Devotionals Just 4 You!!

By Helen Jesze

The Devs with a difference!

154 Christian illustrated devotionals for any day of the year,

with a Seasonal Section for those special days and

a selection from George.

. . . insightful, prophetic, vision-birthing!

• Language: English
• Publisher: NewGenerationPublishing
• Release date: Dec 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781803690339

Book preview

A New Season!

illustration

Amplified Bible

The Lord said to Himself…While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease, Genesis 8:22 The

This morning the frost lay white on the roofs of the houses, the car’s windows needed to be scraped, and all day, even though later the sun came out, a chilly wind whistled round the ears of everyone I saw from my window, hurrying home, and into the warm! Spring’s freshness, celandines and colourful bulbs still lie buried in the earth, and are only just beginning to send up small leaves and buds. But from my living-room window I can see radiant golden crocuses, and the white heather by the fishpond has now turned purple. The bright green new leaves which will later appear are still nowhere to be seen on the bare branches of every tree. Yet I know that although Nature has lain dormant through the Winter it is preparing itself to bring us joy again in a very short while, in the coming of Spring.

My husband and I were in Sweden in 1990 when our book Winning over Worry was published in Swedish. After the book launch and a week of teaching at a Bible College outside Stockholm, we travelled with our publisher to North Sweden to preach in churches. One day, his wife said, We don’t have any Spring in North Sweden. The Winter is so long and cold, but underneath everything is growing; suddenly one day the ice and snow melt and there are the flowers! But then it’s nearly time for Summer! I was glad that I lived in a part of Europe where we know the beauty and joy of Spring after the bleakness of Winter. It fills us with a very special joy of living!

Every year does not only have its seasons in Nature, but also brings new seasons into our life. New opportunities, new challenges, new ways of looking at things and entering into these experiences. This year will bring us new seasons, new chapters which we will write into the book of our life. God is a God of forward-looking, of progress, development, and is leading us to new seasons. He has never been a God of stagnation, of winding down, of giving up in despair. In every year he challenges us to recognise and step into – to embrace – the new seasons he is bringing into our lives. If we have given our life into God’s hands, taken his Son to be our personal Saviour from sin, then we can be certain that he will guide us aright.

Your new season can begin today!

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Helping others enter their New Season!

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ... Matt. 7:12 KJV

We all have many chances to help those around us enter into a new season . Your smile, your handclasp, that letter you feel prompted to write encouraging someone that they’ll make it, that it’s not all in vain! Like the time when I was cleaning the living-room and felt strongly impelled to go to my neighbour. I did not know why and thought she would probably be cooking dinner and would not want to be disturbed. At last, in obedience to this inward nudging, I rang the bell.

Several times I rang and was just about to go away when Mary peeped out from behind the net curtains. She opened the door and pulled me in, her face swollen with crying. That morning, she told me about a ‘season’ of great sorrow she had been through, and that day, she had been wondering whether to end it all. We prayed together and Mary realised God knew just where she was. In his love, He had prompted me to come to her.

I think of those who long to enter a new season, but there seems no hope or possibility. The lonely hurting old people, children locked in despair, the mothers who have nothing to feed all those hungry little ones. Fathers, who see no way out and lose their reason in swilling vodka – just to forget. Millions displaced by the horrors of war, the increasing threat of terrorism, no answer to the world’s shaky economy. Those walled up in grey prisons, with no possibility of walking out through those threatening doors – a free man or woman. The sick and dying when the doctor has shaken his head, and said, We can do no more for you! The hopelessness and stark terror of those who love them and know there is nothing they can do.

Often we feel the task is so great that the little we can do or give is so small. But I want to encourage you today that when we put our ‘little’ into God’s hands, he can make ‘much’ out of it! What a thrill it is to be able to help someone break through into a new season, and it is so easy to do it! Some of you have visited those forgotten ones in prison or hospital, spoken words of comfort, led them in prayer, helped them find forgiveness and eternal life, seen the light of hope spring up in their eyes! You have given to the hungry, invited someone home, offered to babysit so that a single Mum can have a few free hours …

Make it into an adventure by asking Jesus to show you what you can do this week to usher in somebody’s new season, and I’ll let you into a secret – what you do for others comes back to you! You’ll be stepping into another new season too! Step into new things, into new service. Allow the life and love of Christ to flow through you!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for the joy we have in Nature and the world you have created! Thank you for your promise of the continuity of the seasons, giving us not just beauty but food and provision to stay alive. Thank you that you will be with me in every new season of my life, strengthening me for every challenge, filling my heart with joy at your goodness, giving me creative ideas and love to help others enter into their new seasons! I praise your holy Name! Amen.

