A Bruised Reed

8/10/2019 A Bruised Reed

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A 50 day devotional on the unfailing kindness of Gods Love

A Publication of the Hope City Centre

Copyright 2013

Freely distributed

Contributing Authors

Immanuel M.


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A gentle touch, a sinless savior

A lone stalk, in hurting winds

His judgment speaks mercy

His compassion never fading

His touch healing my soul

Unbroken, restored, whole

His mercy and grace he gives

In the very hour of my every need

Freely, even to the undeserving

Like me, even a bruised reed


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Grateful

All praise to God our father, for the gift of His son to us, a gift more

than we can ever give in return. All reverence to His Spirit by whom hereveals to us the depths of his grace and the wonders of His love. All

glory, to our risen King; the Christ who laid His life on the cross for our

salvation: Our Savior, our Lord, our Friend.

Now to Him, who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb; be blessingsand honour and glory and power forever.

Amen!


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Day 1You are not unworthy

I break your heart in many ways

I stray from your path

I love another the way I please

I leave you and not look backLike the prodigal son I go astray

And in my pride I feel sufficient

I soar in folly at vain accomplishments

Worldly pleasure is all that I treasure

How can I say I love you?When I hurt you without a second thought

How can I say I love you?

When in my heart I put you second place

How can I say I love you?

When I break your heart with my eyes wide openHow can I say I love you?

If I betray you like an unfaithful lover

And deny you like a deceitful friend?


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Each day so many of us live with constant fear and guilt, fear of not

being forgiven, the guilt of the wrong we cant seem to cease from,and we try to live from one moment of confession to another. Our

hearts tell us that we are not worthy of Gods love because we have

been unfaithful and so we are scared to be called his beloved.

But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yetsinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5 verse 8)

What we fail to realize is that Christ loved us even when we were

seemingly unlovable how much, more now when we have been

redeemed to become his elect. he knows our weakness, our acts oflove doesnt make him love us more, nor does our unfaithfulness make

him love us less, he has already loved us with an everlasting love, and

the best thing we can do is to open our heart to his love, just as we are,

and despite our unfaithfulness and our fears, his love will work through

us, and teach us to love him, even as he first loved us.

It doesnt matter what youve done,

It doesnt matter where youre coming from


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It doesnt matter where youve been

Let me tell you; I forgiveYoure not guilty any more

You are not filthy any more

I love you, mercy is yours.

Extract from the song not guilty anymoreAaron Keyes


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Day 2

Redeemer, Savior & Friend

Have you ever wondered how much is enough, or how much is too

much to give to the ones we love. What would you give to those you

love, besides your heart? How much have you already given: your time,

your money, your attention, what has it cost you, your love I mean? Can

those you love, undoubtedly say that you love them to the fullest, can

they without fear or flatter say you love them and not question

within their hearts.

As difficult as it may seem to be able to boldly declare the unfailing love

of a man for another, there remains one whose love cannot be faltered,

a sinless Son who gave up all to draw us to the love of our Father. His

word reveals Him to us:

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeemus from all iniquity, and

purify unto himself a peculiar peopleTitus 2 verse 14


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For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,

serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, andhating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our

Savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we

have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of

regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; Which he shed on us

abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by hisgrace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3 verse 3-7

The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man

gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. Butwisdom is justified of her children.

Matt 11:19

Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his

friends.John 15 verse 13

Christ came to redeem us from the debt of sin which we owed but

couldnt pay, he gave his life as the ransom for our redemption, He


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saved us from the destruction of our ways by delivering us from

darkness into His marvelous light, and not because of anything we havedone to deserve it but because He loves us. And after all he has given,

He still chooses to be our friend, just as He was to sinners and the

unworthy, He is even more to us. A friend in time of despair, in time of

trouble, we can run to Him, He is never tired of being our help, never

weary, living to make intercession on our behalf before the father. Afriend closer than a brother, when everyone has forsaken us, He stays,

holding us close; and never letting go. Always remember; you are

loved, you have been redeemed, you are saved, and you are never

alone.

Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

From the poem by Joseph M. Scriven (1985)


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Day 3

A hand to HoldFor the lost & lonely

It takes a simple act of kindness to sometimes remind us of how much

our heavenly father loves us. A blind man walking across the street, led

by a caring stranger, guided beforehand only by his unfailingcompanion that neither talks nor sees but only taps and feel. Then

comes along the hand of an unexpected friend, who walks him all the

way to the end; step by step, so patient, so kind, not judging, not

expecting anything in return.

