repayments...

Romans 11:35-36

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!

It can sometimes seems like our efforts and our sacrifices for God compel God to move in our lives. After all, we have seen great moves of God following times of prayer, fasting, worship, etc. And in my own life, for example, I have seen financial breakthrough after giving generously.

But the true key to financial blessing is not giving, it is knowing the Giver. The true key to healing is not declaring scripture, it is knowing the Healer.

The truth is, if we really knew God as Provider, we’d take our opportunities to give generously. If we really knew God as Healer, we’d be declaring healing over our lives every day.

If it really was me who evokes blessing because I have given or done something, then I deserve some glory.

But it’s always been “from him and through him and to him”. Let’s not focus on what we can do to make God move in our lives, but just actually be with Him. He is a good Father, a good Shepherd, a good Provider, a good Healer.

Prayer for the week: Father, you deserve all the glory. Thank you for calling me to great things in your kingdom. I declare your blessings based on what Christ did on the cross, restoring a full relationship with my generous, healing, powerful Father.

command...

2 John 5-6

I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

This is the second instance in Scripture that John tells us what love is. The first is in John’s first letter – “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us”.

Now a lot of people like to quote just this part of the verse, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands”. But we have to keep the context. What is the command that Jesus gave?

(If you say, no this verse means you have to listen to do everything Jesus commanded then what will you do with Matthew 5 which says that if your right eye causes you to sin, you should gouge it out and throw it away? And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!)

Here’s the context: there is a commandment we’ve had from the beginning - His command that you walk in love. His command is that you walk in the full knowledge of Christ’s love for you and I.

Did you know even loving one another can become religious? Instead of actually being concerned with what love is, we just want to know what it looks like, replicate it and get it done – ‘Look at how good I am - I’ve discharged my Christian duty to love’.

Our lives have been taken over by a desire not to do what is actually loving, but what appears to be right.

In our love for Him (which is frail and dynamic), we can’t walk in obedience, loving one another. In his love for us (which is strong and unfailing), we can!

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for how you created us for relationship with you. Let your Spirit be a constant provider and teacher in my life. May my relationships with others be the same, full of life and love.

others...

Romans 15:7

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Do you know when people ask you to think ‘happy thoughts’? It’s just a general principle of life that what you think about internally will get reflected outwardly.

I think sometimes we find accepting others hard to do. But that’s because we so often focus on the external; striving and working at trying to accept people. However, if we were to think about the acceptance Christ has for us, that external change will come supernaturally.

If we strive and force ourselves to accept others in our own strength then let fair be fair and some praise should go to you. No the acceptance of others – as Christ accepted us! – can only be a work of God.

Christ accepted you just as you are, with open arms, in love and with rejoicing.

Spend the best of your time focusing on how Jesus accepted you and you will find yourself accepting others. In that way, praise must be given to God.

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for how you created us for relationship with you. Let your Spirit be a constant provider and teacher in my life. May my relationships with others be the same, full of life and love.

together...

John 14:16-17

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

Jesus didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves when He went to be with the Father in heaven.

He left us with two things that are from heaven itself. We have the Word of God, the actual words of God given to men inspired to write them. And we have the Holy Spirit, our great counselor, who reminds us of the Word given to us (v26).

These two are meant to work together. Sometimes we read the Word and interpret it without the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Other times we attempt to stir up a ‘spiritual’ experience with no reference to the Word.

What a great benefit we have, yet so often leave dormant!

Bring your decisions and thoughts constantly into the light of the Spirit and Word that are your guide and teacher in this life. This is truly a double-edged sword that will judge whether what we are thinking or doing is from man’s soul or God’s spirit.

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for how you created us for relationship with you. Let your Spirit be a constant provider and teacher in my life. May my relationships with others be the same, full of life and love.

paradigm...

Colossians 3:13

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Has anyone needed your forgiveness lately? Yesterday? A few hours ago? A few minutes ago? Yep, our lives are just filled with people who don’t always make us feel the best.

