# 02 2016 Devotional Ezekiel 11:19-20 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ezekiel 11:19-20

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them: I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel is known as the prophet of doom, telling about the judgment of Israel and other nations but he also foretells God’s grace and salvation for his people(Ch.33 -34). While Jeremiah predicts the exile, Ezekiel is taken into exile and prophesies from Babylon. Chapter 11 is about judgment but verses 16 -25 is about God’s promise to return the people to the land. This is the “Promised Land” v. 15, no self respecting Israeli wants to be away from the land. This still goes on today, many Jew are returning to the land of Israel and some Christians promote and encourage this return with prayer and funds as if this prophecy is still being fulfilled. It has been fulfilled and ended with the return of the exiles from Babylon beginning in 538 BC.

This prophecy is a sign and a for-shadowing of what is to come with the covenant of Jesus’ blood. This pericope Eze. 11:16-25 has three layers of meaning that become clear from verses 19-20.

First, Ezekiel indeed speaks of the returning exiles from Babylon, verses 16-25 that has been fulfilled.
The second level of meaning, while applying to the returning exiles, also points to the coming of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Verse 19 speaks of an undivided heart, a new Spirit and I will replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh (II Cor 3:2-6). That has begun to be fulfilled but not yet complete.
The third level of meaning, while applying to the returning exiles, also points to the New Heaven and the New Earth. Verse 20 peaks about God’s precepts carefully kept and “They will be my people, and I will be their God” He is our God completely now but still in limited scope (see Rev 21:3-5) and not yet complete. I am sure you have heard the saying: “The New Testament is in the Old contained and the Old Testament is in the New explained” something to keep in mind as we apply God’s Word to our lives. Praise Him!
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# 01 2016 Devotional Phil. 3:13-14 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Philippians 3:13-14

“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians is one of Paul’s prison letters but at this time he was under house arrest with the freedom of having visitors. He wants to thank the Philippian church for their material support and for their faithfulness to the Gospel. Chapter 3 is a warning about having “confidence in the flesh”, Paul is speaking against those who demand circumcision for all new believers of the Christian faith. In relation to this Paul prays for the Philippian church Ch.1:9-11. Paul prays for abounding love, knowledge, insight and discernment to see what is best and pure in Christ Jesus. Paul here rejects his past, his upbringing and his education under the law as rubbish and seeks to be found righteous by faith in Christ alone. That is what verses 13-14 are all about.

We must go back to verse10, Paul desires to know Christ, His resurrection and to share in His suffering, to be like Christ in death and to attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul here is not speaking of only spiritual resurrection that all Christians receive in Christ as new creations but the physical resurrection that await all those in Christ Jesus.

Paul has not yet attained it but he forgets the past, all that was contrary to the Gospel in his life before God called him, and he forgets his accomplishments. As there is in our lives, even now after God has called us, we leave 2015 behind, we forget our accomplishments, our failures and sins as God forgives and forgets them (Jer. 31:31-34). We are in the new covenant of Jesus’ blood we therefore strain forward into this New Year and like Paul seek the prize that comes with God’s call on our lives, the spiritual and physical resurrection for which Christ has called Paul, me,you, all of us, heavenward. Verse 20-21 culminates Paul’s exhortation: Our citizenship is not on this earth but in heaven and by the power of Christ in His time “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body”. Praise be to His Name. Amen!

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# 52 2015 Devotional, Mt.28:19-20. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 28:19-20

19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Chapter 28 is about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. He is the first to rise from the dead. When we believe in Jesus as the risen Son of God who gave Himself for us we also rise with Him to new life, a new creation. This is a story of faith and a great command but also a great deception. The men, Jesus’ disciples, were in hiding. In their defence we know that the religious leader would be looking for them since they were determined to stop what they saw as a heretical sect that disregarded their laws. But the women did not have those restrictions, no one paid any attention to them except for Jesus.

Early in the morning the women went to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus. They did not find Jesus there but saw an angel. When the women saw him they where afraid but they talked with him. The angel told the women everything they needed to know but as they were on the way back, Jesus, out of love and compassion showed Himself to them. The guards were not so blessed, at the sight of the angel they were terrified and fell down like dead men. Once the women and the angel departed they revived and ran to the religious authorities to tell what happened since they asked for the guards to be placed at the tomb. The leaders bribed them to tell a blatant lie: “The disciples stole the body while we slept”. That lie is still believed today. It is hard for us to understand why they insisted on that lie when they knew that Jesus had risen! That is the contrast, the very opposite of what Jesus says and what those under the control of Satan say. One says; go tell a blatant lie, Jesus says; “go make disciples”, go and tell the truth!

