Broken Bread 3

Week One: First Fruits          Day 7: Sight                April 2, 2016 
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Harvest image
"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of
unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes
and showers righteousness upon you."
(Hosea 10:12) 
Day Seven Devotions:
MORNING MEDITATION
 
Glean the Word:  John 20:24-29    
   
Glimpse of Glory: "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (v.29)  
 
It was about eight days later that the Lord made another appearance - this time to all the disciples; for Thomas, who had been absent from the room the first time the Lord came to them, had now joined his friends.  The other disciples had spent a week rejoicing with happy hearts, having seen with their own eyes that Jesus was risen from the dead.  But despite all their jubilation, Thomas refused to believe. "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it" (v. 25b).  Thomas laid out some strong parameters to guard his unbelieving heart. This seemed a strange response coming from the one who had exhibited such great courage when he urged the other disciples to follow Jesus to the death when the Lord was on His way to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:16).  Maybe he was just being stubborn and prideful because he had missed such a great opportunity on the day of the resurrection, having sought solitude in the face of despair, rather than drawing strength from being in the company of his friends.  Fellowship is so important in times of discouragement and defeat.  Praise God that Thomas' friends did not give up speaking about what they had seen and heard, and encouraging Thomas with their joy and confidence in the Lord.
    
When Jesus entered the room that second time, He singled Thomas out, and willingly gave His doubting disciple the evidence he desired in order to believe. "Put your finger here; see My hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in to My side.  Stop doubting and believe" (v.27).  In that moment Thomas believed. As he looked upon the body of the risen Lord standing right before his eyes, and saw the wounds that Jesus held out for him to touch, Thomas made a bold declaration of faith:  "My Lord and My God!" (v.28).   Thomas had experienced a week without joy and without hope, because he refused to have faith and believe in the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But in that personal encounter with the Lord faith became sight, and Thomas took Christ as his own.

Many people choose not to believe in God, not because of the absence of hard facts, but because of their hard hearts.  They have stubbornly made up their minds not to believe, and their asking for evidence only further proves their unbelief.  Unbelief is the greatest moral problem in our world today! "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (v.29).  How critical are our prayers more than ever today, as the world is slipping further and further into spiritual decay, because, we, the believing remnant in this world, do not proclaim the life of Christ with bold lips and victorious lives. May we seek the deeper life with God, and diligently study the Word of God daily, to know and understand what we believe, so we will be able to give testimony of Christ who is alive and lives in us!  "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15). 
  
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AFTERNOON DEVOTION

 

Glean the Word: Acts 9:1-19      

 

Gift of Grace: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service." (1 Timothy 1:12) 

 

Later, after the church was birthed and growing, the Lord would appear to another man who would become God's "chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel" (v. 15).  Saul of Tarsus was a very zealous persecutor of the early church.  He believed that those who walked in the Way and proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah and is alive, to be a very dangerous faction that needed to be eliminated.  In one glorious encounter with the risen Lord Saul's life was dramatically changed, and his transformation would be used to change the entire landscape of the world for the glory of God!

A bright flash of light engulfed him, Saul fell to the ground, and then the voice of heaven questioned him:  "Saul, Saul,why do you persecute Me?" (v. 4). The proud man who thought he was on mission for God to arrest those detestable believers who were destroying everything he had believed in, was arrested by God and humbled in His presence, and given a divine mission. The greatest evidence of the work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead is the transformed lives of the sinful and unbelieving of the world (which we all were at one time or another) who have been taken captive by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.  Saul's spiritual eyes were opened as his physical eyes were closed, and his physical appetite was completely transformed into a deep hunger for the righteousness of God as he fasted and prayed for three days. God chose Saul of Tarsus, the "worst of sinners," to become the apostle Paul, the greatest evangelist the world has ever seen (see 1 Timothy 1:15-16).

Saul's great conversion experience shows us that when God calls us to Himself He is not confined to the walls of the church.  As the disciples experienced in the upper room, Jesus is not restricted in His coming by walls - of a room or around our hearts!  Jesus Christ is with us and He desires to show Himself to us.  He is the Light of the world, and He wants to fill the darkened spaces of our hearts with the light of His love and life.  Just as Jesus showed Himself to Thomas and to Saul, and He also spoke to each of them, calling them out for their unbelief and treachery against His name, the Lord will show Himself to us and speak to us through His Word today.  May we allow our faithful Mediator the opportunity to minister to us as He sees fit, whether He chooses to speak a word of encouragement or allow us to be brought to our knees, so that He can prepare us, by His hand of grace, to become a noble vessel for His purposes and to live a life of victory in His name. 

As our first week comes to a close, let us not forget that the first fruits of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We began our journey here, because the resurrection is the first and most important element of our faith - it is the very reason we believe!  Let's close our first week in an anthem of praise, for Christ is alive - and He lives in you and me!  
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EVENING PRAYER
 
Glean the Word: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:30-31

Fruit of Repentance: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31) 
 
 
This evening we will offer up a prayer for those who are suffering in the furnace of affliction, and struggling with doubt and unbelief (click on the image below for our evening prayer).

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13).      

Click on the image below to draw close to the fire
and experience the warmth, love and light of Christ
as we come boldly before the Throne of Grace and
 join our hearts together in prayer:

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HARVEST The Kingdom of God  

Copyright � 2009, 2016 Traci A. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

 


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