The NEW Wine

 An Emoji Devotional for Wed 21 Sept, 2022

Topic: The New Wine

Highlight:

Nor do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, people pour new wine into fresh skins, and both are saved." St. Matthew 9:17

If you really want to see great transformation in your life. You have to change your ways to the body of Jesus Christ. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8

What are God's thoughts? Sure they are good thoughts for us according to Jeremiah 29:11. We need to demonstrate that we live in God's thoughts so that our faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. You have to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5. Not folding your hands looking at the world passing you by. You must declare the will of God for your life like someone with spiritual eyes. Have you ever seen someone in charge of an office who keeps quiet when communicating with their subject? They must say something. 

So is why you need a new wine to demonstrate the power of Holy Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now, we didn't receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the Spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God has freely given us.

If you don't control the world, the world will control you even if you are God's child. 

What are the things God has freely given us: It is the grace and Spirit of eternal life of Jesus Christ to impact our world into the way it should be (God's way) in divine order. You need new wine to get this done. Not like the way we get intoxicated with the canal wine to misbehave - God forbid!. The new wine gives divine wisdom that reveal the true definition of God's people demonstrating God's power. You cannot know take new wine to demonstrate properly unless you change the wineskin with which you were known for unless you will limit or defeat the manifestation of the real you when the new wine gets into you.

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16

The new wine makes us become highly intellectual instead of intoxicated as well as more than highly intellectual because it is the same Spirit in the blood of Jesus Christ. To make you see into the difference between the dream and the reality; then you can no longer take the shadow for the substance. It is like the parable of "... treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matthew 13:44

Change your wineskin: When you have discovered the new wine, you change your wineskin. It will cost you letting go of certain unacceptable things in your life. Then you begin with demonstrating power of God's spirit, You may be judged for it, condemned because of this, depreciated, slandered every day of your life, but the arrow flights of human judgment fall far short of you. Hebrews 12:14 says "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" 

Remember this is not just a physical fight to flout orders but a decision to fight spiritually against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness of darkness in high places who wants to subjugate you into injustice of life. Ephesians 6:10-12. The new wine will make you see these things and give you the courage to make moves (demonstrate) to deal with them.

When you are ready to take on the challenge! Do it with confidence that Christ got your back. "For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself." 1 Corinthians 11:29

Prayer: Holy Spirit pour your New Wine into my spirit's throat in Jesus name, Amen.

Life without the Holy Spirit

 An Emoji Devotional for Mon, 19th September 2022

Topic: Life without the Holy Spirit

Highlights:

You haven't received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God's adopted children by which we call out, "Abba! Father!" Romans 8:15

 

Wisdom can give you Nothing that satisfies without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes life fulfilled for believers. Our Lord Jesus say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers (which is made by divine wisdom) because though Solomon was wise he worries a lot about many things. "Don't deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise in the ways of this world, you should give up that wisdom in order to become really wise." 1 Corinthians 3:18


Our heart will be where our treasure is. If our heart will treasure what is spiritually designed we will be fulfilled. Don't ever worry and say, 'What are we going to eat?' or 'What are we going to drink?' or 'What are we going to wear?'
Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them.
But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you. So don't ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don't know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words.
The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God's people the way God wants him to. The Just shall live by faith. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Holy Spirit please help me in my weaknesses.

God’s appointed times – the feast of Trumpets

 An Emoji Devotional for Thu,15 Sept. 2022

Topic: God’s appointed times – the feast of Trumpets

By Pastor Hans Ulrich Wenger

Highlights: 
Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51 – 52)

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1. Thessalonians 4 :16 – 18)

In Leviticus 23 God gives Moses his appointed festivals he wants him to proclaim to the people as his holy convocations. In the Christian Community I grew up, I got familiar with the spring festivals but I never heard anything about the fall festivals until I studied theology. Certainly the feast of Passover, the feast of Unleavened bread, the feast of the First Fruits and the feast of Weeks (Pentecost), which have all been fulfilled through the coming of Christ Jesus as Messiah into our world, are central for our salvation and deserve to be observed with joy and thankfulness.

With the pouring out of the Holy Spirit over the Disciples of Christ, however, the countdown for the next appointed feast began. Jesus promised to come back and to suddenly and unexpectedly snap his Disciples away from the earth to reunite with them in the heavenly realm. The sounding of the trumpets was for the Israelites always either a call for decampment or a call for gathering together. 

God orders Moses in Numeri 10 to manufacture two silver trumpets. He gives him advice, how the trumpets should be blown for gathering the leaders and the whole community, as well as for the call to break-up.

The feast of Trumpets marked in Israel the beginning of an agricultural and civil New Year and therefore remains for outsiders often hidden behind the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah). The real New Year, however, begins in spring with the Jewish month Nisan. This year the feast of Trumpets starts on the evening of September 25th and ends on the evening of September 27th.

It is the commencing of the 10 days of awe for the Jewish people, which is a time of dedication and repentance with view to the day of Atonement, the most important feast in the Jewish calendar, that takes place on the 10th day of the 7th month, which corresponds in our calendar with the evening of the forth till the evening of the 5th October.

I want to motivate myself and you to earnestly celebrate the feast of Trumpets. We do not know, when the last trumpet will be blown, but we can know for sure that our reuniting with the Lord will somehow be in connection with the feast of trumpets. The Lord is about to pick up his bride. How can we know this? In Matthew 24 Jesus talks about the end of the end time. In the verses 32 to 34 he tells us to learn from the parable of the fig tree: “Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: as soon as its twigs become tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” With this Jesus confirms the prophecies of the Old Testament. According to Joel 1, 6 – 7 and Hosea 9, 10 Israel is God’s fig tree. All the signs Jesus mentions in Matthew 24 are fulfilled today and Israel is a green and blossoming nation.

It is therefore certain that his coming is near, right at the door. Let us joyfully wait for the sounding of the last trumpet. We have nothing to lose here, but we have everything to gain with his coming and in the future with him.

Dear Lord Jesus, take everything away from me, which hinders me in my life with you. Please give everything to me, which foster and enhance my walk with you. Let me be yours, and yours alone and snap me away into your presence with the sound of the last trumpet. 

https://emojidevotions.blogspot.com/2022/09/gods-appointed-times-feast-of-trumpets.html

God in Nature

An Emoji Devotions for Thu 21, Jan 2021


Topic: God in Nature

By C.C. Thompson

“His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.” Habakkuk 3:3b

Upon all created things is seen the impress of the Deity. Nature testifies of God. The susceptible mind, brought in contact with the miracle and mystery of the universe, cannot but recognize the working of infinite power. Not by its own inherent energy does the earth produce its bounties, and year by year continue its motion around the sun.

An unseen hand guides the planets in their circuit of the heavens. A mysterious life pervades all nature—a life that sustains the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, that lives in the insect atom which floats in the summer breeze, that wings the flight of the swallow and feeds the young ravens which cry, that brings the bud to blossom and the flower to fruit. Ed 99.2

The same power that upholds nature, is working also in man. The same great laws that guide alike the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart’s action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From Him all life proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action.

For all the objects of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one’s self out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin. Ed 99.2

To him who learns thus to interpret its teachings, all nature becomes illuminated; the world is a lesson book, life a school. The unity of man with nature and with God, the universal dominion of law, the results of transgression, cannot fail of impressing the mind and molding the character. Ed 100.1

These are lessons that our children need to learn. To the little child, not yet capable of learning from the printed page or of being introduced to the routine of the schoolroom, nature presents an unfailing source of instruction and delight. The heart not yet hardened by contact with evil is quick to recognize the Presence that pervades all created things. The ear as yet undulled by the world’s clamor is attentive to the Voice that speaks through nature’s utterances.

And for those of older years, needing continually its silent reminders of the spiritual and eternal, nature’s teaching will be no less a source of pleasure and of instruction. As the dwellers in Eden learned from nature’s pages, as Moses discerned God’s handwriting on the Arabian plains and mountains, and the child Jesus on the hillsides of Nazareth, so the children of today may learn of Him.

The unseen is illustrated by the seen. On everything upon the earth, from the loftiest tree of the forest to the lichen that clings to the rock, from the boundless ocean to the tiniest shell on the shore, they may behold the image and superscription of God.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, teach us to honour your creative,  life giving and life sustaining ability, in Jesus Name, Amen.

