December 17: Psalm 98:4-6
Key Verse: Psalm 98:4
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;
Devotion:
After asking the question “why do you go to church,” let’s look at what you do when you are at church. Now, depending on where you go to church and what denomination and various other human traits we care to list, your church service may be very different to mine. I know I have been in a variety of places of worship where people are required to do various things, whilst at others they are encouraged to do things, and even some where almost anything goes!
I put it to you the relationship you have with God will dictate what you do in church. You may be very scared of God because He is all powerful and you may not wish to do anything other than listen intently to the priest for everything; whatever you do, do it because of your relationship with God and not because of other people!
One of the way I like to express my love for God is by singing or making joyful sounds. Since I was in hospital with various things shoved down my throat in ICU, my voice has not been quite the same. I work from home most of the time so I don’t get to speak too often, which also means my voice doesn’t get used enough or exercised! So don’t ask me to sing out too loudly at the moment or I may scare people away! But I can still make sure others get to hear things by operating the PA system…
It is what we do for and with others which counts; not so much what we do for ourselves or how we can get to please ourselves. This should be about doing what you can for God in His place of worship. This is our time to shine and allow God to know how much we do love Him. Just like our parent think the most of us most of the time, so too God thinks a lot of us most of the time! So let’s put our wants and desires aside to worship God as openly as we can & pray fervently for those who cannot do the same because of wayward governments!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do when you go to church?
What do you think God thinks of what you do at church?
December 16: Luke 7:24-30
Key Verse: Luke 7:26
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
Devotion:
Why do you go to church? Is it to get away from ‘normal life?’ Is it to make sure people see you going to church? Is it to sing songs? Why do you really go to church? I think your answer may change from week to week as you go through your own feelings and life...
Jesus wanted the people to think about why they went to see John the Baptist in the desert – after all he was nothing much to look at, didn’t have a nice building, didn’t have a band backing him up… He simply wanted people to hear the truth about Jesus, about the Messiah he had been told to tell people about. He made sure people understood how the scriptures of old were tightly linked to the Messiah and his message he was told to bring to the people.
We should be going to church to be fed with God’s Word, not necessarily to be fed the bread and wine. We should be going to church to worship God and to listen to our church leaders telling us the truth held in the scriptures. We should have a thirst for more information so we can understand more about our Lord and live our lives closer to how He has asked us to.
When we don’t understand God’s Word, we find it difficult to have faith in it and even struggle with our beliefs. We need to understand a certain amount so we can apply that into our lives. The Ethiopian Eunuch did not understand the scriptures and was struggling until the apostle stopped and explained it to him. After that he had no worries about being baptised as a show of his belief and faith in Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Do you go to church regularly?
Why do you go to church?
December 15: Isaiah 45:18-19
Key Verse: Isaiah 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, “Seek me in vain.” I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.
Devotion:
How many times do we have to be reminded who created the heavens and the earth? How many times do we have to study the natural world around us before we see the evidence of a creator God who loves us? Our problem is we get too tied up in the minutia of details to just accept God can do anything.
God did not create an empty space but He created a habitable world around us before He created us. Everything we need was created before us. All our needs were covered before we were born! All we have to do is to accept this creation and live in it the way God wanted us to live. There is only one Creator which can also be seen by the way we are all fully connected with nature!
God did not create a conundrum which we have to solve before we can live here – He created everything as it was required and gave us instructions on how to live here. As archaeologists dig up things from further and further back in our past, we begin to see more evidence of intelligence before the historian thought we gained intelligence; I firmly believe God gave us this knowledge so we could become better at what we do.
Unfortunately we also became greedy and started thinking we could do it all without God because we have intelligence. What we forget is who gave us this intelligence in the first place. So, as we get closer to celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us also remember God gave us the intelligence so we could understand Him more – we just have to seek Him more in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think your life has been in vain?
Why did God create you the way you are?
December 14: Matthew 12:28-32
Key Verse: Matthew 12:30
‘Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go.
Devotion:
This always reminds me of Samuel jumping up and rushing through through to Eli thinking it was Eli calling out to him in the middle of the night. What he was hearing was God Himself calling out! When Samuel finally understood it could be God, he was told to stay in bed and simply say “speak Lord for your servant is listening.”
Why does it remind me of this? Because of the listening and obeying parts. Samuel was learning to be a good student by listening to Eli and obeying him. Now God was calling him and it was time to listen to his new master. This father was counting on his sons to help with the work in the vineyard so they could get a good harvest. The first son turned round and said no! He didn’t want to have to go out into the vineyard and work all day; but after thinking about it, he knew it was right to go and work otherwise they would all lose out.
The second son, however, said yeah, no problem… but never turned up for work. Instead he just ignored the request to help out. This same thing is happening with the kingdom of God and His Word. Many people say “yes we will pray for you” or “we will come to church” or “we will help with the food bank” and never turn up! What use are they in reality?
God is asking each one of us to step forward and take up our burden – He wants us to work with Him in the field. We may not like the sound of it, but we know it is right. We may not want to get involved, but we know we should! God just wants us to be people who do the work without grumbling...
Points to Ponder:
Do you get asked to help out?
Are you going to say yes and turn up to help out?