Speak Now

Scripture:  Psalm 39:1 &  2 : “ I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say, I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.”  But as I stood there in silence – not even speaking good things-the turmoil within me grew worse.”

 

Observation:  It seems that the Psalmist is determined not to say or do “the wrong thing” in the presence of “sinners” – not a bad thing in itself, but it appears his determination has really become  fear, preventing him from saying anything at all – even good things!!  Yet how are the “ungodly” ever to be encouraged – even brought into the Kingdom, if we are so scared of saying something wrong  that we say nothing at all!!  How are we to prevent isolating ourselves from those who need to hear the gospel if we are going to say nothing to them? – even a kind word!  No, the psalmist realises that to say nothing is as much a sin as to participate in the negative conversations that can swirl around us.  He realises that his life is so brief that there isn’t a moment to lose in speaking of the good things – of which the Gospel is the greatest!!

 

Application:  How often have I decided it was “safer” to say nothing (for fear of saying the “wrong” thing), than to be prepared to participate in conversations to bring a redeemed perspective?  All too often.  Yet, like the Psalmist, the Lord is reminding me that time is short –  my time on this planet is just a moment when compared to eternity – and I need to grab every available opportunity to “speak of good things” to the world around me.  The psalmist starts out in fear, but his passion for His Lord causes the words to bubble up within him, like a fire that cannot be contained.  That’s the passion I need to have – a passion that is fired by love of the Lord and recognition that I must make the most of every available opportunity!

 

Prayer:  Thankyou, dear Lord, for your great love & mercy towards me.  May I be filled afresh this day with a passion for You that ignites my words in every conversation I participate in, that I might speak of good things to all those around me.  May I have a continual sense of urgency to see others blessed by you as you have blessed me!

 

In Jesus’ Name,  Amen.

No Mistaken Identity Here

Scripture: "The Lord is with you, mighty Warrior"

Observation: Gideon must have been taken back when the angel addressed him as
"mighty warrior." At the time, he was hiding in a pile of rocks, terrified,
beating out grains of wheat for survival. Was this a case of mistaken
identity? I don't think so. I believe the angel was speaking to the potential
that God saw in this young man.

Application: Holy Spirit constantly whispers in our ear our true identity.
Knowing who God calls us to be is probably one of the most crucial things we
need to know. We have the potential to take on labels as we live our daily
lives. That is why listening to Holy Spirit when he whispers my true identity
is key. For me, i hear him whisper 'Called', 'Beauty', 'Daughter', 'Warrior
Princess.'

Prayer: God, thank you for helping me to see what you see. Thank you for
constantly whispering my true identity into my heart.

Hayley

My aim, my quest.

Scripture: "LOVE never fails.' 1 Corinthians 13:8

Observation: We throw the word 'love' around a lot these days. Love is an overused and under rated word that has been redefined until it can mean anything from what's godly to what's ungodly, from the tie that binds to the tie that bend. You can twist it into whatever shape you want it. There are great goals in life but one of the greatest that should be "your aim, your quest" (1 Corinthians 14:1) is to live a life led by and filled with God's love. Human love is changeable and unpredictable. However, God's love, which is the kind of love I should walk in, is entirely different. It doesn't act one way today and another tomorrow. It doesn't let circumstance or emotions alter it. It is sure and consistent. 1 Cor 13:4-8 tells us precisely what it's characteristics are.

Application: Love is the foundation of my life in Christ. Love is the key to God's wisdom, power and protection. When I apply LOVE to everything I do, not only do I reap the benefits already mentioned, but I do not fail! When love is at the core of everything I do success rises to meet me- that's how God created it!

Prayer: God I am eternally grateful Your love never fails. Your love is faithful and true. It has the potential to sound fluffy, but It's unlike the love humanity lives in. It is strong and never faltering. Thank you for revealing Your love to me- help me be someone who uncovers it for the rest of the world.

Hayley

'Hold Fast'

S – Joshua 22 v5

“But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

O – Joshua is encouraging some returning tribes to address care as to what they hold on to. Joshua was know doubt concerned that now that the mission had been completed, they were returning with some incredible wealth but would no longer stay on battle alert. He calls on them to exercise an Endeavour and diligence in the keeping of the commandments that Moses gave. He then goes on to articulate what this actually looks like. Not to walk selectively according to what is comfortable, but to exert an effort to protect and hold fast as if some force was trying to make them let go.

A – I know that I can exercise care in many parts of my life. I may be careful about my family, my lifestyle, my possessions and many other no doubt important things. But this challenges me in the most important area of my life; to love the Lord, to walk in all His ways… and to hold fast to him. I can think that this doesn’t apply to me, but I know that the intention to hold fast can so easily slip. Like the returning tribes I can have many blessings, experiences and a comfortableness in my spiritual journey that I relax the hold fasting. I then become half hearted in my devotion and connection. There is no place for selective obedience. I need to have a continual exercising holding, serving and loving.

