January 19: Acts 4:32-35
Key Verse: Acts 4:35
and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Devotion:
If you wanted to start changing your community from the inside, what would you start out by doing? One of the best things to start with is blessing others... I’m not talking about the crass way some people go about giving things to others just so they can get loads of views on social media, but the true servant hearted giving Christ calls us to. These people talked about in this section of passage were all now living as one community and were sharing everything they had with one another.
I can feel the cries of socialism and various other things... but when it comes down to it, this is what Christ was teaching – not the rule based “you will share everything with everyone” but the servant hearted “I am willing to share with anyone who is in need!” There is a huge difference in the two!
God does not call us to be a regimented society who are all too scared to do anything else but follow the rules. God calls us to be willing to share with people who are in need... So who is in need? It may surprise you to find out who the ones are who are in need.
It could be the company director just down the road who is now facing bankruptcy because their bills far outweigh the family income, or it could be the factory worker who had hardly anything to start with. We are not here to judge people on what they have done but to stand by people because of the situation they are in now! God bless you Dad for always being willing to help anyone.
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to open your eyes to people in need?
Would you help someone who has not helped you before?
January 18: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Devotion:
This chapter may be a hard read for many because it is dealing with a case of incest in the community; but what is more disturbing is the attitude of the other people around in accepting this behaviour as OK and using some excuse to uphold what is going on. Paul’s comments are hard hitting, and I would like to focus on the humility of the submission Paul is suggesting.
Paul is trying to cut off this behaviour in the bud, before it takes over the community and destroys peoples moral code. It does only take one instance of something which is accepted to bring about a change in the whole community. If that acceptance is for something which is not good, then that behaviour may well spread throughout the community, destroying what God has tried to build up.
As Christians, we need to be the lights in our communities, holding up the light as high as we can and not covering it or hiding it. Just like letting in a little of a bad thing in to the community, letting in a little of a good thing to the community can bring about changed for the good!
Allow God to guild you and protect you as you step forward allowing His light to shine through you. Allow Him to guide you and counsel you to bring about a small, good change in your community; one which will be accepted over time and adopted as part of your community. This is how God gets into the broken communities we call home...
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to start a change?
Are you willing to uphold that change for God?
January 17: 1 Samuel 3:1-10
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 3:7
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
Devotion:
I love these verses where God is calling Samuel to a life of a servant of God; Samuel did not have much of an idea of what this would involve or what would be expected of him because he had not yet been taught God’s Word. And this is the point I want to focus on today. I have written enough about how we should submit and how willing Samuel was to submit, but not about how God called him before He knew what it was all about!
This tell us how God is willing to use anyone to bring His word to others – we don’t have to be famous, we don’t have to be accomplished priests or prophets, we just have to be us! God can do all the rest of the things as long as we are willing to listen. This shows how God looks into our heart and not into our lives.
When God chose David to be the next king of Israel, it was not his stature or strength which made God choose him, but what was in his heart! When God chose Gideon, it was not his strength but his willingness (albeit after a bit of coaxing.) God continues to choose us to do His work based on what He knows secretly about us – we may not even know until God calls us!
I certainly did not know I would want to do youth work until God called me to do it in our local church. I thought I had had enough of youth after trying to bring up my children – but God knew what I could accomplish because He knows what I am really capable of! He knows you – just listen...
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel God calling you?
Will you simply say yes and stop to listen to Him?
January 16: John 6:16-21
Key Verse: John 6:20
But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
Devotion:
One of the things I relish most about Jesus is there is nothing too big or too small for Him; He has been there for me from the beginning, even when I wasn’t watching, and even when I least expected it. I can imagine the disciples beginning to get worried with the wind and waves – after all it was dark and they were probably tired from being up most of the night trying to get to the other side...
Then to top it all, along comes somebody/something walking on the water toward them! Now I may have been in a few tight spots in my life, but I don’t think I have ever been in a place where I see something like this! I can remember being so scared I dropped to my knees and prayed out loud; but still being scared because I did not know at the time my prayers had already been answered!
God does not have to send a bright shining light, and angel or even Jesus walking on the water so you can know your prayers are answered – sometimes He is going to answer them before you realise it, and other times you may have to wait a bit... But your prayers will be answered, and answered where God will get the glory!
Jesus’ first words were to calm the disciples down and then He got them to safety. Whether those words are out loud or quietly whispered without you hearing them, they are answered and you will know in your heart because you find peace. God is just so awesome!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you plead with God?
How often do you expect Him to answer?