Pentecostal Devotions

Finding Our Everpresent God

by Craig Bennett

During the class lecture on Wednesday 26th of August, Dreu Harrison said,

When we find God, we find what we are looking for!

When we find what we are looking for we don’t like it!

This quote made me laugh and write it down, for it explains a lot about human nature. Scripture says that “God moves through, in, and over all things”( Eph 4:6) and that “eternity is written upon our hearts” (Ecc 3:11). This describes the constant shifting and seeking in our lives to find what satisfies us, while consistently failing to do so. We buy the new car, the new house, the new ring, suite of clothes, new job, seeking that promotion, and even a new partner, seek the next experience which appeases the appetite for a short time, burying the uneasiness – that deep within we are still not fulfilled.

There is a process of finding God – and it really is not that we have found him, for God has never moved; rather, we become aware of his reality in our life as he draws us to himself. Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit will convince us of our sinfulness, of the truth and our need for Christ (John 16:8), slowly making us aware of the Godless void within us, that is crying out to be filled.

Then when we discover God is that only person who can fill that void, we discover that we don’t like what we have found, for God beckons us to die, to lay our lives down for him – and we are no longer free to seek our own way, rather to continually allow God’s Spirit his way in our life, alongside the constant tension of the now and the not yet, of knowing God and yearning to know him more, to have more of him in our lives, never satisfied with yesterday’s presence, not satisfied with today’s presence, looking forward to tomorrow with the yearning for the fulfilment of eternity still burning brighter in our hearts, coupled with a contentment of truly knowing that we have truly found what we were looking for.

Use Me: A Lifestyle Acceptable to the Lord

by Warren Richardson

Isaiah 58 is truly an amazing passage: Isaiah uses a set of questions to describe what is the acceptable fast to Yahweh, and from verse 1 to the end of verse 5, we see that the people believe that they have been doing what the law requires, and are expecting for God to rain down knowledge and blessings on them for one day of servitude or fasting. But we also see that the rest of the time there is quarreling, fighting, harsh treatment of their workers and general displeasure that God’s not doing enough for them!

Isaiah asks “Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?”

In verses 6 to 14 Isaiah uses a question again but this time it’s a prophetic vision showing genuine repentance and a completely changed lifestyle that is a true and acceptable fast “unto the Lord”. This reminds us now and the people of the day back in Isaiah’s time that our service and worship should be a heart response of love, to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor, those who are in need or down hearted, to treat others with grace, dignity, and to be patient and love others with actions and truth.

By doing this we will see the day of change, we will find our joy in the Lord, and God will be able to guide us and satisfy our needs in a sun scorched land, even our Australia.

So let us humble ourselves and share our food, our shelter, our finances and not turn away from our brothers and sisters so that God’s light can break forth each dawn and we can call to God and he will hear us and then we can say to Him “Here I am Lord, use me”.

The Evangel

by Carissa Miller

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17

An evangel is a scroll. On it is recorded a testimony of the victory from a battle. Old Testament kings such as Saul or David would have received these with each battle victory. The evangelist would carry the scroll, the evangel, to the king and present the good news of the battle victory by reading the account presented on the evangel to the king himself. 

God has provided us with a testimony of the battle He has won victoriously through Jesus Christ. The gospel is our evangel. What should we do with it?   

Proclaim it without shame and boldly to all who will hear it! It is the most amazing account in all the world. It is the greatest battle ever fought or won. It is the proclamation that we should carry proudly and with great haste, to the one we are to share it with, just as the evangelists did.

Who are we meant to share it with? Everyone! To those who know the story, have heard it, and have accepted it, it can be a source of encouragement because of the greatness of such an awesome God. In those who hear it for the first time or with clarity for the first time, it will not be sown in vain: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed…”  “…it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”   

God’s Word and His testimony of the blood of Jesus Christ contains eternal power that penetrates a body’s soul, produces miraculous healing and transformation, and imparts God’s very being, the Holy Spirit! How could we ever deny this to anyone!? Especially once we have experienced this insane encounter ourselves.   

Father God, grant us the courage and obedience to boldly and graciously proclaim your gospel to the world. Help us to carry your evangel proudly and share it with all who will listen. Lord, do not allow us to determine who will hear it, but help us to abandon preconceptions of people we meet and those we already know and allow you room to move and to stand between us. Jesus be glorified! Praise you LORD may your victory and love be known and may your testimony resonate throughout all the earth. May our voices amplify your message. Amen!

Ethics of the Heart

by Caroline Quek

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward everyone according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. Jeremiah 17:9-10.

What is in the heart of humankind? Many times we start things with the purest of intentions (or so we think), but along the way allow the circumstances around us to cloud our thinking. This prevents us from having the ability to have a realistic reflection of our motives, giving us the inability to evaluate our tendency in the engagement of ethics. Why would someone embark on theological studies? A popular answer would be to answer God’s call to ministry, and theological training is a form of preparation for it. As for me, am I doing it out of a love for God, or is it because I know that it is the right thing for me to do (Moral, Virtues etc)? Maybe it is the avoidance of ‘punishment’ from God and the longing for rewards from Him, both in the present and the future (Consequences). In terms of ethics, am I engaging in teleological or deontological ethics? Probably both.

