January 18: Mark 3:7-12

Key Verse: Mark 3:12
But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.

Devotion:
One of the things which still gets me worried about people is when they start to brag about what they are doing, what they have done and the monetary value of their achievements! I gave up on doing that as much as I could when I saw how it affected other people – we don’t often stop to think how others would feel when we tell them about everything we have achieved!

When Jesus was at the lake He told the disciples to get a boat ready so He would be able to separate Himself from the crowd when things got too much. The more people were healed, the more people came. They were not just local people now but people from surrounding areas; the news of what He was doing got around quickly.

Now imagine, someone gets healed of some terrible illness and another person cannot get close enough to ask Jesus for healing… how are those two people going to feel. The person who gets healed sees the other person not being able to get healed – do they feel terrible for the person who cannot get healed? The person who cannot get healed – do they feel jealous about the person who is healed?

Jesus did not want the people around Him to start fighting because of what was happening. He wanted to be able to do as much good as possible in the time He had. Sometimes we get carried away and start publicising what we do – how do the people around us feel about this happening to us and not them? We really do need to stop and consider the people around us!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get carried away with telling people what you can do?

How do you feel when you hear others telling what they can do?

January 17: 1 Samuel 17:32-50

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 17:39
David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. ‘I cannot go in these,’ he said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them.’ So he took them off.

Devotion:
Many times in our lives we will face people who will say we should not trust in God but trust in them or some other physical thing. Sometimes God will give you the strength to do something physical against an adversary and you will be surprised. Here David was led to the battlefield, not to join the army but to deliver food for his brothers; but he ended up fighting for the army!

David was not a warrior in the physical sense, but he was a warrior for God. His faith was firmly planted in God’s hands and he trusted God for everything. When he saw and heard what the Philistine was doing to the army of God, he was angry and wanted things to change so God could be praised. This was not something he wanted to do to show how strong he was or to show anyone up, he simply wanted God to get the glory instead of the philistines!

When Saul allowed David to go up against Goliath he gave David his armour and weapons. Saul was a big man so nothing would fit and all would be cumbersome; besides this would give glory to the weapons instead of to God.

David asserted his position as a child of God, without swords, spears or javelins, just God and God’s holy name! David gave this battle over to God and stepped forward to fight a foe for whom he was no match physically – but he was going forward with God as his guide and protector! David used a simple sling with a stone to defeat in God’s hands to defeat what nobody in the army was willing to go up against!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you really rely on God?

Will you give God more credit for things in your life?

January 16: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Key Verse: 1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’

Devotion:
One of the most important things we learn from the bible is to not judge people by their outward appearance – or as we say in the West don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Samuel was now facing worrying times because Saul had fallen out of favour with God and a new king was being sought after. Samuel was worried for his own life in case Saul found out and wanted to kill him, but God had other plans.

God knew what might happen if Samuel declared he was going to anoint a new king, so he sent Samuel out with a heifer as if he was going to make a sacrifice to God. When Samuel got to Bethlehem the people there were worried in case Samuel had come to prophesy against them; they had that guilty feeling knowing they had each done something wrong…

Samuel called on Jesse to be consecrated along with all of his sons. Each of them came out to meet Samuel and Samuel looked at the outward appearance of the first son just as he looked at the outward appearance of Saul: he was impressed with what he saw.

But, as we said earlier, God had other plans. Each of the sons came forward and God said no. After enquiring if there were any other sons, they called for the youngest son who was tending to the sheep. A son who had not gone to join the army but stayed at home to care for their father’s sheep. This is the man God had chosen!

Points to Ponder:
Do you judge people when you first look at them?

How many people have you given a chance and been surprised by?