Category Archives: Daily Devotionals

Wisdom for the New Year

PROVERBS  TWO…. (v.1-6)

Verses:1-6          John 15:7;  16:23-24                    James 4:2c

Solomon is begging his son here  to listen and take notice. A person with a bit of age and experience behind him, can see the pitfalls that a headstrong youngster can never see.

“Listen to me”, Solomon says, “Seek and apply yourselves,  ask  and seek earnestly for wisdom!” Do we do this?

God has all these blessings in Christ Jesus waiting for us, but we must put effort into getting them. James tells us that we don’t have the enjoyment of them because we don’t  ask for them and apply ourselves to getting them. It is like a student once who needed finance to get through his course and asked the Lord to provide it. He did, but not in the way she expected it…. God provided a job for her to earn her own money!

Those who earnestly and prayerfully seek, WILL find…..this is one of the prayers that God has unconditionally promised He will grant!

Seek wisdom from the Lord above,  Who gives all things richly in                                                                            love;                                                                                   But we must search and seek this for,  It to be giv’n  from God’s rich                                                                      store.

Why did Jesus Come to Earth?

    Matthew 1:18-25

   Matthew tells us of his understanding of the birth of Jesus Christ….he simply says that Mary as a virgin, was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit . Luke (being a doctor) gives us more details and tells of the angel’s visit to her and their conversation  (Luke 1: 26-28).

Matthew tells of Joseph’s fears and concerns and of the angel’s visit to him, telling him that this was all happening in fulfillment of Scripture and instructing him on what to call this Baby. He was to be called “Jesus” meaning Saviour. This then, was to be the Child’s purpose, to bring salvation to the human race.

It is amazing that this child’s birth still affects the human race today, and is still vitally relevant to each human being alive. Without Him, man would never be able to have a relationship with the Almighty God of Heaven. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” He said, “No-one can come to the Father but by Me.”

Peter could say in his preaching, “There is no other Name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved.”   (Acts 4:12) This child would reveal God to us and bring us back to God.

We see then, that Jesus had to come to earth to be born and live a sinless, perfect life to be fitted for bringing salvation from sin to mankind. No mere man was good enough, and God knew that only His own Son could do it. He loved the world so much that He was prepared to give His best for the worst. Let us give him thanks and praise His Name!

God in Christ came down to earth,                                                                                  How great this truth of matchless worth!                                                     Without this child on earth being born,                                                                         Man could not know eternity’s morn.

The Story of Queen Esther, Part Four

Esther, the Queen 

Esther 2:11-23

    We see  that Mordecai walked every day past where Esther was living,  to see how she was getting on. It is wonderful too, to think that God’s Holy Spirit is living inside each believer as we go about our daily tasks…..

   He is just as concerned about our feelings and thoughts as Mordecai ever was about Esther (Romans 8:9). When we neglect our times with the Lord, He is grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and when we rebel against what we know the Scriptures teach, His voice can be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). But He is always with us.

Esther’s training lasted for twelve months and then it was her turn to go to the king to present herself before him. She made a great impression on him, and he loved her more than any of the other girls. So Esther became queen in the place of Vashti.

Even though she had such a high position, she was still obedient to Mordecai and he always kept near her. In the same way if we stay obedient to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, no matter what position we hold in life, God can use and bless us.

One day, Mordecai heard of a plot against the life of the king. He told Esther about this and she in turn told the king who promptly dealt with the men. Not only that, it was written in the king’s diary which he kept.

Esther now became the queen, And Mordecai was daily seen;

He kept in touch, was always there, And sought her daily life to share.

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The Story of Queen Esther, Part Three.

     Enter Esther

Esther 2:1-10

     It is wonderful the way that God works in lives and the affairs of people. Here we see the stage being set for a godly woman to change the course of history….

God saw to it that Vashti was deposed and that Esther was among those chosen to be groomed for the position of queen. Not only that, but the timing was right in the political arena as well with the new prime minister not having risen to his zenith of power.

We see that Mordecai the Jew had some sort of job in or around the palace. Mordecai in this story is a type of God’s Holy Spirit who cares for and protects God’s people. Mordecai had the guardianship of his beautiful young cousin and she came to the notice of the officials who were looking around for girls to be groomed in court protocol  to be the next queen.

Esther had such a sweet disposition and pretty face, that everyone liked her. Not only was she a pretty girl, but she was obedient to her cousin when he told her not to say that she was a Jewess.

As believers, we must be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as we read the Scriptures, so we can be a blessing to others.

Esther was right in time and place,                                                                               With her sweet  smile  and pretty face;                                                                     She charmed the prince with winsome ways,                                                 Learning graces for future days.

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The Story of Queen Esther, Part Two

     Vashti  Deposed.

Esther 1:13-22

     We read here that the king was greatly upset by Vashti’s refusal to come to the party, and so were all his princes. They all felt that it would create a precedent where all the women in the land would go into a revolt against their husbands!                                             

They felt that if Vashti were not made an example of, that she would become a role model for all the women of the day to follow,  in disobeying  their husbands.

How much we see this today among wives who want to do their own thing, even in many cases to making their own way in life without their husbands! The things that are written in the New Testament  (and remember that these things were not authored by sour old men as some people say, but by the Living God) truly make for a happy home. When all else fails, turn to the Maker’s Handbook!

God says many things that cut right across the popular thoughts of today. Things like “women fitting in with  their husbands plans”….(Ephesians 5:22 Living Bible), that is, not taking the lead out of his hands. How much do we wives respect and praise our husbands up? Nothing makes a man feel better than to know  he is looked up to by his family (Ephesians 5:33b). Not only that, but children will follow this example as well.

One of the things that God takes notice of and appreciates more than anything else in a woman is a quiet and gentle spirit that comes from deep inside her. This is classed as being “precious” to God. Probably because God knows it doesn’t come naturally to we women!! We have to work on it and God appreciates the effort we make in this direction!  (1 Peter 3:1-4)

Vashti paid the price for her  revolt  (for whatever reason, valid or not), and was banished from being queen. Unless we treat our husbands like a king, we won’t be treated as a queen!

God’s ways  are right and lead to life,                                                                           None more so than for a wife,                                                                                      To keep our spirit calm and meek,                                                                                  Is God’s desire for us to seek!

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The Story of Queen Esther, Part One

Esther 1:1-12….       We are going to be following the steps of a godly girl in a heathen country, and see how she fared in facing evil head on and in doing so , was able to deliver her people…

God’s people had left Him out of their lives and had turned to follow heathen ways. Because of this, God allowed them to be taken captive to this strange land with another language and different customs. But there among the people of the king’s court, were those who had come from the land of Israel as captives, and who had risen to positions of authority.  A man called Daniel was one of these, and we  see how God intervened in his life as he lived in this place. God does not allow His plans for His people to be thwarted and He only allows evil to go so far.

         Our story starts, not with the character of the one we are going to study, but with a vastly different type of woman!   

The scene is set  in the opulence of an Eastern king’s court.     The splendours and splurgings of King Ahasuerus are graphically described in this chapter. The beauty of his palace and the richness  and length of  his feast is beyond our imagination.  He  called together all his officials and princes and put on a tremendous banquet for them. After that was over, he then put on another feast which was supplied with wine in abundance.

At the same time, Queen Vashti put on a feast for the  women of the court. After a whole week of feasting and drinking had gone on, the king decided to call for the queen to come and show her beauty to the men of the court. There are several ways that we can look at Vashti’s reaction to this royal command…..she may have arrogantly refused the king’s command or it may have been from the modesty of not appearing before a drunken crowd of men. Whatever it was, she refused the king’s command and paid for it dearly.

Vashti the queen refused to bring,                                                                          Her homage to her lord and king;                                                                          Whate’er her reason, we do not know,                                                                  The king then said she had to go!

Devotional Thoughts from Proverbs

PROVERBS  ONE…. (v.20-33)

Verses 1:20-33                                    John 3:36       

This is a serious warning indeed! The wisdom of God calls out to every person to “TAKE HEED!” “LISTEN!”  “ACT NOW!”

What could be more plain than the warning above? Those who respond to it are wise; those who don’t are foolish, scorners and simpletons! God has done everything in His power to save people from their sins…..all they have to do is to tell Him they accept His invitation or else suffer the consequences. Those who don’t believe the Son of God, will not see life, but God’s wrath (anger) will stay with them for ever, so our verse from John says. Just as a child who disobeys and gets burned in touching a hot stove, so the soul who disobeys God will suffer the fires of God’s wrath for ever.

God says, “I called you and you wouldn’t listen…..you’ve ignored me continually and despised My Word while there was time, and why should I hear you now?” Why indeed? The principle of cause and effect works just the same for a believer as for a non-believer in enjoying the peace of God…..if a believer obeys God’s word, he will reap the fruit of the Spirit ( love, joy, peace etc.); if he sows to the flesh, he will reap the consequences of  that life style (which includes lack of peace and joy)

The soul who ignores His God’s sweet call,

Will reap results of man’s hard fall;

 To respond will bring God’s great rewards,

Of love and peace which He  affords.

Devotions from the Book of Genesis

Genesis One….(v.1)                              God’s Plan

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 backdrop to show His marvelous light against? Unless there is disobedience, perfect obedience doesn’t have any impact.

We are told that God had a plan  BEFORE He ever began creation (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20). 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, Of things the angels wanted to look;

He made the earth so He could show, His love and light for men to know.

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