[Friday's Devotional] - When Our Faith is Insufficient

When Our Faith is Insufficient When I feel I do not have sufficient faith to face my giants, I have often prayed to God to help me by using His own faith.   In the bible, how many times did Jesus use His own faith when the disciples failed to use their own?  For example, He rebuked the storm, healed a demon possessed boy and fed 5,000 people when His disciples couldn't do it.  On another occasion Jesus healed a man who had been blind since his birth.  We are not told the man had been praying, but out of His love and compassion for the blind man, Jesus used His faith and healed him.   I have always wondered why is it that throughout the scriptures God uses bold statements like -nothing is impossible with God or ask for anything using my Name and I will do it   I soon discovered, this is to accommodate everybody - those with weak faith and those who are strong.   God is bold about His own faith to deliver us according to His promises irrespective of our abilities. All we need is faith as small as mustard seed to ask for whatever we need.   "I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;  before the "gods" I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame."  Psalm 138 vs 1-2 [NIV]   I believe God has exalted His promises above Himself so that He can prove to you and me that He has the faith to bring His word to pass, even when our faith is so feeble to the point of giving up.    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] - Give and it Will be Given to You

Give and it Will be Given to You I have found that helping someone in need and thanking God to meet my own needs, works.    Right now there is a child dying somewhere in developing countries because of drinking dirty water or malnutrition.   Why not sacrifice a pound you intended to spend on a cup of Starbucks coffee and be the miracle that poor family has been waiting and praying for?   When your pound joins others from 5,000 other people, you can drill a well and install a water pump for clean drinking water provision savings many lives in a remote village in Africa, Asia or Latin America.   Friends, this is not charity marketing, but God's word!   Read the entire chapter of Isaiah 58.  God says true fasting that pleases Him is to attend to the needs of the poor and in verse 9, He promises:   "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."   Due to culture and tradition, we may refuse to accept God's admonition, but the truth is that there are both earthly and heavenly benefits/ consequences for doing the things the Lord tells us to do.  If this were not true, why is David recorded in the giant slaying story, saying: what will be the reward for someone who is going to kill the uncircumcised Philistine? God was going to use Saul to meet David's own needs, for doing this (1 Samuel 17:25).   Giving is a spiritual law, just like the natural law of gravity. Both were created by God.   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] - Ask God for Battle Strategy

Ask God for Battle Strategy Prior to engagement with our giants it is vital to gather intelligence and understanding about the enemy's capability, strategy and strengths and weaknesses.  In modern warfare and battle engagements, spies and other methods of espionage are often employed to gather intelligence. However, there is no greater source of intelligence and wisdom than enquiring of the Lord.   David was always in the habit of doing just that. For example in 2 Samuel we read this account:   "Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim.  Then David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?" And the LORD said to David, "Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand."  So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, "The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters." Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim…." 2 Samuel 5:18-20 [NIV]    When we seek God's advice and strategy in prayer as a matter of priority, we do not only succeed but we also enjoy greater victory.   Once we hear His voice, we need to use our faith to access His grace. If the Lord says leave town and go to such and such a place to receive your blessing then we ought to obey.   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!

[Tuesday's Devotional] - Not by Sword but by God’s Word

Not by Sword but by God's Word When Samuel the prophet visited David's father to choose Israel's next king from among his sons, David was not at home.  He was busy looking after his father's sheep.    Out in the field, all by himself, David learned how to fight with and kill lions and bears that tried to kill his father's sheep.  He discovered that all that success, the skills and ability was not from him but from God.  He learned to praise, trust in and give all the credit to God.  No wonder God chose him from among his brothers to be the next king.   Soon David found himself facing the giant Goliath.  I am amazed at one thing.  David did not pray to God.  Even if he did, the bible does not show me where he at least begged God for help on this particular day.  Instead, I hear him addressing his elder brothers trying to discourage him from fighting the giant.  I hear him refusing to wear the king's armour because it was not suitable for him.  I hear him speak of how God helped him in the past to kill lions and bears.  And, I hear him addressing the giant and telling him: …."You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands." 1 Samuel 17:45-47 [NIV]   As it turned out, that is exactly what happened.  David slew the giant and the entire world even to this day, knows that in ancient Israel, a little boy with God's help, killed a giant using a sling.   Rather than spend time begging for help from God I believe we ought to find relevant words from scripture and declare them to our situation. Romans 8:32 teaches us that if the Father has already given us Christ, how can He also not give us all things, along with Him.  Personally, I have learnt that whenever I am faced by a giant, I need to ignore naysayers and only speak what God says about my situation.   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!

[Monday's Devotional] - Slaying Giants

Slaying Giants All of us have encountered and fought with giants of sorts in our lives.   While we know prayer to Almighty God is the answer, we are all at different levels of personal experience and do not always know what to do and how to pray.   The good news is that we are not alone.  Even some great bible heroes who knew God better than most of us would ever do, struggled with understanding of God's word and ways.  On one occasion, David was doing something he knew pleased God i.e. carrying God's ark to it's rightful place in Jerusalem.  Tragically, he used the wrong method.  He put the ark on a new wagon instead of asking priests to carry it on their shoulders using poles.  The outcome was not very pleasant.  Someone was killed in the process and David was afraid and angry with God.   He decided to abandon the ark in the care of some poor family who soon got blessed by God and began to visibly prosper.  When David heard about it, his desire to move the ark to Jerusalem was rekindled.  Through research, he discovered that he ought to have used the priests to carry the ark rather than a cart.  With this new revelation, David was able to carry the ark of the Lord into Jerusalem without incident. You can read this in 2 Samuel 6:1-15.   This week I am hoping that you and I will be able to learn together how to slay giants in our lives, using revelation from God's word.   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!