May 26: Acts 1:7-8
Key Verse: Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Devotion:
After Jesus had died and rose again, He appeared to the disciples on a few more occasions. On this occasion they asked Him if He was going to restore the kingdom of Israel because He had talked about the building of a kingdom. What they did not yet understand was this was the beginning of the new kingdom – a church which would grow and cover the world before Christ would return.
Here Jesus reminds them they are not going to know the date and time of His return because only God the Father knows that moment; we all have to remain prepared as if we expect this time to be the next moment in our lives.
Jesus did not leave us alone but sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide, protect and teach us. We are to be the witnesses for the next generation. We are to be the disciples who go out and teach more people to be disciples. We are the next generation, but probably not the last generation – only God knows that.
I do like people knowing I am a Christian and I do like people knowing I am a human being! Sometimes we think if we are labelled as Christians then we will somehow lose our identity and struggle in some way. Jesus did not promise a fool-proof and gold covered path to walk; but He did promise to leave us the Holy Spirit who can look after us and guide us. With God’s help through the Holy Spirit we can reach out to more people and show them being a Christian is probably the best thing in our lives! Spread the news!
Points to Ponder:
Do people know you are a believer?
How many people will you encourage today?
May 25: John 16:12-15
Key Verse: John 16:14
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
Devotion:
When Jesus was here on earth as a human being, He wanted to tell the disciples everything! But that was a physical impossibility, so He made sure we have ready and permanent access to what He needs to tell us through the Holy Spirit… all we need do is listen!
One of our big issues in life is our inability to listen to God all the time. We know we ought to, we think we can, but we fall short when we try. Jesus knew this would be so and that is why we have been given access to Him through the Holy Spirit at all times. This means that when we do fail, we can stop and think about what we have done and come back to Him where He will be waiting with open arms to tell us more of the truths we need to know.
The Holy Spirit does not hold anything back – it is normally our minds and hearts which cannot absorb everything because we assume we cannot do so much because we see the world through physical eyes instead of through spiritual eyes. If we were able to stop seeing it all with our physical eyes, our hearts would be open to a whole lot more!
God sent His Son to us so we would be given something physical to believe in. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit so we would not be limited to the physical. God wants us to know more about Him and more about what our lives are going to be like – or can be like. If we listen to Him through the Spirit, we will be able to learn more about how we can live a better and fuller life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you bless the Lord?
Do you know He wants to bless you always?
May 24: Acts 16:22-34
Key Verse: Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them
Devotion:
Paul and Silas did what they believed was right; they were being mocked by a spirit within a woman who continually made her shout out things about them. Paul got so annoyed with her constant shouting he turn round and commanded the spirit to leave the woman – which it did! The problem being this spirit was how the woman made her living by fortune telling. When her owners heard she had the spirit removed they were annoyed because they would no longer be making a load of money from her!
The owners of the woman seized Paul and Silas and took them to court because they were reportedly doing things against the Roman laws! Well, the Roman laws demanded people would not worship anyone save their emperor. They even convinced the crowd to side with them and the magistrates caved in, ordering them to be flogged and thrown into prison!
Even after all that, Paul and Silas did not stop praying and singing hymns. They were not about to give up worshipping God, even in the face of danger and torture! God saw this and knew they were doing this because they loved God above all else. God did not sit back and do nothing. He caused a mighty earthquake to rock the prison and break them free.
The guards were very afraid because of the earthquake, but also very afraid because they knew they would be in deep trouble if the prisoners escaped! This put the jailer in a very awkward position and he was about to take his own life knowing he had no hope. Paul and Silas stopped him from harming himself and spent time talking to the jailer instead of trying to escape. Getting one more soul to come back to God was more important that their freedom!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do when people mock you about being a Christian?
Will you be more like Paul and Silas by worshipping God in the face of evil?
May 23: Luke 6:27-31
Key Verse: Luke 6:29
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Devotion:
I wonder how you were brought up to treat people who did not treat you properly… how about how to treat thieves? We live in a world where we call for justice in many ways, one of those being to try and stop people from doing terrible things like taking stuff which does not belong to them… So why do these words encourage us to not punish thieves?
We could argue these words do not apply to criminals, but that would not get us very far! Jesus wants us to have open minds and hearts to the many things which we will face in our lives. One of those things is going to be facing thieves. I would argue we have to take every case separately and to try and find out what Jesus said and not our English loose translation… The direct translation is probably not “pinch!”
If someone is in desperate need of something you have, then why not allow them to have it, and whilst we are there, why not see if they are in need of anything else. This is much more likely to be the intended translation of these words. Jesus did not withhold things from those who were in need, but rather gave them what they needed and sent them away with a blessing – most commonly seen when Jesus healed people!
When people come asking for a favour or asking for help – what do you do? Do you add that help to “the tab” and remember how many things they now awe you, or do you willingly give and not expect anything in return. If the recipient does have the means to give back what they have taken or borrowed, then they will do so… If, however, they are taking things with the intent of never returning anything, they will have to live with the consequences which continue to build up each time they take...
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep tally of what people owe you?
How much less stressful would it be to forgive the debt?