May 21 Devotion - What Does God Desire?

What Does God Desire?

 

God our Savior, wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

اللهِ مُخَلِّصِنَا،

⁴ فَهُوَ يُرِيدُ لِجَمِيعِ النَّاسِ أَنْ يَخْلُصُوا، وَيُقْبِلُوا إِلَى مَعْرِفَةِ الْحَقِّ بِالتَّمَامِ:
⁵ فَإِنَّ اللهَ وَاحِدٌ، وَالْوَسِيطُ بَيْنَ اللهِ وَالنَّاسِ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ الإِنْسَانُ الْمَسِيحُ يَسُوعُ،
⁶ الَّذِي بَذَلَ نَفْسَهُ فِدْيَةً عِوَضاً عَنِ الْجَمِيعِ. هَذِهِ شَهَادَةٌ تُؤَدَّى فِي أَوْقَاتِهَا الْخَاصَّةِ،

1 Timothy 2: 3-6

God wants everyone to be ‘saved’. It is His desire. That is why He came down in the form of a man Jesus Christ to save us. So how do we become saved?

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

 

أَنَّكَ إِنِ اعْتَرَفْتَ بِفَمِكَ بِيَسُوعَ رَبّاً، وَآمَنْتَ فِي قَلْبِكَ بِأَنَّ اللهَ أَقَامَهُ مِنَ الأَمْوَاتِ، نِلْتَ الْخَلاصَ.

 

10 فَإِنَّ الإِيمَانَ فِي القَلْبِ يُؤَدِّي إِلَى الْبِرِّ، وَالاعْتِرَافَ بِالْفَمِ يُؤَيِّدُ الْخَلاَصَ،

 

It is Gods desire that You and I be saved and everyone else to be saved. You and I have a role to help everyone be saved by telling them about the good news of the Gospel. Jesus asked us to spread the word and let people know about salvation through Jesus Christ. Two of the very important truths and messages that Jesus told us are:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me

فَقالَ لَهُ يَسُوعُ: «أنا هُوَ الطَّرِيِقُ وَالحَقُّ وَالحَياةُ. لا أحَدَ يَأْتِي إلَى الآبِ إلّا بِي.

John14:6

 فَاذهَبُوا، وَتَلمِذُوا جَمِيعَ أُمَمِ الأرْضِ، وَعَمِّدوهُمْ بِاسْمِ الآبِ وَالابْنِ وَالرُّوحِ القُدُسِ، 20 وَعَلِّمُوهُمْ أنْ يُطِيعُوا كُلَّ ما أوصَيتُكُمْ بِهِ.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you

Matthew 28:19-20

 

So my friend we have a responsibility toward ourselves to make sure we are saved and we have a responsibility toward others to help them know the truth and The Way to salvation: Jesus Christ. Whether they accept and when or whether they do not accept  that is the role of The Holy Spirit.

We all need to do what God desires, it is not up to Priests, Pastors or Missionaries only, it is up to each and every Christian. Have you talked about Jesus to any none believer, do you talk about Jesus when you are in the company of other Christians? It is the ‘Great Commission’ that Jesus gave us. The simplest thing you can do is forward these devotions or other devotions to someone, pray for them, share the devotions on your Facebook page, forward these emails. The alternatives in this high-tech age are immense. Let’s act on God’s desire as He wants all people to be saved, let’s communicate in the method you feel most at ease with. Direct, phone or computer.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen us with power through Your Spirit in our inner being, so that we can be saved and help others to be saved. We know that this is Your will so we know that we can do it through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. Jesus You said: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ Luke 10:2

Increase the workers Lord. Sink this message deep into our hearts and help us achieve Your desire, which is also ours as we rejoice with The Heavens with one sinner who gets saved. Luke 15:7

God we pray to You in the name of Your precious Son; our redeemer; Jesus Christ. 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

May 20 Devotion - We Must 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.

فلا نفشل في عمل الخير لاننا سنحصد في وقته ان كنا لا نكل.

Galatians 6:9

 

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 abundant blessings. Lord, I praise You and glorify You. Lord, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being so that I never give up even when things are extremely hard and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. 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 fulfil 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 in all things that are aligned with your plan and commandments I can believe 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

May 19 Devotion - The Light of the World

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

ثم كلمهم يسوع ايضا قائلا انا هو نور العالم .من يتبعني فلا يمشي في الظلمة بل يكون له نور الحياة .

John 8:12

Jesus and The Father are one. He came from The Father, and is back with The Father.

When we have Jesus in our hearts and He is our world we do not walk in the darkness of this world. When we acknowledge Him as The Lord of our lives we become children of light.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. 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 be ‘a son of light’ and  follow Jesus as my my Lord and Saviour. Strengthen me O’Lord to follow Jesus humbly and feel joy in becoming ‘Christ-like’ in my daily walk with Him. God I pray to You in the name of Your precious Son; my redeemer; Jesus Christ. 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

May 16 Devotion - He who is mighty has done great things for me

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul. When His lamp shone above and upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness; He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

يَوْمَ دَعَوْتُكَ اسْتَجَبْتَ لِي، وَشَجَّعْتَنِي إِذْ زِدْتَنِي قُوَّةً فِي دَاخِلِي. حِينَ كَانَ مِصْبَاحُهُ يُضِيءُ فَوْقَ رَأْسِي، فَأَسْلُكُ عَبْرَ الظُّلْمَةِ فِي نُورِهِ. فَإِنَّ الْقَدِيرَ قَدْ فَعَلَ بِي أُمُوراً عَظِيمَةً، قُدُّوسٌ اسْمُهُ.

Psalm 138:3, Job 29:3, Luke 1:49

When we walk in the light of God's countenance, every outward comfort is increased, every trouble is diminished, and we pass cheerfully by this light through life. When we rely on His loving-kindness and truth through Jesus Christ, we will always find Him faithful to His word.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Thank You Lord for Your promise to guide me and to comfort me through the most difficult circumstances. In the day when I cried out to You God, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul. As I look back on my life I see how You protected me God through the darkest hours and helped me walk in the light of Your countenance. I can boldly say that He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. LORD, I praise You, I thank You, and I glorify You, and I claim Your promises to continue to do great things for me and give me wisdom, strength and peace. In Jesus’ Holy name I pray. Amen.

Jesus loves you

In Him,
Wagdi Henein

May 15 Devotion - OUR COUNSELOR

“..And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

وانا اطلب من الآب فيعطيكم معزيا آخر ليمكث معكم الى الابد .
روح الحق الذي لا يستطيع العالم ان يقبله لانه لا يراه ولا يعرفه .واما انتم فتعرفونه لانه ماكث معكم ويكون فيكم

John 14:16–17

 

We need the Holy Spirit; whom Jesus sends to live in every believer; to:

 

·     Comfort us when we experience pain and sorrow. 

·     Guide us into the full truth about Jesus Christ.

·     Direct our steps daily, and to help us make wise choices and Godly decisions.

·     Remind us of God’s commandments and the truth of Jesus Christ so we will know what to do and what to say in any situation in which we find ourselves.

·     Convict us of our sins and errors so we can repent and make positive changes in our lives.

·     Defeat evil on our behalf.

·     Conform us to the image of Christ Jesus.

·     We need the Holy Spirit to make us whole.

 

I invite you to repeat the following Prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord, I praise You and I want to be so intimate with You that I can hear Your voice and have divine wisdom for every decision. Heavenly Father, I know Your way is best, no matter how good the other options appear. Attune my ears and heart to the voice of Your Holy Spirit. Make me willing to obey. Thank You for Your faithfulness, dear Lord. I praise You that Your love will never let me go. In the Holy Name of Jesus I pray. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. 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

May 14 Devotion - Sing to The Lord a new Song

Sing to the Lord a new song;     sing to the Lord, all the earth. ² Sing to the Lord, praise his name;     proclaim his salvation day after day. ³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;     he is to be feared above all (so called)gods.

 

رَنِّمُوا للهِ تَرنِيمَةً جَدِيدَةً.
غَنُّوا للهِ يا كُلَّ أهلِ الأرْضِ.
² غَنُّوا للهِ، بارِكُوا اسْمَهُ.
حَدِّثُوا بِخَلاصِهِ يَوماً بَعدَ يَومٍ.
³ أخبِرُوا بِمَجدِهِ بَينَ الشُّعُوبِ.
أخبِرُوا كُلَّ النّاسِ بِعَجائِبِهِ.
⁴ لأنَّ اللهَ عَظِيمٌ وَمُستَحِقٌّ لِلتَّسبِيحِ!
هُوَ الأكثَرُ مَهابَةً بَينَ جَمِيعِ الآلِهَةِ.

