June 9: Isaiah 11:6-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
Devotion:
This morning as I lay in bed for a while trying to get my eyes to focus and my brain to get into gear, I stumbled through my early morning social media catch-up and happened upon a video rant from a young black woman highlighting just a few of the wrongs of this world against black people in America. By the end of the clip I was in tears, literally! My mind is still reeling from the truths she said and the burden the rest of the world has placed upon their shoulders. It reminded me of my time spent in Africa and the social injustice I lived with and was glad to turn my back on.
This picture painted here of a place where we shall all be able to live in harmony seems but a distant dream we can all think of but one which we cannot really imagine because of the world we have been brought up in. And then just as I was about to get out of bed for my shower I happened on a video of a young child playing with the most enormous snake I have ever seen – playing as if it was normal to do so!
Nothing is impossible. Nothing is too far out of our reach. But we have to be the ones who make the change here and now so others after us will begin to see this new way of living as normal!
I would like each of you to sit down and pray for 5 minutes about this social injustice we are living in and being a part of. I know 5 minutes is a very long time to pray for some of us, but what is 5 minutes compared to the life you have lived so far? What is five minutes of prayer which may just change your world? Are you willing to give just an inch and make it stick? Too many times in the past we have seen promises made which are broken because the unrest has died down or because the news people have found something else to latch on to. 5 minutes...
Points to Ponder:
What social injustice do you see in your community?
Are you really looking at your community or just your life in it?
June 8: Isaiah 11:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 11:3
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
Devotion:
Far too often we use what we see or what we hear against other people just because we have made a judgment based on those things. Unfortunately what we see and what we hear are not always the truth because we see and hear from other people who may well be showing us or telling us a lie. But Jesus came to this earth as a human and was able to step aside from the judgmental attitude of human beings and uphold God’s righteousness!
How was He able to do this when we fall so far short of the mark? How was Jesus, born as a human, able to step out of the judgmental life we all lead? He did so by always focusing on what God wanted and always listening to God before others!
If we are able to just sit still and listen out for God’s instruction and His teaching for one minute each day, I’m sure we will start to walk forward in God’s light and not in the darkness of this world! We need to switch on the light that is Christ in our lives and allow Him to convert us. We need to listen out for the Holy Spirit and allow Him to teach us and to guide us in everything. We need to focus on God almighty and make sure we have a life with Him set as our goal in this life!
We have so many people around us who are in desperate need. We have so many people who we don’t hear about in the news who are simply trying to stay alive in this so-called caring world we live in. The problem is too many people are focusing on the false media drowning our societies instead of upholding what is righteous in God’s eyes. If God wanted to, He could wipe us out in one breath, but He chooses to love us and to try and encourage us to live in His righteous ways instead of being consumed by the worldly ways. Do what is right!
Points to Ponder:
How often do we turn a blind eye to something just because it is hard?
Will you say ‘Here I am, use me’ to God today?
June 7: John 7:45-52
Key Verse: John 7:51
“Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
Devotion:
To me this just sounds like a set from a movie depicting a country which has lost it’s way and the leadership has become an unspoken about tyranny! But that is what Jesus was fighting again – people who had risen into power and were now taking on more power than God was giving them; people who had lost their way and greed had taken over without some of them realising just how far they had gone! Isn’t that always the case though – we allow the power to go to our heads and we just don’t see what damage we are doing until it has gone too far!
Jesus wants each of us to step back from time to time and double check what we are doing is what God has asked of us. We all get carried away with our jobs and lose focus on the goal; we need that gentle reminder time and time again to keep us on track. This is our Bible. We have all the important stuff written down to allow us to stop and compare what we are doing with God’s ways – but how often do we actually stop?
The Jewish Leaders were so convinced Jesus could not be their Messiah simply because He came from Galilee! They had not bothered to find out the truth behind the story and spread that truth! Oooo, that sounds a bit like the world’s media at the moment where people shout out about the things they want to hear and not the truth behind the scenes.
Jesus was crucified and died because of the lack of due diligence of the Jewish Leaders at that time. I see this sort of thing happening in so many places in churches, charities and other organisation where people would rather stick to what they want to her rather than digging a bit deeper and finding out the actual truth...
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever stop and think?
Are you going to try stopping and thinking for today?
June 6: John 7:21-24
Key Verse: John 7:24
Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.
Devotion:
Don’t you just love and hate the press for all they do!?!? It is good to be able to hear about what is going on, but it is also disastrous when lies are spread instead of the truth! Each one of us has a responsibility to give out the truth – but it is so easy to latch onto something you hear and spread that instead.
There is nothing new about this because it has been going on for years where people talk of the things they want to be true instead of what is actually true. Unfortunately we have people now who’s job it is to spread the news and when they spread things which are not true, the whole society has to suffer. Jesus came to try and open people’s eyes to the depths they had sunk to in the spreading of things which did not line up with God’s wishes.
We like to think we are allowed to say things because that is what the law says, but if they do not line up with God’s law, then are we actually upholding any laws or are we introducing lies into our society – those lies which make the whole community suffer? God had said the Jews should be circumcised, not as something which was required for them to enter Heaven but as a mark of their complete obedience to God. When they turned round and tried to blame Jesus for doing something physical on the Sabbath when they would circumcise their children on the Sabbath, Jesus pulled them up on their actions.
As Children of God, we need to stop the spread of white lies, occasional truths and half-baked ‘christians!’ We need to show others we are committed to doing what God has asked of us and to do it according to His wishes and not according to our wants! We need to stop blaming people just because it looks wrong and find out the truth behind what is happening before we open our mouths. Unfortunately our world has grown up into being a blame place instead of a God Glorifying place.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you blame people just because you don’t agree with things?
How often do you pull yourself up for bending the rules?