I used to think that ministry is always a ‘God-thing’, but I’ve come to realize that there are other factors to it. Do people go into ministry, with the sole purpose to love and to obey God? One can’t deny the social status, recognition, prestige and power that come together with the label of being a Christian ‘minister’ or ‘pastor’. To a certain extent, everyone longs to have power (at every level; social class, age group etc); otherwise, why do people get annoyed when things are not going their way? Perhaps it points us back to the insecurity in us. It is an irony where the more insecure we are, the more control we want; yet at the same time, having more control does not make us more secure. The good news is that we have God, and it is only in Him that we are truly secure. Who can understand our deceitful heart, but God?

Father, test and purify our hearts that we may find greater security and identity in you alone.

Truly Worshipful Behaviour

by Cameron Thompson

The book of Isaiah is full of the thundering judgements of a righteous and angry God against Judah. The prophet likens them to the godless cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord even tells them that he hates their sacrifices, their festivals, and their worship that is supposedly in honour of him. He tells them that he is not even listening to their prayers. Perhaps we can better understand this if we imagine the message of Isaiah 1:10-20 thus:

“The multitude of your services,

What are they to me?” says the Lord

“I have more than enough of your choruses,

Your building funds and offerings,

Your conferences, your concerts,

Have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing endless teachings,

And your mid-week assemblies”

It was God himself who first instituted the sacrifices and worship practices of the children of Israel. But in this instance, he is rejecting them. We know that God delights in the praises of his people, and worship of many forms is encouraged throughout the Scriptures. However, whether it was the temple then or the church today, worship must extend beyond the four walls of the building. The worship that is most pleasing to God is neither burnt offerings, nor words sung. The worship is in the right behaviour, living with integrity, helping the needy, and seeing justice done. This kind of worship will verify the religious acts of worship and fellowship. This right behaviour was lacking in Judah, and so their worship counted for nothing in the sight of God. Thankfully, God always presents the opportunity for forgiveness through repentance.

Father, help our worship to go beyond rituals and short term outward actions – may it also transform our very hearts so that the way we live every moment of our lives can increasingly reflect your integrity and concern for people who are needy and oppressed.

By the Holy Spirit…

by Jessica Edward-Paul

Not by force, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 4:6

One thing really stood out to me in Cross Cultural Communication on Friday’s lecture: the Holy Spirit is powerful. I knew the Holy Spirit is powerful and can influence and impact lives in ways we could never even imagine, but on Friday, I really came to realize that we are mere vessels- a fragment of the plan that God has for someone’s life when we share the Gospel to that person.

By analyzing the Engel Scale on Friday, we were able to learn and observe the different estimated stages that one develops into through the process of salvation. What I came to realize on Friday was that nothing we do - absolutely nothing - has any significance or impact or effectiveness without the Holy Spirit. Jesus described the Holy Spirit as our Counselor, our Guide - the One who is continually with us and alongside us helping us in our daily walk. He is also with those who do not realize He is with them. So when we come to share the Gospel with these people, the Holy Spirit is already there working in their hearts. We are only a very small part of the miracle that God performs when a person asks Jesus to take control of their life.

This is extremely significant to me as I think of those around me who are yet to accept Jesus. I know that every time I say something that is relevant to the Gospel, every time that I act out of love in a difficult situation, every time I lend a helping hand when no-one else will reach out - each of these seeds are planted in that person; and because I know that the Holy Spirit has such a significant part to play in the salvation of a person,  I can have confidence that He will take what I have said or done and cause it to be impacting and effective in that person’s life.

I cannot force the Gospel onto anyone. If I try, I wouldn’t be surprised if the effect was very negative. Instead, it is God’s Spirit - the Holy Spirit - that produces life in a lifeless form. It is the Holy Spirit who gently convicts someone of their wrongdoings; and it is the Holy Spirit who ultimately has the greatest impact on a person. Therefore, with this being said I must make a conscious choice to grow in the Spirit each day - to learn more and more about Him and learn to hear His voice clearly. Then I can be sure that I will be as effective as I can be in spreading the Good News around the world.

Obedience vs Sacrifice

by Felicity de Sauty

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

1 Samuel 15:22

Here, Samuel is speaking to Saul who has just returned from a mission to destroy all the Amalekites. God called Saul to destroy all the sinners and everything within the land.  Saul, however, brought back the choice sheep and lambs to use as an offering unto God. In reading the passage, we see that Saul is sacrificing to God with a heart of disobedience. Saul is almost blind to this fact, yet it is fundamental to him losing his place on the throne. After God reveals his remorse to Samuel about Saul being King and as Samuel approaches Saul after this revelation, Saul greeted Samuel cheerfully saying “I have carried out the Lord’s command!’ Not only is he blind to the fact that he has disobeyed the Lord, he is deceived. God called Saul to annihilate the Amalekites and everything they owned. Saul takes it upon himself to keep the choice fat of the sheeps and lambs to use as an offering unto God. Now. God was so pained by this act of disobedience. Why we ask? Didn’t God create the idea of offerings and delight in them? Saul misunderstood the meaning behind sacrifice, even to the point he was using it as a memoir of the great exploits he had undertaken. Our sacrifice to God is a sign of reverence to his position of power in our lives. Everything we have is His.

