Walk With Me - Devotionals: Louise Macmillan

Healthy And Growing And Full Of Love

Louise Macmillan — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Healthy And Growing And Full Of Love

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 28th March 2022

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The language in which the New Testament was originally written had many words which are translated 'love' in our English Bibles. But there is one word for love that became a real Christian word and is one of the busiest words in the New Testament. It is used in the text at the top of this page.

This word (agape) is a word describing how God looks at the world. For example John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Galatians 2:20 tells us how Christ lived and died, and John 15:12 tells us how Christians should live as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a word that has to do with how the church of Jesus Christ goes about its business. If the church we belong to is healthy and growing it will be a church that is full of this love.

The word is special because it involves our heart but also our mind and our will. As Christians we are commanded to love our enemies and to seek the highest good of everyone, even those who may not be good to us! Such love is a God-like love and a God-given love. It must be seen in a Christian family and it is the very life-blood of the church, the family of God. It is how Jesus has loved us and the Holy Spirit helps us to be like him so that we will be a healthy church growing and full of love.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me to be full of your love. Amen.

Have A Good Sleep!

Louise Macmillan — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Have A Good Sleep!

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 25th March 2022

Passage: Psalm 4:8

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Are you one of those people who find it difficult to get off to sleep at night? Very often when sleep doesn't come you start thinking of all sorts of things — worries, problems and difficult people — and it all drives sleep even further away!

David, who wrote many of the Psalms, had many problems during the time he wrote Psalms 3 and 4. He had to flee for his life from his own son Absalom who was trying to depose his father and become king in his place. It was a sad time for David. But David had a real sense of the protection that God gives to those who trust him. God was like a shield around him. God had already brought David great relief when he was in big trouble. Now David thought about these things as he lay in bed. In his mind he went over all that God had done for him — how he had kept him safe when he had gone to bed before, and he felt sure God would look after him again. God had been so good to him, even in spite of what Absalom was trying to do to him, that David felt happier than people who were living a life of peace and plenty.

And when David thought of all God's blessings and all God's answers to his prayers, sleep came easily to him. He lay down in peace to have a good night's rest.

Prayer

Dear Lord, if I lie awake, help me to go over all the wonders of your grace and goodness to me and give me your peace and the gift of sleep. Amen.

God Planted A Garden

Louise Macmillan — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

God Planted A Garden

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 22nd March 2022

Passage: Genesis 2:8

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I like gardening. There's something special about getting your hands into the earth and planting bulbs or bushes and watching them grow.

God had a wonderful idea when he planted a garden. The Bible tells us the garden of Eden was full of trees that were pleasant to see and their fruit was good to eat. Why did God create such a place? I think God just loved having this area with its colour, beauty and peace. But he also made this garden as a place where he could meet with the people he had created, Adam and Eve, and where he could enjoy friendship with them. The garden was a beautiful place for Adam and Eve to live in.

But there was one condition for living in the garden of Eden. God had marked two trees in the garden as special. Adam and Eve were told not to eat the fruit of those trees or they would surely die. Sadly, however, first Eve and then Adam disobeyed. They did eat the fruit of one tree. That disobedience (sin) has had enormous consequences not only for them, but for all the rest of us as well. Adam and Eve were put out of the garden and eventually they died.

We have inherited their disobedient nature — all of us sin. But God in his great mercy has given us a Saviour — Jesus Christ. He can forgive our sin and give us the promise of the tree of life — everlasting fellowship with God in the Eden above in heaven.

Have You Got A 'Pride Problem'?

Louise Macmillan — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Have You Got A 'Pride Problem'?

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 19th March 2022

Passage: Galatians 3:1

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A 'pride problem'! It is usually very easy for us to spot — in someone else! Of course there are some things we can be justly proud of — our favourite team when it wins something; our school when it does well; our family and so on. But if we bring pride into religion, it becomes absolutely destructive.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians — a congregation that he loved - he wrote very strong words to them, calling them foolish and bewitched. What caused him to write such things? It was because they had become proud. In what way? They believed in Jesus, didn't they? They were Christians, weren't they? Yes, they were but here is where they went wrong. They did believe in Jesus but they also believed that they needed to do something more themselves to make their salvation complete. They thought Jesus needed their help to save them so they started keeping all the old Jewish laws. They were proud enough to think they were completing what Jesus had done for them.

That was why Paul called them foolish and bewitched. We cannot improve on what Jesus has done for our salvation — it is perfect and complete and it is God's gift to all who are humble enough to accept it. We cannot bring anything to God to pay for it and we cannot work for it.

Prayer

Dear Lord, take from me all my pride. Help me to trust in you alone and in your righteousness to save me. Amen.

Now, That's What I Call True Friends!

Louise Macmillan — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Now, That's What I Call True Friends!

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 16th March 2022

Passage: Mark 2:3

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Crowds often gathered around Jesus. This story in Mark's gospel tells of a paralysed man who had no strength of his own but he had four of the best friends anyone could have — they were determined to get him to meet Jesus. On that occasion it seemed impossible for them to get to Jesus but they managed to get him down through the roof — even if it meant that they would later have to repair the roof of the house where Jesus was, surrounded by a crowd of people. I wonder what the paralysed man's friends thought when Jesus, instead of immediately healing the man of his illness, said to him "Son, your sins are forgiven" (Verse 5). Maybe the friends were thinking, 'Jesus, just heal our poor friend. That's why we brought him to you'. Of course Jesus knew that, but he dealt with first things first. We can't see inside the heart of the paralysed man but Jesus did, and so he dealt first of all with what was worrying him most — his sin. Then he healed the man of his paralysis, so the man and his friends could go home to live a new life.

As the forgiven and healed man left there were some in the room who became angry with Jesus for claiming to forgive a person's sin. But Jesus showed his authority, in not only having power to heal but also to forgive.

Thank God that Jesus still has that power. Whatever our outward circumstances may be, remember Jesus deals with first things first — he wants to cleanse us from our sins before anything else .

Don't Forget To Go To Church

Louise Macmillan — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Don't Forget To Go To Church

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 13th March 2022

Passage: Hebrews 10:25

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"I don't feel like going to church today". No doubt we have often said (or thought) that, and it seems the people to whom the book of Hebrews was written may have felt the same way. It's easy to forget why it is important for us to go to church and not to' avoid worshipping' together.

Why is this important?

First of all we go to church to worship God. God, and only God, is worthy of our praise and honour. He is our Creator and he has commanded us to worship him. True worship always implies our loving obedience to him.

Secondly, it is important for us to go to church because there God's word, the Bible, is preached. God makes himself and his will known to us in his word and preaching helps us to apply that word to our understanding of what God wants us to do and how he wants us to live.

Thirdly, it is important for us to go to church because there we meet with other worshippers. Church is not a building, it is people — the people gathered together to praise God, to pray to God, to hear God's word and it is there that God promises to be with those who worship him sincerely and truly.

Prayer

Lord, help me to enjoy going to church to worship you. Amen.

I Believe

Louise Macmillan — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I Believe

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 10th March 2022

Passage: 2 Timothy 1:12

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We had a friend who died in hospital. Shortly before he died he sat up in his bed and, with a loud voice declared, "I believe!". It was a powerful testimony to his faith in Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you are not very good at arguing with some friends who don't believe in Jesus, or who think the Bible is full of mistakes or that heaven and hell are not real... However, arguments and debates can only take you so far. But a personal testimony about what the Lord Jesus has done for you and means to you can be a really powerful way of showing what the Gospel is all about.

If you look up Galatians 2: 19-21 you find there Paul's great testimony about his faith in the Lord Jesus. In these verses Paul almost sings about what happened to him when he became a follower of Jesus — he saw that Jesus had died for him so that his sins would be forgiven. He saw that all that Jesus did for him, he did in love - "The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me." What could be greater proof than that of the reality of God's converting power?

"Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all".

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, may my life show clearly my love for you as a reflection of your great love for me. Amen.

Repentance (1)

Louise Macmillan — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Repentance (1)

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 7th March 2022

Passage: Acts 3:19

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Repentance is not a popular word and it is something we find hard to do . However, it is a very important subject in the Bible for several reasons.

Reason one is that we are all accountable to God for the lives we live. God is the Judge of all of us.(Hebrews 9:27).

Reason two is that God is a holy Judge who hates sin in all its forms — he has a holy anger against sin.

Reason three is that the Bible tells us plainly that we have all sinned against God and now fall under his holy judgement and his anger at our sin.

Reason four tells us that while this is true, God calls on us to repent of our sin and he will have mercy upon us. See the text at the top of this page.

So what does repentance involve?

First of all it means we have to be truly sorry for our sin against God (See Psalm 51:4).

Repentance also means a really deep change — change of mind about God and our relationship with him; change of attitude to our own behaviour — there needs to be a change in our thinking and our doing.

All of this can only come about with God's help — we have to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that God's mercy and forgiveness are available for unworthy and undeserving sinners like us so that our sins may be blotted out.

Prayer

Lord, grant me the spirit of true repentance and true trust in Jesus Christ for my salvation. Amen.

What's For Tea?

Louise Macmillan — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

What's For Tea?

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 4th March 2022

Passage: Matthew 14:20

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I'm sure we have often heard that question asked "Mum, what's for tea?". Well, Mum usually knew quite well what she was planning to give her children for their meal.

The story we read in Matthew 14:13-21 tells us of a big problem; there were more than 5000 hungry people and only five little loaves and two small fish to feed them with. How could it be done?

Well, of course, it would have been absolutely impossible but for the fact that Jesus was there and he took command of the situation. He took the loaves and the fish and he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and then broke and divided the loaves and gave them to his disciples who served the meal to the thousands of guests. And we read "They all ate and were satisfied" and there were "twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over".

This miraculous meal showed the real compassion Jesus had for all these people as well as his divine power to multiply the little amount of food so that such a crowd could be satisfied. This miracle, as well as all the others Jesus did, is told to us so that we '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)

Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, I do believe you are the Christ, the Son of God. Help me to be fully satisfied with you and your great salvation. Amen

'Tell Me The Old, Old Story'

Louise Macmillan — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

'Tell Me The Old, Old Story'

Reader: Louise Macmillan

Date: 1st March 2022

Passage: Acts 6:6

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Some people love history, others think it is' bunk'! Stephen, like many of his Jewish people did love history. The Jews would tell the old, old story of what God had done for them in past years over and over again. But if we read Acts 6 and 7 we see that telling God's story got Stephen into great trouble and he was eventually put to death. Why?

There were many Jews who were jealous of Stephen and of the godly life and powerful works he was able to do in the name of Jesus. When Stephen was telling the Jewish leaders about parts of their own history he said these leaders were just like the hardhearted leaders of past times who killed godly prophets — these leaders in front of Stephen had indeed killed the Righteous One, Jesus.

You can imagine how full of anger and hatred Stephen's audience became. Stephen said they were "stiff-necked people, ... always resisting the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51). You don't win friends that way! So they took Stephen out and stoned him to death. Was Stephen a failure then? Did he tell the old, old story in vain? No!

You can read in Acts 7:55-59 how Jesus himself welcomed him home to heaven when he died. And from verse 58 we see that Stephen's story and Jesus's place in it obviously troubled one young man who later became one of Christ's great ambassadors. He was the Apostle Paul. So thank Go for Stephen's godly history stories!