Caribbean Moravian Devotions

For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. Isaiah 53: 8
Put another way, this verse says, ‘he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the blow was due.’ The person spoken of in this passage has been referred to as the Suffering Servant. He is none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was for our sins and in our place that our Lord suffered. We deserved, and should have gotten the blow, but He took it for us. Romans 3: 23 reminds us ‘for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God’.

Continue reading "Christ Suffered For Us."

The Lord said to Abram, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1 & 3.

When God called him, Abram moved out in faith from Ur to Haran and finally to Canaan. God then established a covenant with Abram, telling him that he would be the father of a great nation. Not only would this nation be blessed, God said, but the other nations of the earth would be blessed through AbramÂ’s descendants. Israel, the nation that would come from Abram, was to follow God and influence those with whom it came in contact. Through AbramÂ’s family tree, Jesus Christ was born to save humanity. Through Christ, we can have a personal relationship with God and be blessed beyond measure. Continue reading "Be A Blessing"

Know that all lives are mine. Ezekiel 18:4.

This was God’s response to the proverb that the people were quoting about the land of Israel: “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” The people of Judah believed they were being punished for the sins of their ancestors, not their own. They thought this way because this was the teaching of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:5). Instead Ezekiel taught that the destruction of Jerusalem was due to the spiritual decay in previous generations. So Ezekiel gave God’s new policy for this new land because the people had misconstrued the old one. Continue reading "All Lives Are God's"

Those who love your name may exult in you. Psalm 5:11.

The secret of a close relationship with God is to pray to him earnestly each day. To exult in the Lord is to be Joyful in Him. In the morning, our minds are more free from problems and then we can commit the whole day to the Lord. Regular communication helps any friendship and is certainly necessary for a strong relationship with God. We need to communicate with him daily. Be joyful in him each day. Continue reading "Be Joyful In God"

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. Genesis 1:31.

God saw that all he had created was very good. We are a part of God’s creation; and he is pleased with how he made us. If at times you feel worthless or of little value, remember that God made you for a good reason. You are very valuable to him. There is much evil in the world, but God’s creation is itself good, not evil. Many people may ask; “If God made the world good, and if God Himself is good, why is there so much pain in the world?” “Why do thousands of innocent people die every year when there is famine or war?” Probably no one will ever be able to answer those questions, but we may note two answers which some theologians give:
(1) Most suffering is probably the result of ignorance, or the misuse of freewill;
(2)Although God’s creation is good, He allowed it to develop and to ‘make itself’. It does not behave like a machine. We can predict some events, but God allows other events to happen at ‘random’. Continue reading "God Made Everything Good"

For the month of August, each week our FF will be drawn from some of the early submissions that were done dating back to 2005/2006. The weekly FF was birthed as we were planning for a youth and young adult convention called Take it Back (TIB) which was held in Trinidad in 2006. Each Friday the participants were invited to join together and focus on the approaching event. I felt moved by God to continue the weekly FF and here we are now in 2010. IÂ’ve rewritten some making editorial changes since the FF now is no longer within the context of TIB.

I confess: as a young boy I used to hop onto one particular bus that ran in our village. The bus would make its first stop at the entrance to the village while I lived at the other end. Hopping onto the bus was the easy part, staying on and getting off – well that was a whole other matter. To stay on meant HOLDING ON tightly. It was not a long ride but looking back now we (of course I was not alone) were living dangerously. But getting off demanded certain skills, first LETTING GO, jumping off and keep running (most times away from the driver or adults getting off the bus – you didn’t want any report to get home). As I reflect on those boyhood days, I invite you to consider our FF for today which is HOLDING ON & LETTING GO.

Continue reading "HOLDING ON & LETTING GO!"

Â…The Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. 1 Samuel 1:27.

Hannah gave up what she wanted the most- her son. She presented him to Eli to serve in the house of the Lord. Hannah did what she had promised in vs.11. In dedicating her only son to God, Hannah was dedicating her entire life and future to God. Because SamuelÂ’s life was from God, Hannah was not really giving him up. Rather, she was returning him to God who had given Samuel to Hannah in the first place. These verses illustrate the kind of gifts we should give to God. Do your gifts cost you little (Sunday or Saturday mornings, a comfortable tithe) or are they gifts of sacrifice? Are you presenting God with tokens, or are you presenting him with your entire life?

Continue reading "Order And Beauty From Our Mess"

TodayÂ’s word comes to us from Exodus 15: 18 The Lord will reign forever and ever. This is a part of what we have come to describe today as the Song of Moses and Miriam. It was the song they used to celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea. It is believed by some scholars that this is the oldest recorded song in the world. In the song Moses and all the Israelites sing of the events that took place, and of the mighty works of God in delivering His people. Imagine the joy with which they sang, having just being delivered from certain destruction.



Continue reading "Our God Reigns!"

MEMORIAL DAY: First Moravian Missionaries set off, 1732.

I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. Zechariah 3 9b.

ZechariahÂ’s vision portrays how we receive GodÂ’s mercy. We do nothing ourselves. God removes our filthy clothes (sins), and then provides us with new, clean, rich garments [the righteousness and holiness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 4:24)]. All we need to do is repent and ask God to forgive us. When Satan tries to make you feel dirty and unworthy, remember that the clean clothes of GodÂ’s righteousness make you worthy to draw near to God. Continue reading "God Renews"

(The living God) delivers and rescues. Daniel 6:27a.

Our God has ways of delivering his people that none of us can imagine. It is always premature to give up and give in to the pressure of unbelievers, because our God has power they know nothing about. God can even shut the lionsÂ’ mouths. Even unbelievers witnessed to DanielÂ’s consistency. By his continual service, Daniel had demonstrated his faithful devotion to God. What can unbelievers determine about your life? Continue reading "Don't Give Up"

For the month of August, each week our FF will be drawn from some of the early submissions that were done dating back to 2005/2006. The weekly FF was birthed as we were planning for a youth and young adult convention called Take it Back (TIB) which was held in Trinidad in 2006. Each Friday the participants were invited to join together and focus on the approaching event. I felt moved by God to continue the weekly FF and here we are now in 2010. IÂ’ve rewritten some making editorial changes since the FF now is no longer within the context of TIB.

Picture this: You're walking along freely with nothing in your way. Then out of what seems to be nowhere you STUMBLE over something that was dead centre in your track. Before you could do anything you see yourself in slow motion falling to the ground. But somehow you regain your balance quickly enough not to fall to the ground but to keep walking. ItÂ’s amazing just how quickly in our daily walk we can STUMBLE over things that come from seemingly out of nowhere.

Continue reading "DON'T STUMBLE OR BE A 'STUMBLER'!"

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? Psalm 42:2.

As the life of a deer depends upon water, so our lives depend upon God. Those who seek him and long to understand him find never-ending life. Feeling separated from God, this Psalmist would not rest until he restored his relationship with God because he knew that his very life depended on it. Do you thirst for God? When you feel lonely or depressed, meditate on God’s kindness and love. Jesus spoke of being the “living water” in St. John 4 when he met the Samaritan woman. There are many verses in the Bible that speaks of thirsting after God as one thirst for water (Isaiah 55:1, Jeremiah 2:13, Zechariah 13:1). Our God is called the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9) and the spring of living water (Jeremiah 17:13). Continue reading "Thirsting For God"

Exodus 23: 25 You shall worship the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water.

This verse falls in a section of the chapter in which God promises to send an Angel, [the Lord Himself] to lead the Children of Israel into the Promised Land and to drive out the heathen inhabitants. Should the Jews refrain from bowing to idols and should they obey the Lord, He would do mighty acts for them. In his commentary on the book of Exodus, Matthew Henry writes, we do well to take heed of provoking our protector and benefactor, because if our defense depart from us, and the streams of His goodness be cut off, we are undone.

Continue reading "The Blessing of Real Worship"

How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Psalm74:10.

This Psalm is a plea for God to help his people defend his cause and remember his promises. When we feel devastated or forgotten, we can ask God for help, knowing that he hears. From our perspective, God sometimes seem slow to intervene on our behalf. What might appear slow to us is good timing from GodÂ’s perspective. ItÂ’s easy to become impatient while waiting for God to act, but we must never give up on God. When we canÂ’t see his hand we should learn to trust his heart. Continue reading "Feeling Forgotten?"

For the month of August, each week our FF will be drawn from some of the early submissions that were done dating back to 2005/2006. The weekly FF was birthed as we were planning for a youth and young adult convention called Take it Back (TIB) which was held in Trinidad in 2006. Each Friday the participants were invited to join together and focus on the approaching event. I felt moved by God to continue the weekly FF and here we are now in 2010. IÂ’ve rewritten some making editorial changes since the FF now is no longer within the context of TIB.

Continue reading "DISLOCATE TO RELOCATE!"