What A Friend We Have In Jesus

What A Friend We Have In Jesus

by | Mar 1, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

John 15:13-15: “Greater love (agapáō) has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (philos). You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

The word ‘philos’ translated here as ‘friend’ indicates a ‘personal’ and ‘experienced’ kind of affection – whereas ‘agapáō’ translates into a kind of ‘decision-based’ love driven by values and choices.

The book of Romans, in chapter 5, makes it clear that Christ died for us while we were still His enemies.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It is through the reckless, unconditional and amazing love of Jesus that this transformation takes place – through the ‘agapáō’ decision of God we are reconciled with Him and restored to right relationship – in His sacrifice He pours out His ‘Philos’ – His personal affection – and pulls us close and into relationship with Him

It’s through this great love that we are transformed – pulled from enmity into friendship with God, from separation into relationship – pulled into the embrace of God by the Right Arm which is Jesus Christ.

James 2:21-24: 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

It starts with the belief of our heart and the confession of our mouth that Jesus is Lord – that He died for our sins and in the process devoured death through His resurrection.

We are resurrected through The Resurrection.

But it does not stop there. The Resurrection is only the beginning. It is only the first breath. We are called to life so that we may live.

Jesus, through this ministry of reconciliation, calls us to friendship.

Through our faith in Him we are called ‘friends’ – but this relationship is sustained by action.

We cultivate our friendship with Christ – if we treasure it we will nurture it. We maintain our friendship with Jesus through prayer, through meditation – thinking on His Word and life – and through our worship.

And as our friendship with Jesus grows, as our love for God grows – so should our love for neighbour. We start living like Jesus lives.

As we grow in our “Philos”-relationship with Christ we will grow in our “Agapáō”-love for others.

I want to urge you today to cultivate your friendship with Jesus.

Friends on Earth might let you down – but Jesus never does!

He is the best friend you could ever ask for – and He will always be there for you! No matter what!

As your friendship with Jesus grows you will see His love and grace flood your life.

When I was a kid my parents and teachers warned me not to fall in with the ‘wrong’ friends. The wrong friends have the potential to lead you towards wrong places and wrong choices.

Jesus leads you towards the RIGHT things, the right places, the right choices.

Our friends have the potential to mould and shape who we are, to influence who we become. Friendship is a powerful thing.

Friendship with Jesus transforms us. Friendship with Jesus restores us.

Choose friendship with Christ today.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your love and grace today. The same love that calls us out of enmity and into right relationship with You. Thank You Jesus that You have called me as Your friend. Show me Lord how to draw near to You, how to be a good friend. Pull me deeper into prayer, study, worship and acts of service. Teach me what friendship looks like. And as I build my friendship with You Lord, let my relationships with those around me be restored as well. In the Mighty, Lovely Name of Jesus. Amen.

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love

by | Mar 1, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

At the last supper, just before His crucifixion, and after predicting His betrayal, Jesus shares the following in John 13: 

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In this verse we see Jesus talking about ‘agapé’ – which is a value-driven and decision-based love. It is not rooted in experience or in feeling.

My dad used to say, ‘I don’t have to like you to love you.’

There are a myriad of situations where I might not like the other person, or feel like loving them – but I CHOOSE to love them because that is what Christ would have me do.

And yes, it is hard – at first.

Just like any discipline. It took a lot of practice to learn how to play the guitar. It took a lot of work to get good at your craft. It takes work, commitment and practice to progress in our love of others from mere feeling to decision.

“They will know you are my disciples if you love one another.”

Love in this context is a choice.

And it only works if we cast aside the fetters of pride and arrogance that would have us think that we are in any way, shape or form better than those we aim to love.

Heidi Baker, in her testimony, tells how the Lord sent her to sit with the poor – she was doing massive tent meetings at the time, and God stopped her, saying, “You don’t know anything about my Kingdom. You need to sit with the poor.” And that became her journey.

I personally learned a lot from going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Teachers like Rob Bell and Richard Rohr went through the same journey – when an older man came up to a young pastor Bell and said, “You can learn everything you need to know about running a church from going to an AA meeting…”

I learned how to really love in AA meetings.

Before that it was easy for me to judge, or to think myself superior – but that is not the Kingdom. 

The Kingdom is not about being raised up – it’s about choosing to go down. 

It is about choosing humility and being stripped of self so that Christ can be exalted in and through us. It is about going down to the level of and sitting with the poor, the lost, the addict – Jesus demonstrated that. God Himself stepped down from His heavenly throne to come and walk barefoot in the dirt among us… And not just ‘among’ us – but with us!

Christianity is about CHOOSING to love.

We are called to a higher standard as Christians. We are called to be different. 

Even when we don’t like the other person. Even if we disagree. Whether they belong to our church or even if they don’t go to church at all. We do not pick and choose who to love, but instead we choose to love everyone regardless.

We are called to love – not like we love ourselves – but as Christ has loved us.

I got saved because someone chose to share the love of Christ with me even when I did not deserve it.

