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May 9: Acts 11:1-10
Key Verse: Acts 11:9
The voice spoke from heaven a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Devotion:
I wonder, how many times have you neglected to tell someone about Jesus because they annoyed you or they said some very strange things which you did not agree with? When I first started out teaching teenagers about Jesus, I was petrified because I knew what it had been like bringing up teenage children – I knew what they were capable of! Starting teaching them was a liberating experience which allowed me to get to know Christ even more!
When I was first asked to go with a group of people to help teach a fringe society about Jesus, I was scared because of the things I had heard about them; but standing amongst them was a very humbling experience. So when God told me to move to another community which was neglected and rough, I obeyed Him. Yes, it was my third time too!
I used to look at the stories involving Peter and wonder why things always seem to have to happen three times before he took notice – then I started looking back in my life and realised God had to ask me a few times before I would obey Him too.
We grow up in societies or communities which are different from others. We get used to that way of life and we start to believe the stories about other societies and communities which are often not true but based on the stories told by others instead. The Jews had built up this image of the gentiles being unclean and even barbaric; I’m sure some of the gentiles looked at the Jews in similar ways too! God wants us to love our neighbours – which often means loving the different people just the same as we love the people we have grown up with!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are different from people in the next village or community?
Have you tried using the common ground of Jesus to bridge the gap?
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May 8: Acts 9:36-43
Key Verse: Acts 9:40
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning towards the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.
Devotion:
The eagle eyed of you would have realised yesterdays “Acts 116” should have been “Psalm 116!” But hey, we all make mistakes when we are tired and I did leave it a bit late in the day to do the devotion.
This always reminds me of the time when Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead and how some were annoyed Jesus had taken too long to come because Lazarus had died! Sometimes God wants us to take a step back from our physical limitations we impose on our lives and take a leap of faith which makes no sense if we try to look at it in a worldly manner!
Tabitha was a believer who had spent her time helping the poor and caring for others; yet she was the one who died when we think there were more people who deserved to die before she did because of the works she was doing. We tend to measure our worth in worldly ways and that runs into our spiritual lives without us realising. God wanted to make people stop and see how He is willing to do many things which don’t make sense in the physical world!
Peter had learned to always believe in God’s power. He had spent a varied life with Jesus and learned through the ups and downs of that time that God was always in control and would answer prayers! Peter must have been impressed with what Tabitha had been doing and wanted God to change things up a bit. After sending everyone out of the room (they would probably have been doing a lot of crying and wailing) he got down on his knees and prayed to God. His faith was absolute because he turned to the woman and told her to get up. He believed she would, and she did!
Points to Ponder:
How often do your prayers get to God with confidence?
Will you try to assume God will answer your prayers today?
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May 7: Acts 116:10-11
Key Verse: Acts 116:11
in my alarm I said, ‘Everyone is a liar.’
Devotion:
How many times have you reacted to what someone has done by saying something bad or something you later regret? How many times have you gone a bit further and did something you later regretted just because you were upset at the time. God has warned us we are apt to do things out of anger, hatred, greed or other emotional states, things we regret doing.
Our bible are full of these warning in the form of stories showing how people have done this time and time again in the past. When the going gets tough, it is not always easy to be tough and get going; so we should be focusing on standing up by Jesus’ side and walk where He bids us to walk – that is where we are going to get our strength from, not from actions or reactions!
Sometimes we fend for ourselves quite well as we get battered by bad things, and yet other times we collapse in a heap right away. It all depends on what sort of state we are in at the time. If we feel cornered or feel the world is against us, we are more likely to explode in anger much quicker than normal.
It is so easy to say, but so hard to do: take time to face what you come up against and make sure you include Jesus in your most troubled times as well as the good times. Jesus wants to be by your side just as much as you want to be by His side. Take time out of your busy life and spend a bit more with Him as well as with your family!
Points to Ponder:
When was the last time you stopped to take time out?
Did you spend that with Jesus and your family?
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May 6: Acts 9:1-9
Key Verse: Acts 9:5
‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.
Devotion:
Saul was making quite a name for himself by actively going after people who belong to “the Way” This was one of the earlier names for the Christian movement; nowadays we get called all sorts of things! Jesus was watching everything Saul did and wanted him to see the error of his ways.
Sometimes people can mistake us for some sort of a cult when we go out and actively try to get people to follow God. This is because we are stepping out and doing something which seems alien to many people; we should be living a very different life to the average person on the street. We should be seen as being different, but we should also be seen as being people who are willing to do everything to show others the truth.
This is where people may confuse us with cults if they do not know about Christianity. Saul was one of those people because he really did think he was following God’s laws by throwing people of “the Way” in jail! The early Christians were doing something very different to what the teachers of the law were teaching. They were following the truth as Jesus told it. We can look back on these times and see how much the disciples were willing to put on the line to follow Christ…
We need to stand up and be seen as people willing to change our lives so we can draw closer to Christ – not just any religion or cult, but the truth as given to us by Jesus Himself. Jesus came to uphold the law and everything He did was upholding God’s law, unlike mankind who was uplifting himself rather than Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to stand up as a Christian?
Will you show others what you know to be the truth?
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May 5: Psalm 66:16-20
Key Verse: Psalm 66:18
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
Devotion:
Do you worry God is not going to listen because you have sin in your life, or because you have done things wrong before? This section of the psalm starts off with encouraging all who fear God to come and listen to what God has done for the psalmist… it does not say only people who have not sinned can come to listen; nor does it say only sinless people can talk to God!
What it does say, though, is the psalmist had a certain reverence toward God. In other words, they believed in God and they knew what God was capable of. When we know what God is capable, then we have a certain respect for God. We may still have sin in our lives, but we don’t hold on to that sin in our hearts… or, at least, we should not be!
God wants us to try and turn our lives away from sin because we want to and because we know this is God we are obeying! God, like Jesus, hears the cry of the believer or the one who wants to believe. When we cry out for the first time, we probably don’t think of ourselves as believers, but we are taking that first step as a believer when we call out to God! He listens!
The psalmist learned through repeated prayers that God was listening and He also answered those prayers. It may take us a while to realise God is answering our own prayers because we often find ourselves caught up in the world. But when we look back on our prayers and how they were answered, we will realise just how awesome our God is!
Points to Ponder:
Do you fear God is not listening?
Do you fear God?
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May 4: Psalm 66:1-6
Key Verse: Psalm 66:5
Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!
Devotion:
When the psalmist cries out for everyone to shout for joy to God, it is not because they need to shout for God to hear! It is because we all should be praising God for all He has done and is doing. Too often we look at what God has done in the far distant past and we think it is all but over because we don’t see anything like that nowadays.
What we need to do is to open our eyes and hearts to see and know what God is constantly doing all of the time. God continues to do miracles today. He continues to heal people and protect people. He continues to guide people and above all His love for all of us has not dwindled!
When the psalmist says we should come and see what God has done, his referral is to God parting the sea so the tribes of Israel could walk across on dry land to escape the Egyptians; so we stop looking for anything more! But if we do watch and listen we will see how much more God continue to do in our modern world. We can see the people who find love when they have none to give. We can see the hope in communities where there is none. God continues doing things today but we don’t go looking – that is why we don’t see them!
So when the psalmist says we need to come and see, we still do. Come out of the shadows and see what God is doing in the light. Come out of the despair and see the hope we have just because we believe in God. He is doing this all because He loves us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you go searching for things God has done?
Why not?
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May 3: Acts 7:51-53
Key Verse: Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
Devotion:
Stephen was a man on a mission to make sure everyone heard about Jesus, not the version the Sanhedrin wanted people to know, but the truth! When he was confronted by the Sanhedrin, he did not hold back on his views of them! His retort here was to tell them they may have physically been circumcised, but they were not spiritually circumcised!
He said this as a warning to them to show they were following the letter of the law instead of following what God was trying to impress in their hearts. We also have to be very careful in our modern lives to not get carried away with doing things because other Christians are doing it, or because it is the way others are acting! Jesus wants us to be individuals who are willing to listen to what He has to say to us and act accordingly!
