Come Meet the Living God

By Vito Rugani

Do you want to grow closer to God?

If the answer to that question is yes, then this is the book for you. Coming from the pen of a man who knows what it is to journey with God through the ups and sometimes severe downs of life, this daily devotional is filled with timeless truths that will inspire you, comfort you, correct you, challenge you and encourage you as you seek to deepen your relationship with God.

A must-have book, its wisdom will not only bless you but will also transform you to become a blessing unto others as you learn how to surrender your all to God wholeheartedly. In its pages, you will find food for your soul – food that will strengthen you to live out your faith, not only in name, but also in action in your everyday life.

Pastor Vito Rugani, a successful businessman and farmer, is a prominent and well-respected leader in the agricultural industry in South Africa who also answered the call to ministry. He has faithfully served as senior pastor of Magalies River Christian Centre for the past 12 years and is making a steady impact on his community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Vito is happily married to Nomakeme, and they have eight children. They reside in Tarlton, South Africa.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vito Rugani
• Release date: Aug 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005003258

Book preview

1 January

The law of exchange

And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. (Col 2:12)

Our identity as Christians is not dependent on dogmas and practices, rituals and beliefs, but rather on how much of us has died and how much of Christ now lives in us. The only way to let this happen is to meditate on the Word until it becomes such a part of our thinking that we can resist our carnal thoughts. The law of exchange is an internal struggle that brings about an internal change and when this happens, our identity changes and we are recognised as Christians.

The law of exchange means that we trust that Christ will deal with our sinfulness as we fill ourselves with the Word and resist the devil’s attack on our minds. Then, when we have done our part, Jesus takes over and the temptation flees. Christ supernaturally steps in and completes the impossible; the devil flees and we are set free to be new creations in Christ.

Religious customs and practices have little or no value if, in the end, our inner man is not being changed. The process of transformation is the miracle of the cross at work. If we cannot embrace this truth we are in danger of being mere spectators to the crucifixion. The greatest tragedy of all is that those who are not identifying with Him, those choosing to remain carnal, may well be only spectators at the Second Coming.

Through the law of exchange I gave up my old life; through faith I filled myself with the Word and began to resist the ways of the world. A mighty miracle happened – Jesus drew close to me and I became like Him, transformed from within.

•Lord, thank you for the law of exchange where You took my sin and gave me Your righteousness. Amen.

2 January

The manifold wisdom of the Body

By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him. (Eph 3:7a, NIV)

God has placed in each one of us the capacity to fulfil a vital role in the Body of Christ. Unfortunately, a religious mindset often causes us to see the Church as an institution that has to serve us. We believe there should be an anointed preacher who is equipped with the necessary skills to meet our needs; he is there to give because he is capable and anointed and we are there to receive because we believe we are not. The result is that many of us seek God, but instead find hollow worship. The very place that should promote spiritual growth in our lives becomes the place of numbness and a superficial facade.

Instead of asking if people can trust us with their pain and problems, we are inclined to ask to whom we can turn with our problems. This total obsession with ourselves cuts us off from experiencing God’s purpose for our lives. This way of death is strengthened if we’ve experienced some pain in the past and try to safe-guard against it recurring by building walls to protect ourselves. We prefer to be served because we believe we are incapable of serving. When we can only see our own needs, brokenness or self-importance, we fail to see God’s provision in our lives and we miss the most precious of all revelations – God’s wisdom for us expressed through the people around us.

So when we go before God, is our desire for ourselves or is it for God and His people? Do we go to God to get to know Him or do we go to Him solely to have our needs met? The knowledge of Jesus is for one purpose only, so that we can identify with His purpose for us. This purpose is always to serve Him and His people in a way that was determined by Him before we were even born. It is our relationship with God that will shape our understanding of His call on our lives. When we all embrace our purpose in the Body, the Body comes alive and rises to its true potential in Christ – Christ in us.

•Lord, reveal to me my purpose in the Body of Christ so that my life can become meaningful as I serve You in this way. Amen.

3 January

Surrender comes before victory

I take back everything I said and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance. (Job 42: 6)

We all want to please God and have a relationship with Him, and we think that if we put enough effort into this plan we will eventually get it right. We approach it by saying, I suppose I have to devote my life to Jesus.

Is this belief that we have to work at our relationship with God really accurate? We believe we are not experiencing victory because we have not yet tried hard enough and God is still waiting for more, but when will we have worked enough? When is God going to say, Okay, that’s enough, now we can have a joyful relationship?

In the book of Job, Job’s friends accused him of not trying hard enough, saying that God was always right and that Job was wrong. Job responded by saying that he was innocent and had been unfairly treated. He continued to argue his case with God and asked God to show him how he had sinned. A young man, Elihu, arrived and said, If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on Him? If you are good, is this some great gift to Him? What could you possibly give Him? But is it wrong to say that God doesn’t listen, to say the Almighty isn’t concerned. You say you can’t see Him, but He will bring justice if you will only wait. (Job 35:6,7,13,14)

The message Job had to grasp – and we are all like Job – is that it is not about what we are doing, it is about who God is. The foundation of our surrender is that we get to that point where we willingly give up our lives and plans, instead of falling back on anger or self-pity, reason or blame. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, we have nothing to do with it. It is as we surrender that we become content with our lot and accept that God is in control.

•Lord, I take back everything I said about You and I repent. You were always with me, I just never noticed; I was so busy trying too hard. Amen.

4 January

Faith versus reason

Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists. (Heb 11:6b)

Without faith it is impossible to please God. We use the word faith so casually, but there is nothing about faith that is common sense. In fact, faith is the exact opposite of common sense. To the mind of reason, faith is only deluded enthusiasm or narrow-mindedness. Living an active life of faith means it will always result in a fight with our intellect.

Thus, faith and reason will always be in active opposition to one another. They are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual life.

When I have a personal experience of God moving in my life, the supernatural outcome for that event, becomes real to me. It is also true that before this personal experience, I would not have expected the outcome –my common sense would have failed me. Nothing that Jesus Christ delivers into our hearts is common sense, it is always revelational understanding. It is the intention of God that faith is made real in us and faith can only be experienced through personal revelation. Faith comes from the reality of looking over our shoulders and seeing what Jesus has done for us. God’s personal involvement in our lives removes us from the rational and places us in a revelational experience of Him.

Furthermore, faith cannot be thought about, it has to be practised. The life of faith says, Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word. Faith thus happens when our entire person steps into a relationship of surrender to God and the power of the Holy Spirit is released through Jesus to act in our lives.

Faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in our lives. Romans 8:28 says, all things work together for good. This means that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God completes our faith and we see our circumstances change supernaturally. Faith triumphs over reason.

•Lord, forgive me for a cold heart of reason and logic and help me to embrace Your Word with childlike faith. Amen.

5 January

The call to repentance

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. (Re3:20)

Have you ever had the experience of driving in an area where you were unfamiliar with the roads and all of a sudden you realised that you were going up a one-way street in the wrong direction? What did you do? No doubt you made a U-turn as quickly as you could!

Biblical repentance is when this same reaction happens within us; we come to the point of realising that we have been practising something in our lives that is wrong. Repentance is when we become motivated by the realisation that we have been going in the wrong direction, admit our mistakes and make a commitment that, with God’s help, we will change our ways.

The power of sin is always deception – it looks and feels right to us, but in the long run it will cause much sorrow. Turning to God to acknowledge that we are going in the wrong direction is all that can preserve us. Our own reason will fail us, but what will change our lives is the supernatural effect of the cross as it draws us to repentance. Repentance is what makes the power of the cross –forgiveness – possible. Repentance is therefore a gift from God, it is a gift to know we are taking the wrong path. Repentance can only be found when we return to God and once again find our identity in His presence.

Living a consecrated life of repentance is not a once-off event, it is a continual revisiting of the fact that we are once again going in the wrong direction, and repenting. Repentance will always be painful. It is painful to put the self down and admit that our lives are not our own, that our salvation will never be because of our own efforts, but that it is because of the power of the blood Jesus shed on the cross for us.

•Lord, help me to understand that it is not about how much I can do without You, but about knowing that without You I am nothing. Amen.

6 January

A tangible covenant in our midst

So all Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant with shouts of joy, the blowing of rams’ horns and trumpets, the crashing of cymbals and loud playing on harps and lyres. (1 Chron 15:28)

We have tangible evidence of a covenant in our midst. It is the Church, the Body of Christ. Every one of us is confronted with the Body of Christ. The question that we must ask ourselves is, How do I feel about this? How many of us passionately present ourselves to serve this modern day Ark of the New Covenant? How do we view those who present themselves as servants before Him? Do I have a heart like Michal, David’s wife? She despised David when she saw him worshipping wholeheartedly because of the value he placed on the Ark of the Covenant.

How do we view those who consecrate their lives to serve Him as best as they can? We should be wary of ridiculing the efforts of people who present themselves as leaders in the Body of Christ; perhaps they are worshipping God on a level we have not yet reached. We are all called to celebrate and serve the Body, the symbol of His covenant with us. Nowhere in the Word does it tell us that we are called or positioned to be served. Mature love for God will present itself as a desire to build and restore the Church; thus the expression of our worship of Him must ultimately present itself in the way in which we treat and view the Body and its servants.

Serving the Body is not about what others think of us, nor about being rewarded for our efforts. Servanthood is about having an overriding joy in embracing His covenant and a desire to delight in Him. This delight in our hearts attracts others to the heart of the Father. He purchased our eternal life and restored our relationship with Him, that’s why we passionately worship Him. This passion will be reflected in our actions as we give honour to His Body.

•Lord, let the natural expression of my worship be to pour my life out for You and Your Body. Amen.

7 January

When Jesus becomes real

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

When we came to Jesus for the first time we came for selfish reasons. We wanted to be blessed or healed or set free of hurt. Something in our lives was missing, so we came to get that something from Jesus. This is how God works in all of us to draw us to His Son. However, then the process of inner transformation began, something most of us were not bargaining on. We knew we had to shape-up our act a bit, but radical transformation that saw us become new creations in Christ, how many of us were ready for that?

Sadly, the novelty of new birth soon lost its attraction and our time in God’s presence became a forced act that we often tried to avoid. What went wrong? Why do some people move on and see their lives transformed in the way they think, speak and act, while others go to church but never really change?

The difference is that those who have been brave enough to get to know Jesus intimately are filled with overwhelming awe and a reverential fear of Him. They realise what it means to be helpless sinners who are promised the gift of eternal life. They see that their lives do not belong to them, their lives belong to God, and all He asks is that we return that life to Him and trust Him with it; we are guaranteed to fail on our own. When we get to that reality our life begins to change because we have given it away and Jesus becomes real to us.

When Jesus becomes real to us we start to understand and appreciate that God uses everything in our lives for one purpose only. That purpose is to have our lives dedicated wholeheartedly as a consecrated living sacrifice to Him. That is the ultimate state of mature worship. We know we can do nothing for God; we can only allow Him to do everything through us so that Jesus is glorified.

•Lord, thank you for Your indwelling abiding presence in me that causes me to be transformed into Your image. Amen.

8 January

Becoming living witnesses

But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. (Luke 21:13)

When we allow the Holy Spirit to form the mind of Christ in us we become powerful witnesses, testifying to a dying world that we belong to a living God who can be trusted at all times. When we stand firm, not because of our courage or our knowledge, but because we allowed the life of Christ to be formed in us, we become witnesses to the very nature of who God is in relation to us: our refuge, our fortress and helper in whom we can trust.

