MONDAY 19th. JULY
Genesis 18:20-32
Hell!  Don’t Believe The Devil’s Lies

A Lady once  gave me a book (“Illustrations Unlimited”) and I found the following story in it.  Two men were drinking in a bar on the top floor of a New York Skyscraper.  One of them became more mean the more he drank.  The other tried to make him smile.  It only made the mean man, meaner.  He said to the happy drunk, “Have you heard what happens to the winds when they hit all these skyscrapers?  They whirl around and cause huge updrafts.  They are so powerful that if you throw anything over the top it will come back!  Then he led the other outside and told him he would show him that what he said was true.  He jumped off the edge and fell.  When he was half way down he came up again and climbed back over the ledge.  “This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen”, the cheerful drunk exclaimed.  “Do you think I could do it too?”  “Of course you could” said the meanie.  So the man jumped over.  He fell like a rock and was splattered on the pavement below.

As the meanie went back into the bar and ordered another drink the Barman whispered to another client, “That Clark Kent really gets mean when he drinks!”

The cheerful drinker died because he believed Superman’s lies.  Many people today are heading for destruction and eternal death because they believe the devil’s lies.  The devil says to them enjoy life, don’t care about others, sin as much as you like, only think about yourself.  There is no hell.  God won’t allow anyone to be destroyed.  Don’t believe what the Bible says, it’s only a myth!  Those who believe these lies will end like Sodom and Gomorrah - utterly destroyed.  Only those who believe the Bible and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.  Just as Abraham rescued Lot and his family, so Jesus came to rescue us from Hell’s destruction.  If we trust in Him, that He died upon the cross to put us right with God, then we have the absolute assurance we will live forever.  We can take the leap of faith and He will carry us into heaven.

PRAYER: Father God, as Abraham pleaded for his relatives to be saved before you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, we plead to you for all who have not yet trusted in Jesus to save them.  Father please save them, we don’t want them to be destroyed, through Jesus our fantastic Saviour.  Amen.

TUESDAY 20TH JULY
Psalm 138
On the Day I called you answered me

The Psalmist loves God so much.  He praises God with all his heart.  Why?  Because he has experienced himself how very, very great and wonderful God is. God is so fantastic, so wonderful.  Here are some of the reasons for this. He answers our prayers.  Even though He’s the King of Kings, He makes friends with the lowest of the low.  He looks after those who love Him by preserving their lives when they are in the midst of trouble.  The most wonderful thing about God is that He has a special purpose for every one of us.  When we trust Him and follow Him, He fulfils that purpose for us. During the last century a great saint of God, George Muller of Bristol, England, set out throughout his long life to prove to many, who did not believe, how wonderful and how generous our God really is.  From the time he began his work as a Christian Minister to the time of his death when he headed orphanage houses with a couple of thousand children and an evangelistic ministry, he never asked for a penny.  He only asked the Lord for the needs of his ministry.  A year before he died, when he was 92, he was asked this question.  “Have you always found the Lord faithful to His promises?”  He replied, “Always!  He has never failed me for nearly seventy years.  Every need, in connection with this work, has been supplied.  The orphans from the first until the last numbered 9,500, but they have never wanted a meal.  Never!  Hundreds of times we have commenced the day without a penny in hand, but our Heavenly Father has sent supplies by the moment they were actually required.  There never was a time when there was no wholesome meal. During all these years I have been able to trust in God alone.  1,400,000 pounds have been sent to me in answer to prayer.”  Wow!  God really does answer prayer!

PRAYER: Father, thank you that you are a God who keeps His promises and answers prayer.  Please give me the faith that you gave to George Muller a hundred years ago.  Increase my faith that I may demonstrate to the world what a wonderful God you are because when we call to you, you answer, through Jesus Christ our generous Lord and Saviour.  Amen.

WEDNESDAY 21st. JULY
Colossians 2:6-15
Buried with Jesus, Raised with Him through Faith in the Power of God

Someone asked George Muller “What is the secret of your service for God?” “There was a day when I died, utterly died”, he replied, and as he spoke he bent lower until he almost touched the floor, “died to George Muller, his opinion, preferences, tastes and will - died to the world, its approval or censure - died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends - and since then I have strived to show myself approved only by God” (Page 225 Delighted in God - A Biography of George Muller by Roger Steer).

