Time with Jesus - Thursday, 21 March 2013
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| Jim & Phyllida at Home in Jo'burg |
If I were to ask how many readers are looking forward to dying, I’d be
surprised if anyone said, “Me!” Sure we are looking forward to being with Jesus
forever. But by and large, we are mostly enjoying life. And so we should!
That’s how God made us. Scripture states; 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's
work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT
You and I were not designed to die. The eternity He has planted in our
hearts is eternal life. Death is a repulsive, hideous end to the life God
wanted us to enjoy. It was an unwelcome “gift” foisted on us by Satan at the
fall.
Fortunately, and as we look at in our meditation today, the God who created
us loves us and has done everything possible for us to “cheat” death. Yes,
unless Jesus returns, we will die. It cannot be avoided. But for us the good
news is, 8 we are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:8 KJV
In other words, what gets buried is only the empty shell. The real you and I
will be with Jesus immediately. Those who do not know Jesus, will die and
remain in the grave “sleeping” until the resurrection. So what makes the
difference? The difference is whether or not we have been “born again” or “born
from above”. The expression, “born once, you die twice; born twice you die
once. Think about it!
Shalom,
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Thursday, 21 March 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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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
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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His Faithful love Endures
forever
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I’d like to share a
couple of thoughts about today’s Scriptures; particularly Psalm 136. These
are only thoughts and may well be incorrect. But sometimes it’s worth
stimulating them in order to understand more clearly.
In the New International
readers Version (NIrV), in Psalm 136, nine times the Psalmist directs us to
give thanks. Twenty six times he states that God’s love endures forever. 26
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful
love continues forever. Psalm 136:26 NIrV.
Like the Psalm, no matter
how short or long our lives may be, we find God’s steadfast love at the
beginning and at the end. We also find that, as is the case in the Psalm, we
begin life giving thanks to God. We should end the same way; by giving thanks
to God. In between there is life – our life.
A generation is thought
of as being ±25 years. It’s only a
rough guess. In a family, from the birth of the father to the birth of his
son is ±25 years. Now our Psalm
has 26 lines. What I like about this is we can see this Psalm applies to
every generation! May I suggest that this Psalm also speaks to every
individual in every generation? i.e. We are all able to personalise it! We
don’t live forever, God does. His faithful love spans all our generations. It
also spans each year of each generation. He is faithful – equally faithful to
all our generations.
Notice also that the
Psalm starts with giving thanks and ends with giving thanks. Furthermore,
throughout the Psalm and throughout our lives, it is appropriate to give
thanks to Him. We should begin life and end life giving Him thanks.
Today’s meditation
bemoans the fact that, our lifespan is limited. Biblically we are allotted 70
years. 80 years if we are strong enough. We only have one chance in life. No
matter where we are or what we do, keep in mind that this is not a dress
rehearsal. In these few years, we determine our eternal destiny. We come into
this world naked and leave much the same.
According to Shakespeare;
life is “a walking shadow a poor player who struts and fumes his life …….
signifying nothing”. But death is not the end! There is life after life. Life
with God made possible by Jesus! God planned it before you and I ever saw the
light of day. God changes shadows into reality. Furthermore, God is our
Creator. He specialises in making something out of nothing. He has a destiny
for His people; a destiny that staggers our imagination. So let’s give thanks
to Him. His faithful love continues forever!
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will He never
again be kind to me? 8 Is His
unfailing love gone forever? Have His promises permanently failed? 9
Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He slammed the door on His compassion?
Selah
Psalm 77:7-9 NLT
21 He gave their land (Og King of Bashan) as a gift. 22
He gave it as a gift to his servant Israel. 23 Give thanks to the
One who remembered us when things were going badly for us.
His
faithful love continues forever
Psalm 136:21-23 NIrV
18 "The LORD is slow
to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he
does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of
the parents to the third and fourth generation.'
Num. 14:18 TNIV
18 Who is a God like you?
You forgive sin and overlook the rebellion of your faithful people. You will
not be angry forever, because you would rather show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us. You will
overcome our wrongdoing. You will throw all our sins into the deep sea.
Micah 7:18-19 GW
5 He saved us, not
because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.
He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy
Spirit.
Titus 3:5 NLT
3 All praise to God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of
all comfort. 4 He comforts us
in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we
will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
2 Cor. 1:3-4 NLT
17 So he had to be made like his brothers in every way. Then he could serve God as a kind and faithful high
priest. And then he could pay for the sins of the people by dying for them.
18 He himself suffered when he was
tempted. Now he is able to help others who are being tempted.
Heb. 2:17-18 NIrV
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We only have one lifetime in which to do it all.
A strong man has some eighty years before death comes to call.
Our time is very limited. It goes by in a flash.
A bit like our athletics in the hundred metres dash.
There goes the starter’s pistol and each of us is born.
We reach the finish ribbon and from this world we’re torn.
We really do not have the time for us to make mistakes.
Then we do something stupid and sin within us wakes.
That’s when the chance is over to get to God Most High.
Our actions have condemned us and we all have to die.
Of course we’re disappointed that it all came down to this.
But just one little tiny sin and death we cannot miss.
We think that it’s “game over” the message tells us “tilt”
Then we are very grateful that Jesus’ blood was spilt.
It is the one way possible to know the Father’s love.
His faithfulness continues and reaches high above.
Since Jesus came and paid the price for each and every sin.
We now have what is needed for us to enter in.
His love endures forever. He will not let us down.
The Lord gave me His righteousness and lets me wear a crown.
He’s overlooked rebellion and wickedness in me
It’s by His grace He does this and it is ours for free.
The cost to us was nothing. But grace is never cheap.
It’s by His endless mercy His blessings we may reap.
It cost the Saviour everything. He even had to die.
He suffered for our sinfulness and here’s the reason why.
Mankind was truly helpless. We couldn’t get away.
We were the slaves of Satan. With him we had to stay.
Just because our ancestor did what he shouldn’t do!
All of his successors had fallen with him too.
But Christ knew all about it before the worlds were made.
His cross was predetermined; the foundation was laid,
For Him to come and rescue us and be our Great High Priest.
And He could be the Saviour of the greatest and the least.
So even in our sufferings, when we had lost all hope,
He knew what He was doing and was certain He could cope!
And so he brought us comfort; our greatest fears allayed.
And by His willing sacrifice, our debt to God was paid.
Jim Strickland
Written
21st March 2012.
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