It is when an ordinary man stands firm with unwavering confidence in the midst of a storm that the witness of that saint is at its most powerful. It is the renewed mind that knows that God is in control. The renewed mind can patiently endure that which is not of Him, because it knows that what is of God must come to pass in its season. Thus, even though there is the realisation that the world will still bring its troubles, when we reach for spiritual truths beyond our natural reasoning we become living witnesses of those truths.

If we fail to grasp these realities we become people who simply desire for God to intervene in our circumstances, but fail to see the need for us to stand up and be witnesses of the truth that God will orchestrate the outcome of our lives. When we go with the flow and hope – calling this faith – that God will somehow make it all go away, then we allow our personal situations to shape our thinking and our mood, and spiritual paralysis will follow.

To counter spiritual paralysis the truth of who Jesus is must be revealed to our inner selves by the Holy Spirit. Only then can confessions of faith which testify to the nature of Jesus, be expressed naturally by our renewed minds. If we are to be living witnesses, we need to claim our position in Christ and not allow ourselves to be moved only by what can be seen with the natural eyes.

•Lord, thank you that by Your Holy Spirit Your true nature is being revealed to me so that I can stand firm and gain life. Amen.

9 January

The God of restoration

Who wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:4)

We readily acknowledge the need for God to be involved in helping us solve our everyday problems, especially where conflict resolution is required. Our best endeavours can sometimes turn into situations we least expected or desired. Things go wrong in relationships and we often see walls go up that we cannot understand. These can be disheartening experiences that seem to contradict the promises given to us by God. We know that God is a God of restoration, be it between man and God or between man and man, but the temptation arises to question God’s omnipotence when our relationships are under attack.

Even though the nation of Israel was given dominion over the Promised Land, they still had to stand their ground to claim this promise. Why did they have to fight for something that was theirs? In the same way that the Israelites brought down the walls of Jericho, not through strategy or courage, but through silence and obedience, we must surrender our human perspective, learn to stand firm and wait for God to work His redemptive purposes in our relationships.

When we are willing to let go of our own power and plans, our carnal impulses, desire for vindication, blame, judgement, anger or lashing out with hurtful words, we can experience the power of the resurrected life of God invading every aspect of our lives to bring healing, forgiveness, restoration and blessing.

God has no favourites and we are all precious to Him. When we understand that every person belongs to Him and not to ourselves, our attitude will be dominated by the truth that the other person is God’s treasure too. When our hearts thus become aligned to God’s heart, valuing the relationship we have with Him and with others, He begins the miracle of restoration in us.

•Lord, help me to circumcise my heart, to remain silent and to obediently wait for the restoration that must surely come! Amen.

10 January

The Christian journey

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. (Eph 1:4, NIV)

The good news of the Gospel is that, through the redemptive power of the cross of Calvary, we are set free from the curse of death and have inherited the promise of eternal life. But, when we look honestly at our experience with the message of the cross, it is not as simple as triumphantly receiving the Good News and having all our problems simply disappear. Rather, there seem to be three distinct realities that present themselves on our Christian journey.

The first is our inability to admit that we cannot live successfully without the Holy Spirit’s presence to renew our minds. One of the hardest things for us is to deal with our inability to cope. Without the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in us we cannot experience the fullness of the new life promised to us in the Gospel.

The second reality is that, as a result of the Holy Spirit’s presence renewing our minds and the consequential internal heart changes, our relationships become transformed by the miracle of restoration. When we are able to reach out to each other through the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit, it testifies to the nature of God that now dwells within us.

Thirdly, a supernatural turn around in our circumstances, born out of undeserved blessings not expected or pursued, starts to characterise our lives as we learn to stand firm, trusting God to be the all-sufficient One for us.

It is thus God’s intention that our Christian journey leads us on a progressive path of becoming more like Him. We are not primarily destined to be on a journey of happiness, but rather one of holiness, reflecting His glory.

•Lord, thank you that You designed my journey in such a way that I become more like You every day. Amen.

