[Tuesday's Devotional] - Psalm 110: You are a priest forever

Psalm 110: You are a priest forever This Psalm, to me, has a special meaning.  It brought me back from the brink of rejecting God for good, and I constantly go back to it and him when I feel myself wavering. I had been turned down for the priesthood, in a way only the C of E can do.  Seriously, the rejection process was a pretty tough thing to comprehend.  There I was listening to God's voice in my heart, telling me, guiding me, and then an anonymous person said:  "Sorry, I don't feel it is the right thing for you."  Bang.  Three years of effort gone. I'm sure it was not actually like that, but it certainly felt like it at the time.  With an open wound and in screaming "emotional agony", I took refuge in a friend's comfort. He suggested we pray a little, after I had told him all about my woes, and whilst he went to get a bible from another room, the words "Psalm 110" came into my head. Now, from memory, I'd never knowingly read or said 110, I'm sure I must have, but I couldn't remember any of it.  Whilst Christians interpret the Psalm as meaning Jesus will sit at the right hand of God, I, in my pain, focused in on verse 4! "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" Psalm 110 [NIV] Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of your enemies!" Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning's womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.   Whilst my own path to ordination has stalled, I will never forget this moment.  God trusts me and has plans for me, and whilst I can't be a priest in the conventional sense, it does not stop me from being priestly for God! God has a way of reaching out to us when we are most in need. He's amazing like that! Steve Fogo   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's 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] - Psalm 117: Praise the LORD

Psalm 117: Praise the LORD When I was a small, cute, sweet, blue eyed choir boy at St Mary's in Clifton, yes, I was, alright, maybe not sweet, but the rest was true, I loved Evensong.  Only a few choir boys sang and we always sang the psalms.  Winter was best, the Church would seem to be wrapped up in God's arms as we gently sang our way through the book of psalms. When I was older, I once preached to a church congregation that reading the Psalms was a little like wrapping yourself up in a thick warm blanket. Whenever I'm in emotional trouble, for someone with social anxiety, that's quite often, I do find a certain solace in the psalms. This week I'm going to take you through 5 of my favourites and what they have meant to me. Lets start with an easy one: Psalm 117 [NIV] Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. When this one came up on the Hymn board, you knew the Vicar wanted an early tea!!!   But although it's the shortest, I think it's also the most succinct, in the two verses, twenty five words, it tells us what to do and what, in return, God will do for us.   Praise the Lord, everyone And his love for you will go on and on and on and on and on and on…………………. Scripture and the understanding of God really should not be any more complicated than that! Steve Fogo Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's 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] - Is Jesus really the Messiah?

Is Jesus really the Messiah? On another occasion, Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee and He passed through Samaria.   Tired, He decided to sit by a well while His disciples went into a nearby town to buy some lunch.   In the meantime, a Samaritan woman came to fetch water and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman was really surprised that Jesus was talking with her, since Jews and Samaritans never associated with each other.   Nevertheless, as the conversation continued, Jesus, amongst other things told her about her past lifestyle. He told her she had had 5 husbands previously and the current man she had was not her husband.   When their conversation was cut short upon the arrival of the disciples the bible says:   "Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?" They left the town and made their way to Him John 4: 28 – 30 [NIV]   After hearing my story about what Jesus has done for me through my devotionals this week, like the Samaritan woman did, I invite you to seek Jesus and find out for yourself if He is really the Messiah and the answer to all your needs?   Like the men in the town, I was once lost and sceptical about Jesus, but I responded to what I was being told by others and soon discovered for myself that, indeed Jesus is the Messiah.   Will you taste His goodness today?   Farai Mutsambiwa     Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's 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!

[Thursday's Devotional] - Thy will be done on earth as in heaven!

Thy will be done on earth as in heaven! I believed and acted on a verse I saw in the bible. I tested God - yes – with the only bible verse in Malachi where God challenges His people to test Him.   God began by warning many of us who cry day and night for Him to act on our behalf.  He says He will send a messenger of the covenant first to prepare the way and then suddenly the Lord Himself will come to bless us.   Covenants are based on promises we make with one another.  One of them relates to our finances and God sent His messenger Malachi to ask people who were praying for their material needs with the following admonition:   "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me." "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?" "In tithes and offerings", God answered them and went on to say:   "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it...."  Malachi 3: 8,10 [NIV]   If you are in financial bondage today or simply want to have more money to bless others with - there is so much need out there - I may be the messenger sent to you with an invitation to test Him in this area.  If this is false, you can judge yourself from my testimony- just like Legion was sent to go and tell the world what the Lord had done for him (Monday's Devotional).   Despite having a lot of experience and recent training, I could not find a better job.  Finally, after 6 months of interviews and many letters of rejection, I came to my senses and remembered that I had been honouring (testing) God with tithes and offerings for 5 years and yet, I was still living from hand to mouth.  That night, I cried to the Lord and questioned Him about His covenant promises above.  I was angry with Him and thought I was going to die that night. (I later on repented).   Two weeks later, a job opportunity opened at the UK HQ of the charity I was working for back in 2002, in Zimbabwe. Long story short - here I am serving the Lord in a greater way than I would ever imagine!   If you are to doubt God's promises (which is foolishness) at least, do not ever doubt the good ones like Malachi 3 vs 10. In heaven there are streets of gold and if we are used to robbing God's money here on earth do not be deceived to think that you will suddenly change when up there. Jesus taught us to pray "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" for a reason.     Farai Mutsambiwa Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's 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] - Thank God for His goodness

Thank God for His goodness   I am part of a family of 5 brothers and a sister.  Life was not easy.  Though we lacked what we wanted, we never lacked the basic necessities of life.   I walked to school every day, several miles away, sometimes with no shoes on my feet.   I thank God for all these things, because when I look back where I came from, I can see His goodness and mercy in my life.   A couple of years ago Jesus healed me of an "impossible" skin condition and is still perfecting everything that concerns me in that area.   Healed of a terrible illness, David wrote a whole Psalm (Number 30) thanking God for what He had done for him. Amazingly, God honoured him by placing David's psalm in the bible so that you and I can know that He is really the Physician and learn how to pray when we are ill as well as remember to honour Him when He answers our prayers.   Today can you remember the times you or your loved ones were ill and God healed them?   Thank Him for His goodness! Pray also for the sick and for those in the health profession.   Farai Mutsambiwa   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's 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!