MONDAY 9 JUNE
1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13
God looks at the Heart
In the early days of Israel’s history they had no king. They were a theocracy. God was their King. The Israelites wanted to be like all the other nations; they wanted a king. In the end God gave them a king. He was okay for a while because he was close to the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. Later he turned his back on the Lord and lost the spirit. At this time God commanded the prophet Samuel to search out and anoint another to be King. He was directed to Jesse’s house at Bethlehem, for the Lord had shown him to anoint one of Jesse’s sons. As each son was presented Samuel prayed to see if he was the one to anoint. When one after the other was rejected poor old Jesse got a bit puzzled. He could not work out why the one whom he thought was his best son was rejected. Samuel replied, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” After he had seen all the sons Jesse presented, Samuel said,
“Haven’t you another son?” “O yes,” said Jesse, “I’ve got another but he’s too young, anyhow he’s busy looking after the sheep.” “Bring him to me,” said Samuel. “He is the one God has chosen.”
As soon as David was brought in Samuel knew he was God’s chosen one. Immediately he anointed him with oil. Immediately the Spirit of the Lord came upon David with power. He was ready to be King. It took a while for it to happen but when he did become King he became the greatest King ever to reign in Israel. He was a great King because he was so close to God and filled with His Spirit.
God has chosen each of us for a special purpose. We might not look too crash hot on the outside but God can see into our hearts and see how sincere we are. If we offer ourselves, He will anoint us with His Holy Spirit and use us powerfully.
PRAYER: Father look at my heart and see if I have let the Lord Jesus in to cleanse and purify it. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Anoint me to serve You with power. Amen.
TUESDAY 10 JUNE
Psalm 20
May all your plans succeed
We have a most wonderful God. He is a God who really cares for us and longs to help us because He loves us so much. We often forget to pray to God but it never stops Him loving us. When we are in distress and cry out to Him, He is quick to come to our aid and protect us. He really appreciates everything we do for Him. Every time we sacrifice something for Him and give to Him He always remembers it. The thing He remembers the most and appreciates the most is the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. It was a special offering for Him because it made it possible for all of us to get close to Him. It took away all our sins; it purified our hearts. When we trust in the saving power of Jesus He anoints us with the Holy Spirit. We become His special friends.
When we get close to Him we make a fantastic discovery. He answers lots of our prayers and grants our requests. He sees also all the desires of our hearts, our inner thoughts. These go up to Him like prayers and He answers them by giving us these desires. When we are close to Him, He helps us to plan our lives and then He makes all these plans succeed. If we get help from Him first and plan according to His will, this is when He helps us most. This makes us ever so thankful and we shout with joy as we praise and thank Him with grateful hearts.
PRAYER: Father we thank You for Your kindness and love. Some trust in worldly power and money, but we trust only in Your powerful name. Help us to get close to You through Jesus’ sacrifice and lead us to the point where you grant all our requests and make all our plans succeed, through Jesus. Amen.
WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Getting our priorities right
Living for Jesus
The Bible tells us that when we get to Heaven we will see Jesus as He is and we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). In the passage before us today we see how Paul was longing for that day. He was finding life in his earthly body restrictive. He wanted to be closer to Jesus all the time. His love for Jesus was so great that all he wanted to do was to please Him. This was his top priority all the time. He wants us all to make sure we will be in Heaven by making living for Jesus our top priority too. He could not keep his love for God to himself. He had experienced what God had done in his life and how wonderful it was to know the Lord. This gave him a compelling desire to persuade men to turn to the Lord!
Jesus does make it easier for us to live wholly for Him because His love is so strong it compels us. Jesus loved us so enormously that He died for us. We are so sure of this. When this love reaches our hearts we die too; we die to self. This means we are empowered by His love to no longer live for ourselves but to live for Him! Jesus transforms us completely. He makes us into new creations. The old self and personality with all its sins, doubts, fears etc has gone. The new self has come. It is transformed by Jesus.
PRAYER: Jesus more than anything else we want to please You and get our priorities right. Thank you for dying for us and for loving us with such a compelling love that makes us want to die to self and live for you. We can’t wait until that day when we will see You, as You are and be like You. Meanwhile help us to persuade everyone to get their priorities right and live to please You. Amen.
THURSDAY 12 JUNE
Ezekiel 17:22-24
The Divine Planter
I have a great hobby; it is growing plants from cuttings. Over the years I have grown thousands of plants. Ezekiel tells us how God grew the Jewish Church, the Israelite people. He planted this cutting in Jerusalem and it grew to be a huge tree. God causes the Church to grow and if it’s growing wrongly He stops it growing. If it grows too tall, i.e. if it is so big it lives for itself and not for the Lord, He cuts it down. Where it is struggling He comes alongside it and makes it grow strong again. If it does not bear fruit He prunes it until fruit appears.