George Muller lived out these verses of scripture which are before us today. What a fine example for each of us to follow!  When we were baptised or when we were converted we believed that we died and were buried with Christ and were then raised with him through faith in the power of God, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. At this time we trusted in God’s power to remove self and selfish motives from the centre of our lives. This gave room for Jesus to come into our hearts and take over as the Lord of our lives.

As we continue to live in Him, rooted and grounded in Him, He gives us all the power we need to live faithful, victorious Christian lives.  Trusting only in Jesus we no longer have our faith restricted by the ideas and teachings of men which are always sceptical because they really only follow on the principles of this world.  As the fullness of God lives in Jesus so we have been given fullness in Christ. Wow! What power is available to us right now.

PRAYER: Father, because we have been baptised and converted, help us to believe that we have truly died with Jesus and it’s no longer we who live but Jesus who lives in us.  With all the power you have given may we live selfless lives, living only for you and those you have given us to serve, through Jesus our powerful Lord.  Amen.

THURSDAY 22nd. JULY
Hosea 2:14-23
I will betroth you to me forever

We began this week seeing how God will most certainly destroy all those who do not have a relationship with Him.  Then we saw how generous God is to those who love and trust Him and yesterday we were reminded of the enormous power available to us to enable us to live in a right relationship with God and each other.

Today God speaks to us through the prophet Hosea to tell us the wonderful intimacy of His relationship with us and His willingness to accept us, however unfaithful we have been. God wanted to show His people the enormous extent of His love for them, even though they kept on being unfaithful, going after foreign Gods.  He instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute.  He knew she would be unfaithful to him.

As Hosea experienced the anguish of being married to such a flirty woman, so God showed Him the anguish and His hurt because His people were abandoning Him to worship false Gods. God knew that sinful people always end up in trouble and have lots of deep valleys of unhappiness and depression in their lives.  He told Hosea He was going to use these stressful times to show Israel how great was His love for her.  He said, “I will make the Valley of Achor (which means trouble valley) a door of hope.”

As God came to the rescue of His people, He brought them into a very intimate personal relationship, making them promise to leave their false Gods and cleave only to Him.  Then He promised He would be betrothed to them forever and that their relationship would be built on righteousness, justice, love and compassion.  God said He would welcome into their intimate relationship people who hadn’t been His people and never ever before considered His loved ones.

If we look out for people who are in trouble valley and show them God’s love for them and His willingness to help them, then there is a good chance they may give their lives to Jesus and be drawn into a wonderful personal relationship with him.

PRAYER: Father, we thank you for loving us all so much, even when we are unfaithful.  When you help us through troubled times, make us all respond to you in love and be wedded to you forever, through Jesus our wonderful bridegroom.  Amen.

FRIDAY 23rd. JULY
Luke 11:14-28
The Enemy Put in His Place

Whenever God begins to work in peoples’ lives, particularly when He drives away the evil influences from them, the Devil gets active and makes his presence felt. He tries to kid people that he initiates the powerful things God is doing!  If we put our faith in Jesus and keep close to Him, He soon puts the Devil in his place.  This is because Jesus is millions and millions times more powerful than Satan!

When we see Jesus driving away evil power we have a tremendous sense of security.  As He establishes His Kingdom and takes the leadership and authority in every situation, we feel so safe and know that we are beyond harm’s reach. We have to be careful that we stay close to Jesus and are constantly filled with the Holy Spirit after we have asked Him to rid us of sin or evil influences.  Otherwise we leave ourselves open to the Devil to come back and make us seven times worse than we were before.

When Jesus is with us He is so strong that the Devil can’t get near us. If we are not 100% with Jesus, totally committed to Him, we are against Him, and then the Devil can easily take over.  To stay close to Jesus we have to help Him and gather with Him.  If we don’t gather with Him we scatter. In other words, we either bring people to Jesus or drive them away. God promises us His mighty protection.  If we are willing to hear His word, learn it and obey what it says, we will be greatly blessed and mightily protected.

PRAYER:   Father, we thank you that you are so much more powerful than the evil one.  Keep us close to you as we commit our lives to you 100%.  Thank you for protecting us and keeping us beyond the Devil’s reach, through the power of Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.

SATURDAY 24TH JULY
Luke 11:1-13
Teach us to Pray

One of the greatest preachers of all history is D.L. Moody who said, “I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher”. Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach, but only how to pray. When Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He didn’t mean it to be recited in parrot fashion, but  instead He was teaching them the pattern of prayer and the attitudes they should have in their minds when they pray.

The purpose of prayer is for us to use it to build a strong relationship with God.  We begin by showing him how very important God is to us – ‘Hallowed be your name’ - then we have an attitude of total surrender when we acknowledge him to be King and ruler of our lives. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”, so when we ask God for our daily bread we ask Jesus to come into our lives.  We don’t have to ask for anything else because He promises that when the Lord is our Shepherd we shall not be in want (Psalm 23:1).

Relationships are all important to God so we have to draw on the power Jesus released when He died on the cross to wipe out all our sins and enable us to forgive those who have hurt us in any way. Then we trust in the power of God to keep Satan at bay and stop him ruining our relationship with Him. Finally, Jesus goes on to teach that prayer is dependence on God.  Dependence makes stronger relationships.  Wives with jobs divorce much more often than those fully dependent on their husbands.  The more we make ourselves dependent on God, the stronger our relationship with Him will be.  We can do this by giving away much more than we can afford and depend on Him to supply our needs! In the parables we have read today God promises to always give to those who totally depend on Him.

PRAYER: Jesus, teach us to pray.  Show us how marvellous God is and the need to let Him rule our lives.  Come into our hearts and satisfy us completely.  Wipe out our sins as we forgive those who have harmed us.  Keep us out of the Devil’s reach and keep us forever dependent on our Heavenly Father for everything.  Amen.

SUNDAY 25TH JULY
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE

Gershan Esther, A YOUNG Muslim girl in Pakistan had a Vision in which Jesus taught her  the Lord’s Prayer.  She Had no Contact  with Christians at all .   In the vision Jesus recited all the words of the ‘Our Father’ to her.    A Christian minister she spoke to was amazed that she knew all the words of this prayer having never been taught it by any human person.  It convinced him that the vision she had received was genuine!!!   This brought home to me the
tremendous importance of this prayer.

Now let’s look at the prayer Jesus taught us and see the way Jesus wants us to pray. We begin by addressing God as FATHER which reminds us that Good wants to draw us into a very loving relationship with Himself..   Praying is building a relationship with God.  We tell Him how very special He is.  We go on to tell Him that we want Him to rule our lives and we want to do His will.

When we ask Him to give us our daily bread it means that we have a desire to be Completely dependent on Him for everything.  It also means that we want to receive His Son Jesus into our hearts for Jesus said ‘I am the Bread of Life’. The next step is to make sure our relationship with God is right by asking him to forgive all our sins .  We must remember God will only forgive us when we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.  When Jesus died on the cross He released power to take all our sins away and gave us the power to love those who hurt us and forgive them.

We then ask the Father to keep us safe from the enemy to save us from being tempted by the devil.  God is very powerful and will always make  sure we are delivered from all evil influences. When you pray this Lord’s Prayer in your own personal quiet times don’t just recite it like a parrot.   Spend time thinking about each phrase and put it into your own words. Sometimes it takes me an hour to say the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus teaches is to be persistent when we pray and to never give up.  We can be absolutely sure our prayers will be answered when we pray in  the way Jesus taught us because He promises us that if we ask for something it will be given us, If we seek God we will find Him.  When we knock on His door He will always open it. Our prayers are  answered when we have faith.   Faith Comes when we simply believe That God will always keep His promises.
 
