Monthly Archives: May 2023

Random Devotional Thoughts

Hiding God’s Word.

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    Our grandchildren have grown and are now having problems which we can’t help taking on our own shoulders as we watch them flounder along making the same mistakes that we once made. Now we are brought up with a round turn by health problems which we didn’t foresee, and we find that we have new needs. We have to downsize; things we once did with ease, now take all day. Then when we come to the next big-0 birthday, we realise that there is very little time left, and maybe no quality time at that. Our minds are not as clear as they used to be, and it is an effort to think of the future and spiritual things.

   For those of us who have endeavoured to follow the Lord during our life time, we have a foundation of knowing the Scriptures and can draw on these from our memory bank for the times of weakness. Our Lord says that His Holy Spirit will bring these things to our remembrance in our times of need, but there has to be something there in the first place for Him to work with.

    So while we have the energy, let’s make sure we store up God’s Word in our hearts against the time that we may not be able to get “fresh manna” due to illness and bodily weakness. Let’s remember that He has promised He will be always with us, and as we go through the door, He is the only One who can go through with us. Let’s get to know Him better and seek to live for Him in every way, and we will come to that door with full confidence and anticipation of what lies beyond!

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Random Devotional Thoughts

More Snippets from Ezekiel

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      I wrote last time about a vision Ezekiel had seen, and  continued reading through his writings. I was intrigued by the following thoughts from the first part of verse seven of chapter forty-three which says… And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.”     It is amazing to think that God’s desire has always been to live among His people. There are many pictures in this vision that are applicable to us as believers. We are told that we are the temple of the Living God as a body of believers on earth at this time…..

     God’s one great desire is that people follow him with all their heart, and mind and soul (Matthew 22:36-38). Since we see that the sacrifice for our sin has been met by Jesus Christ and that the Holy Spirit of God is now living within us, does this then let us off the hook of having to offer any further sacrifices? Can we just take this free salvation and then live our lives how we want to? No, most definitely not! What then are we expected to do?

    The first offering to give to God is to give our own selves to Him and to live for Him in a way that is honouring to Him. We are not to give way to things like bad temper, immoral living of any sort, dishonesty in  business deals or in private life, or in using bad language.. (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)    We are to have a humble attitude before God, and not demand things just because He has promised them….it may not be right for us at this time! (Psalm 51:17)    Then we are to give Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. It is so easy to complain about people and things….it just comes naturally right from childhood to say, “Not my fault, I didn’t do it!” It is a real sacrifice to have to put these complaining thoughts to one side and find something positive to say instead!  ( Psalm 107:22; Hebrews 13:15)    We are to be helpful and kind, to do good to others, and not try to be the top dog, but take the lower place. But on the other hand, we must also be ready to step forward and do our bit….it’s just as bad to say we aren’t good enough when something needs doing !  (Hebrews 13:16, and Philippians 4:18)  

    Believers are part of a holy priesthood to God by reason of our salvation, and as such, we are obligated to do the sacrifices of giving praise, living a holy life and sharing what we have with others.  (1 Peter 2:5)

God has given His only Son, We must take the work that’s done, Giving back the praise He’s due, Is what He wants us to do.

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Daily Devotionals

Ezekiel’s Writings

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Ezekiel 1:1-28                   

     Ezekiel the priest was in the land of the Babylonians, and it seems that he was meditating on the things of God as he was by the river of Kebar. Suddenly he was aware of an enormous cloud, a windstorm with lightning flashing through it coming  from the northerly direction….

    Ezekiel now tried to describe the indescribable for his readers, as he watched this cloud getting closer and closer. He could see that there were living beings in this cloud, they were sort of like human beings, and yet they were different. They gleamed with a great light from within and they had wings as well as hands and legs. They were able to move quickly like flashes of lightning, and they all moved in unison having wheels within wheels, and as they moved they made a sound like that of a rushing stream.

    As we read this description in the context of modern inventions, we can almost imagine what Ezekiel was seeing was some sort of heavenly machine….was it some sort of helicopter or drone that he saw?  It was definitely a vision from God, and Ezekiel now saw that there was a Great Being there and he could hear a Voice speaking to him. But the overall impression that he got, was one of tremendous light, and a brilliant rainbow which dazzled him so much that he threw himself face downwards on the ground.

   For others who have seen a vision from God, there is always this great light, and we have Paul’s description of his experience on the road to Damascus. He too, fell face downwards onto the ground in the face of this great light, while the men with him saw the light and heard a voice but couldn’t pick what was being said. Paul though, was in no doubt as to what was said and Who was speaking to him, and he was blinded by this intense light for three days (Acts 9:3-9)

   We hear of people today say in their ignorance and unbelief of Who God really is, that they are going to say this or that to God if they ever see Him, but they do not realise that they will be totally speechless in that day. They will see what they really are in the light of God’s holiness and purity, and will know His justice and that they will get what they deserve.

    Ezekiel heard a voice speaking to him and he was ready to listen, just as Paul too listened to what God had to tell him. We don’t have these visions today, but we DO have God’s Word in our hands which clearly tells us the way of salvation….all we have to do is to humble ourselves to listen and obey what He tells us to do. We don’t have to WORK for our salvation because Jesus Christ has done it all, but we DO have to humble ourselves to accept what He has done.

God’s men of old heard God’s word, And wrote down what they heard, We must follow what we read, Obey it all and take good heed.

Random Devotional Thoughts

Do you Have a Loose Connection?

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      I heard a story the other day about a man whose car had a flat battery. This was in the days when a car could be started by cranking it, so he got out the crank and started to wind the motor but it still wouldn’t start. So he lifted the bonnet (hood) of the car and poked around having a good look at the motor. Then he found the problem….there was a loose cable connection. He joined it up, wound the crank handle again and the motor shot into life. “Ah!! ” he thought, “so THAT was the problem!”

     This is just like our prayer life. There are many times when we feel as though God is far away and not hearing our prayers. The trouble is a loose connection between us and God, and it is not until we join the connection that the power of God flows back into our life. Let’s look at some of these loose connections that can cut our fellowship with God.     One of these is having a right relationship with our spouse or other members of our families. This is one of the main causes of a broken connection, and we are told that husbands in particular, are to treat their wives right or their prayers will be hindered  (1 Peter 3:7 ).  Another one is having a bad attitude towards others, and unconfessed sin….King David said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me!” (Psalm 66:18 ) Having a wrong attitude to our money….it is not our own, but only what God has given us, so it is only reasonable to give Him His share of it. Habitual and continuous disobedience will block our communion with God. Cherished continual sin in our hearts…..is there something that we know displeases the Lord but we don’t want to give it up? This is a loose connection cutting the communication between us and God. The prophet Isaiah said, “Your sins have come between you and God like a thick cloud!”   (Isaiah 52:1)

   So after thinking about these things, let’s fix these loose connections in our life, and have our communion with God restored again.