P – Lord forgive me when I don’t hold fast and allow lesser things to be careful about. I need your strength and wisdom to know what to be careful about and to serve you with all my heart and soul.

Ken Hooper

Practice what you preach

Scripture

1 Corinthians 9: 27 “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified”.

 

Observation

Paul realised that practicing what he preached was the work he needed to do in the gym! To be a disciplined athlete, the race run is only a reflection of all of the effort put in during those long lonely training hours. The race isn’t won on personality or charisma but is won on the level of disciplined training behind the scenes. Paul knew that his preaching was the result of knowing the Word but it produced the greatest results through the self application of the message – and that was where the real message lay.

 

Application

It’s so easy to give advice to someone else. But it’s not always so easy to apply advice that has been received! Especially if it contains elements of change to my personal habits or lifestyle. Yet as I declare the plans God has for our lives publicly it needs to become my personal script for how I live out my life personally. I need to ensure I don’t disqualify myself by living hypocritically. Shortcuts in my training will be discovered when I run out onto the field and the entire crowd will see my level of fitness.

 

Prayer

So often disqualified! Lord I so often fail in my level of disciplined training. I re-enter basic training today and submit again to my Holy Spirit led coaching team and strive to be one who always practices what I preach.

 

Jim Jung

"Take the rubbish out"

Scripture: Joshua 7:13b  “Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord [for destruction].  You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you”

 

Observation:  Israel has been disobedient to the Lord’s commands. They have broken covenant.  Someone in the camp has kept some plunder that they were clearly told had to be destroyed – and the disobedience of this one person meant the defeat of the Israelites in a comparatively small battle, when the Lord had promised them victory!!  How can this be??? – even the Israelites were mystified at first!  But the principal here is that God’s directions are set in place to protect His people from the wiles of the enemy.  They are not there because He is mean, but because He wants to abundantly bless, and He can only do that when we live according to the way we were designed to live – His ways!  The items kept by Achan were obviously beautiful & valuable.  Achan couldn’t stand the thought of destroying them.  He wanted them above anything else – even God!!  Here was the breaking of the first commandment (to love the Lord above all else) in it’s essence. “ I will have what I want no matter what –who’s to know? – Who’s going to get hurt?” (see Joshua 8:21).  But that’s what sin does – it blinds us to the truth &  has consequences that not only affect ourselves.  It harms our loved ones & our community.  Israel had been promised “the world” by the Lord – the only One who could actually deliver the world!!  Yet until Israel learnt to honour Him for Who He Is, and put Him first, they continued to allow the enemy to have predominance, and so prevent the victory that the Lord already had “in the bag”!!

 

Application:  Like Israel, until I remove the things in my life that the Lord has declared need to be destroyed, I will never walk in the victory that Christ has already won for me at the cross.  He has already defeated sin’s power in my life.  Am I walking in that?  When I succumb to sin’s lure, I am allowing the enemy to defeat me – effectively nullifying the Lord’s promises of victory in my life!!  When I do fail - &, yes, I still do – I am so thankful that the Lord has made the way to be restored to Him – through confession, repentance & acceptance of His forgiveness so freely given through the application of Jesus’ shed blood.  But, surely, as a blood-bought child of the living God, the living of my life as a Covenant-keeper must be increasingly more the norm than that of a Covenant breaker!  Otherwise I might just as well “chuck the whole thing in”!!  Either Christ’s sacrifice for me is effective for every area of my life, or it is effective for none!  There is nothing I cannot overcome with the resurrection power of Christ within me!  If my disobedience can negatively affect all those around me, imagine what a blessing my obedience will be to the world I live in!

 

Prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father,  thankyou SO much that, through Christ, You have made the way for me to be forgiven & restored to you, and that, not only has He defeated sin & death, but the very power of those things to cause the fear & distress in my life that the enemy desires.  I ask that the revelation of what Jesus did for me might grow in ever-increasing strength in my life, that I might less & less succumb to the lure of sin, that I might “remove these things from me”, & that the resultant evidence of Your victory in my life might become a mighty blessing to the world around me.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Sue Otto

 

Friend or Foe?

Scripture

Joshua 5: 13-14 “As Joshua approached the city of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man facing him with a sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked “Are you friend or foe?” “Neither one” he replied, “I am commander of the Lords army”.

 

Observation

Joshua was in war mode. His whole life had led him to this day. Friend or foe was his stance. Allay or enemy, do I kill you or have you join with me? You can feel the readiness for battle in his actions. “Neither one” is the answer from the Arch Angel – I’m above enemies and friends, I carry out the commands of a King who has no enemies – Joshua’s posture immediately changes and he falls to his face and acquiesces to the Lords commander.