Did you know God benefited from forgiving us? As much as it was in our best interests to be forgiven, God knew it was good for him too. After all, He created us to be loved by Him in relationship, and that works best when the other person knows it!

I’m also sure the things He has forgiven us are much greater than that which we forgive others for. And He did it with no strings attached - He didn’t make a deal with us that He’d forgive us only if we started to be good to Him.

In a paradigm of right and wrong, relationship can only ever break down because people are not perfect, or true relationship is never built because grievance is inevitable.

In a paradigm of love, forgiveness restores and redeems our relationships with each other.

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for how you created us for relationship with you. Let your Spirit be a constant provider and teacher in my life. May my relationships with others be the same, full of life and love.

living...

2 Corinthians 3:3

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

In the context of the weekend past, you should know that the cross changed everything! We say it a lot, but we don’t live like it a lot…

We’re still so often people who live according to sets of rules and laws. We want to blessed according to how ‘good’ we are. We try to change lives by bringing in ‘better’ rules.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul clearly distinguishes a life lived by rules against a life lived by Spirit.

God wants us to not live a life of reference to an external source but a life in obedience to an internal source.

Don’t set up your life to live according to a set of rules. The ten commandments were written on tablets of stone. They are great standards but no means by which to live – in fact, they minister death (v7)!

God actually wants you to constantly go to your redeemed heart (Ezekiel 36:26). The less time we spend thinking law fixes our lives, the more time we will spend filling our heart with the life of the Spirit.

Prayer for the week: Father, thank you for how you created us for relationship with you. Let your Spirit be a constant provider and teacher in my life. May my relationships with others be the same, full of life and love.

cursed!

Galatians 3:10, 13

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse… (but) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

I am gently reminded by the Holy Spirit that even as I try to do the right thing, not to rely on that as my cause for blessing.

If I believe in my heart that God’s premise for blessing me is because I have done the right things, I come under a curse because God can’t just hold me to the parts of the law that I do keep, but also to all that I don’t.

That's why I needed today. That's why Easter Friday is Good!

I am blessed only because of my beautiful Saviour, the Father’s only Son. He took every curse I deserved and gave me every blessing that I didn’t deserve.

I now receive blessing because I believe (that is, by faith) that I am righteous in Christ.

By the goodness of Christ, you are highly favoured and empowered to live the great destiny you have. By the goodness of Christ, you are blessed and who loves others selflessly.

May every one of us be blessed as a vessel of the love and good news of Christ.

Prayer for this week: Father, I want the love you have showed me to transform the way I live. I want my actions to always testify of the great love you have shown. Prepare opportunities this week for me to express love in situations, both easy and hard.

motivated...

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Why did Christ die? It was to restore forever relationship between man and God. When Jesus saw the joy of relationship with us, He went to the most extreme ends for us.

The great motivator for the greatest act in the history of the world was love.

There is a great and worthy joy in relationship. We should be thinking about this outcome when we relate to the people around us. But I know what you’re thinking, There are some people who I can live without having relationship with; I have no intention to build relationship with them; in fact, relationship with them would be awful.

Did you know Christ counted it a joy set before him, to be restored with drunkards, the immoral, thieves, adulterers, liars, murderers… me?

Jesus saw it all as a joy worthwhile.

Now, if you see relationship as a ‘have-to’ chore and another person whom you have to please and ‘be good’ to, then you’ll miss the joy. But see it how Jesus truly did, as a blessing to both you and the other person as you minister the love of God, and you’ll find yourself doing great things in the name of love too.

Prayer for this week: Father, I want the love you have showed me to transform the way I live. I want my actions to always testify of the great love you have shown. Prepare opportunities this week for me to express love in situations, both easy and hard.

ours!

Luke 15:31

“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours”

In the well-known story of the prodigal son, the prodigal son’s brother is shocked, angry and jealous of the way the father treats the prodigal son’s return.

Here, the father discerns the root of the brother’s problem with the whole situation.

The brother did not have a realization that whatever the father had was his also (“everything I have is yours”). He didn’t realize that he had the glorious benefit of always being in relationship with his father (“you are always with me”).

Disunity is not primarily caused by people not pulling their weight (e.g. leaders blaming those they lead) or by bad decision-making (e.g. the people blaming their leaders). It is caused by a failure to realize the fullness of our relationship with our Father!

So in everything, let us be conscious of the fact that the Father is right there with us and all that He has is ours. Resolution and restoration is found in that moment.

Prayer for this week: Father, I want the love you have showed me to transform the way I live. I want my actions to always testify of the great love you have shown. Prepare opportunities this week for me to express love in situations, both easy and hard.

goodwill...

Ephesians 5:1

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Although this is the start of a new chapter in terms of Bible organisation, it is the conclusion of a line of thought Paul has about believers interacting with one another.

The best place in which to imitate God is a place where you are aware of how dearly loved you are. We are amazed at Christ’s sacrifice for us, but it was not born out of a life of discipline, it was born out of a life of love.

When we truly feel loved, we are taken away by the revelation of how loved we are. Nothing can touch us! And that’s usually just the love of people. Imagine the power of knowing how loved I am by God!

If you and I are honest, so much of the things Paul talks about ridding ourselves in dealing with one another (bitterness, slander, gossip, etc) come out of a place of our insecurities and doubts about ourselves.

In interacting with each other, let’s not think about whether the person deserves our goodwill. Let’s think about how loved we are and how powerful that is.

Prayer for this week: Father, I want the love you have showed me to transform the way I live. I want my actions to always testify of the great love you have shown. Prepare opportunities this week for me to express love in situations, both easy and hard.

never been kissed

Romans 16:16

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Confession time: I used to seriously read this verse and think to myself, How cool if it were still so - imagine who I could kiss that girl with no repercussions!

Of course, in the custom of the Mediterranean, just as it still is, it was how family and close friends greeted one another.

Church should not be a place of shallow greetings between might-as-well-be strangers. It is a place where our internal feelings of love toward each other should be expressed with an outward action.

Our community should show expressions of love toward each other. Don’t we so often think highly of people but say nothing to them? Or people who we love seeing each week but don’t tell them so? And the list goes on…

Just as Jesus proved on a cross, love is best when it is shown, not just thought about.

Prayer for this week: Father, I want the love you have showed me to transform the way I live. I want my actions to always testify of the great love you have shown. Prepare opportunities this week for me to express love in situations, both easy and hard.

fashion

Colossians 3:12

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Straight up, you are holy and dearly loved.

Before you do any good thing or take on any good virtue, you have already been chosen, you are already holy and you are already dearly loved.

In the great knowledge of knowing that you are absolutely in the right shape, you are able to check out your wardrobe so you can look your best.

Don’t you just love it when you find the perfect outfit for the occasion? I’m just a guy, but even I have to admit that when I put on something that looks good, I’m like, That’s what I’m talking ’bout!

Well, the believer looks great when they put on the clothing that fits them perfectly. That clothing happens to be the same clothing that Jesus wore (Romans 13:14). Obviously not His physical clothes - I don’t know how’d we’d go with a girdle and tunic - but the great way that He interacted with the world around Him.

Jesus freely lived His life of love because He knew He was the beloved of God – and we can do the same!

Prayer for this week: Father, your great love has shown me the way. Thank you for transforming me and aligning me with the truth. In my quest to live a life of love, I pray that your favour is awakened in me so that I bring favour into my world.

blessed...

1 Peter 3:8

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Just pause for a moment and think about Jesus… on a cross… insulted and spat on… bloodied by the people snickering at him from below… and with what breath he still has, he cries out, “Forgive them” (Luke 23:24).

Now, did you know you are called to a blessed life? Despite anything you could do, God still wants nothing but good for you.

In light of this, you should know that being a blessing is a blessing!

Why would you respond to someone with an insult? Thinking a bad thought about someone doesn’t make them a bad person (our thoughts aren’t that powerful!) – it changes us for the worse. Come on, who’s ever truly felt better after being vindictive or vengeful? (If you do, can I suggest that you may have a wrong attitude!)

