Author: idumeboarchdeconery

Thursday 19th December 2024

‘Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.’ Isaiah 42:16 NIV

Sometimes following God involves leaving all you know. Moses left a palace, Elisha left a farm, James and John left their fishing boats. But sometimes, following God means staying where you are, maximising every opportunity to promote his Kingdom. When David returned from battle with the spoils, some of his soldiers didn’t want to share them with those who had remained behind. But David said, ‘The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike’ (1 Samuel 30:24 NIV).

What you must seek God about is, ‘Am I called to stay or to go?’ It’s amazing how many people you meet who don’t like what they do for a living. Why do they do it? Because we all have to make a living. But what if God is calling you to do something different? It’s a risk making a change from what you’re currently doing to what you believe God wants you to do. You might not succeed. Or discover you don’t like it to the extent you expected. Or not make as much money.

The greater risk is staying when God calls you to go. Why? Regret! Knowing you never attempted to do what God had called you to do. You may say, ‘I have many unanswered questions, and there is much I don’t know.’ Read this Scripture: ‘Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These…things I will do; I will not forsake them’ (Isaiah 42:16 NIV).

Good morning

Wednesday 18th December 2024

‘Blessed is he who considers the poor.’ Psalm 41:1 NKJV

On December 18, 1933, a curious ad appeared in a Canton, Ohio, newspaper: ‘Man Who Felt Depression’s Sting to Help 75 Unfortunate Families. Anonymous Giver Known only as “B. Virdot”, posts $750 to Spread Christmas Cheer.’ All the reader had to do was describe their plight in a letter and mail it care of ‘general delivery’. The appeals poured in.

Oddly, no one knew a ‘B. Virdot’. People wondered if such a person even existed. Then within a week, cheques began arriving in homes all over the area. Most were modest, about five dollars, and all were signed ‘B. Virdot’. Throughout the ensuing years, the identity of the philanthropist remained unknown. Then in 2008, long after his death, his grandson opened a tattered black suitcase collecting dust in an attic. In the suitcase they found 150 letters dated December 1933, along with 150 cancelled cheques – more people than the seventy-five ‘B.Virdot’ could help. Turns out B. Virdot was really Samuel J. Stone, and the pseudonym was a hybrid of Barbara, Virginia and Dorothy, his daughters’ names. Interestingly, there was nothing privileged about Sam Stone. He was 15 when his family emigrated from Romania and settled in a Pittsburgh ghetto. Sam’s father hid his shoes so he couldn’t go to school, forcing him and his six siblings to roll cigars in the attic

Eventually, Sam left home to work on a barge and then in a coal mine. By the time the Great Depression hit he owned a small chain of clothing stores, and lived in relative comfort. Nevertheless, he had a heart for others – and his actions proved it. Can that be said about you?

Good morning

Tuesday 17th December 2024

‘God chose the foolish things…to shame the wise.’ 1 Corinthians 1:27 NIV

A pastor writes: ‘Poll after poll has found that most people’s number one fear is speaking in public. Death ranks number two. That means some people would rather die than speak in public. Why? It’s the fear of looking foolish…But faith is the willingness to look foolish. Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert. Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety. The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot…The wise men looked foolish following yonder star. Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the lake. And Jesus looked foolish hanging half naked on the cross. But that’s the essence of faith. And the results speak for themselves. Noah was saved from the flood. Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down. David defeated Goliath…The wise men found the Messiah. Peter walked on water. And Jesus rose from the dead…The greatest breakthroughs, miracles, and turning points in Scripture can be traced back to someone who was willing to look foolish.’

Read this Scripture: ‘”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”‘ (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV).

So here is your choice: live by earthly thoughts and ways and be accepted by people, or live by heavenly thoughts and ways and be accepted by God. When you see it from that perspective, your choice is clear.

Good morning

Monday 16th December 2024

‘He who observes the wind will not sow.’ Ecclesiastes 11:4 NKJV

There is a time to be cautious and a time to throw caution to the wind. And it takes discernment to know the difference. If you’re waiting for perfect conditions before seizing an opportunity, you will be hesitating until you die. The Bible says, ‘He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap’ (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NKJV). More often than not, the only thing between you and the fulfilment of your dream is an excuse: ‘I’m too busy…I don’t have enough money…I’m unqualified…I’m not ready yet…I have lots of problems.’ Immediately before Jesus’ first miracle, he shows a hint of hesitation: ‘My time has not yet come’ (John 2:4 NLT). But Jesus had a mother who loved him enough to persuade him.

