May 31 Devotion - Strong Weak People

Peter said to Him, Lord, why cannot I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.

³⁸ Jesus answered, Will you [really] lay down your life for Me? I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me [completely disown Me] three times.

John 13:37-38

Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.

John 14: 1

All of the disciples must have been troubled about Jesus' predictions of betrayal, denial, and departure. After all, if Peter's commitment was shaky, then every disciple should be aware of his own weaknesses.

In the Greek, the pronoun your is plural; therefore, Jesus was speaking to Peter and to all the other disciples.

Jesus did not want his followers to imitate Peter's impulsive self-confidence. Potential weaknesses and possible failures trouble us. So we don't like to think about them. Peter denied his own frailty and claimed more faith than he had.

Jesus' solution for troubled hearts requires us to trust in him. Trust does not mean pretending we are strong; it means recognizing our weakness and need for God's help. If we believe for a moment that we can follow Jesus in our own strength, we will fail as miserably as Peter.

(from The Life Application Commentary Series Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and for the riches of Your grace. Thank You that You have provided for my weakness by sending the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), The Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name [in Jesus’ place, to represent Him and act on His behalf], to teach me to trust in You and in Jesus and replace my troubled heart with Your peace. Lord, I admit my weakness and my need for the help of The Holy Spirit to comfort me strengthen me and give me wise counsel.  God I pray to You in the name of Your precious Son; my Redeemer and Saviour; the Lord of my life, Jesus Christ. To Jesus be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion before all time and now and forevermore. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 30 Devotion - Recipients of His Riches

That He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory.

وَذَلِكَ بِقَصْدِ أَنْ يُعْلِنَ غِنَى مَجْدِهِ فِي أَوْعِيَةِ الرَّحْمَةِ الَّتِي سَبَقَ فَأَعَدَّهَا لِلْمَجْدِ،

Oui, qu’as-tu à redire si Dieu a agi ainsi pour manifester la richesse de sa gloire en faveur de ceux qui sont les objets de sa compassion, ceux qu’il a préparés d’avance pour la gloire?

Romans 9:23

We need to affirm our heritage in Christ and to realize all of God’s promises. Once we understand our relationship to God through Jesus we can begin to live in the power of The Holy Spirit. All believers who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour are extremely rich because the moment we were born again and placed our trust in God’s Son, God deposited the enormous riches of heaven into our accounts.

The devil will try to steal our peace but we have to let The Holy Spirit convict us of our heritage in Christ and to claim it.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can affirm my heritage in Christ and claim all what You have for me right now. Thank You Lord for all the riches of heaven that that You have deposited into my account. Thank You Lord for sending The Holy Spirit to me and for allowing me to live in the power of The Holy Spirit. Thank You my Heavenly Father for Your unfailing, inseparable, deep and everlasting love for me, Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. Lord I pray  to You in the name of Your precious Son; my redeemer, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Jesus be the glory, the power, the dominion, the majesty and the blessings before all time, now, and forever and ever and unto ages of all ages.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 29 Devotion - Align your Vision to God's Vision

For the vision awaits an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it is slow in coming wait for it; because it will surely come.  It will not delay.

لأَنَّ الرُّؤْيَا بَعْدُ إِلَى الْمِيعَادِ، وَفِي النِّهَايَةِ تَتَكَلَّمُ وَلاَ تَكْذِبُ. إِنْ تَوَانَتْ فَانْتَظِرْهَا لأَنَّهَا سَتَأْتِي إِتْيَانًا وَلاَ تَتَأَخَّرُ.

Habakkuk 2:3

God has a vision for the life of each believer. He also has a vision for us as a family, a church, a community and a country. We need to pray and meditate asking God to show us His vision for each one of us individually and collectively. Once we connect to God’s vision we need to keep hold of the vision, give our dreams a new beginning, and embrace all the blessings God has planned for us.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, please clarify my spiritual vision Lord and help me to focus on the principles of Your Word. Thank You Father that when my vision is aligned with Your vision for me, I have Your assurance that it will materialize. Lord, give me the strength and wisdom to follow Your leading. Give me patience Lord to wait for You to declare Your vision for me. I rejoice in the hope and the faith and knowledge that my vision is materializing. Thank You Heavenly Father for Your unfailing, inseparable, deep and everlasting love for me, Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life.  

To Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 28 Devotion - Keep Trusting God

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 
            

وَفْقاً لِمَا كُتِبَ: «إِنَّ مَا لَمْ تَرَهُ عَيْنٌ، وَلَمْ تَسْمَعْ بِهِ أُذُنٌ، وَلَمْ يَخْطُرْ عَلَى بَالِ بَشَرٍ قَدْ أَعَدَّهُ اللهُ لِمُحِبِّيهِ!»

1 Corinthians 2:9

“Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, “ Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

هكذا يقول الرب الجاعل في البحر طريقا وفي المياه القوية مسلكا 18 لا تذكروا الاوليات. والقديمات لا تتأملوا بها. 19 هانذا صانع أمرا جديدا. الآن ينبت. ألا تعرفونه. اجعل في البرية طريقا في القفر انهارا.

Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

God is telling us to forget any former feelings of being lost in the wilderness or stranded in the desert and our former tribulations and/or hurts and to behold His new roads in the wilderness and His rivers in the desert.
Let us rejoice, at all times rejoice, for God is preparing beautiful things for us. He tells us that they are beyond our imagination and we have not seen anything like them before. Let us remember that God keeps His promises and He is the creator of the universe. Let us choose to trust Him and Him alone.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You that Your deep steadfast love for me endures forever. Thank You Father for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. I thank You for what I have and for what I do not have. I thank You for Your Mercy and for Your Grace. I put my future in Your hands because I trust You and I declare that I love You. I know that You always keep Your promises, and that You have prepared wonderful things for me and that they shall spring forth in Your perfect timing.  In the mighty name of Jesus; my Lord and Saviour; The King of kings and Lord of lords, in The Holy Name of Your only begotten Son Jesus, I pray to You Father. To Jesus be the power, the glory, the majesty and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of all ages. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 25 Devotion - Never Give Up

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. But as for you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.”

فَلاَ نَفْشَلْ فِي عَمَلِ الْخَيْرِ لأَنَّنَا سَنَحْصُدُ فِي وَقْتِهِ إِنْ كُنَّا لاَ نَكِلُّ. فَتَقَوَّوْا أَنْتُمْ، وَلاَ تَخُرْ عَزِيمَتُكُمْ لأَنَّ لِعَمَلِكُمْ ثَوَاباً

Galatians 6:9, 2 Chronicles 15:7

We all have God-given dreams and desires. Sometimes it seems to take longer to accomplish our goals than we originally thought, or things do not work out at all.

It's easy to lose enthusiasm and end up just settling where we are. But God doesn't want us to settle, He wants to take us higher. But many times, we miss out on God's best simply because we give up too soon. Sometimes we do not realize how close we are to victory.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your deep and everlasting love for me, Your abundant blessings, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. God, help me not to give up just because things seem hard. Help me to stay on course in faith; and see my situation turn around. God I know You are on my side and You will help fulfill every desire You have placed on my heart. Help me Lord to continue doing good, and never give up trusting You in all faith that I will reap the harvest You have chosen for me, in Your timing. Help me Lord to always say, feel and be trustful in that “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 I pray in Jesus' name, to Him be the power, the glory and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein