MONDAY 29 June
Ezekiel 2.1-3.15
The Spirit came into me and made me speak

These words in verse 2 remind us that the Bible is the Word of God. As the Holy Spirit of God came into Ezekiel, He gave him words to speak.

The Bible is a powerful book which so often calls us to change the direction of our lives. Woe betide us if we take no notice of it! This is exactly what God is saying to us through the inspired words of this great prophet of the Old Testament. God’s people, Israel, had been very rebellious. They had completely ignored all God’s commands. They were so obstinate and stubborn that they did not want to change their ways. They did not want to be told they were wrong and they refused to admit it! Ezekiel knew how stubborn they were. He probably thought that it was a waste of time warning the people. However, God told him to speak and he did speak. God said, “You have to tell them how rebellious they are whether they listen or refuse to listen". God told Ezekiel not to be afraid to speak, even though it meant he would be persecuted. God would protect him from the “thorns and scorpions”.

There are two lessons for us from this reading.

1. We need to take an honest look at our lives and ask ourselves if we are being rebellious to God. Do we need to change what we are doing or how we are living to align our lives with the will of God? If so, we have to make a change. God has spoken and we must take notice of what He has said!

2. If we see people becoming rebellious and going wrong around us, we have to have the courage to speak out God’s word and warn the people of the disastrous situation they are in and show them how God can get them out of it if they are willing to change. This may mean parents warning their children of the wrong they are doing.

PRAYER: Father, we thank you for the powerful way you spoke through the prophet Ezekiel. Speak to us. Show us where we are going wrong and give us the humility and courage to conform to your will. Also give us the courage to speak your word when others are going wrong, through Jesus our Saviour. Amen.

TUESDAY 30 June
Psalm 123
Lord have mercy

This Psalm is a cry from the heart of suffering people for God to have mercy on them and set them free from the oppression of man. God is a very, very merciful God. His mercy always triumphs over His judgments. He hates to see people in bondage. God wants to set all people free.

Once I read a sermon by the famous American evangelist, D.L. Moody (given to me for my birthday by Nick and Cherie Stanley). In this sermon, Moody talks about the joy he found when he attended a Negro church just after slavery had been abolished. The women in the service clapped their hands and shouted at the top of their voices, “Glory, glory to God”. They were so happy that God had answered their prayers! For years they were heartbroken because their children were torn away from them to be sold to someone else. For years they looked to the Lord like they looked to their mistresses. For years they pleaded to the Lord for mercy and at last He had heard them and they were set free. It was a costly freedom. Many American lives were lost to win freedom for the slaves.

Praise the Lord that in Australia we are free and not under political oppression. But are we all free? Far from it! Millions of Australians are addicted to nicotine and alcohol and thousands are on cocaine and heroin. The vast majority of people are slaves to sin and their own selfishness. Our society is crumbling. The saddest thing about this state of affairs is that all these people are heading for eternal death. We need more than ever before to plead the mercy of God for so many of our fellow Australians. Let’s get on our knees and plead and plead for them. God will answer our prayers. Many will be set free and many will be able to carry their freedom into eternal life. They will be set free because of the costly battle Jesus fought for them on the cross! He carried the whole weight of all their suffering in His heart and gave His life to set all free.

PRAYER: God of mercy, we plead to you on behalf of all those who are slaves to sin and all addictive forces. Lord, set them free. We plead the sacrifice of Jesus for them. We praise you for answering our prayer for we know that when the Son sets us free we are free indeed, through Jesus our merciful Saviour. Amen.

WEDNESDAY 1 JULY
2 Corinthians 12.2-10
When I am weak I am strong

There are many times when our most merciful Lord delivers us from burdensome pain and lots of suffering through the ministry of healing and by answering our prayers. There are also many times when the pain and the suffering do not go away when our prayers do not seem to be answered. It’s during these times that our Lord comes alongside us, takes us by the hand and helps us through the difficult, painful time we are going through.

We can’t understand why God acts the way He does but we can always trust Him to work out what is best for us. He did this for St Paul. Paul had a most fantastic religious experience. He felt on top of the world. God saw that he was in danger of catching the most serious of all spiritual diseases, the sin of pride. Pride would ruin Paul’s life and wreck his ministry so God saved him from it. How? When Paul started to suffer from a ‘thorn in his flesh’, he pleaded three times for God to have mercy on him and take it away. God did not take out the thorns (whatever they represented, we don’t know). Instead He spoke to the great and humble apostle and said, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Paul turned from pleading for his suffering to go away, to praising God for it. He learnt how to, “rejoice always, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks” (2 Thessalonians 5.16-18). God answered this prayer and enabled him to suffer happily through the most dreadful trials. God turned Paul’s weaknesses into his mighty powerful spiritual strengths. God took over in Paul’s weakest parts so he could cry triumphantly, “When I am weak then I am strong”.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we thank you that you always answer our prayers. Thank you for the times when you heal us and take away our pain and the times when you don’t. You know what’s best for us, but when we are in danger of being proud You rescue us. Please help us to rejoice always, pray continuously and give thanks in all circumstances so that we may receive your power in our weakness to suffer with joy and gladness. Thank you for taking our hand and helping us through our pain and agony, through Jesus the suffering Christ. Amen.

THURSDAY 2 JULY
2 Samuel 5.1-5, 9-10
David became more powerful

Today we see the tremendous difference being with the Lord makes in our lives. When we dwell in God and God dwells in us there is tremendous power made available to us. David had been made King over all Israel. He was selected to take over from Saul because God had chosen him and he had already proved himself to be a very strong leader. The Lord said to him, “You will shepherd my people Israel and you will become their leader”. David was King for 40 years and he went down in history as the very best king that Israel had. When the Jews looked forward to the coming of the Messiah they said that He would be a king like David and in the line of David. What was the secret of David’s great success? It was that he became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him. As a young boy growing into a man he drew very close to God. As he was out in the countryside looking after his flock of sheep he had a lot of time to pray and meditate. It was then that he started composing the many psalms that he wrote.

All of us are called by God and God has special tasks for us to do. We will be able to carry out these tasks with great success if we welcome God to be with us all the time as David did. All the power we need has been made available to us! The Bible says in Philippians 4.13, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength”. If we have welcomed Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Saviour we have a greater power than any other power in the world, “because the one that is in you is greater than he that is in the world” (1John 4.4).

PRAYER: Father, thank you for choosing me and preparing special tasks for me to do. Help me to live in you and have You live in me so I can use all the power You give me to do what You want me to do, through Jesus my Saviour and Lord. Amen.

FRIDAY 3 JULY
2 Corinthians 13.1-13
Aim for perfection

If we say we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts as we do every time we receive Holy Communion, then there just has to be an enormous difference in our lives.

One day I was doing some washing for Wendy. I put some towels in with the grandchildren’s nappies and put on a hot wash. When I hung out the nappies they were all green - dye had come out of one of the towels! When Jesus is in us He makes us change colour! His holiness permeates our whole being and makes us holy. The blackness of sin and selfishness and pride, etc. is turned into His brilliant whiteness. Jesus’ dye is so much more powerful than all the evil stains that spoil us. As we aim for perfection we don’t have to do much; only let Jesus in and give the Holy Spirit freedom to work in us. “Jesus is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you” (v.3). “He was crucified in weakness yet He lives by God’s power. Likewise we are weak in Him yet by God’s power we live with Him to serve you” (v.4). We have to examine ourselves to see what colour we are. If we are not all white then Jesus can’t be in us. Don’t get all upset and try to work out the dirt and blackness yourselves. Just surrender your life to Jesus. Open the door of your heart and let Him in. He will do the rest. “If we claim to have fellowship with Jesus yet walk in darkness we lie and do not live by the truth, but if we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all our sins....If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

PRAYER: Come into my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for You. Permeate my whole being, blot out the blackness of my sin with the power of Your blood and make me perfect as You are perfect, Jesus my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

SATURDAY 4 JULY
Mark 6.1-13
Jesus’ power is our power

When Jesus lived at Nazareth in His early days He was just an ordinary person like you and me. Although He was God’s Son, God made Him to be fully human. Later on when He came home, those He grew up with could not believe He was the same man. By this time He had been called by His Father and baptized with the Holy Spirit and given power for His prophetic and healing ministry.

Before there can be an effective ministry, there has to be great faith in the person giving the ministry and faith in those who receive it. Jesus never lacked faith but when He came to His home town, many refused to believe in Him so He could not do miracles there. He found a few people with faith and was able to heal them. Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. Jesus has lots of faith in us. If we match our faith with His faith we will be amazed at the miracles He does for us. The way to get more faith is to get close to Jesus. Pray, read His Word, the Bible and get with others who believe. Read testimonies of those who have been healed. Jesus had faith in His disciples and engendered faith in them when He sent them out to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. They had tremendous success. God calls us all into a ministry. Verses 8-11 remind us that the more dependent we are on God for everything, both spiritual and material, the more powerful will be our ministry, because our faith will be strong when we see God providing for us and looking after us!

PRAYER: Father, thank you that you have so much faith in us and for us. Fill us with faith as we draw near to you in prayer and Bible reading. Give us the courage to depend on you more and more, through Jesus our faith builder and Saviour. Amen.

SUNDAY 5 JULY
THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE
Dependence on God

Whenever Jesus healed people he said to them, “Your faith has made you well!”

He was able to help all who trusted in Him and depended on him. When people whose hearts were open to God came close to Jesus they were filled with the power of His love.

This enabled them to have so much faith.

As a piece of steel is magnetised when rubbed up against a magnet so we are magnetised with lots of faith and lots of power when we get close to Jesus.

However not everyone who were close to Jesus picked up this faith. The religious leaders of His day and the Pharisees seemed to be actually repelled by Him. When Jesus came to His home town the people were sceptical of him. When he found He could not do any miracles there He was amazed by their lack of faith. They found it so hard to believe that the boy they had grown up with could do all those things.

In a similar way people who are brought up in a very formal ritualistic church where there is little or no expectation of healing and miracles find it hard to believe Jesus will answer prayers and heal..

Another obstacle to faith is self-reliance. We can fall into this trap if we think we can.

Achieve everything in our own strength. Pride can get in the way and make us feel that we don’t need God’s help. Or on the other hand we may think we are not worthy of God’s help. There is often something in our fallen nature that stops us from being open to God.

God has a wonderful way of overcoming these obstacles. He waits till He sees our lives collapsing. He waits until we get to the stage when we feel like giving up. Then He makes His presence felt and our faith builds up and prayers get answered.

The Apostle Paul had an experience like this when he was ministering in Asia. When everything went wrong and he felt like giving up he proclaimed: “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead”(2 Corinthians 1.9). When he was going through a time when his prayers didn’t seem to being answered God spoke to him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12.9) This made Paul very happy. From then on no difficulty could hinder his. With much joy in his heart he cries out: “When I am weak, then I am strong”.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as we pray, read your Word, and receive Holy communion, draw us very close to yourself. Fill us with faith to , believe that you will answer our prayers. Show us that when we are weak and depend only on You, You make us strong. Amen.