HE’S COMING BACK

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 14 July 2012

Hi all,
Have you ever thought how fortunate we are not to be able to see the Spiritual dimension? I’m referring to the dimension in which God dwells. The greatest blessing is because God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight! How could we do that if we could see Him. It’s much better the way it is.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Saturday, 14 July 2012			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	HE’S COMING BACK
Nearly all of us have heard stories about children and their fathers. One of my favourites is about a little girl and her dress. She had been shopping with her mother and saw the prettiest dress. She called her mother to show her the dress. “Mommy, please buy me that dress” she asked with all the breathless enthusiasm that’s unique to children, Mommy also liked and said. “Ask your father and see what he says”. That evening the little girl was sitting looking out of the window waiting for her dad. When she saw him, she rushed outside and jumped up into his arms, “Daddy, Daddy, please will you buy me the dress I saw while out shopping with Mommy. “Honey”, he said, “let me first talk it over with Mommy”. Later, as they were having their evening meal, Daddy said to Mommy, “What’s this about a new dress for our daughter? They all chatted about it. Then he said to his daughter, I’ll take you shopping on Saturday and buy that dress. The little girl yelled with delight. “Daddy’s going to buy me that beautiful dress on Saturday” For the rest of the week, she told everyone “Daddy’s going to buy me a new dress on Saturday”. On Saturday morning, he did! There are more parallels to the Christian life in this story than we could shake a stick at. Perhaps the best is the fact that the little girl believed her father. “Saturday’s coming” she told everyone. She had confidence in her father that he wouldn’t let her down. Her faith and hope were “mixed” together and it happened. She couldn’t see the dress but she knew it was hers. We need to be like that little girl in our trust of our Heavenly Father. Jesus has said He will return again for His people. Let’s not get into a theological debate about the second coming of Jesus. Pre-trib, Mid-trib or Post-trib. Is not the issue. Let’s not ‘con-trib’ to the ‘other-tribs’! All we need is to know is that He is coming and He wants us to be expectant. He also wants us to know that because we cannot see Him, He is more real than Table Mountain! Our confidence must be in Him and His promises, in spite of Him being invisible. He is bringing us our reward for being faithful and obedient. How do we know? Because He has told us. Like the little girl, our “Saturday’s coming”! It will come whether we believe it or not! So let’s rejoice that the One we serve is the invisible God, not one we have cobbled together. Such “gods” are as much use as an udder on a bull! Hand-made gods will crumble and fall. But our God; the invisible God, won’t change one “iota”. We don’t have to understand it scientifically. All we must do is believe. “Saturday’s coming!” Jim and Phyllida Strickland			14 For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face. 3 John 14 NLT 1 I wish you would open up your heavens and come down to us! I wish the mountains would tremble when you show your power! Isaiah 64:1 NIrV For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him? Psalms 42:1-2 NLT 14 Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. Song of Solomon 8:14 ESV 20 But we are citizens of heaven. And we can hardly wait for a Saviour from there. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 NIrV 13 That's how we should live as we wait for the blessed hope God has given us. We are waiting for Jesus Christ to appear in all his glory. He is our great God & Saviour. Titus 2:13 NIrV 1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, appointed by the command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus, who gives us hope. 1 Timothy 1:1 NLT 8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him--with laughter and singing. 1 Peter 1:8 MSG 20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon!" Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22:20 NLT 9 In that day people will proclaim, "This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!" Isaiah 25:9 NLT	I wonder what He looks like, our Great and Triune God. He’s sure to be unusual, but that does not mean odd. I know the Lord told Philip, He looks just like His Dad. But Lord that can’t be features; for you with flesh were clad. And yet we know You came here in the body of a man. You worked a special miracle, the way no other can! So you were fully human for everyone to see. Yet you were also God the Son, both simultaneously! I do not understand it. Thank God, there is no need. The mystery of Godhood, The Trinity indeed, Is so way out beyond me, I must format my mind! Because to everything You are, I’m absolutely blind. But somehow that’s exciting. Because the things I see, You’ve told us in the Scripture, are not reality. The things which we can see today will crumble and will fall. The size is not important; it may be large or small. But none if it is permanent. It’s sure to pass away. But that which is invisible, is always here to stay! And since we cannot see You, we know that You are real. If we could really see, or smell, or taste, or hear, or feel, It would be a delusion and not reality. And so my God I thank You that You we cannot see. And yet we long for contact with You in ways we know. Hence, our human nature, desires that You show Your people what You’re really like. It’s hard to truly love, A God Who is concealed from us and dwells on High above! This must have been the reason, why You Lord, said that day. You have seen Me, Philip, My Father looks this way! He didn’t mean a photograph. He meant what Philip saw, Was God disguised in overalls. His Father was much more, Like Jesus in His character. In fact they both were One. And they will still remain the same when sight of Him has gone. But one day He’ll come back again. Be patient and please wait. Every day that passes brings us closer to that date. So live in expectation and live your life this way. Live as though you’re certain that tomorrow is the day. Put your “house” in order and live in constant hope. Trust His Holy Spirit and you will more than cope. Celebrate His goodness; shout praises to the King! “We trusted Him, He saved us!” is what we all will sing!   Jim Strickland Written 14th July 2012

TO BE LIKE HIM

Time with Jesus - Friday, 13 July 2012

Hi all,

Jesus’ half-brother James, wrote a general letter some 2000 years ago. It seems he had the same problem as we have today. He wrote: ²² Don't just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says. James 1:22 NIrV Today, people listen, but don’t do! “Do what” people ask? They don’t do what it says. That’s our meditation today.
Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 13 July 2012			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	TO BE LIKE HIM
How many of us were boy scouts or girl guides? Probably a few less than those who were cubs or brownies. Their origin, supposedly, was in South Africa during the Anglo Boer War. Baden Powell found the assistance of young men and boys invaluable during the siege of Mafeking. He “invented” the movement in England in 1907. I loved my time in the scouts. It was great fun and an excellent way for youngsters to develop character. We did all sorts of things. Some have helped me in later life. Knotting has proved to be very useful, as has basic first aid techniques. We also played games. How many of you remember “O’Grady says”? The leader would stand at the front facing us. He would then say “O’Grady says do this” and would move his hands or legs or both. We were expected to do the same, provided the instruction was preceded by the words, “O’Grady says. If he just said “Do this” and moved his hands and or legs, we were not supposed to do it. It was a great laugh. Most of us would be caught out very quickly doing what was said. Oddly enough, learning to respond correctly was extremely difficult. We responded to him like a flock of “sheep”. We just did what he did. The modern expression is, “Monkey see, monkey do”! I suppose we could say this was my first experience of “going along with the crowd”. The Psalmist was right. We are like a flock of sheep. We do what we see others are doing. We call it “Peer Pressure”. The fashion industry is linked with this indirectly. The main function of a fashion designer is to sell his “creations”. It has to be. If he doesn’t sell his fashions, he won’t get paid. He needs to get paid so that he can design new fashions and get paid again. It’s a bit like a treadmill. It would be great if everyone stopped getting trapped in this cycle. It doesn’t happen, because everyone wants to be the first to wear the latest “Paris” designs! Sadly, Christianity suffers from the same scourge. We follow the “flavour of the day” and flock to see them. We listen to them, but don’t seem to hear. We fill up our heads with what men say we should know. How many can say they only do what the Lord says? Not many. We are too busy looking for the next “flavour of the day” and going to his meeting. So we become intellectually “fat”. An excellent caricature of 21st century Western Christianity would be an enormous ear. We hear and don’t do. How can we do anything? The next “flavour of the day” will be with us next Sunday and we must go and hear what he says. I strongly suspect that the apparent lack of answers to prayer today stems from this. We hear and don’t do. So God hears and doesn’t do either. He meets us where we are. So of we are hearers only; that’s what He does too. In today’s meditation we look at the relationship between hearing and doing. It’s not good. The Jews wear phylacteries because it’s easy. The Lord provided them with a method whereby they could assimilate His Word and make it part of daily life. On the forehead implies in the mind. On the hands implies action. But, if they write it on a piece of paper and stick it in a box on hands and head, it makes them look spiritual. Just like the average “Christian”, it’s all show and no go! God help us! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			16 Search the book of the LORD, and see what He will do. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate, for the LORD has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true. Isaiah 34:16 NLT 18 "You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 11:18 ESV 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8 TNIV 31 God's law is in their hearts. Their feet do not slip. Psalms 37:31 NIrV 4 I don't do the things other people do. By obeying your word I have kept myself from acting like those who try to hurt others. Psalms 17:4 NIrV 11 Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You. Psalms 119:11 NASB 19 We couldn't be more sure of what we saw and heard--God's glory, God's voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You'll do well to keep focusing on it. It's the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19 MSG 4 Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. Romans 15:4 MSG	The Christian life is simple. God tells us what to do. But do we ever do it? My friend it’s up to you. There’s several possibilities and choices we must make. But each and every one of them will tell us to forsake, The things which we’ve been doing, that leads us into sin. Only by obedience will any person win. But how can we distinguish between what’s right and wrong? Only God’s Word tells us how to sing His victory song. It cannot be the knowledge we stuff into our head. We have to be like Jesus the only living bread. There is a way to do it. We must assimilate, Everything He tells us; and we must emulate, The lifestyle He was living. No matter what we learn, If we fail to do it, in hell we’re sure to burn! The secret is in knowing what’s in God’s Holy Word. And then we must take action on that which we have heard. We are not just recorders, who get things down on tape, That sort of thing is easy for chimpanzee or ape. So that is not what’s wanted. We have to do much more. We have to do the things He says, or we will find our score, Is totally inadequate, to pass the Master’s test. We need a “memory prompter” to follow Jesus best. Keep things in your memory and meditate thereon. So Satan won’t deceive you and conscience has all gone. Another way to do it is to keep it close at hand. A sort of easy reckoner, to do the things He planned. To wear it in phylacteries on hands or on the head, Can serve no useful purpose. We may as well be dead. His law must be our treasure. A gem of highest price. Always to be acted on and not on man’s advice! If we meditate thereon, His word will be alive. Our goal, a special target, for which we have to strive, To put in operation. Then, even if we trip, He’ll come to our assistance, intending to equip, His people with what we must do, to rise and carry on. And He will keep on doing this, ‘til all our life is gone. He plans that every one of us should see the Morning Star. And follow Him completely. Though it is near or far. For that is what we’re called to. To be like God Most High, From when we have been born again, until the day we die. Jim Strickland – Written 13th July 2012