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Don't jump! God's got you covered!!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, Jer. 29:11 NIV

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you, Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

The English poet, William Cowper, used to suffer from fits of depression. One day in 1773, he got in a taxi and told the driver to take him to London Bridge. On the way, a fog descended which became so dense, that the driver lost his way, and drove round and round. William asked if he could find the way to his home again, and he was able to do this. When William got out, the driver apologised and would not take any money, as he had not been able to take his passenger successfully to his destination.

You don't need to apologise, said William, "you have just saved my life! I was going to jump off the bridge!" Entering his house he ran to his desk and wrote a well-known hymn. The first verse reads like this:

God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform.

He plants His footsteps in the seas

And rides upon the storm.

George Frideric Handel wrote the original version of Messiah in three to four weeks. Most historic accounts estimate the composer spent perhaps only 24 days writing the oratorio, which contains a quarter of a million notes. He locked himself in his room and ate hardly anything. His friends were worried as Handel had been going through a time of intense depression and darkness in his mind and soul, and was drowning in debt. But when he came out, his eyes were bright and filled with tears; Handel was like a new man. This oratorio has thrilled and brought hope to millions, especially being sung at Easter and Christmas.

Our friend Pastor Benjamin Selvaratnam, told us of an incident when he was a missionary in India. One morning between 4 and 5 am, he was very restless and got out of bed to pray. Unknown to him, a young man was standing by the railway lines nearby, waiting for the express. His parents had died and he had to provide for all the family, but could not find a job. That morning he was going to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of the train.

Suddenly a voice behind him said, Don't jump! He looked round to see who had spoken, and just then the train thundered by. There was no-one there, but he noticed a light in the window of the mission-house, and he could see a man kneeling and praying. He knocked on the door and Pastor Benjamin let him in and led him to faith in Jesus Christ. As the young man left, promising to come to the prayer meeting later on, someone came and gave him a job! God had already prepared blessing and help for him – he had got him covered!

During this time of COVID-19, many people have committed suicide or have attempted to do so. Isolation, fear of illness or the future, losing their job, losing loved ones, loneliness have caused many to give up and not want to live anymore. The world they knew has crumbled in front of their eyes and they have lost control. Everything seems to be slipping through their fingers. They have lost their way and are enveloped in depression.

This can also happen to Christians and those who serve the Lord. Elijah the prophet, after his huge victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, then ran away in fear from Queen Jezebel. He lay down under a tree and asked God to take his life – he just wanted to die! But God had him covered and Elijah had a new encounter with Jehovah, and was given a new assignment!

Are you depressed today? Does the future look dark and forbidding? Do people and the devil tell you God has given up on you? That you are one big failure? Dear friend, God also has YOU covered! He has a good future full of hope waiting for you, and will deliver you and heal every wound in your heart. Depression can come to any of us, and there are many reasons for this, but I have discovered that when we are in a valley and God shows us the way out, we are then qualified to also show others that door of freedom! What Satan intended for evil, God can turn around for our good! Some of the best counsellors are those whom God has delivered from the throes of depression!

"You fearful saints, fresh courage take,

Those clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessings on your head."

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Finding your Pigs!

If we freely admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just ...and will forgive our sins... and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 The Amplified Bible

In 1972, our three children, and I had chickenpox. Lying in bed, I listened to a Christian cassette which told about the Children of Israel leaving Egypt, and the preacher likened problems in our lives to an Egypt, from which God wants to deliver us. As he prayed for his listeners, the power of God swept through me and the fever broke. A few hours later something came out when I went to the toilet. These little things looked strange so I spooned them out, putting them in a glass jar. The doctor looked at them and said they were gall-stones! I did not know I had any!

