MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER
Esther 7.1-6, 9-10; 9.20-22
Sorrow turned to joy

Esther was a very beautiful young Jewess. She was so very lovely that when King Xerxes wanted a new Queen to replace unfaithful Vashti, Esther was chosen. At that time there were strong anti-sematic feelings and like Hitler, one of the King’s chief officials, Haman, hatched a plot to have all the Jews in the realm completely exterminated. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, pleaded with her to influence the King to stop this terrible thing happening. It was very dangerous for a Queen to make a request of a King. Often, Queens would lose their life for such a thing, but Esther was going to die anyway and she plucked up courage and made a special request which she gave to the King after she and Haman came to the King for a banquet. When she revealed Haman’s evil plot, as we read in our reading today, the King was furious and the gallows prepared by Haman for Mordecai was used for Haman and all the Jews were set free.

Every year the Jews remember this at the feast of Purim. They give thanks to the Lord that on Queen Esther’s intercession all her people were spared. They rejoice greatly as God turned their sorrow into joy.

When the devil tried to destroy Jesus, the Son of God, he couldn’t and after three days Jesus rose again. Now all who trust in Him are assured that death will not destroy them. Jesus always turns the sorrow of death into the joy of eternal life. As He saved the Jews, so He saves all of us for all eternity.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for turning our sorrow into joy and the day of mourning into a celebration. Whenever we have sadness come into our lives, and remind us that death cannot destroy us and that you have given us all the free gift of eternal life; that is, all who accept you and trust in you. Amen.

TUESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER
Psalm 19.7-14
The laws of God make us happy

The Bible in both Old and New Testaments contains the laws of God. God shows us how to live and how not to live. These laws are very trustworthy. If we live by them, we have a truly wonderful life. If we neglect them, we open our lives up for disaster and end up very miserable.

One of the biggest mistakes of the last few decades is the way well-meaning, educated people have brought up their children. A teaching went around that said, “Let your children be free. Let them express themselves and be themselves”. It said, “Don’t smack them, don’t restrict them with discipline”. What they failed to understand is that we as human beings are born with original sin. In simple language, we are born selfish - our biggest enemy is ourselves. As we grow up we need to be corrected. We need discipline as much as we need food and air. Children (and adults) who have a fence of discipline around them are very secure. They are the happiest people on earth. The children who have grown up with the fence taken away are suffering so much - our whole society is suffering.

For this reason we should study God’s Word, listen to what it says, and believe what it says. Everything we say and everything we think needs to be influenced by God’s thoughts and words. Then we will live within the safety fence of God’s laws. God’s laws give light to our eyes, make the simple wise, and they transform our lives. They gladden our hearts. They are more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey.

PRAYER: Lord God, as we read the Bible, fill our minds with your thoughts. Instil your laws into our minds. May the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you and enable us to live by your laws in perfect security and joy, through Jesus our Saviour. Amen.

WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER
James 5.12-20
The prayer of faith

If mankind had not fallen, if our original parents, Adam and Eve, had not disobeyed God, there would be no sin, no broken relationships, no wars and fights and there would be no sickness. Jesus, described by Paul as our second Adam, came to put right all that had gone wrong as a result of the fall. As Isaiah predicted, “He was pierced for our transgressions and was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that bought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds are we healed” (Isaiah 53.5).

In our reading today James tells us how we can receive from Jesus all that He has done for us on the cross; how we can receive healing and forgiveness. We begin by being happy in Jesus because we know He longs to forgive us and He longs to see us well. We show our happiness in Jesus by singing songs of praise to Him.

To receive from Jesus we need the help of Christian leaders - the elders of the Church. When they come to us they add their faith to our faith. They help to make us certain that God will keep His promises. “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven” (v.15).

Anointing with oil is a very helpful aid in the healing process. It symbolises the power of God; power to heal and power to forgive. It reminds us that God is at work mending us and putting us right.

We can expect answers to our prayers like Elijah did when he prayed for drought and when he prayed for rain.

God wants us to reach out to those who have wandered from the truth and reminds us that if we bring them back to Him, we save them from death.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for making provision for our forgiveness and healing when you let Jesus die for us. As we get together and pray for each other and use the anointing of oil, make us certain that the prayers offered in faith will bring healing and forgiveness from sin and guilt, through Jesus. Amen.

THURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
James 3.13-4.7
Submit to God - leave the world

As we meet Jesus at the crossroads of our life, we find there are only two choices! One sign says, “God” and the other “The World”. Let’s have a look at the differences between the two ways as James points them out to us.

The world tells you to really hate people who have hurt you. It loves to put bitter envy in your hearts. It also tells you to look after yourself first. Everyone in it is tainted with selfish ambition. The result is that you get embroiled in all sorts of conflicts. There is a lot of hurt and much unhappiness.

The devil is in control in the world. His one desire is to mess up everyone’s lives.

