Mystery of Giving

 

An Emoji Devotions for Mon Jun 14 2021

Topic: Mystery in giving.

Highlight: 

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25

"No one has ever become poor by giving" Giving has a mystery;

 "People curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell." Proverbs 11:26

The mystery behind the above verse shows that giving is beyond  just giving out to escape disturbance from people but giving is about showing unconditional love, caring and providing emotional support. When you give, you open a door of  someone's heart to be thankful to God on your behalf. In this case you have stand as a representative of God to be a blessing. God will evaluate the giver and sends more blessings through him. I have seen a giver who promised a someone in dire need to be hopeful perhaps a miracle could happen in his work place and he might have the opportunity to help. The one at the receiving end went home to pray earnestly for his helper and the next morning a miracle happened to the giver who quickly remember the one he promised to help. If you give with purpose according to God's will, you will never lack.

Look around you today with purpose of Good intentions from God today and you will see an opportunity to give in the name of Jesus. "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Cor 9:7-8

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

Prayer: Lord help me to be a giver to the glory of your name in Jesus name. Amen

At home – snug, safe and secure

An Emoji Devotions for Sun June 13, 2021

Topic: At home – snug, safe and secure

By H. U. Wenger

Highlights: I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:6)

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (James 5:13 – 15)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28 – 30)

I know with unfailing certainty that we all have something in common. We all have started our lives with an insatiable craving for being rescued. There was absolutely nothing we could do to help ourselves, except for crying out as loud as possible. Nothing was more comforting and nourishing than finding strong arms that held us and provided everything we needed. In these loving provisions we felt at home, snug, safe and secure. As we grew, we all began to fight for our independence. 

I do not need help. I am big and strong myself – I want to go my own way – I want to shape and do things my way! In our childhood and adolescence we are oscillating between crying out for help – how do you dare to abandon me? – and marking our independence – leave me alone, I am big enough to decide myself!  Deep down within us there remains an insecurity that keeps craving for being at home, snug safe and secure. The writer of Psalm 13 was aware of this. He is in trouble and cries out to the Lord: ‘How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.’ (Verses 1 – 4) Because he knows the Lord the same way he knew his parents, who have nurtured him, he does not despair, but trusts in the help to come, although there is not an immediate answer to his plea. “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (Verses 5 – 6)

James expands the trust in the Lord to those who are happy and to those who are sick. Everyone is called to either sing the Lord’s praises or to pray. Jesus finally makes clear that he has room for every single one of us, who is burdened and who longs to be at home, snug safe and secure. He offers the rest we all are craving for in our hearts. All I have to do is to come to him and accept that I cannot do it on my own. In his arms I get the same comfort and the same nurturing help as I got as a baby in my mother’s arms. With him, I can be at home for eternity and I will never ever be blamed for being needy.

Prayer: Jesus Christ, I am burdened and needy and I long to be at home. Thank you for your invitation. I need your salvation and the rest for the soul you promise more than anything else. Thank you for accepting me into your kingdom. Amen   

 

Haughtiness and pride versus humility and meekness – What is winning?

 

An Emoji Devotions Sat 12th June 2021

Topic: Haughtiness and pride versus humility and meekness – What is winning? 

By H.U Wenger

Highlights:   Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16: 18 – 19)

The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 16:5)

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. (1. Peter 5: 6) 

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

I never considered myself as proud or haughty and I guess that most people who know me would agree to that statement.

 Publicly I gave myself as not judgmental and I would rather defend someone and tell the good sides of them, than to judge them according to my thinking. After all, a good pastor has to be merciful and compassionate and I felt quite good about myself. Standing before the Lord, however, he convicted me of pride and haughtiness, and of being merciless and highly judgmental.  How could that possibly be? What did I do wrong? Because I had different congregations, it was already a long time, since I was sitting under the preaching of somebody else and I found myself sitting there with a spirit of critique. I found his introduction pitiful, the points he was making, I perceived as week and his altar call as rather clumsy. In a whole, my judgement was that I could have made a better preaching to the same theme without any preparation. Although I did never speak it out, the Lord showed to me, how arrogant and proud I was, looking down on others with internal disdain. He reminded me that it is alone his gift to me that gives me an advantage over the brother I was internally belittling. I repented and the Lord began to show me a multitude of instances in which I did not honor the others above myself according to Romans 12:10 or Philippians 2:3 – 4. In fact, the Lord began to show to me how I was constantly judging others in traffic and in many other domains of my life. I was absolutely chocked and my satisfaction with myself was totally shattered. I found myself exactly as one of those, who see the speck in the eyes of others without the awareness of the plank in my own eyes. I am still learning to grow in humbleness. 

