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August 3: Matthew 14:13-21
Key Verse: Matthew 14:14
When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
Devotion:
I wonder if you are feeling the strain of Christian living. I wonder if you are tired and need a rest. Jesus came down to live as a human being amongst us which meant he would also get tired and weary. It is OK to ge weary. It is OK to want to stop for a while and rest.
Jesus reached a point where he had heard of John being killed and he just needed to stop for a while and get comforted by his father in heaven. We are all human and we need time out to get our heads and hearts 'back in the game.' How are we going to be able to help others if we are totally worn out?
Jesus took himself away and I'm sure he communed with God for that extra bit of comfort and energy. But as soon as the people caught up with him, he went back to being the servant of God he was born to be.
Each of us, if we listen to God, will find out what it is he would like us to do for him. Each of us has got to make time to do the things he is asking of us and to allow others to be blessed by what God has brought into our lives.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you need to stop and rest each day?
Do you bring God into those quiet times?
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August 2: Genesis 32:22-32
Key Verse: Genesis 32:24
Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
Devotion:
This is one passage that fascinates me because it makes me stop and think about my journey with God. My journey has not always been an easy ride or a joyful experience because I live within a world filled with sin and other things!
God wants us to remember how he is with us at all times; during the times when we think we are on top of the world and at the times when we think we can no longer sink any deeper. We may not see him and we may not feel like he is with us, but he is.
At times we are going to want to fight with him and even shout at him because we think everything may be unfair against us. There are going to be times when we want to shout for joy because all we see him do. But I challenge you to try to think of how God is with you at any and every point during your day, week, month, year... life!
Jacob wrestled with what he assumed to be a man. He was not going to give us because he was protecting his family. He would not stop! God is just like that - he will never stop!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you fight inwardly with God?
Are you ready to allow him to pick on you to do his will?
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August 1: Luke 24:36-43
Key Verse: Luke 24:36
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
Devotion:
Can you imagine talking about someone whom you miss and they suddenly appear next to you? Now, while I am sure we have all experienced the joy of seeing someone for the first timew after a long period of time without them, we are seeing something very different here... they all believed Jesus was dead because they saw he had died! Can you now imagine the shock of Jesus appearing in their midst.
Whilst we can think of the many ways in which we can gain encouragement from these verses, I would like you to think of why Jesus chose this time to appear amongst his disciples again after his ressurection. I can imagine the love Jesus had experienced when he appeared to walk with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Now he knew they would all be gathered together in one place, out of sight from the general public... how could he not chose this moment!
Jesus' love for us is far greater and deeper than we realise. The more we think about it and the more we find out about it, the more we begin to see how much deeper it is than what we first thought.
Each day we think about it we may start to wonder why he would ever love us because of the things we do; but we should also look into his word to see just how much he does think of us all the time. That should change our lives and allow us to try to do more for and with him - always!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you consider God's love for you?
What are you going to do with this knowledge that he loves you?
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July 31: 1 Samuel 16:1-5
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 16:4
Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, "Do you come peaceably?"
Devotion:
When Saul had allowed the power of his position to get into his head, he started to do things for himself instead of doing things for God. Once he started down that slippery slope, there was no stopping him as the world and all it's temptation took hold in his life.
When we allow the world to take hold of our lives we begin to lose sight of the things God actually wants in our lives and the ways He would like us to be. The more we focus on the world, the more we take hold of its ways and lose the ways of God.
It does not mean we have to be pure and holy; none of us can attain such a way of life without giving our lives totally to God like Jesus did. That is an impossible task for all of us because we live in this sinful world and lead a life surrounded by this sin.
But when we start to listen to God and obey what it is He wants us to do, others will take notice and they may even be affraid of what we are doing. Why? Because we are doing what God wants and that shows the weaknesses and faults of everyone around us - something nobody wants to have pointed out in their lives! Stay close to God and listen to Him... then obey...
Points to ponder:
How often do you stop to listen to God?
How about taking a bit of time to go to a place such as an open church and just stop and listen...
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July 30: Psalm 34:4-10
Key Verse: Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
Devotion:
I thought it was about time I started doing a bit of studying and writing; well, not so much studying as drawing closer to God by reading His word with a purpose rather than just reading another section of the bible so that I can say I have read the whole bible again! So, let's go on a journey where we can find out what God has to say to us through His Word again.
My choice of verses to start with was simple, what did the lectionary have for today (yesterday as you read this) and what would He be trying to say to me through those passages. This Psalm stuck out and after reading it, it made a lot of sence! God wants us to stay close to Him, and we do that by staying close through His Word.
The last few weeks I have been on a constant battle of fighting hackers who just seem bent on making other people's lives a misery. They are doing this through the use of AI, making AI read through the code underpinning many web sites, including this one, and asking AI to find ways of breaking into sites through code which has not been written with the strictest of security in mind!
I can remember running a BBS (Bulleting Board System) which prided itself in being open so anyone could use it. This site used to be very open but bad actors get in and spoil the world for the rest of us. This is the way of the world nowadays and we have to be prepared to stand up against those bad actors. It takes courage and time and effort; but with God by your side, there is always a way you can continue to be happy with Him.
Points to ponder:
Are you being bombarded by bad actors?
Are you remembering just how godo life can be with God, despite them!
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October 3: Job 19:21-27
Key Verse: Job 19:21
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
Devotion:
Sometimes we need the people around us to affirm our trust and faith in God. What does that mean? Well, we are the ones who know what our faith means to us and we are the ones who know what God means to us; but sometimes that faith and belief can get eroded by what people around us say and do. It can be hard to keep up our faith and trust in God when those around us seem to be fighting against that faith and trust!
