Category Archives: Random Devotional Thoughts

Random Devotional Thoughts

Do You Know What the Bible says About Beginnings?

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Genesis One….Verse 1….

   The first phrase of the Bible says….”In the beginning, God”. This is where most people start but as we go through the Bible we get little glimpses of eternity past….things that happened before the world was even created. Verse one presupposes that God was there before He started creating.

   One of the main attributes of God is that He is a God of Love. How could He possibly display this love to the beings that existed there in eternity with Him? They all obeyed Him implicitly, and there was no reason why they shouldn’t. They had been created to be His ministering spirits, to do His slightest command (Hebrews 1:7, 14)

   God wanted to display His manifold (many faceted) wisdom to all the principalities and powers of the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:10). How could He do this unless there was a dark background to show His marvelous light against? Unless there is disobedience, perfect obedience doesn’t have any impact. Therefore it is safe to assume that God had a plan  BEFORE He ever began creation. Not only did He have this plan, but it was written down in detail ahead of time. Jesus Christ could say to His Father, “You have prepared Me a body, as it is written in the volume of the Book” (Hebrews 10:5-7)

God’s plan was written in His Book, Things the angels wanted to look; He made the earth so He could show, His love and light for men to know.

Random Devotional Thoughts

That Temptation in Your Pocket (Part Two)

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   If you idolize popularity, if it is being admired and having lots of followers that makes you feel good about yourself, then you will be tempted to use your smart-phone to pursue that idol. You may use the camera to take inappropriate photographs of yourself in Instagram, or you may use the Facebook app to say harsh words about other people. That phone that can be used to do so much good and to bring so much encouragement will now be used to cause harm.
    There are not many people who buy a phone intending to use it to harm others or to look at pornography. But where your heart is, there your technology will be also. The way you use your technology reveals your heart.

   It shows whether your heart is oriented toward God and toward finding true joy and satisfaction in Him, or whether you are attempting to find counterfeit joy and satisfaction in the things He forbids. At any moment, your heart has a purpose for your phone. Yes, thank God for your smart-phone, but plead with Him for wisdom to use it well, and guard your heart.

 Use It to the Glory of God!  And now it is time to take that phone out of the box and to turn it on for the first time. As you hold it in your hand, why don’t you take a moment to pray? Ask God to help you to use that phone well. Commit before Him right now that, to the best of your abilities, you will only ever use it to serve His purposes. Ask a believing friend or two to be your accountability and check in regularly. Then go and glorify Him with and through it.

Random Devotional Thoughts

Thoughts from Psalm One…

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The Godly Man 

Blessed is the man who walks in God’s ways,  Who delights in His laws, all of his days; As trees by the water bringing forth fruit, Whose leaf doesn’t wither, in God is his root, The ungodly aren’t so, but are like the dry chaff, Blowing away, in the lightest draught, The Lord knows the way the righteous take, The ways of sinners, man’s greatest mistake!

What a great picture we have here of those who follow the ways of the Lord and delight in Him! We don’t do these things to EARN our salvation, but we do them because we already HAVE God’s salvation and want to please Him. Delighting in the Lord comes from the heart and the fruit comes naturally.   What a contrast to those who are ungodly, who do not delight in the Lord! There is no life there, and all that they do, no matter how great, counts for nothing in God’s sight.

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Morning Musings, Random Devotional Thoughts

How Do We Stack Up?

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     We had a baptismal service at our church recently when four young people were baptised. Each of them gave very clear testimonies as to why they wanted to be baptised, and how they had come to know the Lord for themselves. To them God was not just a force “up there”, but He was personally their Father in Heaven.

    How many people say the Lord’s prayer today starting with “Our Father which art in Heaven”, and they don’t know God as their Father at all! We wouldn’t dream of approaching just any man out there, and calling him “Father”  and asking Him to supply our daily food. Yet so many people do this without even thinking what they are saying. Let’s hope you aren’t one of these!

   The speaker after the baptismal service, made it quite clear to the congregation that what these young people had done was not to gain favour with God to get them to heaven, but were going through this rite in obedience to what God had asked them to do. It is something that Jesus Christ told His disciples to do before He left this earth….”Go and teach all nations,  baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and see, I will be with you always”. What a wonderful promise this is, that He gives to all who do as He asks!

We have to make sure that we KNOW why we are  going through this baptismal rite before we do it. We don’t just do it because it is expected of us, or to please our parents, or because our friends are doing it….we need to know the reason for it. We should be going through it because it is something that the Lord is asking us to do. After all, look what He did for us on the cross….and all that He went through for us!  Surely we can do this for Him!!

    

Random Devotional Thoughts

Fellowship with Jesus Christ.

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Following on from last week’s blog about fellowship, it pays to stop and think about who we fellowship with. Exactly what does it mean to have fellowship?

     Fellowship is being with others with a common interest….the Bible talks about having fellowship with others who believe in God. Not only that, but with those who have an active interest in sharing that belief with others.      To start with, we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9). This invitation is for ALL people, but many don’t want to hear about it, so they turn their back on it. What a mistake that is! They do not know what they are missing out on.

    Then there are others who think they can manage without meeting with others of like mind….another grave mistake! God knew what He was doing when He planted this need into the human psyche, the need for fellowship with others.    Most of all, He wants to have fellowship with the people He has made. Let’s look at this parable of sharing time with our Creator….

    One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart…what an entrance He made! It was not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real. Something happened at the very centre of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light; He built a fire on the hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness, and He filled the emptiness with His own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will.      In the joy of this new relationship I said to Jesus Christ, “Lord, I want this heart of mine to be Yours. I  want to have You settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I  have belongs to You”.     I meant every word that I said, and I couldn’t wait to show Him around!

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  (John 14:23, NIV)

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Fellowship and Why is it Important?

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     This last weekend we went in our motorhome to a Christian rally group. There were about nineteen vans there, mostly of folk who we have got to know over the years we have been going. It is great to have this time together, as coming from different places and different churches, our paths don’t cross otherwise. Even though we are all from different backgrounds, with different interests, yet we all have the one thing in common….we are all in the family of God!

    It reminds me that at the end of creation it says that God made man in His own image (Genesis chapter 1, verses 26-27). I got to thinking about this one day and thought of different ways that we are made in God’s image…. First of all, God is a three part Being, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Man is also a three part being….body, soul and spirit. God is eternal, always has been and always is, and always will be. He has planted this seed of eternity in the man he created, and every person will live for ever….somewhere…. God is the Great Creator of all things….man in a much less way, is also a creator, able to create things whether it is in art, music, designing things, and even in cooking a good meal! At the end of God’s creation, He looked at it all and said it was VERY good, and so we too, have great satisfaction in doing a good job that is able to perform what it was made to do.

    But the point I was getting at, is that God wants to have fellowship with the man He has created. He has made all nations with different capabilities, and strengths, but all people need to have fellowship with others of like minds. We all have to learn to get along with those who think differently as well.

    When God had finished His creation, He had fellowship with  the man who was able to respond to Him in the spirit which He has planted in every human being. But the first man was on his own, and God said that this was not good. Man needed a companion, someone the same as him, to have fellowship with, and God saw to it that one was provided. One day, He put Adam into a deep sleep and performed the first operation….He removed one of Adam’s ribs and made a woman companion for him from it, breathing into her the breath of life also. He then took her to Adam and gave her to him. Adam recognised her as being the only one at that time who he could have real fellowship with,  he said that because she was made from him, she would be known as Woman. (Genesis 2:20-24)

      We too, find the need for fellowship. It is this need that is fulfilled at gatherings such as we had on our last trip. In fact, we know this desire is directly from God Himself. He tells us in the Bible (Hebrews 10:24-25)  that we are not to forget to get together with each other to stimulate and encourage each other. Just as a coal turns black and then cold when removed from the fire, so a believer who stays away from fellowshipping with others will ultimately grow cold and become  dead to the service which God had for him to do.