Jesus promised that  God  would give us the Holy Spirit who would help us to pray. He said, “How much more will your Father in Heaven give the4 Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Read Romans 8: 26-27)
 

MONDAY 19th. JULY
Genesis 18:20-32
Hell!  Don’t Believe The Devil’s Lies

A Lady once  gave me a book (“Illustrations Unlimited”) and I found the following story in it.  Two men were drinking in a bar on the top floor of a New York Skyscraper.  One of them became more mean the more he drank.  The other tried to make him smile.  It only made the mean man, meaner.  He said to the happy drunk, “Have you heard what happens to the winds when they hit all these skyscrapers?  They whirl around and cause huge updrafts.  They are so powerful that if you throw anything over the top it will come back!  Then he led the other outside and told him he would show him that what he said was true.  He jumped off the edge and fell.  When he was half way down he came up again and climbed back over the ledge.  “This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen”, the cheerful drunk exclaimed.  “Do you think I could do it too?”  “Of course you could” said the meanie.  So the man jumped over.  He fell like a rock and was splattered on the pavement below.

As the meanie went back into the bar and ordered another drink the Barman whispered to another client, “That Clark Kent really gets mean when he drinks!”

The cheerful drinker died because he believed Superman’s lies.  Many people today are heading for destruction and eternal death because they believe the devil’s lies.  The devil says to them enjoy life, don’t care about others, sin as much as you like, only think about yourself.  There is no hell.  God won’t allow anyone to be destroyed.  Don’t believe what the Bible says, it’s only a myth!  Those who believe these lies will end like Sodom and Gomorrah - utterly destroyed.  Only those who believe the Bible and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.  Just as Abraham rescued Lot and his family, so Jesus came to rescue us from Hell’s destruction.  If we trust in Him, that He died upon the cross to put us right with God, then we have the absolute assurance we will live forever.  We can take the leap of faith and He will carry us into heaven.

PRAYER: Father God, as Abraham pleaded for his relatives to be saved before you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, we plead to you for all who have not yet trusted in Jesus to save them.  Father please save them, we don’t want them to be destroyed, through Jesus our fantastic Saviour.  Amen.

TUESDAY 20TH JULY
Psalm 138
On the Day I called you answered me

The Psalmist loves God so much.  He praises God with all his heart.  Why?  Because he has experienced himself how very, very great and wonderful God is. God is so fantastic, so wonderful.  Here are some of the reasons for this. He answers our prayers.  Even though He’s the King of Kings, He makes friends with the lowest of the low.  He looks after those who love Him by preserving their lives when they are in the midst of trouble.  The most wonderful thing about God is that He has a special purpose for every one of us.  When we trust Him and follow Him, He fulfils that purpose for us. During the last century a great saint of God, George Muller of Bristol, England, set out throughout his long life to prove to many, who did not believe, how wonderful and how generous our God really is.  From the time he began his work as a Christian Minister to the time of his death when he headed orphanage houses with a couple of thousand children and an evangelistic ministry, he never asked for a penny.  He only asked the Lord for the needs of his ministry.  A year before he died, when he was 92, he was asked this question.  “Have you always found the Lord faithful to His promises?”  He replied, “Always!  He has never failed me for nearly seventy years.  Every need, in connection with this work, has been supplied.  The orphans from the first until the last numbered 9,500, but they have never wanted a meal.  Never!  Hundreds of times we have commenced the day without a penny in hand, but our Heavenly Father has sent supplies by the moment they were actually required.  There never was a time when there was no wholesome meal. During all these years I have been able to trust in God alone.  1,400,000 pounds have been sent to me in answer to prayer.”  Wow!  God really does answer prayer!

PRAYER: Father, thank you that you are a God who keeps His promises and answers prayer.  Please give me the faith that you gave to George Muller a hundred years ago.  Increase my faith that I may demonstrate to the world what a wonderful God you are because when we call to you, you answer, through Jesus Christ our generous Lord and Saviour.  Amen.

WEDNESDAY 21st. JULY
Colossians 2:6-15
Buried with Jesus, Raised with Him through Faith in the Power of God

Someone asked George Muller “What is the secret of your service for God?” “There was a day when I died, utterly died”, he replied, and as he spoke he bent lower until he almost touched the floor, “died to George Muller, his opinion, preferences, tastes and will - died to the world, its approval or censure - died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends - and since then I have strived to show myself approved only by God” (Page 225 Delighted in God - A Biography of George Muller by Roger Steer).

