October 14: Luke 11:27-28

Key Verse: Luke 11:28
He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’

Devotion:
sometimes we cling to the wrong things to find comfort or strength, only to see things fall apart when we realise we have been grasping at straws instead of safety. When this woman blessed Mary the mother of Jesus, His reply was probably not expected: blessed are those who obey God!

When we look back on the earlier life of Mary we do see a young woman who listened to God and obeyed God; and we know she was blessed. We can see so many occurrences throughout the bible where we see people being blessed because they have listened to God and still more when the people have faced hardships because they have not listened to God. These words are there to teach and warn us just as these words from Jesus.

It is no good just hearing the Word of God. It is no good just listening to Jesus. It is no good just being a righteous person. We have to live with Christ and obey what He is trying to teach us. Only then can we truly move forward with Him in or lives.

When we are willing to read our bibles, listen to what God tells us, act on what we learn and obey Him, then we can find out so much more about the living kindness God has for us. We should not be doing this all for the reward but doing it because we grow to love God the same as He loves us. A true communion with God will see the blessing poured down on us: more than we can count.

Points to Ponder:
Do you expect a reward from God for following Him?

Will you try just giving and obeying?

October 13: Luke 11:24-26

Key Verse: Luke 11:25
When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

Devotion:
Sometimes we let our guard down because we are not expecting any trouble or issues, so when we do find an issue we are not prepared for it and things seem to fall apart. This could be seen as the same after a long-term illness when you have finally been given the go-ahead to leave the hospital and as soon as you go back into the world you seem to go down-hill again, but more so than before.

Our bodies need time to recover and become strong after an illness before we can get about what we used to see as our normal lives. The same is with our spiritual selves. If we have been struggling for a while and begin to understand things, it is no good racing forward thinking you can take on anything the evil one throws at you because your spiritual self has not had time to bolster itself against attacks.

God is the one who will lead us to the path of righteousness, but unless we are willing to stay on the path He has given us to become spiritually strong with Him then we may well ‘fall off the path.’ God wants us to be strong enough to help others too, but it takes time to identify the ways the evil one attacks us all before we can be fully prepared.

Spend time with God learning what He has to teach you so you can face to trial which are ahead; the evil one will not like you getting the better of his ways so you need to be fully prepared with Christ.

Points to Ponder:
Are you finding it difficult to move forward with Christ?

Will you allow Him to lead you instead of rushing ahead?

October 12: Luke 11:5-8

Key Verse: Luke 11:8
I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

Devotion:
One of the things we do in relationships is take others for granted at times even when we do not mean to and say we will not. When Jesus told us to love one another is was so we would not take anyone for granted and we would go out of our way to help those in need.

I have learned the hard way because I have had relationships break down because I have taken someone for granted. Once we can get our heads around this simple fact we can move forward and we can begin to love people for who they are instead of just because God says so!

On the other end of the stick we also need to allow people to know what our needs are. Any relationship is a two way communion and sometime we need to explain exactly what we need to move forward. This parable of the neighbour who came knocking to see if there was any bread they could give to their travelling friend is a case in point: unless we ask we should not expect others to give because they may not know our need.

God wants us to be like this with Him too. Although He does know our needs, unless we ask we will not be acknowledging Him as the one who can supply our needs. And when someone comes out of the blue to ask for help we need to be considerate and give what we can.

Points to Ponder:
Do you take people for granted?

Do you expect people to know your needs?