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July 13: Isaiah 6:1-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Devotion:
I love this section of scripture, not because it is the commissioning of Isaiah into his role God has selected for him, but of how it is done. One of the things I struggled with in the beginning as a Christian was knowing I was just a sinner who needed forgiving, so how could I go and tell anyone about Jesus? Wouldn’t they turn round and tell me I was just the same as them!
This is a bit of what Isaiah was going through when this was happening. He knew he was just the same as all the other people. How could he be anything other than a sinner too…
God had other plans and came to him in a significant way. God wanted Isaiah to know this was God’s plan and not something Isaiah was thinking of on his own. Isaiah was very scared by the sound and sight of the seraphim and probably thought this was the end for him. But God used the seraphim to show Isaiah what mercy and forgiveness was.
In an instant he was shown how God can forgive, and when God forgives, it is a forgiveness which covers everything! As soon as Isaiah understood God was forgiving Him and setting him free, Isaiah had no qualms about stepping forward and doing God’s bidding there and then.
Points to Ponder:
How would you respond if God called you?
Christ came so we could be forgiven, and He called us!
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July 12: Matthew 10:16-23
Key Verse: Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Devotion:
One of the hard things to accept of being a Christian is how people will reject you just because you are a Christian. Some people feel threatened by the fact you are a Christian whilst others reject you because they want to believe they are better than you! Either way, there will be people working against you just because you dare to say you love Jesus Christ!
Some of those people will plot against you thinking that you are working against them. They will think this because they live in a world where corruption and lies is an every day thing, whereas we are walking away from that (or at least we should be trying to walk away from it!) Some will look at you and think you are weak because you need Christ in your life whereas they think they can survive anything without Christ.
We have a great comfort in knowing Christ has promised us something they will never see and something which we can look forward to. They see a black hole or emptiness at the end whereas we can see light and eternity. Governments and leaders may work against you because you dare to point out their rules are broken!
We need to try to include everyone in our discipleship and reach out to everyone who is willing to listen. For those who work against us and refuse to listen, Jesus told the disciple they should walk away from them after giving them every chance to turn their lives around; they have made a choice to live without Christ and we must allow them that choice in the end.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward to your life with Christ?
Do you try to include others in your life with Christ?
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July 11: Matthew 10:7-15
Key Verse: Matthew 10:8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Devotion:
When Jesus sent the disciples out into the world, it was with a very specific job, but one with no limits. They were not given a single task to do, to go and be good at, to train for a long time to earn money or anything like that. His instruction was quite simple: Go out into the world and give back to people what you have been given.
Jesus had already told them they had been given eternal life because of what He was going to do. He had already said a way would be made which would enable them to have their sins forgiven and for them to enjoy a life in full communion with God. That is what Jesus wanted the disciple to go and do now. He was making disciples and now He was sending them out to go and make more disciples.
The task was not to go and make money, to go and gain a huge following, to go and be famous; it was to go and give freely what had already been given freely to them!
If we would focus on giving back to our communities what Christ has given to us, we would be able to bring more people freely into a life with Christ. If we focus on the earthly things surrounding all that, then our only gain will be the earthly things we gain. That is not what Jesus wants...
Points to Ponder:
What is your goal in life?
Have you listened to Christ to find out what your goal can be?
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July 9: Matthew 9:32-38
Key Verse: Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
Devotion:
Have you noticed how people will blame something else or make up a story or lie to ensure they are not shamed in some way? If you dare to show up someone by exposing their lie or their shortcomings, you can expect to have some sort of backlash where they will try to turn the lies on you in some desperate attempt to cover up their own lies.
Jesus faced this when He was doing God’s healing amongst the people. The temple leaders, Pharisees and others in charge had covered up their shortcomings for too long and Jesus was slowly exposing their lies. They did not like this and they tried to tell more lies to cover up their lies. Unfortunately, this never works!
Jesus stood up to the lies and used God’s Word to make sure people would get to know the truth. Lies will never stand up against God’s Word because his Word is the truth – we should make sure whatever we do we are doing it for the glory of God and by carrying out His will in our lives. This will be backed up by Scripture unless we start inventing our own rules like the leaders back then!
God wants honest and faithful people to come forward to help others to be honest and faithful too.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you lie to cover up a lie?
Have you tried telling the truth and supporting it with God’s Word?
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July 8: Matthew 9:18-26
Key Verse: Matthew 9:22
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
Devotion:
One of the things Jesus wanted the disciples to know was how their own faith could make such a difference. Some people were healed seemingly without Jesus having to do anything; to these people Jesus made sure it was their faith which made all the difference. If we have faith Christ is going to do something, He will make sure our faith is made whole by our prayers being answered.
The synagogue leader came to Jesus knowing He could heal his daughter even though she had physically died. This was the faith this person had in Christ and Jesus wanted to show others this faith was real!
On His way to bring the daughter back to life, a woman only needed to touch his garment for her to be heal – such was her faith that Jesus healed her on the spot.
When we come to Christ with expectant prayer, He is faithful and willing to make sure our prayers are answered. This faith grows faith in others because they see faith being realised and coming to life. The more we expect Jesus to do things, the more He is able to do things because He knows He can count on our faith. God does not miss a trick!