Vacuumed in Spirit - Be Healed

 

An Emoji Devotional for Sat, 10 September 2022

Topic: Vacuumed in Spirit - Be Healed

Highlights:

 Praise the LORD, my soul, and never forget all the good he has done: Psalms 103:2

The lifestyle of a man is attracted to remember troubles and so easy to forget things that are in order.

I'm pointing this out also to guide anyone having trouble with other humans to understand that people who trouble them are humans taken up by such lifestyle.

If you have anyone troubling your peace of mind all You can command the Holy Spirit to change their lifestyle from them.  Or ASK THAT SUCH LIFESTYLE BECOMES UNEASY FOR THEM AND THEY BECOMES UNSETTLED WHEN THEY INDULGE IN SUCH LIFESTYLE.

No one can fight their maker. St. John 14:14 says "If you ask me to do something in my name, I will do it."

This is a higher calling. We should not create a vacuum in our spirit to tolerate trouble! Once you forbid such acts with such command others will behave themselves in their accord before you.

In Mark 4:39 The stormy sea knew that if it refused to behave itself before Jesus- The King of Kings it may be sanctioned. It remembered the days of Moses and days of Elijah. The Sea knew what Jesus could do, so it obeyed.

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mark 4:39

Prayer: Father, I command every lifestyle around me that is not giving glory and honour to your name be changed for good now in Jesus mighty name.

Power of Undying Love for God

 An Emoji Devotional for Thu, 8 September 2022

Topic: Power of Undying Love for God

Highlights:

My people ask their wooden idols for help. A piece of wood tells them what to do. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray. They commit adultery by giving themselves to other gods. Hosea 4:12

The dangers are great when a husband and wife have few interests in common. "Your husband is your maker. His name is the LORD of Armies. Your defender is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth" Isaiah 54:5

God want us to be only for Him as husband who does not want His woman to love another. God always wants to be there when we need him and he promises to give us all that can satisfy His own. David understood that many people after receiving God's blessings desire to build canal relationship with worldly pleasure which later could make them lose interest in Godly ways of life. He promised God many times in Psalms 23:6 and Psalms 27:4 that

"Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life, and I will remain in the LORD's house for days without end."


"I have asked one thing from the LORD. This I will seek: to remain in the LORD's house all the days of my life in order to gaze at the LORD's beauty and to search for an answer in his temple."

If you truly desire God's blessings that will change your life. You must be ready to recognise yourself as God's love and must be willing to accept that you belong to him and will remain His at all time. As God's bride, you must agree to remain in God's house and NOT have any plan to go away longing for another love. Our love for God must be an undying love. It was idolatry and spiritual adultery that lead the children of Israel into captivity of their enemies but as God would show mercy he sent Jesus Christ to come to save all who will be willing to return back to the love of their Husband who is their creator.

If you are still living in sin, it is time to repent before it is too late. Jesus is calling all sinners to repentance as the love of God never dies but our sin is the cause of rejection. Read James 4:4

Prayer: Dear heavenly creator, my husband, my maker, Lord of Armies, my defender, The Holy one of Israel, My God, the God of the whole earth. I love you forever and will always love you forever. I declare my love for you in Jesus name. Amen.

On His Shoulders

 

An Emoji Devotional for Mon, 5 September, 2022

Topic: On His Shoulders

Highlights:

They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock.
Psalms 91:16

Have faith on God's shoulders. Grow your self confidence in God's ability to protect, provide and preserve you. You will not be pressured at all as God's Shoulders makes life easy.  You must have an undying trust in God by keep on believing that what is missing in your life will be provided.

God's Word promised us  "No harm will come to you. No sickness will come near your house. He will put his angels in charge of you to protect you in all your ways." Psalms 91:10-11. First we have to build self confidence in God's Word then have an undying trust for Him.

There is blessings of blessings on God's Shoulders. If we get a lift on God's Shoulders, even our worst nightmare will become meaningless to us as our faith will be unwavering by the peace around the sovereign Shoulders of the Alimighty.

You have to love God to be wrapped up in him His Shoulders. It is what we love we embrace because where your heart will be where your treasure is. So put your heart in God's shoulder, feel the undying trust and grow your self confidence that you are under His Shoulders at all times. Sing about His Shoulders, laugh at yourself and forgive yourself for being such a person that dwells under the shoulder of All-Powerful God.

Prayer: Dear God, I love your Shoulders today. They are very strong and most powerful shoulders I've ever seen. Shalom!