Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
TO PONDER
I have just finished attending a conference with the theme of "Community and Worship". One of the speakers shared that in his opinion, the word 'worship' has lost its true meaning and it is something we need to reclaim before the word becomes meaningless. I was sceptical at first but as he continued to explain, I began to wonder if he had a point.
These days we use the word 'worship' more often as and adjective, a describing word. We have worship services, worship leaders, worship pastors, worship spaces, and worship music just to name a few. But worship was the response of the disciples to the kind of 'inexpressible and glorious joy' talked about in today's reading. Upon realising the reality of their salvation in Christ through his death and resurrection, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with 'great joy' (Lk 24:52).
Worship is not our gathering on Sunday, although our Sunday gatherings certainly involve and include worship. Worship is not the songs we sing to God, although they are one way we can try to express our inexpressible and glorious joy to God for who he is and all he has done for us. Worship is not a feeling although when we live lives of worship, we might find our feelings and attitudes change.
Worship is simply giving 'worth' and glory to God for who he is and what he has done. You can do this on your own, in your house, at the shops or anywhere else. You can do it together with other believers as you gather together in buildings on a Sunday, or as you gather together in each others homes, or at your kids sporting events or your local coffee shop. It might include singing, it might not. However you do it make sure you know what it is you are doing... You are giving your best human effort to express an inexpressible joy to an incomprehensible God for his eternally enduring love and mercy toward you. Trying to put expression to the value and importance and 'worth' of who God is and what he has done. Our worship will never be enough to fully express the worth of God and his love and grace towards us... and yet ultimately, it is all we have to give.
PRAYER: Lord God, I'm sorry when I lose sight of the glory and majesty, awe and wonder of who you are and all that you have done to claim me as your own. Please help me to grow in my understanding of how deep and wide and high your love is for me and for all people. Help me to show more of that love today and to never stop giving you all the glory. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
TO PONDER
I don't think this verse describes many people these days. How many people in your social circles would you describe as being joyful in the presence of the Lord? More likely people find the idea of Jesus and of Christianity as a killjoy or a buzzkill. The common perception these days seems to be that Jesus and his teachings - if followed correctly - inhibit us from doing whatever we want and ultimately limits our freedom and therefor our experience of Joy.
However, as any parent can tell you, not everything that a child wants to do is necessarily good for them. Part of our role as responsible parents is to help our children understand that not every desire we have as broken and filled humans is healthy or helpful and to put in place some boundaries to support healthy choices and 'fulness of life'.
God has shared the path of life with us - it is faith in Jesus; it is his presence with us by the Holy Spirit; it is in being where he is and doing what he asks us to do. When we recognise that God's heart towards us has always been one of love and care, then following Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, is not a chore or a limiting restriction of life but a loving and caring boundary in which human life can flourish and be all that God intended it to be.
What a joy it truely is to live in God's presence.
PRAYER: Gracious Heavenly Father, I know that at times I am prone to seek life and joy apart from you. I thank you for your love and mercy which invites me back into the joy of your presence through Jesus Christ. Please help me to know more deeply the joy of life in you that I may help others to also see the joy of living in your presence. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
TO PONDER
Not the reaction I would have expected from Jesus disciples. Their risen and victorious Lord leaves them and is taken up into heaven and they are filled with joy! I would have thought fear and apprehension were the more likely response.
But, having been brought to understand everything that Jesus had done and the implications of that not only for themselves, but for all of the world, they have only 2 responses, worship and joy.
I think I have shared this before, but when I got the phone call to say I had better plan a trip home because my dad was losing his battle with cancer, I got in the car and started driving. To be honest, I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind to be safe on the road but I had packed and started driving so quickly that the only CD I had in the car to play over the 6 hour drive to my parents house was a Rend Collective worship album. Worship turned my sadness and anxiety into peace and yes, even into joy as I was reminded through song that even in difficult circumstances, our God is with us. I knew God was with me, just as he was also with my dad and in some weird kind of way that made us united with Christ and I began to actually gift thanks and praise to God for all his goodness even while driving to say farewell to my dad for the last time.
I wouldn't describe my joy as great, in that circumstance, but there was a peace and an understanding that even though this life has its challenges and its inevitable end, we can still rejoice because of what Christ has done.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I know that sometimes circumstances can make you feel distant but that you promise you will be with us even to the very end of the age. When I fell alone and afraid, please help me to remember that I can always thank and praise you for all you have done for me and be brought back to joy as I praise and worship you for all you have done. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death, sadness, crying or pain because the old ways are gone. The one who was sitting on the throne said “Look, I am making everything new.” Then He said “Write this because these words are true and can be trusted.”
TO PONDER
I’m excited to be sharing these verses with you. They bring me so much joy and purpose. Not because one day we will reach such an extraordinary eternity, although that’s beyond wonderful, but for how it guides us on the journey to reaching that destiny.
The way I see it, these words are a blueprint for now. God is telling us that our grief and pain won’t last. Today more than ever, the world seems to be full of people in despair with selfish desires that can easily rub off on us. Non-Christians have very little hope, but our loving Heavenly Father tells us, in fact guarantees us, that the pain, grief and death comes to an end.
Let me tell you that during 36 hours of intense labour, if someone had told me that it was never going to end, I would have given up hours before. Instead, knowing there’s an end in sight, that gives me a joy and hope and strength to get through the here and now.
It doesn’t happen overnight but we can find purpose in our pain. We benefit from training ourselves to focus on the new way that is coming. Yes we will be impacted by the things in this world but we must focus on our future being our reality too. Find the deep joy, the grateful heart, the tolerance and love that comes from shifting our focus. How loving of God to give us this glimpse of the new way to come and to even guarantee it.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, strengthen my conviction of better things to come so that it helps me now and becomes my witness as I daily live this out through You. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum) LifeWay Online
After Jesus said this, He spit on the ground and made some mud with it, and put the mud on the man's eyes. Then He told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means sent). So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.
TO PONDER
This man was born blind. Despite the obvious evidence, the Pharisees refused to believe that Jesus had healed him. There will always be disbelievers, but that didn’t stop Jesus—because others believed. We know that God’s love for us is so great that even one new believer brings Him overwhelming joy (Matthew 18:10–14).
I have read that this man was blind not because he sinned or it was his parents’ fault, but to show what God can do. Just like this blind man, I can choose to let my life be a strong witness to what God can do—just by being available. Jesus loves to use the dull and mundane, the things that we would ignore—sticks, rocks, spit, dirt, and water. And yes, He loves to use us. Our weaknesses highlight His strengths, and we don’t need any hard-earned credentials. God turns the values of this world on its head and uses the opposite. All that He asks is that we are available and willing.
I’ve often noticed, when I am saying yes to God, that He empowers me and I feel like I have a shield of protection around me as my humble efforts are blessed, my health survives, and I’m covered in tranquility and peace that comes from above.
And another thing; do Jesus’ miracles seem hard to believe? They shouldn’t. He can—and frequently does—defy the laws of time and space and any other laws because He created them. Miracles are easily within God’s power, so go ahead and tell Him you’re available and willing, and that you need His help today.
PRAYER: Lord, may I be bold for You. Bold in my availability and bold when I need to ask for Your help. Help me ask for big things because You are bigger. Keep me mindful that it’s not about You showing up but about me opening my heart. In Your might and power, may Your will be done in my life. Amen
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum) LifeWay Online
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Christ. Through Christ, God reconciles all things to Himself, both on earth and in heaven, making peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross.
TO PONDER
Christ’s power and glory does not come from what we know but from who Jesus Christ is. As Max Lucado has said, man creates the distance – Jesus builds the bridge.
I don’t know about you but I get really worked up when someone has a grievance with me. I feel sick in my stomach. I stress. I can’t sleep. My mind keeps replaying the incident. Could I have made better choices?
Often I’m guilty of taking God’s wonderful relationship with me for granted, but then I imagine if it was God whom I had upset. And I do regularly fall short and upset Him. As I have been writing this devotion, I’ve tried to sit with this thought: the enormity of the chasm that would be ongoing between myself and God. It is unbearably painful. I think I cannot comprehend feeling like that – day after day, year after year. Estranged from God. There would be no peace, no wonderful relationship. My body would be diseased, never having any peace or joy, love or purpose.
Now the enormity of God’s gift of reconciliation hits me like a steam train at full speed. All thanks to Christ’s grace and mercy, through His death and resurrection. Because of Jesus’ suffering and friendship, we have a relationship with our Creator God. And the promises never again need to be severed. This deep and abiding reconciled relationship will follow me always.
How sad that we so easily let the earthly things – the busyness, the human pressures – distract us from God’s undeserved joy and peace and wholeness in relationship with Him.
PRAYER:Heavenly Father,Thank you for the sacrifice that Jesus fulfilled for me. What an unfathomable gift. Through Your Holy Spirit, may I live in this reconciliation more and more. In Your power and glory, I pray. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum) LifeWay Online
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
TO PONDER
This reminds me of a joke that I shared with my grandchildren recently. What is the strangest fish in the ocean...?
The piece of cod that surpasses all understanding!
Billy Graham once said, "Just as iron is attracted to a magnet, so is the soul in its state of hunger, drawn to God." There is something deep down inside of you and I that cannot be satisfied by earthly pleasures. Oh, the joy of experiencing the peace of God.
It only works for those of us who fix our minds on Him and trust His promises. This means having a steadfast mind. One that’s focused and committed to God with confident expectation. It is not a state of perfect peace without any anxiety at all, though it can be.
It’s not God making our life always easy and perfect either.
Isaiah is describing internal peace and God promises to keep us there. What sustains and upholds your mind? We cannot occasionally come to the Lord. Our minds must be stayed on Him and steadfast. Satan loves to get our mind away from God and His love for us. The battle for trust in the Lord begins in our mind. Simple intentional acts of faith give us a daily foundation i.e. prayer, meditating on scripture and surrounding ourselves with a supportive faith community.
God asks us to rely on Him completely with our minds because He is everlasting strength. Not that He has everlasting strength but He is everlasting strength. This goes a long way toward putting my heart and mind in perfect peace. How about yours?
PRAYER:Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of peace that You give to me. Your peace is a gift that transcends understanding and it is a huge comfort in times of trouble. I'm grateful for Your presence in my life, and for the strength, peace and joy that You provide. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum), LiveWay Online
Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace, be healed of your disease”.
TO PONDER
I saw a man being interviewed recently and he was asked if he believed in God 20 years ago. He said, “Oh yes, most definitely!” The interviewer then asked, “What about now?” The man thought for a moment, then said, “I don’t think I believe anymore. I just know.” This women from our Bible text just knew. If she could just touch Jesus’ coat she would be healed – and she was! Jesus affirms that it was her faith that made her well.
The Jews saw her illness as a reaction from God for her sinful ways. Not only is she in pain, but she has been deemed ‘unclean’ – unable to visit the temple or be around other people without ‘infecting’ them. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ‘healers’ also took all her money.
Jesus breaks the mould. He does not shame her or rob her. He calls her ‘Daughter’. She is the only person in the New Testament to be called ‘Daughter’ by Jesus. He commends her faith. It wasn’t perfect, but she saw Jesus, she knew she needed Him, and she had the boldness to claim Him. It’s not our action either, but our faith, that speaks to Jesus. The wonder of it is, Jesus also calls us ‘Sons and Daughters’.
PRAYER: Lord, strengthen my faith in you. Open my heart to the ways of your Holy Spirit. Help me to daily dwell in You more and to trust in You more. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum) LifeWay Online
He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds.
TO PONDER
It has been my experience that those logs in our eyes that God speaks about in Matthew 7:3-5, are very real. Often, we are unaware of the brokenness of our own hearts.
We caring Christians are often the first to help with someone else’s pain, but God implores us to slow down and to spend dedicated time with Him so that we can receive His healing for our broken hearts and place our trust in His love.
God sees right in there. He knows things about us that we don’t know about ourselves. He sees the confusion and mess of our thoughts; the brokenness and pain from a not-so perfect life.
Having your broken heart bandaged by none other than God Himself - surely that encourages your soul! God longs to comfort and restore us. Remember that log? It’s worth asking God, “Does my heart need help?” With out willingness and trust, and God’s healing, our whole life can be taken to a new and glorious level. Mine has. Ask God to lead you into healing and wholeness today.
PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, that you don’t just heal me. You care enough to bind up my wounds. Heal the wounds of our nation and world; of our churches; our families; and for each of us experiencing broken hearts and deep wounds. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Jill von Stanke (Pastor Mat's mum), LifeWay Online