December 1: James 1:16-18
Key Verse: James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Devotion:
Sometimes we are tempted to go off the rails and do things which we know are not right – the more we do this, the more we think it is OK, if we don’t get caught doing it! But what we forget it God is always watching us and sees everything we do both physically and in our minds and hearts! We often make up excuses saying it is probably OK with God because He has not stopped us from doing it!
That is not how God works. God is not going to support us doing things wrong and sinning. God is not going to have any part of the evil we get up to. God wants the very best for us and He will try to support us in doing what is righteous. All the good and great things we gain in our lives can be said to come from God – He is the creator and author of everything... yet still gives us free choice to do what we please.
He is not going to stand by quietly when we do what we please instead of what He is asking – but too often we ignore all the warning signs because we don’t like them. We ignore all the instructions we find difficult to take because we don’t like them. This does not mean God is giving up on us; rather we are continuing to walk away from Him!
God will never change. He is our Lord. He is everything. He is love. He created everything for us. We now have the choice at to what we do with His creation. We have the choice to follow Him and His Word, or to follow our own wants and desires. Why not change your direction a little to be more in line with God’s direction and see what He gives you as you do!
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue to ignore instruction just because you don’t like it?
Will you turn and face Jesus and ask for His instruction?
November 30: Matthew 4:18-22
Key Verse: Matthew 4:19
‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’
Devotion:
What is your first reaction when a friend asks you to do something which will take you away from what you want to do? We all react differently to requests from friends and differently again to requests from family. When a friend asks you to do something with or for them, they do not know what is going on in your heart and mind at that moment – if they are very good friends, they could probably guess...
God knows what is going on in our minds and hearts and He is also aware of what we need to ensure our hearts and minds remain in a fit state; something we often struggle with when things go wrong. God is not going to step forward and ask you to walk off a cliff or to ask you to tell a loved one you do not want to see them again – that would not be right.
But sometimes God is going to ask you to do something you may not have thought of before, or something which will stretch your abilities or comfort zones. We, after all, feel most comfortable doing things which we are accustomed to doing – things which make us feel good or things we are used to doing. God may well ask you to step out of that comfort zone!
How we react is going to define our relationship with God. When He does ask something big of us, He will do so because He knows we can do it and we need to do it. When Jesus asked the disciples to follow Him and be fishers of men, He was asking them to leave the comfort of their everyday jobs and livelihoods to do something with sounded irrational to many people; but not to them because they knew God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you really listen to God?
Are you doing what God is asking or doing what is comfortable for you?
November 29: Mark 13:24-31
Key Verse: Mark 13:28
Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Devotion:
Our bibles tell us of a time when Jesus will return and take all remaining believers home to be with God in Heaven. The return is described in various ways according to who is describing the return; each of us see what we think are the important facts and we will tell of those facts, the same is true with the return of our Lord. Each disciple clung onto what they heard and retold what meant most to them – therefore we see variances in our bible between the gospel accounts.
The bible also tells us we need to be ready for the return of Jesus, because we do not know when it will be. But the bible does tell us of things we will notice before Christ’s return... just as we see the buds appearing in the trees before summer and the leaves changing colour before winter, we will see things happening before Jesus returns. And many of those things are happening now.
What God is showing us is we need to be ready all the time, not just getting ready for summer in spring, or getting ready for winter in autumn, but ready for Christ’s return always. This does mean we should be doing what God asks of us when He asks and not waiting until the last moment.
We are now in Autumn and going into winter in the UK. The leaves are turning colour and falling; we have work to do to clean up the leaves. Soon we will be in winter and we will look up at many bare trees which have lost their leaves. This season always reminds me of the poor and lonely because they often see the world as if it is permanently winter – where everything is bare all the time. Now, more than ever, we need to tell people of the hope which we have in Christ Jesus.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like Autumn (or Fall)?
Who are you looking out for this winter?
November 28: John 14:6-14
Key Verse: John 14:8
Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’
Devotion:
How many times do we ask for proof God exists? How many times do we ask for some sort of miracle just so we can believe a little bit more? We are always seeking proof and doubting when we do not get the proof – because it is by faith we live and not by physical proof! Well, we have had the physical proof, we have the eyewitnesses written testimony, we have the records of all the miracles... and still we doubt.
Jesus would not have had to go to the cross if we did not need it. Jesus would not have come to live amongst us if we did not need it. But He did. He did this all because of His continuing and unwavering love for us all. We do need to remember why rather than just the facts and figures. Facts and figures seem to lose their weight after a while as we grow dull to the news.
We do need to remember these words Jesus spoke to the disciples and the reason why Philip would ask for Jesus to show them God the Father. Jesus spoke these words because they, like is, struggled with how they could draw closer to God. We should be approaching God through Jesus because it is He who has given His life to be the advocate acting on our behalf. God knew He could not accept anyone who was a sinner into Heaven, so by allowing Jesus to come and be the perfect sacrifice, the one who took away all of our sins, God can accept us as people made perfect by His Son.
We need to thank God daily for allowing Jesus to come to us and be our Saviour. We need to ask for forgiveness for each of the things we do wrong and try to change our ways so we don’t carry on doing things wrong. Jesus has paid the price, but it does not give us free access to do anything we like from now on!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know Jesus is your Saviour?
Will you have faith to trust Jesus?