Can we become so comfortable with our systematic sacrificing that we lose the desire and urgency of obedience unto God? In this day in age, we can choose what we sacrifice to God, how we sacrifice it and how often. Let’s not go too far here, sacrifice IS a sign of honour and is part of what we are called to do.  As Christians, however to OBEY is to give over the right to call the cards, the temptation to pick the parts we like. God may and most probably will call you to obey in an area you are probably unwilling to sacrifice. This is where obedience takes the greater importance over sacrifice. We sacrifice in an act of obedience. What is sacred to the sacrifice is not the sacrifice in itself but the act of obedience. Therefore if God is calling us to obey in an area in which we are fearful and we choose to sacrifice something else in its place, however honourable or wonderful the sacrifice is, we are still acting in disobedience.

When we worship or approach the altar, are we giving what is in our hands with disobedient hearts? It seems strong and even harsh but obedience to God is huge. You see, Saul DID set out to do the job. He was called to kill the Amalekites and he did. He just didn’t finish well. His obedience failed to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. Thanks be to God, we are living under his grace. He knows we will stuff up and that we will. God is looking for hearts that are totally devoted to Him, hearts that desire his glory above all, and will give it all up to obey him so that His will may be done on Earth. It will cost. However, the cost of obedience is an honourable sacrifice to make. 

Rest in Any Culture

by Jared Mitchison

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for you souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28

In reflecting on this passage of scripture I can only imagine how powerful and significant it is for those serving the Lord in a land that is not their own. Being away from those familiar things which have been a constant in their life such as family and friends, it must be difficult to adjust.

Things discussed in class which are related to cultural stress which included things such as fatigue, disorientation, feelings of failure and constant non verbal affirmation just to name a few. It’s in those times when we are burdened and feeling weary that we can come to Jesus and rest in his love for us.

Jesus doesn’t see us as a failure but he sees us as children of God who can do all things through him. By keeping close to Jesus in those times on the mission field or even in our day to day lives off the mission field, we will ensure that we are not serving him in our own strength but we are in total reliance and dependence on Jesus.

This passage encourages me because I realize that in life and ministry I am never alone, I have a companion alongside me encouraging me to keep going. Yes expect to have to adjust to cultural circumstances and be aware they exist, but by fixing our eyes on Jesus I think it goes a long way to perhaps minimizing some of the potential elements of cultural stress.

A Transformed World

by Victor Chandra

“…for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord like the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9, NIV)

Isaiah 11:1-16 is a passage concerning the hope of the royal Messiah extended to the remnant of Israel. It is understood as a word of promise for the troubled day of the Assyrian threat and hence for the present, but also to a large extent contains in itself clear signs that its fulfillment is for time yet to come. Such hope is a living, dynamic, and ever-present assurance for the people of God. As such, the passage speaks as much to the church of today as in the prophet’s time.

Interestingly enough, the eschatological hope uttered by Isaiah can be said to be earth-oriented. That is it is nothing less than the anticipation of a new creation as it is clearly promised that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. Just like the waters cover the sea very well, that is, it fills the sea to the fullness of its capacity, the knowledge of God will be enjoyed to its fullest extent in every place on earth. This is a promise of a transformed kosmos which the world is hungering to experience.

One day political and social peace, justice and righteousness will take place here on earth as the result of the reign of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. What’s more, in that Day no longer will there be a free trade but rather a fair trade. Therefore, far from being a religion that rescues people from a flawed creation, Christianity affirms that there will be a transformed kosmos, and that is at the heart of Christian mission in the world and all Christian living. In other words, Christians do believe that one day “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). This is an assured eschatological hope shared by the prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul, and all those who believe in Christ.

God as Faithful

by Emma Watson

I was listening to a CD recently with some favorite classic hymns on it and when the hymn ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ came on I was struck by how true and powerful those lyrics are: “All I have needed thy hand hath provided, Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me”. Upon reflecting on this it really resonates with me – God is faithful. Throughout scripture we see so many examples of God’s faithfulness; He fulfills His promises time and again.

The Lord is faithful to all his promises

and loving toward all he has made.

The Lord upholds all those who fall

and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you,

and you give them their food at the proper time.

(Psalm 145:13b-15)

I love Psalm 145 because it declares God as God and exalts His name and speaks of His goodness and faithfulness. The Psalmist draws out some of the character and nature of who our great God is by showing Him as majestic, powerful, righteous, loving, gracious, compassionate, mighty, faithful, provider, near, and shows Him as comforter. The imagery used in this Psalm is so powerful and encapsulates God as the great and mighty King – high above all else; and also shows God as compassionate and caring and personal.

Sometimes in our lives it can be hard to see the faithfulness of God and the challenge for us is to believe and declare His faithfulness in times of hardship – to know He has a perfect plan and He is always faithful.

When I meditate on this Psalm the response caused in me can only be worship to our great God because He is good and faithful; it is in Him I can have full confidence and trust.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

(Psalm 145:21)