October 24: Luke 13:10-16
Key Verse: Luke 13:14
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’
Devotion:
Have you ever thought the world was against you just because you are a Christian? When you start to feel like you are being picked on, spare a thought for what Jesus went through whilst He was amongst us! God’s love for us is displayed through Jesus here as He reaches out to a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years! Jesus did not shy away from her just because it was the Sabbath; He went up to her and healed her just as He did many other people even though this was on the Sabbath. The love of God is not limited to works days or certain people or certain things – God’s love reaches out to everyone everywhere and always!
When you do something for God, people are going to notice and some will be angry you dare to do something for Him, especially when it goes against the rules they are setting in their lives. God’s promise to love us is not bound by promises we make, by rules we make or by anything man does…
The synagogue leader was keeping rules because that is what they had always done. They were not prepared to bend any rules or to make any exceptions because they wanted everyone to know just how strict God was… at least that is how they saw the world!
God wants us to know He power and might go beyond anything we can say or do. He love for us is beyond our understanding or imagination. His love is not going to be limited by any earthly rules or physical limits we impose on Him. God is above all and has power over everything. Imagine love that big!
Points to Ponder:
How far will you go for love?
Are you limiting your love for God too?
October 23: 2 Timothy 4:16-18
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 4:16
At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do, until you get used to it, is to keep on trusting in the unseen. I used to have great trouble trusting God because I thought I could never see the end result or see how He was going to help me. Many years ago I found out just how God does answer my prayers even without me knowing about it – and He answers more than I could imagine!
I don’t have any trouble now trusting God and that was very apparent to me over the last 4 years whilst I have been in and out of hospital. Every time I have prayed for things during this time, God has answered my prayers. People around me have had issues getting to grips with the amount I trust God now because I know how much He does for me…
A short while ago I heard one of my friends has had problems with their faith because they could not see how God was helping them. Just a short conversation and me being allowed to tell them of all the great things God has done for me during the last few years and they went away with a changed heart! God is good!
When our bibles say words like “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack…” we should be believing this and trusting in God for more in our lives. He does indeed want the best for us and how He answers our prayers will astound us when we look back and see how much he has done. It may not always be immediately apparent how much God does, but when we do see the results some time later, we may be a bit ashamed we did not trust in Him more!
Points to Ponder:
Are you having trouble with your trust in Christ?
Will you give God a bit more time and lee-way and see what happens?
October 22: Acts 28:17-31
Key Verse: Acts 28:19
The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people.
Devotion:
How many times have you done something hoping it would fix a bad situation only for it to make things worse? I’m sure we have all had things go wrong for us while we have been trying to fix things… this is just what life is like; sometimes we are going to have things go wrong even when we believe they should not.
Paul wanted to be able to tell people all about Jesus, but the more he tried to do this the more he seemed to get into trouble. So much so he ran away to Rome (because he was born as a Romans citizen) so he could get a court to side with him and stop the persecution he felt under.
Sometimes it is a very real persecution we are going to face in our lives, even from the people around us whom we believe should be helping and supporting us. This is not because they have turned bad, gone against us or other things we may think of, but more akin to being in the wrong place at the wrong time as the evil one does his thing!
When we come to our senses and start to see what is really happening, we should set the record straight with the people around us so they do not feel like there is angst between them and us. God wants us to keep the truth in our lives and that sometimes means we have to speak the truth when it will go against the people around us. The truth is better heard now than heard after it is too late!
Points to Ponder:
Do you hold back the truth because you feel hard done by?
Will you share Jesus’ truth before it is too late?
October 21: Ephesians 4:1-6
Key Verse: Ephesians 4:3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Devotion:
I know I have used these verses on more than one occasion; its because they are worth going over again and again! God gave us His word, what we know as our bibles nowadays, so that we can get to know Him more and start to live our lives more in line with how He wants us to live. It is no surprise the bible continues to be one of the best selling books in the whole world!
Through His Word we continue to learn more about how to live and how to love. Yes, not just living our lives but filling them with love. We don’t get a second chance at living our lives on earth, so we should try to live them as close as we can to how Christ wants us to live. This means getting to know what He wants in our lives and trying to do our best. This means reading our bibles and taking in all the instructions Christ has given us.
It may be hard for us to get to grips with the scriptures of old, because we live such different lives to the people who lived back then. But God wants us to learn these scriptures so we can get to understand just how holy and powerful He is! We should humble ourselves before Him because He is our Creator and our Saviour!
Christ told us to love our neighbours as ourselves; meaning we should go out and try to keep the peace above all. There is no real place for petty arguments in our lives because they chip away at the very core God made within us and take us away from the lives He wants us to live. There is only one body we have which can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit whom the one Jesus Christ gave us because His only Father allowed this all to happen so we could be saved from the wrath of the evil one...
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever wondered where you get love from?
Will you allow God’s love to grow in you?