11 January

Loneliness

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. (John 14:16)

Every one of us has a deep longing to feel that we belong somewhere. Furthermore, when we belong to a group we want to be valued by that group and we desire to be accepted. Often, however, we can be surrounded by people or be very busy, yet still feel lonely because we do not feel we belong. This absence of belonging is called loneliness. Very often loneliness is not even expressible in words, it is a nameless feeling inside of us that hurts us.

The greatest remedy for healing the feeling of loneliness is to know that we are accepted by God. It is a satisfying and powerful blessing to know that we are safe, that we belong and that we are not alone. If the love of a devoted spouse delights us, how much more should we delight in knowing that the creator of the universe says to us personally, I love you. You belong to Me.

Moreover, the Lord too desires to belong and that is why we are here and why He created us. It excites Jesus that we desire to draw closer to Him, sharing a reciprocal relationship of identifying with each other’s hearts. We can only be truly lonely when this reality has not been revealed to us. However, just like belonging to a certain group requires that we share a common behavioural code, so too is it with God. If we want to belong to Him, He states that there is a certain behavioural code that He expects from us.

Once we choose to obey the Lord and surrender the control of our lives to Him, the need in us to be accepted is satisfied and the result is a confident life that allows His light to shine through us to those around us. We no longer have to try and convince ourselves and others that we don’t look so bad when we stand confronted with our sins. We no longer have to believe that we are responsible for establishing our righteousness. We can turn to the only one who does not mind what we look like and receive from Him the rewards of a surrendered life.

•Thank you Lord that because I belong to You I never have to be lonely again. Amen.

12 January

When God moves

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for My sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. (Matt 19:29, NIV)

God is always ready to move. We desire to serve Him, but in our spiritual immaturity we trust our own efforts to live a holy life. When we face tribulations we call on God to act in our situations and we demand that He responds because we are the victims (self-pity) or because we promise a mighty effort to produce the victory (own strength). In both cases we rely on ourselves to solicit His intervention in our lives. We are not yet ready to see God move.

The issue remains one of humility. Are we humble enough to consecrate our lives to Jesus, to surrender all our rights and demands and stop all our selfish efforts? Are we humble enough to see that our lives are not our own, that they belong to Him and therefore it is God who will bring us through our tribulations? Our part is to trust in Him and not try to press His hand into action. Our old self-reliant life must first die in order to see God’s hand move in our circumstances – this is the paradox of the cross. If we have even the slightest victory to celebrate, it must surely only be because Christ is in us.

When are we ready to see God move? God moves when we accept – in obedient surrender – that we belong to Him, and start to believe that we can leave our lives completely in His hands. When we realise that our transformation is a miraculous process in which we have no part to play, it produces humility in us. We no longer resent God or man for our circumstances; rather, we become grateful for the blessings we have. When we become mature in our character, learn to be obedient and develop a deep appreciation for what God has already done for us, God will move.

•Lord help me to understand that it is only when I am willing to surrender my own ways to You that I can experience Your power in my life. Amen.

13 January

The call to fathers to engage

He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. (Acts 10:2)

What does it mean when a home has a father? Is the mere presence of a man in the house sufficient? A God-fearing father is a father whose example of how to successfully manage the daily demands of ordinary life inspires his family to embrace life courageously. It is in the drudgery of everyday living that the true character of a father is exposed and processed by his family. It is ultimately the father who shapes his family’s perception of life.

The heart of a godly father witnesses to the truth of eternal life as he engages God through prayer. Through prayer he finds the key for his high-priesthood in his home. It is through prayer that the battle concerning the degree of blessing that will come upon his home and the degree to which curses will be allowed to continue is won or lost. A father who is humble enough to accept his frailty as a human being, but is faithful enough to believe in the power of a God of grace, prays and intercedes for his family.

A godly father will engage his household through his leadership. He influences his family by his attitude – either positive or negative. As a mentor to his children he gives up his desire for popularity in order to be able to confront issues in the home truthfully. As a result, healthy relationships, characterised by unity and respect, will be established between family members.

