Joyful, Joyful

Joyful, Joyful

by | May 28, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Hail Thee as the sun above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Giver of immortal gladness
Fill us with the light of day”

The Hymn of Joy (Joyful Joyful), Henry van Dyke

“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.”

Isaiah 35:1-2, NKJV

The Psalms and the Prophets teach us that God delights in His children (Zephaniah 3:17, Psalm 147:11-12, Psalm 18:19, Isaiah 62:3-5) – even at the very beginning of the world, at the dawn of creation, God looked at what He had created and it was good.

He enjoyed Adam and Eve, in the Garden – He walked with them, and He talked with them. He delighted in them. They delighted in Him.

Past tense.

Delighted.

God’s desire has not changed. He wants to walk with us and talk with us in the Garden of His Presence. He longs for communion with us as a Bridegroom longs for His Bride.

We have been, in many cases, an adulterous Bride. We have, time and time again, strayed… We have been unfaithful.

But His desire has never changed. His love for us has not changed.

It is then no wonder that in Jesus writes to the Church of the last days: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

Repentance is a turning back to God. It is the opening of the door of our hearts to Jesus so that He might come in – that He might come and eat with us, feast with us – that He might come in and make manifest the festivity of His presence. Jesus wants to fill us with Himself – His presence, peace, love and joy!

The Psalmist writes: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!” (Psalm 37:4)

Our delight and our desire is Jesus, and in pursuing our desire of Him He gives us more of Himself.

The adulterous and idolatrous Bride finds herself, in this current dispensation, in need of a turn – she needs to repent.

We need to repent and turn back to God. We need to open the door and let Him back into our churches.

Why are so many believers dissatisfied and falling away from the Hope of Glory? Why are so many of us still being cast asunder by every new wind of doctrine and philosophy? Why do our hearts still pang, hunger and thirst for more when we have, at hand, the Bread of Heaven and source of Living Water? Why do we still feel so empty, impoverished and lacking when we have, at our disposal, the innumerable and incorruptible riches of His Kingdom?

It is because we have removed Christ from His Christendom.

We have made apostles and prophets the centre of our faith and we have removed the Cornerstone. We have made prosperity, rather than His presence, our priority.

But the Lord says this today: “I stand at the door of your heart and I knock, and if you open up I will come in and feast with you. If you open up I will come in and bring Living Water to the dry places, hope to the desolate places, light to the dark places and life to the barren places of your heart!”

We have been an idolatrous and adulterous Bride. We have set the eyes of our hearts upon material things, quick fixes and promises of temporary power and esteem.

Psalm 147:11: “But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

God is calling us to set our eyes upon Him again. To desire Him. To delight in Him. To enjoy Him.

God is calling us to open up our hearts to Him once again, so that He may shine His face upon us, that our hearts might unfold before Him like flowers hailing the sun above – He wants to melt away the clouds of sin and sadness – drive out darkness and doubt – and restore us! He wants to fill us with the light of day! He wants to make the desert and the wilderness glad again! Blossoming and in bloom – brimming with life in abundance! He wants to move in our midst again!

He desires us. He delights in His children – those who fear and love Him.

He wants to delight in us. He wants us to delight in Him.

And all it takes from us is a yielded yes.

All it takes from us is surrender.

All it takes from us is a turning of our eyes, away from the things of this world and the promises of men, towards Jesus, His Kingdom and the perfect will of God!

All it takes is a decision right now to turn to Him. To open the door and let Him in.

Prayer: Jesus, be my desire. Be my Bread and Water. Be the One Thing I long for above all else. Remove any and all double mindedness from my heart and let me run wholly after You. Let me dwell in Your house forever, my eyes set upon You and You alone. Be the center of all of my coming and going, the center of my life. Be in every breath I take. Jesus, be my desire. Show me what it means to find perfect peace and contentment in You. Through Your Holy Spirit draw me deeper, deeper into prayer and the study of Your Word. Draw me deeper into communion with You. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

This is Our God: Those Walls Called Sin And Shame

This is Our God: Those Walls Called Sin And Shame

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“Remember those walls that we called sin and shame?
They were like prisons that we couldn’t escape
But He came, and He died, and He rose
Those walls are rubble now”

This is our God, Phil Wickham

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners…”

Isaiah 61:1, NIV

Good news.

Much of the Bible is about the good news of the Kingdom come.

This is the Gospel. That Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless, show the Father to the orphan, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and our release from the darkness of our sin and shame.

Shame is probably one of the most vicious, heaviest chains we carry.

Shame is the very definition of a vicious cycle. Not only is it rooted in sin – both sins committed by and against us – but it also inevitably becomes the root of further sin as we dig the hole in our hearts deeper.

I need you to realize today that you can be a model Christian and live a near perfect life, especially in the eyes of others, and yet be struggling with some aspect of your ‘private life’. You can be a good, Jesus-loving, God-fearing Christian, and still have a room in your heart that you have not yet surrendered to Christ.

It took me years to finally let go of the shame of my addiction, and it might not be easy for you either – but there is hope. As you build your prayer life… As you read about Jesus… As you allow the Holy Spirit to breathe life into the text of the Bible and let the Word come alive in you… As you surrender that room in your heart to God and let Him in you will find that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but instead a superior hope, a peace that surpasses understanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The solution to every sin-problem and shame-condition is the unconditional and absolute love of God found in Jesus Christ.

I want to urge you to let Jesus into that area of your life where you are experiencing shame and hurt. Whether that shame was caused through something you did or something that was done to you – there is healing in Jesus.

Don’t let shame force you to live a life of fear, insecurity and hopelessness.

There is hope. There is Jesus.

You are loved. You are His. He loves you and He will never stop, no matter what!

Prayer: Lord, help me today to see the areas of my life where shame has a hold of me. Help me see the vicious cycles in my life for what they are. Where they might feel never-ending, where it might feel like I am perpetually going in circles, help me see that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. You are my way out of this slow of despondency. You are my way out of the cycle of shame. Help me, Lord, to see that I am not who my shame says I am, but rather who You say I am. I am loved. I am Yours. Help me recognize the areas of my life where I need to repent. Come into my heart Lord and rearrange my furniture. Come and show me what I need to keep doing and what it is I need to stop doing so that You may be glorified in my life. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.’

In Christ Alone, Stuart Townsend

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.”

Psalm 62:5-8:

Oh, the gift of love and righteousness in Christ.

I remember when I was a child – eight or nine years old – and at night I would pray for two things. Every night I would pray that my parents would live forever and that I would grow up to be a millionaire.

Earnestly I prayed – and diligently – night after night.

But those were the prayers of a child.

And for many of us these are also the kind of prayers we tend to pray when we first come to Christ.

Prayers influenced more by our carnality than anything else – our fears and our insecurities drive our earliest prayers as we seek to just ‘fill the need’ – but this should change over time.

The more we set our eyes on Jesus and grow in our understanding of Him the more things like money and immortality start to lose their value.

When we start to see Jesus for who He is we realize that there is nothing that compares to Him. No amount of money, no amount of success, esteem or anything else that we could try and fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts with will ever be enough.

All these things are meaningless. I am grateful to have learned this lesson early in my life – for there are many who chase the things of this world well into old age. There are many who are old and frail but still praying the prayers of a child… And not childlike prayers of faith, but childish prayers based in fear, insecurity and self-seeking.

I don’t need to be a millionaire – there are things that are way more important than wealth.

I understand now that this life is just a passing thing – and that we will indeed live forever – if we are in Christ!

When we start seeing Jesus for who He is we will find ourselves gravitating towards prayer and worship – not to ask from but to give unto the Lord – our love, our praise and our adoration!

Having been a drug addict, having survived the life associated with it – guns and overdoses, incarceration and insanity – I know that I have much to be grateful for. Nothing compares to knowing Jesus.

And we all had a rock bottom from which Christ had to stoop down and save us…

Oh the Love of Jesus poured out upon that lonely cross for me!

How can we not love Him!

John Calvin said the following: Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.

Christ is the All-Sufficient One!

In Him we have the hope of heaven. The realization that all of our troubles and all our trials only persist for a little while before giving way to glory.

In Him our every need is satisfied. If we walk in His will for our lives – in faith and obedience – we will never be disappointed.

Prayer: Lord, today I thank you for pulling me out of the miry clay of my past. You are my foundation, my cornerstone – my hope, my refuge, my now and forever. Help me Lord to grow in my understanding of You, so that my prayers can be childlike rather than childish. Oh Lord, if I have one request today let it be for more of You in my life. Always more of You. Open the eyes of my heart and help me see You rightly, as You are – let everything in my life give way to Your glory. I give You the highest place in my life today Lord. Be enthroned in every situation, in all of my circumstances. Let me be hidden in the Rock of my Salvation – tucked away safely in Your embrace.. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.

Run to the Father

Run to the Father

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“My heart has been in Your sights
Long before my first breath
Running into Your arms
Is running to life from death
And I feel this rush deep in my chest
Your mercy is calling out
Just as I am You pull me in
And I know I need You now”

Run to the Father, Cody Carnes

“4 For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love 5 He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— “

Ephesians 1:4-5:

From before the creation of the world – before the foundations of the Earth was laid – God in His infinite wisdom knew you.

Not only did He know you – all of your flaws, faults and failures included – but He loved you.

Not only did He lay the foundations of the Earth – but from the very beginning He was laying the foundation for our redemption and salvation. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.

I faced a lot of rejection as a kid. Not at home – but at school definitely. Being born with a clubfoot and walking with a limp, unable to participate in the activities that many of the other kids participated in – I was a bit of a pariah on my good days and prey for the piranhas on every other day.

There would be more rejection as I grew older.

We all face rejection – some of us more than others – but all of us feel the sting of being pushed aside, all of us face the burden of not feeling good enough and all of us carry our insecurities – often on our sleeves.

Whether this rejection is in the context of family, sports teams, career opportunities, romantic relationships, social groups – we realise that it is not realistic to believe that we will be celebrated or even accepted everywhere. We all face rejection in varying degrees of severity.

I would, later in life, become a drug addict. I would embrace my outcast status and separate myself even more from my community, my family and even myself.

I had a very strange relationship with Jesus during this time. I kicked against God and His plan for my life – I tested His love and His grace like a rebellious teenager tests his parents. I could not understand or comprehend this kind of love – this love that would see me at my worst and still choose me.

Yet, as much as I rebelled and as much as I was kicking against His love and His will – I did not let go of Him either. Whenever it seemed like I was slipping too far I would reach out – and like a child grabbing the leg of his fathers pants or the seam of his mothers dress in a crowd – in the midst of the chaos and the noise of my life I would grab onto the hem of His mercy and His grace.

Like Saul I kicked against the goads. Like Jacob I wrestled with God during this time.

But thank God He never separated Himself from me.

Jesus hung on the Cross with open arms welcoming the sinner, the downtrodden, the weary and the lost – “come to me and I will give You rest!”

With arms wide open He hung on that Cross.

The face, the grace and the embrace of God is found in Jesus Christ.

Today I beg you to come to this conclusion – that no matter what rejection you have faced – no matter what mistakes you made and no matter what your burden of insecurity looks like – God chose you!

Before He said “let there be light” the light of His love was shining on your future.

We just have to open our eyes and see it.

Today I beg you to come to this conclusion – to realize that people might have pushed you aside in the past, but God calls you closer. People might have disappointed you, hurt you – even hated you – but Jesus is the love of God made manifest. God chose you from before the heavens were imagined, since before the creation of the Earth – He knew you. He loved you. He chose you.

Flaws and all.

You might have fallen from grace. Circumstances, situations and the storms of life might have you feeling broken, battered and unloved – you might be at the bottom of your rock bottom right now – but God is calling you to get back up and to start running from death to life.

He is waiting with open arms.

It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done – it doesn’t change His love for you – what matters is where you go from here.

Run towards freedom. Run towards healing. Run towards restoration.

Run to the Father today.

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your great and unfailing love. I thank You for the mercy and grace You poured out upon the Cross for me. I thank You Lord that when I come to You my sins are washed away, my shortcomings are cast into the deepest depths and my iniquity removed as far as the East is from West. I thank You Lord that in Your presence there is freedom from addiction, healing from hurt and deliverance from insecurity and fear. Open the eyes of my heart today Lord so that I might see Your love shine here in my life today. I might have felt uncared for, unloved and pushed aside by people and through situations in my life – but You will never leave me or forsake me. Flood my life with Your presence today. In Jesus Name. Amen.