Agape Devotions

  TEXT TO REFLECT ON These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. HEBREWS 11:13-16 REFLECT There is a certain madness in those who live and are led by faith. They are people who have seen or heard, or are convicted of the certainty of things that neither they nor those around them can see. “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen and greeted them from afar….” v13. People of faith live their lives, drawn by visions and convictions that they hold dear to, despite...

Read Heb 10.19-39 No devotional (Sunday)

Read Hebrews 9.1-10.18 Verses chosen for reflection: Hebrews 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Reflect Hebrews 9-10 talks about God's gift of salvation through the unique work of Christ on the Cross. With God's gift of salvation, our sins are forgiven because the Son of God paid them in full with His death and blood. The blood of Christ is compared to the blood of animal sacrifices offered for the forgiveness of sins during the time of the Old Covenant. While animal sacrifices were needed to be made every year; the blood of Christ is "offered" once and for all.  Hence, Jesus need not go through His suffering and death on the Cross every year in order to atone for our sins. This is even the case when Jesus' blood not only atone for our past and present sins, it also atones for sins that God know we are ...

READ : Heb.8 (focussing on vv.10-12) REFLECT/RELATE : In the Upper Room, Jesus said,   This cup is the new covenant made in my blood.   This is the new arrangement, the new constitution, from which the life of all who know Jesus will be lived. This is a covenant made between the Father and the Son. It is not made between us and God. If any man is in Christ, everything in this covenant is available to him. For any individual on the face of the earth who is willing to be   in Christ,   to let Christ live in him, this agreement is valid. There are four provisions of the new constitution: God says,   I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts.   There is the answer to the problem of human motivation. Have you discovered that the problem in your life is not uncertainty about what is right; you have known that a long time. It is a problem of motivation. We are not over-strained; we are simply under-motivated, but the new arrangement, this...

READ : Hebrews 7 Verses chosen for meditation: Hebrews 7:22-25 22  This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23  The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,  24  but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.  25  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. REFLECT The first century Christians were in danger of giving up, facing persecution. Some were physically assaulted. Some homes were plundered. Some went to prison on account of their faith and others were ridiculed publicly for their trust in Jesus. In such times, they may be missing their old way of life and their familiar religious traditions of Judaism, wondering if they had been right to abandon all that to become a Christian. Here, the author wrote to assure them...

Read  - Hebrews 4:14-6:20 Verses chosen for devotion : 5:5-10 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son,     today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever,     after the order of Melchizedek.” 7   In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9   And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10   being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Reflect Jesus is not only an appointed High Priest, He is the son of God, ruler and heir to the throne. And He is not just any high priest, but ...

Read Hebrews 3:1-4:13 Verses chosen for meditation: Hebrews 3:3-6; 4:7, 8-11, 12-13 ESV: 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.  7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.11 Let u...