A godly father surrenders his life to God and, as a result, his life is characterised by a God-given peace that comes from him abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ is not about the religious moments in his life that his family observe, but rather him accepting and surrendering to God’s plans and directions for his life. It is this subconscious abiding peace that comes from trusting God that gives his family a sense of security and a love for life.

•Lord, thank you that You are my heavenly Father. Amen.

14 January

Embracing brokenness

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3, NIV)

Often we find ourselves feeling discouraged and depressed and we start questioning the lack of joy in our lives. We mistakenly believe that it is our abilities and our efforts that are the source of our joy. When we experience the absence of joy it leaves us feeling dissatisfied and keeps us striving for more. We fail to realise that our dissatisfaction stems from our own brokenness as our goal of who we want to become in Christ seems impossible to achieve.

In our hunger and thirst for righteousness before God we forge ahead with our own religious common sense and say, Oh, yes, with just a little bit more Bible reading, devotional time and prayer, I see how it can be done. This is how I can get rid of this lack of joy, this feeling of brokenness! It seems much easier to do something for God than to trust that God will do in us what we cannot do ourselves. We forget that our peace in Him is not achieved through activities for Him, but rather through an intimate personal relationship with Him.

When we believe our achievements are testimonies of our own abilities, the feeling of hopelessness will be profound when we are confronted with our brokenness. It is the purpose of the Holy Spirit in us to give us insight into what our human nature is really like, but for the grace of God. When we get to that point of brokenness where we know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells (Rom 7:18), when we are confronted with the reality of our brokenness, we cease from our activities for God and embrace a walk of faith with Him. When we realise what wonderful things God has already done in our lives, despite our unworthiness, love for Him will start to fill our hearts and keeping His commandments will become a natural expression of that love, rather than a duty.

•Lord, thank you that by You revealing my brokenness to me I can now start to trust You to be my righteousness and peace. Amen.

15 January

Choosing a life of faith

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. (Deut 30:19b, NIV)

Faith is simply our absolute trust in God. God’s purpose for us is not found in the big leaps of faith that we think are required for real spiritual growth. Each time we encounter some small issue in our everyday life we can choose to either walk by faith or use our own sense of self-sufficiency to decide how we are going to respond. Common sense is never faith and faith is never common sense, thus there will always be something that will, from a rational viewpoint, flatly contradict our faith. We often fail to realise that we are in control of our own choices and every small decision we make is releasing either blessings or curses into our future.

Only when our faith has been tested can it become our intimate possession. It is when our own strength has failed and our vision has become blurred that we truly begin to experience the testing of our faith. Faith produces an inner conflict between what is seen with the natural eye and what can only be seen with spiritual eyes. The continual challenges we face in life will either prove our faith to be real or they will destroy it. It is in these moments of testing that we can choose blessings or curses, victory or defeat. Until our faith has endured to the point where we surrender our common sense and turn to rely on His promises, we are still blinded to the power and essence of God present in us.

Many of us begin to falter in our faith when we allow worry to dictate our thoughts. The only way to remove fear from our lives is to trust God. As we surrender to Him, we begin to hear His reassuring voice that comforts and strengthens us. When this happens, our spirits find the courage to confront the fears in our everyday lives and to declare them to be lies. Even though we may still be tempted to fear, we will be able to embrace God’s words of assurance to us, encouraging us to say, The Lord is my helper, therefore I will not fear!

•Lord, please help me to make godly choices every time my faith is tested. Amen.

16 January

Identifying with Jesus

On that day you will realise that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. (John 14:20, NIV)

What does it mean to be in Christ? We have a genuine desire to be just like Jesus, but we erroneously believe personal holiness is the criterion necessary for identification with Him. From Jesus’ perspective, however, the absolute surrender of our right to ourselves and having a relationship with Him in which His authority as Lord of our lives is accepted, are required. As a result of our relationship with Jesus we experience salvation and holiness, but the foundation of this relationship is built on our identification with Him in all areas of our lives. In order to do this we must humble ourselves and renounce everything that we have previously clung to and follow Him as Lord.

Very few of us truly know what is meant by unconditional identification with and abandonment to Jesus. We identify with Jesus when we embrace His perspective of our lives and not our own. Many of us have turned away from God because we are afraid to look at our lives from His perspective. We run from God’s perspective because it calls for a faith step that is larger than the belief perspective we have. In the case of the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-22, the young man believed in his wealth, that was his belief perspective and he expected Jesus to accommodate and understand that he could not sell all his possessions. He could not identify with Jesus and embrace His perspective for his life, and consequently the young man could not become His disciple.

It’s not the practical activities that are the strength of God’s kingdom in us, it’s the fact that we have learned to identify ourselves with Him. We may have no idea of where God is taking us, but if we have identified ourselves with Him we will be firmly rooted and grounded in Him. This may well appear to be very impractical in the eyes of the world, but we know that we will be able to remain true to Him and stand firm, whatever may happen in our lives.

•Lord, thank you that I can trust You with my life because You see the bigger picture. Amen.

17 January

Perspective

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. (Judges 17:6)

How we relate and respond to issues in our lives reveals our perspective on those issues. The way we respond is determined by our mindset, formed not only by our own thoughts surrounding the issue, but also by the opinions of others. God’s opinion should have the greatest influence on our perspective of life, so the first question we should always ask ourselves is: What does God say about this issue? However, we can only ask this question if we believe that God is in fact Lord of our lives. Respect for God is none other than embracing God’s opinion above our own reasoning.

A lack of respect for God can make us slaves of the moment and we will often do something on the spur of the moment because it looks like a good idea. When we no longer submit to God’s perspective we lose perspective on what is really important in life; our decisions become short-sighted and we start developing an attitude of reactive living where we go from one radical decision to the next, from one crisis to the next. When we lose awareness of God’s purpose and meaning for our lives we gratify our immediate impulses and become oblivious to the legacy we are leaving for future generations. When we’re confronted with an issue we often react with fear, indifference or anger, rather than displaying the fruit of the Spirit.

We must be vigilant to guard our hearts and maintain a godly perspective of ourselves and the world around us. By allowing God’s perspective to continually stretch our own perspective, we can resist the temptation of immediate gratification as we stand firm in faith, knowing that God has a plan for us, one that’s bigger and better than what we can see at the moment. When we are willing to align ourselves to God’s perspective, we will no longer trust ourselves to do what seems right in our own eyes.

•Lord, I surrender the opinions that I have of myself and the world around me to You. Please show me Your perspective. Amen.

18 January

The miracle of remaining in Christ

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. (John 15:7, NIV)

This scripture is a very powerful promise in the Word concerning the extent to which God is prepared to go to bring about a miracle in our lives. The words are comforting and the promise is real, but so is the commitment it calls for. John 15:9 says, As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. The question that arises here is not if God will perform miracles in our lives, but rather how to remain in His love.

Remaining refers to Jesus’s invitation for us to respond intimately to His love for us. Remaining in Him is all about spending time in His presence through prayer, just like He spent time with His Father. When we become born again, the life we receive is the life of the Son of God in us and we can choose either to starve or to nourish this life. Prayer is the way by which we nourish the life of God in us.

Prayer is not a matter of changing our circumstances; rather, it is the avenue through which miraculous transformations take place in our hearts. The purpose of remaining in God through prayer is that we may get to know Him and become like Him. Then, when we ask for something, we receive what we asked for. We receive what we asked for because prayer has changed us; we no longer ask out of selfishness, but out of a desire to ask in accordance with His will.

The problem is that at the centre of our fallen nature resides the belief that we think we are self-sufficient. We think we do not need to ask God for anything. However, miracles begin when we enter into the type of relationship with God where we surrender our self-sufficiency to Him and, with