That takes us to the verses of the week 19, 20, but they point back to verse 18b. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go”! We go in the power of Jesus, He prepares the way. We make disciples by our words and our deeds but we must live intentionally for Christ. In other words, are we different from non believers around us and do people see the difference? Do we seek relationships with our neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances Christian or not? I am afraid that we are comfortable in our Christian community and that non church people are so culturally different from church people that there is hardly any point of contact. Yet, there must be contact because we all are sinners, true, we are forgiven sinners but others need to be forgiven as well. That will only happen if we reach out and cross the gap between us! Christ makes his appeal through us, after all, and that is why He has called us (2 Cor. 5:14-21).

How do we do it, where do we begin? Begin with prayer for the person and ask for the guidance of the Spirit. Also, show the grace of Jesus, not condemnation. We may not agree with the lifestyle but instead of condemning we walk along side and show a better way. This takes time and commitment as Paul says in I Thess. 2:4-10 we are approved to bring the gospel, we loved you, shared our lives with you, worked hard and lived holy lives among you, like a father and mother we treated you like our own children, “encouraging, comforting and urging you to live a life worthy”. We do not do this on our own of course, Jesus is with us but so is the Christian community, to baptize and to teach all Jesus has taught us. Churches need to be intentional as well, have Christ like humility, love, grace, and acceptance. This is the Gospel. What a blessing it is for those (us) previously lost and what a blessing it will be for those not yet saved. The Great Commission is a challenging ending for 2015, we thank God for a year filled with His blessings and look forward to what God will do in 2016. Praise the Lord!

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# 51 2015 Dev. Mt.24:35. The purpose of our devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 24:35

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

Chapter 24 is about signs of the end of the age. Jesus and his disciples are sitting together and they question Jesus concerning what He said about the temple: “Not one stone will be left upon another; every one will be thrown down”. Here Jesus is talking about the Temple not His body. The destruction of the temple occurred when the Roman General Titus put down the Jewish rebellion to direct Roman rule in 66 -70 AD. Jesus gives the disciples many signs of the end: impostors of Christ, wars and rumors of war, famine and earthquakes and persecution of followers of Christ.

Jesus is not just talking about the future here; he mentions the abomination in the holy place spoken of in the book of Daniel. More than likely that event is from the past about 175-163 BC when Antiochus IV also called Epiphanes (god manifest) stripped the Temple and built a pagan alter there sacrificing pigs upon it. This attempt to wipe out Judaism sparked the Maccabean rebellion. A complete exegesis of this chapter is beyond the scope of this devotional but the point is that Jesus is talking about the history of opposition to both the Old Testament church and the New Testament church, past present and future. When we read this chapter we cannot but draw a parallel to the events of today.

These signs will continue until the end, as Jesus says: “and this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus is on the way but it seems the end is not yet, based on the state of the spread of the Gospel in the world. Jesus will come and there will be no doubt as to who He is, and He will be seen around the world.

In the mean time we stay true to Him, we continue with His work. “Heaven and earth will pass away but his word is forever.” we learn this week. Along with that is the work we do in His name, the motivation for what we do as Christians: the fruit of the Spirit that indwells our being and comes out in our work will be forever. The work of God by us by the Word of God in us will become the stuff of the New Heaven and Earth. Ch. 24 is an appropriate passage this close to Christmas, Jesus’ birth is the beginning of the end! Praise Him!

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# 50 2015 Dev. Mt. 17:20The purpose of our devotionals is to grow closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 17:20

20 “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

This is an amazing and encouraging passage. From our perspective, chapter 17 is comprised of three miracles and a lack of faith by the Disciples but should build up our own faith. From the Disciples point of view the chapter is a confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah, He has come, he is with them and that assurance also increased their faith.

1. The first miracle is the transfiguration, Jesus is transformed into his heavenly appearance, Moses and Elijah come and talk to Him The Spirit must have informed the Disciple they would not have been able to recognize these two prophets. Obviously, this event was done to increase the faith of the Disciple and our faith as well.

Then there is the boy with an evil Spirit that the Disciple could not cast out. Jesus cast out the boy and when the Disciples asked why they could not Jesus points to their lack of faith. The Gospel Mark tells the same story but the father of the boy upon hearing about the possibility of faith “exclaims, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” The importance of that statement should not be lost on us.

The story of the fish with a four-dracma coin in it’s mouth is a most unusual miracle, not one to help someone but one so as not to cause offence. Can you imagine yourself going to fish and to expect money enough to pay a tax in it’s mouth? No, I would say that the faith of the Disciples is increasing. That certainly would have taken a lot of faith on Peter’s part.

