April 19: Acts 2:36-41
Key Verse: Acts 2:39
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.
Devotion:
You can see the difference in how the disciples, now apostles, taught others about Jesus. When Jesus was with them in human form, they were not so forthright and willing to pass on every bit of knowledge they had. But now Jesus had shown them everything and had demonstrated the ultimate love for us all, they wanted everyone to know about this love.
No longer was it a love which was behind sacrifices and what seemed to be a long lesson through the desert, no longer did they have to demonstrate their love for God by being willing to give up what they had on this earth to be able to obtain animals which were fit for sacrifice. They knew why Jesus had come to die on the cross. They knew why Jesus was willing to do this all for them; because it was the ultimate demonstration of His love for us.
This love was not limited to the disciples, or to the Jews, or to good people or to those who were willing to sacrifice; this was open to every person who was willing to believe in what Jesus had done. As a demonstration of that belief, we repent of our sins and even get baptised. When we put aside our doubts and truly believe Jesus dies for us, we are able to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; this being what Jesus had said would happen!
We do need to step back from the corrupt ways of this world and be willing to accept Christ’s ways. We must be willing to admit to our sins and turn away from them. We must be willing to try and change our lives, not because we can do it by ourselves, but because God wants to help us do it! Christ took the first step to show us the Love God has for us and through Him we now have access to eternal life and the strength to turn away from evil!
Points to Ponder:
Do you accept what Jesus has done for you?
Will you trust what Jesus has promised for you?
April 18: Matthew 28:8-15
Key Verse: Matthew 28:13
telling them, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.”
Devotion:
This is where we see the true colours of the people who were in charge of things during these times many years ago. We now see this echoing during our modern times as we witness politicians making extraordinarily terrible choices for human beings. The chief priests made choices they believed were right to make, but everyone around them saw the choices in the true light of day – terrible and long lasting pain and misery for the people they think they are protecting.
We see people in power making choices we cannot believe they are doing; we see the truth and wonder how they cannot see the truth because it is seemingly right in front of them! But, just as there are people in charge who will make terrible choices, there are also peers who will go along with those choices! How do I know? Because I have gone along with some horrible choices others have made, choices I am not proud of, but choices I have learned from.
I pray the leaders in our countries can take note of this story from the bible and realise just how pertinent it is to their choices they make. I pray we, as leaders of various sorts, take not of this story and make it pertinent to the choices we make in our lives which are going to affect others.
Each choice we make will not just affect us and our lives, but all the people around us and their lives too. The more we follow Christ’s words to love our neighbours, the more we will begin to think about these choices we make which affect so many more people that we first realise.
Points to Ponder:
Are you following bad examples given to you by others?
Will you try to stand up with the truth and change peoples lives for the better?
April 17: Luke 24:1-12
Key Verse: Luke 24:3
but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Devotion:
Have you ever lost anything? How about something which was precious and irreplaceable? I know that feeling all too well – and this moment when the women say Jesus’ body was no longer there must have been a tad worse! They came early in the morning to try and make sure Jesus’ body was best prepared for His final resting place – or so they thought!
God did not leave them wondering either; instead He sent two angels to tell the women what had happened, to give them comfort. These angels already knew what had happened and they did not give a long explanation as to what had happened… shouldn’t people have already known because they had been told!
Sometimes we do lose track of the directions God gives us and we step out of line because we turn back to what we think the world can do instead of relying on what God can do. We turn back to our earthly ways because that is what we can see, touch and smell. God is not limited by our senses or what the world can do. If we truly trust and believe in Him, our benefits and direction are guaranteed and we should always know the answers.
But we are human and we get trapped by the world and the limitations of our minds. We allow ourselves to be convinced by the people around us and what we can touch, smell, hear and see. We allow our world to be limited to what we can imagine. Yes it is difficulty to allow our imaginations to accept everything God can do, but we also need to trust Him and believe nothing is impossible for Him.
Points to Ponder:
How often are you limited by your thoughts?
He is risen! Hallelujah!
April 16: Matthew 27:62-66
Key Verse: Matthew 27:64
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’
Devotion:
After Jesus had given His life up on the cross, people started doing strange things – most of them for selfish reasons. Joseph had asked for Jesus body to be given to him so he could bury Jesus in the tomb he had reserved for his family; this was out of love for the Lord! Of course, others helped Joseph and I’m sure quite a few people were willing to help out and stay guard over the body too.
But the chief priests and the Pharisees had other ideas. They had been talking amongst themselves and knew Jesus had said he would rise again in three days time. Their counting of three days and what actually happened is a bit different, but still three days by Jewish law. The Pharisees were worried someone would come and take the body and make it look like Jesus had risen – they were not so worried He would because they had never seen anyone do that before!
What they did not count on was the power of God working for those who love Him. What they were doing was taking the world before Christ and doing what they could to remain in power over the people. They had seen how the Romans would cave in to pressure and they had no wish to back down now!
Once again the Romans caved in and listened to the priests and Pharisees. They sent some guards to go and secure the tomb and also stay guard over the tomb to make sure nobody came in. They had seen their earthly power increase when the Romans gave in and now they wanted more power – the pride and greed which comes with earthly power is tantalising to many.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look to earthly success and power?
Have you considered Christ’s power instead?