    Are you in this situation?  Never mind for what reason…there is no person who cannot  overcome hurt feelings with God’s help. In fact, the quickest way to do this, is to pray for those who have hurt you. We cannot stay mad at someone if we are praying for them! Let’s do something about it today!

Random Devotional Thoughts

How Prepared Are You?

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     \We sometimes head off in to the great blue yonder, leaving home without a care in the world. Then some sort of disaster may strike, and we wonder how we are going to let someone know that we need help!  It is at times like this, that we wish we had put some sort of security thing in place.     I can think of at least two times when we were caught up in an emergency with only the mobile phone to get help from. Back some years ago, there were no such things available for an ordinary person, and when an accident occurred, it was very difficult to call for help

    Last week, we had a lady call who handled these sort of emergency things, and she showed us what is available these days for times like this. We already had a medical alarm from the ambulance people, but that was only good while we were near the house where the alarm box was held. These days, there is now an alarm system whereby not only medical help is activated, but any other sort of emergency we might encounter in our day to day movements down the street, or further away travel. This alarm sends signals to the satellites which in turn activates a gps system that lets the authorities know one’s exact location in a time of emergency.     It seemed to be an ideal system to go in for, so we listened to her talking with a great deal of interest. Needless to say, we agreed to have this new system. As one gets older, there is more vulnerability in one’s movements….it is easier to trip and fall over, or to have any one of  many different things happen when we may need help.

    But the thing that occurred to me,  is that although this thing is a safety guarantee for our body yet  how ready are we to have a guarantee against damage to our souls and spirits? We have to remember that we are made up of a body, soul and spirit. We all know about our bodies but how many  think about damage to our souls?  This is the part of us that thinks and reasons, and when this goes, then we are told that we have a mental health problem.    But what about the third part of our make-up? Our spirit? This is the part of us that is God conscious, and that can communicate with Him. This is the  part of us that is most important to God….this is what makes us different to animals. And this is the part of us that is the reason that God made man in His own image.    Have you ever stopped to think, that just as you have the need to have fellowship with another person, so God wants to have someone  to have fellowship with? If we are too proud or ignorant to recognise this and to do something about it, we are missing out on the most important part of our make up.

    So take time to look into these things, and you will discover a whole new  perspective of facts that will  open up before you, things you never even dreamed of before. The Bible says that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Random Devotional Thoughts

Nothing.

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God  uses NOTHING,   when He begins to work,

His great creation came to pass, when He spoke and didn’t shirk;

The world is hung on   NOTHING, so the Bible said,

Long before man  realised that, in space the stars were spread,

Yet man who’s  made from  NOTHING,  only out of dust,

Rails against his Maker, the Holy One and Just:

Nations in God’s sight are NOTHING, in fact are even less,

The princes too, are NOTHING, when  God they do not  bless,

As well, the great man’s riches, are NOTHING to desire,

For one day they will burn, in God’s judgemental fire.

Man  came into this world, with NOTHING in his hand,

And  when he dies will leave behind, his treasures and his land:

NOTHING   that man does,  is hid from God’s all seeing eyes,

Whate’er  he  sows now, he will reap, through all eternity.

In spite of all man’s pride, and wilful stubborn ways,

God looks down  in mercy, and for sin’s price He pays,

He gave Son to die, for men with sinful trend,

In Him the prince of evil, found NOTHING he could rend.

He paid the price in full, and offers all for free,

Salvation costs us NOTHING,   now for you and also me,

Our  days on earth may be as NOTHING,  but ahead is  Heaven’s bliss,

By taking Jesus as our Saviour, this NOTHING makes  us miss,

NOTHING   now will separate. from His great boundless love,

It reaches far and wide for us. from depth to height above;

Till in that endless day ahead, NOTHING mars the scene,

No sin, no night, no sorrow there, but Christ will reign supreme.

So from this fact of NOTHING, the great Creator brings,

The greatest worth for all of those, who will His praises sing.