Time with Jesus - 8 Nov 2013
HEBREWS
13:6
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KENNETH A WUEST EXPANDED TRANSLATION
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AMPLIFIED VERSION
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KING JAMES VERSION
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For
He Himself has said, and the statement is on record, I will not, I will not
cease to sustain and uphold you. I will not, I will not, I will not let you
down. So that, being of good courage, we are saying, The Lord is my helper. I
will not fear. What shall man do to me?
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For
He (God) Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor
leave you without support, (I will) not, (I will)not, (I will) not in any degree,
leave you helpless, nor forsake nor let you down. (relax My hold on you) Assuredly
not! (Josh 1:5)
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So
that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me.
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There are times when the KJV doesn’t
quite deal with Scripture adequately. For fun, the little table above gets across
some of the depth of His love and care for us. Theoretically, all three
Scriptures are Hebrews 13:6. The Amplified Version and Kenneth A Wuest’s Expanded
Translation bring out more of the fullness of what we learn about God in
Hebrews. In this instance, consider the KJV as the “skeleton”. See how Wuest
and the Amplified “flesh out” what is said. These two translations give the overwhelming
assurance that He will not leave us. At times in our Christian walk we need
this assurance. Phyllida and I have been there on several occasions. Hebrews
13:6 gives us His assurance
As mentioned previously, I wept my
way through the first half of 1981. Going through divorce is the most hurtful
experience we have ever known. Yet, at the same time, there was a feeling of
great comfort from the Lord in the midst of the heartache. Phyllida and I had both
asked the Lord to heal our respective marriages. For her that was in 1976. Thus
she was alone for 5 years. What she experienced back then, is something we will
share as we go on.
As a child, I was something of a
singer; neither a Pavarotti nor an Elvis Presley. But it wasn’t “flat” and came
in useful for school plays and concerts. My voice didn’t “break” as often happens
when boys go through puberty. I just lost the “boy soprano range”. But I
enjoyed singing and still do. Particularly when no one is near! It follows that
I had a number of cassette tapes in my car (now CD’s) which I listened to and
sang along with when I got the chance. Two choruses dug their way deep into my
heart in the early part of 1981. One was “I will serve Thee because I love Thee”.
The other was “Set my Spirit Free”. Both sung by the Maranatha Singers. They
were very popular in the 1970’s and 80’s.
I will serve thee because I love thee
You have given life to me I was nothing before you found me You have given life to me |
Heartaches,
broken pieces
Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary Your touch is what I long for You have given life to me. |
Set my spirit free that I might worship Thee,
Set
my spirit free that I might praise Thy name.
Let
all bondage go and let deliverance flow,
Set
my spirit free to worship Thee.
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The first one might be called my
testimony in those days after having been wandering round in my own man made wilderness.
Three weeks after recommitting my life to Jesus, I was with a group of men ministering
in a church in Midrand where this song was featured. The “heartaches, broken
pieces, ruined lives” were the words which excited me then! They still do!
“Set my spirit Free” became my
theme song for about 18 months. It became my constant prayer, although I
thought it was only a spiritual song. It was very much a part of me and, after
the divorce, I continued to sing it more from thankfulness for deliverance than
anything else. The fact is, God knew me and what I’d been through better than anyone
else.
At the same time I recall the help
I received from many quarters as my hope for the future began to open up. The Lord
started to use me in the church services. At first it was only bringing a
message from the Lord in tongues. I knew it was happening when my heart started
pounding and a need to speak up came from deep within. For some unknown reason
I found that almost every time I spoke in tongues, Phyllida had the interpretation.
It was quite extraordinary. A little later in the year, I found myself bringing
interpretation when others spoke in tongues. The “clue” was much the same. Then,
toward the third part of the year Phyllida and I found ourselves “flowing” back
and forth in tongues and interpretation. We were both astonished and very aware
of the extraordinary way the Lord was using us; more about that later. Even so,
we had no idea the Lord was leading us into marriage.
Driving to and from work and the
power stations, “Set my
spirit free that I might worship Thee”, continued to be my “theme song”. There
was a difference. Now, the song was becoming more a celebration of what He had
done rather than a prayer for release. At about that time, I received my very
first “personal prophetic word”. It was very simple and I remember it to this day.
I heard Him say somewhere deep in my spirit. “Relax, drink deeply of living
water and refresh yourself, My son!” He called me His Son! It was again time to
cry tears of thankfulness.
A month or so after Phyllida and I
married, I was coming back from one of the power stations. The song “Set my spirit free that I might worship
Thee” was again being sung by the Maranatha Singers. When it ended, I
distinctly recall Him speaking to me again. All He said was, “I did!” It was
enough. All these years later it remains one of the highlights of my spiritual
walk. It was supernatural. He didn’t fail!
Shalom
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – 8 Nov 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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GOD
WILL NEVER FAIL
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At school, I loved playing cricket. Those were the days when Johnny
Waite was the Springbok wicket-keeper. I tried to keep wicket back then but
was not successful. Others were far more talented than I, so a place in the
second team was about the best I could manage. But it was fun. As a batsman,
I was indifferent. On the odd occasion I managed to score a few runs, but my
average was somewhere between 1 and 10! One year the school team was sent to
Pietermaritzburg for a contest between all the South African Marist Brothers
Schools. I went as a substitute, if required. So I spent most of the time
watching the games.
