WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST

Devotion for Friday December 23, 2016

Topic: WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST           

Text: Jonah 2:1 – 10                    

We know Jonah as one who ran away from his call but here is an important lesson Jonah learnt which he shared with us. The lesson is what we should do when we seem to have lost all hope. He tells us that when we are in despair and hopeless situations, there is a place to anchor our hope, trust and confidence. That place is in Christ Jesus (Hebrew 6:17–20). See Psalm 18:6, 118:5; 120:1 and 2 Samuel 22:7. Can you notice the similarities in all? They all cried and God heard them. Note that Jonah prayed when all hope was lost and God heard him.

Are you in distress and hopeless situation? Have all people you hoped on, disappointed you? Are you contemplating of quitting or committing suicide because you have not achieved what you thought you could achieve this year? My dear, you can still anchor your hope on Him that cannot fail; Christ who died that we might have life. The courage of Horatio G. Spafford, the writer of the hymn “It is well with my soul”, who lost his four daughters in a single day, with the wife escaping death by whiskers, should encourage you when you come to hopeless situation. Sing that Hymn “It is well with my soul” before prayer.

Food for Thought: Church Hymnal 363 – It is well with my soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night, oh my soul! (Source - Wikepedia)

Memory verse: Jonah 2 verse 7

Prayer: Lord God, as I meet with hopeless situations in life, may I lift up my voice to you because you are the only hope I have.

A BAD TESTIMONY: Devotion for Monday September 14, 2015

A BAD TESTIMONY      Monday September 14, 2015

Text: Ezekiel 3:1 – 9         Memory verse: v 7

Ezekiel was told that he will receive the truths of God as the food for his soul, and to feed upon them by faith, and he would be strengthened. Gracious souls can receive those truths of God with delight, which speak terror to the wicked. Ezekiel must speak all that, and that only, which God spoke to him. How can we better speak God's mind than with his words? If disappointed as to his people, he must not be offended but warn them out of love.

God gave a testimony about Israel that they will not repent because of their impudent and hard-heartedness. What testimony can God give about you? The people of Nineveh repented after Jonah had preached but Israel was unwilling to do same. Are you like that who will not be moved despite all the preaching you hear? The testimony of God is what matters about us.

Food for Thought: What can God say about you today?

Prayer: God my Father, grant me the heart to believe, fear and honour you

Salvation is of God

SALVATION IS OF GOD            Monday June 22, 2015

Text: Jonah 2:1 – 10               Memory verse: v 9

When you encounter God in a wrong way you will always have a sad story to tell (compare Matthew 21:44). The experience of Jonah when he tried to flee from God is what no other sensible person will want to pass through. For trying to flee from the call to go to Nineveh, God ordered a big fish to swallow Jonah (1:17). He prayed inside the belly of the fish acknowledging God’s power and supremacy over all His creatures and asked Him for deliverance and he will make sacrifice to Him.

Our deliverance from danger, preservation of life, recovery from sickness, and redemption of the soul from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, is from God. He alone is the Saviour; He alone is the Deliverer; for all salvation is from the Lord. When we have proper understanding of this very fact, it will make us always to go to Him when the need arises.

Obviously, Jonah was not in a position to bargain with God again. Instead, he simply thanked God for preserving his life in the belly of the fish while asking for his deliverance. Our troubles should cause us to cling tightly to God, not attempt to bargain our way out of the pain. We can thank and praise God for what He has already done for us, and for His love and mercy and the ones He will still do. This will be a tonic to releasing the blessing of God upon our lives.

Food for Thought: “Salvation comes from God alone” – Latin Phrase

Prayer: My God and my Father, salvation belongs to you alone. Grant me that salvation of eternal life and deliverance over my problems and fears.  

YOU CANNOT RUN FROM GOD

YOU CANNOT RUN FROM GOD        Sunday June 21, 2015

Text: Jonah 1:1 – 10                          Memory verse: v 3  

We can never run away from God when He has purposed to do anything with us. When determined, He will surely make us bend to His purposes. Any act to revolt from Him ends in regrets. It is better to respond to God’s assignment and call on our own rather than run away and God uses force to get us into His will. He may crush us in the process. The story of Jonah is well known to us. Jonah knew that God had a specific job for him, but he didn’t want to do it. God had sent him to Tarshish. Tarshish is in the south of Spain, north-west of the straits of Gibraltar and could be one of the Phoenicia’s western ports. Nineveh was toward the east. Jonah decided to go as far west as he could.

When God gives us directions through His word, sometimes we run in fear or in stubbornness, claiming that God is asking too much. The area God gives instruction may be to preach to or pray for someone, give something to support His work, extend hands of charity to people, etc. Such instructions should be carried out to the letter. It may have been fear or anger at the God’s mercy that made Jonah run, but running got him into worse trouble. At last, Jonah understood that it was best to do what God asked in the first place. By then he had paid a costly price for running. It is far better to obey from the start than run.

Foods for Thought: It is vain thought to flee from the work that God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found-in loving obedience – Eliot.

Prayer: Grant me the grace O Lord to obey your instructions