YOUR OPEN INVITATION

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 06 April 2013  

Hi all,

Counsellor

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed Science Fiction. I like them to be ordinary stories incorporating science fiction in a credible way. Not monsters invading from another galaxy. For, they have to be plausible, with a touch of science fictional content, that it’s almost believable. As a young man, I was drawn to the writings of Dr Isaac Asimov. He was the Author of the “Foundation” series and “I Robot”. He introduced into science fiction, what is now called the “laws of Robotics”. Strangely enough, subsequent science fiction writers have more or less observed these “laws”.

Mighty God

Why is this mentioned? In his early days as an author, just before he completed his studies, (PhD in biochemistry) he wrote a short story. It was destined to become one of the great short stories in science fiction. He mentions this in his early biography, “The Early Asimov”. He states that when he sat down to write the story, he had no idea that what he was about to write, would become what it ultimately became.

Today’s meditation is called, “Your Open Invitation”. It looks at Isaiah 9:6 and speaks of the coming Messiah. Did Isaiah know the significance of what he was writing? Probably not! At the time it meant very little. Some 2600 years later, we know that it referred to Jesus Christ. We see that his prophetic word was “right on!” Jesus Christ, the God/man. A child was born – a Son was given. The superlatives are fact! Thank You Lord. He is the One Who extends an open invitation to all, to be reconciled with God in Him.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Saturday, 06 April 2013			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	Your Open Invitation
In the Scriptures today, Isaiah 9:6 appears three times as indicated in the quote. 6 A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: (1) Wonderful Counsellor, (2) Mighty God, Everlasting Father, (3) Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 GW I’ve combined two of them to preserve the quoted Scripture portion to manageable proportions. I’ve often wondered why we are told that, 1) a child will be born for us and 2) a son will be given to us. At first I thought it was just semantics. So I consulted a couple of commentaries. The Believer’s Bible Commentary stated: The First Advent is described in verse 6a: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." The first clause speaks of His humanity, the second of His deity: Isaiah 9:6 This made a lot of sense and I’ve incorporated this into today’s meditation. Thus you find them highlighted in the Scripture portion and emphasised in the poetry portion. The meditation has been compiled as a dialog with the Lord. The two colours make it easier to follow. The topic emphasises Jesus’ Humanity and His Divinity, to assist us understand the Scripture. I wonder what was in Isaiah’s mind when he wrote this Scripture. Seldom, were the prophets even remotely aware, that their words were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I suspect that if they had been, they would have been terrified. The insight was so “normal” that they had no clue of Divine influence. I’ve noticed this in my own life. On the odd occasion when I’ve been used by the Lord in any capacity, it was so normal that I was completely unaware of what was taking place. For this I thank God. I’m sure that if something abnormal happened, whereby I was convinced that what I was about to say or do, was motivated by the Lord, I would have run away! It’s altogether too awesome to consider seriously! Many years ago I heard a man speak about this in his own life. The comments above more or less correspond with what he said. He was afraid of getting into pride. This terrifies me too. If I knew that my next few words were directly from the Lord, I think I would be struck dumb. It’s not something to brag about, but something to fear and very humbling. The meditation is an open invitation for people to come to Him. The invitation is open to us from birth to death. After that, the opportunity has gone! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			10 Those who know your name trust you, O LORD, because you have never deserted those who seek your help. Psalm 9:10 GW 5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will grow a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who will rule wisely. He will do what is fair and right in the land. 6 In his lifetime, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This is the name that he will be given: The LORD Our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5-6 GW 16 I will (go) come with the mighty deeds of the Almighty LORD. I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. Psalm 71:16 GW 23 I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life. Jer. 10:23 MSG 6 For a Child is born to us,(His Humanity) a Son is given to us.(His Divinity) The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 NLT 12 That's why I'm suffering the way I am. But I'm not ashamed. I know the One I have believed in. I am sure he is able to take care of what I have given him. I can trust him with it until the day he returns as judge. 2 Tim 1:12 NIrV 6 For a Child is born to us,(His Humanity) a Son is given to us.(His Divinity) The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 NLT 14 So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. Eph. 2:14 GW 1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Rom 5:1 NLT 10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower. A righteous person runs to it and is safe. Prov. 18:10 GW 1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! Isaiah 31:1 ESV 5 The LORD of Heaven's Armies will hover over Jerusalem and protect it like a bird protecting its nest. He will defend and save the city; He will pass over it and rescue it." Isaiah 31:5 NLT	To know Him is to trust Him. This is forever true! But you will never know Him, until He’s met with you. It seems a contradiction and also rather odd. But if we are to know Him, we first must meet with God. But where’s the invitation for us to go and meet? Is it in the market place or on a busy street? This is the burning question in more that just one sense. For if we’re not in contact, what will be your defence, If He turns round and says to you, “You never even tried, To come and meet your Maker. No effort on your side, Was made by you to contact Me. You seldom had the time, For anyone except yourself. This is your greatest crime. My doors were ever open and just one little prayer, Was all you ever needed; but you just didn’t care. There were too many baubles attracting you away! And there was never time enough to hear what I would say. You missed out on the blessings through the power of My Name. To you, your sojourn on the earth, was just a little game. And yet a child was born to you, an ordinary man.    Humsnity Deliberately chosen to fit into My plan. He had to take on Satan and never ever sin. A person fully human to represent your kin, Or He would be disqualified. An angel wouldn’t do. He had to be a person, a man the same as you. Yet in his full humanity, He had to be Divine; And so a Son was given. The only Son of Mine.     - Divinity Humanity united with Divinity in One. A sinless individual whom man could look upon. He came here as a servant. No title and no rank. And by the very life He lived, the “ship of Satan” sank! Each moment He was on the earth He had to spend with me. Yet represent your people simultaneously! So why was it so difficult? For you one little glance, Would be of such sufficiency, that you would have the chance, To live with us forever! But you would not comply. So you must reap the consequence. Indeed you have to die, Outside of the protection that I had offered you. You showed you didn’t want it; and I’ll respect your view. Your lifestyle demonstrated the way you wish to go. Do not try and lie to Me and say you didn’t know! My brother or my sister, you’ll surely rue the day, If you reject the Master before you pass away. Spend some time with Jesus. If you’ll invite Him in, You will not know the consequence of your disgusting sin. Repent and cry out to Him, to be one of His own. Then follow in obedience, the way His Word has shown, Jim Strickland Written 6th April 2012