Humility and meekness are the character traits of Jesus in his life on earth and we are to follow his footprints. His character is winning, whereas haughtiness and pride can so deceive us that we even might endanger our salvation. In any case it will be punished according to Proverbs, 16:5. 

Brothers and Sisters let us fight to show the world around us, how humble and meek our Lord Jesus Christ is and how much he invites everybody to learn from him to find peace and rest for our souls.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, let me be humble, so that you can show me your favor. Please train me to love and live the same way you loved and lived your life among us. 

Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

 

An Emoji Devotions for Fri, June 11 2021

Topic: Shout for joy to God, all the earth!

By H.U. Wenger

Highlights: Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:20)

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all under-standing, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4 – 7)

If you can make it, take the time to read Psalm 66 in its entirety. Often times the burdens of our lives put us so much down that shouts of joy seem impossible for us. By listening to the Psalmist we have to admit that he went through a lot that will not have provoked shouts of joy. Nevertheless he wants to shout, he wants to rejoice, he wants to glorify his wonderful Savior and Lord. His eyes are not on the dire difficulties, but on the excellent trouble shooter and helper, who is second to none and can do much more than we can think and dare praying for. He does not get joy and praise out of the predicaments he has been guided through. His praise and joy are born out of the marvelous experiences he has made with God. He never rejected his prayers and he never diverted his precious love from him. He has always proven bigger, stronger and way superior to every possible trouble that came his way. 

We are not to rejoice in the circumstances of our lives. Much more we are to focus on the Lord for whom no calamity is a problem and with whom we get enabled to go through perceived difficulties, with a merry and joyful heart. 

Years ago, I was in the middle of my theological studies and was preparing for my second Graecum. As a work student, I was always late in the evenings and at four o’ clock in the morning the clock reminded me to get up and translate the New Testament from Greek into German. On the particular morning I still remember, I was on the passage of Philippians 4, as I have cited above. I was sleepy; I was grumpy, full of self-pity and envy of my wife, who was fast asleep. The text: “Rejoice in the Lord …” provoked anger within me and I was very close to go back to bed. I would much rather have shown my anger to all than my gentleness. As I tried to translate on, it suddenly hit me that in a long time I had not done what the text invited to. So I began to pray, to lament to the Lord how much I am under pressure because of the upcoming exam. I thanked for the privilege to study; admitted how much I feel that the exam is over the top of my head and I pleaded for the help of the Lord. I cannot remember any more for how long I was in prayer, but as I went back to my desk, I was totally changed. My circumstances, which were actually quite hard, had not changed, but I felt peace, I felt joy and thankfulness. By turning away from the present givens of life and clinging to the Lord, the one and only giver of joy, peace and life, my soul got restored and healed. 

Whether you are merry today or grumpy and envious as I was, turn your eyes to Jesus. If you manage to change your focus and your attitude today, I invite you together with Nehemiah, after Ezra had publicly read the law:  “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help me to cling to you and to participate in your joy. Thank you that 

Searching God

 

An Emoji Devotional for Thu, June 10 2021

Topic: Searching God

By H.U Wenger

 Highlights: I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (Psalm 119:10)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Deuteronomy 6:5) This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37 – 40) 

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. (Compare John 14:15 – 21)

Nobody begins to search something without the knowledge or perception of having something lost. When God created man, he made them little lower than himself (Psalm 8) and he clothed them with his own glory, which gave them the destiny to live forever in his presence. Deplorably man sinned knowingly (Eve was deceived, Adam was not) and the glory of God, their being born of God, fell away from them and they found themselves naked and ashamed. They died out of the spiritual oneness with the Holy Trinity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us of the one thing that remained in the human heart: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The whole book of Ecclesiastes talks about the human awareness of the lost paradise. The key back to that land is to be born of God and that premonition makes us to search for our creator. Jesus himself encourages every human effort to approach God: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7 – 8)  

Often times we are frustrated with God, because he did not react as we would have liked and we forget, that he is absolutely and totally good for us in all he does. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) There is no other way to show our love for God than to be obedient to his word and to show love, mercy and compassion to our fellow human beings. 