He then said, "Are you an angry person? Modern science has found out that suppressed negative emotions can bring physical illnesses." After he left, I remembered a story about a city in the Middle Ages; many people were dying, and no-one knew the reason. They decided to examine the stream which ran into the city, and at the source, found a mother pig and some of her piglets that must have fallen in, drowned and contaminated the water. When they cleared these out, the water ran clean and pure, and the city was saved.

This was when God began to show me about our three-fold being. When we come to faith in Christ, we are saved, born-again, in one second (immediately), yet the renewing of our soulish area (mind, will and emotions) is a gradual process. This is the place where our ‘pigs’ often stay for a while.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you, and with his help, get rid of any of these intruders that might be in your ‘river’ today!

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New Light through the Word! Part 1

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple, Psalm 119:130 NIV

Betty and her mother lived in the country many years ago, and went every Sunday to a little chapel, for Betty’s mother was a born-again Christian. Although Betty was 18 years old at the time of our story, her intelligence was that of an 8 year old. People who did not know her thought she was much younger, as she was very short, and dressed and acted like a small child. But most of the congregation knew Betty and took little notice when she would not sit still during the service, or even when she walked across the flat tops of the benches during the sermon!

But the godly pastor was very concerned about Betty and began to pray that God and his Word would somehow pierce through the mental and spiritual darkness in this child with ‘special needs’ and ‘learning difficulties’, as we might describe her now. One Sunday evening, Betty was, as usual, fidgeting and causing a disturbance, when suddenly she stopped, looked straight at the pastor and seemed to be listening hard to what he was saying.

At the end of the service, the pastor asked if anyone wanted to become a Christian, if they wanted to ask Jesus to become their Lord and Saviour. To everybody’s surprise, Betty slipped out of her seat and went to the front of the church, where she simply asked the Lord to save her and make her his child.

During the following weeks, great changes took place in Betty’s life, which everybody could see when she and her mother came every week to church. Nobody would have believed it was the same person, for Betty was now a pretty young woman, nicely dressed and her hair curled. Instead of skipping up the path and pushing people around, she walked properly, shook hands, smiled and talked with the people and joined in with the singing. She listened attentively to God’s Word being preached and the pastor was overjoyed at what he was seeing!

Soon a young man asked her out and after a short while they were married! Betty’s husband was hard-working and started a small business, cutting and supplying wood to builders. Unfortunately he was killed in an accident, but Betty took over the business, driving the lorries, doing the bookkeeping, overseeing the men who worked for her, as well as looking after her two children!

What had brought about this great change in Betty’s life? The entrance of God’s Word had brought light and life to her. In Betty, it had happened not just spiritually but also mentally. God brought light into her darkened mind and she became normal!

Prayer: Thank you Heavenly Father, for healing and changing Betty, in this way. Touch every one of us with your Holy Spirit, as we read your precious Word. May it bring light and revelation to us, we pray. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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New Light through the Word! Part 2

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple, Psalm 119:130 NIV

We read in Daniel 1:19 + 20 about Daniel and his three friends, all captured from the country of Israel and now living in exile in Babylon: The king talked with them, and ... not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. There was something so special about Daniel and his three friends (better known to us as Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego), that the king conversed with them and had them tested against all the other Jewish young men and his own magicians and occult advisers. They were found to be not a little better, but ten times better than all others . He immediately gave them very important jobs in his kingdom.

If that was true under the Old Covenant, how much more should we be able to expect that God will help us, giving us mental and spiritual insight, because we have his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, in the New Covenant?! Not only did they have greatly increased wisdom and mental ability, but in Daniel’s case, Gifts of the Holy Spirit (These were probably A Word of Knowledge and A Word of Wisdom, perhaps Discerning of Spirits) were also operating in his life, which gave him an even greater influence and ability!

We may not be able to believe that we, our children or grandchildren might be ten times better than others, but if we belong to God by accepting Jesus Christ as our Saviour, then he wants to help us to be wiser, have more insight, gain good examination grades, learn and find answers where others cannot find the solution. But we must be open for this and start believing him for it.

