Weekly Devotion

We spoke last week of the similarity between the tar used by Noah to cover the ark and the word 'atonement' used to symbolize the effects which flowed from the death of Christ. Both of them mean 'to cover'. Noah covered the ark and Jesus' blood covered us.

Now let me continue to draw the similarities between them by asking this one question: Why was Noah safe in the ark? What made that he didn't have to fear the forces of the flood crashing into his boat? I mean think about it, It was just a boat made out of wood after all, it could easily have let in water and sunk to the bottom of it all. He could have crashed into a mountain simply with the fierce force of the water. So many things could have gone wrong, but it didn't, why?

I am going to discuss the first reason today and the others in the coming weeks. The first reason why he was safe was because God shut him in.

Genesis 7:15,16 "Two by two they came into the boat, male and female, just as God had commanded. Then the Lord shut them in."

I don't know about you, but I have read and heard this story many times before, but I always thought that they simply shut the door from inside, like a submarine today and that was that. In our modern society it is easy to shut a door from the inside, and if it is designed to go underwater there are extra measures taken to ensure that no water will filter in. But it was only now when I carefully read this verse that I realized that that would not have been possible in those days.

They couldn't shut themselves in. The door was made out of wood, and water could easily have come in through the small openings between the door and the ark itself. They covered the whole boat with tar, but they couldn't cover those openings from the outside, because they were all inside. God therefore covered the entrance with tar once they were all inside. God ensured that they were safe and that not a drop of water will filter in.

The same is true with Christ. Once you accepted Him in your life you are covered by Him. You are shut in and Jesus closes the door. You are inside His safe haven and you cannot get out. You are protected by Him and He would keep you in His loving embrace. No matter what sin you commit, He will not let you go. You are His. He has died for very sin that you have committed and will ever commit and has reconciled you with God. You are part of His family now.

Thank you so much Father that we can know that we are shut in. We are being kept safe from harm, no evil can prosper against us, for at the end of the day we will be with You forever and ever. Amen

I currently have the privilege of attending a bible study where we are listening to the teachings of Roger Price, a late bible teacher from England. Now for the next month I would like to discuss one of the topics that he explained to us. It stood out for me and I would like to share it with you. I am going to add some of my own teachings, but the main message was delivered by God through him.

He spoke about atonement and how Jesus came to provide unlimited atonement once and for all time for all people. He provided atonement for each and every sin. Yes, even for the sins of unbelievers, if they would accept Him in their lives and accept what He has done for them. Listen to this:

1 John 2:2 "He (Jesus) is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins, but the sins of all the world."

1 Timothy 4:10 "We work hard and suffer much in order that people will believe the truth, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and particularly of those who believe."

So Jesus came for us all, every single one of us, no one is excluded from accepting His saving power.

Now the word atonement means 'kaphar' in Hebrew. And according to the Easton's Bible Dictionary it means 'at-one-ment', making us one with God through reconciliation. It is used therefore to refer to the effect which flowed from the death of Christ.

And according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia the word 'kaphar' means to 'cover', 'condone' or 'effect reconciliation.'

Interestingly almost the same word is used to describe the tar with which Noah had to cover the ark.

Genesis 6:14 "Make a boat from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior."

Now the word 'tar' or 'pitch' as they use in the King James Version, is 'kopher' in Hebrew, which according to the King James Dictionary means a thick, dark, sticky substance.

However the Hebrew word is almost the same as that used for 'atonement'. And this Hebrew word according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, means covering or to cover.

In other words the ark was covered with tar to protect it from the onslaught of the water. In the same way Jesus came to cover us and provide reconciliation for us with God. He is our covering, the One providing protection for us when the onslaughts of life come. He is our shield and He pleads our case with the Father. He covers us in totality so that when the Father looks at us, He doesn't see us as sinful people, but He sees Jesus, the absolute Righteous covering us like a soft blanket.

Over the next few weeks we will continue this discussion, but for now know, you are covered with Jesus' blood in totality and you are reconciled with the almighty Father by what Jesus did on the cross.

Father God, thank you that Jesus came to cover us, to protect us and to lead us on the path to reconciliation with You. It is truly amazing and help us to make the most of it and grow closer to You each day. In Jesus' Name. Amen

This is the beginning of a new year, 2012 and what a privilege it is to be able to experience it. What a privilege to experience life! God has wonderful things planned for us for this year and we can all wait in anticipation of it! God wants to lead us all into the special plan He has for our lives. We simply need to make the time with Him to hear and understand what it is. Then we need to be obedient and follow His plan, and if we do, we will experience fulfillment like never before. He knows your weaknesses and your strengths and He knows what will work best for you. Take His Hand and follow His leading, you will not be disappointed. This can be your best year yet, but give control over to Him. Let Him lead your way, He knows best.