 

   Psalm 96:1-4

 

It was a custom that poets/psalmists wrote a new song whenever God had a new large blessing for the people. We see in this song/hymn that we are called to praise and bless(affectionately praise) God and give Him glory. Three times we are here called to sing unto the Lord; sing to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning. This new song is a new New-Testament song, a song of praise for the new covenant and the precious privileges of that covenant, it looks further to The Kingdom of Christ.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank you for your abundant blessings. Lord I sing a new song, a song of Your New Covenant, a song of my salvation through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Lord whenever I feel low or focus on anything other than Jesus help me to refocus on Christ by singing this new song, to sing to You LORD, to proclaim Your glory and Your wonderful news of The Gospel of Jesus Christ and my redemption, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, sanctification and glorification. Never let me forget that I am a loved and adored child of God. I declare Your glory Lord among the nations, and Your marvelous deeds among all peoples for You are great and worthy of all praise.

In the name of my Lord and Saviour, 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.

Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein

May 13 Devotion - You shall love The Lord

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment

وتحب الرب الهك من كل قلبك ومن كل نفسك ومن كل فكرك ومن كل قدرتك هذه هي الوصية الاولى

                                                          Mark 12:30

When Jesus laid out the most important commandment for humanity, He started with loving the Lord with ALL of our heart. I often wondered how can I love Jesus with all my heart?

The heart is where we keep our emotions, cares and desires. The rudder of my ship is my cares and desires.

In order to bring my life (ship) in from the storm, the rudder (my cares and desires) needs to be my love for God with all my heart.

How do I do that? Jesus teaches me that:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

لانه حيث يكون كنزك هناك يكون قلبك ايضا

Matthew 6:21

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank you for your abundant blessings. I praise You and glorify You. Jesus help me and teach me to make You my undisputed treasure. O my soul, you have said to The Lord, “You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You.” Psalm 16:2

Lord, help me to have the discipline of spending time with You daily and give me the gift of treasuring this time and rejoicing to be in Your presence. In the name of The King of kings and Lord of lords, 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.

قُلْتُ لِلرَّبِّ: «أَنْتَ سَيِّدِي. خَيْرِي لاَ شَيْءَ غَيْرُكَ»

Jesus loves you

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 12 devotion - Focus on God

God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;     let your glory be over all the earth
My heart, O God, is steadfast
    I will sing and make music.
9 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;     I will sing of you among the peoples. 10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;     your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;    let your glory be over all the earth.

Psalm 57

I acknowledge that I sometimes fall into the trap of focusing on my challenges in life and forget about my Saviour. It even gets worse when I start redirecting my frustration toward God. This turns into a spiral downward motion feeding the loss of hope and the start of depression. Have you ever been there? I am there now and working on refocusing on my God. The paradigm shift goes from look God at the size of my problems to look problems at the strength of my God.

I am now looking at what King David wrote in Psalm 57 and applying it to myself. If you are in the same boat now, or whenever you find yourself in this situation let us repeat the above phrases from Psalm 57.

I feel the need to focus on God’s grace and unconditional love for me, I need to focus on His power and ability to control all circumstances. Let us focus on His always-listening ear and His always-watchful eye. When we keep focusing on God, our thoughts about our problems diminish and our hope increases and our depression turns to enthusiasm.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. Lord, I choose to see Your loving arms wrapped around me lifting me up to safety, provision, and peace. I thank You that You are a reliable and trustworthy God and You promised that You will never leave me nor forsake me, and I know that You are faithful. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth. I will praise You Lord, among the nations; for great is Your love Lord, reaching to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. I choose today to concentrate on You, to hold fast my confession that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour and in His mighty name I pray. 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  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

Jesus loves you

In Him

Wagdi Henein

May 9 Devotion - I will cause you to rest

Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest.

الق على الرب اعمالك فتثبت افكارك. تَعالُوا إلَيَّ أيُّها المُتعَبِينَ وَيا مَنْ تَحمِلُونَ أحمالاً ثَقِيلَةً، وَأنا سَأُعطِيكُمُ الرّاحَةَ

Proverbs 16:3,  Matthew 11:28

 

When we commit our works to The Lord and we ‘Come’ to Jesus we transfer our burdens from our backs to one who is much stronger and much more capable to bear them. The noblest thoughts we can produce are thoughts about God. Our thoughts are the source out of which our actions and works spring. We can never fully exhaust our ability to think about the goodness and greatness of God. There should be no end of our praise of Him.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and love. O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. Isaiah 33:2  My heavenly  Father, I want to transfer my burdens from my own back to Yours because You are stronger and wiser and by doing this my activities will be based on Your counsel and Your plans. I know that when I commit and trust my actions wholly to You; You will cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will. Lord, You know that I struggle with that and try to resolve my problems on my own and the result is that I am overburdened. Help me Jesus to ‘come’ to You. Thank You Jesus that You are my salvation and You are preparing a mansion for me in Your Father’s house and that I will live with You forever. I praise You God and glorify You in the name of Your only begotten son Jesus.

Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein

May 8 Devotion - Dealing with loneliness

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

انْظُرُوا هَا أَنَا قَدْ نَقَشْتُكِ يَاصِهْيَوْنُ عَلَى كَفِّي

وَهَا أَنَا مَعَكُمْ كُلَّ الأَيَّامِ إِلَى انْتِهَاءِ الزَّمَانِ
 

Isaiah 49:16

Matthew 28:20

 

There is a critical difference between solitude and loneliness:

·     Solitude, is a time where we are alone and enjoy the peace and quiet and where we get in touch with our feelings and can meditate

·     Loneliness, is a time where we are alone but would prefer to be able to fellowship with others

 

When we feel lonely we should admit our emotions to God. He knows what we are going through, and He wants to be the One to fill that void. The reality of God’s constant presence with us is a fact, but we are not always aware of Him, especially in lonely periods.

I have many times questioned, How come I cannot feel His presence even though I know He is with me, how come I feel so alone? When I feel that lonely, my courage diminishes.

I need to keep reminding myself that where God has begun the work of grace, He will perfect it. He will help those who, in humble dependence on Him, help themselves. Having our hearts and our hopes focused on God, we shall be carried above all difficulties, and be enabled to lay hold of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. The truth is that He will never leave or forsake those whom He has saved.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help! Psalm 71:12 Lord, please use my loneliness as a tool to draw me closer to You. I am comforted in the knowledge that I am so special to You that You have inscribed my name on the palms of Your hands, and that as a believer in Jesus Christ; my Lord and Saviour; You love me unconditionally. Thank You Jesus that You will be always with me until the end of the age. In Your name Jesus, my intercessor, I pray to The Father. Amen.

Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein

May 7 Devotion - In every situation

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁶ لاَ تَقْلَقُوا مِنْ جِهَةِ أَيِّ شَيْءٍ، بَلْ فِي كُلِّ أَمْرٍ لِتَكُنْ طَلِبَاتُكُمْ مَعْرُوفَةً لَدَى اللهِ، بِالصَّلاَةِ وَالدُّعَاءِ، مَعَ الشُّكْرِ.

Philippians 4:6

Do you think we should pray about every single detail in our lives. God did not exclude anything. What would a child pray about? Jesus said in Mark10:15 “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” In Psalm 37:23(NLT): The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

 

There are some commandments and guidelines that God has given us, so we will not pray God should I love my neighbour, but we can pray to God to help us love them. Otherwise every detail in our life we can pray about and I believe we should pray about. We seem to keep prayers only for big demands or crisis. Praying for and about everything keeps us in constant communication and connection with God and that pleases His heart, and is very useful for us.  

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord, thank You that You love me so much that You want to fellowship with me all day and You desire that I involve You in all my thoughts and actions. I appreciate that You are omnipresent(available everywhere) omniscient (all knowing), and You are interested in every detail in my life. Help me Lord to develop the habit to pray to You about every detail of my life. In the name of The King of kings and Lord of lords, 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.

Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein

May 6 Devotion - God works in us

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

¹³ فَاللهُ هُوَ الَّذِي يَضَعُ فِيكُمُ الإرادَةَ لِعَمَلِ ما يُرضِيهِ، وَيُعطِيكُمُ القُوَّةَ لِتَحقِيقِ ذَلِكَ.

Philippians 2:13 

 

God leads us to "will and to act." He does not will and act for us. We "will and act" – however God influences

us to do it. God  does not compel us, we are free to choose. He exerts an influence to lead us (believers in His Son Jesus Christ) to will and to do that which is in accordance with His will.

We cannot take any credit for our good works, all we will and have, and do, is from God.

 

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings. Lord, thank You that You work in me, guide me and direct my actions to be in accordance with Your good will. Lord, I pray that out of Your glorious riches that You strengthen me  with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith and I fulfill Your good purpose and advance Your Kingdom. In the name of The King of kings and Lord of lords, 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.

Jesus loves you
In Him,
Wagdi Henein