January 10: Psalm 116:12-14
Key Verse: Psalm 116:14
I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
Devotion:
Time after time people in the Old Testament would look back and recognise what the Lord had done for them; often-times not recognising it at the time. The same can be said about our modern lives – we look back after surviving something or getting through harsh times and we recognise what the Lord has done for us. We don’t see it at the time because we are so disturbed or disrupted by the hard times instead.
What does God want us to do – just to believe Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins by giving His life as a proper and sufficient sacrifice for all of our sins. He wants us to listen to what He has to say to us and to obey His instructions. We find it hard at the time because we are surrounded by the world and the temptations of it. But, when we look back and recognise what God has done, we should be praising Him for what He has done and turning to obey His instructions for us.
It is little wonder God has always given us a list of instructions, rules or the like – because we do find it hard to hear Him when we are surrounded by the world. But when we have the list of rules, we have something to look at during those times, something to guide us and to steer us away from evil.
When we give in to the world, we are turning away from God’s instructions. When we are listening to or thinking about God’s instructions, the worldly things will start to fade and dwindle. Out focus must be on God and on what he does for us all. Our will must be to follow Christ’s instructions and to try to do His will in our lives at all times. When we came to God and asked Him into our lives, we also promised to turn away from our sins. This we must do!
Points to Ponder:
Do you live the same as before you were a Christian?
How can people tell you are a Christian unless you obey God!
January 9: Luke 3:15-22
Key Verse: Luke 3:16
John answered them all, ‘I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Devotion:
I don’t know about you, but I do get excited when I hear someone preaching who knows their stuff and almost knows what you need to hear from God. John must have been good at recounting the scriptures and explaining them too – something I like doing is trying to make the scriptures available to everyone by talking in plain English and not as if I have been to a university learning how to confuse people!
I know there are some great church leaders out there who have made it their life to study the scriptures, but when they come to tell others about what they have learned, it comes out like a lawyer recounting past cases. Jesus talked to the people using parables – some people could understand things easily, whilst others were confused. But He was trying to get people to think about what they heard.
John was very effective at teaching others and this is seen because some people were beginning to think he was the Messiah. His first reaction to this was to say their Messiah would come later commanding the scriptures better than him and baptising with the Holy Spirit and fire instead of water. As mentioned previously, our baptism is a reminder or reflection of our faith in Christ and of our new birth in Him as a Christian.
Jesus was obedient to this baptism as well. He came along to visit John and to be baptised by John; marking the beginning of His real ministry. Beforehand He would have shared the Word with others and talked about it, but we have no record of Him openly preaching to everyone. Jesus wanted to show us His faith was in God His Father and He was going to obey God in everything He did and said.
Points to Ponder:
How do you show others you are a Christian?
If you are baptised, what did your baptism mean to you?
January 8: John 3:22-30
Key Verse: John 3:26
They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you testified about – look, he is baptising, and everyone is going to him.’
Devotion:
How many churches have you been to where all the people in the congregation say they will never go to another church because their priest/pastor/leader is better than any other? How many churches have you been to where people complain about what is going on and yet they still go there all the time? We never seem to be pleased with what we get and we always want better!
John had learned from the beginning he was a messenger who was sent to teach, preach, baptise and continue spreading the word for as long as people would listen. He knew the Messiah was coming and he knew he had a lot of work to do before Jesus was recognised for whom He was.
John would never compete with Jesus because he knew Jesus was the Messiah everyone had been waiting for. He knew Jesus was Lord. He had no issue with stepping back and allowing Jesus to take the glory and even the disciples who followed him to learn. John also knew there was no way he could ever compete with his Lord.
We need to recognise Jesus Christ is the reason why we are here and we need Him as our Saviour above anything and everything in our lives. I don’t know if you have ever had the privilege of being able to teach others the gospel story; when things go well, people thank you and ask you when you will be back again! I can see how easy it would be for anyone to get a bit big headed about their position and take some of that glory for themselves. John turned down the glory and refocused it on Christ because He knew Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Points to Ponder:
Do you know a good preacher you have always wanted to hear?
How often do you stop and listen out for Jesus?
January 7: Luke 5:12-16
Key Verse: Luke 5:13
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.
Devotion:
Leprosy was one of the diseases everyone feared because they assumed it was much more communicable than we now know. The law was to put the lepers far away from the people in the towns and cities so they would feel a bit safer; the last thing anyone wanted to do was to get too close to a leper, never mind touching one!
Jesus knew this man was being put through an awful time by being shunned by everyone. Jesus could see in this man's heart and knew he wanted nothing more than to be healed so he could get back to normal life – which probably included going into the temple and worshipping God! The mercy of our Lord Jesus is on clear display as He reaches out and touches the leper to heal him.
What Jesus then told him to do was in accordance with the Jewish law. He would have to present himself to the priest to show he was ‘clean’ and no longer had leprosy. He would also have to offer the right sacrifices according to what was told through Moses – not because the sacrifice would make any difference to his health, but it would be a testimony to others who were seeking healing from God! He was giving them hope!
Because of the manner of this man’s rise to health, people talked and crowds began to gather to find out what had happened – so much for the man being able to quietly sneak to the priest to get it all sorted! Everyone was going to hear about this miracle and a lot of people were going to get to know a bit more about God! Sometimes it is the way we do things which makes the biggest difference and not the actual act of doing it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you seek glory for things you do?
Have you given Christ the glory for anything you were able to do today?