When my husband was preaching in India many people came for prayer, also lots of schoolchildren. Their request was that God would help them pass their exams. George said to them, Yes, I will pray for you, but it does not mean that you, yourselves, will not have to study and learn. God does not encourage laziness!

A Christian father said to his children, Why don’t you ask God to show you what is coming in the exams? You have had such a wide range of things to learn, and not everything can come up in the exams. God can show you what to concentrate on. His 8 year old daughter said, O Daddy, that would be cheating! That wouldn’t be fair on the kids who don’t know Jesus! The father replied, Well, that’s up to you, if you want to have it difficult, but Jesus does want to help you!

A Christian friend told us how at the garage where he worked as a mechanic, they had to repair a machine but no-one seemed able to do this. Men far more experienced than he was, were unable to help, so he asked God to help him. Suddenly he was given the answer. The machine started and functioned properly and everyone was amazed that he was able to do this, but he testified that God had helped him. This happened on various occasions and the young man received promotion!

Have you failed your exams, your test, your interview? Do not be discouraged, God can help you to do better next time! Do your children or grandchildren have learning difficulties or things which seem to be blocking or hindering their abilities? God can overrule or change this. Start to believe that they too, will be changed and helped by the power of God. Speak the Word over their lives and praise God that he is at work.

So it is an enormous encouragement that we can believe and pray for ourselves and others, that God will give us new mental and spiritual light and understanding, the more we open ourselves up to his Word. The Bible is not an ordinary book, it is the Book of Books! Not just printed words on paper but words of divine truth, dynamite and power, which were breathed into the spirit of many men by the Holy Spirit, and they were commanded to write them down, for us all to read and experience.

This text in the NIV says: The unfolding of your words.... When something is folded you cannot see it properly. Only when it is unfolded can you see its proper size, pattern, beauty, or perhaps test what it can be used for. God’s Word is the same. At first sight you may not understand it or see the enormous wealth and power it contains. Only when the Holy Spirit begins to unfold it, then you receive revelation which he is trying to show to you. It often takes time, patience, a willing heart and faith to really unfold this Word of God, but that brings great reward!

Prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you are willing to help us, each with our individual needs. Touch (... put that person’s name in here...) and give them new insight and ability, encourage them and let them see you helping them today.

You are the One who has given mental faculties, and can bring new light into our darkness. You are not bound or intimidated by our earthly IQ (Intelligence Quotient). Thank you for helping (...) at school, college, university, work today.

Thank you, Father, for unfolding your Word, bringing light and life to us. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

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Make your Words sweet, for you might have to eat them!

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, Matthew 7:1+2 NIV

We were at a conference, and met a young man and his wife who ran a centre for American soldiers (GI’s) in Germany. The man made some remark, and I said to myself, Typical superficial Americans! During the service the leader asked ‘Bro. Richard’, who was to have a major and very difficult operation, to come forward. Imagine my embarrassment when I saw the young man go forward, about whom I had made the unkind remark. He had been praising the Lord, talking and laughing, believing God was in control, with no mention of a tumour in his body. We were told the tumour was so large that it could be seen through Richard’s clothes, so although it was hot in the hall, he wore an overcoat to conceal it.

That night I could not sleep. My loveless, judging attitude stared me in the face, and in the morning I rang Richard and told him about my hasty words and judgmental spirit, asking him to forgive me. He did this readily, and I had learned another lesson. How easy it is to be self-righteous, misunderstanding different cultures and people’s natures, expecting everyone is like us. Of course, they are not, and how good that is!

Criticism is dangerous, for this scripture says we shall be judged with the same measure that we have judged, small or large! The person you hold something against may know nothing about it, but you are being influenced by negative emotions which may even turn to a physical illness one day. Discerning a problem and taking steps to right this or point it out is different than consistently having a judgmental attitude.

Perhaps you need to put something right. Ask the Holy Spirit to point out any areas in your heart where you are judging, and ask forgiveness today! Your heart will be filled with joy when you obey the Lord!

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Did Jesus Christ really live at all?

