Devotionals

   A fact about Elephants Did you know to keep an elephant from running away all you need is bit of rope and a peg that goes in the ground? “Is this not craziness” I hear you say! A big strong elephant could surely annihilate a flimsy rope and peg in seconds. Well you’d think so, but let me explain how it works. A baby elephant is tied by the ankle by a piece of rope that is pegged firmly into the ground. It tries to escape by pulling away, but only being sma...

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   Be like Christ this Christmas “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6-7 It really happened. It is not a myth, a folk tale or legend but. Just over 2000 years ago a woman, (more like a girl), gave birth to a child (the son of God!) in a animal stall. This moment in a dirty a...

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Just in case you haven't already noticed, we have set up an online advent calendar for this festive season. Each day there will be devotional messages from people on readings relating to Christmas and the nativity. Messages are coming from a wide variety of contributors, including members of the Ignite office staff, as well as local church leaders and speakers. Today's message (8th December) is from Ignite International Director and Third Day's 'on-the-road' pastor, Nigel James. Keep checking b...

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 Why not to be a judgmental Judy….. Jesus spent His time on our planet surrounded by His dearly loved crew of motley disciples, religious leaders who wanted to stamp out his existence and people the Bible calls sinners. One such moment we see these groups of people thrown together like noodles in a take away cartoon is John 8: 1 – 11  Jesus is sitting down in the temple courts to teach, can you imagine what it would have been like to sit and listen to the voice of the...

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Have you ever been involved in a conversation where everyone has a different opinion? Some say one thing, another something else, and at the end you have totally no idea what you think or what is right. This is ok if you are chatting about why Man United lost so badly or which hairdresser on City Road does the best cut, but when it comes to something that really matters – it can be critical to be confused. Peter, one of Jesus’ mates and disciples, was surrounded by people saying dif...

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“Take a look at yourself and make a change” It can be so easy to see other people and think, “I’m glad I’m not like that”, can’t it? The religious leaders of Jesus’ time loved their rules and loved even more to enforce them – especially the ones to do with religious washing. The problem was, the spent so much time focussing on those, that they didn’t have any time to actually practice the biggies. You know, the loving thy neighbour ...

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What do you do when it's lunch time and your being followed by a crowd? Have you ever been starving? Have you ever had one of those moments when all you can think about is lunch and you can’t concentrate on your lesson, on what your mum’s trying to say or even where you are walking!? Well, picture this scene and remember how the groan in your stomach felt! Jesus is up on a mountain, spending time with the motley crew that is the disciples. There is no Café like there is on ...

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God’s forgiveness is not human… When other people hurt us we put barriers up, don’t we? We remove ourselves from the people and situations that cause us pain so to protect ourselves. Maybe you walk to school with someone who says unkind things to you – what do we do? Walk home another route. Your Grandparents say things that make you feel insignificant, what do you do? Get out of visiting them any way possible. Your best friend leaves you out and chooses to spend time w...

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"I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways and no message could have been any clearer: If you wanna make the World a better place take a look at yourself, and then make a change". Michael Jackson Ever thought about changing the world? How might you even start to do such a thing? The fact is that the World we live in is a bit of a mess, isn't it? Wars, fammines and general nastiness is everywhere. Even in our cosy and rich corner of the World, we c...

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It is pretty annoying when you go out of your way to do something nice for someone and they throw it back in your face. Ever had that? Well, let me tell you that Jesus knows exactly how that feels! In fact, one step further, because Jesus knows what every person’s heart is like, He does good, compassionate and amazing things with the knowledge that people will use it against Him and reject Him. Let me introduce to a man who did just that. We find him sitting by a pool in Jerusalem. Thi...

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 So what’s all this about taking His word for it?? There was a time when I thought a guitar capo was an implement to remove athlete’s foot. Gross I know! Where on earth did I get that idea you may wonder? The answer: my older brother. My brother would love nothing better than to spin a ridiculous story and persuade me to believe it. However, the problem is now that I don’t take what he tells me very seriously: I just think “whatever, I think this is one of your stor...

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We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. – 2 Peter 1:16 Most of us like stories of some kind. Some like thrillers, some like biographies, and some like soap operas. My personal favourite happens to be fantasy. I like the deep dark epics, like Lord of The Rings. I delight in the stories with a purpose, like the Narnia series. I’m gripped by the crazy ride-of-your-life ...

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See Ruth Chapter 4 Naomi and Ruth were on their toes, they can’t have been anything else, waiting for the news about who Ruth would be marrying! Boaz didn’t rest before he’d found out whether he could marry Ruth either – sorting out the legal issues was that day’s top priority. Boaz has made up his mind, if he can he’ll marry Ruth, and only one thing stands in his way: her ‘kinsman-redeemer’. So the question is this: will he try to play down th...

Read 'The un-redeemable redeemed - Part 4' in full