Following the Day of Pentecost, God has been sending people all over the world and has planted many, many trees (churches). Today He is having a wonderful time in Third World countries particularly. Many cuttings are taken as missionaries to go out from one church into another district and God plants them to start a new congregation. Many new churches have been planted in Nigeria. The Anglican Church there has grown so much. They have three provinces and over ninety diocese.
We need to pray for the Church in Australia that God will plant lots of new churches to reach the needs of thousands of people who do not yet know Him.
PRAYER: Lord God, fill the Church in Australia with your Holy Spirit to bring on lots more new growth. Then break off many branches and cause new congregations to grow until all people are reached. Amen.
FRIDAY 13JUNE
Mark 4:26-29
How the Church Grows
The Church is made up of people; the Church grows as we grow. Today we are talking about spiritual growth, rather than growth in numbers. We begin to grow individually and corporately when the seed of Jesus is planted in our hearts. This is when we accept Jesus as the Saviour and Lord of our Lives.
Sometimes when people find out we have just become Christians they disbelieve us because they see little evidence of change in our lives. It takes quite a while for a plant to produce fruit. We can’t plant seeds today and expect buckets full of fruit tomorrow. In the parable of the seed growing slowly, Jesus tells that spiritual growth is not instant growth, but like the plants in the garden, it takes time. After we plant the seed, at first nothing seems to happen but all the time the seed is growing. It germinates and sends out a shoot which pushes its way through the soil. As it grows, its leaves appear and then a flower, which turns into the seed bearing ear and the crop can be harvested.
We mustn’t be discouraged if our individual growth, or corporate growth as a Church is slow. It helps us greatly if we look for the signs of growth: getting stronger day by day, we blossom and flourish, then we are ready to bear fruit.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus please give us the gift of patience. We want to grow quickly to spiritual maturity as individuals and as a body we want to bear fruit now. Help us to see we are growing, show us signs of growth and when we are ready may fruit abound in us. Amen.
SATURDAY 14 JUNE
Mark 4:30-34; Psalm 92:1-4&12-15
The smallest of seeds - Mustard
The mustard seed is the tiniest of seeds. It’s so small you need a magnifying glass to see it. Yet when it is planted it grows into a huge plant. Jesus said this is what God’s Kingdom (the Church) is like. It starts off very tiny, but ends up huge. It started with a small band of fishermen and now is rooted in just about every country in the world with millions of members.
We must never be discouraged because we are a relatively small Church. We know that in His time God will make us grow. Many of us feel certain that soon God is going to send a revival to the Church in South East Queensland and many people will be added to our numbers.
One of the things that makes plants grow is the right environment. They need good rich soil and plenty of water and warm sunshine. Psalm 92 gives us a clue as to the best environment for the Church to grow in. It needs the rich soil of loving gratitude to God. It needs the rain of music, in praise and worship. It then needs the sunshine of God’s love and His truth. All these together make the church planted by the Lord grow so strongly.
As we grow strongly the sap of God’s Holy Spirit flows through us to enable us to bear enormous amounts of fruit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control” (Galatians 5:22).
PRAYER: Father God, though we may be small to begin with, help us to grow big. Fill us with your Spirit. Fill our hearts with gratitude and inspire us to worship you in song and fill us with the sunshine of your love and truth that we may bear much fruit, through Jesus our most wonderful Lord and Saviour. Amen.
SUNDAY 15 JUNE
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE
When we invite Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Saviour it is like planting a seed in the garden. As a seed slowly grows into a plant, first the little shoot, then the stem and leaves and finally the flowers and fruits so with Jesus living in us we slowly take on His character.
Little by little His Holy Spirit works in us to make us into a new creation. This is what it means to be born again. This growth process will be complete when we die. We will then see Him as He is and we will be like Him (John 3:2)
We must not be disappointed if we are not perfect in every way as soon as we have become Christians. It takes time for God to shape us and mould us into the person He wants us to be.
Sometimes we Judge ourselves and condemn ourselves when we go wrong or make mistakes.
I love the bumper sticker that says,’ God has not finished with me yet!’ Remember that the Bible says, ‘God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8)
From time to time it’s good to stop and check on our spiritual growth. Do not worry if you still feel very small. The mustard seed was so small you need a magnifying glass to see it yet it grows into a huge tree, Where ever you see yourself growing more like Jesus give him much praise and thanks. Glorify His wonderful name. Where you see yourself falling back into sin and selfishness repent, draw on the power Jesus released for you when He died on the cross.
The best way we can grow is to read the Bible every day, take in Jesus teachings and put them into practice. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only.
Let’s all make it our goal to be more like Jesus, never give up if the growth seems to be slow or if we feel very small. Let’s press on using all the resources God has provided for us in the Bible and in His Church. The more we trust in Him and His Power the quicker we will reach our goal.
PRAYER: Father our desire is to be more like Jesus. Pour lots of love into our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit so that we can become more and more like Jesus every day. Prepare us for the day when we will see Jesus as He is and will be like Him. AMEN.