February 26 Devotion - Jesus is our Friend

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15

  لا اعود اسميكم عبيدا لان العبد لا يعلم ما يعمل سيده .لكني قد سميتكم احباء لاني أعلمتكم بكل ما سمعته من ابي .

A slave does not know the plans of his/her master or owner. He receives the commands of his master without knowing the reasons why they are ordered. Friendship on the other hand allows one to be made acquainted with the plans, wishes, and wants of the friend. This instance of friendship Jesus had shared with His disciples the reasons why he was about to leave them, and with His secret wishes in regard to them. As He had given them this proof of friendship, it was proper that He should not withhold from them the title of friends.

The reason why He calls us friends is that He treats us as friends. He has opened to us His mind; made known to us His plans; acquainted us with the design of His coming, His death, His resurrection, ascension, and second coming; and, having thus given us the clearest proof of friendship, it is therefore proper that He gives us this name.

We should always look at Jesus as our friend, even though He is also our Lord and master.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable love. Jesus You laid Your life for me and said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 Thank You Jesus  for loving me and treating me like Your friend. LORD, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can continue to declare to the world that Christ is my Lord and Saviour and Friend. In the Holy Name of Jesus I pray. To Him be the glory and the power and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

ليس لاحد حب اعظم من هذا ان يضع احد نفسه لاجل احبائه .

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

February 25 Devotion - How do I get to see The Kingdom of God?

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:1-17

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself and to meditate on it:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable love. Thank You God that by accepting Jesus as my Lord and Saviour I am now born again of the Spirit. I declare that I want Jesus to live in me, and that I want to become Christ-like. Thank You Lord for Your grace and mercy. Lord, please strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can always be aware that I am saved through Your grace and that I can never be worthy on my own of being Your child except through the atoning blood of Jesus. Thank You Jesus that through You I can see The Kingdom of God and live within it. In Your  Holy Name Jesus I pray. To Jesus be the glory and the power and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

 Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

February 24 Devotion - The New Covenant

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

فَإِنَّ هَذَا هُوَ دَمِي الَّذِي لِلْعَهْدِ الْجَدِيدِ وَالَّذِي يُسْفَكُ مِنْ أَجْلِ كَثِيرِينَ لِمَغْفِرَةِ الْخَطَايَا.

Mathew 26:28

According to Bible professor Charles Ryrie, “The word covenant meant an arrangement made by one party which the other party involved could accept or reject but not alter.”

It is an arrangement made by God which we can accept or reject, but we cannot alter the arrangement that we are only saved through the shed blood of Jesus. When we accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour we are born again, a spiritual birth, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit and sealed forever as children of God.

The word testament—as used in the biblical Old and New Testaments—originates from the Greek word for covenant.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable love. Lord, thank You for loving me so much that You sent Jesus to die for my sins. I accept the atoning blood of Jesus of the new covenant joyously and thank You for Your grace and mercy. Lord, please strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can always be aware that I am saved through Your grace and that I can never be worthy on my own of being Your child. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray in His Holy Name. To Him be the glory and the power and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.’ Ephesians 3:20-21

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

والقادر ان يفعل فوق كل شيء اكثر جدا مما نطلب او نفتكر بحسب القوة التي تعمل فينا

له المجد في الكنيسة في المسيح يسوع الى جميع اجيال دهر الدهور.آمين

February 23 Devotion - Do not put God in a box

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth…  

Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”.  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

John 9:1 - 9

Jesus had healed people before by just touching them. So why did Jesus choose a new method? Why did Jesus spit and heal this blind man in this way?

Spit and dirt (clay) mixed and put on the eyes, does not sound very nice. Do you agree?  The blind man could have reacted by saying something like ‘How dare you spit on me and make my eyes full of mud, I thought you were going to heal me, not make me worse’. But he didn’t, he totally trusted Jesus and went to wash.  I have learnt that Archeologists say that Siloam; where the blind man had to go and wash; is very big with wide steps on 3 sides, where you need more courage and braveness to go into it.  But the blind man went and washed and was healed and could see for the first time.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Some of my lessons learned: I should never put Jesus in a box, for His ways are totally different than our ways. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. Isaiah 55

I need to Trust in the LORD with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding Proverbs 3:5

What I want and pray for may not be what is best for me, or it may be delivered in a different fashion than what I am expecting.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings in my life and for Your inseparable love for me. Help me to ‘see’ your ways and understand your thoughts. Lord, give me wisdom to not lean on my own understanding and strengthen me to trust You and follow You with all my heart and all my mind, soul and strength. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray in His Holy Name. To Him be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein