Time with Jesus - 10
Oct 2013
Hi all,
Within the past 100 years, two world wars
have inflicted terror, death and destruction in unprecedented ways. The total
number of military and civilian casualties in World War I, was over 37 million.
There were over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded, ranking it among the
deadliest conflicts in human history. The total number of deaths includes about
10 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians.
The Allied powers
lost about 6 million soldiers while the Central Powers lost about 4 million. At
least 2 million died from diseases and 6 million were missing, presumed dead.
(Courtesy Google – Wikipedia)
|
WW2 CASUALITIES
|
|||
|
CASUALTIES
|
MILITARY
|
CIVILIAN
|
TOTAL
|
|
AXIS
|
6 582 000
|
1 686 000
|
8 268 000
|
|
ALLIED TOTAL
|
14 276 800
|
25 686 900
|
39 963 700
|
|
TOTAL
|
20 858 800
|
27 372 900
|
48 231 700
|
|
INFORMATION
COURTESY GOOGLE - WIKIPEDIA
|
|||
World War II or
WW2, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939
to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations—including all of
the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies
and the Axis.
 |
| Roosevelt & Churchill |
It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100
million people, from more than 30 different countries, serving in military
units. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their
entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort,
erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources.
 |
| Concentration Camp Inmates |
These factors made
World War II the deadliest conflict in human history. It is possible that the
totals mentioned on the left are an underestimate and that the grand total may
well be in the order of 100 000 deaths.
 |
| Churchill & Troops |
Almost one hundred years later, we find that two of the
members of the Axis powers, Germany and Japan, might perhaps be considered the
political and economic victors of WWII. Certainly USA, UK and many of the other
Allied nations do not have the same economic “clout”. China, India and other
Far Eastern Nations appear to be vying with each other for economic dominance
on the world stage.
 |
| War Damage |
Technology and high speed transport have “shrunk” our
world. Even from Jo’burg, there are few destinations that can’t be reached in
less than 24 hours. We’re told we live in a global village.
One thing which
continues to divide us is language. At present, English appears to be the
world’s lingua franca. But Mandarin is the world’s most spoken language by a
ratio of 2 to 1. Should I say, “Ah so?” “I’m not sure what “Dad” is in Mandarin”. 
Microsoft translates the sentence: 不知道老爸在普通話中是什麼. Now
we all know. As said on “Allo Allo!”, “I’ll say this only once!”
The two most used words in
English, excluding expletives and profanity, are Mom and Dad. This doesn’t come
as any surprise. But we are living in a global village so we can never be sure
if our neighbours speak the same language we do. Not to put too fine a point on
it, we live so close together now, knowing our parents, is essential. 
We have
no problem recognising Mom. But Dad could easily be a “horse of a different
colour”. Let’s not go too far down that route. Sufficient to say we all need to
know our earthly father. If we aren’t certain, it may be that when we are
dating and slobbering over the man/woman of our dreams, could it be we are “dribbling
over a sibling”!
Jesus solved the problem for all
of us. We may not know our earthly father, but we know we do have a Heavenly
Father. Furthermore, Christians all have the same Heavenly Father. Taken to its
conclusion, in Jesus, you’re my brother or sister. If you don’t like this,
“Sorry for you!” Remember you can choose your friends but not your family! It
also means we all have an elder brother called Jesus Christ. With His Father, He
is God.
Yesterday we looked at this. We
saw that when we are born again, miraculously Jesus converts us into what we
called “Christian ore”. You are correct, it’s awesome. In this way, we enter
His Kingdom, with His Father as our Father and Jesus Christ as our elder
brother. This confirms the fact that we are brothers and sisters by re-birth!
For those who wish to be pedantic and to settle with our being his adopted
children, the outcome is the same.
Against this background we can cope with Jesus’
teaching His disciples to pray, beginning with, “Our Father”. God is now my Father
and Phyllida’s Father. He is every Christian’s Heavenly Father. It’s exciting!
When we are all with Him, we won’t be strangers, but with millions of our siblings!
Wow! Maranatha! Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Shalom
|
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 10 Oct 2013
|
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
||||
|
©
|
These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
|
©
|
||||
|
INTRODUCTION
|
DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
|
OUR
FATHER
|
||||
|
All
the schools I attended had an “assembly” every day. All the pupils would meet
and line up in their classes and listen to whatever it was that was being
said. Normally it was routine and the assembly would conclude with prayer.
The Roman Catholic School I attended always concluded with us reciting the
“Our Father” prayer. Usually this was “done” in a disinterested manner. We
just had to get to our class and get on with the day. The Roman Catholic boys
would then repeat the “Hail Mary” prayer which, after several repetitions, we
all knew. The Jewish boys were never expected to participate in these times
of prayer. But there we were, all together at the assembly time and they had
to either participate, or stand saying nothing. Needless to say, by the end
of the year, every pupil, Catholic, Protestant and Jew, was thoroughly familiar
with the Lord’s prayer and the “Hail Mary” prayer.
The
first period of the day was “Catechism” for the Catholics and “Scripture” for
all the protestants. The Jewish boys had a free period. I loved the Scripture
classes. It gave me knowledge of the names of the books of the Bible. Paul’s
Missionary journeys were part of the Scripture period as was the 10
Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and many of the parables. In my final
year I was awarded the School Scripture prize for Protestant boys! Even then
I loved the Scriptures!
Because
it was a Catholic school, run by the Marist Brothers, prayers were said every
hour. The bell would ring and everyone in the class would stand and say the
“Hail Mary” for as long as that took. We all heard the bell and stood
immediately. At 12h00 the bell would ring. We would all stand and recite the
“Angelus”. My memory fails trying to recall the details. This took ±one
minute. Then it was lunch time.
No
doubt an interested observer would think that we were a class of devoted
young Catholic boys, seeking to serve God to the best of our ability. That
was not true. We were a bunch of boys and later young men, who were required
to pay lip service to God. Sincerity or insincerity was irrelevant. What it
did for me was help me get to know a few of the universal prayers, along with
the Apostles creed, which was also included somewhere in the prayer ritual. Later
on, when I made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, this ritual
proved to have been of considerable benefit. I had a head start on many of
the people who committed their lives to Christ at that time.
My
one regret is that we filled our minds with knowledge of God and had almost
no interest in Him. Repetition does this. I realised you could teach a parrot
to say the “Our Father”, but it would not change the parrot. That was the great
tragedy. It was all talk without the heart!
Jim &
Phyllida
Strickland
|
9
"This, then, is how you should pray:
"'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Matthew 6:9 TNIV
|
When Jesus said, “Our Father”, this world was changed for good.
The thoughts of distant deity’s, you’d pray to if you could,
No longer were appropriate. We didn’t have to shout,
So that some god would hear us, Such thoughts were now in doubt.
God wasn’t so impersonal, that we would try in vain,
To capture His attention; and treat us with disdain.
He said God is a Father. What does that mean to you?
That we are all His Children and everything we do,
Is terribly important. That He is on our side;
And loves us with the passion of a husband for his bride.
Such thoughts were quite disturbing for those who love to sin.
God isn’t as convenient as one made out of tin!
It also means, almighty God, is actually my Dad;
And I will get a spanking, if I do something bad.
You cannot treat your father as a stranger you’ve just met.
You have to be responsible and not get into debt.
For that would bring dishonour, unto your Father’s Name.
You can’t keep on behaving as if life is just a game.
You’ve also many brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And in your daily dealing with them, you can’t afford,
To ever rob or cheat them. For Dad will get to know;
He’ll “sort the situation” with a well-directed blow!
If God is Jesus’ Father; and this we know as fact,
We have to treat our siblings, with courtesy and tact.
They’ve also been adopted, just the same as you;
And you must “stick together”, as if by “super-glue”!
It means they have His Spirit and each of them may claim,
The self-same right of access, to Jesus and His Name.
Each one of us is equal in every little way;
And He will also hear them when they come to Him and pray!
We love our elder brother. He is God’s first-born Son.
We know that by His power, Satan’s on the run.
That anything we ask for the Father will provide,
If we ask in Jesus Name and not from sinful pride.
So God is now our Father. The Bible tells us so.
And as we get to know Him, our love for Him will grow.
And there will come a moment, when we are face to face,
Worshiping our Father, because of Jesus’ grace.
Jim Strickland
Written 10th
Oct. 2012
|
||||
|
1 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer,
he said: Father, it's time. Display the bright splendour of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendour.
John 17:1 MSG
|
||||||
|
17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I
have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them,
'I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.'"
John 20:17 ESV
|
||||||
|
26 You are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus,
Galatians 3:26 NIV
|
||||||
|
15 For you did not receive
the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the
Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
Romans 8:15-16 ESV
|
||||||
|
6 And because you are
sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!
Father!" 7 So you are no
longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:6-7 ESV
|
||||||
|
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the
Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and
you will receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:23-24 ESV
|
||||||
|
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate
from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons
and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."
2 Corinthians 6:17-18 ESV
|
||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment