No Power of Hell Can stand Jesus

An Emoji Devotional for Fri, March 17 2023

Topic: No Power of Hell Can stand Jesus

Highlights: 

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Matthew 16:17

Looking to the reality of our Lord's human nature, its capacity for wonder- Peter was highly favoured by a special revelation from God. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matt 16:16. Flesh and blood cannot reveal Jesus the way God in heaven reveals to us through the Holy Ghost. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Cor 16:2

Jesus is the favor of God given to us from God to protect us from hell that the devil plans to unleash upon humanity. Jesus stood as the force that crushes the power of hell. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Revelation 21:8

Right here on earth, fear is already unleashing hell on humanity, same as unbelief, people do abominable things, whoring amongst themselves, they are approving sorcery and idolatry with lies to the general public presenting it as truth. But Jesus is there to save a straying soul. Those who have gone to the path of inequities will return to the most high with repentance to salvation. The power of hell will come to surrender to Jesus Christ in humanity and every tongue shall confess with the knees bowed that Jesus is the true Lord. Praise the Lord, revival has arrived and we are seeing what has happened in Brazil with our very own eyes. It's time for the unbeliever who doubt Christ power to save to repent now and turn unto Him. Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"

Prayer: I confess Jesus Christ is The Savior of the world by the Power of the Holy Ghost. Amen

Time and Chance

 

An Emoji Devotional for Thursday, March 16, 2023

Topic: Time and Chance

Highlights: Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 1 Corinthians 9:26

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time. Ecclesiastes 9:11 NLT

Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, Psalms 33:17-18 NLT+NIV

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD. Proverbs 21:31

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. in all your ways submit to him, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT + NIV

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 NLT

One everything we do, Let us remember that We need God to accomplish our goals. We need God to achieve breakthroughs. We need God in everything we do. Please Let us not be weary to seek His plans because time and chances of success are in His hands. Howbeit, if only we can put our confidence in Him for our success and Believe. Nothing is impossible to those who Believe. Believe in God today!

Prayer: Prevail oh Lord and build me on the solid rock of faith to prosper in your riches and in your glory. I rely on you Father God in heaven in Jesus name.

Tarry Ye Till I come

 

An Emoji Devotional for Tue March 14, 2023

Topic: Tarry Ye Till I come

Highlights: 

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49

Someone who is called God's child must have said to himself "I understand God's way by my ability to obey and to do what God says in details". At the brim of staggering in our walks with Him we all need power to follow His instructions. David wrote the Psalms to encourage and to remind and to propel, inspire and sometimes invite God to guide Him in His walks with God. Abraham is a very strong man in His prime time for His ability to obey and to do according to what God had command. Most time we wonder why the Children of Israel could not just stay put in their loyalty and respect to God's command. After another king they go back and walk in their evil ways. It's because we need power from on high to understand, obey and do God's will. Genesis 17:19, 2Kings 17:22

James 1:23 "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror"

Elisha knew He might got Carried away if he was not careful. So He kept following his master until the chariot of fire came to pick Him up. As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. 2Kings 2:11-12

Tarrying means to continue shield your Spiritual engine that has he ability to obey and do God's will. Because the more we do so, we will continue to have joy of salvation and positioning for the power of the Holy Ghost. 

The tongue of fire has a position for those who can Tarry at the spot of it's whirlwind will receive it as glory on their head and be endued with power. God is the giver of Power and whatever He says do: Tarry Ye Till I come - What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” Mark 13:37

Prayer: Not my will but let your Will be done Oh Lord in my life in Jesus name. Amen

March Forward

 An Emoji Devotional for Mon, 13 March 2023

Topic: March Forward

Highlights: 

The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. Job 17:9 NLT

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Psalms 95:1‭-‬11 NLT

Prayer: Father, Give us grace to do what you tell us so we can have peace and rest. 

Urge to Succumb

 

An Emoji Devotional for Sat, March 11 2023

Topic: Urge to Succumb

Highlights: 

“Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Deuteronomy 1:6 LSB

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 4:18

There may be some burden in your heart but you should not feel that God is not concerned. God knows you weep and why you do not eat and why your heart is sad? He said Am I not better to you than everything in this world? “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Matthew 6:25-26 LSB

God knows your struggles and know what you need. You have stayed long enough at this mountain. That urge to murmur or groan is on you but do not let it come out of your mouth to report that urge. 

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40

An instruction from God will precede the victory over that urge to retreat into wrong decision that surrender to defeat. Do not stay too long on the urge but rather bless the Lord at all times and Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, i say, on the LORD.

Turn and set out, and go to the hill country..... as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have given over the land before you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and to their seed after them.’

 Deuteronomy 1:7‭-‬8

Trust in the promise. Release the urge and do not let it injure your progress no matter what. 

Prayer: God of Isreal give me peace; and grant your petitions that I have asked of you according to your riches in glory in Jesus name. Amen 

How can I come to spiritual maturity and be ready to enter the kingdom of God?

