Devotions Day 21

Beautiful Feet

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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You’ve heard the joke, right, where a man is hanging onto a cliff in bad weather, praying for God to rescue him? A raft comes, a boat comes and finally a helicopter but he sends them all away, saying God is going to rescue him. When he gets to heaven he asks God why he didn’t rescue him, and God says – well I sent a raft, a boat and a helicopter… God usually sends help in the form of people!

The story of the widow who helped Elijah in 1 Kings 17 springs to mind. That is a woman in desperate circumstances who still shows a willingness to help someone else. An unlikely source of help for that alone, let alone the fact that she wasn’t a Hebrew so was even more unlikely to be chosen by God to offer assistance. Yet that is who God chose – the unlikely and the already desperate. 

Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  How beautiful are the people God sends to help us?!

There is an African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together”. I’m sure you can agree with me that I have gone further in life for the beautiful, even if unexpected, people God has sent into my life who offered assistance. The beauty of God…in others.

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Prayer thought / Challenge

Read through 1 Kings 17. Think about the beautiful, though maybe unexpected people who have come into your life right when you needed help. Thank God for their presence. Thank them, too, by way of a card, text or phone call, for being willing to help and be God’s beautiful hands and feet.

Devotions Day 20

Lillies and Birds

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Phil 4:6-8 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things”.

There is no mistake that these verses, both well-known in their own right, follow one another. Present your concerns to God, this will bring you peace – leaving them with our capable, caring God. Then get your thoughts off your concerns. Turn your thoughts intentionally to the good and hold them there. Who, by worrying can add a single hour to their life? (That would be – no one)

Matthew 6:25-34 in speaking about worrying, tells us to look around us to see God’s faithfulness displayed in nature; the birds of the air fed by God and the lilies of the field dressed in splendor. There is beauty in the care, concern and generosity of God. Because of who He is, He makes flowers beautiful – more than a basic necessity. As you see the generosity of God today in the richness of colour, texture and variety of nature today, may you grow in confidence in your Father in Heaven’s care - the God of ‘more than enough’.

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Prayer thought / challenge:

Look today at some wild birds. Let God speak to you through their life. Notice the things of beauty in your natural surroundings. Let God’s nature be revealed to you today as you consider Him through their lens.

Devotions Day 19

The Olive Tree

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Growing up, when things got a bit overwhelming for me, I would retreat to our massive olive tree. Its branches hung low to shield your hiding location, but it was tall so it caught the breezes. I would think my thoughts, carve into its trunk with sticks, listen to the wind as it sang its way through the many leaves and occasionally throw olives at an unsuspecting parent or brother. I may have also fallen out once or twice! It was also the centre for family BBQs, Christmas lunches and birthdays under its generous shade.

Psalm 1 speaks of being a tree by the water, with its roots down deep, unaffected by life’s changing seasons. Oh, to be this tree! Sinking our roots down deep in God, our lives constantly connected with his life-giving water, nourished, stable and steadfast. How? Through delighting in God’s word. In these 21 days of prayer and fasting, let’s be spending time soaking up the word of God to see it nourish us and others.

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Prayer thought / Challenge:

Find a bible reading plan that you can follow through the next half of the year. It could focus on a particular theme or area God puts on your heart. Journal the things that stand out to you as you read.

Read Psalm 1. Who might need you to be a ‘Psalm 1 tree’ in this season, sharing God’s strength, comfort or support?

Think of someone who has been a ‘support tree’ to you in your life either recently or even long ago; A Psalm 1 tree that provided strength, comfort or support. Thank God for their presence in your life and send them a message or note today saying how much you appreciate them being in your life.

Who might need you to be a Psalm 1 tree in this season? Reach out to them today.

Devotions Day 18

Sheer Delight

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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I went to visit a friend recently who was outside with a 2-year-old in her garden. She’s mentioned before that he’s an ‘outside boy’ but what I got to see for myself was way beyond that!

He ran laughing across the lawns. He giggled as he spread his bare arms to run through the plants. He twirled, ran some more and expressed sheer delight as he enjoyed all things green! What a thing to witness.

I feel like Adam and then Eve must have felt like that in the Garden of Eden, discovering, delighting and rejoicing in all of God’s creation. The amazement they must have felt in the variety of creation - every quirky animal, flowering bush and fruiting tree, waterfalls and creeks, stars and planets. Every day we are surrounded by creation that is speaking to us about God 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19)

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Prayer thought / Challenge:

Today we get to share in and experience the beautiful setting of Yatahlia Manor. Take some time to explore and take in the tranquil surroundings.

Creative challenge:

There will be some art supplies there and, of course, your phone’s camera, to capture some of God’s beauty seen in his creation at our picnic spot today. 

Boy Toddler, smelling pink flowers in a garden surrounded by green foliage.

Devotions Day 17

BABY JOY

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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We had a baby visit with us at church the other week. She is a very social, very smiley baby and it was lovely to see the impact of her being there flowing through the gathered congregation. There were little bubbles of joy popping up wherever she was and wherever she had recently been as many had a cuddle or were treated to a gorgeous smile or ‘chat’. Such a small bundle, and such simple things bringing joy – big eyes, generous smiles, little goos and gahs.

Statistically, joy is wrapped up in our interactions with other people. It is pretty hard to celebrate a beautiful view or moment without someone else to express joy to. I remember being in a hotel room in K.L. and being very excited about beginning my overseas adventure but busting to have someone to say “Isn’t this so exciting!!” to 😊

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him….”. As we trust in God and as we spend time with Him, we can be filled with God’s joy (In God’s presence is fullness of joy - Psalm 16:11).

I think our joy interactions with people are a shadow of God enJOYing  time with us and also the joy that is naturally within the trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Spend some time in God’s presence and then enjoy connecting with others. We are better together. 

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PRAYER THOUGHT / CHALLENGE ACTIVITY:

What is something that brings you joy? Why not ‘phone a friend’ and engage in a simple joy-bringing activity

Devotions Day 16

MAGGIES

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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This morning I heard the magpies come and sing their sweet, shrill song as they rejoice in the freshness of a new dawn. Sometimes they come near and ask for food, having already drank or bathed in the water of the roof gutters. They revel in the simple life – a new morning, food, water… The simple things bring a song to their mouth.

Psalm 100 “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”.

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PRAYER THOUGHT:

Let a song of praise rise in your heart today; fill your mouth with praise for God’s goodness and the simple things of life. Sing a new – or old – song to the Lord today.

Devotions Day 15

The Great Exchange (CO2 for O2) Trees

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Have you ever sat under a large tree, been shielded by its immense branches and been taken in by the peace that seems to exude from its every green hue? It’s like some unseen exchange is taking place – peace for anxiety, size perspective for problems that loom large, and the real exchange of oxygen for carbon dioxide. The great exchange. Another tree witnessed the greatest exchange ever known - the tree of Calvary. The sins of humankind exchanged for the sinless, sacrificed life of the darling of heaven - Jesus.

There is no greater exchange rate “Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow”. Isaiah 1:18

There is none like it; none that can compare. Salvation is found in no other name, no other place, no other way. Thank God for Jesus.

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Prayer thought:

Rejoice today in the reasoning and reckoning of God! Consider the divine exchange he is willing to offer us all and express gratitude in your heart.

Devotion Day 14

Oceans

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Australians flock to beaches. We flock there on holidays and on public holidays. We flock there to live; great mobs of our population clinging to the coastlines of our beautiful island nation. Why the ocean? I don’t know about you, but I do love to walk on the beach and to sit staring out over it as I pray. Why do we love the beach? Well, there’s waves. They are pretty fun and their constant ebb and flow motion calms contrasting anxiousness. There’s also this great expanse before us, stretching beyond where the eye can see that I think shrinks problems into perspective simply with its immense proportions. The sun also glistens life off the surface of the water – making everything feel alive and full of potential.

Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…(v7) The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress…(v10) He says: “Be still and know that I am God…”

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Prayer thought:

Visit the beach! Spend some time staring out to sea, soaking in the immensity of the water, the power of the waves, the life teeming beneath its surface and become aware of the God who created and sustains it  - and us all.

Devotion Day 13

Jesus Calms the Storm

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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We have read the bible account; we have heard sermons about it; we sing songs about it. It all sounds logical, and faith-filled until we are feeling the whip of the wind and feel the earth-moving roll of stormy waves. Where is God? How could this be happening? When will this end? Will I be ok?

In every storm (in theory) there is an eye. A centre where the effects of the storm are not felt – where peace reigns despite the surrounding reality. Take hold of peace – his name is Jesus. He will surround you with His peace despite the circumstances around you.

Just as demons knew (and know) who Jesus was and the reality of his power and authority over them in biblical accounts, as the chorus says: the waves and wind today, also, still know his name.

“For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities... He is before all things and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16,17)

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Prayer thought:

Read Matthew 8:23-27

Make a list of all the wave and wind (storm) situations in your life right now, or in the lives of your loved ones. Pray for the Prince of Peace to intervene in these situations – to cease the storms or give you peace and strength to travel through them. Ask him to speak to you about them also – words of comfort and encouragement.

Devotion Day 12

Jacarandas

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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I used to work at a school in the city and late in November, the jacaranda trees lining the street would bloom. I loved rounding the corner to be greeted by a visual spectacular of blue-purple flowers heralding the coming of Christmas. The excitement it created as they announced and brought to remembrance this soon-coming event – Christmas! 

What is it about our lives that announces the wonderful coming of the Saviour into our lives? What is it about our lives that announce a soon-coming King?

“In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16

Good deeds can point people to our Father in Heaven. I think the ‘glow’ of our lives should too: God’s supernatural peace, strength or comfort that shines through when we face troubled times or experience difficulties, for example, or how we treat people because of God’s love for them

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Prayer thought:

Why not pray today about something you could do to shine light into someone else’s life? Your talent might be a good place to start – baking, drawing, fixing something for someone, taking someone out for a burger, writing a note of encouragement, a gift from your garden or helping with gardening, having a family/individual over your place or organising a fun activity to do with them.

Devotion Day 11

Living to the Limit

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Do you get frustrated when someone is driving just below the speed limit on the road? I do – when I’ve got somewhere to be. Then sometimes I’m the day-dreaming driver doing 56km/hr and I think: it’s the upper-limit people! Not the ‘must do’ limit. 

In our lives, are we always driving at the upper limit? Or pushing a few “clicks’ above, even? Are we going beyond a safe limit, leaving ourselves no buffer? The speeds on roads are designed for safely driving on that stretch of road under good conditions. In life, there are safe limits that we may be pushing out regularly; safe limits of eating, drinking, sleeping and working. Are we living to the limit (or beyond) of our time, energy, money and resources? Have we run our buffer dry? What are the signs in our lives we are exceeding safe limits?

Psalm 27 says: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord”. 

Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and all your strength”. (All areas of our life belong under the Lordship of Christ)

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Prayer thought: 

Let’s take our busy lives to God and wait on Him. In that waiting, allow God to highlight priorities and what are the excesses. You could be brave and also ask your spouse, trusted friend or family member where they see you exceeding healthy limits. Determine to start each day seeking God’s pace for our life. Pray to have healthy patterns for our body, mind and spirit.

Devotion Day 10

Ants

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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How determined are ants?! They have a direction planned and they will go around, over, through obstacles in a one-track mind to get to where they want to go, and they are not easily deterred! They have set their eyes on a destination and they are sticking to it. Are we as one-eyed? Are we one-eyed for Jesus?

Hebrews 12:1,2 speaks of setting our eyes on Jesus; of throwing off all the sin that so easily entangles (obstacles) and running with perseverance the race marked out for us.

(Like ants!) When I think about ‘setting our eyes on Jesus’, the words of an old song come to mind:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace”.

To look at Jesus; to be captivated by His beauty will make the obstacles seem surmountable. This world will feel more fleeting, and the next will beckon louder. We just need to turn our eyes to His beautiful face – often.

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Prayer thought:

If you know that old song, why not sing it through a couple of times? Look it up online if you aren’t familiar with it. May the words become our reality today and so many other days to come.

Devotion Day 9

White Fields

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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I lived and worked for a while in a country town. I’m from a mining country town but this was a farming one and I was fascinated with the changing seasons reflected in the paddocks and their various crops. There was so much beauty in the dark red-brown earth of a freshly turned paddock; in the bright green on fresh, tender growth, in the yellowing of a maturing crop and finally in the harvest-ready crop. The sun shining on and reflecting off a ready crop, is a sight to behold. They truly are ‘white unto harvest’ as the bible describes the ready hearts of soon-to-be new believers.

Have we got ‘eyes to see’ the work going on in the fields all around us? We are better together. Farmers jump in and help one another to get a ready crop in while the conditions are right. Could you be the person that jumps in and helps see the salvation of someone’s friend, family member or work colleague today? Working together we can see the ripe and white fields brought into the kingdom as they are ready. 

John 4:35-37  “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.  Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”

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Prayer thought:

Pray today and ask God to show you a heart that is ready for harvest. Pray for that person, the people surrounding them and the courage for you to be the harvester for a ready soul.

Dear Lord Jesus,

I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. 

Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. 

I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior.

Thank you for saving me.

Amen

Devotion Day 8

Bee Hive

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Have you been to the museum and seen the living bee-hive? It is so worth a visit! It is made from Perspex so you can see all the ins and outs, the comings and goings. The bees come and go from the street through a Perspex tunnel. The bees returning to the hive are all loaded up – the hairs on their legs are loaded with pollen and they look like little padded-up jockeys.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden (burdened), and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

We need to make Jesus our hive – the centre and purpose behind all our activity and the person we go to, off load, refresh and go out again from. 

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Prayer thought:

Go to Jesus today with your weariness and burdens. Hand them over to him in prayer. Allow His rest to fall upon you, and his strength to fill you and so enable you to go out again and be about the purpose of the ‘hive’.

Devotion Day 7

Rose of Sharon

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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God and ultimately Jesus, is described as the Lily of the Valley and as the Rose of Sharon.

Song of Solomon 2:1

I am a big fan of roses. I love their form, their colours and colour combinations and their scent – 3 big ticks as far as I am concerned! I have a family member who hates them. He hates their thorns and isn’t that into flowers, so thinks – what’s the big deal? Yet he knows I love them, and kindly helped me cut and sprout some cuttings from my Mum’s roses in our childhood home.

How is Jesus the Rose of Sharon to us? I love that when we draw close to him, the beauty of who He is like a sweet fragrance rising up to greet us. When we ponder what He is like, he is perfect in form from every angle, and when we see the ‘colour’ of Him – the creativity and intracity we are surrounded with, we are overcome with delight.

The Christian life is not without thorns; a cost to a life with roses. Yet, when we draw close and breathe in the scent of the rose’s perfume, its intoxicating aroma causes all else to fade away in that moment, the thorns forgotten and the cost worthwhile.

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Prayer thought:

With a grateful heart, consider the many facets of God. List out loud or on paper attributes or names of God, starting at ‘A’ and working your way through the alphabet. See how far you can get before tears of thankfulness well up! You could also include children in this activity.

Devotion Day 6

White flowers

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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We have a joke in my house that white flowers don’t belong. I just don’t understand having such beauty and no colour! Conversely, I have 2 friends who pretty much only have white flowers in their garden 😊

There are some exceptions I have – a frangipani with its stunning scent and bold yellow centre, a chrysanthemum for its Mother’s Day memories, snowdrops perhaps because they are so dainty and decorative but in general I don’t enjoy white flowers.

Sometimes we have white flower moments in our lives. The moments we are going through that might seem mundane and colourless and we might feel like we are just going through the motions. Ecclesiastes 2:11 says God has made everything beautiful in its time. So if we have white flower moments in this time, there is some beauty they are meant to be adding to our lives but sometimes we need eyes to see beyond the bright colours of other moments.

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Prayer Thought:

Let’s pray today and ask God to help us see the beauty in the white flower moments of our lives – either present or past.

Devotion Day 5

The Answer to Lack is Life

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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Don’t you think it’s intriguing that when we try to grow things, one of the first things we do is add more life? This might be in the form of sea-sol which is seaweed, it might be in the form of fertilizer or even the trick I’ve been told to try is honey (for your roses canes when you’re trying to sprout them). All of these things have life in them and sometimes something has had to die to give / bring that life. The answer to lack is more life. In John 10:10, Jesus says: I have come to give them life and life to the full. If you are feeling a little lacking in life or growth, get ahold of more of Jesus; he is real life and life to the full.

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Prayer thought:

Ask Jesus today for more of His life to flow in you. Ask Him, also, what might need to ‘die’ or become less in your life to make room for more of His life.

Devotion Day 4

Sunsets

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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I love sunsets. Sunrises are nice too but there’s something about the heat of the all-day sun that produces such a stunning array of colours strewn across the sky. My friends live on a property and have some of the best sunset views around. Sunrises have a more gentle, pastel start to the day, like the soft newness of a fresh day. Beautiful colours to start the day; beautiful colours to end the day. It’s like the Alpha and the Omega – a reminder of God in all his creativity and power at the start of the day (the Alpha) and a reminder of God in all his creativity and power at the end of the day (the Omega). From start to finish, He is God and He is seen in the beauty of creation. Romans 1:20 God’s invisible qualities – His divine nature and are seen in creation so man is without excuse. 

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Prayer thought:

As the day starts and ends today, take a moment to thank God for his divine nature visible all around us, and the fact that he is the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end and everything in between.

Devotion Day 3

Elephant

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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As kids, we loved visiting the “Rocketship Park” as a special treat with a metal structure consisting of 3 layers to climb until reaching the nose of the rocket. Also in this park, though, was a metal elephant, with its bones forming the climbing frame. Right up the top, was a wooden seat. The imaginary lands this metal elephant would take us to!

When I got the chance to ride a real elephant, I was more than a little bit excited. The tuk-tuks looked like matchbox cars from their lofty height as they lumbered along, and I felt on top of a mountain but it was something deep within that had me yelling “I’m on top of an elephant!!!” I think, in that moment, all the dreams and imaginings of a small girl living in a dusty country town were living her wildest dreams, yet I had no conscious thought of it to that point.

‘Deep calls to deep’ the bible says in Psalm 42. The deepest parts of us long for connection with our Maker. He knows us and wants to be known by us. Jesus, right now, is aware of each one of us “Even now, my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend” Job 16:19-21. We have an advocate and friend in heaven. His name is Jesus.

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Prayer thought:

READ Psalm 42 & Job 16:19-21

Spend time today with God in honest and heartfelt prayer. Answer God’s call to go deeper in your relationship with Him. What, also, would you have your throne intercessor pray for you about? Make a list to take to Jesus daily during this time of prayer and fasting.

Devotion Day 2

Living Waters

by Pastor Karen Runjo

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When Jesus met the woman at the well, he starts by asking her for something. It was something ordinary, but important to her and something from her everyday life – a cup of water.

When we are spending this time in prayer and fasting, God will ask us to give up something ordinary but important to us, from our everyday life – a meal or meals, watching TV, looking at FaceBook, eating sweets or chocolate, drinking coffee… whatever it may be that God speaks to you about.

From the conversation that started with a cup of water, came the promise of something great – a spring of living water welling up to eternal life. From the ordinary, it opened the way for something much more valuable.

As we hand over our ‘cup of water’ to God, it will leave room for something greater – time with God, giving our undivided attention and an openness to His living waters flowing more freely within us.

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Prayer thought:

Water flows, washes/cleanses, infiltrates. Pray for rivers of living water (the Holy Spirit) to flow up from within your very being during these 21 days that have been set aside for us to seek God more intentionally.

Read John 4:1-42