Caribbean Moravian Devotions

There was an era not too long ago when if you were misbehaving all your parents had to do was to give you JUST ONE LOOK. That ONE LOOK said it all. It said donÂ’t let me come over there or else. You knew that something definite was coming down the pipeline if you didnÂ’t immediately repent. May God help you if you got a second LOOK. If that happened, something more was waiting for you by the time you got home. It could also be immediate when your mom made a special delivery to your anatomy, the effects of which left you tingling either for few hours or days depending on the heaviness of the delivery. Memories! Our FF for today is JUST ONE LOOK.

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Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire. Jeremiah 20:9 (NKJV)
How can anyone called by the Lord, ever withhold his/her tongue from declaring what the Lord has put in his/her heart? Jeremiah is an inspiration for the Church throughout the ages and still is today. When the priest Pashhur had Jeremiah beaten and locked up, the prophet felt humiliated and deceived by God who led him to prophesy and exposed him to such feats. He was now contemplating whether to quit prophesying or to continue in spite of all that he was going through. "Then I said, I will not mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire..." Continue reading "His Word: A Burning Fire In My Heart"

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me? Isaiah 66:1

TodayÂ’s text is the first verse of the last chapter of Isaiah. The entire chapter is a fitting climax to the book. God will lift up the humble, judge the people, destroy the wicked, bring all believers together, and establish the new heaven and the new earth. If God will be able to do this then we must understand His greatness. He rules both heaven and earth. Against this background then, God questions the unrepentant people of Israel. Where will you put me?

Continue reading "Where Does God Live?"

Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.' Isaiah 45:23-24This chapter of Isaiah has repeated occurrences of "This is what the Lord says..." An expression which signals divine authority and sovereignty. There is a finality when the Lord speaks and acts. In this chapter God anoints a Gentile king as His servant to do what the Lord requires. This was revolutionary in the theology and self understanding of Israel. How could God choose a non-Jew to do His will? And the answer is simple, The sovereign Lord is free to choose whoever from among His creation to do His will. God is God of all the world and His salvation is for all peoples.So watch out Christians, if you refuse to do what the Lord asks of you he can do without you. In verses 23-24 it is re-emphasized that there is no authority above the Lord, and salvation is in no other but Him; ultimately every nation must submit to divine authority. Another tremendous aspect of this truth is that when the Lord declares you righteous and saves you there is none to revoke or nullify what God authorizes." ...I am the Lord and there is none other..." Continue reading "Every Knee Shall Bow"

Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Jeremiah 22:3This was an alternative approach to governance and to draw down on the grace of God; it was a choice between a philosophy of governance and making responsible choices which honour God and have the national life and leadership reestablished versus disobeying divine commands and end up with national and personal ruin. Such choices still obtain to day. God is calling on the nations to practice justice and righteousness, emancipate and liberate the oppressed and bring an end to violence especially to aliens, the orphans and widows. And surely God is not asleep and He remains the same throughout the generations.
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The Lord will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake. 1 Samuel 12:22Humans ought not to try negotiating with God what are the standards to live by. Difficult as it may appear to some, God sets the standards and we ought to obey them. Israel insisted on having things their way by asking for a human personality as king . God allowed them to have what they asked for; however when this backfired they thought God and Samuel would turn against them. They learned- God is not fetish, or governed by moods and attitudes; instead He remains God constantly. Samuel put before them and us the faithfulness and compassion of God. For His name ‘s sake (His Spiritual nature and character) God will always be merciful. Trust Him and serve Him. He sets the standards, we obey them.
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Has this ever happened to you? You set the ALARM to get up at a certain time. It sounds off. But instead of getting up when it alarms, you turn it off and then tell yourself youÂ’ll soon get up. You just need 5 more minutes. If your ALARM has a snooze button thatÂ’s on then in a minute or two the ALARM will sound again. But you can kill the snooze button. 5 minutes turn into 30 or even 60. Then you find yourself scampering to make up for lost time because you did not move at THE FIRST ALARM. ThatÂ’s our FF for today THE FIRST ALARM.

