Category Archives: Daily Devotionals

Daily Devotionals

Some Random Thoughts

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      I’ve been reading in the Old Testament book of Isaiah lately, and have come across some thoughts about that book that might be helpful. Many people skip reading the Old Testament prophetic books as they feel they are irrelevant for today’s world, but there are pearls scattered all through these books that we would miss if we didn’t read the books through consecutively.

    The book of Isaiah is especially so, as there is a distinctive pattern followed here that gives some tremendous  insights into the thoughts and desires of God’s heart. For instance in chapter nine, verse s 6-7 we are told of the coming Messiah, and what He would be like. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

    This prophecy, as with so many, has been partly fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, but will be completely fulfilled at the end of time when He takes over his Kingdom forever.     And in  chapter fifty three we are told of the sufferings of the coming Messiah which we see fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ .

    Apart from these prophecies, there is also a pattern followed whereby the book itself is divided into two distinctive sections, just as the Bible  is. It is, in fact, a miniature of the Bible itself……

There are 66 chapters; there are 66 books in the Bible. There are two sections; the Bible has the Old Testament and the New Testament.  

The first section calls Israel; the Old Testament of the Bible  calls Israel. The second section calls ALL to come;  in the New Testament, the Bible gives the Gospel to the whole world. The final message is the same in both Isaiah and the Bible itself…. Both tell of the new heavens and a new earth. Both tell of an eternal blessedness. Both end up with the result of ignoring God’s message and invitation.           

    So read it for yourself, starting off in chapter forty, the beginning of the second section, and be blessed.

Daily Devotionals

How Clean Are You?

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    I’ve just been cleaning down our back deck which faces a stand of tall trees. Not only that, it  doesn’t get the morning sun but only the late afternoon sun  through the trees. As a result, it gets covered with leaves and if left too long, covered in a green gunge as well. I have found that a bleach helps to get the black mould off (with plenty of scrubbing!), and so it is looking pristine clean after this time around. Perhaps one reason that it gets left, is that it is at the back of the house, and no one sees it for long periods of time!

     But while I was scrubbing it down with a broom,  it reminded me of how like our lives, this deck is. Just as it needs constant cleaning, so we need to keep our spirit and soul cleaned regularly before God. The bleach which gets into all the little grooves in the deck makes it all clean and shiny, so this reminds us that it is the work of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and minds, that reminds us of things which need to be confessed and put right.

    Because it is in the shade for so long each day, the moss and mould begins to grow and make it messy. So we need the constant light of daily Bible readings to keep the moss in our minds at bay. We might think it is too hard to understand, but remember, that just as a sieve doesn’t hold the water in it, the constant washing under the tap keeps it clean. So even if we don’t understand some of it, other things will stick and help keep our minds in the right direction.

    There is nothing like a good clean up to make that back deck look lovely and a joy to behold. So those who keep their lives on the right tracks will be a joy and a help to all those around, to say nothing of having the satisfaction of being in the right relationship with the God of Heaven.

Daily Devotionals

Repentance and Forgiveness

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   Psalm 51, verse 17 says…             The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,  You will not despise.                                                          

     This psalm tells us how to come to know the God of Heaven. In fact it gives the same message that we find in the New Testament….confession,  with forgiveness and cleansing following  (1 John 1:9). Sin comes between man and God, but when we openly confess what we have done,  God will freely forgive and give us a fresh new start. We need not feel embarrassed at our weakness (that is pride)….God already knows it, but we have to admit it and  follow Him once more.  

David was a king in Bible times who loved God very much. But even he wandered away from God’s ways, and committed the despicable murder  of an innocent man. He tried to cover one sin with another sin, but it didn’t work. So often we do a similar thing, only to find that our  fellowship with God is broken. We can either admit our sin quickly and openly to God, or remain in bitterness and misery , trying to tell ourselves that it didn’t really matter, and it was really the other person’s fault!             

      Do what David did, and then you will be able to say the following…. Have mercy on me O God my King, As to you now, my sin I bring; Wash me thoroughly, make me clean, Against You alone, my sin has been!                    

Daily Devotionals

Thoughts from Psalm Five.

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The Praying Man.

