November 7: Jonah 3:1-10
Key Verse: Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Devotion:
To me, the Old Testament contains so many stories about how people were so quick to forget about God, this chapter is almost a summary of what we are like! When things are good and we are enjoying our lives, we can get carried away with our lives and the content therein rather than where it all came from and who we have to thank for our lives.
We sometimes think of the Old Testament as being irrelevant because of the time which has passed between this period in history and now. We think we have changed too much and it does not reflect how we live today. But when we look at this we should be able to relate to it as the way we live in our modern world.
If we wanted to walk from one end of a modern-day city to the other, we would take a long time to do so. Our cities themselves may officially be big, but if we take into account the suburbs and surrounding towns and villages which have been encompassed by the cities, we can imagine the size of Nineveh. We can also know what goes on in our cities – some being places which have forgotten about God because they are too focused on being cities instead of being communities.
Jonah had the thankless task of going from one end of the city to the other telling them they had forgotten about God and because of this, the city would be destroyed before long. Thankfully, the people remembered where they had come from and how much God had done for them to get to where they were then. They turned back to God who was more than willing to forgive them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have a good life?
Do you thank God continually for what you have?
November 6: Romans 16:25-27
Key Verse: Romans 16:26
but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith
Devotion:
Paul closes this letter to the Romans off by listing many people who have faithfully told others about Jesus, not because they had to under the law, but because they wanted to share their knowledge of Jesus Christ so others could get to know Him too.
This is what Christ has encouraged each one of us to do too – He has asked us to tell people of our own experience with Him so they can be encouraged by the love, joy and peace we find in our relationship with Christ. It is not an onerous task to tell someone of the great things Christ has done for you, and should never be looked upon as being that.
I continue to be surprised by how much God does for me and how much I can share with others. It could just be a little word here and there, or it could be standing up in front of others and sharing what you have learned from your bible... or it could be showing them through what you do rather than what you say.
Quite often our actions do speak louder than our words, not because we don’t know what to say, but because people do react to actions more than they react to words. Quite often we can be thinking of something else, be distracted or just stop listening to others – but when we see them doing something, or not doing something, we remember that more than the words.
Points to Ponder:
How do you tell others about Jesus?
Will you show someone Jesus by the way you act today?
November 5: Romans 15:14-21
Key Verse: Romans 15:18
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done
Devotion:
I wonder how much opposition Paul got for going to teach the gentiles about Jesus after all the disciples went to teach their own people, the Jews, instead. No matter what Paul faced, he would continue to teach the gentiles as much as he could, recounting how he used to be before he got to know Jesus and comparing it to how much he had changed and how much he could teach now.
It is not because of the opposition he kept going but because he got a lot of support! He probably would not have been able to continue if all he got was opposition. He needed the support of those who came to know Jesus to keep him going – just as we do. But it is not the be all and end all to have hundreds of followers or hundreds of people you have taught Jesus to.
Paul sums it up quite nicely by saying he was convinced the gentiles he had come into contact with were full of goodness and they had learned enough to start teaching each other more about Jesus. This should be our goal – to get people to understand who Jesus is and give them the love and support to be able to go out there and teach others what they have learned. This is discipleship!
But Paul knew this was not his doing, but Christ working through Him. He knew it was because he was able to obey God. He knew the healing and miracles which did happen were because God granted them and not his own power. No matter what, he stood by the promised God gave that the whole world would get to hear the gospel and many would get to believe it and have faith in Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Have you told anyone about Christ?
Will you keep spreading the gospel with me?
November 4: Luke 15:8-10
Key Verse: Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Devotion:
This parable has always puzzled me a bit – why did Jesus use a parable about a person who would go searching for a coin. I know silver coins back then were worth a bit more than our coins nowadays, but we could look at it as being a tenth of a week's wages or something like that. Let's expand on that a bit more – what happens when you are in a bit of a bind? You probably tell someone about it in the hope of getting some sort of help, or sympathy!
We would then go about searching high and low for the money we have lost so we can at least get by for the week like we would normally do. If we do find the money, we may well tell the people we told about losing it in the first place. If those people knew how much we depended on that money, they would be sad and happy when we lost and found the money.
Sometimes we have to put things in the light of some worldly example or possession so we can begin to understand how much we mean to God. Each time one of us wanders off or is lost, God becomes upset and goes on the ‘hunt’ for us. The hunt is going to be a bit different that looking for lost money because we are the ones who have to do the turn-around. God does indeed search for us, but we are the ones who need to respond to the calling so we can be found.
Just think how much easier life would be if the possessions we lost called out to us to be found! Just think how wonderful it is for God when we do call out to Him to be found!
Points to Ponder:
Would you like your possession to call out to you when you go looking for them?
Will you call out to God when you have an issue?