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July 2: Matthew 8:23-27
Key Verse: Matthew 8:27
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Devotion:
There were a few times when Jesus made known the power of God in ways which made people stop in their tracks; this was one of them! Some of the disciples were experienced fishermen and knew how to handle themselves at sea, even in storms. None of them had ever seen a storm be quieted by a person!
Jesus did not claim this victory as His own but gave the glory to His Father in Heaven. He was willing to place His faith and trust in God and to rely on God at that very moment. When we do place our trust entirely in God’s hands, we can be sure He will answer us in ways we do not see every day. I know this because I have seen what He can do when I have placed my faith wholly in His hands.
If we claim to have done something when it was clearly God, we should not expect Him to continue supporting us when we call out to Him. But the disciples continued to see God love and support them wherever they were and what ever they were up to!
Jesus did not hesitate to give God the glory. We should do likewise and make sure we show others God is the power and He should get all the glory!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give God the glory?
Or, do you take glory for your own?
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July 1: Matthew 8:18-22
Key Verse: Matthew 8:22
But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Devotion:
I used to get upset by people who would say I was blindly following God because I had no direction in my life, but nowadays I know I have the direction and I know I am still following God. The difference now is I have the confidence to stand up when people say things like that.
There are always going to be people who will try to trip us up by asking us difficult questions – the sort of questions they would not be able to answer honestly: things like “would you take your children first or God first!” I know the answer to that and no matter which way I answer, someone is going to get upset with me; so instead of answering it directly I try to think of a circumstance in their life where they would have a difficult choice to make and pass it back to them. But I would also tell them I know the answer to their question but will defer my answer unless they can make an honest and informed decision to mine.
The reason why I would do that is to show them they need to qualify their question because life is never as simple as their question. There will be times where I would seemingly take one first and times when I would seemingly take the other first – but they would be bound by very different circumstances.
God would never ask us an impossible question. Instead He gives us every chance to make the right choice at the time and will support us in our choice. When we give Him honest answers and call on His name, He will always make sure we can make a good choice and give us the chance to do so!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get bothered by people trying to trick you with questions?
Will you ask God for guidance every time?
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Jun 30: Ephesians 3:16-19
Key Verse: Ephesians 3:18
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ
Devotion:
One of the things we find hard to accept is the grace and mercy Christ shows us. We get upset by people doing things wrong to us and we hold grudges against people who have done wrong against us – this is why we find it almost alien to forgive people when they say sorry, especially when they say sorry after doing something horrible!
Now, turn that into Christ’s view of what you have been doing, what you have done and the way you have come to Him to ask for mercy! Think about how He would feel if He were human like us! But we live with someone who goes far beyond our understanding and far beyond the levels of our grace and mercy!
The Apostle prays for strength for people to remember how special Christ is and how we can always be forgiven if we are willing to come to Him in honesty! The Holy Spirit wants to dwell in us all the time to guide us and to love us from the inside out. If we are willing to try and do things Christ’s way, then we can expect Him to forgive us and make us clean so the Holy Spirit will not be horrified by what we are doing against God!
Start afresh, start now, be honest.
Points to Ponder:
How honest are you with your friends?
How honest are you with Christ?
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Jun 29: Matthew 16:13-19
Key Verse: Matthew 16:13
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
Devotion:
How many times have you noticed how Jesus would ask loaded questions? Here He is almost teasing the disciples by asking them who people are saying the Son of Man is… they would have known full well the next question to follow would be who they think the Son of Man is!
Many times when God tries to speak to us we don’t hear the calling because either the world is too noisy or we are not focusing on Him. Jesus, I think, was trying to get the disciples to tell the difference between listening to the Lord and listening to the world around us. Sometimes God just wants us to shut the world out so we can hear what He wants from us.
As long as we can remember just who Christ is and how much He means in our lives, we stand a good chance at getting to hear Him even when the world is screaming. I have a hard time hearing people talk when I am in a crowd because the noise and voices around me are distracting my brain too much to follow a single small voice in amongst that.
The same can be said for us and Christ; it is as if we are standing in a crowded room (the world) where everyone is trying to speak loud enough for themselves to be heard above the noise of others. The louder everyone speaks the louder the din is and the less we can differentiate single voices. This is where we need to be able to listen to that one special voice – the voice of Christ!
Points to Ponder:
How well do you do in a crowd?
Are you close enough to Christ to hear Him?
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Jun 28: Philippians 4:4-9
Key Verse: Philippians 4:9
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Devotion:
How often do you rejoice in God? I say this because we were talking about this last night in our home group and we all knew we could be doing more of rejoicing! The idea we came up with for “what is rejoicing” was the idea of having joy with us always, or “re-joying” always!
So where do we get this joy from and how do we go about sharing it and giving some joy to others? What use is having joy in our lives if we are not able to share it with others? We have Christ in our lives and the best thing we can do with that is to share Christ with others. We do not have to explain everything in minute detail before others will be able to know Christ. We introduce the idea of Christ and He will do the cleaning and encouraging.
Once someone else gets to know Christ, they will have the ability to have joy in their lives. It all requires a certain amount of faith in Christ knowing what He has done for us is always available and is open to all no matter what we have done. How could anyone not find joy in knowing Christ is on their side…
This is where the Apostle gives us the idea we should be taking what we know, what we feel and what Christ has given us and sharing it with others. We do this by being an example for others to see. If we are successful at showing others we know Christ, they can get to know Him just by watching us – as long as we are putting into practice all Christ is doing for us and has shown us. This is being a disciple...