When our friends and family support us or contribute to our faith, our faith becomes stronger and we grow in Christ. When they are fighting that we often falter in our walk with God because we cannot put up with them being against us as well as any things going wrong in our lives! But with their love and support we seem to have no problem relying on God when we need to because we know we have the backing of those around us.
I know I have said this before, but when people start arguing within the church we often find those arguments reach out to more people than the two arguing. It often causes rifts within the whole church and certainly does not help people to keep their faith and love for God as strong as it should be! This is probably why Job was crying out – not because he lost faith in God, but because he did not want to have to put up with the nay-sayers as well as what was happening in his personal life.
Love each other and support each other – always!
Points to Ponder:
Do you love and support all people in your church?
Will you go out of your way to support someone new this week?
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October 2: Luke 9:57-62
Key Verse: Luke 9:62
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Devotion:
How many times have you heard someone say how much God loves you or how much we should love Him? How many of those times have they told you it would be such a wonderful life and times if you would follow Christ? How many times has someone stopped to tell you the truth about how much it will cost to follow Christ?
I may live in a country where I am free to follow God and free to talk about Him in public – but there are so many places in our world today where we are not allow to openly say we follow Christ for fear of being imprisoned or breaking some sort of law! God does not want us to think following Him is going to be a piece of cake and everything will run smoothly as soon as we do follow Him.
Jesus warned the disciples and others around Him they would have to put up with many things such as being persecuted if they chose to follow Him. They would have to face that because of the law of the land which mankind had created to suit themselves – not because it was the wrong thing to do!
Here we are reminded of just some of the costs of following Christ. We risk alienating our friends and family at times because we choose to follow Christ. We may well come up against all manner of bad things just as we know Job faced. None of these things are created by God, but by man for mankind. God wants us to buck the trend and to submit to His ways and His will in our lives instead.
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to stand up for Jesus?
Are you willing to face persecution just because you love Jesus?
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October 1: Job 3:11-17
Key Verse: Job 3:11
Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to fight is depression in our lives. No matter how many people around us say we should perk up or do this or do that, we stumble at every step we try to take and the more we stumble, the harder it is to think about walking properly in our lives again. I cannot imagine what Job was going through after losing his whole family in such a cruel way and I would not know how to respond to anyone in their situation other than by trying to tell them how much God does loves them and how much He cares for them.
No matter how deep we are in depression or how much we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, if we can understand how much God cares for us, we can overcome anything. I can recall a time when I dropped to my knees in absolute fear of what was going to happen, not so much because of my safety, but the safety of my children who were with me at the time. I know God had me there and then because I know what happened now that I lived through that time…
What did it take? Did it take someone to tell me about God at that moment? No. Did it take someone to shake me and remind me of God’s power? No. It took a moment of pure submission on my behalf where I demonstrated to God I was willing to submit to Him for our livelihoods. He did not let me down then, and He has never let me down!
Points to Ponder:
How upset do you get with things when the world is not right?
How much does it take for you to submit to God?
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July 27: Jeremiah 7:1-11
Key Verse: Jeremiah 7:6
if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm
Devotion:
We do not have to read too much from the Old Testament to figure out what God likes and what He dislikes. We have all of this written down so we can find these things out for ourselves; after all, we don’t seem to like listening to people when they tell us what we can and cannot do! But God gave us our history so we can learn the good from the bad. He gave us families to help us spread the knowledge about the good and bad – but left us with the choice we have to make by ourselves.
He is not forcing us to do anything, but He does give us very strong words of what may happen if we ignore His ways and His rules. It is not so much that He will bring things upon us, but that the world will be able to treat us unjustly because we will not have His protection all around us!
God does not choose to do bad things to us. We choose to walk away from Him and His ways and invite those bad things upon ourselves. We are responsible for the choices we make and the things which happen to us. But, if we choose to follow His ways and His instructions, He will be close at hand to protect us from the world and will try to guide us to avoid all those bad situations we always seem to find ourselves in!
The more we do wrong, the further away from God we get and the less protection He is able to offer us – think about it and draw closer to Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you knowingly invite bad things into your life?
Are you walking away from God and His protection without thinking about it?
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July 25: Matthew 13:18-23
Key Verse: Matthew 13:22
The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Devotion:
One of the biggest things which separate us from God is living amongst other people! For some reason most of us will allow the things in life to get in the way of our happiness and in the way of our relationship with God too! We get so upset by things of the world we lose sight of God and His ways, making it an uphill struggle to try and commune with Him on a daily basis.
God has warned mankind from the beginning of time about being side-tracked and lured away from Him, and yet we continue to allow the world to interfere with everything! And, no, it is not a simple task of switching it off because we have feelings and we have this sense of looking out for other people all the time.
God wants us to be very aware of others so we can help others, but He also wants us to be very aware of His presence in our lives! No matter what goes on with life and the world around us, God is always going to be close by. We see this in the very earliest manuscripts in our bibles where Job had all manner of things happen to him and his family; but he was somehow able to keep a hold of his relationship with God throughout everything – this saw him though in the end!
Most of us will give in and be taxed by the world and its ways. Most of us will give in to temptations. Most of us will get things wrong from time to time. This is just the way we are. But God watches over us and wants us to succeed!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get things wrong?
How often do you reach out to God?