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, but his own did not received him., John 1:10+11 NIV

This is how you can recognize the spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming... 1 John 4:2+3a NIV

Some people disbelieve that Jesus Christ even lived at all, that he has no place in history for they do not believe the Bible. Yet there are many accounts about Jesus by secular (non-religious) writers of Jesus’ time and shortly after.

The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Christ, his execution by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in his final work, Annals (written ca. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44.[1]

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote in Antiquities of the Jews ca. 93/94 AD:

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ.

Apart from these testimonies of Jesus' existence, can it be that millions the world over have been believing in a 'non-existent person’? An abstract idea? Just a fairy tale?

If this is so, how strange that most of the calendars of the world should stem from before and after the time of his birth (B.C. and A.D.), millions of songs have been written and sung to this Nothing, countless books were written about him and lives changed through his power, beer turned into furniture and food put on the table in the home of alcoholics he has delivered; so many people healed by his Name, so many cowards turned into giants of faith and drug-addicts instantly set free from their habit, a myriad of martyrs have given their lives for this One they passionately adore... more than any other person. The list could go on – all this could only happen because Jesus truly is who he says he is, and because he is alive today!

A young Jewish teacher was one day asked by a young girl in his class, "Please Sir, what do you think of Jesus Christ?!" He was so surprised that he did not know what to say, but he could not get these words out of his mind. They turned into one big question mark and caused him to leave his teaching career and spend one year travelling the world, trying to find the answer. God worked in his heart and he was later convinced that Jesus was not a fraud, not an impostor, but was who he claimed to be – the Son of the Living God, the Jewish Messiah! We met this man, after he had been many years in Christian ministry. I wonder if that young girl ever knew what fruit came from the seed she sowed that day!

Lord Jesus, we lift you up today for there is no-one like you! You are the Lord of lords and the King of kings – the risen and glorified One in our life. Make yourself known to us in an even greater way, we pray, Lord.

Thank you for that resurrection life which is already in us since the New Birth. We know you are alive, for you live in us. Now live through us today that we might bring glory to your Name. We worship you, our Saviour! Amen.

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It's Time!!

It's time to seek the Lord !

Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and to Him, and to require His favour, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you, Hosea 10:12b The Amplified Bible

It's time to get out of the boat and walk on the water!

Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus, Matthew 14:29 NIV

It's time to light the lamp of God's Word, sweep our spiritual house and find the precious things we have lost!

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Luke 15:8 NIV

It's time to go after the lost sheep!

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it, Luke 15:4 NIV

It's time to believe God!

...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing, Mark 5:36 The Amplified Bible

It's time to get rid of those friends who are holding us back !

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord … 2. Cor. 6:17 KJV

It's time to pick up the tools we laid down in discouragement and go forward!

...but one thing I do (it is my one aspiration): forgetting what lies behind...I press on toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly ) prize... Phil. 3:13 + 14 The Amplified Bible

It's time to put disappointment and grief behind us and reach out for the good things God has in store for us! It's time to let God heal your broken heart!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah) to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to the captives ... to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity)... Luke 4:18 The Amp. Bible

It's time to catch the vision the Holy Spirit is trying to impart to us!

Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, Acts 26:19 ESV

It's time to let God have His way in us!

Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you, Psalms 32:9 NIV

It's time to awake out of spiritual sleep!

Besides you know what (a critical) hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in and relied on Christ, the Messiah). The night is far gone and the day is almost here, Romans 13:11+12b The Amplified Bible.

Therefore He says: Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light." Ephesians 5:14 NKJV

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help us to recognise the times we are living in. Make us – men and women – like the men of Issachar who had understanding of the times and knew what the nation of Israel should do. If we have been spiritually slumbering, help us to awake and rise up, that your light might blaze in our hearts and minds, healing and delivering us, giving us divine revelation, to fulfil what you want us to do and enter into our destiny for the next part of the journey! In the Name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.

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God, our Shield and Strength!

"Unto you do I cry, O Lord my Rock, be not deaf and silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those going down to the pit (the grave). Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your...sanctuary (the Holy of Holies)....

Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my Strength and my (impenetrable) Shield;