April 30 Devotion - Come to Me

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
      And lean not on your own understanding;
       ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
      And He shall direct your paths.
 توكل على الرب بكل قلبك وعلى فهمك لا تعتمد. في كل طرقك اعرفه وهو يقوم سبلك

Proverbs 3:5-6 

 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

تعالوا اليّ يا جميع المتعبين والثقيلي الاحمال وانا اريحكم

Matthew 11:28 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. I thank You and trust in You with all my heart. Help me Lord to always lean on You and not on my own abilities. I acknowledge You God as the gracious, merciful and sovereign creator and master of the universe. I thank You Lord  that You are directing my paths to always follow Your Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus, I put all my worries and problems at the feet of Your cross. I know that You will give me peace and joy, and fill my heart with Your love, because You died for the forgiveness of my sins and to redeem me and declare me righteous in the eyes of the LORD. I pray to the Father in Your Holy name Jesus. Amen.

Jesus Loves you                                                                

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

April 27 Devotion - Abundance

Jesus said:

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

أَعْطُوا، تُعْطَوْا: فَإِنَّكُمْ تُعْطَوْنَ فِي أَحْضَانِكُمْ كَيْلاً جَيِّداً مُلَبَّداً مَهْزُوزاً فَائِضاً، لأَنَّهُ بِالْكَيْلِ الَّذِي بِهِ تَكِيلُونَ، يُكَالُ لَكُمْ».

Luke 6:38

God applies what He preaches. He is a God of abundance! He is always giving us; He wants to pour out His abundance on us until we are so full that we are running over with His abundance.

We should notice however that Jesus said: "Give and it will be given to you." We need to start giving. Giving is not just financial. Spiritual, emotional, acts of service are included and required.

When we plant an orange seed, God gives us an orange tree with a single orange…No, he gives us an orange tree with an abundance of oranges. If we plant many orange seeds we can get an orange grove. That's what happens when we obey God in our giving, we get an abundant harvest in return and when we give some away, the cycle repeats itself.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings, You are so loving and caring. Thank You for the gift that no one else can give, salvation through Jesus Christ. Help me to be a blessing to others and to give in the same way I want to receive, a good measure that is exceeding expectations. Help me to open the door to Your abundance in all areas of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Jesus Loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 24 Devotion - Hope and Wait

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

جيد ان ينتظر الانسان ويتوقع بسكوت خلاص الرب.

Lamentations 3:26 

I find myself resorting to fast prayers and expecting a fast ‘Yes’ response from God. I understand when God answers ‘No’. The third alternative answer from God could be ‘Wait’.

 God’s answer ‘Wait’ is sometimes intentional because we are still not spiritually mature enough for a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer, and He wants to increase our spiritual maturity.

 Sometimes going through tribulation teaches us patience; patience can help us acquire experience which can lead to the increase of hope. Hope then increases our expectation, which in turn increases our confidence in the Lord.

 I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Thank You for Your wisdom because sometimes You make me wait. Thank You for always doing what is best for me. I understand that the salvation of The Lord cannot be hurried, and I ask You to always give me the patience and wisdom to persistently pray asking with abundant hope: “Your will be done”. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus Loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

April 23 Devotion - From Start to Completion

‘being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;’

وَلِي ثِقَةٌ فِي هَذَا الأَمْرِ بِالذَّاتِ: أَنَّ الَّذِي بَدَأَ فِيكُمْ عَمَلاً صَالِحاً سَوْفَ يُتَمِّمُهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْمَسِيحِ يَسُوعَ.

Philippians 1:6

I have learned that God is more interested in changing me than He is in changing my circumstances.

I have learned that if I choose to be upset because things are not happening my way, or I choose to be discouraged because things are not happening according to my preferred timing; then I will suffer the consequence of just staying where I am and not advancing.

I have learned that if I want to see God open new doors, I have to be the best I can be right where I am, and allow God to work in me.

I have learned that I need to have faith that God will complete what He started in me.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Reveal to me Lord what You want to change in me and strengthen me to align myself with Your plan. Teach me Lord to realize that when I encounter difficulties while following Your plan, it means I still need more change from within. Lord, strengthen my faith and make me confident that You will complete what You have started in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus Loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 20 Devotion - Give all your worries to God

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

ملقين كل همكم عليه لانه هو يعتني بكم

1 Peter 5:7

Prayer plays an important role in handling anxiety. When we pray in faith, we declare our need to God.

Peter instructed us to cast the whole of our cares (all our anxieties, all our worries, all our concerns) on Him, for He cares for us affectionately and watchfully.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Help me to not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present my requests to You. You are holy, righteous, and infinite in wisdom. Thank You that Your mercies never cease. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

April 19 Devotion - A Time for Repayment

There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens

لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ أَوَانٌ، وَلِكُلِّ أَمْرٍ تَحْتَ السَّمَاءِ زَمَانٌ

Ecclesiastes 3:1

 You keep track of all my sorrows.
      You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
      You have recorded each one in your book.

تيهاني راقبت. اجعل انت دموعي في زقّك. أما هي في سفرك

Psalm 56:8 

واعوض لكم عن السنين التي اكلها الجراد

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—

Joel 2:25

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Thank You that You care so much about every detail of my life. Through Your grace and mercy You record every sorrow and collect every tear I have shed. You love me so much, and You are my Vindicator.                                                        

Lord, I know You will heal every single hurt and pain. You will restore all that has been lost. You see the longings and desires of my heart. I know that You have my best interest at heart. I will keep standing, keep believing, and keep doing the right things because the One who collects my tears and repays for the years the locusts have eaten will restore every area in my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus Loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 18 Devotion - GOD IS GREAT

 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you.

إِذَنْ، لاَ تَتَخَلَّوْا عَنْ ثِقَتِكُمْ بِالرَّبِّ. فَإِنَّ لَهَا مُكَافَأَةً عَظِيمَةً.

Hebrews 10:35

 In quietness and confidence is your strength.

بالهدوء والطمأنينة تكون قوتكم

 Isaiah 30:15

 Are you limiting God by the way you think?

 Our God is a great and limitless God. He dwells in eternity and operates in infinity. He has all things within His understanding and all things under His control.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Please Lord help me to develop this rock hard limitless confident trust in You. Help me to be quiet and at peace in Your arms and to receive Your bountiful rewards. Dear Lord, help me to realize that You are at work always in my life, even in the quiet times when not much seems to be happening. I thank You for Your love and Your rewards, I praise You and glorify You in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

 Jesus Loves you

 In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 17 Devotion - Becoming Christ-like

…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus… For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,

من اجل ذلك نحن ايضا منذ يوم سمعنا لم نزل مصلّين وطالبين لاجلكم ان تمتلئوا من معرفة مشيئته في كل حكمة وفهم روحي

10 لتسلكوا كما يحق للرب في كل رضى مثمرين في كل عمل صالح ونامين في معرفة الله

 متقوين بكل قوة بحسب قدرة مجده

Colossians 1:9-11

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Abba, help me to know Your will for my life and fill me with Your wisdom and spiritual understanding. Help me to be Christ-like fully pleasing You and fruitful toward others through Your glorious strength. Lord help me to pray for others.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Jesus Loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 16 Devotion - Peace be with you

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “ Peace be with you” ²⁰ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

وَلَمَّا حَلَّ مَسَاءُ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمِ، وَهُوَ الْيَوْمُ الأَوَّلُ مِنَ الأُسْبُوعِ، كَانَ التَّلاَمِيذُ مُجْتَمِعِينَ فِي بَيْتٍ أَغْلَقُوا أَبْوَابَهُ خَوْفاً مِنَ الْيَهُودِ، وَإِذَا يَسُوعُ يَحْضُرُ وَسْطَهُمْ قَائِلاً: 

«سَلاَمٌ لَكُمْ!» 

 ²⁰ وَإِذْ قَالَ هَذَا، أَرَاهُمْ يَدَيْهِ وَجَنْبَهُ، فَفَرِحَ التَّلاَمِيذُ إِذْ أَبْصَرُوا الرَّبَّ.

John 20:19- 20

Not until the first day of the week had passed—in the evening—did Christ appear among the disciples as a group to establish their faith in His resurrection. Until then—all through that heartbreaking Sunday—the disciples doubted and were afraid. When it finally dawned upon them that Christ was alive, they "were overjoyed". That was a time of supreme rejoicing!

On this occasion Jesus opened the minds of these beloved men that they might understand the Scriptures.

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And you are witnesses of these things.”

 وَقَالَ لَهُمْ

  «هَكَذَا قَدْ كُتِبَ، وَهَكَذَا كَانَ لاَبُدَّ أَنْ يَتَأَلَّمَ الْمَسِيحُ وَيَقُومَ مِنْ بَيْنِ الأَمْوَاتِ فِي الْيَوْمِ الثَّالِثِ،

 ⁴⁷ وَأَنْ يُبَشَّرَ بِاسْمِهِ بِالتَّوْبَةِ وَغُفْرَانِ الْخَطَايَا فِي جَمِيعِ الأُمَمِ انْطِلاَقاً مِنْ أُورُشَلِيمَ.

