Time with Jesus - Sunday, 31 March 2013
Hi all,
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| Hallelujah - He is Risen |
We live in a society where there seem to be absolutes. For me to say I am
right and you are wrong, borders on “hate speech”. Facts have become relative;
relative to what you think and what I think. Something that is true for me may
not be true for you. This has been done primarily to prevent one religion
criticising the other. The one side says “I’m right”. The other says the same
thing. To solve this, by law, we are no longer allowed to take sides in this.
We are told to be tolerant and allow others to express their opinion. They are
entitled to think what they want to think. This means preaching a gospel of
repentance is illegal. We may offend a Muslim, a Hindu or a Buddhist. So we are
“condemned to silence”, particularly if we preach the gospel of Jesus. Today
genuine Christians are regarded as fundamentalist extremists. We have become
the enemy, in a society of compromise. In parts of the world, Christians have
been sent to jail for saying that Jesus Christ is the only way. It is
considered offensive and unacceptable.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul states, 14 Do not
be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness
have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14 NIV
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| Jim & Phyllida |
This may well be considered “hate speech”. However, what Paul stated back
then, was more than merely sound advice. It was a warning many Christians
ignore. On scores of occasions, a Christian has married an unbeliever. Seldom
do we find that in the end, both parties become Christian. Usually we find that
the unbeliever makes things difficult for the Christian, as far as serving the
Lord is concerned. Often, such marriages end in divorce. That’s when the
Christian goes through agony. “God hates divorce” we are informed in Malachi:2
Read the whole chapter to get the feeling for what this is all about.
The marriage should never have been entered into in the first place. The
reason is simple. Light and darkness don’t mix!
Today’s meditation looks at this in more detail.
Shalom,
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 31 March 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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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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Right is light
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Back in my Bible School
days, one of our favourite choruses was: “Walk,
walk in the light, Walk, walk in the light, Walk, walk in the light, Walking
in the light of love”. I’m not too sure why it was so popular. I think
that a major contributing factor was the desire of the students to break out
of the darkness of the apartheid era and walk in the light with brothers and
sisters we had not met. It would be a further twelve years before it became a
reality.
Being kept in the dark
has been one of the weapons of oppression for more years than any of us
realise. The expression, “I didn’t know!” is a very common one. The German
people didn’t know about the Nazi death camps. The People of the Soviet Union
didn’t know what Stalin was busy with. Sadly, the “white people” of South
Africa, had almost no idea what was happening in the townships. This was a
deliberate policy of the government of the day. “All that is necessary for
the triumph of evil, is that good men
do nothing! It was true when stated by Edmund Burke (1729-1797) It’s still true some 250 years later.
We have a similar problem
in the church. In most instances, the people are kept ignorant of the truth
of the gospel. Religion continues to be a profitable business. People are
separated into clergy and laity - an unscriptural distinction that is most
convenient. Who can challenge them? The average pew occupant certainly cannot!
The tragedy is, the Lord
Jesus Christ wants to walk with us. He desires us to have a personal
relationship with Him. You can never have a relationship with someone you
don’t know. We may know something about Him. But we don’t know Him. I may
know that the President of the USA is Barrack Obama. But I don’t know him.
His family does!
One of the beautiful
things about light is the way it enables us to see things. We see very little
in the dark. Until recently, wars were only fought during the day. It’s hard
to shoot an enemy you can’t see! That has changed since the development of
night vision glasses and infra-red cameras.
It’s impossible to walk
in the light when it is dark. In John’s Gospel we are told: 9 Jesus replied, "There
are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk
safely. They can see because they have the
light of this world. 10 But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light." John 11:9-10 NLT
Today’s meditation looks
at walking in the light of God’s word. In a nutshell, obedience to Him is to
walk according to the instruction of His Word. Let’s do it, not just talk
about it!
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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14 Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. How
can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How
can light live with darkness?
2. Cor. 6:14 NLT
19 "Here is the
judgment. Light has come into the worl
d, but people loved darkness instead of light. They loved darkness
because what they did was evil.
John 3:16 NIrV
5 All of you are children
of the light. You are children of the day. We don't belong to the night. We
don't belong to the darkness.
1 Thess. 5:5 NIrV
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness
and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 2:11 ESV
105 By your words I can see
where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path. 106
I've committed myself and I'll never turn back from living by your righteous
order.
Psalm 119:105-106 MSG
20 Remember Your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence!
Psalm 74:20 NLT
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born
again because of what God has done. That person knows God. 8
Anyone who does not love does not know God,
because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8 NIrV
18 But the path of
righteous people is like the light of dawn that becomes brighter and brighter
until it reaches midday. 19 The
way of wicked people is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them
stumble.
Pro 4:18-19 GW
46 I have come into the
world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
John 12:46 TNIV
8 At one time you were in the dark. But
now you are in the light because of what the Lord has done. Live like
children of the light.
Eph. 5:8 NIrV
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We see the dark as evil. The good is always light.
Thieves break in at night time so they are not in sight.
We find it is much better to sleep when it is dark.
To slumber through the night time and get up with the lark!
But there’s another meaning which we should all prefer.
A warning from the Scripture, which should serve as a spur,
To stop us all from doing it. Thereby, we have been warned;
And we will bear the consequence if ever it is scorned.
Keep away from partnerships with unbelieving men.
They have a different outlook on which they will depend.
Their motivation’s money. God’s Kingdom has no place;
So if you are in partnership, you’ll surely be disgraced.
If times are getting difficult, they’ll often up and run.
And you will be deserted to face what has been done.
It happens regularly. The Christian is the man,
You find who has been cheated and carries home the can!
But what is true in business is also true in life.
Do not ever marry an unbelieving wife.
Those who do it anyway, cease following the Lord.
They find that they are walking on the way that’s wide and broad.
My friends, I make confession, that it is what I did.
It was a huge disaster costing many, many quid.
It ended in a sad divorce and I was left alone;
Having lost my furniture, possessions and my home.
I went back to the Scripture and it was underlined.
I’d been disobedient and thought God wouldn’t mind!
I thought I’d lead her to the Lord, but that objective failed.
And in my desperate anguish it felt I had been jailed.
So if you’re doing something you know you shouldn’t do.
Ask the Lord to bring His light and indicate to you,
If what you’ve selected is darkness or is light.
Make a firm decision, to do good in His sight.
If it’s of the darkness, please ask Him show the way,
To cut it off completely, while it is still your day.
Know that you will have to pay the cost of consequence.
But if you let Him do it, He’ll show you what makes sense.
Do your very uttermost to bring it to the light.
He will make the outcome to be good and clean and right.
Jim Strickland
Written
31st
March 2012
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