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For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. Isaiah 66:22This section brings the curtain down on the prohecies of Isaiah, even as the Lord revealed them to him. The text is loaded with judgment and hope. After all the nation has been through, to hear the same messenger from the same God revealing to the nation the promise of a new heaven and a new earth and the continuation of their generation in perpetuity is bore-assuring and redemptive. And indeed in the coming Messiah this promise, this faithfulness of The Almighty God and the blessed hope are fulfilled and firmly secured. Continue reading "Better Days Are Coming"

The road of life is one that is filled with choices. We have to be careful in choosing though, because there are consequences to the choices we make. Many persons today are living with regrets concerning a hastily made decision, a word spoken on the spur of the moment, and action taken without reflection. Such choices can and do have far reaching and life changing consequences. Today’s text is the reaction of one man to a situation that would change his life forever. In Genesis 39: 9 we find Joseph exclaiming “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

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Israel, you are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Isaiah 41:9This is a promise of deliverance and restoration to those living in captivity against their will. The feeling that they had been abandoned by God was part of their thinking. Here the prophet declares a word of hope that contrary to what they may be thinking, God, their God will come and deliver them from their captures and restore them to their own land. The condition of captivity could manifest itself in slavery, apartheid, imprisonment, addiction, refugee and living in exile. As children of God/Christians we can listen to the message of the prophet and take consolation, for the God we serve is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
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Take a lump of clay. Roll it around in your hands. Feel the softness of its texture. Decide what you are going to shape it into. Put it onto a table. Begin to work. Shape that lump of formless clay into whatever you have in mind. Little by little what you imagined is being realized. Your fingers are doing the work. After some time youÂ’re done. Now look at what youÂ’ve created. To others it may not be anything to shout over. But to you, itÂ’s beautiful because you made it. You knew when this clay was nothing more than just a shapeless lump. Now right before your eyes what was once formless now has a distinct shape.

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I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. Isaiah 65:1
Here is monotheism at its best. Even those nations outside of the ‘covenant relationship have not fallen off the divine radar, nor escape His salvation, mercy and love. Unknown to them God is reaching out to them in their acts of idolatry, and obstinacy with the hope that they recognize Him. see v.8 “… As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, Don’t destroy it. there is still yet some good in it’, so will I do in behalf of my servants I will not destroy them all.” What a blessed word of hope for the Gentiles and unsaved, God is reaching out to save you, open your eyes and see Him. Since God is so merciful, the Church must reflect who God is. Continue reading "God Is Reaching Out To Save You"

You are my witnesses, says the Lord. Isaiah 43:10

Here we are confronted with the compassionate God. In spite of the failure and rebellion of the people in Chapter 42, yet in Chapter 43 God reaches out with the hand of mercy to bring them back from captivity and restore them. This is an outpouring of grace and love to replace wrath which they deserved. But that is the way our God is ; He would rather show mercy than judgment. Oh, that humanity could really understand and appreciate these attributes of God. The Lord declares through the prophet that Israel can bear witness to such truths and The Church can do so too. Continue reading "God's Witnesses"

All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. Psalm 86: 9

Psalm 86 is a prayer of David to God in which he declares his unending trust in God, even, or I should say especially, in times of deepest distress or trouble. There are times in life when our troubles or pain is so great that all we can do is cry out to God, ‘guard my life’ [v2]. Truth however is that there will be times when there will be no relief in sight. During such times all we can do is acknowledge the greatness of God and in godly inspired patience, wait for better days. Our experiences of answered prayers will keep us during such moments.

Continue reading "Let There Be Praise!"

Ever heard of AN INSIDE JOB? INSIDE burglaries are sometimes a bit more difficult to solve. Great care is taken to cover oneÂ’s tracks and to make sure that nothing points to anyone on the INSIDE. The person whoÂ’s on the INSIDE though had privileged information which the outsider doesnÂ’t have. ThatÂ’s what makes it AN INSIDE JOB. For our FF for today I challenge all of us to do a difficult but necessary task: letÂ’s spend some time on doing AN INSIDE JOB.

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