 ⁴⁸ وَأَنْتُمْ شُهُودٌ عَلَى هَذِهِ الأُمُورِ.

Luke 24:46-48

The apostle Paul was able to say rejoice in The Lord always because he focused on Jesus not on all the troubles he had.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Thank You for Jesus, his death and resurrection. Teach me Jesus to rejoice in Your peace and to keep my mind, eyes and thoughts on You. Bless me Lord with the ability to rejoice in You always. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

 Jesus Loves you

 In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 13 Devotion -The cross

Today marks “Good Friday” according to the calendar followed by the Christian Orthodox faith

"In Christ's humiliation stands our exaltation; in His weakness stands our strength; in His ignominy our glory; in His death our life."—Cudworth. 1613.

The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

تتحول الشمس الى ظلمة والقمر الى دم قبل ان يجيء يوم الرب العظيم الشهير.

21 ويكون كل من يدعو باسم الرب يخلص

22 ايها الرجال الاسرائيليون اسمعوا هذه الاقوال. يسوع الناصري رجل قد تبرهن لكم من قبل الله بقوات وعجائب وآيات صنعها الله بيده في وسطكم كما انتم ايضا تعلمون.

23 هذا اخذتموه مسلّما بمشورة الله المحتومة وعلمه السابق وبايدي اثمة صلبتموه وقتلتموه.

Acts 2:20-23

Christ's suffering on the cross was fore-ordained, and  was the one payment of our debt that God would accept—this is the great sacrifice on which the eternal life of believers depends. If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our place, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty chasm between us and God, which no man ever could have crossed.

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord thank You for loving me so much that you were ready to let Your Son die on the cross to redeem me, a sinner. As Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13

God, I thank You, I praise You and I glorify You in the name of Your precious Son, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

  Jesus loves you.

In Him

Wagdi Henein

April 12 Devotion - Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶ for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸ for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁰ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

                                                                   Luke 22: 14-20

ولما كانت الساعة اتكأ والاثني عشر رسولا معه .

15 وقال لهم شهوة اشتهيت ان آكل هذا الفصح معكم قبل ان اتألم .

16 لاني اقول لكم اني لا آكل منه بعد حتى يكمل في ملكوت الله .

17 ثم تناول كاسا وشكر وقال خذوا هذه واقتسموها بينكم .

18 لاني اقول لكم اني لا اشرب من نتاج الكرمة حتى يأتي ملكوت الله .

19 واخذ خبزا وشكر وكسر واعطاهم قائلا هذا هو جسدي الذي يبذل عنكم .اصنعوا هذا لذكري .

20 وكذلك الكاس ايضا بعد العشاء قائلا هذه الكاس هي العهد الجديد بدمي الذي يسفك عنكم

I invite you to repeat the following prayer:

 Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Thank You for Your grace which allows us to be forgiven through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. Thank You Jesus for suffering on behalf of all those who believe in You and are born again of The Spirit. On behalf all of us who have accepted You as our Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for Your body which is given for us and for the new covenant of grace through Your blood which was shed for us. I praise You and glorify You Jesus, my redeemer. Amen. 

 Jesus Loves you

 In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 11 Devotion - God's Ways

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways.

 ⁹ فَكَمَا ارْتَفَعَتِ السَّمَاوَاتُ عَنِ الأَرْضِ، كَذَلِكَ ارْتَفَعَتْ طُرُقِي عَنْ طُرُقِكُمْ، وَأَفْكَارِي عَنْ أَفْكَارِكُمْ.

Isaiah 55:9

Do you have an unmet need(s) in your life? Is that need something that you think God would define as “good” for your life?

I am learning as a believer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, that as the years go by and as I grow in my knowledge of God, that my definition of “good” changes and that only God always sees what is absolutely “good” for me.

 I am learning that God:

·     Gives us the things that are truly beneficial for our growth as His children and that are beneficial for the advancement of His kingdom on earth.

·     Gives us the things that are good for us and all those that are impacted by us.

·     Gives us the things that are good for us throughout all eternity.

·     Gives us what we need in His perfect timing.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord, teach me to have the discernment and wisdom to know what to pray for. Lord, help me to pray for what is good for me and those impacted by what I am praying for. Help me Jehovah to pray for those things that will help me grow in the likeness of Your Son and for the advancement of Your kingdom. I believe that You will only give me what is best for me. Lord, teach me to wait upon Your perfect timing. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

 Jesus Loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein