November 10 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

11 متقوين بكل قوة بحسب قدرة مجده

Colossians 1:9-11

 

 

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 discern Your will for my life and be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Father, strengthen me with all might, according to Your glorious power Lord, so that I may walk in such a way that is fully pleasing to You, and is fruitful in every good work. Lord, I desire and need to increase in Your knowledge. God, I thank You for Your unfailing, inseparable, deep, and everlasting love for me and Your abundant blessings in my life. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. To Jesus be the glory, the power, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

November 9 Devotion - You are the apple of God's eye

     

For thus says the LORD of hosts:… “For he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.”

 

فَإِنَّ الرَّبَّ الْقَدِيرَ يَقُولُ ...'لأَنَّ مَنْ يَمَسُّكُمْ يَمَسُّ حَدَقَةَ عَيْنِهِ.'

Zechariah 2:8

 

God loves us so very much.

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

لأَنَّهُ هكَذَا أَحَبَّ اللهُ الْعَالَمَ حَتَّى بَذَلَ ابْنَهُ الْوَحِيدَ، لِكَيْ لَا يَهْلِكَ كُلُّ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِهِ، بَلْ تَكُونُ لَهُ الْحَيَاةُ الأَبَدِيَّةُ.

John 3:16

 

And now the eyes of the Father are forever focused on us because of Christ’s atoning death on The Cross for us.

God will never forget us; the followers of Christ; for He has inscribed our names on the palms of His Hands. Neither will He forget the church, the body of believers.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for loving me with a deep and everlasting love, thank You for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. I am privileged and thankful that as a believer and follower of Jesus Christ; Your only begotten Son; that I am so precious to You, that You consider that whoever touches me touches the apple of Your eye. I thank You, praise You and glorify You, and pray to You Father God in the name of Jesus my Lord and Saviour. To Jesus be honour, glory and power since the beginning of time, now, and forevermore. Amen.

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

November 5 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.

 

وَفِيمَا كَانَ يَسُوعُ مَارّاً، رَأَى رَجُلاً أَعْمَى مُنْذُ وِلادَتِهِ

تَفَلَ فِي التُّرَابِ، وَجَبَلَ مِنَ التُّفْلِ طِيناً، ثُمَّ وَضَعَهُ عَلَى عَيْنَيِ الأَعْمَى، 7 وَقَالَ لَهُ: «اذْهَبِ اغْتَسِلْ فِي بِرْكَةِ سِلْوَامَ»، أَيِ الْمُرسَلِ. فَذَهَبَ وَاغْتَسَلَ وَعَادَ بَصِيراً.

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? The reason is this man had no eyes. 

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 learnt: 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 not be delivered in the fashion I am thinking about.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for loving me with a deep and everlasting love, thank You for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. 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. God, I praise You, revere You, worship You, I stand in awe of You, I lift You up on high, and glorify Your holy name. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. To Jesus be the glory, the power, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein                                       

November 4 Devotion - Lasting Happiness

 

    

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

طُوبَى لِلْمَسَاكِينِ بِالرُّوحِ، لأَنَّ لَهُمْ مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ

 

Matthew 5:3

 

Since the original language of the Gospel of Matthew was written in Greek (although Jesus spoke Aramaic), the word used for blessed is ‘Makarios’ which means deep contentment and lasting happiness.

Real happiness is found when we realize that happiness is in the spiritual realm that is interior to ourselves. In our spiritual realm we are designed to know, experience and enjoy God.

In the same way that man designed a car to run on gasoline (or electricity); I believe God designed us to run on Himself. He is the fuel our spirits were designed to run on.

I had always pondered on why being ‘poor in spirit’ is a good thing, until I learnt that it means: it is when I realize my spiritual bankruptcy and depend on God who is the real food and fuel to my spirit and He comes to live within me that I can have Makarios. When I accept God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, I receive The Holy Spirit and I can have The Kingdom of God within me and be guaranteed eternity with God.

For me it is straight forward, if  anyone wants everlasting happiness, Makarios, it is only found in Jesus.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I realize that I am poor in spirit and You are the fuel and food for my spirit. Thank You that You sent Jesus to redeem me and grant me salvation and life eternal as a pure act of grace which I do not deserve. Thank You, Father, for Your abundant blessings and deep inseparable love. God, I praise You and glorify You. Help me Father to sink the message that lasting happiness is not found in worldly things, deep in my heart. Thank You for revealing to me that You are the source of my ‘Makarios’. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray in His mighty name. To Jesus be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In Him,

Wagdi Henein