THE WONDERS OF HIS HANDIWORK

Time with Jesus - Friday, 28 September 2012

Hi all,

We are told, “The heavens declare the glory of God”. We look at this and related Scriptures and arrive at the wonders of His handiwork.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

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Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 28 September 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	THE WONDERS OF HIS HANDIWORK
I’m told that I suffer from a problem that is common among men. A problem their mothers, wives and daughter don’t struggle with. I’m told that I don’t see something, even when I’m looking at it. The problem is, “Darling, do you know what’s happened to XXXX” In my experience, limited though it might be, I find that when I can’t find something, my wife can put her hands on it and find it within seconds. Usually there is no comment when this happens. Certainly not from my dearly beloved. But inside my head I imagine I can hear her saying something about me never being able to find anything, even when it’s staring me in the face. On the other hand, the female of the species seems to have a homing instinct on anything and everything the male misses, even with both eyes closed and her mind on other things! Eugene Peterson comments on this obliquely in his translation of 1 Corinthians: -7 men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their "heads" to the Head: God.1 Cor. 11:7 MSG I think it means that men often submit to a sort of “blindness” to the things of God. Women see this masculine blindness. They have the ability to show their men where they have mislaid their faith in Him. Of course, blindness to the “things” of God is not always a gender issue. Those who truly love the Lord Jesus, see Him in everything. The heavens themselves declare His glory. We can’t miss it. His glory is everywhere. Watch a sunrise and be amazed as colour returns to the trees and grass. Listen to the sound of His creatures welcoming the new day. Sometimes called “the dawn chorus”, it’s well named. It’s the chorus of praise to God His creatures produce in response of each new day. They see and hear Him. It’s only mankind who miss it. Those who believe in Him and have crowned Him Lord, also see and hear Him in His glory. They know that 28 "In him we live and move and exist.' As some of your own poets have also said, 'We are his children.' Acts 17:28 NIrV. Those who don’t want to believe do so because they prefer the darkness to the light. (John 3:19) They refuse to believe because they would then be responsible to the One Whom they have rejected. Yes, they do see! But because they don’t want to believe, God lets them go. They remain in a state of delusion and become more determined to not believe, than they were previously. Like those referred to earlier, they can’t see even when they are looking at Him. They need someone to come and find Him for them. Ladies, this is where you are very often so like the Holy Spirit! You point things out and find what is missing. You have a God-given ability to help your husbands “find” God. The One whom they accidentally and sometimes deliberately “mislaid”. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			For the choir director: A psalm of David. 1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. 2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. 3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Psalms 19:1-3 NLT 20 Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I'm talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made. So people have no excuse for what they do. Romans 1:20 NIrV 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17 ESV 3 When I look at your heavens, the creation of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place- 4 what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him? Psalms 8:3-4 GW 41 The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon has another kind of splendour, and the stars have still another kind of splendour. Even one star differs in splendour from another star. 42 That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay. 1 Corinthians 15:41-42 GW 3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. Daniel 12:3 NLT	The heavens declare Your glory Lord, no matter where we look. They speak with such a clarity, from every little nook, And cranny of the universe. They seem to “pulse” with light; And even unbelievers must say that this is right. They say it had its origin and happened just by chance! They seem to miss the order in this vast galactic dance. They say a great explosion, somehow had taken place, And everything we now can see, in every part of space, Started off from nothing. But what they cannot see, Is where did “nothing” come from? It’s very strange to me! They say the space around us, has somehow always been. But space must have an origin; and none of them are keen, To say it was created. It always has been there. There wasn’t a beginning of which they are aware. But what about the forces – the “laws” which they can find. Didn’t they originate in a designer’s mind? Who made the law of gravity which makes the whole thing go? And what about the speed of light? Who fixed it? They don’t know? What of the laws of motion? Why do the planets spin? And what about the laws of sound? Perhaps they want to pin, All this on some freak accident that happened long ago? The possibility it’s God, they do not want to know! The reason is quite obvious. If they admit He’s there, Then they would be accountable. And they are all aware, That if they are responsible, to someone way up high, Then they will have a problem, the moment when they die. So they remain dogmatic. They “bellyache” and moan. They say He’s non-existent. His truth they will not own. They much prefer their ignorance. It suits them rather well, And do not have to bother that there just might be a hell! They do not want to listen. They do not want to see, The glory of God’s universe which speaks abundantly. They think that they are clever. But God says they are fools. They do not want to bother with Jesus and His rules. If they decide against Him, He’ll let them go their way. And in their foolish ignorance each one will have to stay. They all behold God’s glory. But they refuse to see The wonders of His handiwork; and His Divinity. Jim Strickland Written 28th September 2012

HATH GOD SAID?

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 27 September 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation focuses on the “struggle” between Satan and Jesus for the Lordship over this world. Satan’s appears to have a standard question. “Hath God said?” He used it successfully with Adam and Eve. For him it was a tried and tested way to success.  There is only one way to answer Satan’s question. Quote from God’s Word. That’s what Jesus did. We can do likewise.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 27 September 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	HATH GOD SAID?
We are told that the Marquis of Queensberry rules in boxing were written by named John Graham Chambers in London in 1866. Today the phrase is sometimes used to refer to a sense of sportsmanship and fair play. This was ±1900 years after Jesus’ confrontation with Satan in the wilderness. Furthermore, it’s clear Satan knew nothing about them and wouldn't honour them. Have you ever thought about that confrontation? It was inevitable that it would take place. The outcome of this would determine the future of the entire creation. In it, Satan used every trick available to him to defeat Jesus. As we know, he hated mankind and everything associated therewith. He had used a moment of weakness in an innocent couple to trick them. He wanted that which God had given them. He deceived them into disobeying God’s command. God told Adam that if he ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. God said nothing to Eve about not eating that fruit. We have assumed God’s instruction applied to them both. We do not know it as a fact. This means that it is entirely possible that nothing would have happened when she sampled it. If this is the case, it adds an additional depth to the devious ways of Satan. For instance if she had already eaten a fruit from the tree without any apparent outcome, she could give Adam a bit to try for himself. “It won’t hurt you if it didn’t hurt me!” This could well have been her unspoken comment to Adam. It’s a bit academic. He listened to Satan’s lies. He was deceived into eating. That constituted the fall of man and the terrible consequences with which we are all painfully aware. Please know that I’m not seeking to make Adam’s sin less serious than it was. The point is that Satan would willingly have done so if necessary. This also reinforces the fact that each of us is responsible before God for what we do. Satan came and asked her a question. It’s what he usually does today. He tempts us to question the validity of God’s Word. For example, God’s Word tells us that unrepentant sinners end up in hell. Today, millions of Christians don’t believe. It really doesn’t matter if they believe or not. It will happen regardless of man’s opinions. Satan succeeded in tricking Adam into eating a toxic fruit. Of course, Satan was half right. Adam became acquainted with the disastrous consequences of being disobedient. Now he was aware of evil. He didn’t need to know about evil. It didn’t make him a better man. Sin warped him. It always does! I don’t have to murder someone to know it’s wrong. I know it now. When the deed is done, I’m worse off than before. I know it experientially. Deception had defeated Adam. He sinned and it was “game over”. So he tried the same trick on Jesus. But Jesus was not Adam. Adam only had one sin to worry about. Jesus had to be obedient to all the Jewish Law. Jesus was tempted when He was weary, hungry and thirsty. Satan offered Jesus everything He had come to achieve. Jesus answered all Satan’s questions by quoting from God’s Word. Every one of Satan’s “Hath God said” was answered with “It is written”. Jesus won the battle. And this is the point today. When Satan tempts us, we must state “It is written”. It’s the only way to defeat Satan. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			1 The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?" Genesis 3:1 GW 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 Jesus answered, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.' Matthew 4:7 GW 7Jesus said to him, "Again, Scripture says, 'Never tempt the Lord your God.' Matthew 4:7 GW 10 Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan! Scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'" 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came to take care of him. Matthew 4:10-11 GW 16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'" 18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house. 1 Kings 13:16-19 NIV 26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, "It is the man of God who disobeyed the LORD's command. The LORD has fulfilled His word by causing the lion to attack and kill him." 1 Kings 13:26 NLT 8 Whoever tells you good news that is different from the Good News we gave you should be condemned to hell, even if he is one of us or an angel from heaven. Galatians 1:8 GW 11 I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Psalms 119:11 NLT	"Hath God said?" the serpent asked the time he tempted Eve. "Hath God said?", His purpose was intended to deceive The woman into doing that which her husband knew Was something God instructed him they should not ever do! "Hath God said?" And when she looked the fruit had such appeal. "Hath God said?", But when she touched it was so good to feel! It seemed so very innocent. To eat would make them wise. They'd be a little more like God and see with open eyes. "Hath God said?" He tempted her and so she took and ate. "Hath God said?" But nonetheless, she fed some to her mate. Who, through these proceedings had silently looked on, Neglecting his authority to say to sin, "Be gone!" "Hath God said?" The wilderness was shimmering with heat. "Hath God said?" the devil asked attempting to defeat The Son of God incarnate who stood in Adam's place; The man who represented the fallen human race. "Hath God said?" The devil asked when to the Man he came; "Hath God said?" He tempted Him. The test was just the same. "To satisfy Your hunger, just turn these stones to bread. If You are who You say You are, why shouldn't You be fed?" "Hath God said?"; "Just look at all the kingdoms which are mine." "Hath God said?"; "A miracle will prove You are divine. If You are the Son of God, then You can jump from here. His angels will protect You and harm will not come near!" "Hath God said?" the devil asks of Adam's race today. "Hath God said?" "Is that a fact? Did God really say The thing you know He told you? "Perhaps it isn't true." That's only just the devil's voice and he is tempting you. Hath God said?" he questions; "But doesn't it look good." "Hath God said?" "That can't be wrong; Do what you feel you should. It doesn't really matter, so let it all hang out." The devil keeps on tempting us to disbelieve and doubt. "Hath God said?" Of course He has. It's written in His Word. "Hath God said?" That question is utterly absurd; And just like the Lord Jesus, we'll make the devil flee When everything we say and do with God's Word does agree! Jim Strickland Written 1988

THE FINAL MEETING

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 26 Sept. 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is a tongue in cheek comment on death and the ramifications.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 26 September 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	THE FINAL MEETING
Horace Mann, the great American education reformer is reported to have said, “Education is the great equalizer of the conditions of men”. Our experience in South Africa doesn’t really prove this to be always true. We find highly educated idiots in government along with ignorant uneducated idiots in governments. Education has not made them equal, the ANC has! There is another “equalizer”. One that has no regard for wealth, education, talent or the needs of the family. The great “equalizer” is death. Every person who has lived on this earth, has shared or will share, the experience of death. It’s guaranteed. God said so and only He can change it. Adam got the ball rolling when he disobeyed God and decided to “lunch” on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately he didn’t only get indigestion. He ingested an incurable condition. It was a “blight” which was passed on to the creation and all Adam’s descendants. Sadly it’s an incurable condition. Hollywood does not have a hero who will leap in front of the camera and shout, “’Eureka!’ I’ve fixed it.” Medical science has done everything it can to interfere with the process. All it can do is postpone the event. Charmers can’t charm it away. No legal system can prevent it. Even our Constitutional court is hamstrung. There have been dreams of somehow discovering the “elixir of youth”. All to no avail. You and I are going to die. Only God can change it. Someday He will. Only those who are still alive at that point in time will “miss out”. (Ag shame!) People have asked, what was so serious about eating the fruit of that tree? My answer is that it was toxic. Perhaps not within 24 hours. I understand it took Satan the best part of a millennium to figure out a way to have Adam laid out. But we all have our problems and this one was uniquely Satan’s. Since then, Satan has become a bit more adept at putting a nail in our coffins. But persistence is the one virtue he emulates. So now that he knows that it takes him ±70 years, to put the X at the end of our equations. Some go a little earlier. Some go a little later. But in the end, every man-jack of us has to go! But there is an answer. Not one of our making. We need a change of ownership. Since the fall of Adam, we have all belonged to Satan. He has called the shots. Today, we can change ownership; our registration on heavens computer. Then, when we end in the junkyard of life, our owner may claim what is left over. It doesn’t take much. A bit of stray DNA is quite adequate. Then when the scrapyard hands over the bits for a fancy piece of reconstruction, the records will say, “property of Jesus Christ”. Satan will “smart” a bit. But he isn’t smart anyway! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ESV 14 Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. 10 When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Romans 6:7-11 NLT 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") 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 8:35-39 NLT	We need a change in attitude to many different things. It isn’t just a matter of angels having wings. That answer is irrelevant; they don’t affect your life. But how you love your husband, or how you love your wife, Is absolutely critical. It’s what we have to do. It is the Lord’s commandment for folk like me and you. It really doesn’t matter if the body is cremated. A grave is just an overcoat where left overs are gated. The gender’s not important. A woman or a man, Are equally significant in God the Father’s plan. We have one thing in common. Each one of us must die. It truly is a certainty. No matter how we cry. We’ll end in a container which then is put away, To be consumed by fire, or to rot and to decay. Only two have “missed it” Enoch was the first. Perhaps it was the “rapture” that had to be rehearsed? The other was Elijah, in a chariot from God. Even the Lord Jesus “died” so death’s not something odd. We have to get our wages! Death is the “price” of sin. And we are going to get them and death is going to win. There isn’t an alternative till Jesus comes again. And none of us are certain just what will happen then! We know that we will meet Him in a body that is new. What happens to the old one? Why should that bother you? Perhaps it will be left behind as no longer required. The new one will be better; that’s all that is desired. Until the day it happens, we’ll go through the routine, Of living and then dying; regardless how we’ve been. It all began when Eve thought she should alter Adam’s diet. “The snake said it will make us wise. So here’s a bit, just try it.” And so he took a little bit and tested it for taste. That’s when the Lord’s creation by sin was put to waste. We wish it hadn’t happened. But now it’s far too late. And Jesus Christ is needed to come and change our fate. So do not get excited while you’re waiting for your turn. Do you want the carcass to be planted or to burn? It really doesn’t matter. You will not feel a thing. The next thing you will know is when you meet with Christ the King! Jim Strickland Written 26th September 2012