We can see from the Gospels in our bibles that each of the Apostles had a slightly different view of what was happening; this is largely due to the Holy Spirit talking to each of the Apostles in their own way. We do not have to all be the same, we are individuals!
When we follow what others are doing, we are following them and not necessarily Christ. This may sound harsh and we could all say we are being taught by good Christian people and so we should be doing what they say, but there is always the human element involved and humans do get things wrong now and again. I will always freely admit I do make mistakes and this is why I always try to show you the passage in the bible where I am getting my devotions from – because God may have a unique message for you through the words in the bible!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you think about the words in the bible?
Will you take a bit of time to listen to what God wants to say to you?
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May 2: Psalm 119:1-8
Key Verse: Psalm 119:1
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Devotion:
How many times have you had to observe someone doing something bad, against the law or just plain wrong? We all get to watch someone do something wrong at some stage in our lives, and depending on the environment where you live or work, you may have to watch on more than you like. It eats away at the soul as you watch bad things happening – one of the worst things I am seeing too much of is the atrocities happening in Ukraine!
God has always asked us to obey the rules. He continues to love us no matter what, but He has also got to remain Holy, which means rejecting evil in all ways. When we do something wrong against God, we are effectively doing this in front of Him because He does watch over us at all times.
We have been given a whole book or laws which God wants us to try and stick to; this book, our bible, is not a list of what man says is good for God, but a set of rules from God. We cannot change those commandments even if we think they do not fit in with our lifestyles… but we do also have to obey what Christ came to tell us. These commandments have not changed over time, they were upheld by Jesus and explained in many cases.
God wants us to be able to worship Him with clean hearts and clear minds. If we get too engrossed in the evil things of this world, we may well find it hard to focus on what he is asking of us. If we wait on God and obey Him, we will be able to get closer to being able to follow His commandments more like how Jesus did.
Points to Ponder:
Do you put up with evil?
Will you reject evil and draw closer to God?
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May 1: John 21:15-19
Key Verse: John 21:17
The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’
Devotion:
How many times have you been frustrated with what God is asking of you? How many times have you questioned what God is asking you to do? If we are honest we are going to say we have been both frustrated and confused about what we do for God; but we have to also be honest and remind ourselves we cannot see into our futures!
I know I have had a few occasions when I have questioned what God has asked of me… especially when I was so sure He was asking me to do something else! We get these ideas in our heads about what God wants of us and we tend to stick with those instead of waiting patiently for God to speak. We all should be doing a lot more listening and and little less talking back!
Peter was in the boat when they had little luck with catching fish; once they had landed the enormous catch of fish and realised it was Jesus on the shore, Peter jumped out of the boat and swam ashore as soon as he could. But when they had finished eating, Jesus then said these words to Peter. Peter got upset because He asked him three times in a row…
Jesus did not do this to hurt Peter but rather to make him stop and think; sometimes we get too caught up in doing what we think is right rather than waiting on God to see what is actually right! Jesus wanted Peter to stop and simply follow Him. Is this what Jesus is asking of you – just stop and listen...
Points to Ponder:
Are you too caught up in trying to do things for God?
Will you stop and listen to what He wants?
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April 30: Acts 6:1-4
Key Verse: Acts 6:3
Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
Devotion:
How many times have you failed at doing something because you either ran out of time or strength to accomplish the task? We are human and we have to be able to work within our physical strengths; we cannot hope to work continually without rest or to continue helping and supporting others if we do not get help and support ourselves! God stopped and made sure He had a day of rest as an example to us.
But rest is not just the physical act of stopping work and sleeping. Rest and recuperation is the act of stepping away from the work we are doing and either doing something we enjoy or physical rest. Sometimes just being able to escape away from the rigours of work will help more than we realise.
When the disciples recognised they were being over worked and some people were missing out on the due care and attention they should have been getting, they made the bold choice to take on more staff to help out with the work. A church cannot be carried by the priest in charge or any single person. A church must be people working together to further God’s work in the community.
We are the church. The people are the church. If we do not act together and help each other out, then someone doing all the work will get too tired and miss out on doing what is required. God wants us to share responsibilities when needed and when it is better for the church and community.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do in your church?
Are you willing to step forward and help?