We go back to the verse we are memorizing. Jesus tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustered seed we could move mountains, in-fact “nothing would be imposable for us”. This is unnerving information. Not many of us can move mountains but we do have faith, we believe the Word of God, We believe all the miracles in the Word, and we belive that Jesus is the Son of God and that by His death he saves us from all our sins and unrighteousness. We believe He gives us new life now and eternal life with Him. Along with the father in Marks Gospel we say: “ I do believe; help me (us) overcome my(our) unbelieve!

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 # 49, 2015 Dev. I Cor. 13:4-7. The purpose of our devotionals is to grow nearer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

I Corinthians 13:4-7

“Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

I Cor. 13 is one of those chapters that encourages us and at the same time addresses what is important in our lives and in the lives of every person in the world but is often missing. The world today is as if “love has grown cold” (Mt. 24:9-14). Paul begins with the priority of love. We may have many gifts, we may have much faith, or great insight into God’s Word and many other virtues but whatever we do if we do not love it is all in vain. Love is action, a way of being that overflows into all our relationships, our conversations, and dictates our very lives.

There are other kinds of love: lust that attempts to imitate love, self love that excludes others, the love of money and of power but that kind of love has no place in Paul’s letter. The love that Paul describes is the reflection of Jesus Himself (Eph.4:18-19). There is power in Christs’ love and the “fullness of God”!

We turn to the passages we are memorizing. We begin with Pauls’ description of actions that love does not do: there is no envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, selfishness, quick anger, it does not remember wrongs, and does not delight in evil. That alone eliminates all other emotions passed off as love. The rest of Paul’s description is positive action: “Love is patient and love is kind, love rejoices in the truth, It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Paul’s description reminds us of the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22-23). These passages compliment each other. I take the liberty to add v.8a “Love never fails” because it ties these passages together. The Love of Jesus always wins, the Spirit always bears fruit. That is the love that Paul describes, and it is the love we all practice by God’s grace. Praise be to God!

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# 48 2015 Devotion Matt. 6:24   The purpose of our devotionals is to grow closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to apply His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 6: 24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6 is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount (Ch.5-7). In this chapter Jesus speaks about what he dislikes and what he criticizes the hypocrites  for. When you give, when you pray and when you fast to receive praise from men you have your reward in full. But if you give, pray and fast in secret, God who sees in secret will reward you. Do we seek the praise of men? We may not realize we  seek to please men but if you look deep you will agree that we do seek the praise of men sometimes. We do things and not do things in order to receive that earthly praise.

In this chapter Jesus speaks strongly about praying with endless words. He teaches us how to pray with an economy of words and follows the Lord’s prayer with a command and admonition. Jesus says: “ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”(v.14-15). Talk about treasure in heaven and on earth.

That is what our verse this week is indirectly talking about, laying up treasure in heaven. It is by service we lay up treasure with God, serving Him only. By pretending to serve Jesus we serve two masters and we lay up treasure on earth: by not giving what we should to the poor and by seeking and accepting the praise of men and by holding onto sweet revenge by withholding forgiveness. It quickly becomes obvious that it is not Jesus we are serving. True service to Jesus comes from the heart and is the light of the world. Shine on, light up the dark places!!

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# 47 2015 Dev. Ps 46:1. The purpose of our devotionals is to grow closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to apply His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

This passage is in the second book of the Psalms, basically a prayer book framed by four prayers at the beginning and at the end of the book. Psalm 46 is the first of a series of three having to do with security. The need for security in today’s world is something we all identify with more and more: everywhere, in the First, Second, and Third World innocent men women and children are lost. Many are killed indiscriminately but more and more because of religious orientation, particularly Christianity. Security or the lack thereof is fast becoming the defining issue of our time and begs the question will we ever have peace and security again?

We pray for peace, we pray for protection, we wring our hands and we are fearful of the future. Psalm 46:10 has an answer: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth”. Peace and security comes down to knowing God, knowing His love, knowing His power and putting our trust in Him.

That is what verse 1 tells us: “God is our refuge”, our hiding place, our safe place. God protects us and gives us strength. But it is more than that; He is “an ever present help in trouble”. We live in a broken world, troubles are all around and also affect us but God walks with us and when troubles come, suffers with us. Not only for today or when we call on Him, no, He is “an ever-present presence with His people. We take the liberty to quote verse 2a “Therefore, we will not fear”. Applying Psalm 46: 1, 2a,10 to our lives and by using our God given discernment, we can have peace and security!

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