JIMMETS - SAFETY AND COMPARE

Time with Jesus - Friday, 10 August 2012

Hi all,

Two “Jimmets” today: The inspiration for the first one comes from the First Scripture. In turn, this gave rise to the second one. About our incomparable God!

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 10 August 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	JIMMETS - SAFETY AND COMPARE
Memories from childhood seem to come and go. Surely this is a “carry-over” from before Adam fell? Some of the things which happened to me years ago are as vivid as the events of yesterday. Two things spring to mind during this Olympic year and Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. In 1952, the Games were held in Helsinki and I vaguely remember crowding round a radio listening to what was happening. During the previous year I remember crowding round the radio listening to the Vic Toweel boxing with Jimmy Carruthers for the world bantamweight title. (Carruthers won easily!) For most “Brits” 1952 was memorable because that was the year Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne. Even in South Africa, this was considered a major event. The following year, the schoolchildren in Port Elizabeth were asked to go to St Georges Park stadium to celebrate the coronation. We walked from our school to the stadium. These events will soon be outside living memory. But what did they mean to a schoolboy back then? On reflection it seems to me that they were just flashes from the passing parade. They were important to the men and women of those days, but now are little more than footnotes in history. These comments may be unfair. I admit they have been “tinged” with my passion for Jesus Christ and His Word. The crowning of the Queen is almost nothing compared with crowning of Jesus Christ. She wore a crown of exquisite beauty; priceless in financial terms. Jesus was crowned with a simple crown of thorns. Queen Elizabeth was crowned with the crown of the UK, her Dominions and Commonwealth. Jesus was crowned with the crown of creation. Queen Elizabeth will continue to grow old and will die. Her crown will then be passed to her successor. Jesus lives forever. No other man or woman will succeed Him. He is unique. He does not grow old. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Someday, Queen Elizabeth, from the comfort of her own bed, will utter her final words. The world will say, “The Queen is dead. Long live the King!” Like all her predecessors, she will be committed to the grave and crowned with the dirt of the earth. Jesus’ final speech, from the cross on Calvary, was very simple. “It is finished!” Things are now completely different. Jesus Christ is crowned “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. His crown is all of creation. He has no successor because He is eternal. It will never be possible to say of Him, “The King is dead - Long live the King”. Instead we can say, “Jesus Christ is alive forevermore”! Jim and Phyllida Strickland			25 If you are afraid of people, it will trap you. But if you trust in the LORD, he will keep you safe. Proverbs 29:25 NIrV 5 Though the LORD is very great and lives in heaven, He will make Jerusalem His home of justice and righteousness. Isaiah 33:5 NLT 4 For the LORD is high above the nations; His glory is higher than the heavens. 5 Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? 6 He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. 7 He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. 8 He sets them among princes, even the princes of His own people! Psalms 113:4-8 NLT 4 But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. 5 So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God's grace has saved you. 6 God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6 NIrV 32 Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else? Romans 8:32 NLT 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 NLT	SAFE IN GOD Safety comes from trusting in the Lord. But you’re sure to fail if you trust man. Jesus Christ wields an almighty sword; With an overwhelming battle plan. Nothing can resist the word He says. Everything He states is a command. Going on and on for endless days, Irresistible in every land! Man does not have this ability. Everything he says, is merely bluff. Who can match Divine authority? Instantly all men will cry, “Enough!” But He is as gentle as a dove, With the ones who turn to Him in Love. Jim Strickland – Written 10th August 2012 WHO COMPARES WITH GOD? Who can be compared with God Most High? He looks down from heaven on this earth. No one can demand that He will die. Womankind can never give Him birth. How can we contract into a span, Him Whom we are sure is infinite? How can the Creator be made man? How can darkness ever clothe the light? Looking at this from man’s point of view, We all say, “Impossibility”! This is something none of us can do. It’s beyond mankind’s ability. That which is impossible to man Is “a piece of cake” in Jesus’ plan! Jim Strickland Written 10th August 2012

