OUR LIVING HOPE

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Hi all,

Swaziland is particularly beautiful in the valleys between the mountains. The mountains are rugged and stand out in a magnificent display of greenery and brown rocks. It’s the sort of place I’d love to live in. It’s cold up round the high places and the valleys seem to focus the suns rays and bring a feeling of warmth and peace.

We are staying at the Ezulwini Sun. It was designed as a Holiday Inn and for a variety of reasons has been converted into self catering apartments. Rather posh in an expensive area close to the Palaces of the King and a number of his wives. It’s a contrast with other parts of Swaziland that are not particularly opulent; much like the poorer areas of South Africa.

Yesterday it was overcast and rainy. In the late afternoon the mist came down from the mountain tops and it was hard to tell if we were in rain or mist. It’s my sort of weather. Most of you know how I struggle with the heat in Summer. I love the Highveld Winters. Most people button up and complain about the cold weather. I thoroughly enjoy it and stick to my shorts and shirt when most people are buttoning up with jerseys. My blond hair (it was blond when I was young) and blue eyes are typical of the traditional male look from Scandinavia. Perhaps my ancestors were part of the Viking invasion of UK? That probably accounts for my preference for cold weather

So much for my reminiscences! I think I should stick to poetry!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 24 April 2012
INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES					OUR LIVING HOPE
Do you depend on God? “Depend on Him for what?” is the usual answer to this question. It’s not a bad answer! At least it suggests that they rely on Him for something. What that something is; that’s another matter! Speaking to the Athenians in the Areopagus Paul said: 28 "For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:28 TNIV According to this statement, asking if God really exists is a bit like asking a fish if it believes in water. It doesn’t ask the question because it is unnecessary. Its life depends on the water in which it “lives and moves and has its being” Take away the water and quickly there will lots of dead fish. Think for a moment what would happen if God went away. The entire universe and everything in it would cease to exist. It would be as though we had never been. The writer to the Hebrews expresses this more forcibly. 3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. Hebrews 1:3 NLT. We are here because He said so. It will continue the same way until he issues a different command. I recall a preacher saying that when Jesus commanded “Lazarus, come out!”, if He had not prefixed the command with the name, “Lazarus”, every person who had ever been born and had died would have come forth. 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" John 11:43 TNIV To return to our question about our dependency on God, perhaps a closer look at these Scriptures will help us see that we are already utterly and totally dependent on Him. He is omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present. We are creatures. He is the Creator. We are not here because of some random event which took place billions of years ago. We are here because God, the Master designer, spoke all creation into existence. We are told 3 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. Genesis 1:3 MSG Substitute anything good in place of the word “Light” and it was so. This is the God we believe in and serve. This is no “man made superstition or belief system”. We are speaking of the Living God on whom we depend for everything! We are not speaking of some cosmic accident or random chain of events. We are speaking of dependence on the Almighty, Ever-Living, Creator. Jim & Phyllida Strickland.		15 The eyes of all creatures look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. Psalms 145:15 GW					Dependency; dependency; Do we depend on God? Or do we think He’s chasing us to beat us with His rod? The reason why I’m asking this, is we cannot depend, Upon some vicious deity who’ll thrash us at the end. We need to change our thinking about the Lord Most High. He’s the One Who sent His Son to come to earth and die. He is not vindictive. He fashioned us by hand! He loves us with undying love we’ll never understand. The eyes of every creature look to Him each day. Knowing He will feed them regardless, come what may. They do not need instructions, to know the special time, When, by His hand of mercy, each one of them will dine. They seem to know instinctively, that He’s compassionate. Slow to anger, merciful on all He did create. The birds don’t plant and gather crops, nor put away in barns. They do not have to harvest to turn cotton into yarn. They know the Father feeds them. They do not ask Him, “Why?” They’ll have all they ever need, from birth until they die. They seem to have a trust in Him that we should emulate. For we would rather trust ourselves or leave it all to fate! Even though He’s told us, on Him we can rely; We are so proud and arrogant that some would rather die, Before we put our trust in Him. We think He cannot be, Because He is a loving God whom most of us can’t see. Of course He’s “disappointed”, in Him we move and breathe. But many are not willing. They simply won’t believe! The do not have a reason, except that if they do, The God they don’t believe in will tell them to be true! Their thinking is pathetic; Darwin’s heresy Convinces them, they came about somehow quite randomly! But He’s a God of justice. He will not interfere, Until the Day of Judgement is actually here. Those who choose to love Him and call upon His Son, Will see the One they waited for and know that all He’s done, Was not just wishful thinking or pie up in the sky. But sent us by the Living God on Whom we can rely. We’ll know His great salvation. Our hope then truly seen, For surely He will be the King and we will be His Queen. Jim Strickland – written 23rd April 2012
		24 The God who made the universe and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in shrines made by humans, 25 and he isn't served by humans as if he needed anything. He gives everyone life, breath, and everything they have. Acts 17:24-25 GW
		8 The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation. Psalms 145:8-9 NLT
		26 "Look at the birds of the air. They don't plant or gather crops. They don't put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than they are? Matthew 6:26 NIrV
		11 Scripture says, "The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:16) 12 There is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is Lord of all. He richly blesses everyone who calls on him. Romans 10:11-12 NIrV
		A song for those who go up to Jerusalem to worship the LORD. 1 I look up to the hills. Where does my help come from? Psalms 121:1 NIrV
		A Song of Ascents. 1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us. Psalms 123:1-2 ESV
		18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30:18 ESV
		9 It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9 ESV
		25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:25 ESV
Compiled – Tuesday, 24 April 2012	P O Box 1694, Randpark Ridge, 2156, South Africa			Page 1 of 1	14 Conduit Street, Johannesburg North, 2153, South Africa			Printed - Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Email - jim.s@telkomsa.net - ejsnpbs@gmail.com Phyllida@telkomsa.net	Mobile +2782 755 8872		Jim & Phyllida Strickland			Home+2711 462 4061; Neotel+2711 234 5670		Fax +2786 531 4962
	E:\My Documents\MS Word\Time with Jesus\2012\Devotionals\20120424 - Time with Jesus A.doc							PBS Mobile 082 574 0750