It blessed Jesus, just as it blesses us, when we respond positively to negative situations (v14). Respond with how you want to feel. When you are insulted, don’t you wish instead you were being blessed?

Jesus has empowered us to respond with a blessing - it will change you for the better.

Prayer for this week: Father, your great love has shown me the way. Thank you for transforming me and aligning me with the truth. In my quest to live a life of love, I pray that your favour is awakened in me so that I bring favour into my world.

trump!

James 2:12

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

It personally hurts me on the inside every time now I hear someone talk about Christianity like it is a set of teaching on rights and wrong. Even moreso when the church and its leaders teaches that that is how we are judged.

Here, scripture contrasts judgment by the law that gives freedom against judgment without mercy.

I love the fact that Christians are judged with the law that gives freedom. The law of freedom is explained in Galatians 4:21-31 as the new covenant – that Jesus Christ has redeemed us through what He has done. You and I have been set free in Christ. You and I will be judged, thank God, by mercy.

The reason that we judge people is that we often believe that judgment triumphs over mercy when it comes to the kingdom of God.

No - mercy triumphs over judgment! Every time someone does you wrong, remember the great mercy shown you by Christ. Rest in the knowledge that you are judged by mercy and watch how your perspective towards them changes!

Prayer for this week: Father, your great love has shown me the way. Thank you for transforming me and aligning me with the truth. In my quest to live a life of love, I pray that your favour is awakened in me so that I bring favour into my world.

above...

Romans 12:9

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.

There are those who say that the gospel of grace requires so little from people. How can grace change people if they don’t have to do anything to have it?

But here’s the thing, under the law, you might never steal – but never become a generous person. Under the law, you might never commit adultery – but never truly love your wife. Under the law, you might never covet – but never celebrate other’s success.

When in grace, the law is superseded by something much greater.

Because of the cross, we can be called to honour each other above ourselves. Where the law could be summed up in “Love your neighbour as yourself”, Jesus gave a new command before He went to the cross: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). I believe that is an absolutely impossible command – without the cross.

I don’t need to obey the law, as much as I need Jesus to totally transform the way I live.

Prayer for this week: Father, your great love has shown me the way. Thank you for transforming me and aligning me with the truth. In my quest to live a life of love, I pray that your favour is awakened in me so that I bring favour into my world.

know...

1 John 3:16

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

I’m sure the people who organised Scripture into verses delighted in the symmetry of John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16!

It was Jesus who showed us what true love looked like. In love, Jesus saw everything He had and then looked at us and knew that He had to do something (v17).

You will hardly find a person that would say that he or she wouldn’t like to be more loving. We are all looking for a true and greater love than the counterfeits so prevalent around us.

But if we don’t know the true example of love, the great command to love one another becomes a shell of its original intent.

So this was the intended flow: He teaches and shows us how much He loves us, and we are transformed to do the same.

How much of Christ’s love do we know and what example can we start living today?

Prayer for this week: Father, your great love has shown me the way. Thank you for transforming me and aligning me with the truth. In my quest to live a life of love, I pray that your favour is awakened in me so that I bring favour into my world.

position...

(this week's devotions are adapted from those of revolution's leaders)

Romans 5:1-2

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace where in we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-28). However, all sinned and have fell short of His glory (Romans 3:23).

But faith in Christ changes the scenario. Through grace by faith in Christ we have been justified – in our redeemed state, we have and are the glory of God.

In this new position we can rejoice. Our souls are to be glad that we can now hope for something that was previously never available to us – that we might be what God originally intended us to be.

This fact does not fit in with the way my daily life looks. It doesn’t look to me or feel like I’m God’s glory sometimes. But that is my position (“where in we stand”).

Just as before Christ whatever good I did not change my position outside of God, so after Christ whatever I do can not change my position in God!

Prayer for the week: Father, your grace is sufficient for me. I will ponder upon all your goodness and believe the right thing. I will delight in your protection and in your peace. Nothing will come against your beloved children.

never fail

1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails.

