February 22: Matthew 25:31-40
 
Key Verse: Matthew 25:40
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
 
Devotion:
There is going to be a time when it will be too late to turn away from our lifestyles and follow what God considers to be righteous. We may think we do the right stuff by going to church on the right days at the right times and giving our tithes on time, but what are we actually doing for God?
 
God asks us to reach out to His people, those around us and in our communities. He doesn’t want us all to go out to foreign lands and be missionaries to new people in different places around the world – God is calling us to be disciples, reaching out to the people in our own communities. When they have enough support to know they are loved by God, then we can step out and reach out to others!
 
We don’t know who will turn to God and when they will; but we do know we are all given the same chance to do so. God is making sure every part on this planet is going to be given a chance to get to know Him and He is doing this my asking us to reach out to people next to us. The internet has made this world seem a whole lot smaller, but there is still nothing like reaching out with physical help to someone who may be your neighbour.
 
And before you ask why have I left out the goats and those being rejected by God, it’s because I have used those verses already in the past! We have time now to make the choice to do something for God by doing something for His people. We have the chance right now. Don’t waste it and don’t set it aside saying it will be done tomorrow – just maybe tomorrow will be too late!
 
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for people in your community?
 
Did you know God is watching over your whole community?

February 21: 1 Peter 3:18-22
 
Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
 
Devotion:
I think all of us can look back over the past few months and see how many of us have suffered in these horrible times, not because of any fault of our own, but because there is a pandemic and we all have had to do something abnormal for ourselves in order to try and keep safe or to keep others safe. We may even look back and think we have suffered over and over again – but this is nothing compared to the suffering Jesus went through when He came to be amongst us!
 
We can look forward as the vaccinations kick in and say we have suffered but now see light at the end of the tunnel. We can say we can see an end in sight. We still have to be careful and cautious, but we have hope once again.
 
Let's compare this to the life we have with God... We have been living under the threat of death because of our sinful lives we have lived and we were coming up to the time where we would have to face up to what we had done. The horrible reality is the price for this sin would be our lives. Then Christ stepped in, so much better than any vaccine, and took that threat of death away by laying down His life for us instead!
 
As we look forward we need simply accept Christ into our lives, believe He took on the debt for our sins and ask Him to be a part of our lives from now on. Nothing to look back on... Christ willingly stepped forward to take away the eternal death and give us eternal life instead. He did this because of His love for us and continues to show us the way forward – if we are willing to listen to Him!
 
Points to Ponder:
Have you had a horrible year?
 
Will you look forward to God’s year with me?

February 20: Psalm 86:1-5
 
Key Verse: Psalm 86:5
You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.
 
Devotion:
If you never put your trust in bridges, you would never be able to cross rivers or ravines. If you never put your trust in aeroplanes or ships, you may never be able to visit people on the other side of the world. We physically have to put our trust in some things in life in order to be able to get places in life. But that is as far as we can go if we only trust physical things.
 
If we want to be able to go places after we die or go places spiritually, then we have to put our trust in spiritual things. Now, because these spiritual things cannot normally be seen, we are in effect putting our trust in things we cannot see. God does not want to have us trust every spiritual thing, because there are some things which are not good for us; rather He wants us to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ because He has already shown us we can trust Him and He has declared His unending love for us too!
 
So how do we go about trusting things we cannot see? We have to ask for them and believe God will give them to us just as Christ has promised us. This is our prayers which we need to continually lift up to God, asking Him to fulfil the promises made and to continue to love and protect us as best he can. Whilst we do have issues in our lives and we do get things wrong, we begin to get worried we will not have our prayers answered because we don’t deserve it!
 
But Jesus has demonstrated how He is willing to love us even before we start to get things right. He is willing to forgive us because we are guilty and not because we think we deserve it for changing our lives in some way. This is God’s gift to us and not something we deserve for what we do...
 
Points to Ponder:
How often do you speak to God?
 
How much do you trust God?