You got saved because someone chose to share the love of Christ with you. 

John 15:13: “No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.”

But Jesus proves His love in dying for us while we were still His enemies.

That’s the kind of love Christ would have us show the world.

The kind of love that lays down its life even for its enemies.

Christianity is about CHOOSING to love.

We are called to a higher standard as Christians. We are called to be different. 

We are called to love – not like we love ourselves – but as Christ has loved us.

Prayer: Lord, in this day, show me and teach me how to love. Help me to not be blinded by ego and self-interest, but rather let me love regardless. Let me love like You love. Lord, in this day, show me how I can make a difference in the lives of those around me. Help me to walk as You walked. Not among people, but with people. And let my brothers and sisters who have strayed come back home in Jesus name. Amen

Never Lost: Worship Devotional

Never Lost: Worship Devotional

by | Feb 28, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

Psalm 116:1-2:

“I love the Lord, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.”

Israel – throughout the Old Testament – suffered many trials and tribulations, fought many wars, endured famine, nakedness, captivity and sword… But God prevailed – He heard them every time they called. He never lost a battle.

I have had situations in my life where everything seemed impossible – where the waves seemed to overwhelm, the tempest raging around me.

I have had circumstances in my life that can’t be shared here, because it is not for the faint of heart – but the long and short of it is that I should have been dead. I could’ve, if it weren’t for the grace of God, easily been in an early grave.

I have seen, in my short life time, miracles upon miracles – I have seen debts being cancelled, families restored, bones straightened, tumours shrink – I have seen, through the power of a humble, earnest prayer (no shouting, no big words, no theatrics) a man on his deathbed restored to life.

And these are just the testimonies in my own life and the lives of those closest to me- miracles of provision, miracles of healing, miracles of restoration – there are a few of them happening around me right now.

Jesus said, in a conversation with His disciples: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19)

Job declares the following in Job 42, after the Lord confronts his unbelief and ignorance:

2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

It is easy for us to react to our circumstances from a place of doubt and ignorance – when the waves obscure our vision, it is simpler for feet to fail and the soul to sink.

And perhaps now you are going through the tempest, through the fire, through the storm – perhaps you are facing the collapse of your business, the breakdown of your family unit or marriage, or a problem with your health – but I am here to encourage you to worship in the midst of this storm – to set your eyes upon the author and the finisher of our faith – turn your eyes upon Jesus.

One of the first passages of scripture I ever memorised and committed to heart was Psalm 27. This was my first step towards understanding the Bible in context rather than just having a loose collection of disjointed verses and declarations. I was thirteen years old, and remember reciting it whenever I had an opportunity.

At that stage I was being relentlessly bullied at school because of my club foot (I would actually leave school at the beginning of my second year of highschool because of the bullying). I did not fit in – I was different. And the only comfort I really had was in these verses:

“1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

It might feel like a war has broken out against you. I have my fair share of battle scars – and I can tell you that the enemy has never prevailed – Jesus has never lost a battle!

In my addiction – God won the battle!

In the wake and aftermath of a toxic marriage and divorce – God won the battle!

In my depression and anxiety – God won the battle!

Every time a war breaks out around me the Lord prepares a table, even in the face of the enemy, even in the midst of the battlefield – and tells me to come and be still. He raises His banner. He fights for me.

I hear the words of encouragement Moses speaks to the Israelites: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14)

The Lord is our Light, He is our Salvation – and He is the Stronghold – the Strong Tower in which we find shelter from the storm.

He is our Defender and He is our Warrior King – the One Who Goes Before – and makes straight the way before us.

He has never lost a battle. Your situation, your circumstances, your diagnosis might seem impossible to man – but with God all things are possible!

He is setting a table for you today, in the midst of the battle and in the face of your enemies – He is giving you a front row seat for the victory to come.

He has never lost a battle and He never will.

Prayer: Lord, I declare today that You are the stronghold of my life. You are my light and my salvation. I declare today that You are the Mighty One who saves – and because of this I will fear no evil. Every enemy will stumble and fall in the mighty name of Jesus. I declare today that You are my victory. You set a table for me even in the face of my enemies – and I will rest and trust in You. You will fight for me. Your ways are higher, Your plans are better – I surrender to Your will for my life. I will trust You in the heat of the battle. I will be still and know You are God. You are my Victory. And I praise You, not only for what You have done, but also for what I know You are going to do. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Disrupt: Presence over Preaching

Disrupt: Presence over Preaching

by | Feb 27, 2024 | Disrupt

27 February 2024 Disrupt: Presence over Preaching

God is raising up a generation of evangelists who will preach – not through word but through deed. A generation that will demonstrate the power of God, as in the book of Acts. Demonstration, not focused on signs and wonders, but through an authentic life – a renewed mind is consistent. The change is undeniable. Demonstration through acts of service, kindness and love. Demonstration through giving, sharing and living like Jesus lived.

There will be signs and wonders. There will be healing and deliverance – but there will also be a very real move of God in the hearts of believers. No more ‘Sunday Lip Service’ Christianity – but real, authentic rivers that run deep and transform communities. 