 

Application

Life teaches me to regard others as friends or foe, allay or enemy. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he and Apollo’s are just servants of God acting as managers on His behalf carrying out the directives of the Master. They weren’t necessarily seeking friendships or actively making enemies but were faithfully outworking the purposes of the Kingdom of God in which they served. Joshua learns this lesson as he is confronted by the Angel – this isn’t about war, it isn’t about annihilation of an enemy – there is neither friend or foe – but it is about righteousness, obedience to the Ways of the Lord, consequences for disobedience (just read about Achan a few chapters on!) and Joshua gains a new Kingdom perspective. Sometimes my actions lead me to think in terms of friend or foe but I need to be confronted by the Commander of the Lords army and be reminded again that I only need to faithfully carry our His commands.

 

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the heavenly encounter with Joshua and your Arch Angel. It is a kingdom reminder of who’s side I’m on – your side – which is above friend or foe.

 

Jim Jung

Instructing Kings

Scripture

Deuteronomy 17: 18 - 20  "When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the LORD his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.

 

Observation

The Lord instructs future Kings to be focused on who has set them in the place of authority. The writing of the Law in their own hand writing would ensure that they took intimate not of what was being said by the Lord. Reading it daily would also ensure that the sharpness of it never faded and would colour all of their decisions. And this was a generational command to ensure the purposes and commissioning of God was passed on as an inheritance.

 

Application

The same applies to me today. God has set me in places of authority. He has made me His son. I am part of the Royal Household. The daily time of reading the Word is a direct link to this instruction to Moses and the people of Israel and the affect is still the same – it is to prevent me from becoming proud and feeling superior to my fellow human beings and to be reminded daily to adhere to His ways.

 

Prayer

Lord, thank you for your Word and its ability to keep me focused on Your ways.

 

Jim Jung

 

FW: The light at the end of the tunnel

Scripture:  Deut 4: 10 & 11 “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.  For the Lord you God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors”

Observation:  The suffering this scripture talks about is the consequence  which will clearly result from Israel’s disobedience in turning away from the one true God to the worship of idols.  They have been warned.  God cannot bless them when they are disobedient to Him….and He knows that’s what they will do!!!  Moses clearly prophesies it here!  But, even so, the God of Israel is faithful to His covenant with Abraham & his descendants.  And He promises that, in the midst of trouble & distress, there will always be hope.  They have but to seek Him, and they will find Him.  To turn from their sin in repentance to be restored to Him.  If those suffering exile from the land of Israel know the promises of God in scripture, they will know that there is a way beyond the suffering. Whilst the suffering is with reason, it is not without hope of end.  God IS merciful.

Application:  God’s grace is so evident in this Old Testament passage.  And He hasn’t changed today.  I. too, can lose sight of Him and turn to idols – there are so many distractions in this world that can pull me away from Him and obedience to His ways.  Yet, even when I suffer the consequences of my sin (and even that is the grace of the Lord to draw me back to Him), He is waiting for me to repent& return to Him.  Like the Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, He waits longingly for me to return.  And He runs towards me when I do, His robes flying!!!  And when I am in the depths of despair, like the prodigal in the pigpen, there is always the glimmer of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel – His Grace & mercy.  His promises to never abandon me, or destroy me, or forget the covenant He made with me, sealed in the blood of his Son.  I cannot afford to take His forgiveness lightly, but what a comfort to know that, when I do make a mess of things, if I am prepared to return to Him, He won’t leave me to my own devices!!! 

Prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father, thankyou so much for Your grace & mercy towards me.  Thankyou that You are faithful even when I’m not, & that I always have that glimmer of light – Your Grace & mercy – to draw me out of any darkness I may have got myself into!  Lord, I never want to take your mercy for granted, nor take Jesus’ sacrifice for me lightly.  May I always remember what it cost, that that remembrance will keep me from idolatry, but that it will also help me to extend Your Grace & mercy to others, May I be one who shines your light to those around me who have discovered themselves in a very dark place.

In Jesus’ name.   Amen

 Sue Otto

 

Wholeheartedly

Wholeheartedly

Scripture

Numbers 32: 7, 9-11

“Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the Lord has given them? After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who come up out of Egypt will see the land.

Observation

The Lord’s plans for what he was giving the Israelites were being ruined by them! They saw holes in things, they grumbled and complained – they were looking at only from the natural. God had the land picked out, he knew how they would obtain it and it was called “the promised land” God gives great things to his people; but they were rejected his gift at this time – it says they didn’t follow wholeheartedly.

Application

God is giving me things – do look for the faults, for the holes that l can see? What view do l look at it with? Do l look only in the natural and forget about the spiritual? Do l look at it think it can’t be done by humans? Forgetting with God everything is possible. God gives us gifts we need to take them two hands, wholeheartedly and follow Him. Trust Him. Obey Him.

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to change my mindset, my thoughts the things of thing not of you. I want to grab what you are giving me and use it the way you intend me to and doing it wholeheartedly. In Jesus name Amen.

Candice Pleiter