Feb 27: Isaiah 1:16-20

Key Verse: Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

Devotion:
The prophets tried to do as much as possible to get the people of the land to listen to what God had told them. Some of them had great success whilst others fought and ongoing battle which seemed to be a losing battle throughout their lives!

Isaiah warned the people they would have to listen to God once again or they would end up losing everything God had given them. He gave the people stark warning which some listen to whilst others ignored. We have the same choice as the people of that time – to listen to what God is saying or to ignore the good advice!

The prophets tried to lay it out as simply as possible – listen to God and live, or disobey God and put up with the consequences of your actions! Isaiah also told them their sins would be forgiven no matter how dire the sin was or how much they had disobeyed God. If they truly came to Him with repentant hearts, they would gain full forgiveness and live as a child of God!

For those who chose to ignore God, they would have to live and die with the consequences of their actions. I don’t know how much else Isaiah could have said to warn people – and still many chose to ignore God. Today many people continue to chose to ignore God and they, too, will have to pay for their actions!

Points to Ponder:
How much do you listen to God?

How much do you obey Him?

Feb 26: Luke 6:36-38

Key Verse: Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do as a person is to not imitate others! We learn by seeing how others do things and then we try the same. We learn through what we see and hear. We are imitators. We have this built in desire to be able to do things as others do them so we can fit in or be accepted by others.

This is not what Jesus did. He came into the world as a human being, but from the very start He did things differently, listening to the Father instead of to His human peers. If we want to be more like Jesus then we should do things the same way, putting aside the things of this world and accepting what the Father tells us!

Once we can begin to master the actions of our Saviour toward the world, then we can hope to become more like Him and to please God the Father in all we do. But as long as we give in to the ways of the world the only things we will succeed at is pleasing the world an people of this world.

We should be aiming to do more: we should be aiming to please God the Father in all we say and do. He showed Jesus how we should behave so we have an example to try and attain to. If we can put aside the ways of the world and accept the ways of God, we certainly will have drawn closer to God in the same way Jesus was close to the Father through everything He said and did!

Points to Ponder:
Do you try to act like your heroes?

Will you try to act more like Jesus?

Feb 25: Genesis 17:15-22

Key Verse: Genesis 17:16
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’

Devotion:
This is one of those stories which shows the failings of humans and the greatness of God all in one! Abraham was a faithful man, faithful to God, but he was getting old and he thought the time was probably long passed when he and Sarah would be able to have a child. Even when God spoke to him and told him Sarah would have a son, there was doubt because he and Sarah thought they were much too old.

I look back in my life and see how I had children when I was younger and think about what it could be like if I were to have another child at this late stage in my life. Just the logistics of having a child and looking after them at this age takes on a new meaning!

But we always forget nothing is impossible with God and as long as we are willing to place our faith and trust in Him, He is able to make things happen which we thought impossible… not that I am wishing for another child! God is the one who knows what we need and knows what we can handle.

Giving God space in our lives to do what He does best – miracles – can be difficult when we are limiting the space for Him to work by having those doubts. But if we can imagine a wide open space for God to work in instead of the tiny box we are giving to Him, then we will see just how much He can do!

Points to Ponder:
What are you limiting God to?

Will you open up the whole playing field to Him instead?