DIG for Tuesday the 5th of December…..what they tried to get under the Old we now have under the New…..Philippians 4 v 13

I noticed today a few Scripture references inside the cover of my Bible this morning; I’d not seen them for a while!

They were Psalm 22 v 3, then Psalm 16 v 11 and Nehemiah 8 v 10.

I remembered that this was a model for me to use to receive strength.

If I worshiped the Lord I would receive His presence (Psalm 22 v 3), I would then receive joy through His presence (Psalm 16 v 11) and through this joy would receive strength (Nehemiah 8 v 10).

Now this may sound good, and I thought it was at the time when I wrote these verse on the inside cover of my Bible.

However today I realised that I don’t need this model anymore, as these verses are Old Covenant verses and I live under grace, under the New Covenant.

As a born again, spirit filled believer I already have joy, as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 v 22).

As a born again, spirit filled believer I always have His presence as He says He will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13 v 5).

Because of His presence I now have the strength to achieve all things (Philippians 4 v 13).

Now I am not saying we should not worship, of course we should, however we now worship because we have strength, joy and His presence, not to receive these things.

What I used to try and achieve through worship (His presence, joy and strength) I now have all the time as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus and His finished work.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Your continual presence, for Your strength and for the fruit of the Spirit”.

Philippians 4 v 13…..I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me

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DIG for Thursday the 14th of September…..stop trying to get God to come back when He has never left…..Hebrews 13 v 5

Our church meetings are held in an old warehouse and as such it is quite a cold building.

There is an open fire there that has been repaired recently so we had the fire on last Sunday.

However we are now looking at changing the seating arrangements as the fellowship are currently sitting quite far away from the fire and not feeling the full benefit.

Now you would think I was stupid if I were to rip out the fire and relocate it closer to where the people are sitting.

Of course we are going to move the seats closer to the fire so that the people can be warmer.

We will also ensure that there are no blockages stopping the heat from radiating out.

But when it comes to God some of us in the church seem to think differently.

If we are not “feeling” God we think He has removed Himself from us, and we pray for Him to “turn His face toward us” or “come and be with us”.

We try and get God to move back towards us.

This is like trying to move the fire!

What we should do is remove any blockages we have put in the way of our relationship with God.

We should then move closer to Him, in terms of spending more time with Him, praying or reading His Word.

God said He would never leave us nor forsake us, so let’s stop thinking He has.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you promised you would never leave me nor forsake me”.

Hebrews 13 v 5…..Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee

DIG for Tuesday the 29th of August…..always with us, but no footprints…..Hebrews 13 v 5

I’m just back from a lovely walk along the beach with my darling Nunsy, and was reminded about a poem I used to see in Christian bookshops a number of years ago.

It was the “footprints” one; do you remember it?

The one where there were two sets of prints, except when He carried us.

It came to my mind as I was trying to catch up with Nunsy after taking some photos.

I was walking behind here on the sand and of course I saw her footprints.

Now, as I was pondering this “footprints” poster I had the thought that it was actually theologically unsound!

There of course would only ever be one set of footprints and that would be ours, as Jesus is not walking with us, He is in us via the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Wherever we go He goes; He said He will never leave us nor forsake us; He is always in us through His Holy Spirit (Hebrews 13 v 5).

We are His ambassadors here in earth representing Him everywhere we go simply by taking His presence with us (2 Corinthians 5 v 20).

I understand the sentiments on the “footprints” poem, but never really liked it to be honest.

I prefer the cartoon where Jesus said He hid us in a sand hole while He went for a hot dog (that’s a joke by the way).

The truth is that Jesus via the Holy Spirit is in us, and goes wherever we go, whether He leaves footprints or not is irrelevant.

If we are born again He is with us always, and that is a promise.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you are always with me and thank you that you will never leave me nor forsake me”.

Hebrews 13 v 5…..Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, not forsake thee

DIG for Monday the 7th of August…..we may make Him sad but He will never depart from us…..Hebrews 13 v 5

I’ve been reading through Ephesians 4 again, getting ready for my next message at MGF, and have been considering the phrase, ‘grieve the Holy Spirit’.

I’ve heard many different, and some frightening, interpretations of this scripture.

I’ve been told that the Holy Spirit will depart from me if I grieve Him, but the Word says He will never leave me nor forsake me, so I knew that was not true.

So what does grieving the Holy Spirit mean?

Looking at the Greek we can see the meaning of the Word grieve; it means to make sad or sorrowful.

I can accept that there are things that I would do that would make The Lord sorrowful.

I am a husband, father and grandfather, and there have been times that my family have done things that have made me sad and sorrowful.

