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
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Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 24 April 2012
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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OUR LIVING HOPE
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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.
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15 The eyes of all creatures look to you, and you
give them their food at the proper time.
Psalms 145:15 GW
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it
with patience.
Romans 8:25 ESV
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Compiled – Tuesday,
24 April 2012
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P O Box 1694,
Randpark Ridge, 2156, South Africa
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Page 1 of 1
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14 Conduit
Street, Johannesburg North, 2153, South Africa
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Printed - Tuesday, 24 April 2012
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Mobile +2782
755 8872
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Jim &
Phyllida Strickland
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Home+2711 462
4061; Neotel+2711 234 5670
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Fax +2786 531
4962
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