[Thursday's Devotional] - Trusting the Lord and answered prayers

Trusting the Lord and answered prayers One of my favourite bible passages in times of need is this:   "The families of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men trained for war—physically fit and skilled in handling shield, sword, and bow.  They fought against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.  God helped them as they fought.  God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle.  God answered their prayers because they trusted him.  They plundered the Hagrite herds and flocks: 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys.  They also captured 100,000 people.  Many were killed, because the battle was God's.  They lived in that country until the exile." 1 Chronicles 5: 18-22 [The Message]   Have you prayed for your needs today?  If you have, do you trust that God will answer and that sometimes answers come in a way or form we didn't expect?  Whatever the case may be, victory will be exceedingly great provided we trust that He heard us when we prayed.   Farai Mutsambiwa    Twitter Website Copyright © 2016 St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Wednesday's Devotional] - God always answers prayer

God always answers prayer In Philippians 4: 4-20 Paul outlines the following approach to dealing with worry and your needs through prayer:   1) Always rejoice in the Lord and do not worry about anything. 2) Pray about everything and tell God your needs. 3) Do not forget to thank Him for His answers. Many of us forget to do this! 4) Check out for your first and immediate sign of answered prayer - peace which the mind can not understand! 5) As a result of this peace, your mind and heart will be at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus (that He will do for you what you have been praying for) 6) In the meantime, fix your thoughts on good things (e.g. remain positive) and dwell on the good things in others and thank God for them. God often uses other people to answer our prayers! 7) Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. (Think of the breath you have and count all the blessings He has given you) 8) Learn to live happily and to have contentment in every situation. If you cannot, then I suggest you make this a prayer point! 9) Ask Christ Jesus for power and strength to do everything God wants you to do. 10) Know that if you have been giving towards preaching of the gospel you have been doing what is right and there is a reward coming! (Maybe you can start asking to see this in every area of need) 11) Know that your gifts are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that pleases God well.  12) Whatever your need, rest assured that God will supply all your needs from His riches in glory!   Farai Mutsambiwa    Twitter Website Copyright © 2016 St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Love and obedience as answer to prayer

Love and obedience as answer to prayer  Naaman was a Syrian army general and hero.  Unfortunately he had leprosy, something he privately contended for.    It so happened that in his household there was a little maid he had captured in battle with Israel.   One day the little girl said to her mistress, "I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy!"   Long story short - Naaman went to Samaria in Israel and when prophet Elisha heard that he was outside his home, he sent his messenger:   ".... to tell him to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed of every trace of his leprosy!  But Naaman was angry and stalked away.    "Look," he said, "I thought at least he would come out and talk to me! I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call upon the name of the Lord his God and heal me!  Aren't the Abana River and Pharpar River of Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel put together? If it's rivers I need, I'll wash at home and get rid of my leprosy." So he went away in a rage". It took a lot of persuasion by his officers for Naaman to humble himself and obey what Elisha had said and the miracle happened.   His skin was healed and became like that of a baby! 2 Kings 5:10-12 [TLB]   Here is what I want you to see.  If the little maid captured from Israel had been bitter and not forgiven the General for invading her country and removing her from her family and friends, she would have not acted in love and suggest to the general that if he were to go see prophet Elisha, he would be healed.   If Naaman had not humbled himself and obeyed, he would have missed his miracle!   Are you withholding somebody's miracle by holding grudges against them?  Are you missing your own miracle by not being obedient?   I want you also to imagine what happened to the little maid when healed Naaman returned home.  Maybe she received her own miracle of freedom - being sent back to Israel.  But God has made one thing clear to us.  He honoured her by including her story in the bible for us to learn from her unreserved act of love!   Farai Mutsambiwa    Twitter Website Copyright © 2016 St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Monday's Devotional] - Praise and works of faith bring answers to prayer

Praise and works of faith bring answers to prayer Praise and a reminder to God of the works he had done caused God to change His mind and add 15 more years of life to King Hezekiah.   Isaiah, Hezekiah's pastor had just visited the king who was lying in bed sick.  Expecting good news from the man of God, Hezekiah was shocked when his pastor announced God's word:   "Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die; you will not recover from this illness," Isaiah 38:1 [TLB]   In desperation, Hezekiah praised the Lord and prayed the following prayer when the pastor left:   "O Lord, don't you remember how true I've been to you and how I've always tried to obey you in everything you said?" Then he broke down with great sobs. So the Lord sent another message to Isaiah: "Go and tell Hezekiah that the Lord God of your forefather David hears you praying and sees your tears and will let you live fifteen more years.  He will deliver you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend you, says the Lord, and here is my guarantee:  I will send the sun backwards ten degrees as measured on Ahaz's sundial!"   So the sun retraced ten degrees that it had gone down! Isaiah 38:3 - 8 [TLB]   Friends this is very scriptural, supported by what God says in Isaiah 58 and Psalm 41: 1-3, which tie answers to prayer to helping the poor and praise as Hezekiah testified after receiving his healing (Isaiah 38:19).   While attending a service in church on Sunday 15th May, 2016 I received a phone call, which I did not immediately answer.   When I got home I heard mum had passed on and people were weeping. I don't understand why I did what I did but the first thing I did was I knelt down, praised the Lord and I reminded Him of my gifts to the poor in the name of my mother while she was not well. I then wept and started making arrangements to travel to Africa.   Five to ten minutes later, I received another call that a miracle had happened and mother was alive and is still well!   Farai Mutsambiwa    Twitter Website Copyright © 2016 St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!

[Friday's Devotional] - God is the source of Wisdom

God is the source of Wisdom   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Proverbs 9:10 [NIV]   "Trust in the Lord with all your heart And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him And he will make your paths straight"  Proverbs 3:5 [NIV]   If you go to a bookshop, the chances are there will be quite a large section of self-help books advising you how to make a success of your life through diet, exercise, meditation techniques and more.  Proverbs may sound like another set of "how-to"s, but if you look at the book as a whole, rather than as a set of unrelated fragments, you will see that wise living cannot be separated from God.  While some proverbs observe the hard facts of life – that bribes are effective, for instance, or that money does buy friends of a kind – the book never for a moment endorses success techniques that involve immorality.   Wisdom starts with the fear of God.  This does not mean a Victorian style fear of despotic parent, but a right acknowledgement of who God is and a willingness to learn and to do what is right. I wonder if anyone ever attains Wisdom – finding the knowledge of God (2:5) – or whether it is an aspiration we can spend our whole life trying to achieve? Mairi Mowbray     Twitter Website Copyright © 2016 St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthews & St. Oswalds Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!