March 6: Psalm 91:14-16
Key Verse: Psalm 91:14
‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
Devotion:
No matter where you look at the bible, there are many places where God keeps His promises. You can see the results of those promises being kept and you can read about the hope it gives future generations as they look to God for hope, strength, mercy, salvation and much more!
God’s chosen people elected to obey God in the beginning. The people around them chose to oppress and abuse them. The people of God chose to continue depending on God, trusting Him with everything. God saw this and had compassion. He promised to look after them and we have seen that promise come true. We have also seen how people have gone back on their word and not followed God – only to find out life was too difficult on their own.
With God’s help, we can overcome so much in our lives. We can stand strong in the knowledge He will protect us when we are willing to trust in Him. That being said, we live amongst evil and despicable people. Because of this, we often get into trouble because we are close to those evil people. Don’t blame God when things go wrong because of evil people – blame them instead.
My prayer today is for more people to come to know the power and mercy of our Lord God. I pray for people to make God their own refuge and to uphold the name of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Through this they will see the love and protection of God – for which there is no match in this world.
Points to Ponder:
Do you give God the glory He deserves?
Will you trust your life in God’s hands?
March 5: Isaiah 58:9-12
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:10
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Devotion:
When you think about helping others, what do you think about? Do you step forward and help someone because you know you can help them? Do you shy away from helping when you know you cannot do much or anything to help? If you see someone in need but they are on the other side of the country or world, do you give up and focus on something else?
I know these are hard questions to ask because we want to say we will help whatever the cost, but in reality we do shy away from many things in our lives because of the personal cost. I have stood up and gone to help people. I have walked away because it was too hard. But all the while I have been asking God to do what I cannot do. I know that is little consolation to those on the other side but this is life.
It is not God’s will that Ukraine should face such horrors at this time. It is the fault of an individual who has corrupted so much and so many. The person who is behind the evil is the one who is responsible, not God. God has promised to give us control of this world – this means we are responsible for what we do. The people who look away from God will only see the bad and the evil; they will work with what they see and live by those thoughts.
If we are willing to look to God and live by His word, then we will see a whole new world in which we can make a difference. When we step forward to do or say something, others will take notice and be encouraged by what we do. God is willing to guide us when we look to Him; His will is not to see us fall but to see us thrive. It is the will of the evil ones to do otherwise...
Points to Ponder:
Will you help to rebuild what has been broken down?
Will you show people God’s love through your actions?
March 4: Isaiah 58:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:4
Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Devotion:
As we move deeper into lent, have you given much thought to why you are giving up doing whatever it is you are doing? Is it for you or for someone else? I have never been one to declare I was giving up anything for lent because I knew in my heart it was not going to continue. Those things which I have given up without shouting about have been because I wanted to make a difference to myself and the people around me. I have tried to continue those inward promises and will continue to do so as long as I can...
When the time comes and I break down and give in, I will look back and make a judgment call as to whether to keep on trying or to revert back to normal. You may think “that’s pragmatic” or “that’s life,” but when a choice is life-changing, we should take it seriously and continue to follow it up even when we falter.
God wants us to make changes in our lives because we know it is for the better and we know other people may take notice and want to change too. But when we just do something for lent, we are liable to fail and ignore the result because we know we are going back to normal afterward! Not what God had in mind!
God wants us to see the lives we lead, not in the light of the world, but in His light. He wants us to see them as He sees them. He wants us to admit to the things we have in our lives which make Him stop and take notice! For some of us, that is quite a lot! But, even though we may have a long list of things to give up, we can only do better if we allow God to walk with us in the journey!
Points to Ponder:
Did you promise to give something up for lent?
Are you taking God with you on the journey?
March 3: Luke 9:22-25
Key Verse: Luke 9:24
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Devotion:
Have you ever been puzzled by these verses? Should we really have to give our lives up just to be with God? Well, yes, but not to take our lives or anything like that. What is said here by Jesus is we should be willing to give up on our personal dreams, desires and wants in order to follow the path God has laid down before us; that sort of giving up!
Jesus came into the world to be our sacrifice. In order to do that, He would have to give up all of His titles which we rightly give Him in order to be our humble and righteous sacrifice. He came as our Messiah, our King of Kings. He had to give up that title and be a humble human being to be in a position to give up His life for us.
He wants us to be willing to do what is asked of us too; just as God asked Him to step forward and allow Himself to be at the mercy of the human beings, the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law. Those very people who corrupted the law and were taking more for themselves than giving to God. This is what Jesus wanted to get rid of, the human corruption which was taking away from the worship of God!
What good is it if we are able to be the richest person on earth if we cannot take any of those riches with us when we die. What good is it to have all those riches but not to be happy? What good is it if we loose out on getting to Heaven just because we turned our backs on God because of the temptations of this world. Turn your back on the glorification of the world and turn towards Christ!
Points to Ponder:
What is the most important thing in your life?
Would you be willing to give that to God?