George Muller lived out these verses of scripture which are before us today. What a fine example for each of us to follow!  When we were baptised or when we were converted we believed that we died and were buried with Christ and were then raised with him through faith in the power of God, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. At this time we trusted in God’s power to remove self and selfish motives from the centre of our lives. This gave room for Jesus to come into our hearts and take over as the Lord of our lives.

As we continue to live in Him, rooted and grounded in Him, He gives us all the power we need to live faithful, victorious Christian lives.  Trusting only in Jesus we no longer have our faith restricted by the ideas and teachings of men which are always sceptical because they really only follow on the principles of this world.  As the fullness of God lives in Jesus so we have been given fullness in Christ. Wow! What power is available to us right now.

PRAYER: Father, because we have been baptised and converted, help us to believe that we have truly died with Jesus and it’s no longer we who live but Jesus who lives in us.  With all the power you have given may we live selfless lives, living only for you and those you have given us to serve, through Jesus our powerful Lord.  Amen.

THURSDAY 22nd. JULY
Hosea 2:14-23
I will betroth you to me forever

We began this week seeing how God will most certainly destroy all those who do not have a relationship with Him.  Then we saw how generous God is to those who love and trust Him and yesterday we were reminded of the enormous power available to us to enable us to live in a right relationship with God and each other.

Today God speaks to us through the prophet Hosea to tell us the wonderful intimacy of His relationship with us and His willingness to accept us, however unfaithful we have been. God wanted to show His people the enormous extent of His love for them, even though they kept on being unfaithful, going after foreign Gods.  He instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute.  He knew she would be unfaithful to him.

As Hosea experienced the anguish of being married to such a flirty woman, so God showed Him the anguish and His hurt because His people were abandoning Him to worship false Gods. God knew that sinful people always end up in trouble and have lots of deep valleys of unhappiness and depression in their lives.  He told Hosea He was going to use these stressful times to show Israel how great was His love for her.  He said, “I will make the Valley of Achor (which means trouble valley) a door of hope.”

As God came to the rescue of His people, He brought them into a very intimate personal relationship, making them promise to leave their false Gods and cleave only to Him.  Then He promised He would be betrothed to them forever and that their relationship would be built on righteousness, justice, love and compassion.  God said He would welcome into their intimate relationship people who hadn’t been His people and never ever before considered His loved ones.

If we look out for people who are in trouble valley and show them God’s love for them and His willingness to help them, then there is a good chance they may give their lives to Jesus and be drawn into a wonderful personal relationship with him.

PRAYER: Father, we thank you for loving us all so much, even when we are unfaithful.  When you help us through troubled times, make us all respond to you in love and be wedded to you forever, through Jesus our wonderful bridegroom.  Amen.

FRIDAY 23rd. JULY
Luke 11:14-28
The Enemy Put in His Place

Whenever God begins to work in peoples’ lives, particularly when He drives away the evil influences from them, the Devil gets active and makes his presence felt. He tries to kid people that he initiates the powerful things God is doing!  If we put our faith in Jesus and keep close to Him, He soon puts the Devil in his place.  This is because Jesus is millions and millions times more powerful than Satan!

When we see Jesus driving away evil power we have a tremendous sense of security.  As He establishes His Kingdom and takes the leadership and authority in every situation, we feel so safe and know that we are beyond harm’s reach. We have to be careful that we stay close to Jesus and are constantly filled with the Holy Spirit after we have asked Him to rid us of sin or evil influences.  Otherwise we leave ourselves open to the Devil to come back and make us seven times worse than we were before.

When Jesus is with us He is so strong that the Devil can’t get near us. If we are not 100% with Jesus, totally committed to Him, we are against Him, and then the Devil can easily take over.  To stay close to Jesus we have to help Him and gather with Him.  If we don’t gather with Him we scatter. In other words, we either bring people to Jesus or drive them away. God promises us His mighty protection.  If we are willing to hear His word, learn it and obey what it says, we will be greatly blessed and mightily protected.