News flash: no one is ever ready. In his book Jump In!, Mark Burnett writes about his path to TV-producer prominence. Burnett created hit shows like Survivor and The Apprentice. He writes: ‘Nothing will ever be…perfect, and nothing can be totally planned. The best you can hope for is to be about half certain of your plan and know that you and the team you’ve assembled are willing to work hard enough to overcome the inevitable problems as they arrive.’ Note the words ‘the best you can hope for is to be about half certain’. That’s a pretty good paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 11:4: don’t ‘observe the wind’, and don’t ‘regard the clouds’.

After you have prayed and prepared, it’s time to trust God and take action.

Good Morning and Happy New week

Sunday 15th December 2024

‘He is always earnestly praying for you.’ Colossians 4:12 TLB

Here is what Paul said about Epaphras, a disciple so obscure you probably don’t recognise his name: ‘Epaphras… [is] always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete… he has a great zeal for you’ (Colossians 4:12-13 NKJV). James writes, ‘Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much’ (James 5:16 NKJV). To be fervent is to be passionate!

Bishop Joseph Hall, a seventeenth-century Anglican minister, was once imprisoned in the Tower of London for his faith. He lived his final years on a farm in the country writing devotional classics. Here is what he remarked about prayer: ‘An arrow, if it be drawn up but a little way, goes not far; but if it be pulled up to the head, flies swiftly and pierces deep. Prayer, if it be only dribbled forth from careless lips, falls at our feet. It is the strength of [discharge] and strong desire that sends it to Heaven, and makes it pierce the clouds. It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; nor the divinity of our prayers, how good the doctrine may be – which God cares for. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.’

So, get serious about prayer and give yourself fully, passionately, to it!

Good morning and Happy Sunday

Saturday 14th December 2024

‘I will celebrate before the Lord.’ 2 Samuel 6:21 NIV

True worship calls for being less self-conscious and self-absorbed and more God-conscious and God-absorbed. After watching him dance before the Lord, David’s wife said: ‘How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would’ (2 Samuel 6:20 NIV)! To which David replied, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me… I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become…undignified…humiliated in my own eyes’ (2 Samuel 6:21-22 NIV). It’s a picture of pure worship.

Worship is ‘undressing’. It’s taking off the things in which we find our identity and security apart from Jesus. It’s a reminder that our own righteousness is like filthy rags in the sight of God. Worship is not about what we can do for God but what God has done for us. He has loved us, saved us and clothed us in the righteousness of Jesus. It’s the truth that inspired hymnist Charles Wesley to write, ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise.’

The Bible says we can praise God in nine different ways: speaking, shouting, singing, clapping our hands, playing musical instruments, raising our hands before the Lord, kneeling, lying prostrate in his presence and dancing before him. David said, ‘I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth’ (Psalm 34:1 NKJV). And he tells us why. ‘I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears’ (Psalm 34:4 NKJV). So, worship with abandon.

Good morning and Happy Weekend

Friday 13th December 2024

‘David danced before the Lord with all his might.’ 2 Samuel 6:14 NKJV

In 2 Samuel 6, David had just been crowned king of Israel. He had defeated the Philistines and recaptured Zion. Now he is bringing the ark of the covenant, the ultimate symbol of God’s presence among his people, back to Jerusalem. After years of living without it, the sight of the ark overwhelmed David with joy, causing him to strip off his kingly robes and dance before it with abandon, wearing nothing but a loincloth.

Yet, when you get excited about God, don’t expect everybody to get excited with you or understand your excitement. David’s wife, Michal, was such a person. The Bible tells us two things about her. (1) ‘Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart’ (2 Samuel 6:16 NKJV). (2) ‘Therefore Michal…had no children to the day of her death’ (2 Samuel 6:23 NKJV).

Seemingly, worship is foolish, isn’t it? Singing to somebody you can’t see. Lifting up your hands to somebody you can’t touch. Or, in David’s case, failing to act with expected dignity and decorum. An old proverb says, ‘Those who hear not the music think the dancer is mad.’ That’s what is going on in this story: David hears the music and worships God with abandon; Michal doesn’t and forfeits what she longs for most. Don’t miss the point here. When you discount the critics and naysayers and decide to worship God with all your heart, you will thrive spiritually.

Good morning

Thursday 12th December 2024

‘You proved that you could be trusted with a small amount.’ Matthew 25:21 GWT

In his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, Robert Frost writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.’ One of those roads less travelled is living with honesty and integrity in our day-to-day lives. Over the past few years, most New Zealand universities report an increase in low and high levels of academic misconduct and cheating, especially with the help of online sources. Our culture says, ‘If you want to get ahead, you have to break a few rules.’ But the Bible warns that ‘the little foxes…spoil the vines’ (Song of Songs 2:15 NKJV). Solomon is referring to little sins that whet our appetite, distort our values and lead to bigger sins. Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes, ‘Adam’s eating forbidden fruit seemed but a little sin, but it opened the door to the greatest.’

Are you tempted to compromise your character? To deceive someone? Pressured to be untruthful at work? Caught up in an ‘innocent little relationship’? Evangelist Charles Finney said, ‘A person who is dishonest in little things isn’t really honest in anything.’ Unless the small, secret areas of your life are governed by your convictions, you endanger them to corruption from your compromises.

A biblical promise is made to those faithful in small things: ‘Well done…you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things’ (Matthew 25:21 NKJV). Guard your thoughts; they become your deeds. Guard your deeds; they form your character. Guard your character; it decides your destiny.

Good morning

Wednesday 11th December 2024

‘One generation commends your works to another.’ Psalm 145:4 NIV

Fanny Crosby became blind at six weeks old. But her grandmother Eunice resolved that Fanny would never grow up feeling disabled or deprived. Eunice devoted years to training Fanny in all kinds of things – teaching her the Bible, assisting her in exploring nature and enabling her to develop incredible powers of memory. Fanny memorised large sections of the Bible. From that treasury of Scripture, she later produced some of the best-loved hymns we sing today. ‘Blessed Assurance’, ‘To God Be the Glory’, ‘All the Way My Saviour Leads Me’, and ‘He Hideth My Soul’. In the Bible, Timothy had a grandmother named Lois, whose prayers and example helped mould him into none other than the apostle Paul’s successor. Paul writes, ‘I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother’ (2 Timothy 1:5 NKJV).

Perhaps your grandchildren aren’t walking with Jesus. Don’t be discouraged. God said, ‘I sought for a man among them who would…stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land’ (Ezekiel 22:30 NKJV). Your prayers are God’s invitation and entry point into the lives of both your children and your grandchildren. So, ‘stand in the gap’, and believe God for the salvation of your family.

Never underestimate your influence as a grandparent. As you pour yourself into your grandchildren, you may be moulding people of God’s family. If you are a grandparent, claim this promise from the Scriptures: ‘One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts’ (Psalm 145:4 NKJV).

Good morning

Tuesday 10th December 2024

‘Stand firm… and be strong in your faith.’ 1 Peter 5:9 NLT

Peter writes, ‘Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith’ (1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT). The word Christ means ‘the Anointed One’. So as a Christian, you are anointed by the same Spirit that rested upon Jesus Christ. Satan tempted Jesus, and he will tempt you. Satan targeted Jesus because he feared his destiny; likewise, Satan has discerned your destiny, and he’s out to stop you from reaching it. When he reminds you of the failures in your past, it’s to keep you from reaching for the future God has in mind for you.

Paul wrote, ‘He chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan’ (Ephesians 1:11 NLT). This means God has chosen you to fulfil a certain purpose, he has a specific plan for your life, and he is making everything work according to that plan. Satan also knows this, and that’s why his attack against you will never let up.

C.S. Lewis said, ‘There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God, and counter-claimed by Satan.’ There is no middle ground. It is only a matter of time before you must join one side or another. And it is preferable to predetermine your position with a decisive intention than have it selected for you by passive default. So each day, when you awake, dress for battle and prepare for attack knowing that in God’s strength you will win.

Good morning