Devotion
You Are Never Alone
Chipo Biti
How comforting it is to know that God is always with us. Sometimes, the journey can become very challenging when you are a Christian. Setting out to preach the gospel is no easy feat, especially when you are surrounded by people who actively speak against the Gospel. The fear of persecution can become very real at times. But this does not mean that you need to feel ashamed of the way you feel. No. Let me let you in on a little secret:
God knows you far more than you know yourself. Your fears are not a surprise to Him.
If God wasn't expecting you to feel intimidated or afraid, He wouldn't have spent so much time assuring you in His word. There are times where the going will get tough. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus knew that the new disciples were going to go through. Jesus often warned His followers of the trials, tribulations, and persecution they would face for standing for His name. But He never left it there.
He always emphasized on the fact that His disciples would never be alone. This applies to us. Ever Christian is a disciple of Christ - someone who has chosen to learn from and follow the ways of Christ. This means that we are to know the commands Christ gave us - instructing us to love God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul and to also love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
The road to loving your neighbors is rarely a pleasant road. The world is filled with people who possess various personalities and beliefs. There will be good days where you will come across people who will be friendly towards you and they may even connect with you on a godly level. But there will be many days where the people around you will frustrate you, hurt you, and discourage you.
Prayer
This is where the love of God kicks in and teaches us how to love one another. This is another part of Christ being with us always. He is always there to show us the right way to go. He is always there to comfort us when we are hurt for loving the people around us. He is there to refresh and remind us of how worthwhile the journey is.
He is always there and He always will be.
Devotion
Abraham is Father of All
Frances Taylor
There are questions in every age about the importance of the Old Testament for Christians. Abraham is considered to be the Father of Faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims. We forget that it was Abraham who believed in the doctrine of only one God. It is through him and his descendants that this tradition comes down to us. Another fact that we can overlook is that Jesus was Jewish. He was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died, rose and ascended into heaven as a Jew. Because we believe that he was the Messiah, the Christ, and we follow him, we are called Christian. Without the Old Testament, we wouldn't understand the promise of salvation; we wouldn't understand why it was important for Jesus to be of the family of King David. We would not understand his teaching either, because Jesus quoted from Scripture – the Old Testament – frequently. He told us that he came to fulfill the Scriptures, not to abolish them. In the same way, we can ...