A WALK THROUGH HISTORY

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 09 August 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is a walk through some of the Bible told from God’s point of view.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 09 August 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	A WALK THROUGH HISTORY
History. As a schoolboy it was not my favourite subject. I found “1066 And All That” decidedly boring. Here in South Africa our studies started with 1652 and Jan Van Riebeeck. He was not terribly interesting back in the 1950’s, some 300 years later. One or two of my fellows enjoyed it, but it always seemed so dry. Even when the Brits took over the Cape, it didn’t seem to matter. Since I lived for a number of years in Port Elizabeth, the name Sir Rufane Donkin struck a chord because he named the city after his wife Elizabeth. There is a sort of a pyramid in Port Elizabeth commemorating her. When it came to the Scriptures, suddenly history became interesting. I’m sure the brothers at Marist Brothers in Port Elizabeth influenced this. They didn’t try and proselytise for the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed the Head Boy in my year was Jewish! But anyone who was interested in Biblical history was greatly encouraged. So we ploughed through the Old Testament looking at what we then called “Bible Studies”. Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the Patriarchs somehow “came to life”. The names Moses, Joshua, Samson and King David took on a bigger meaning. Wanting to get into the New Testament followed. The life of Jesus and the Book of Acts were fun to get into. We even got to know about Paul’s missionary journeys. In retrospect I think the Lord was preparing me for something in the future. Precisely what that was, is still something of a mystery. Except I’m passionately in love with God’s Word; and try and wrap my poetry within that context. Many years ago I became aware of people who were talking about taking others on a, “Walk through History”. I think it was Dave Wilkerson who initiated this in Christianity. Furthermore, several well known Bible Schools and Theological Colleges stared taking students through the Bible in one year. One such establishment was Rosebank Bible School who offered a one year Bible Survey course. I know Phyllida went to Rosebank in the late 1970’s expressly for this course. After we were married and moved to the power stations of the Eastern Transvaal, now called Mpumalanga, we decided to bring this course to those we met in the churches we attended at that time. It wasn’t official so no certificates were issued. We found that those who attended and stuck to the discipline of doing the reading and an assignment every week, loved it and gained a much broader understanding of Scripture. Today’s meditation is an overview of Scripture. It’s been written as though the Lord is taking His people on a walk through the Bible. In the space provided it’s impossible to touch on everything. So I’ve taken today’s Scriptures and weaved them into a brief survey of the events and some of their associated happenings. Writing in the “first person” allows for greater brevity, something at which I do not excel! I’ve also had to do a certain amount of interpolation of events for greater clarity. I’ve taken a liberty with what Abraham saw. John’s gospel quotes Jesus as saying, 56 Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy." John 8:56 GW. I’ve picked things up at this point and included elements which Abraham might not have been aware. But that’s poetic licence! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			13 "For My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! Jeremiah 2:13 NLT 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." Genesis 4:1 ESV 4 Then they said, "Let's build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves so that we won't become scattered all over the face of the earth." Genesis 11:4 GW 8 In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. Genesis 11:8 NLT 10 Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram. 13 But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the LORD. Genesis 13:10-11 &13 NLT 17 So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. 18 The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 NLT 4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless--like chasing the wind Eccl 2:4, 8, 11 NLT 37 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37 MSG 9 He gave plenty to drink to those who were thirsty. He filled those who were hungry with good food. Psalms 107:9 GW 22 Think about things that are in heaven. Don't think about things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2 NIrV	My people have done foolish things. I wish they’d tell Me why. The first is they abandoned Me. The fount that’s never dry. And they’ve been digging cisterns that are as dry as dust, They can’t hold any water. Before they’re dug, they bust! If they are dry and thirsty why don’t they come to Me? A fount of Living Water, to them is what I’ll be. The plans of men don’t prosper, if I am not included. They tried to build a giant tower, but they were all deluded. A tower up to heaven where floods could never reach. And so I had to scatter them. Because I had to teach, That everything that man can make will crumble and will fall. The only way to change it is if unto Me they call. They should have been like Adam, who had a wife called Eve. They had to come and pray to Me, so that she could conceive. And she brought forth a man-child. His parents called him Cain; A course, religious, murderer, whose gifts to Me were vain. Instead of doing what he should, he killed his younger brother. I haven’t told you what he said to father and his mother. The nature he inherited, when Adam sinned and fell, Was starting to be manifest, in all their kids as well. The line of Cain was wicked. Then Eve bore Adam, Seth. And wickedness increased so much, that I decided death, Would somehow sort of wash the earth and make it new and clean. And if I hadn’t sent the flood, I know what would have been. But Noah and his family were rescued from the rain. But sadly. the sin nature, raised its head again. Some 400 years later, Abram was born. In terms of faith in Deity; this was man’s early dawn. Of course he wasn’t perfect. That wouldn’t ever be. But I declared him righteous, because he trusted Me! Abram made his choices each time that he obeyed. He willingly gave Isaac, until his hand I staid. He saw the fall of Sodom. He saw the Promised Land. He saw his people’s slavery and all that I had planned. Please know he was excited, in some unstated way; Because he knew that Jesus Christ would come through him one day! You know he was the father of a great multitude. That Kings and Priests and Prophets would be among his brood. The source of Living Water, for all who suffer thirst, Would issue from the Saviour, on those who had been cursed. He knew that hungry people could all eat Heaven’s bread. That life would not be meaningless, but purposeful instead. That as men looked to Heaven, the things of earth would dim; And that salvation full and free would one day come through Him. These were the things which he believed but never really saw. But I would make it happen. All this and so much more! Jim Strickland – Written 9th August 2012

WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME!