An Emoji Devotional for Thursday, March 9 2023

Topic: How can I come to spiritual maturity and be ready to enter the kingdom of God?

By Pastor Hans Wenger

Growth takes time, but the good news is that the moment you got saved by the grace of God, you became a citizen of the kingdom of God and you will be admitted to this glorious but still invisible land, if only you remain a true disciple of Christ. 

The big danger we are facing is the problem of back-sliding. We read the gospel and we are touched by God’s grace. We read the Sermon on the Mount and we tremble over the seriousness of God’s demand for a holy life. We realize that none of us can remain clean before God and that everybody is totally dependent on God’s grace and mercy. Considering what Jesus adds to the law of old, it is very clear that we all are haughty, hypocritical and corrupt, we all are murderers, adulterers, perjurers, revenge seekers and evil judges of others. In contrast to this Jesus demands: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5, 44 – 48)

Even teachers of the Holy Scripture have succumbed to the theory that the Sermon of the Mount is an unreachable ideal, nobody can live out and therefore it would not make any sense to aspire toward it. Men and women found many interpretations to circumvent the Sermon of the Mount and other parts of the biblical teaching. Did Scripture not tell us, that we only have to confess to Jesus our transgressions and that he would forgive and cleanse us? With that people are encouraged to live as they please and it is enough to repent once in a while and demand forgiveness. This is exactly what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. He illustrated that with a short story. The children did not want to go to bed in the evening. Then the father entered their room and commanded: “Children, you have to go to bed now. I do not want you to be tired in the morning. You need your sleep.” The father left the room and the children gathered together and praised the goodness of the father, who does not want them tired. “But”, they said, “Because we can relax by playing as well as we could by sleeping, our good father really meant, that we should continue with our play.” Which earthly father would tolerate that? Why should or heavenly Father be content with it? There is no cheap grace. Hebrew 12:14 tells us: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord.”

God wants us to aspire towards a holy and perfect life. Scripture encourages us time and again to lay down the works of our flesh and to put on the newness of life. “Liberalism has awakened a tendency to adapt scripture to a fleshly pagan lifestyle, whereas scripture tells us: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22 – 24; compare, Ephesians 5:1 – 20; Philippians 2:1 – 16:3, 13 – 21; Colossians 3:1 – 17; 1. Corinthians 6:1 – 20; Galatians 5:13 – 26 and many more) 

Flee liberalism and the ideas of the falsely so called enlightenment, which teaches that man has to free himself from moral and religious boundaries. He has to exit out of his self-inflicted immaturity by setting his own logical law and rule. God’s rules, standards and laws are not needed anymore. Through his own reasoning, man has outgrown his dependence or a law, given by a higher authority. The present chaos and lawlessness among people shows us, especially in the western world, what such a theory leads to. John 1 makes us clear that God’s word is Jesus in written form and the same word has created everything and is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore stay close to the word of God and submerse yourself into it and follow it in obedience!

On the same token flee legalism, because it destroys love and relationship. Often times, legalism is a counter reaction to liberalism, but it divides and paralyzes the body of Christ. The body of Christ has many members and many tasks. Before anything else, we are called to love and appreciate each other in high esteem; even if we may differ here and there in our understanding of scripture. If we are born-again and can wholeheartedly agree to the Apostolic confession of faith, we are brothers and sisters and should do our best to love each other with the love Christ has commanded us in John 13, 34 – 35; 14, 23; 15, 9 – 16 and in many other references trough out the bible, especially in the Epistels of the apostle John.

Knowledge of God’s word connected with the love of Christ Jesus is the only real way for spiritual maturity and spiritual maturity means intimate knowledge of God. In John 17, 3 Jesus tells us: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.“

In Hosea, Chapter 4 the Lord laments: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.” It is very interesting what the Lord says here, especially, if we take verse 6 with it. “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. ‘Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children“.   Just think for a moment what this could mean concerning our daily complaints about the climate change and the dangers of it? 

Our faith needs to be rooted in the word of God for being deep and stable. 

The question in that stage is not any more whether we will enter the kingdom of God or not. We are already living in the kingdom of God because we have it in us. Remember, Father and Son entered our heart and made a dwelling within us and we became a temple of the Holy Spirit. The more we trust and live with the Christ in us, the more we are already living in the kingdom of God and we only wait that our life, Christ, gets revealed and we with him in glory. 

We are never to forget, what 1. John 4, 4 – 6 tell us: „You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

In Ephesians 4, 11 – 16   Paul tells us the aim of growth: “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus let me be a faithful student of your word and reveal your knowledge and your wonders to me. Let me grow to a perfectly functioning member of your body, guided by you as the loving and caring head of the body. Amen

How can I live a God pleasing life?

An Emoji Devotional for Monday, March 6 2023

Topic: How can I live a God pleasing life?

By Pastor Hans Wenger

After having surrendered to God and dedicated my future life to his guidance, I need to look back and see what has really happened. I have left the rule of darkness, sin and death. Through the blood of Jesus, he shed for me on the cross, I got cleansed from all of my sins and I have been legally admitted into the kingdom of God. I have Jesus Christ accepted as my Lord and Redeemer and he has entered my heart and dwells now within me. This makes me to his follower and disciple. 