It is important to know what kind of love never fails. If this is talking about my love, then the Bible lies because my love definitely fails sometimes… okay, lots of times.

But the Bible doesn’t lie, and it is talking about the amazing love of Christ.

Why put your faith in something that may or may not succeed? The love of God never fails. In any situation, you can put yourself in a place where you can not fail.

That place is under His love. Our relationships should be covered with our love, yes. But more importantly, if they are to be guaranteed to succeed they must be covered with His love. Same with our jobs, studies, health etc. Our effort and discipline is good, but is not the guarantor of success.

His love is.

Never let anything take you away from places where you know you experience His love.

Prayer for the week: Father, your grace is sufficient for me. I will ponder upon all your goodness and believe the right thing. I will delight in your protection and in your peace. Nothing will come against your beloved children.

where...

(this week's devotions are adapted from those of revolution's leaders)

Psalm 91:4

He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

God's grace and love for us is often pictured as protecting and shielding us. The only condition is to “dwell in the shelter of the Most High” (v1).

It's not about what we do - but about where we are!

The Hebrew origin for “wings” implies “extremities” and “covering”. God doesn't just say, Stand over there and if danger comes, I'll come and get you. He stretches out to keep as close as possible at all times! Furthermore, His “shield” is really a “large shield” and a “bulwark” is a “surrounding solid wall”. God doesn't do things by halves - He goes over the top for us because He loves us so much!

His faithfulness means God WILL NEVER fail! It is His very nature.

The situations in life that come at us cannot affect us when we see them through God's eyes of grace. God, who sees bigger than us, covers us with His grace and love, and therefore, we are shielded from hopelessness, depression, etc that the world would have us fall into.

Anytime, a wrong thought or negative belief enters our world, picture the extreme covering of God, His large shield and His fortifying walls.

Prayer for the week: Father, your grace is sufficient for me. I will ponder upon all your goodness and believe the right thing. I will delight in your protection and in your peace. Nothing will come against your beloved children.

cry...

(this week's devotions are adapted from those of revolution's leaders)

Rom 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

I can't ever get over how much God loves us!

Not because of anything we have done but just because we’re his beloved children.

We’re free to come into His presence at any time for any reason. Who can remember those times when you were younger when you just hung out in your parents’ room just because you felt safe there. You felt like nothing could go wrong because your mum or your dad was there.

No matter how large or trivial the concern we can always run to Him; no matter how ‘spiritual’ or ‘unspiritual’ we may be feeling.

He just loves spending time with me.

Oh, to always remember He's there, He loves us and that in His presence all our fears will fade away…

Prayer for the week: Father, your grace is sufficient for me. I will ponder upon all your goodness and believe the right thing. I will delight in your protection and in your peace. Nothing will come against your beloved children.

draw

(this week's devotions are adapted from those of revolution's leaders)

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”

Relationship with our heavenly father is “achieved” simply by remaining in Him. The love of Christ, the foundation of our relationship with Him, is not earned, it is received.

In the same way that a branch receives all it needs from the vine we must remain in Him to live purposeful lives. The vine does not lack anything. It has a root system that allows it to access what the branch cannot – nutrients and water. The branch’s job is simply to receive from the vine and produce fruit.

I have a friend who loves gardening, and one of his successes was been an oregano plant that he waters at least once per day if not more. Except for one busy week end when it slipped his mind and he saw his beloved plant had withered – the leaves were curled up and the colour had faded. He watered it hoping that it would somehow survive. The next day the plant was virtually 100 per cent and he was no longer depressed!

When the plant did not receive properly from the source, it began to draw on the very thing it was trying to pour into and produce fruit from. And that is exactly the same for us. When we don’t receive from the father the nutrients and water we need, we draw from our work, our friends, our ministry – the very things that God wants to pour into.

Prayer for the week: Father, your grace is sufficient for me. I will ponder upon all your goodness and believe the right thing. I will delight in your protection and in your peace. Nothing will come against your beloved children.