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 08 August 2012

Hi all,

At Kingswood College in 1951 we sang hymns most evenings from the 1936 Methodist hymnbook. I was nine years old. One of my favourites was, “Whosoever Will May Come”. I learned later it was a celebration of that great passage from John’s Gospel. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 TNIV Today I love saying, “I’m a whosoever! Are you?”

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 08 August 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	WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME!
One of my favourite quotations is, “Love God and do as you please”. My suspicion is that it dates back to Augustine. It’s the sort of comment one would expect from him. Its meaning is dramatic. If you love God, you will want to please Him. Furthermore, what pleases you will be what pleases Him. So we end up with one of the most liberating quotations a Christian can know. The question is, whether or not it’s that simple? It should be. But we tend to be so complex in our thoughts and actions; it’s all too easy to falsely imagine that we are correct when we are not! By way of illustration we only have to look back over the last two thousand years of Christianity. Literally millions of Christians, men and women have been tortured and butchered in the name of Jesus Christ. It is also quite true that the Crusades are not really something to brag about. Rightly or wrongly, their dealings with Islam are still remembered in the Arab nations to this day. Before everyone jumps down my throat and says that what happened was not Christian, let me state categorically, I agree. But the perpetrators genuinely believed that what they were doing was in the best interests of Christianity! So how can we know that what we are doing is Christian? The fact is we do not have a series of “laws” with which we must comply. That would make it easy. We do have the Holy Spirit and He will guide us, if we are prepared to pause and listen. But bear in mind, in those days the perpetrators thought He was leading them too! So where do we go from here? In the Old Testament we have been given a couple of thumbnail sketches which we may apply as we think about Christian life. My favourite comes from the Book of Micah. 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 ESV These instructions encapsulate most of what the Lord requires of us to this very day. The reason I mention this in today’s meditation, is because many people come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they ask, “What now?” Generally speaking this question is seldom raised by those who come to Jesus Christ. The emphasis has always been, “Come to Jesus!” Nothing could be more important. But what then? Often they go home and that’s the last anyone sees of them. We must help our new converts. They may be sinners, dying on their own cross. They could be young people with lives and potential ministry in front of them. What they don’t need, is to be forgotten! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			13 So then, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 GW 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me. I will never send away anyone who comes to me. John 6:37 NIrV 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:42-43 KJV 32 Jesus stopped and called over, "What do you want from me?" 33 They said, "Master, we want our eyes opened. We want to see!" 34 Deeply moved, Jesus touched their eyes. They had their sight back that very instant, and joined the procession. Matthew 20:32-34 MSG 13 Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13 NIrV 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 ESV 37 "'Message of GOD, the Master: Yet again I'm going to do what Israel asks. I'll increase their population as with a flock of sheep. Ezekiel 36:37 MSG 14 And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. 15 And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for. 1 John 5:14-15 NLT	Poles and Finns and Russians, Norwegians, Czechs and Danes, Swazi’s and Namibians, citizens of Spain. Peruvians and Latvians, and men who come from Chad. Canadians, Australians, though they be good or bad. Chinese and Koreans and folk from Pakistan. Everyone’s included be you woman or a man. He’s said “whosoever”, and that means me and you. All the citizens of earth, they are invited too. All your friends and relatives, yellow, white or black. No one is excluded, the Master want’s them back. Islamists and Buddhists, Confucians and Hindu’s Sikhs and Orientals, Christians and Jews. He is all inclusive and will not turn away, Anyone who trusts Him and calls on Him today. The vilest, wicked sinner this world has ever seen, If they come to Jesus, He’ll wash them squeaky clean. Even if you’re on a cross, being crucified; Do not be discouraged. For you, the Lord has died. You are not excluded, paradise awaits. You don’t have to go to Hell. Indeed, the Master states, If you will return to Me, you will be secure. I will cleanse you white as snow and I will make you pure. If the devil’s blinded you, let Me touch your eyes. You will have your sight restored and see the devil’s lies. Step right up and follow Me. You won’t be led astray. I’ll be with you constantly, each second of the day. Even though you’re evil, your children get the best. My Father up in Heaven, He wants to see you blessed. He’ll give the Holy Spirit, to anyone who asks. He’ll give to you a brand new heart to fit you for the task. That stony heart within you, He’ll certainly replace. You will have a heart of flesh to fit you for the race. You will be My people, fruitful you will be. Like sheep within a pasture, if you will follow Me! Anything you ask for, in line with Father’s will, I know He will certainly provide and will fulfil, The deepest aspirations that you have ever made. Just because you follow Me; and Me you have obeyed. Jim Strickland Written 8 August 2012