The following year I had the misfortune of playing for the School
against a touring Marist Brothers School. On that occasion the visitors had a
fast bowler, the likes of which we had never seen. He was lightning fast and
extremely accurate. He took wicket after wicket in spite of our best endeavours.
Our team was all out for 15 runs. Would you believe that on that occasion I
was top scorer? I went in to bat against this whirlwind. I sort of stuck my
bat out in the general direction of where I thought the ball was. Somehow or
other, the ball nicked off the top of my bat, flew over the top of the
fingers of the slip fielders and went for four runs. I was bowled out next
ball. So much for my cricketing career. In this fast bowler, the team was
faced with an impossible situation. He was, Pat Trimborn. He played for South
Africa in 1967!
I would have loved to have the Lord on our side. I’m not sure what
would have happened to our opponents. My guess is that we would have won.
Provided He intervened. There is a poignant story in this regard dating back
to Amajuba in the Anglo/Boer war. It concerns a devout young Boer looking
down over the battlefield. The fighting had not yet started. He prayed
saying, “Lord, looking at the enemy, I know that
there are genuine Christians among them. I also know there are many unbelievers.
They all look the same to me Lord. I can’t pray for us to win or lose. But
there is one thing I can ask. Lord, please stay out of the fight.”
Today, Christians all over the world are in a difficult position. We
are confronted by the greatest army of unbelievers that this world has ever
seen. Mainly it is an army of spiritual Philistines. We are vastly outnumbered
and the Goliaths confronting us are pitiless and cruel. In many ways, we have
become intimidated by our enemy. Without the Lord we will lose and be taken
into a 21st century Babylonian captivity. The “odds” against us
makes our case hopeless. All we have on our side is God! But He is more than
enough. Furthermore, as in the days of Gideon, the Lord delights in taking on
an army vastly superior to anything we have. One with God is a majority! So
let us take hands and face up to the fastest bowler ever known. With Jesus,
we are unbeatable.
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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27 The men of Israel were also brought together. They were given
supplies. They marched out to fight against their enemies. Israel's army
camped across from Aram's army. The men of Israel
looked like two small flocks of goats that had become separated from the
others. But the men of Aram covered the countryside.
1 Kings 20:27 NIrV
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Don’t rebel against the Lord. It’s utterly
futile.
He cannot be defeated. If you resort to guile,
You’ll find He knows about it. He knew it long
before,
You ever thought of doing it! Perhaps if you
implore,
And ask Him for forgiveness, perchance He will
decide,
To come to your assistance and with you to abide.
The Lord our God is awesome, invincible and
strong.
An Undefeated Hero; a Righter of all wrong.
It really doesn’t matter whose side He wants to
pick.
The others will be slaughtered, post-haste and
double quick.
Think of Israel’s history. You’ll see just what I
mean.
Regardless of the army, if He would intervene,
The outcome was a victory regardless of the odds!
Even with a multitude of all their foreign gods.
We can see this clearly in the Aramean war. (1 Kings 27-29)
The Israelites, outnumbered by some 10,000 score. (200,000)
When the dust was settled, 100, 000 men,
Lay slaughtered by the Israelites! The Lord was
with them then!
This occurred consistently back in those distant
days.
Israel’s obedience influenced God’s ways.
Doing what He told them made everything go well.
When they disobeyed Him, was always their death
knell.
Later, unassisted, The Angel of the Lord,
Slaughtered the Assyrians with His great and mighty
sword.
One hundred eight five thousand perished in one
night (Is 37:36)
No wonder what was left of them were quickly put
to flight.
Now that was all “Old Testament”. The one we have
is New!
We’re told it is a better one; and so the Lord
will do,
At least as much for Christians as in the days of
yore.
But frankly, with a God like Him, if we will but
adore,
And follow in obedience, while keeping clear of
sin.
There isn’t an alternative and we can only win!
The Lord our God is with us. The foe will not prevail.
Do not be discouraged. He’s not about to fail!
His Spirit is within us; and He is very strong. (1 John 4:4)
Stronger than the greatest, this world can bring
along.
He said He’ll deliver! His conquering right hand, (Jer. 1:19)
Will deal with every enemy, in each and every
land.
Jim Strickland
Written 8th November 2012
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28 The man of God came up to the king of Israel again. He told him,
"The LORD says, 'The men of Aram think I am
a god of the hills. They do not think I am a god of the valleys. So I will
hand their huge army over to you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"
29 For seven days the two armies
camped across from each other. On the seventh day the battle began. The men
of Israel wounded or killed 100,000 Aramean soldiers on foot. That happened
in a single day.
1 Kings 20:28-29 NIrV
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4 My dear children, you come from God and
belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers,
for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world.
1 John 4:4 MSG
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10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't
be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will
hold you up with My victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NLT
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19 They will fight against you, but they
shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to
deliver you."
Jeremiah 1:19 ESV
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