Devotion May 11 - Laugh and Rejoice

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

الساكن في السموات يضحك

عندما يملأ فاك ضحكا وشفتيك هتافا.

افرحوا بالرب وابتهجوا يا ايها الصدّيقون واهتفوا يا جميع المستقيمي القلوب

افرحوا في الرب كل حين واقول ايضا افرحوا

Psalm 2:4, Job 8:21, Psalm 32:11, Philippians 4:4

Since God created laughter and joy and He himself laughs, this should be something we should do a lot of. Since Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Saviour have the biggest reason to rejoice, we should all be smiling. Being pious does not mean we need to be so strict that we almost frown.

God has a reason to tell us that He will fill our mouths with laughter because He loves us and He created laughter to strengthen our immune system, boost our energy, diminish pain, and protect us from the damaging effects of stress.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You that You have a great sense of humour and thank You for creating laughter. Maximize my sense of humour and uplift my approach to life so that I enjoy life more. Fill my mouth with laughter Lord and my lips with rejoicing in Your love. Thank You Father for Your deep and everlasting love for me, Your abundant blessings, and for the riches of Your grace in my life. Help me to start living eternity with You from now on. Give me a spirit that always shouts with joy and always rejoices. I proclaim to the world that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. In the name of 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, the blessings, and the dominion before all time and now and forevermore. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 10 Devotion - Peace be with you

After Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the grave He came to his disciples who were hiding:

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.”

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!»

 John 20:19

In general there are so many words we take for granted and think we understand, yet we don’t, and each one of us understands it in a different way and we communicate with each other thinking the other person understands it the same way, and so does he/she, yet we really do not understand each other fully.

                                                                                  

I looked up the world definition and the Biblical definition of peace. What did Jesus mean when he told His disciples “Peace be with you”?

In English, the word "peace" depicts a passive picture, one showing an absence of disturbance or hostilities, or a personality free from internal and external strife.

The Biblical concept of peace is larger than that and rests heavily on the Hebrew root slm, which means "to be complete" or "to be sound." The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning" to be complete or whole" or "to live well." Salom was used in both greetings and farewells. It was meant to act as a blessing on the one to whom it was spoken: "May your life be filled with health, prosperity, and victory." As an adjective, it expressed completeness and safety.

God alone is the source of peace, for he is "Yahweh Shalom" (see Judges 6:24 ). The Lord came to sinful humankind, historically first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, desiring to enter into a relationship with them. He established with them a covenant of peace, which was sealed with his presence (see Num 6:24-26 ). Participants were given perfect peace (salom salom) so long as they maintained a right relationship with the Lord (see Isa 26:3; 2 Thess 3:16).

Adapted from: Dictionaries - Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

Did you ever find yourself not at peace with God?

Lasting peace cannot be attained through our own efforts, but rather through Christ in us. The peace that comes from Him is eternal. Our bond with Him is the foundation upon which real peace is built.

In order to experience the peace of God we need first to be at peace with God.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable and everlasting deep love. Lord, I want to experience Your true peace. I ask You God to expose anything that may be preventing me from being at peace with You and heal it so that I can receive the true and everlasting peace that only You can give. Thank You Lord that through the atoning blood of Jesus You have made me without spot and blameless in Your eyes. Father I rejoice in Your faithfulness. I pray in Jesus’ mighty name, to Him be the glory, before the beginning of time, now and forever. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 9 Devotion - Keeping my focus on Jesus

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

ونحو نصف الليل كان بولس وسيلا يصلّيان ويسبحان الله والمسجونون يسمعونهما.

Acts 16:25

I continue to learn that if I am not extremely careful, my emotions can and will govern my life.

God instructs us to keep our focus on Jesus in order to grow spiritually. When I succeed on doing that, the emotional ups and downs of this life will not shake or change my world.

In “Telling Yourself the Truth”, William Backus writes about joy:

“Joy comes from your relationship to God and His unchanging faithfulness. You don’t need to live in perfect circumstances to be happy. It’s pleasant to be loved and appreciated, but not vital to your happiness.

The Bible tells how two men of God, Paul and Silas, were brought before Roman authorities at Philippi and beaten with rods and then thrown into jail … But did Paul and Silas moan and complain, “If it weren’t for the cruelty of the unbelievers, we wouldn’t be wounded and bleeding. We’d be happy!” No.

Paul and Silas had a strong belief that transcended circumstances, events, people, feelings; it even transcended pain. That belief was in the person, power, and presence of Jesus Christ. They believed their suffering wasn’t as important as the message they carried …

They sang so loudly their voices were heard throughout the prison! And not only that, God … opened the prison doors for them. Their happiness came from the belief in Jesus Christ within them and not from circumstances around them.”

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, help me to keep my focus on the person, power, and presence of Jesus Christ in my life instead of the circumstances of my life. I thank You Jesus that You promised that You will never leave me nor forsake me. Thank you LORD that I have absolutely no doubt that You are in control of every second of my future and that through this assurance I can have an inner sense of peace that transcends all our human understanding. Thank You God for Your unfailing, inseparable, deep and everlasting love for me and Your abundant blessings in my life. Thank You God that You delight in showing me again and again that You are the source of my strength, my provision, my protection, and my ultimate joy in life. Lord, I praise You, I glorify You, I lift You up on high and I rejoice in Your grace. In the name of Your precious Son Jesus, I pray. To Him be the glory, the majesty, the blessings, the power and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

May 8 Devotion - THE RICHES OF GOD'S GRACE

 … having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

⁵ إِذْ سَبَقَ فَعَيَّنَنَا فِي الْمَحَبَّةِ لِيَتَّخِذَنَا أَبْنَاءً لَهُ بِيَسُوعَ الْمَسِيحِ. وَذَلِكَ مُوَافِقٌ لِلْقَصْدِ الَّذِي سُرَّتْ بِهِ مَشِيئَتُهُ،

 ⁶ بِغَرَضِ مَدْحِ مَجْدِ نِعْمَتِهِ الَّتِي بِهَا أَعْطَانَا حُظْوَةً لَدَيْهِ فِي الْمَحْبُوبِ:

Ephesians 1:5-6

Ephesians 1:5–6 teaches us that God’s will was to adopt us as His own through the work of Christ. God’s will is that we would have the strongest possible relationship with Him through the most precious relationship He has ever created which is His relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.

Every believer in Jesus as his/her Lord and Saviour is immensely loved by God and we are adopted into His spiritual family, we are His children. Salvation is a position of great blessing, each one of us can enjoy being a child of God and receive His blessings and gifts of mercy and grace and start living eternity NOW.

Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

ام اي انسان منكم اذا سأله ابنه خبزا يعطيه حجرا .

10 وان سأله سمكة يعطيه حية .

11 فان كنتم وانتم اشرار تعرفون ان تعطوا اولادكم عطايا جيدة فكم بالحري ابوكم الذي في السموات يهب خيرات للذين يسألونه .

Mathew 7:9-11

I invite you to please repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and deep inseparable love. Thank You Father who is in heaven that when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour and surrendered to His leadership over my life, I was adopted into Your family and ‘saved’ as a co-heir with Christ. Thank You God for the riches of Your grace. Thank You that You allowed us as Your children to come boldly to Your throne of grace, and obtain mercy, in time of need. Hebrews 4:16. Father God, I come boldly to Your throne of grace and ask You to help me to always seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, for Jesus said that when we seek them first, all other things will be added unto us. 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