So many of us have been lost at some point, blind, lonely, with no

companion save our unfailing heart beating and groping in the

darkness of pain, despair, disappointment, trying to feel our way

through: to find our way home. In the moment when we least

expected, we found a friend, a hand to hold, to lead us through, one

who knows the way, a friend, patient, kind, loving uncondemning: we


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found Jesus. Now we walk unafraid, we walk boldly, for the hand that

hold us would never leave us alone.

For he hath said, he will never leave us, nor forsake us, that we may

boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what any man will do

unto me.

Hebrews 13 verse 5 & 6 (re-amplified)

Today we must stand to share that love, to many lost, trying to find

their way, we must choose to give, that which to us was freely given,

we must live to show, how much he loves us so, and in a world thats

lonely and cold, we must live to be a hand to hold.


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Day 4

Friend of the Poor

Looking at the circle of influences in our lives, people whom we have

carefully selected to have access to us, some rich, some not, some like

us, some different, but more often than not we are always careful to

choose those who would only add value and not be a burden to us. Sowe have been taught to do.

But Christ in his life keeps doing the exact opposite of what we grew

up to understand. He showed love to the undeserving, reached out to

the helpless and lowly. He traded places for us to have all we do have

today, yet we fail to realize that our wealth is a gift, a privilege, andthose without it, are not so different before our fatherseyes.

Wealth maketh many friendssays the teacher, but the poor is

separated from his neighbor

(Proverbs 19:4).

Shockingly we have come to find that these neighbours most times are

those who profess to be the sons of God. We have created our


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relationships with them to become occasional acts of charity. But

remember;

The rich and the poor have this in common; the lord is the maker of them

all

(Proverbs 22:2)

We were poor once you know, but for the grace of God we would not

have been where we are today.

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was

rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty

might be rich.2 Corinthians 9 verse 8

If all we are and all we have was given, then why do we refrain from

sharing, a fraction of the love that was to us abundantly given. Itsnot

meant to be an act of charity done to appease our consciencesperiodically. It is supposed to be how we live each day. He was our

friend when were poor; whose friend are you today?


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Its getting dark, itsgetting late

Itscold outside, the rich mans gateAnd Im wondering

Do we have any friends around?

Who are friends of the poor?

To help me through the night

To help me end this fightTo come to my rescue

Friend of the poor

(From the verse: friend of the poor by compassion art)


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Day 5

Love Eternal

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or

distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it

is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as

sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more thanconquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither

death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things

present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other

creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in

Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 8:35-39)

Have you ever tried to understand the depths of Gods love for us all?

Itsbeyond what we can ever truly understand. In His love we can give

our lives because we are sure he will keep us safely in his arms. He isthe most gentle of lovers no other companion can come even close, all

our worries all our cares, all our fears, all our tears, he will not only bear

but He will take completely away that we may never hurt again.


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If all seems lost, if all you cling to is gone, always remember you have

one who always loves you so and never will his love. He never goes

back on his promises, he never judges you in your weakness, He will lift

you up in His arms and not let you fall, He is and always will be your

hope, youre your salvation, your friend; your all.

Love everlastingPure, true, never ending

Peace it brings

To soothe the hurting

Love eternalBeyond the limits of time and the carnal

Transcending the mind and its superficial

Consuming the heart beyond the temporal

Love truly divineSent from a father that I can call mine

Intoxicating like the finest of wine

That I may know I am only thine


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Love specially for you and me

For our soul to trust to set our spirit free

To drive all the fears and the tears we no more see

That brings us to the best that we could ever be

Love undeserved, not that you first loved HimFor in all He has always first loved thee

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his

Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we

ought also to love one anotherThere is no fear in love; but perfect love

casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made

perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.

(1 John 4:10-11, 17-19)


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Day 6

Love, the way to liveOwe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loves another

hath fulfilled the law.

(Romans 13:8)

Today, hand bands with inscriptions: what will Jesus do are graduallybecoming an old fad, there was a time though when they were very

popular and even people with no specific faith orientation wore them.

Itskind of ironic that these words are being put aside at a time when

they are really needed the most.

We find ourselves in a world that is daily becoming more hostile,

alienating and unkind. No one seems to care how u feel or what their

actions mean to you. It gets worse, even in the church we exalt

ceremonial relationships and polite expressions over genuine heart felt

connections. Itsalarming to find that we who should be the symbols of

Christ are gradually ceasing to defer to Him for our standards; we get

so caught up in our own business and react just as everyone else does


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even when people are in dire situations. When last did you find yourself

in a situation and asked what will Jesus do? I bet you can hardly

remember. If you can what was the answer?

Let me show you Christs answer, it is to respond with love. If we

believe that our every action must be directed by His word, and if we

understand that His word is His law, then we would appreciate whenhe says:

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the

law.

(Romans 13:10)

When we live in love, we pattern our lives by His word because He is Hisword, The Word is God and God is love. So beyond our hand bands, we

should band our hearts with his law, so that each time you are about to

do anything at all, just take a pause, look inwards and ask yourself:

what will Love do?

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for

us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.

(Ephesians 5:2)


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Day 7

Loving Hard facesBut I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which

hate you For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For

sinners also love those that love them

Luke 6:27, 32

Sometimes it seems like some people are just so unlovable. You try as

much as you can and they dont seem to appreciate it or respond. They

are constantly irritating and possibly hostile, its not like they have a

problem with you because everyone complains of that same thing. So

after a few attempts to reach them, you just keep off, or sometimesyou dont even try so you dont create unwanted drama for yourself,

and you feel justified.

Its okay to stay away if we were just any other person but as Gods

children we have a responsibility to give his love even to the mostdifficult of people. We must first learn to understand that the ones,

who seem to reject it the most, are those who need it the most.


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Over the years, so many have been hurt by loved ones and have gone

through so much pain that their souls builds a defense mechanism in

the bid to shield them from further hurt by attacking any one that tries

to come close, not recognizing friend or foe. It is to such that we must

keep reaching out in love, and not give up too soon. Gradually Gods

love will pierce through and shatter the walls they have built, heal their

hearts and rebuild their lives. We must keep in mind that we are Hisarm of love and cannot afford to live like others do.

So the next time you meet someone who is hostile to your kind

gestures, rather than judge and withdraw, smile and remember that

love conquers all; and before you lies a chance to share Gods love and

rescue a fading soul.

The loveless soul, angry and cold

Wandering away with hurts and pains of old

Seeking redemption from the rhythm of that true song

Sung by a love that truly suffers long

From the poem by Immanuel M (2013)


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Day 7

Love in Hard placesWhen Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said

unto her; Woman, where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned

thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I

condemn thee

(John 8:10-11)

The walk of love as we have come to find out is so much easier

professed than lived. More often than not we find ourselves in

situations where we are actually torn between acting in love or

satisfying set rules or keeping to strict schedules or sometimesupsetting the context we find ourselves in. not to worry we are not

alone in this.

Over and again Christ was placed in situations which he had to validate

his message of love. In the preceding scriptures, the Pharisees hadbrought before Christ a woman caught in adultery, and they sought His

permission to stone her. Bear in mind that if he had prevented them,

they would accuse Him of violating the Law of Moses which He had


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come to fulfill. If he had given them the permission, He would have

negated His message of mercy and compassion.

So many times we do not know how to respond in such situations,

between showing some compassion or keeping to our set objectives,

after all its for the greater good.We sometimes dread the reaction of

those around, maybe given the protocol of the moment, our actions

may be seen as improper, so we turn our faces, we ignore our hearts

and just do what we term needful for the moment. If only we knew

how blind we are.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, andrighteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

(1 Corinthians 1:30)

Christs response was not to judge but to however validate his message

of love without falling short of the law. We however choose most timesto sacrifice our message of love, to satisfy the context or the social and

personal demands of the moment. We must understand that what we

need is the wisdom of God for such times. This wisdom is the same that


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is exemplified in Christ, and that same wisdom is made available to us

through righteousness, and this wisdom has as its very essence, Love:

for Christ is our wisdom.

We must learn in times of difficulty, to let Christ lead through us and

reach out, even in the most inconvenient of circumstances. All we need

to do is ask, believe and receive it. Believe it or not, each day the world

is watching, and we Godschildren must let His love reflect in all we do,

especially in the most difficult of times and places.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more inknowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are

excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of

Christ;

Amen.

(Philippians 1:9-10)


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Day 7

Faith

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A Bruised Reed