March 17: Hosea 14:1-9
Key Verse: Hosea 14:1
Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
Devotion:
Have you ever noticed once you do something you are more willing to do it again – the same goes for good and bad things. Sometimes we have to muster up the courage to do something, like climb a mountain, and after we have done it once we realise it was not as bad as we thought. Or maybe we are tempted to do something wrong and we keep on putting it off until nobody is watching and then we give it a try, find it was not as bad as we thought and carry on doing it!
The good part is that when we do good things we are more likely to continue doing good things. The bad part is when we do bad things we are more likely to do bad things! The more bad things we do and get involved with, the more we drift away from God because we walk off in the other direction. He has been trying to tell us all along it is bad, but we ignored Him and we did it anyway!
We can see this pattern all throughout history where someone tries something bad and gets away with it at first so they continue one. Countries have been brought down. Governments have fallen, just because someone stepped out of line…
God continues to watch us and continues to try and convince us we are doing wrong. He uses the people around us, events and all manner of things to try and get us to see the righteous ways, but we are still given free choice and we continue to chhose what we like...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you try something new?
Will you try something new today which is good?
March 16: Luke 11:14-23
Key Verse: Luke 11:18
If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.
Devotion:
I love the way Jesus was free to talk about many things and not just what sounded nice in a Christian environment… When you go off to do some sort of manual labour, do you expect to stay clean and not get tired, or do you expect to get dirty and be tired after the work? The same is going to happen with any work we do for Christ.
We could stay in a nice comfortable, clean and friendly environment where only Christians are and only good things happen, but how are we ever going to be able to reach out to people who are not yet Christians! If we stayed at home and ‘worked from home’ when we should be doing manual labour, we wouldn’t be much good! We have to go out into the world and get involved with things and people – some of that is going to be dirty work too!
This does not mean we should go and ‘play in the mud’ and bring all the mud home into our lives. We should be able to come home and freshen up in a clean place so we are ready for work on another day. This does not mean we are sinners just because we get dirty; if getting dirty is part of the job, would Christ have asked you to do it in the first place if He knew you would stay dirty?
Jesus made sure people knew He was not acting on behalf of anyone else other than God. Nothing He could do against all the evil could be anything other than God’s work. When we go with God to do our work in the world we will face people who accuse us because we dare to do things differently… remind them you are working for and with God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you shy away from work because it is not Christian?
Will you take Christ with you to work today?
March 15: Deuteronomy 4:5-9
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 4:6
Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
Devotion:
When God told the people of Israel to go and possess the land, it was not just an off-hand remark to go and take over whatever they wanted. God wanted them to listen very carefully to the instructions He would give them so the local people would understand a bigger and greater power than mere humans was controlling this!
When we go ahead and do things for ourselves, we can make great strides in moving forward and doing amazing things when we put our minds to it – but if we are doing things for our own validation or our own profit, then all we will get out of it is some local acknowledgement and that is all. People will begin to see the real reason we did things and we will be known as the people who were greedy and wanted earthly things more than the needs of the people.
But when we go ahead and do things according to how God wants us to, then we will see much greater things happen than when we do things in our own strength. It is God who does the miracles and not us. It is God who performs the impossible and not us. It is God who has the wisdom to know the best way forward and not us! I know I have upset people in my past simply because I did things I knew I could do – but if I had listened to God I may well have come out with a very different outcome!
God wants us to listen – and to do that we need to stop what we are rushing forward for and to listen for His instructions. Yes that can be very difficult, especially when we see a way forward and when we think we know what is best. But God alone knows the very best way forward, and He does want what is best for everyone, not just you!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you listen to instructions?
How often do you wait on God?
March 14: Daniel 2:19-23
Key Verse: Daniel 2:23
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: you have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.
Devotion:
One of the biggest hurdles we have to get over in life is how we are not in charge! If you listen to influencers and business people all around the world who have made their fortunes they will tell you about how you have to be in charge and take control; but that must all happen within the confines of the world and laws of the countries we live in. Every country around the world is only here because of our Creator God who made it possible in the beginning!
As much as we try to make sure countries stick to various humanitarian rules and as a world community we try to encourage each other to follow similar rules, we are all different and have been for a very long time. God did not make us all the same where by we had no choice as to what sort of world we live in – He gave us freedom of choice and allowed us to make or break things!
We have some very intelligent people who take care of financial matters. We have very caring people who take care of health matters. We have have forward thinking people who try and plan for the future. But unless we all try to work together, we are only going to get as far as ourselves…
God wants us to understand it is He who has the wisdom and He who gives this wisdom to people to use in communities. If we all listened to the great and fair wisdom He gives out, we would all be able to work together and have a better life for all – instead of the select few who try to control everything. As disciples we should be working together to glorify God for sharing this wisdom for us who are willing to listen and learn. The greed for money and power will corrupt everyone; but God’s love will release everyone!
Points to Ponder:
Do you strive to be the best?
Will you allow God to guide you in the best way forward?