Their actions however did not stop me from loving them or make me want to leave and not see them.

The same is true for the Holy Spirit.

As one of the Trinity He is God and He loves us.

We can do things that are not of Him and would grieve Him (or make Him sad and sorrowful) but His love never wavers and He will never depart.

God’s view of us and His love for us are not affected by our performance.

He does not love us any more or any less depending on what we do.

Of course, we should want to please Him but He will not stay or leave depending on what we do.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you love me and will never leave me nor forsake me”.

Hebrews 13 v 5…..Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee

DIG for Friday the 20th of November…..He is saying the same today…..John 1 v 43

I love reading about Jesus and really appreciate the simple way that He spoke.

He did not use big theological terms and did not complicate things, and He spoke in a simple way using easy to understand pictures and analogies.

The words He used to invite men to become His disciples are amongst the simplest.

“Come and see” and “Follow me” were His words (John 1 v 39 and 43).

And these are words that He still uses today.

He wants men to come to Him (He wants all men to come to Him) and see Who He is and what He has done.

He then wants men to follow Him.

The miracles and wonders performed by Jesus are written in the Word to point men towards Jesus, and in turn to make men believe (John 20 v 31).

Men today can still look to Jesus through His Word (and of course through His followers) and then start to follow Him themselves.

To follow in this context means to accompany, to travel together as it were.

Once you trust and believe in Jesus He is always with you and will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13 v 5).

He will always be with you and you will always accompany or follow Him.

“Come and see what I can do and then be with Him” is the request that He gave to those He had chosen as His disciples and it is the same request He gives to every man today.

Our role in this “process” is to show people Jesus, to give them the chance to choose Him for themselves.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for Jesus and thank you for His wonderful works that we see In Scripture”.

John 1 v 43…..The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me

DIG for Thursday the 12th of March…..asking the Holy Spirit to come is a silly thing to do…..John 14 v 16 and 17

If we truly understood our Bibles we would stop saying some silly things.

For example we would stop saying, “come Holy Spirit”, we would stop asking the Lord to “open up the heavens and send your Holy Spirit”.

If we just thought for one minute we would realise what a ridiculous statement this really is.

In His last big “monologue” to His disciples Jesus told them that there was another coming after he went away.

He would be called the Comforter, obviously meaning the Holy Spirit, and we indeed see Him coming at Pentecost in the Book of Acts.

What we do not see in the rest of the Bible is the Holy Spirit going back!

He did not go back so logically He cannot come again; He has always been here from that day mentioned in Acts chapter 2.

Jesus said that He would abide with us forever (John 14 16).

God told us that as believers, He would never leave us nor forsake us and this is also clearly talking about the Holy Sprit (Hebrews 13 v 5).

A more appropriate statement would be to thank The Lord for His presence via the Holy Spirit.

Thank Him that He is always with us, even when we do not feel it.

Thank Him for His continual guidance even when we are not listening or hearing.

If we are asking for God to open the heavens and send His Spirit what we are saying (maybe not consciously) is that He has left us for some reason.

We are saying that He has gone away and we want Him to come back, and that is wrong, wrong thinking.

Under the new covenant the Holy Spirit is with us and in us, we have all we need inside us.

He is not out there somewhere waiting to be asked in or invited to our meetings; He is here.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that through your Holy Spirit you are always with us, and thank you that you will never leave us nor forsake us”.

John 14 v 16 and 17…..And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you

 

DIG for Monday the 26th of January…..if He has asked you to go, He will provide…..1 Kings 17 v 3 and 4

“You go before me, You’re there beside me

And if I wander love will find me.

Goodness and mercy will always follow,

You go before me, my Guardian”

This is the chorus of “Guardian” by Ben Cantelon, and this song is very special to me at the moment.

It speaks of a faithful God, who is always with us, who will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13 v 5).

Indeed, it speaks of a God who goes before us having prepared a way through a plan and purpose for our lives (Jeremiah 1 v 5 and Isaiah 49 v 1).

It speaks of a God who wants the best for us, looking out for us, giving us only good things (James 1 v 17).

It speaks of a God who provides for us, who wants us to live in health and prosperity (3 John v 2 and John 10 v 10).

It speaks of a God who provides, if He tells you to do something and you obey, He will provide all that you need!

God told Elijah to go to the brook, where the birds would provide food for him (1 Kings 17 v 3 and 4).

Elijah obeyed and he was provided for supernaturally.

If God has asked you to do something for him He will provide for you, He will give you what you need, in fact he will prosper you so that you can give to others.

The Lord is good, good, good!