It’s a wonderful fact that we have access to the God of Heaven and earth through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ ! We can meet with Him at any time of course, but it’s most important to start the day off with Him in peace and quiet before the busyness of the day begins. David had learned this from a very early age, and it was something that he practiced every day. God is faithful in all His dealings with His people, and we have to trust that what He gives us to enjoy is the best for us. It isn’t always easy to rejoice when things are hard or don’t go our way, but we are told to keep a cheerful attitude at all times!

Consider my thoughts and my words O my Lord, Hear the voice of my cry, my King and my God;

Each morning I’ll call and pray unto Thee, Trusting that You will have mercy on me.

Wickedness cannot stand  before You, The foolish and evil will be destroyed too.

But because of Your mercy I’ll worship in awe, Your faithfulness is great, I cannot ask more;

But let those who trust, all sing and rejoice, Blessing You Lord, with their heart and their voice.

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.

Daily Devotionals

Thoughts from Psalm Ninety

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The Sheltering One

I know the wonders of God’s grace, Because I‘m in His secret place. A thousand years are in His sight, The same as yesterday’s quick flight; Man’s life is but a fleeting thing, Like blooms which fall or birds that sing. He sees the secret sins we do, And all the pride which dogs us too. We may see three score years and ten, Or even eighty, but what then? Teach us O Lord to watch our ways, As we are here with fleeting days; For You are all that satisfies, As we are here in time that flies; Let the beauty of Your grace, Reflect in deeds and in our face!

    We see here how fleeting each person is in the light of God’s eternity! Man is so insignificant in the light of what God is, and yet He desires for us to know Him and fellowship with Him! Our years here on earth are just the beginning of eternity for each one of us….an eternity spent in one of two places, either with God or without Him. We cannot imagine what it would be like to be separated from God and all that is good for ever and ever. If only the horror of it would impress itself on the minds of people, hell would be empty. Let’s each one of us learn to number our days as this psalm says, and apply our hearts to know wisdom, remembering that the fear and knowledge of God is the beginning of this wisdom!

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Daily Devotionals

Helmet of Hope.

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David, the Psalmist in the Bible, could say… “For You are my hope, O Lord GOD: You are my trust from my youth” (Psalm 71:5).

 I was listening to a preacher the other day who was talking about hope. Not hope with the thought of it may or may not happen, but hope as a confidence and certainty. There is another verse in the Bible where it says to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Once we have this helmet firmly on our head, no matter how many darts of doubt and fear Satan fires at us, we can overcome them.

    The law in New Zealand says that it is compulsory for every cyclist to wear a helmet while riding their bike on the road. It is no use carrying it on the handlebars of the bike, because that won’t keep us safe if we have an accident. We have to have it on our head  to be safe  and protected. Every time we have an impact, we have to adjust it and wear it properly again.

   So it is when troubles hit us on our ride through life, we have to adjust our helmet of hope and get on our bike and go on again. Every negative thought that Satan gives us, we have to counteract with our helmet of hope, and count our many blessings.   It is no use counting our blessings on our fingers and our troubles on the calculator, we are to do it the other way around. Every new morning we are to put on our helmet of hope and count our blessings; we are to firmly fasten it with thanksgiving to God, and to resist negative thoughts which come from the evil one. We will then be able to face the new day with a positive and confident “hope” as we go to school or work.

Daily Devotionals

God’s Mighty Creation

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     When we were travelling around the South Island of New Zealand recently, there were so many things to see and marvel at. The mountains especially were magnificent, and then there were the places where the road went through very hilly country, where the hills just seemed to fold into each other. Still other places where the roads followed streams and rivers through endless hills and ranges, without ever going up a hill themselves. They just meandered through the hills, each time going around a corner, there were more hills and the endless stream the road was following.

   I couldn’t help thinking how much pleasure God gets out of everything that He has created, and how He is familiar with every hill and corner. We read of this pleasure in the book of Job, chapter 40:15 to the end of chapter 42.

   God is pointing out to Job how mighty these creatures are that He has made. Job was over-awed, and said that he felt vile and insignificant in the face of such creation. So it is that we must feel something of this awe when we see the beauty of the mountains and hills, and give God the credit for having created them. When He asks in a day to come why we didn’t take advantage of seeing them, and giving Him the glory for His mighty works, we will feel ashamed, just as Job did in his time.

    So let’s remember these things, even in the familiar everyday scenes around us, and give God the glory that He deserves!