By living in our fallen estate, the Bible calls it living in the flesh, we will always fail in keeping God’s commands. We need Jesus as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as our strength and our guide.  “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” If you do not know Jesus yet as your Lord and Savior, you may turn to him right now. Confess to him that you are a sinner and repent from all of your sins. Invite Jesus into your heart and give him the right to be the master and king of your life. In accepting him as your Lord and believing in him, you will be born again and what was lost in paradise comes back to you by faith and will come back to you by sight, when Christ himself will be revealed to the whole world as the king of kings and the Lord of all Lords. 

Prayer: Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Amen (Psalm 27:7 – 9)

Searching for the adults – the wise

 

An Emoji Devotions for Wed, 9th of June 2021

Topic: Searching for the adults – the wise

By H.U. Wenger

In Jeremiah 8, 8 – 9 God asks through the prophet:  “How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?”

Highlights: Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:13 – 18)

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Hebrew 2:1)

Wisdom shows in adhering to the word of the Lord and in living out the character of Jesus Christ. As his followers our first task in life is to show his benevolent attitude to every human being according to his word. In our world, unfortunately even in the Christian world, we see way too much bossiness for personal power gain, which James calls demonic. In the times of Jeremiah the Jewish people took the word of God out of context and derived from the so constructed philosophy a divine privilege and right. Prophets stood up and announced good times ahead, whereas Jeremiah had to prophesy the upcoming judgement and doom based upon the word of the Lord.  

From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord. (Jeremiah 8, 10b – 12) They think to be filled with wisdom and power and look down on Jeremiah and his followers as the immature, the fearful and deplorable. In first Corinthians 1: 18 – 31, Paul put wisdom and foolishness into the right light. Adhering to the word of the Lord and living it out as best as we can was, is and remains true wisdom. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1. Corinthians 1:25)

Let us be truly wise and always return to the Lord and check whether our conduct depicts his character. Each time I am realizing that my wisdom does not match the wisdom from above according to James; I am called to repentance, to return to the Lord and to his word. Brothers and Sisters, I have to confess that it happens to me way too often. We are brain-washed by the attitude of this world who celebrates a “wisdom” that is earthly, unspiritual and demonic and therefore are in need to tune ourselves into the wisdom that comes down from heaven. 

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I repent from foolishly being selfish, bossy and often unjust. Please fill me with your wisdom that comes from heaven and make me to a human being that depicts the character of your beloved son, Jesus Christ. Amen

Jonah, get real!

An Emoji Devotions The 8th June, 2021

Topic: Jonah, get real!

by H. U. Wenger

Highlights: Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24) 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139, 7 – 16)  

I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.” Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. (Jonah 2:4 – 8)

We all know the story of Jonah. He receives the word of the Lord to go to Nineveh to announce them God’s judgment, but Jonah runs away. He hates the Assyrians, who were well known as brutal warriors and oppressors. He is fully aware of his calling and of his prophetic authority. He knows that his preaching would cause the Assyrian to repentance and that their turning around would provoke God’s grace and mercy. The beginning of Chapter 4 reveals his heart: But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 

Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah knows that he got created by God for a time like this, but he lacks the love. He is craving for retaliation and revenge. He wants to see disaster pouring down on Israel’s enemies. The hatred in him and his anger over God’s love deceive him into his futile running away from God. On that journey he experiences not only the love and forgiveness of God and men, but also God’s wonderful grace and mercy in his spectacular salvation through a fish. His insight that those, who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them, has not yet changed his heart. What he enjoys for himself, he wants to deny to people he does not like. He rather wants to die himself than to witness God’s love for them. Isn’t it time for Jonah to get real? Isn’t it time for Jonah to allow the love of Jesus to enter his heart and to love his enemies? What grudges do I harbor in my heart?  What hinders the love of God to flow through me?   

We all are created for a time like this. Let us not run away from our prophetic authority, but let our hearts be filled with the love of God, who craves salvation for every human being and for his whole creation. 

Prayer: Dear God, let me cling to your word and fill my heart with your love. Beware me from being judgmental to the point that I am getting blind for grace and mercy. Let me rejoice over the salvation of my enemies and give me a double portion of love for them. Amen.