PRAYER:   Father, we thank you that you are so much more powerful than the evil one.  Keep us close to you as we commit our lives to you 100%.  Thank you for protecting us and keeping us beyond the Devil’s reach, through the power of Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.

SATURDAY 24TH JULY
Luke 11:1-13
Teach us to Pray

One of the greatest preachers of all history is D.L. Moody who said, “I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher”. Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach, but only how to pray. When Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He didn’t mean it to be recited in parrot fashion, but  instead He was teaching them the pattern of prayer and the attitudes they should have in their minds when they pray.

The purpose of prayer is for us to use it to build a strong relationship with God.  We begin by showing him how very important God is to us – ‘Hallowed be your name’ - then we have an attitude of total surrender when we acknowledge him to be King and ruler of our lives. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”, so when we ask God for our daily bread we ask Jesus to come into our lives.  We don’t have to ask for anything else because He promises that when the Lord is our Shepherd we shall not be in want (Psalm 23:1).

Relationships are all important to God so we have to draw on the power Jesus released when He died on the cross to wipe out all our sins and enable us to forgive those who have hurt us in any way. Then we trust in the power of God to keep Satan at bay and stop him ruining our relationship with Him. Finally, Jesus goes on to teach that prayer is dependence on God.  Dependence makes stronger relationships.  Wives with jobs divorce much more often than those fully dependent on their husbands.  The more we make ourselves dependent on God, the stronger our relationship with Him will be.  We can do this by giving away much more than we can afford and depend on Him to supply our needs! In the parables we have read today God promises to always give to those who totally depend on Him.

PRAYER: Jesus, teach us to pray.  Show us how marvellous God is and the need to let Him rule our lives.  Come into our hearts and satisfy us completely.  Wipe out our sins as we forgive those who have harmed us.  Keep us out of the Devil’s reach and keep us forever dependent on our Heavenly Father for everything.  Amen.

SUNDAY 25TH JULY
THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE

Gershan Esther, A YOUNG Muslim girl in Pakistan had a Vision in which Jesus taught her  the Lord’s Prayer.  She Had no Contact  with Christians at all .   In the vision Jesus recited all the words of the ‘Our Father’ to her.    A Christian minister she spoke to was amazed that she knew all the words of this prayer having never been taught it by any human person.  It convinced him that the vision she had received was genuine!!!   This brought home to me the
tremendous importance of this prayer.

Now let’s look at the prayer Jesus taught us and see the way Jesus wants us to pray. We begin by addressing God as FATHER which reminds us that Good wants to draw us into a very loving relationship with Himself..   Praying is building a relationship with God.  We tell Him how very special He is.  We go on to tell Him that we want Him to rule our lives and we want to do His will.

When we ask Him to give us our daily bread it means that we have a desire to be Completely dependent on Him for everything.  It also means that we want to receive His Son Jesus into our hearts for Jesus said ‘I am the Bread of Life’. The next step is to make sure our relationship with God is right by asking him to forgive all our sins .  We must remember God will only forgive us when we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.  When Jesus died on the cross He released power to take all our sins away and gave us the power to love those who hurt us and forgive them.

We then ask the Father to keep us safe from the enemy to save us from being tempted by the devil.  God is very powerful and will always make  sure we are delivered from all evil influences. When you pray this Lord’s Prayer in your own personal quiet times don’t just recite it like a parrot.   Spend time thinking about each phrase and put it into your own words. Sometimes it takes me an hour to say the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus teaches is to be persistent when we pray and to never give up.  We can be absolutely sure our prayers will be answered when we pray in  the way Jesus taught us because He promises us that if we ask for something it will be given us, If we seek God we will find Him.  When we knock on His door He will always open it. Our prayers are  answered when we have faith.   Faith Comes when we simply believe That God will always keep His promises.
 
Jesus promised that  God  would give us the Holy Spirit who would help us to pray. He said, “How much more will your Father in Heaven give the4 Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Read Romans 8: 26-27)