Devotion by Trevor Bradley

The greatest love we can show anybody is to honestly pray for that person, to bring that person to the throne of grace and there lay hold of our Father for them.

Paul writing to the church at Colossae starts out in the 1st chapter and says of them:

“You are faithful brethren..you exercise and live by faith in Christ..I hear of your love for the saints/fellow believers…and the hope place in God’s word/the truth.. how you have born fruit and how the Lord has multiplied your harvest of souls…this driven by your understanding that you are objects of HIS amazing grace”( Colossians 1 vs 1-6)..

How I wish that could be said of me..

Paul goes on to say “For this reason” and here comes the prayer that I have asked the Holy Spirit, along with me, to pray over and for you today:

Colossians 1 vs 9-14

” I have prayed that you will be filled with the knowledge of His will.  That you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all you do.  That you might bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of God, strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, that through this you will remain steadfast, patient and full of joy – giving thanks to the Father.  For He has delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred you into the Kingdom of His Son, in whom there is redemption and the forgiveness of sin”. (paraphrased for effect)

Wow!! what a prayer…FOR YOU.  That I believe is praying according to His will and the prayer that the Father will answer.

So be it for you, so be it for us..

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By Keith Welton from Desiring God

You showed up to work today, but it feels like God didn’t. He feels remote and absent from what you do all day long. There are temptations all around, opportunities for cutting corners. No one else cares one wit about serving God. Conversations are all banal. And yet you believe God is sovereign over all things, and that means sovereign over putting you in this job in the first place.

You grow doubtful about yourself and wonder what it must be like for businessmen who are giants in the faith, and who sail through meetings and private work carried along by the joy of serving God. And here you stand in a job where God feels so far away.

In reality, the workforce is not only how God works through you; it is a place where God works inside of you, conforming you to the image of Christ. He may feel distant, but he’s not. He is using the difficulties and pressures in your job right now to focus you in at least six areas.

God is at work in you as much on Monday morning as he is at work in you on Sunday morning, you just need to see it. Most of us do work behind the scenes that very few people understand or appreciate. No one realizes how much goes into making the pizza, writing the program, or shipping the product. In a similar way, God is at work in our lives in all we do, and sometimes we don’t see it until we really press in and think about it. When we do, we see that God is working behind the scenes in what we do, why we do it, how we do it, and where we do it. Realizing this truth might transform your workplace experience.

Read more…

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Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books.

Rejection

Mark 5:15 “When they came to Jesus they saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”

Our generation of people is used to seeing pictures of the weird and the wonderful. Movies and special effects have left us largely expecting the spectacular and also sadly we have been so spoiled that at another level, it is hard to impress us any more.  But this story in Mark 5:1-20 takes some beating. It is a bizarre story to say the least and we need to know what it is we should watch out for and what we need to learn.

First, it is helpful to remember that the area Jesus visited described in v1 was a Gentile area, not a Jewish area. The presence of pigs and the unearthly cries of a man possessed by evil spirits and living amongst the tombs would have been experiences common to the darkness and superstitions of many Gentile communities.

Then notice how the evil spirits in the man respond to Jesus. They bow before him and express fear of him (vs 6,9). This is because the world of darkness knew that with the arrival of Jesus the game was up. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and although not destroyed yet, Satan is in principle overthrown and faces a frightening judgement from God.

Next comes the request to enter the pigs and the permission given by Jesus. The pigs all perish in the lake and the people of the area are dumbfounded.  Why did this story play out like this? It is all so strange.  Why did Jesus go there?  How do the evil spirits recognise him? Why does he silence them?  Why give them permission to enter the pigs? These and many other questions arise from this passage. But these questions are not Mark’s aim here. What he wants us to see is how people responded to Jesus.

You would think that poor frightened people who had lived with a madman terrorising them for years would be grateful for what Jesus did. Perhaps they would invite Him into this village and plead with Him to bring His power and His light and deliver others? Nothing of the kind! They asked him to go! Read v 17. Isn’t this a strange response? A Saviour appears but He is turned away! But this is in principle no different to many people today who see the wonderful difference Jesus makes in the lives of others, yet find within themselves a strange fear of him and therefore turn their backs on him.

Do you know people like that?  Pray for them that God will open the blind eyes and soften the hard hearts.

At least one person welcomed Jesus and would have stayed with him – the man who was delivered. But Jesus gave him the same command He gives you and me once we have experienced His power “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”

Prayer:  “O God, how hard our hearts can be. Nevertheless have mercy O Lord and save those near and dear to me, who even now are lost and in darkness. Do it for Jesus’ sake and may He receive all the Glory.  Amen”

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Article by Philip Holmes from Desiring God

One of my favorite things to do while cleaning the kitchen or doing other chores around the house is to call my mom. It’s become a pattern, so much so that when I call, she’ll jokingly say, “You must be cleaning the kitchen.”

In a recent conversation, I confessed how I’ve struggled as a husband. I explained how I’d failed to fully grasp what true manhood looked liked. For most of my life, I’d assumed that if I was taking care of myself — working, paying my bills, buying my food, and finding adequate shelter — I was fulfilling God’s calling in manhood.

As I grew in my understanding of biblical manhood, I discovered that true manhood demanded more of me. As a single man, I had failed to put into practice what I knew marriage would require. I secretly thought that marriage would miraculously change me and make me a better man. I didn’t drink from the fountain of true manhood as a single guy, so I’m now drinking from a fire hose as a new husband. Now I’m learning the hard way about the high and hard calling of manhood.

Read more…

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