Before Jesus went back to the Father, he commissioned his disciples as follows: ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

The next step now is learning to obey God’s commandments and to get baptized. Baptism is a visual depiction of what happened in the spirit. By getting immersed into the water, I am dying with Christ to this present world, and by emerging from the water I am re-birthed into a new life in the kingdom of God. I am now born-again out of water and spirit. The Holy Spirit has entered me when I invited Jesus into my heart. With the Holy Spirit I received eternal life and that means that I have regained the life Adam and Eve and all of mankind have lost in their fall in Paradise. The eternal life and the glory of it are not yet fully visible. They remain hidden in God until Jesus Christ will be revealed as the King of the kingdom of God in the latter days. (Colossians 3:1 – 4) 

It is very helpful to read Chapter 3:1 - 21 in the Gospel of John at this juncture. As I am now born again and have received the Holy Spirit, I am now equipped for the understanding of the word of God. “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1. Corinthians 2:14)

In order to obey God’s commandments, I need to know them and that is the reason I need to immerse myself now into the word of God. I recommend starting with the Gospel of John. It depicts best that following Christ has nothing to do with religion, but everything with relationship with God and with people.  Also Matthew Chapter 3 to 7 can be very helpful to understand that there is no way for us to reach salvation through keeping the law. We will always fall short and therefore need God’s grace and mercy. On the same token it is very important that you surround yourself with a group of followers of Christ with whom you can exchange your thoughts and experiences. I do not need to figure out everything myself. It can be very helpful to ask and to discuss the meaning and understanding of different topics. 

I am now trying to just give you some guidelines that may be helpful in your walk with the Lord.

Faith and trust 

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.“ (Hebrew 11:1) We all live in this present world, but we are Aliens, we are citizens of the kingdom of God. That means that between what we know to be true and our daily experience is a gap. As we begin to walk with the Lord, this can irritate us. We know we have eternal life, but we experience dividing death. We are therefore in danger to somehow weaken the assurance about what we do not see. I hold it for true that Jesus will come again and rapture his church, but I do not much to be ready for encountering him. To hold something for true and to have faith are two different things. Faith knows that what is promised will come into existence, no matter what and it fully and literally trusts every word of God. 

An artist had a rope stretched over a big waterfall and balanced back and forth over the roaring waters. He then took a wheelbarrow and pushed it over the waters. As he was back again he addressed the crowd by asking: “Do you trust me that I can sit a man into the wheelbarrow and cross the chasm again?” The crowd jeered and scanted: “We trust you, we trust you,” but got very quiet when he asked: “Who volunteers?” Suddenly a young man stepped forward and said: “I do!” He safely crossed the waters with the artist and the crowd jeered again. The young man had faith and trust. The crowd only held it for true, but doubted in the heart. 

Have faith in the word and take it literally for you and you will make wonderful experiences with God.

Surrender and dedication.

In my conversion, I have surrendered to God, received the Holy Spirit and became a child of God. I do not need to repeat that. However, by trying to be a sincere follower of Christ, I will catch myself time and again with mistakes and sins. This can discourage me and I may hold myself for a failure or just pretend that my behavior is not sinful and flawed at all. Both reactions are wrong. The apostle John teaches us in his first Epistle about the subject. I will just quote the main verses from the first chapter, but it is very helpful to read chapter 2 as well.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1. John 1:5 – 10)

This is not a new conversion; it is much more a means of sanctification and growth. 

We need to dedicate ourselves to discipline, to prayer and to the study of the bible. If I struggle time and again with the same sin, it may be helpful to talk about it with a friend or to go for counseling. I need to force myself to reserve a certain time of the day for my audience with God and for my prayers. If we do not fix a prayer time, we may have not time for prayer. The devil does not want us to study the word and to pray.    

Obedience

Follow the word of God in your heart. Recently I had to give my opinion about a man, who does some questionable teaching and I judged him rather harshly. On the same day I searched for the parable of the speck and the plank. The bible server guided me to Mathew 7. I opened it and the first thing I saw were the following verses: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. These are the verses 1 and 2 of Matthew 7 and with verse 3 the parable of the speck and the plank begins. I was caught cold. I had grossly violated respect and love for the brother in question. Nevertheless my ego searched for justification and a way out. Well, I was concerned about missing clarity and truth was kind of an excuse, but in my heart I was fully convicted that I had sinned against God and a brother. I had to repent according to first John 1:9.

Do not try to justify yourself, as I did, when you feel in your heart that you are guilty. Come to Christ and confess in obedience to his word. If you try to escape, you are saddening the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to follow you as your diligent disciple. Help me to grow and to be changed into your example. Thank you for helping me and for being with me at all times. I love you and I want to learn from you. Amen

 

How can I come to spiritual maturity and be ready to enter the kingdom of God?

My future as a follower of Christ Jesus