Points to Ponder:
How strong would you say your faith is?
Do you expect Jesus to answer your prayers?
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July 7: Matthew 6:7-13
Key Verse: Matthew 6:12
They went out and preached that people should repent.
Devotion:
Whenever I have heard people talk about Jesus sending the disciples out, they have focused on the things Jesus told them not to do: not to take anything with them, not to worry about supplies and payment, not to enter houses where they are not welcome… all the negative things. But what I picked up today when I read these verses was what the disciple actually did do!
They went out and preached that people should repent! Yes, they did the other things like driving out demons, anointing sick people, making people well and all the other things people focus on; but the core of this all was to get the people to see they had done something wrong in their lives and that they had to repent because of that. This is the first step in getting to a right place with God!
God wants you to know you have done something wrong so you can understand what it is which is keeping you apart from Him. Once we understand we have a problem, we can move forward by asking Him to forgive us. He has already promised us He will forgive us when we repent, so what is holding us back? Pride!
Once we get over ourselves we can step forward and start to make a good relationship with Christ; and it all start with us repenting!
Points to Ponder:
What do you think a disciple should do?
Where do we start to get into a relationship with Christ?
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July 6: Matthew 9:14-17
Key Verse: Matthew 9:15
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Devotion:
One thing which seemed to bother many people was the way the disciples acted when around Jesus. They had been brought up in very strict circumstances and they tried to follow the scriptures to the letter – well, as best they could understand them!
Jesus was not there to upturn things but to show people God knew they were human and knew they would get things wrong from time to time. The important part was not the sticking to the letter of the law but what was in the hearts of the people. If they knew in their hearts they loved God and wanted to do what they could to please God, then God would see what they had in their hearts and be happy with that!
Too often we get caught up in red tape and all manner of rules and regulations, losing sight of what it means to be a child of God. Children get things wrong, but the parent still love them. Children grow up to learn to love their parents (assuming a rightful relationship exists to start with) and the love shows between child and parent.
When we love God, our love for Him should be on show, not in a boastful manner to exclude others, but in a way to include others in how we live with God and how we commune with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in rules?
Will you focus on loving God instead?
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July 5: Matthew 9:9-13
Key Verse: Matthew 9:11
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Devotion:
One of my biggest issues with church is the people! No, seriously, so many people get upset with others for seemingly small reasons or misunderstandings and they just don’t take the time to sit down and discuss things! They just to conclusions which eat at their hearts because they assume the worst, overthink things and generally go about things in what I would describe as an earthly or worldly manner!
God does not call us to be worldly people and to keep and hold grudges against each other; God calls us to be disciples who care for and love each other, people who are willing to take time to sit and talk things over and not to judge others through their own eyes.
The Pharisees were judging Jesus and the disciples here through what they thought God wanted based on their own thoughts and feelings. This is clearly not what God wanted because Jesus was the one listening to God and trying to reconcile people and their ways with God’s ways!
People ask me why I am at the church I am at if there are problems. That is exactly the reason why I think I am here, to try and bring people back together where they will love each other as Christ wants us to. Someone has to reach out to the marginal otherwise they will continue to be marginalised!
Points to Ponder:
Do you strive to bring people together?
Or do you strive to ‘do what is right’?
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July 4: Amon 7:10-17
Key Verse: Amos 7:15
But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Devotion:
What would you do if God called you out to go and say something against the leaders or government? I think the first thing I would do is spend time with God to find out a bit more. By reading these words from Amos it does appear he did exactly that because he was able to tell the priest Amaziah some personal details!
Always try to make sure it is God who is prompting you to do things and make sure you are prepared for what is ahead instead of rushing forward with half an idea. The evil one also has his spies amongst us and will use them to trip us up if we go in unprepared. We don’t have to be the ones fighting the war because Christ has already done that; but we should be prepared for what the evil one could do to trip us up and make us look like the ones telling stories!
God will always make sure you are prepared for what is ahead if you are willing to stop and listen to His instruction. Today I have been wearing a T-shirt which proclaims “God does not make mistakes!” He does not! But we do and if we do not listen to the instructions carefully, we may be the ones ending up with egg on our faces...
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen for instructions?
Or do you rush in like a fool?
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July 3: John 20:24-29
Key Verse: John 20:29
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do is to believe on something you have not witnessed, especially when it is by definition ‘unbelievable!’ Why else would we have the word unbelievable if it did not mean exactly what it says! Thomas was keen to believe and to follow Christ, but when they told Him Jesus had come back to life, he could not quite bring himself to believe it – after all he had witnessed the wounds Jesus had on His body!
This is where Christ calls on us to have faith in the unseen. Jesus came to us to change the world and the way we look at things. It is up to us to take on board all we have read about and to believe it in our hearts without having to witness it first hand. This is the definition of faith – believing in the unseen!
Our task is to believe in what Christ can and does do even though we know it goes against our physical thoughts and against what we think should be physically possible. Nothing is impossible for Christ and nothing should stop us from believing nothing is impossible…
We have our bibles which are full of promises from Jesus and we should stand firm on those promises knowing He has done it all before and will do the impossible once again. Yes, it does take a deep faith in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Can you believe without seeing?
Will you trust Christ and what He has said can be done?