July 27: 2 Corinthians 13:1-10
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?
Devotion:
I’m not really sure what I would do if I got a letter from a church leader with these words in it! The church in Corinth must have been going through some tough times with people throwing doubt into the congregation and others questioning themselves just because they had been left to largely get on with things by themselves.
Sometimes we crave recognition as a church by wanting well known church leaders to visit us as if that is going to make some sort of difference to our belief or to our congregations. Yes, there are some people who follow the church leaders around and like to be seen with the leaders; but their want for recognition is not heavenly but of this earth. The only reward they will receive is from this earth.
We should be aiming at gaining Heavenly rewards from our God and Saviour. We should be praising God for all He has already done and standing firm on our faith in Him. When the people come to mock us because we believe in something which they cannot see, or because we are relying on something else instead of our own fortitude. What they do not see is we get our strength and fortitude from God because we have faith in Him.
The truth will always come out and we should be upholding the truth above all else. Don’t doubt yourself because other people say you should. Have faith in God because He alone has said we should – He made us a promise to be here for us at all times.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you look at the way you live?
How often do you think about how God wants you to live?
July 26: Psalm 78:17-20
Key Verse: Psalm 78:18
They wilfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.
Devotion:
Yesterday we heard Jeremiah giving warnings to the people of God against testing God and I mentioned the people of Israel and their antics in the desert. Today we read a Psalm which was recounting God’s goodness to the people and Israel’s ingratitude. This is to remind us the prophets came to show the way and the promises of God, promises He always keeps and what we have to endure if we do not trust those promises.
Jesus came to expand on everything the prophets had said and to make sure people stopped and listened once and for all; yet we have so many people who continue to act in ingratitude and some in ignorance. Ingratitude from the people who know what God has said and done but continue to ignore Him in their lives or expect Him to do everything for them all of the time, and ignorance from the people who do not yet know the meaning of the gospel.
God wants us to be like the psalmist here, recounting the things from the past to show people God keeps His promises and they are important in our lives. This is why He has made sure we have our bibles and we should continue to be good students and disciples of this Word taking it out to others through what we say and do. This does not only show others there is a God but also reminds us and shows God we care!
Knowing these truths, we should not continue to sin against God but should be working towards righteousness and sharing of the gospel just as He has asked of us. Then there is the doubts we harbour… We continue to doubt God’s promises when we come up against life’s hardships. Instead we should be praying to ask for strength and guidance to get us through these hardships and then acting on what He show us.
Points to Ponder:
Are you inadvertently putting God to the test?
Will you read a little more, listen a little more and do a little more for God?
July 25: Jeremiah 45:1-5
Key Verse: Jeremiah 45:4
But the Lord has told me to say to you, “This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth.
Devotion:
Sometimes it is hard to hear what God is saying to you, not because you don’t hear anything but because you don’t want to hear what He is saying! There are going to be times in your life where God has said something will happen and you really do not want it to happen. We have echoes of this throughout the bible so don’t feel like you are being hard done by!
When the children of Israel were guided out of Egypt by God through Moses they never dreamed they would live out their lives in the desert when Moses had told them they would be going to a land of ‘milk and honey’ but because they disobeyed God it was their descendants who would be able to settle in that land rather than them.
There are so many times throughout history where people have faced all manner of disasters from unimaginable war-ending bombs to famines caused by human greed; and these are just the ones which are caused by human deeds. We all have to face the natural disasters together because they are the way of nature; some of which are caused by human error, but some which ‘just happen’ because we live in a world which is ever changing.
They key is how we listen to God and how we react to the things God tries to say to us. Can you hear a person whispering something when you go into a place where there is loud music playing? Can you focus on reading your book in the middle of a thunder storm? We get distracted by the biggest distractions and often lose focus on the things we should be watching and listening to. God may not speak to you through a rumbling thunder but a simple whisper during that thunder.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to hear God in your life?
What sort of environment are you living in?
July 24: Exodus 14:5-18
Key Verse: Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Devotion:
This is one of those stories I remember from my days before I knew what being a Christian was all about: the pictures of Moses holding up the staff and the seas parting. You see, I remember the after effects rather than the bit in between where the people of Israel were horrified Pharaoh was marching after them because they did not want to die in the desert where nobody would remember them! They were a proud people who made a point of remembering their ancestors.
There they were as a ‘complete nation’ facing 600 of the best chariots Pharaoh had; probably akin to a city of office workers facing an army of tanks and planes nowadays. Not really a fair fight at all. But God wanted them to know just how powerful He was and how He alone could defeat their opponents without having an army Himself!
Too often when we are faced with impossible odds we fall apart and invite the bad things back into our lives to try and fight evil with evil; this is not what God was asking of them and certainly not what God was going to demonstrate to them. But He had to make Moses convince the people they should put their absolute faith in Him! That is the hard part for us sometimes – putting our faith in the unseen God when we see so many obstacles in our ways.
If we look at what Jesus went through when being faced with 40 days and nights being tempted by the evil one, we see a man who knew he should trust in God his Father but not to call God’s bluff by jumping off the high point to see if God would save him. We need to listen to what God instructs us to do rather than expecting God to do what we think He should do. When we do stop and listen, He directs us and we will be safe once again – don’t leave it until it is too late!
Points to Ponder:
How much faith do you have in God?
How much faith do you take away from God because you think you can do better?