...', or 'I will follow as long as I won't have to...'

Does following Jesus cost us anything at all? How much do we prioritise our own wants / desires / agenda before following Christ?

It is very easy to slip into 'comfortable' discipleship; but is that what Jesus calls us to?

Today, take time to reflect on your walk with Christ.  Let the Spirit show you where your priorities might need to change.  Lord, grow in each of us a greater desire to follow you whenever, whatever...

Amen

Mike Iredale

Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 41:1-6,   Deuteronomy 1:1-2:37,             Luke 9:57-10:24

[Friday's Devotional] Blessed Relief

 

During March there was much publicity around Comic Relief, and I expect many of you will have been involved in some way, large or small, to help raise money for the charity.  It may have been simply buying your red nose, purchasing from a cake sale at work, or maybe taking part in a larger fundraiser or sponsored event.  We all like to feel we are playing our part in some way.  We like to feel we are making a difference to those in need.

 

Our bible readings this week have focussed on some parables and miracles - the ways in which Jesus made a difference to those in need.  We can sometimes be guilty of looking at these stories with an attitude of "Well it's fine for Him – he had the power to do whatever He wanted to" and not really believe that we too, through God, have the power to be part of a modern day miracle.

 

In the stories and parables we have looked at this week there have been tales of people raised from the dead, people healed, storms stilled, lessons of faith and much more - things it can be hard to understand about the power Jesus had. We learn of the differences He made with the power given to Him by God.

 

God has blessed us with many gifts and talents that we can use to make a difference. We too have the power to make a difference.  As I sit and watch things like Comic Relief I am always reminded of exactly what I do have in comparison to the thousands of children and adults we see in poverty, living with HIV, suffering with malaria, dying simply because they do not have the money or resources to receive the simplest of life saving treatments.  We can become blasé, believing it's not our job to give to them, that somebody else will go and help.  But we are all called to help in some way. God has commanded that we help the poor, sick and needy.  That will be different things to different people – praying, giving financially, visiting those in need, or supporting those in mission work both here and overseas. We do have the power to make a difference, just as Jesus did. 

 

How are you using that power that that God has blessed you with, and what could you do with it today?

 

Corinne Mason.

 

Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 40:1-8, Numbers 31:25-32:42, Luke 8:40-9:9