Author: ChristianHolinessDaily

Devotion for 14 August 16 – Angels Watching Over Me

August 14, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

I like the Apostle Peter. He’s smart as a whip and a simple fisherman. He’s seems fearless but scares easily. He swore to God that he would never turn his back on Jesus, and, that same night, denied Him three times. I like him because he is flawed. He’s human. I can relate.

About 15 years after the resurrection of Christ, Peter is thrown in prison in Jerusalem. Herod is afraid Peter will miraculously escape, and so assigns four squads of soldiers to guard him.

Peter could care less. Whatever happens will happen, so he turns in for the night. Herod was right. Sometime in the middle of the night, an angel is sent by God to deliver Peter, who nearly slept through it. As Luke tells it, the angel had to strike Peter in the side to wake him.

I imagine the angel turning on the lights, whispering his name, nudging his shoulder, and shaking him, before finally, smacking him in the side.

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

– Psalm 91:11

When Peter sat up, his chains fell from his hands.
“Get dressed, and follow me,” says the angel.

“Sure. Whatever,” says Peter with a laugh, believing it to be a dream. It wasn’t until Peter was completely out of the prison, past the guards, and down the street that the angel disappeared and Peter finally came to his senses.

For a split second, he didn’t know what to do. “Wow,” he said. “Christ really did send an angel to free me.” Immediately he ran to the house of John Mark and his mother. This is, more or less, his center of operations. When he arrived, he found a prayer meeting in session. EVERYONE was praying that Peter would be saved from the prison… Everyone but Peter, that is. Peter had not been praying. He had been asleep.

You see, many times, we don’t realize just how deep of a predicament we have fallen. Sometimes, the danger is more real than we can imagine. Often, we don’t pray for ourselves because we don’t quite get it. Thank God for a praying family, and a praying church family.

God knows what we need even before we ask it. It was no accident that the angel was there when Peter needed help. God knew that Peter would sleep through this, for, afterall, he had slept through Christ’s prayer and suffering on the Mount of Olives. Yet, he sent divine help to Peter.

How many times has God sent us divine help when we didn’t even ask. How many times have we had ANGELS watching over us, and we didn’t know it. How often do others lift us up in prayer, when we are totally unaware?

Hmmmm… I wonder…

Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light!

August 13, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

In Branson’s Marvel Cave, and many other caves around the world, there is a point at which the tour guide stops and asks everyone to remain perfectly still, and turns off the lights. If you have ever been on such a tour, you know that the darkness envelopes you. It is so thick and impenetrable that it weighs upon you like a shroud.

A few moments later, the guide turns on an insignificant, old fashioned penlight. At that point, one can here multiple sighs of relief, for in a world of utter darkness, the smallest of lights can point the way.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

– Matthew 5:16

At different points in the Gospel, Jesus says that He is the light (John 8:12), and He says that you and I are the light (Matthew 5:14-16). Both are true statements. When I look back on the state of my mind when I lived in sin, I realize now that there was no light in me. Had God not been merciful, I would have perished and spent eternity cast into utter darkness, in torment, drowning in endless fire. He showed me the Light, and – praise God – I followed that Light.

Now that He lives in me, His light shines through me (no credit to me). My prayer is that those around me may also see the light. I pray that everyone from my family to complete strangers may see something of Jesus in me, something that will compel them to follow the Light of Jesus Christ.

I was a fool to wander and stay

Straight is the gate and narrow’s the way

Now I have traded the wrong for the right

Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light.

– Hank Williams

Daily Devotion for 12 August 16 – Standing Alone?

August 12, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

There are few people in history like Job. He lost everything, his livestock, his servants, and his ten children. Later, he loses his health; his body is covered in boils.

He shaved his head, ripped his clothing and went into mourning. His three closest friends mourned with him, sitting silently for seven days.

When Job finally spoke, he cursed the day he was born. His friends, however, had their own ideas about Job’s problems. One believed that Job was being punished for unrepented sin. Another believed that Job had exhibited evil behavior and should have endeavoured to be more righteous. Still, another believed that Job likely deserved far greater punishment than that which he had already received. With friends like that…

Job defended his innocence to his friends and proclaimed that there is a Redeemer in heaven who would vouch for him (Job 16:19, 19:25). He longed for an intercessor, someone to speak to God on his behalf. Amazing, isn’t it, that this man of God, who lived perhaps 600 years before Christ, could so succinctly sum up the role of Christ, who now sits at the right side of His Father.

There are many lessons and insights to be gleaned from the book of Job, and one that is often overlooked is this: Job turned to his friends for help, and they were no help at all; instead, they frustrated him. Yet, he stood beside them, and reminded them that he was a better friend to them than they were to him. In the end, Job stood alone and even defended his friends before God.

Job’s patience is often the topic of discussion, but it is his faith that we should learn from. He trusted in God before there was a Bible to read. He believed in a Redeemer before mankind had been redeemed. And, he had faith that if he trusted in God, God would remain faithful to him.

We worship a God of infinite might and never-ending mercy, and His Spirit lives in the heart of every one of His children, given to us so that we may experience firsthand that for which Job could only long. He is our Comforter, our never-failing, True Friend. With Christ in our hearts, we never really stand alone.