The Lord and the Round-About

Time with Jesus - Friday, 05 April 2013  

Hi all, 

Pythagoras

Archimedes

 Attached herewith, please find a copy of my latest Daily Light Meditation in rhyme and metre.

Schooldays were fun with new things to learn and get into every day. Some things were easy. Others were not. We learned about a man called Archimedes, who had a principle. It had something to do with his getting into and out of the bath. There was another guy; an Italian called Avogadro, who had a hypothesis. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t fatal! Then we learned about another Greek, called Pythagoras. He was into trigonometry and taught us something about a squaw on a hippopotamus; and the sons of the squaws on the other two hides! It occurred to me that there were no squaws or hippopotami in Greece. So he must have been a very smart Greek indeed!

Jim & Phyllida

We did spend some time looking at a roundabout. Not the “Magic Roundabout” of TV fame. This was a very ordinary one. We would try and persuade some of the younger boys to stand on it. Then, we started pushing it round faster and faster, until they were all ejected! It had something to do with what they called centrifugal force. We were then told about another scientist called Sir Isaac Newton. He had said that for every force, there was an equal and opposite force. We tried this out on the roundabout, but never succeeded in getting anyone thrown back onto the speeding roundabout. I’m sure Sir Isaac knew this. I was never bold enough to find out why this was so. With a name like Newton he knew something. Not sure where the “ton” fits in.

Today’s meditation is about the Lord and the roundabout. The Lord was with us in School. Trouble is, we decided not to trouble Him with our troubles! The comment was, “Never trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you!” Today, all these years later, not troubling Jesus, was one of the most serious mistakes we all made.

Comments and previous Devotionals can be found on my Blog – http://jimnphyllida.blogspot.com

Please forward my poetry to others you think would enjoy it. All I ask is that it is not used for commercial purposes.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 05 April 2013			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 Lord and the Round-About
Reading today’s Scriptures gave me the sense of being on a roundabout. As a youngster, riding on one of those horses that go up and down, while we went round and round, was very popular. It was fun. It was only later in life, that I spotted the similarity between life and a ride on a roundabout. It seems to go up and down and round and round and achieve just about nothing. In October 1957, the Russians launched “sputnik 1” into orbit and initiated a space race with USA. Sputnik went round and round the earth. It continued doing so until 4th January 1958. I was almost 15 and remember going out into our backyard in Port Elizabeth, to see it as it passed over. There wasn’t very much to see. Not with the naked eye. But it was something new and I recall the media asking, how it was that the Russians achieved, this before USA? I rather suspect that US pride, in being the biggest and best, was somewhat dented. Sputnik only weighed 83.6kg. President Eisenhower’s face was a bit red! The next President was JFK. He spurred the USA on to land a man on the moon and get him home by the end of the 1960’s. They did! Also in the 1960’s, there was a play called, “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off”. I didn’t go and see it. But I can understand the sentiments. Shakespeare expressed it as follows: - “Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player that struts and fumes his hour upon the stage; and then is heard no more. A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing” (dug out from school day memories). The problem is Shakespeare was right. We must get off the roundabout! “Stop the world, I want to get off”! But we are all on the roundabout. We get on when we are born. We get off when we die. In between? Good question. Is there nothing we can do about this? Yes and no. We have to be born. Then we have to die. Die to sin. We call this conversion, or being saved. Jesus Christ made this possible. By His Spirit we are then born again. Physically it may look as though, we are still on the roundabout of life. But in and through Him, the journey of life takes on a new meaning. No longer is it pointless and meaningless. It may look the same to unbelievers. But by His Spirit, the horses become eagles and we can soar aloft, into a personal relationship with our Creator. This expands the roundabout to approach infinity and His arms are around us, to hold us and love us. Of course, Satan tries his best to “cut the power”, so that everything grinds to a halt. But as we confess our sin, repent and obtain forgiveness from Him, our new dimension hardly has time to feel the bump! All this made possible by our Saviour! Today’s meditation looks at the roundabout, our Saviour and God’s infinite qualities! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb. 12:2 ESV 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega--the beginning and the end," says the Lord God. "I am the One who is, who always was, and who is still to come--the Almighty One." Rev 1:8 NLT 4 Who has made that happen? Who has carried it out? Who has created all of the people who have ever lived? I, the LORD, have done it. I was with the first of them. And I will be with the last of them." Isaiah 41:4 NIrV 1 This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. Jude1:1 NLT 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 1 Thess. 5:24 ESV 6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. Philip 1:6 MSG 3 Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Gal 3:3 MSG 8 LORD, you will do everything you have planned for me. LORD, your faithful love continues forever. You have done so much for us. Don't stop now. Psalm 138:8 NIrV 13 That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Philip 2:13 MSG	Round and round in circles the sinful men will go! But as for destination; the Lord alone can know. They think they’re on a round-about as each of them rotate. But if they are repentant, He’ll surely change their fate. They have to do what’s needed and serve the Lord with zeal. Then Jesus, in His wondrous love, will make salvation real! He tells them all quite clearly, that if they persevere, He’ll stop the dizzy feeling and quench their every fear. For He is the beginning; He also is the end. The Alpha and Omega, on whom we can depend. He is, He was and will be. He’s the Almighty One. He’s there when time was started and will be when it’s gone. God causes things to happen and sees them carried out. The author of creation knows what this world’s about! He knows what in the papers, ten thousand years ahead! He watches us from when we’re born; and even when we’re dead, His presence will be with us. From Him, there’s no escape. He’s known us from the starter’s gun up to the winning tape. He planned His crucifixion before the worlds were made. There wasn’t any other way, His Word could be obeyed! If there had been a better way, He would have always known. And He who made the Universe has heard creation’s groan. There isn’t an alternative for us to know His peace. He multiplies our blessings and causes wars to cease. He curses disobedience, when people turn away. But He is merciful to those who turn to Him and pray. His love endures forever. His plans for us are good. And we will see them all fulfilled, if we do what we should. He doesn’t think like we do. He’s always known it all! The sins we have committed; the big ones and the small. And none of them are graded. To Him sin’s all the same. From murder in the first degree, to ogling some dame! From stealing from your mother’s purse, to rape and homicide. And He tells us the very worst is being filled with pride! And yet He takes great pleasure each time someone repents. Compassion deep inside Him permits Him to relent! His love endures forever. And He would rather be, The Saviour of His people than them lost eternally. Jim Strickland – Written 5th April 2012