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that you are so good to me, thank you for all that you have done and are doing for me”.

1 Kings 17 v 3 and 4…..Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there

DIG for Friday the 10th of October……you are greater than the greatest OT prophet…..Luke 7 v 27

Luke 7 v 27 is a wonderful description of the awesome gift that we have been given due to the fact that we are believers living under the new covenant.

Jesus is saying that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet ever born; He is talking about this under the old covenant at a time when men could not be “born again” as we can be.

The prophets under the old covenant could not be new creatures, with their new spirit created in righteousness and true holiness (2 Corinthians 5 v 17 to 21 and Ephesians 4 v 24).

The prophets under the old covenant could not be baptised in the Holy Spirit and have His presence with the assurance that He will never leave (Acts 2 v 4 and Hebrews 13 v 5).

The prophets under the old covenant could not be called sons of God, be adopted into the family of Father God becoming joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8 v 14 to 17).

You my friend are all of the above!

In that sense you are greater than the greatest old covenant prophet.

You are now living under grace, under the new covenant; you are in the Kingdom and you are greater even than John the Baptist.

That is not me saying that, Jesus said it (Luke 7 v 27).

It is time to stop putting yourself down, to stop thinking how unworthy you are, to stop measuring yourself against anyone.

YOU ARE GREAT!

You are righteous, filled with the Holy Spirit and a joint-heir with Christ in the family of God; of course you are great

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ I now live under grace in the new covenant”.

Luke 7 v 27…..For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he

DIG for Thursday the 25th of September…..we can be of good cheer, with no fear, in all situations…..Mark 6 v 50

We have to be honest and admit that life does not always go the way we would like or had planned.

Troubles do come our way; indeed the Word says that we will have trials and tribulations (called persecution) if we are living a Godly life (2 Timothy 3 v 12).

However even in times of trouble we can stay in a positive frame of mind, we can be of good cheer.

In Mark 6 we see the disciples in a boat during a storm, and they are at the point of sinking.

They are very troubled and concerned, and at this point Jesus walks on the water and speaks to them.

He tells them to cheer up (Mark 56 v 50).

He then tells them why they can cheer up; He says I am here so there is no need to fear.

Fear is a terribly negative emotion, but it is an emotion (or reaction) that as believers we do not need to have.

We can be assured that as born again believers Jesus is with us and will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13 v 5).

We can be assured that He has our best interests at heart (3 John 2).

We can be assured that He will speak to us and guide us through any storm that comes our way.

If we truly believe in Jesus and His finished work what do we have to fear?

Even if persecution kills us we know what awaits us in eternity!

Fear can be eliminated from our lives and replaced with good cheer when we meditate upon, believe and understand the truth about Jesus and what He has done for us through His finished work.

If we understand that we have been reconciled to God, forgiven of all our sin and made righteous in the eyes of God what can make us fear; knowing all this will result in us being of good cheer.

If you are in a storm or troubles or pain this morning, please focus on Jesus and what He has done for you.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord for the finished work of Jesus and thank you that I have been reconciled, forgiven and made righteous”.

Mark 6 v 50…..For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I: be not afraid

DIG for Saturday the 14th of June…..be strong and of good courage…..Joshua 1 v 9

When I was training to be a manager many years ago I was given some great advice about what to do when I was teaching people; the course facilitator said to me “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you have just told them”.

In other words use repetition to press home something important.

When the Lord spoke to Joshua after the death of Moses He repeats the same advice three times in a very short space of time (Joshua 1 v 6 to 9).

In 4 verses He tells Joshua to be of strong and to be courageous.

Do you think this was important for Joshua to hear?

Of course it was, he was told three times!

And it is just as important for you to hear; God is still saying this today and He is saying it to you.

Are you about to step into something new? Are you going somewhere different? Is your life about to change?

OK, be strong and be courageous.

You may be thinking but Vic you don’t know what I have to do or what I am going through.

That is true, but I do know (that like Joshua) God is with you where ever you go and whatever you do!

With that truth in your heart you will be able to keep well away from fear, being strong and courageous.

Do you know that if Joshua could do it then we can as we live under a far better covenant than he did?

We now live under the new covenant of grace (Romans 6 v 14), and we have the Living God inside us saying that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13 v 5).

Surely that will fill us with strength and ensure that we can be courageous.

We are much better off than Joshua ever was!

We can be strong and we can be courageous if we choose to be.

Speak this out today…..”Thank you Lord that through the finished work of Jesus Christ I now live under the new covenant and I can be strong and I can be courageous”.

Joshua 1 v 9…..Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest