May 13: Psalm 2:1-3
Key Verse: Psalm 2:3
‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’
Devotion:
After watching various clips of the war in Ukraine and how the leaders seem to have lost the plot with reality, I found these verses quite shocking to read! Why are the nations conspiring against each other in ways we find shocking or dis-concerting? And for those moments when we think what they are doing is justified, people from other countries may well find shocking...
What does this all get us? Nothing but head aches and unhappiness. None of this is doing any of us any good and certainly not the people who live or used to live where the war is taking place! This seems to be rising again as an East vs West fight where in fact it is evil against people filled with pride. Putin has not made any friends in the rest of the world while he is demanding so much from his armies with many asking questions about the validity of the war.
The Western leaders seem to band together, or at least they give the illusion they are; but we also see leaders in each country trying to make political statements instead of looking after their people. We see leaders making decisions which go against what God has asked of us. He wants us to love our neighbours, and yet we are fighting a difficult war against our neighbours.
Putin is shouting out about breaking the chains of the Ukrainian people and freeing them from tyranny… by imposing tyrannical ways upon his own people against a people who don’t want to accept those ways. Yes there is a lot of history around this war, but there are ways leaders should negotiate instead of mowing down innocent people. #PrayforUkraine.
Points to Ponder:
Do you associate your life with the war in any way?
Will you pray for leaders to hear God?
May 12: John 13:16-20
Key Verse: John 13:20
Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.
Devotion:
Time and time again Jesus warned the Jews they should not take God for granted and they should believe what the scriptures say and not what man says; but I do like the way He ends this piece of text: if people are willing to accept the priests, bishops, leaders or just ordinary people who He sends, then they will be willing to accept Jesus; and if we are willing to accept Jesus, then we should be willing to accept the one who sent Jesus – God!
Jesus starts this passage by reminding us He comes as a servant – He is our servant hearted King. We lift Him up to the position of King of Kings, but He lowers Himself to the position of servant. He came to serve and to save us. He did not lift Himself up to be greater than God, but came as the Messenger delivering the final truth so we could know He came from God.
If we are willing to be more like Him and to lower ourselves to be in the position of servant to the people in our communities, then we are acting like Jesus did and we will be blessed by God for doing exactly this. But, even though we come as servants, there can always be a rotten apple amongst us, one who is acting as a servant but who is working for their own agenda instead of the God’s will.
Back in the book of Psalms, chapter 41, we read how there was one who shared bread with Jesus but ultimately turned against Him. Written hundreds of years before Christ came to be with us and hundreds of years before Judas Iscariot was born – these words were written because God knew what had to happen. But Jesus stepped forward willingly and made this all happen just as God had promised – because He loves us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you willingly step forward as a servant in your church?
Will you stop to help someone today?
May 11: John 12:44-50
Key Verse: John 12:47
If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
Devotion:
Jesus spoke quite plainly here saying how God the Father had sent Him and He was just like God the Father because they are one. Jesus came into this world, not as a judge who would go round finding people guilty because they did not follow the law to the tee, but as a Saviour who would come to set us free from this debt we owe because of our sinful lives.
Jesus did not say we have to be pure and righteous in everything we do. He knows we cannot be that. He knows we are going to sin. He accepts this! What He is saying is those who do listen to what He is teaching us will try within their selves to conform to His Word. When we hear the Gospel and we believe it, we do try to change our lives to be more like Jesus. But, even when we go off the rails and do something wrong, Jesus is not going to be there to judge us but He will be there to save us!
What an awesome picture this paints, of a sinless man who came into the world in such a humble manner to live His life and give His life for us; even the ones who put Him on the cross, even the one which sold Him out to the authorities – Jesus was and is here for all of us.
But, just as Jesus is here for us all, so too is the judge waiting behind the scenes. The judge is not waiting for us to trip up, but waiting for those who continually choose to not believe in Jesus, to not believe in what He has done for us. It is the very same Gospel which will condemn those unbelievers as the Gospel who will save us who do believe. These words did not come from Jesus because He was kind or a good Samaritan, these words came from God who cannot lie!
Points to Ponder:
What do you get out of the Gospel?
Will you try to keep the Gospel?
May 10: John 10:22-30
Key Verse: John 10:25
Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,
Devotion:
I wonder what was going through Jesus’ mind when He was walking in “Solomon’s Colonnade,” part of the great structure which was dedicated to God! The Jews once again took the opportunity to surround Jesus and question Him in the hopes of getting an answer in plain speak (because it wouldn’t have been plain English!)
Were they trying to trick Him into saying something they could say was blasphemy? Were they just trying to understand what and whom they were talking to? I fear it was more along the lines of tricking Jesus into saying something which would break the laws they had set up, then they would not have to keep being on their guard all the time!
Jesus answer can be understood by us, the people who believe He was and is the Son of God. We can put this all together and sort it out in our heads. We still get confused and are in awe of the fact He is God, or God is all three… But as long as we believe, he says, we will receive eternal life through Him. As long as we recognise when it is Him speaking and not the world or any other spirit. As long as we believe in our hearts – we are already saved!
God knows the people who will never accept Him as God, the people who will never accept Jesus as God and the people who will not accept The Holy Spirit as God! But all three are one and that one is God in three parts. If we spend less time trying to get our heads round the science and more time trusting and believing, we will hear more of His voice and understand more about what He wants us to do!
Points to Ponder:
Will you keep on asking Him to explain?
Or will you accept Jesus as your king and saviour?