God is going to strip many titles of their power in this season. Many thrones and strongholds are going to be pulled down. Many fig trees will wither for they have carried the fruit of bitterness and ego.

Those who remain standing will be those who know how to bow. Those who know how to sway and move with the winds of God. 

God is calling fishermen to come and build His Kingdom. The hierarchies have failed in a lot of ways – the systems man have put in place. The world mocks the church and laughs in derision because the church has become like the world.

It is time for authentic Christianity. It is time for the church to become the Church again – the Ecclesia – the household of the Lord. 

The world needs our presence – not our preaching.

Repent of your ego. Repent of your small ambitions. 

It is time we get our hands dirty – it is time we do the hard work of the Gospel again. Uncompromised lives sold out to the Truth. Hands and feet willing to walk on water and sit with sinners. It is time for us to crucify the church. It is time for us to strip ourselves of ourselves so that Christ can shine clearly in and through our lives. No more compromise. No more double standards. No more hypocrisy. No more ‘multiple personality disorder’.

Compassion rather than compensation. Empathy rather than esteem.

Presence over preaching.

Your preaching means nothing if people cannot see Jesus in you.

Your title means even less.

The only title that matters is servant.

1 Corinthians 4:20: 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

James 1:21-25: Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 

Matthew 7:21-27: “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

When the apostles, prophets, pastors – those with titles and esteem – stop declaring the uncompromised, true and faithful Word of God, the stones will cry out. God is raising up fishermen once again. Men who do not need to talk – but show the power of God.

 

I Speak Jesus

I Speak Jesus

by | Feb 27, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

Acts 4:12

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

There is power in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is the power of God unto salvation.

As Christian’s we know this – we know that His Name is the name above every name. The Name of Jesus makes the enemy tremble. 

The Name of Jesus is power – it is healing – the Name of Jesus is freedom.

The Name of Jesus makes Jericho walls fall down and mountains crumble into the sea.

The Name of Jesus lights up the darkness and pulls down strongholds – His Name very much is life.

I like what Paul writes in Philipians 2:9-11:

“9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The power that is in the Name of Jesus – that beautiful, powerful, wonderworking Name above all names – is rooted in our faith in the Name.

When we believe that He is who He says He is – the Right Hand of God reaching out to pull us from the miry clay – and we proclaim His Name over our situations we will see change.

It is very much about believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. The two go hand in hand.

When we believe that Jesus is who He says He is – and speak the name of Jesus over your situation – you will see that situation bow before the power of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

He said upon the cross: IT IS DONE.

Your healing and restoration is there.

Your provision is there.

Your deliverance and freedom is there.

In the mighty Name of Jesus – in the Name of the risen and exalted Christ.

In the midst of your storm speak the name of Jesus. Call Jesus – cry out to the Lord.

David says he waited on the Lord and that He heard his cry (Psalm 40), he called on the Lord and was saved from his enemies (Psalm 18). He pours out forgiveness and lovingkindness in abundance upon all who calls on Him (Psalm 86).

Speak the Name of Jesus in your situation today. He will incline His ear to you and pull you up and out of the miry clay.

Psalm 18:3: I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. 

Jesus saves us from our enemies. He saves us from the voices in our heads. He saves us from ourselves. He saves us from death and destruction. He keeps us from drowning.

He is worthy of our praise.

He is worthy of adoration.

His name is high and exalted above every other name.

Walking in His name means walking in His victory.

Today I urge you to speak the Name of Jesus over your life, your situation, your circumstances – start walking in victory!

I also urge you to speak the Name of Jesus over your family, your church, your community – your country and continent.

2 Chronicles 7:14: 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

It is time we get serious about speaking the Name of Jesus over every facet of our life, into every sphere of influence, and every circle of concern.

It is time we become a people of prayer again.

Revival is conceived in the womb of prayer.

Restoration is conceived in the womb of prayer.

The womb of prayer is where we speak the life-giving Name of Jesus.

Shout Jesus from the mountains. From the rooftops. Speak Jesus in the valley and in the streets. Speak Jesus over your family, your friends – and even your enemies. 

Speak Jesus and you will see the ocean split open before you.

Prayer: Lord, I know that there is power in Your Name, in the mighty name of Jesus. I speak Your name over every situation, every circumstance today, confessing what I know in my heart to be true – the Name of Jesus changes things. The Name of Jesus sets the captive free. The Name of Jesus heals the sick and makes the cripple walk again. Where life has sought to cripple me, Lord I speak Your Name. In the Name of Jesus I will get up and I will walk on the water. In the Name of Jesus I pray for revival, for restoration in my family, my church and my community. I pray that you will guide me in prayer today and show me other situations, people and places that I should speak Your name over. Help me make a difference here in the womb of prayer. Help me speak life over my life and the lives of those around me. And as I do, help me see the change it makes so that I can testify of Your goodness, grace and love – so that I can testify of the power of Your name. In the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.