Category Archives: Random Devotional Thoughts

Random Devotional Thoughts

In the End.

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    Last week our preacher talked about the beginning of things. This week, he skipped to the end of time, and talked about the end of things we know. For us, this was very pertinent, as two of our very good friends have passed away with in a month. Both were very ready to go; they both knew the end was near for them.

    It is very comforting for those who are left behind, to know that they are safe with the Lord. But what about those acquaintances who don’t have this hope or confidence? They must think it is only wishful thinking for those who have this confidence. They hope with not much confidence, that maybe there is something in this, but that no-one can be sure until the time comes.

    It is a nice thought, that all man’s troubles come to an end when that time comes, but stop and think about it all for a minute. What makes them think that they will be happy among this large crowd that is all singing praises to the God of Heaven, when they wouldn’t be seen in a church while alive today? How would they be able to stand hearing all the worship being given to Someone Whose name they use as a swear word so carelessly now? And what makes them think they have a right to enter the home of One Who they have never met and don’t know?

    But it doesn’t have to be like this you know. It IS possible for anyone to get to know the God of Heaven in this life. But it involves having to humble oneself and to confess that we have been in the wrong, and deserve nothing from Him. God Himself came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ and took man’s punishment on Himself so that it would be possible for man to fellowship with Him before that day of departure from this earth occurs. If we do this sincerely, we CAN be confident that we will enjoy the life to come, and feel at home there!!

The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:9 that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Random Devotional Thoughts

In the Beginning

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Our preacher pointed out this morning, how that in the very beginning, God made not only creatures and the environment for them to live in, but His final crowning effort was in making mankind. Man was different to the animals, in that man can think and talk. Man can create and invent which animals can’t do. We see how domesticated animals seem to love human companionship, but wild animals keep as far away from humans as possible.

But God’s desire was to have someone He could have fellowship with, and when man was made, we are told that God breathed into him the breath of life. This is not merely being able to breathe, but it means that man was given not only a body and a soul, but also a spirit. This is the part of the human that can communicate with his Maker. God saw everything that He had made up unto this time, and it was good. But when He made man in His own image, His creation work was complete, and everything that He saw then, was VERY good!

In what ways is man made in God’s image? It sounds presumptuous to say the least, to say this! But think about these things….God created all things, and people are creative in the things they can make and invent. God wrote books, and has given people the ability to do this also. God wants fellowship, and people need fellowship with each other. Not only that, but people can respond to God’s call for this fellowship. People have a desire to worship something….God wants them to worship Him. In fact, this is the primary reason for man’s existence. Yet so many people turn their backs on Him and worship everything else but Him!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Life?

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We had a visit the other day from our youngest grand-daughter with the latest twig on our family tree….a little boy, barely a month old. How small he was!! And yet everything that this child is going to grow into, already has the seeds within him. Not only that, but this little child has a soul that will live for ever! No matter what age the body lives to, the soul is there for eternity, and it is up to the parents to teach and train the child the way he should go, to enable him to make the right choices in life.  What an awesome responsibility, and one that so many people take so lightly!     Life has a beginning at conception and then grows as the child is born and takes its first breath. This life does not end at death, it just begins! What we have been on earth lays the foundation for what we will be in the next life…just as Jesus said, “What we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.”(Matthew 18:18)  This life is just the beginning of eternity. For every baby that takes a breath,  exists for ever, for eternity….life on earth is just a dot, and what this child does with his life is where his eternity will be spent!

Jesus said….”I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly!”  ( John 10:10)  and… “This is life eternal…that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ  Who You sent.” (John 17:3)

Random Devotional Thoughts

How Much is Your Soul Worth?

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       Every now and then we get a pamphlet in the mail asking if we are thinking of selling our house. They say that they have clients wanting to buy in our area! They will come and give us a free appraisal of our property, they say, hoping we will take them up on it.

     They say that it is every young married couple’s dream to own their own home, and if we manage to save up enough for our deposit, it is a real thrill when we are finally given the key to our new place!     We say we own this or that. But whatever we own, really owns us! If we have a car we have to service it regularly. If we own a house we have to keep it maintained or it loses its value. If we buy a lawn mower, we have to use it or the place soon looks untidy.   . As time goes by and we might need to move away, we put our house up for sale. We wonder then how much our house is worth, but it is only worth as much as someone will pay for it!

    Maybe we only own something small like a mobile phone. It has to used responsibly or else it controls us! How many people do we see walking down the street not watching where they are going because their fingers are busily going on their gadget. They feel lost without having it in their pocket or hand. We don’t own these things, they own us!

    But you know,  we all have something that is worth much more than any house or gadget.  This is our soul, that we are each given at our first breath. This is the part of a person that lives for ever….every new born baby has this in them, and it will never die….our bodies may die, but our souls never will.

    The Bible asks the question….”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”     Nothing in this world, whether it be a house or a car; a mower or a phone is to be compared with a person’s soul. These “things” only last a short while….they either break down or become out-dated, but our soul will last forever!

    Let’s make sure that we take the time to think these things through and make the right decision about what we put first in our life.    How much is your soul valued at? What is it worth?  We are told in the Bible about a man who gathered as much of this world’s goods that he could. Most people would have classed him as a very successful and wealthy man. But one night, God said, “This night your soul is required of you, and what is going to happen to all your wealth now?”     We never know when  some disease will overtake us, or if we might have a sudden car accident that will result in our death, so it pays to look into these things and get ready for the “trip” at the end of our life! We can find out all we need to know from God’s Word, the Bible, and the best place to start reading it is the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament.

Random Devotional Thoughts

Missing Out!!

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    I had been having a lot of trouble with the files on my computer. For some reason, they kept disappearing….I would put an afternoon in working on one, click on close and when the sign came up asking to save it or not, I would click on that and then turn it off. Next time I would open it, it would present me with an empty file! 

    It was most frustrating to say the least, and in the end I would save it under another name to keep it. I was able to find out in the end, that I should save it before clicking the off button, and so far there has been no further trouble!

    It reminds me of what it must be like in Christian things….to spend  your life going to church, listening to the sermons, maybe helping out in different ways, and even to call God, “Lord”, and yet to not know Him in a personal way or  to be able to call Him “Our Father” from personal experience.

     There will be those who get to death’s door, and not have Him to take them through. There is a parable in Matthew 7:21-23, where the Lord talks about those who get to Heaven’s gate, and God says “Depart from Me! I never knew you!” They will reply saying, “But Lord, we’ve cast out demons in Your name, and prophesied too, as well as done many  other wonderful things!” But God will still say , “Depart from Me! I never knew you!”

    So it pays to take stock of oneself, to see just where we are at with Him. If we have our special time alone with Him, reading His Word (the Bible) and talking with Him each day,  then we know that we know Him, and that He will welcome us into His eternal home when the time comes for us to leave this earth.

Random Devotional Thoughts

The Easter Story

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The Easter Story inspired the following thoughts….we too often sanitise the Bible stories, but reality would be very different….

Sitting Down They Watched Him There.

We read these words in the peace and quiet Forgetting the crowds, the noise, the riot, That surrounded our Lord so long ago, When rulers had wickedly taken Him so. The noise, the cries, and the prisoner’s grunts, The shouts of the soldiers, the awful thumps, Of the nails going into the human flesh, As they lay on the scars and bruises so fresh; The heat and the dust that rose in the air, The scorning of those who were standing there. The laughing and jeering of the soldiers who, Were casting lots for His garments too. The thieves were cursing Him to His face, Get us down and out of this place! Then we’ll believe that you truly are King And one day Your kingdom You’ll really bring” Suddenly one turned and said to his mate, We really deserve all that’s on our plate, But this Man here has done nothing amiss, Lord, remember me now in spite of all this ” The Saviour looked and in tones soft and light, Said “Today you’ll be with Me, in Paradise bright Joy filled the heart of this one so  depressed The noise and  the dirt were now repressed In spite of those who watched them there, The rulers uncaring, or friends in despair, The soldier declaring ‘This IS God’s Son, He only is the righteous One! ” His Spirit given up, the night now was near, The people had gone, the silence was clear. Still there were those who were watching Him there When His body  was put in the tomb with  care, The guards would wait the next  nights out, No one could move while they were about. But in spite of it all, God’s  purposes won, And Jesus became, the Resurrected One!

And that my Friend, is the reason so clear,        That Easter for us presents no fear,                          Tis only for us to humble our mind, Accept what’s written and then we’ll find,  Satisfaction within and no more  grief,  With  peace in our hearts beyond belief.

Random Devotional Thoughts

How Old is Our Soul?

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    The older we get, the more we tend to think about what lies ahead. We get to the stage of avoiding going to reunions where everyone looks SO old! Then we realise that they are probably thinking the same about us!    It gets to the stage when invited to a grandchild’s engagement or birthday party, that we look around and see with horror that we are probably the oldest ones there!

   I stopped to think about this one day and remembered an incident when a young man said to his grandmother, “Granny, tell me, how old do you feel?” (She was in her early eighties by this time). “Well,” she said, “It’s like this, I know my outside looks old and wrinkly and my bones ache when I get up, but inside I don’t feel any older than fifteen!” “Really!” said the young man astonished, as he went on his way.

    The reason for this is, that a soul is ageless. It never ages. It has been made to live for ever regardless of the age of the body it inhabits and when it dies. Every soul is precious in the sight of God, and His great desire is that each one will live with Him for ever.

    But along with God’s great love which people like to think about, goes God’s innate holiness and sense of justice. All wrongs must be righted and dealt with, and we would all agree with that. God knew that man could never pay the debt of all these injustices so He took on Himself to pay for these in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ, the only sinless Person who has ever lived on earth.    We may choose to not believe this, and this is our right, but then we must bear the consequences of this choice. God has done His part, and now we must do our part which is humbling ourselves to accept this free gift  so that our soul will live for ever in God’s presence. Don’t let anyone put you off making the right decision because the alternative of living in darkness without God or anything good for ever and ever doesn’t bear thinking about!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What Does Your Past Show?

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    Our past often has a way of catching up with us, often when we least expect it! We see this at the moment as a well known politician in a certain country in standing for his seat again, has to face a court-case, of something that he did thirty years ago. Another scenario is that of hearing a certain person’s name that we knew years ago, and the memories that that name brings up. Often not good memories either. Why is it that we remember more vividly, the wrongs that were done in the past, more than the good deeds?

We do well to remember the verses in the Old Testament of the Bible, that tell us that a good name is better than riches (Proverbs chapter 22.verse 1).

   It brings to mind how our past has a way of catching up with us, sometimes when we least want it to. Another case of this was when a young adopted woman traced her birth father, and knocked on his door one day announcing she was his daughter! His wife and family had no idea of this young woman’s existence, and the shock was great. We can only imagine how they must have all felt!

   But this is nothing to how we will feel when faced with all our past unforgiven  sins. The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death, while the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)”

  For a gift to be enjoyed, it must be taken and opened….it is a two way thing. God has done His part in providing and presenting this gift; the least we can do is to take it and thank Him for it.