Points to Ponder:
How often are you happy about something?
How often are you joyful about knowing Christ?
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Jun 27: Matthew 7:21-23
Key Verse: Matthew 7:23
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Devotion:
To me, this is one of the scariest passages in the bible where Jesus is telling people there I a difference between true disciples and those who do things for themselves. Jesus wants us to have a personal relationship with God. This means a one-to-one link with God, not through a third party or hiding behind a bunch of miracles or prayers even!
Jesus wants us to be totally open, honest and real with God. This means we should not be hiding the things we do wrong, we should not be doing things to show others we are ‘super Christians’ and we should not be lifting up our ways even if we are saying they are what God is telling us to do.
Jesus did not go round telling people God was commanding Him to do this and that; He simply spoke the truth and told people about this very personal relationship He seemingly had with God the Father in Heaven. If we can show people we too have a personal relationship with God, then what we do should be supporting that and not trying to build up our image for others to see!
Our relationship is between us and God; that alone is what counts. If we do have a good working relationship with Him, then we will listen to His instructions and do them without boasting we are doing God’s work. We are not doing God’s work but instead are obeying what God wants us to do in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Why do you listen to God?
Why do you obey God?
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Jun 26: Matthew 7:15-20
Key Verse: Matthew 7:17
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Devotion:
How many times have you been told to not judge a book by its cover? Is this telling us otherwise? No, this is telling us a different story, one where we should judge the book by what it produces, not by what is on the cover. If you can imagine a cookery book which has flashy pictures on the cover showing you wonderful looking food; but when you open it up and read and follow the recipes, they do not produce anything like what is on the cover!
This is the false prophet which is being talked about here – not the pictures on the outside, but the difference between the pictures it says will be the product of the recipes, and the actual recipes!
Jesus wants us to be honest about who we are and what we can do. There is nothing good about telling people you can do all manner of good things if you are not going to actually do them! Jesus wants disciples who will be willing to do what they say they can!
Jesus always told the truth and made sure people could depend on what He said. This is the action we should be aiming for – to be able to tell people what we can do for them and to carry out those tasks so they know they can trust you!
Points to Ponder:
Do you talk the talk?
Do you walk the walk?
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Jun 25: Matthew 7:9-12
Key Verse: Matthew 7:12
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Devotion:
Can you ever remember a time when you have asked for food or water and being given something totally inappropriate instead? At boarding school our friends would often play pranks on each other by giving them inappropriate things, but I’m talking about the times when we actually needed help. Unless you are facing a person who has no empathy, we would get something in return for asking.
When we ask our guardians for something, they may often give us more than what we ask for because of their love for us. God wants us to know He is more than a guardian and will supply to us more than we expect; simply because of His great love for us!
What God also wants us to note is that we do need to ask because He is always listening and always there for us. If we do not ask then we may well take Him for granted and forget He is always there, but by asking and being given we are constantly reminded of the great love our Father in Heaven has for us!
Don’t hold back because you think you do not deserve things. God knows we do not deserve anything because of our sinful natures and sinful ways. But He allowed Jesus to cover all of those sins with His righteousness and be presented as sinless and worthy before Him – so we should ask!
Points to Ponder:
Do you hold back because you think you have done something wrong?
Has Christ’s sacrifice not been enough to cover your errors?
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Jun 24: Luke 1:57-66
Key Verse: Luke 1:64
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
Devotion:
When we do things God’s way, other things fall into place. When we go against God’s ways, the only things which will go the way we want are those of which we have control. Not everything in life is within our control and certainly nobody else is under our control! We live in a world where we each may want to do things different ways and this brings up conflict right from the start.
If we are all willing to listen to God’s ways, then surely we will all be working toward the same goal and should get there a lot quicker. So what if we listen to some other leader? Will we not reach the goal quickly as well? There in lies a problem because once we listen to someone else we may be loosing sight of God in our lives. Too many people have greed and pride in their way to be able to allow God’s ways to be followed.
We can see this throughout history as leaders have done things their own way and come up against other or their pride and greed has led to their downfall before too long.
God is not driven by the earthly wants and desires we have; instead He is trying to do what is best for everyone because He actually knows what we do need. When God’s plan to have John and Jesus born into this world a few months apart, it was the plan mankind needed to ensure we have a way forward. Fortunately for us, some people did listen and we have the truth to guide us now!
Points to Ponder:
Do you strive to do your best?
Would you try to do what is best for God instead?
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Jun 23: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 6:1
As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
Devotion:
One thing we find hard to accept in the beginning as Christians is the grace of God. We go through life without receiving grace and mercy from the people who matter most in our lives. Yes, we may get some love, mercy and grace, but when we do things wrong, that ends from our human peers because humans find it hard to extend mercy when they don’t get anything in return!
But God extends His grace and mercy to us no matter what is going on in our lives. What we have to learn is no matter what we are going through, we can look forward to grace and mercy all of our lives. What we will find difficult is looking for that grace and mercy when are surrounded by revenge and hatred!
God does not extend revenge and hatred to us even when we are going against His will in our lives. He wants us to see what we do wrong and come to Him to ask for forgiveness and mercy – that is when He can show us the mercy we do not deserve and extend the grace we don’t understand…
When we are facing human hatred, revenge, greed and all the other human traits which pour into our lives, we can’t see the wood from the trees and we don’t get how God can show us grace. But when we look to Him and extend our hearts to His love and ways, we find a whole new world waiting for us!
Points to Ponder:
Have you tried to accept God’s will and His ways into your life?
Will you open your heart to His heart and accept His love, grace and mercy?