STAND UP STRONG AND TALL

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 12 July 2012

Hi all,

Today’s Scriptures tell us how we should behave as Christians. We are told that truth will set you free; It’s amazing how this Scripture has been misunderstood. Knowledge will never set us free. On the contrary, knowledge tends to enslave rather than liberate. But when “truth” is the person of Jesus, we are set free and completely liberated. Only Jesus can set us free. He is the truth! This is today’s meditation!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 12 July 2012			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	STAND UP STRONG AND TALL
The older we get the more we begin to know how little we really know. I saw a comment recently in this regard. It said, “Consult a young man now, before he grows up and no longer knows everything.” Were you a bit like that? I know I was! If I remember rightly, I knew the answer to every question. Even the ones that hadn’t been asked yet!. It’s very sad, but Christianity lends itself to this type of thinking. With jus, the problem is doctrine. I remember Juan Carlos Ortiz telling us that the Bible is an amazing book. He said that if you were a Baptist minister, you’d been to a Baptist seminary where you were taught Baptist doctrine by Baptist theologians who used the Bible to prove it. He then said much the same thing about the Methodists, Episcopalians and the strict Brethren. The implication was that by careful manipulation you can prove just about anything from the Bible. Paul in his second letter to Timothy described such things as foolish controversies. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.2 Timothy 2:23 ESV For example, at one time in one of the denominations there was an argument concerning how many angels could stand on the head of a pin. This was indeed a foolish controversy. It had nothing whatever to do with living the Christian life, We cannot say that about today’s Scriptures. Samuel Bagster very cleverly put these Scriptures together in a way that challenges the way we live. It should. For far too long we have been under the false impression that the acquisition of knowledge defines a Christian. It doesn’t. Satan probably knows every word of Scripture. But he is not a Christian. The same can be said for your minister, pastor, priest or home group leader. According to John’s Gospel, Jesus commented on this. 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32 NIV Please note that by itself the truth does not set you free. There is a natural progression here. First you must hold to his teachings. This is not the acquisition of knowledge but an active participation in what He has said. Christianity is active. It’s what you do and are. It’s being a “doer” of His Word. It’s becoming a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s when you start to “know” the truth. He alone is the truth. He made this very clear in John 14:6. Truth is a person. We think that truth is a series of facts. It isn’t. Truth is a person. We get to know Him by doing what he has said. It is Jesus Christ who sets us free, not a bunch of facts. Sure, facts help with our understanding. But even if you could jam all the knowledge of this world combined into your head, What good would it do you? All the combined facts in the Encyclopaedia Britannica will not save you or me. Sadly, we find that the average University Professor of Theology is less likely to know Jesus than a little child. Indeed, I’ve personally observed that many seminaries and tertiary education institutions teach their students to believe nothing. These lecturers have destroyed the faith of many. I’ve watched it happening in the Religious Institution I still love. Sadly their ministers are taught basic unbelief. God help them. We need to know and do “The Truth” Jim & Phyllida Strickland			24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 NLT 25 Honest words are so painful! But your reasoning doesn't prove anything. Job 6:25 NIrV 1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 Peter 3:1 ESV 16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name. Malachi 3:16 TNIV 19 "I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, My Father in heaven will do it for you. Matthew 18:19 NLT 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him." Genesis 2:18 NLT 9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT 13 Let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put anything in your brother's way that would make him trip and fall. Romans 14:13 NIrV 1 Brothers and sisters, if a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted. 2 Help carry each other's burdens. In this way you will follow Christ's teachings. Galatians 6:1-2 GW	Let us put our minds to it; let’s seek to find the ways; To motivate each other to do good all our days; To seek to find some methods, to spur each other on, To acts of love and kindness, for each and everyone. Some actions may be difficult; some honest words bring pain. But if it makes us loving, the end result is gain! Think back to what has happened not very long ago. The tests and trials all came along and that’s what made us grow. Thinking back to yesterday, can prompt us all to do, Many of the former things that all of us once knew. I’m sure the Lord will help us. He knows us heart and soul. The names of those who serve Him are written on His scroll. He listens to each word we say; and He does not forget. He knows the ones who honour Him. On them His heart is set. This is His “normal” pattern. His love on them He pours. He honours those who honour Him and keep the Saviour’s laws. Don’t think He isn’t listening if only two or three, Come and pray together. For should they then agree, About what they are asking; if it’s what He intends, The Father will be listening. And He will surely send, Exactly what is wanted, so quick they’ll get a shock, They will assign thanksgiving, to Jesus Christ our Rock. The Lord is interested in all aspects of life. He plans to give each husband, a helpmeet for a wife. A man was not intended to ever be alone. So He created woman, to share her husband’s throne. He knows that two are better when reaching for success. For they can help each other if one gets in a mess. They also learn it’s easier if they cooperate. But if one starts to think that he is better than his mate, Or starts to criticise him, or judge in any way, It won’t be very long before he’s sure to rue the day, He thought he was superior. For if the other falls, He’ll find that he’s in trouble the day the Master calls. So let us stand together as a spiritual house. Help those who are stumbling, or who haven’t got the nous, To keep away from evil and doing what is wrong; Restore them very gently, and help them to be strong. So let us help each other when temptation comes to call Then in the Master’s teachings we will stand up strong and tall Jim Strickland – Written 12th July 2012