July 23: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:19
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Devotion:
Have you ever had someone say you have lost your mind or lost the plot because you choose to be a Christian? I have had my fair share of people saying this and learned these are only words said by people who do not know God yet. Those people are judging you by earthly means and according to earthly standards; they cannot conceive the limitlessness of the world according to God and all He has done for us.
Christ came to live amongst us as a human being so we could try to understand there is hope for human beings. He put aside the heavenly ways so He could demonstrate how we could have a loving relationship with God even though we think we are limited by earthly limits. The truth is we are not limited by anything other than what is in our minds and hearts. God has promised this to us…
When Jesus came to earth, people judged Him as a human being because that is exactly what He was. What they did not look for was the Heavenly relationship He had and the unbound love God continued to show Him whilst He was but a mere human being! Jesus showed us the new way to belong to God, in spirit instead of bound by earthly rules and regulations.
He committed His life to demonstrating the reconciliation offered to every human being through His actions. Each one of us is, therefore, just like Jesus in being an ambassador for Christ. It is our job to show people the way to God through Jesus. It is not something we may be called to do once in a while but a way of living we need to pick up and run with! This way we can share the joy of being reconciled to God!
Points to Ponder:
Are you mad on Jesus?
Will you demonstrate a loving relationship to others?
July 22: Psalm 42:1-5
Key Verse: Psalm 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Devotion:
How thirsty are you for God’s Word? How much do you really want to hear from God? Living in this world, we get to hear a lot of people asking “where is your God?” when they see things go wrong, and we even hear people in our church communities asking this as well. And whilst we have been in lock-down all around the world, we have probably asked “where can we go to meet with God?” because we have been kept from our church buildings and meeting places...
But each prayer you ask, each smile you wear for thankfulness, each tear you shed in sorry, God is watching over you and is with you. Why do we cling to the illusion we have to be in a building to worship God? I love the pictures I’m seeing of drive-in churches, where people are able to come together to feel more like they are with a church congregation… but I fear that is no substitute for an actual encounter with God!
We don’t have to be in the building we call church. We don’t have to be a group of more than 20 people before we can say we are a church. We don’t have to even leave our homes to be with God – because He is always with us in spirit and in truth!
We should not be mourning the loss of a meeting place. We should not be mourning the loss of a congregation. We should be rejoicing knowing our church continues to be wherever we are with God… and that can be anywhere!
Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Saviour and our God. He came to show us He is with us and meets with us even in our brokenness. We don’t have to be straight with God before we can meet with Him. We don’t have to get dressed up smart to be meet with Him. He came to us as a servant to show us He is with us...
Points to Ponder:
How did your church meet before lock-down?
Are you still meeting with God every day?
July 21: Matthew 6:19-21
Key Verse: Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Devotion:
What are your goals in life? What do you aim to do in life? I know those are really big questions, so lets trim this down a bit… what do you aim to do today? Does this differ from what you want to do, what you desire to be able to do?
If we are all very honest with the question “what do we want to do” then we are going to say things which may not be likely or possible for us. These are the things we seek after in our hearts and these are also the things which will probably make a very big difference to our lives if we are able to achieve them.
Quite often we set goals which are more achievable so we can get to them and make ourselves feel good about being able to get there. When we get to the goal, the goal is complete and we set up another one – and so the story goes on and on. We get to feel good, not just once, but multiple times… But what happens when we are able to achieve a goal only to see it crushed by someone else doing something which makes it of no affect? What happens when our goals are dashed on the rocks? We feel down and despondent…
Any goal we set up here on earth, be it getting the latest game on our computer, getting the latest fashion, getting to be a millionaire… these are all things which are temporary and get bashed and dashed multiple times within our lifetimes. The joy of achieving them is overshadowed by the grief of having them taken away.
What we need to do, then, is to aim for goals which other people cannot take away from us. Goals which can never be dashed, bashed or destroyed by any human being or anything else here on earth! This is why we are encouraged to seek and save up treasures in heaven where they can never be touched by other humans. The joy is everlasting!
Points to Ponder:
What is your goal today?
Have you tried to ask God for your next goal to reach for?
July 20: Isaiah 44:6-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 44:6
This is what the Lord says - Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
Devotion:
And when God asks you to do something for Him… what is your response going to be? I think we would all like to think we would jump up and down for joy at being asked to do something for God and go right ahead and do it… But we are facing all manner of things which work against God in our lives and He may well choose one of those things to either work against or to talk against!
I can remember the horror of being asked to come to London to do God’s work here, and not only that, but to be on one of the estates which was in the top ten worst estates just a decade ago! But God’s timing and His will can give us the strength to do many things if we are willing. There is no one like our God and we need to remember that every day!
OK, so it may have been meeting the local people and finding out how great the takeaways were which finally persuaded me – but God knew what would make me happy and He already had everything in place before I got here. He had even sent me on mission trips with others working in very deprived and unloved areas to prepare me for what was ahead. He taught me there is still love here despite what everyone else talks about!
God may well ask you to do something which you don’t like the sound of, but being patient and listening to Him each step of the way will allow you to do things which you never would have dreamed of doing before… It is God who can do amazing things and has done so much before us to try and convince us. We just need to take that first step and trust Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared when you do something new?
How willing are you to fully trust God?