The Lord directs the affairs of the human race. We may be scared when we listen to the news, we may be scared when we listen to false prophets making false predictions about the future, but God has everything under control.

"Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of the human race as each new generation marches by? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last, I alone am He." Isaiah 41:4.

Only God decides what happens. Only He is in total control, no one and nothing else. Don't get scared when things are prophecied that is not in the Bible. For example the ancient Mayan culture that predicts that 21 December 2012 is the end of the world. I am not going into the detail now, but all sorts of doom 'prophets' are doing the rounds and predicting things that are inconsistent of the God we know. It would be very inconsistent of Him to allow the pagan Mayans to discover such an amazing truth while keeping the many Old Testament prophets ignorant of the timing of the events. That is not the God I know. Listen to what God says:

"I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. Who else can tell you what is going to happen in the days ahead? Let them tell you if they can (and they can't), and thus prove their power." Isaiah 44:6,7 "I carry out the predictions of My prophets!" Isaiah 44:26

 Our God gave us the Bible and if you take time to study it you will find all the answers there. If you want to know about the future, study the Old Testament prophets, all their predictions have come true thus far. Of course no one knows the exact date when the tribulation period will begin, but several signs are given to us in the Bible to be able to sense that the season is near.

Friends, trust God with your future and nothing else. He is waiting for you to come to Him and He will direct your every step. I received the following verse from the Lord for you for this year. May God bless you abundantly and may you look back to 2012 as a year when your walk with the Lord deepened and a year in which you found inner peace, knowing that you are on God's track for your life.

"I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve Me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:9, 10

Thank you God that You love us. Thank you for the wonderful things that You are planning for us. We look forward to 2012, knowing that You are already there, guiding us on the best pathway for our lives. In Jesus Name. Amen

I had another devotion planned for this week, but the Lord intervened. He took me back a year ago to the devotion I wrote on Christmas 2010 and He told me He wanted me to post it again as He wanted this message to get across to you again. So here it is, may it be a blessing to you as it was to me.

What a wonderful time of year! How wonderful to be with your family, be together and celebrate the birth of our Savior. The Lord is so amazing and it is such a great time to simply experience His love and goodness. Whether the timing of our Savior's birth is in December or not, it doesn't really matter, the essence of the matter is that the Lord came to be with us and join us to bring us the Light. It is a time to be with your family and friends and rekindle the love  with one another and with the Lord.

But last week I went to my hairdresser and while they were washing may hair I overheard a conversation between the hairdresser and some of the ladies in the shop. They were discussing the fact that they hate Christmas and this time of year. Some of them even said that if they could sleep through Christmas it would suit them very well. They were not Christians and this whole festive time reminded them of all the sad times in their life. They were either lonely or they hated their family. It was so sad to hear.

And I realized that there were probably millions around the world that hated Christmas too, because they were either lonely, sick, hated their family, felt misunderstood, was too poor to buy gifts for their children, had to work or whatever the case may be. It is actually a very sad time. A sad time because they look at Christmas from a human point of view. They look at Christmas as only a human can, they look at Christmas and see only the failure around them. Failure of the human race.

Christmas is not about the gifts, Christmas is not about how popular you are and how many sms's you receive, it is not about receiving. It is about Jesus. Think about it for a moment, sit still and truly focus in on Him. Christmas is a time to experience His intense love for us. Even if you are alone, Christ is there with you and the greatest gift of all is to experience Him.

Breathe in deeply….breathe out….breathe in….breathe out. He is in the breath, He is in every moment. Close your eyes and imagine Him unfolding His arms around you and giving you a tight hug, because I promise you that is what He wants to do. He wants to be close to you. He wants to be with you. Invite Him in, He would love to have Christmas dinner with you.

He wants each of you to use this Christmas weekend and know that He loves you abundantly. He loves you as much as He did the day He decided to come to the earth and save you from the bondage of sin. And He wants you to bathe in His love this weekend. See His love everywhere. Enjoy the time with the loved ones He gave you. See Him in their eyes. Tell them how much you love them and how much you care for them. Give them an extra hug and experience the love of the Lord. He wants to shower your Christmas time together with His amazing presence. Feel the air around you; it is going to be full of Him.

We love You Lord, You are our everything. Thank you for the gift of Christmas, thank you for being there and for loving us. You are amazing. Amen

I read the most interesting verse the other day. It was about the journey of the Israelites in the Wilderness and how they complained and complained to God the whole time. How they moaned and groaned until He gave them what they asked for.

Psalm 106:13 - 15 "Yet how quickly they forgot what He had done! They wouldn't wait for His counsel! In the wilderness, their desires ran wild, testing God's patience in that dry land. So He gave them what they asked for, but He sent a plague along with it."

Wow, after murmuring and complaining the whole time, the Lord answered their prayers and gave them what they wanted, even though He knew it was not really the best for them. They were more concerned with immediate physical gratification, than lasting spiritual satisfaction. They didn't want what was best for them and didn't wait on the Lord to provide for them even though He said He would. They wanted their needs met, now!

When I think back on my life, I am so glad that the Lord didn't always give me what I asked for! Really I am! Before I was married I can remember that I was madly in love with this one man. I prayed to the Lord and I even fasted that the Lord would give him to me. I asked and asked and thank goodness the Lord didn't give me what I asked for! If I look back now it would have been an utter disaster! It would never have worked out. That relationship would never have brought out the best in me.

Another time I begged the Lord that my husband and I would get another coffee shop, despite the one we have now. We thought that expanding was a very good idea. Thank goodness He didn't, because if He did, we would never have seen my husband and the boys would have grown up not knowing their father, as he would have been forced to be at both of the shops 24/7. Or worse yet, I would have been at the one and he at the other and our boys wouldn't have known either of their parents, plus we wouldn't have had time for one another.

There are many other examples. But now when I think back I am so glad that the Lord was merciful to me and didn't grant my requests. I praise Him that He didn't relent (change His mind) as He did with the Israelites and gave me things that would have been harmful to me.

God is omniscient. He is all-knowing; He knows the past, the present and the future. Everything is in His Hands and He knows best. Pray and ask the Lord your heart's desires, but always ask that His Will be done and rest in it. As the Psalmist is saying, wait for His counsel. He will give you an answer and if it is 'no', rejoice! Because He will work it out for your utmost best.

Thank you Lord that we can let go and let You take over our lives. You know our heart's desires and You know what would work out the best. Thank you that we can rest in Your provision and care. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Last night I once again experienced how great our God is! He is awesome and the Creator of the Universe, but what struck me last night was that He was also concerned about the small things in our lives.

What happened was my son was sick. He was okay throughout the day and at night he started coughing. He didn't stop once since he laid his head on his cushion.  Non stop he continued and it got worse. Later I was worried that he is going to stop breathing as he got cough fits! Now I gave him all the medicine I could think of that we had at home. Nothing helped. I then resorted to prayer. I prayed for him and trusted that he would stop coughing. But he didn't. I was on the verge of taking him to the emergency doctor, when the Lord reminded me of Vicks that we had in our cupboard. I haven't used it in quite a while. I didn't know whether it would work, but the Holy Spirit urged me to get up. So I did, found it and I just knew I had to rub it on his neck, under his feet and on his chest. And you know what, the coughing calmed down. Amazing. It didn't stop, but it was okay, I could wait till morning to take him to the doctor. The God of the Universe cared enough to give me 'small' advice.

The other day He also gave me advice concerning my teeth, believe it or not. I was starting to brush away my gums, and this caused sensitivity. I brushed too aggressively apparantly . I went to the dentist and they gave me advice and showed me how to brush correctly. I tried their advice, but it didn't work. I asked advice again and again, but still it didn't work. It was only then that I resorted to asking the Lord. I didn't want to bother Him with 'small' matters, so I didn't ask before. But now I turned to Him and within an instant I knew how I should brush. And you know what? My gums are healthy and I am brushing exactly the way He told me to. Amazing.

I can go on and on with examples, but I think you get the point. How wonderful that the Lord cares enough about me that He gives me advice on 'small' matters. I realized once again that nothing is too small for Him. He cares about me, about all of me and all I need to do is turn to Him and ask Him for advice. After all He said that He cared more about us than a whole flock of sparrows. Even the number of our hair is counted. Not one falls off without Him knowing about it.

Psalm 139:1-3 "O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am."

David puts it clearly for us here. The Lord even knows 'mundane' things like when we stand up and when we sit down. He knows everything and cares about everything. Next time, turn to Him if you need advice about every day life things. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Lord, thank you that You are always there for us. You are sooo amazingly wonderful! Amen

I lay awake last night due to one of my boys being sick. At 03:30 I got him to sleep and I went back to my bed. I tried to fall asleep and right before I did I heard a car coming down the street. The car had a very loud engine, louder than normal cars. This car stopped somewhere in the street (probably dropping someone at home) and I could hear the engine idling. Now this idling sound started to bother me. I tried to sleep but I couldn't. It was truly irritating! But luckily about ten minutes later the car's engine roared into life again and I heard the car speeding away. My husband next to me slept soundly through it all. He is normally very aware of all sounds around him, but because he was sleeping he didn't hear a thing.

Now this whole situation made me realize something. I heard the noise and it irritated me because I was awake. If I was sleeping I wouldn't have heard it at all. And so it is the same with our spiritual life. Before we become believers our spirit are 'sleeping'. Things of this world don't bother us. We 'sleep' right through them. But the moment we became believers, the Spirit of God took hold of us and woke us up out of our deep slumber and things that didn't bother us before starts bothering us. For example swearing could have been a way of life for us, but now that we become believers, it starts to bother us. Or we used to be the party animal at work and now it bothers us when people get drunk and lose all their inhibitions. We watched crude movies and now when they swear using the Name of Jesus it bothers us. Why is this so?

It is actually simple really. When you were born again, your old sin nature died and your spirit became alive with the power of the Holy Spirit. We actually become a new species, we are no longer 'homo sapiens', but 'homo novos', not in Adam anymore, but in Christ. And because of this, the Holy Spirit lives within you and He is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Sin is an abomination to Him. So now you have Him inside of you and every time you encounter sin, it will bother you.

I am sure that you have heard the saying: "Christians are in the world, but not of it." When you become a Christian you are really born again into the Kingdom of God and therefore sinful practices will not feel at home anymore. Our flesh is at war with our spirit. And we need to choose who we should listen to. Which one will you feed the most?

James is quite adamant about this when he says:

"Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit whom God has placed within us jealously longs for us to be faithful? He gives us more and more strength to be faithful." James 4:4-6

Know that when you become a Christian that it won't be easy. It was easier to be an unbeliever, as nothing bothered you. You followed your old sin nature and you were 'happy', you could do what you want. But now you are at war with your fleshly desires and it is a difficult process. But remember this before you give up, the Kingdom of God awaits you and there is no better prospect that any of us can ever have. And God is also by your side, helping and encouraging you. He wants you to succeed and He wants to honor you.

"When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on Him, He will lift you up and give you honor." James 4:10

Lord, please help us to draw closer to You every day. We want more of You and we want to feed the Spirit inside of us. Please help us when we are weak. Thank you Jesus. Amen

The other day I was at a coffee shop with a lovely kiddies play area. My two sons were playing while I was keeping an eye on them. I noticed then that my two year old went over to one of the other kids playing there. He gently took him by the hand and he played with him. They were communicating with one another in a manner that only they understood. Later I heard the mother speaking to the child and I couldn't understand a word. I suspect it was Portuguese. But this didn't matter to my son, he didn't care that the boy was of a different culture and he didn't care that they didn't speak the same language. They understood one another.

This made me think. We can learn so much from the kids, no wonder Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven belonged to them! I realized that we are supposed to be the same as them. We are part of the body of believers and we all have the same Holy Spirit inside each of us. We are supposed to easily transcend culture differences, language barriers and age barriers. We are all the same. We are supposed to work together well and we are supposed to build up His Body here on earth. But alas, we find it very difficult it would seem. Look at all the different churches we have!

Another thing that I have found in my own life, is that except for cultural barriers etc, I have also found believers in the body of Christ being jealous of one another. I have stopped for a while to tell people what the Lord is doing in my life, because I get jealous reactions. Like people would say something to the effect of "Well the Lord works in my life as well you know" or "He talks to me too, not just to you". Of course He does and I am so happy about it! But people tend to be jealous and compare themselves spiritually to one another. That is really sad. Because in God's eyes we are all equal, He doesn't have favorites. He needs everyone to operate in their place in the body of Christ, otherwise it cannot function so well. He needs every single one of us. And to top it all, He wants to talk to every one of us, the question is just this; do you stop to listen? Or do you run around in such a frenzy that you miss the soft Voice of the Lord in the quiet times. Don't be jealous of other people's spiritual journey and point fingers to them. Make time with the Lord and get started on your own journey. You will experience how exciting it is!

Next time when you have time, watch kids at play. They are not jealous and they don't see any difference in the kid next to them. They don't even notice disabilities. They handle all children the same and they communicate in a way that is special to see. Shouldn't we learn from them?

Lord, please help us in our walk with You. Please walk in front and lead us to better lives. Forgive us if we are not one in Spirit and help us to be. In Jesus Name Amen

These days my two boys argue about who will pray before we eat our dinner, so we let them both pray. The two year old prays in his own language, the only audible words are 'helicopter' and 'tate', which means aero plane (both my boys love anything that flies), but luckily the Lord understands what he is saying. Now the four year old we can understand. And what is interesting to me is that his whole prayer is saying thank you for everything. Thank you for the food, thank you for the trees, thank you for the table, thank you for the aero planes, thank you for my father and mother, thank you for my teacher and so it goes on and on. Sometimes I have to say amen, otherwise our food will be ice cold. But this made me think. He never once asks for anything, he simply says thank you for literally everything. And I don't think he is unique in this, I have heard other kids pray as well and they also say thank you the whole time. It is lovely for me. Nobody taught them how to pray and yet they know what is most important, and that is to say thank you.

I think we as adults lose that part of our prayer. We might remember to say thank you, but we don't make it a big part of our prayer. We tend to ask a lot more. Now it is not wrong to ask, Jesus told us to "Ask and we will receive", but I think we can learn something from these children. After all Jesus said that the Kingdom of God belongs to children (people with childlike faith).

Some time ago I wrote down some of the things that I prayed and trusted the Lord for. Now I forgot all about it and the other day I casually paged through that book again and I was astonished when I realized that all my prayers were answered. Maybe not as I thought they would be, but it was. And then I turned red as I realized that I never thanked the Lord for answering them. Never thanked Him that He didn't give me what I asked for, because now in hindsight I realized it would not have been good for me. I totally forgot.

Jesus himself was sad when only one of the ten lepers returned to thank Him that He healed him. And we are just as guilty. We need to be more like children, thanking the Lord and being happy that we are in His Presence. Next time when you pray, remember to say thank you too.

Colossians 3: 15 "And always be thankful."

Colossians 3: 16 "Sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."

Lord, please forgive us for forgetting to thank you that You look after us with such tender care. We thank you for that and we trust our future in Your hands. Amen

I get together a lot with friends and then we each bring something to eat and enjoy the time together. Now obviously there are always very delectable things to eat. I need to restrain myself, because I realize that I don't feel so good if I eat the wrong food. I do eat some of it, but not as much as the others. And to tell you the truth they get annoyed with me if I don't join them in tasting everything on the table. They sometimes even take my plate and put an extra helping on it.

Now this made me think. Why are they annoyed that I don't join them? And then I realized it is because they feel guilty for eating everything but if we all join in together, they feel better about it, because 'everyone is doing it'. But if I don't join them, I remind them in my silence, that actually this is not so good for them.

And that is so true for several other situations in our lives. People want us to join them. They want us to do what they do in order to feel better about what they are doing. They don't appreciate individuality. I can name you several situations in the places that I worked at, but I am sure that you can name even more. It happens on a daily basis.

The other day we were returning from holiday and there were a lot of 'left over' snacks that my two boys didn't eat, like mini cheddars, Marie cookies, wafers etc. It was still all fresh, so I put it all together into an airtight Tupperware. A week later I opened the Tupperware and wanted to give them some of it, and you know what, due to the cookies etc being mixed together they lost their flavor. Everything tasted exactly the same. If you didn't look and simply tasted it, you wouldn't have been able to say which is which.

And so it is the same with the company we keep. We should be careful with the company we keep. Sooner or later we will 'taste' like them. People won't be able to discern who we are if we are not part of the group. God created each of us as a wonderful unique being; we do not need to follow the herd. We should rather follow His Voice inside of us. We need to do what is best for us, through His guiding Spirit.

Just a last thought on this subject. If I was to follow my friends and eat everything on the table presented to me, and my blood type/genes do not handle the surge of sugar so well and I develop diabetes, what would they say then? Where would they be when I need to go to the doctor regularly, when I need to inject myself every day, when I go into a faint if I don't eat properly? Sure they could support me, but at the end of the day it is only I that will suffer and bear the consequences. And this simply because I couldn't say no to them. Apply this to your own unique situation and think about it carefully before you follow the herd. You are too special to allow them to take away your individuality and hurt you/your reputation in the long run.

Father, give us the courage to stand up against the crowd and only do what is pleasing to You. You are the only One who knows what is best for us. We want to follow Your divine guidance for our lives. In Jesus' Name. Amen