In contrast to this are those who choose God’s way and submit their lives to Him. They become so humble and submissive, gentle and kind. They are full of love. They are at peace with everyone. They are full of mercy, always ready to forgive or take the blame themselves. Their impartiality makes them friends of everyone. They are truly fair dinkum people. It’s so much better to make the choice to submit to God. It does mean giving up friendship with the world because friendship with the world puts us against God.

When we are friends of God, we find so many of our prayers are answered. Worldly people cut themselves off from God, even though they don’t realize it. When they pray, their prayers are seldom answered. They always ask with the wrong motives anyway. When we humbly submit to God, He gives us grace and power while worldly-wise, proud people are opposed by God. Worldlings are harassed by Satan all the time. God’s people only have to resist the devil and see him flee from them.

PRAYER: Jesus, as we meet you at the crossroads, help us to choose only your way. Help us to leave the world behind and humbly submit to you and let you change us to be humble, submissive, just, kind, merciful, forgiving peacemakers. Amen.

FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER
Numbers 11.25-29
Mark 9.38-41
Be accepting to all Christian denominations

The night before Jesus died; He prayed that all who followed Him and believed in Him would be one (see John 17). There has always been a tendency, in the church, for one particular group of Christians, one denomination or sect, to believe they are the only ones God is interested in. They try to persuade all Christians to join them. They claim to be the only ones with the truth. The Word of God to us today makes it clear that God is not restricted by these barriers that we make. In the Gospel story we see the disciples getting exclusive like this. They try to stop others, not of their group, who are ministering in Jesus’ Name. Jesus ticked them off and told them that if people are not against Him they are for Him. He even said that if people do kind acts in His Name, He is pleased to reward them.

Moses, seeing the need to share the responsibility of ministry because he could not cope, chose 70 men. He prayed for them and God put the Spirit on them, giving them the power to proclaim God’s message. Eldad and Medad were not with the 70, although they had been chosen. They were back in their tent. The Spirit came on them as well and they were able to minister too. The 70 tried to stop them, but, again, they were rebuked. God had not restricted Himself to only empowering those who had gathered together.

God touches lives of people who gather in His Name to worship. He loves them and enables them to do His work. He does not stop them and neither should we.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please break down all denominational barriers. Help us all to accept each other and recognise you working in all who acknowledge you as their Saviour and Lord. Amen.

SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
Mark 9.42-50
The terribleness of causing others to sin

As followers of Jesus we have a tremendous responsibility to help the people around us. Jesus wants our lives to be an example to them so that through us they can be drawn to Him and gain eternal life.

When people come to Jesus, their lives get so much better. Jesus wants us to be like salt. When put on food, salt makes it taste better. So Jesus wants us to bring out a good flavour in the lives of the people we influence. If we turn bad, we become good for nothing. We can cause so many people to lose faith in God. This happened when the American tele-evangelists fell into immorality. Jesus said that it’s really terrible to cause others to sin. It’s better for such a person to be drowned. Beware of modern-day liberal moral theologians. They are teaching people that lots of the Bible isn’t true and that some sins aren’t sins any more. They have caused so many people to sin. I’d hate to be them facing Jesus on Judgement Day.

If you are tempted in any way by parts of your body, Jesus said that it’s better for them to be cut off. Anything that causes people to go to hell must be gotten rid of!

PRAYER: Jesus, purify all of us who are Christians. Make us like salt and help us to draw others to you so that heaven may be full. We pray for all who have caused others to fall into sin. May they see the error of their ways and repent and be put right with you so that they can bring people back to you. Remove from us all everything that causes people to sin. Amen.

SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men,” (Matthew 5:13)

Let’s find out what Jesus meant when He said that we are the salt of the earth.

In the preparation of food salt has two purposes: It brings out the flavour of food and it preserves food, it stops it going bad.

1. God wants us to give Christianity a better flavour by:

• Being a unified church. This means accepting the ministry of all Christian denominations as coming from the Lord and showing the world that we are one church even though we do not agree on all matters, for Jesus said whoever is not against us is for us.(Mark 9:40)
• By being very very loving and generous to all people, loving them in the name of the Lord Jesus. We have to show people that it’s because we belong to Jesus that we are kind and generous and forgiving. To give an example of this one of my daughters took off her coat and put it on a shivering child on a cold winter’s day in a school playground in England. A Mother who knew Helena was the vicar’s daughter started coming to church as a result of this.

2. God wants us to stop Christians going bad by:

• Stopping doing anything that will cause people, especially little ones, to sin.
• Ridding our lives of all things that tempt us to sin and remove ourselves from all Situations in which we may be tempted to sin
• Praying the prayer of faith for all sick people
• Praying the prayer of faith for all who are sinners
• Praying for and helping to bring back those who have strayed away from following Jesus
• Praying for and helping all people who are in trouble.

PRAYER: Father God we pray that we will all become saltier than ever and give our Church a good flavour and stop it going bad! Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and produce the character of Jesus in us! Amen.