August 7: Hebrews 11:8-12
Key Verse: Hebrews 11:11
And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Devotion:
This chapter from the letter to the Hebrew people reminds us of the faith of many people in our history. We can look back and read about how these people showed great faith and we can also read about how they made mistakes and had to correct things. We are human and we will probably make mistakes too, but it is our faith in the unseen which will make all the difference in our lives with Christ.
Abraham is seen as an example of a man with great faith, but he questioned God in the beginning. He also listened to Sarah who said to go and try something by themselves because God was taking too long! But God was still faithful and delivered on the original promise just as He was going to in the beginning.
God has made these promises to us and He is going to keep them. He does not back down from promises just because we have doubts or because we are too weak to keep to our promises. God wants us to look back on these stories and see how His faithfulness is not in question. He wants us to keep our faith even when we have doubts. If we are able to stand up and make our faith true, He will deliver on His promises.
When our faith is weak and we think we cannot go on, God’s promises are still going to come true. They do not require us to keep our faithfulness or to keep our own word. His word is sure! But when we do keep our faith and show mercy and love as He has asked us to, God will be more pleased with us and we will be able to see how much He is willing to do. When we don’t trust our faith, our doubts overcome our feelings and we cannot see what God is doing – even when He is doing things for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think God’s promises depend on what you can do?
God’s promises do not need anything from us to come true!
August 6: 2 Peter 1:16-19
Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:19
We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Devotion:
After Jesus had opened up about His death to the disciples, I think the air would have changed as the disciples started worrying about what was going to happen; but, throughout this time Jesus continued to pour out His love to everyone and even made a point to taking Peter and James up onto a mountain to pray. This was not new for Jesus because He would take whatever time He could to separate himself from the crowds and pray to God in private.
But this time something very different happened as God the Father poured out His glory upon Jesus the man. The disciples heard God’s voice declaring “this is my Son, whom I love…” This was at the same time as the disciples saw two other men appear and talk with Jesus. The disciples wanted to stop and build 3 shelters as a reminder of what happened and how God gave glory to Jesus.
The disciples had to remember this and repeat what had happened to others so they would know just How important Jesus was to God. They remained the only eye witnesses of this event and so had to remember it and retell it to others as carefully as they could. Why? Because this was a very important thing happening here – this was the scriptures coming to life. These stories had been foretold in earlier times and now it was coming true.
We have the words of these disciples as eye witnesses. Eye witnesses are the most important witnesses because they are the ones who saw the truth happening right in front of them. This is what our laws on earth are based upon – eye witness testimonies. This is just another reason why we can and should believe our bibles, not a novels but as eye witness accounts!
Points to Ponder:
How many witnesses do you need before you believe something?
We have many witnesses in our bibles!
August 5: Matthew 16:24-28
Key Verse: Matthew 16:25
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Devotion:
When Jesus was saying these words to the disciples, I bet they could not get their heads round it at the time, not just because He had just talked about His death, but because what He was saying here was probably not how they were brought up. So many people say things like “you only live once” or “live life to the full” because they can’t get their heads round the price of life!
Jesus was saying in order to live a fuller life, the disciples would have to put their own lives aside and focus on the lives of others, including God! What He was saying was people who set aside their own lives and do everything to please Christ will find they lives a fuller life than if they tried to live the best life they could for themselves.
When we focus on ourselves we tend to get tied up in the world and lose focus on what is important. We focus more and more on the trappings and temptations in life and less and less n getting the most out of what we do. Getting the most out of life is not all about taking everything you can from the world, but more like how much you can put back into the lives of those around you, including the world.
God gave us this world for us to manage and maintain. He did not give us a sweet shop and tell us to eat as much as we could until we were sick. He gave us a plot of land and everything we need to tend to the land to give us the best crops we can get. He wants us to work together and with others rather than focusing on what we can get out of life!
Points to Ponder:
Do you live life to the most?
How much of your life contains Christ?
August 4: Matthew 16:21-23
Key Verse: Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things for the disciples to grasp must have been the words Jesus started teaching them from this point onward; about how He would have to face much suffering and eventually be killed. The disciples would not accept this at first because He was their Messiah, and as far as that goes their Messiah should not be able to die!
But Jesus was trying to prepare them for what was going to happen to His physical body knowing full well He would not stay dead and would have to endure this all in order to save us from our sinful ways. How else would a perfect sacrifice be able to be made for our sins. For far too long the people had to sacrifice whatever animals they could get their hands on, trying to ensure they would be free from and damage when the time came to offer them as the sacrifice.
Jesus was without sin and the only perfect sacrifice which could ever be made to cover all of our sins once and for all. He was going to get this done so there would not have to be the continual sacrificing of animals. He was going to the cross so we would not have to!
When the disciples objected, Jesus rebuked them in a very strong manner! Peter wanted none of this to happen because He thought it would not be fair; but Jesus knew this was the only way things could be done. He was willing to step forward and accept this all because of His love for us. This was God’s call and not the call of any human being. This had to be done for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever think about why Jesus did what He did?
Will you remember Jesus today and thank Him for what He did?