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March 5: Mark 11:15-17
Key Verse: Mark 11:17
And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Devotion:
What do you treat your local church building like? What does your local church group treat the building like? It is a loaded question because there are so many things we can do as a church group with the buildings we have and we should do as much as we can to support our communities through what we can do.
God wants us to do as much as we can, but He also wants us to listen to His instruction as to how we go about that work. We have a duty to uphold the name of Christ and part of the perception of Christ’s name comes from our local church buildings. This is not to say we should exclude anyone who does not follow Christ from our buildings – far from it.
God gives us so many things with which we should be encouraging people to know Christ, but some of those things can be used for our own purposes instead of Christ’s will. This is what the people in the temple courts were doing – they had turned over the area to those who were seeking their own profits and not anything to do with God. This is abusing what God gives us...
This goes much further than just church buildings and church grounds... God supplies us with the tools and the people we need to further the gospel message. We need to take care of everything He gives us and use them for the purposes He has charged us with. When we abuse this privilege and seek our own profit rather than Christ’s, we fall short of the charge God has given us and we then face His wrath or judgement alone!
Points to Ponder:
Have you thought about reaching out more with your church?
Will you support anything God asks of you?
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March 4: Luke 16:19-31
Key Verse: Luke 16:31
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Devotion:
What does it take for you to believe something someone else says? Do you believe them because they are a friend, or maybe you believe them because they are an enemy! It takes all sorts of situations to change our minds about the things we have thought to be true or beyond doubt.
Do you think your task as a disciple of Jesus is to try and persuade others the Word of God is the truth and what they have held on about the earth is simply that – of the earth? I put it to you the answer to this is NO. Your task is not to persuade others the bible is true, but to open the bible up to others so they can make their own decision based on what God is trying to get them to believe in!
We often look to the evangelists to bolster our faith because they make it all sound so good – but we are set the task of basing our faith on what God has said and what He impresses upon us when we meet with Him in prayer. He will take, and has taken, steps to make sure we always have someone who will help us to believe the Word, but also always makes sure we are the ones who make the decision about our own faith. This is important because God wants us to not just believe Him but also to know our own beliefs.
We will probably not get a personal evangelist to visit us and keep us going. We will probably not get the ideal church leader in our local church to keep us going. It is our task to delve into God’s Word and come to our own conclusions – this is our faith!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you delve into God’s Word?
Will you make a point of convening closer with God today?
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March 3: Matthew 20:17-19
Key Verse: Matthew 20:19
and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Devotion:
Jesus knew what was in store for Him and He still went ahead with following God’s will and obeying God in every step of His life on earth. What an example for us to follow! It is very hard to go ahead with something when you are sure you will get persecuted or hurt. We learn to be afraid of some things in life and we avoid them in our life to live a bit longer... but what happens when that clashes with God’s will?
We are going to face some horrible things in life just because we live with some horrible people on earth. People abuse their power and their positions in society and often make other people’s lives a misery! Jesus warns us against this because it is working against or hurting people who He created! We are all His creation, and He loves us all – when we work against someone, we are working against God’s child!
Jesus showed just how hard it was to stick with it, but He showed us so we could be encouraged to not just follow God but to do what he asks. Sometimes what we do is skewed by our own desires instead of listening to what God wants. This is because of our own wants and needs and even fears. Sometimes we have to stop what we are doing and face up to those fears so we can do more for God in the future!
Jesus was getting closer to facing that time when He would be beaten and killed, but he knew this was the only way He could be there for us all and pave the way for us to join Him later in Heaven. Jesus did this because His love for us was greater than His fear and He knew it was what God wanted.
Points to Ponder:
Do you know what God wants in your life?
Are you willing to listen to God and Obey?
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March 2: Matthew 23-1-12
Key Verse: Matthew 23:3
So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Devotion:
One of the things I try to be careful of is to not give out advice if I am not going to be able to follow it myself! I have faced too many people who have said one thing and done another to be very wary of those who do like to shout about all the good things we should be doing!
As a young person searching to find out what faith was all about, I visited some churches in which I was disillusioned by the people saying one thing and doing another. Fortunately, I was able to be encouraged by some elder boys in my school who opened up God’s Word and explained how we are each given free choice to do what we want – even if the bible is saying one thing. This allowed me to move on from being disillusioned and find my own faith with God.
Things like that tend to stick with you for a very long time and make a very big impact in your life. This is why Jesus was warning the crowds they had to make their own choices to follow God’s Word and not to follow the few teachers who were not doing as they said!
Getting caught up in the power of God is something we need to watch for. If we begin to think we can do more than what God is telling us to do, we end up giving out our own advice instead of God’s truth. When we do that, we may well be taking people away from what God wants in their lives and pushing them to what we want in our lives. That sort of power can be appealing, but ultimately very destructive in the church!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like telling others about God’s ways?
Do you practice what you preach?
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March 1: Daniel 9:3-11
Key Verse: Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Devotion:
Daniel had studied the words of the prophet Jeremiah and knew what God wanted him to do – not in every single thing in life, but as a whole. Part of that knowing is to obey what you know God wants and to listen for further instruction as God leads you forward in your life. Daniel knew he did not have to stand on street corners shouting about God, or preaching at the temples, but to follow God’s instructions where he was at that time!
When God calls us to be disciples, it is most often calling us to be disciples where we are living and not to go to the other side of the world. God wants us to be Christians where we are so our communities will get the most from His Word.
When God calls us, it will probably not be to own a nice house and have a good job so we can be upstanding citizens in our communities. God calls us as we are and how we are so we can be examples for Him as ‘normal people!’ God wants us because we want to believe in Him and to follow Him. He does not call us because we can have an extravagant life living for Him!
And, when God calls us, He is not going to give us a big advance in our salary so we can buy things for people – no matter how big our hearts are! God calls us as we are, whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick, tall or short, male, female or otherwise. God calls us to be there for others. Sometimes we need to step forward and be willing to show God how willing we are by spending more time in prayer, more time in fasting and less time promoting ourselves!
Points to Ponder:
What would be the ideal way God could use you?
He is calling you as you are right now!
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February 28: Romans 4:13-15
Key Verse: Romans 4:13
It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Devotion:
You may look back on many of the Old Testament stories and think it was all about what the people did which allowed them to get closer to God and you will probably find many people who would encourage you to believe that side of the stories; but when you get to read the stories properly and in context, you find out people all had a choice as to what they would do.
God still gives us the choice and what we end up doing is really a display of our belief and our faith. We could try to be as righteous as possible and expect to get to heaven because we are good – but that is not going to fly with God. He looks inside your heart and Christ will judge you according to your faith. If you have faith Jesus is willing to save you from your sins, then He will do so because that is His promise to you.
But if you think you can work your way into heaven by doing all the right stuff, wearing the right clothes and saying the right words, then you are sadly mistaken! It is and always has been about our faith and our beliefs. Is this when you start getting scared and wonder if your faith is strong enough to get you into heaven? Don’t be! Jesus has explained how the smallest of amounts of faith can do so much and that is what He is looking at!
We don’t have to be spiritual giants in order to get to heaven. Just a small amount of faith in the right direction can get us directly there. Jesus came to die for all who are willing to ask Him into their lives. We may not have the faith some of the people from our bibles have shown, but we do have a firm promise from Christ He is willing to save us if we believe. Nice and simple!
Points to Ponder:
How much faith do you think you need?
Do you know Christ has already done enough for your faith?
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February 27: Matthew 5:38-42
Key Verse: Matthew 5:41
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Devotion:
How do you react when someone does something you don’t like? Do you jump up and swat them because they dared to do something you disliked? Do you just ignore them and continue doing what you’re doing? Or is something in between?
We all react differently to circumstances in which we find ourselves and there is no clear-cut answer as to how we should behave – at least that is what we like to believe because it makes our life easier if we can react differently according to who is doing things against us! God has different ideas to how we should react and encourages us to be the same with everyone we encounter!
We should be trying to show people we depend on a God who does not change and one way to do that is to be more like Him and not change our ways according to who we are mixing with. God wants us to show a Christian face to everyone we encounter in our lives, not because we must be different but rather so we can reflect a bit more of God in our lives.
When we are described as being lights, it is not our light which is shining out for people to notice but the reflection of Christ which people should notice. When we look up at the sky we see a sun which is shining bright because it is a great burning star. But we also see the moon which is nothing like that, but still shines – not by itself but because it is reflecting the sun. As disciples following Christ we need to be more like the moon and reflect the shining light of God in our lives, for everyone and unchanging with everyone!
Points to Ponder:
How do you react to wrong doings?
Will you try to allow others to see a reflection of Christ instead of a ‘self-reaction’?
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February 26: Jeremiah 18:18
Key Verse: Jeremiah 18:18
They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”
Devotion:
When we dare to bring God’s Word into a place where it is in short supply, we are going to have to face opposition from the people who like to think they are in charge. It may be they have seized power in some way, gain strength through fear or take command because nobody else wants to – but that is all they have, the illusion of themselves being in charge.
God has ultimate authority over everything in our lives and He could do whatever He wanted to do despite our wishes. But He chooses to give us the choice as to how we live and what we listen to. When people lose sight of God in their communities, they start to focus on the people who seem to have some element of strength and they may even follow them even if that means going against what they know is right.
God will always uphold righteousness and will always keep to His word no matter what we do, face up to or say. God wants us to be able to trust Him because He does not change. He wants us to know we can depend on His truth always. If we are willing to live up to that truth and promote it, we will be able to show people they too have a choice.
They may not choose God’s way when we introduce it to them because it may conflict with what they desire. People do not often make the right decisions when they are faced with free choice! I know I chose the wrong path when I had free choice – but I’m glad I came back to the right path eventually when it was shown to me once again. Maybe we are the next generation to show people what they know already but have chosen to ignore for now!
Points to Ponder:
What sort of person do people think you are?
Do you think God would agree?
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February 25: Esther 5:1-3
Key Verse: Esther 5:1
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance.
Devotion:
I have never met a King or Queen in person, but I have shaken hands with a person from the Royal family; only because they were chancellor or dean of the department at the time! But when we meet people who are important in society, we are required to act in a particular manner in front of them.
Even though Esther was Queen at the time, she still could not walk in on the King and talk with any authority – that authority had to be handed to her or given to her. When she wanted to meet with the king she had to get dressed accordingly and wait in the outer chamber to be called just as any other person would. Her patience paid off and she was granted access to make a request of the king. Not only that, but because she acted rightfully and dressed accordingly, the king granted her any request she wanted (within reason!)
Her request was not to demand anything great but to request putting on a banquet for the king and Haman. Yes, she had ulterior motives because she wanted to show the king the corruption which was happening right before him; but she did it with the uttermost respect and humility.
When we come before God, we should be willing to come before Him with respect and humility, not demanding, but ready to ask. God wants us to be able to come to Him with our requests and to show Him the respect He deserves. For that, He, like the king here, is willing and able to grant us far more than we can imagine!
Points to Ponder:
How do you approach God?
Will you humble yourself before your God to ask Him for help?
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February 24: Acts 1:15-26
Key Verse: Acts 1:20
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’”
Devotion:
Can you name a person in your life who has shown you the gospel but is no longer alive? Two of my favourite people to name are Billy Graham and Ravi Zacharias! Both these men have died within the last few years and both have allowed me to become the Christian I am today through what they have said and written. I first got to know how much Jesus loves me during a Billy Graham crusade in Africa (for which he was not actually present) and the recordings of Ravi Zacharias have been an inspiration to me during tough times.
God calls us all to reach out to others and He is constantly calling new people. How would we get to hear the gospel unless new people replaced the people we used to listen to? How would we grow in faith if we did not continue to hear God’s Word? Sometimes we need to stop and listen to what God is asking of us. Sometimes it is us who need to step forward and fill the gap left behind by a person of God.
God calls both men and women to reach out to others; and yes, that is clearly written in the bible! Let's take Deborah for instance! She was called by God to be a church leader, a prophetess, a judge to the Israelites. Don’t be put off by what other people say should be happening or the rules people lay out saying it is what the church demands. God calls the shots here and God alone!
Matthias was called to fill the gap left by Judas because he had been with the disciples and following Jesus. It was not just the twelve disciples. It was all the people who continued to follow Jesus’ teaching and wanted to draw closer to God by learning directly from Jesus. When Judas died, the disciples wanted to fill the gap and they chose someone who had been with them and was willing to take on the mantle.
Points to Ponder:
What is God saying to you?
Will you obey what God is asking of you?