June 23: Psalm 107:23-32
Key Verse: Psalm 107:29
He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
Devotion:
I wonder how many of the disciples heard of this part of scripture and recalled it after they had seen Jesus calm the storm at sea. We often think Jesus did so many new things, but when we go back and read our bibles which show us what God has been trying to get us to understand for so long, we see a whole different side of things.
Jesus came to fulfil the scriptures. He came to show us they are real and they are the promises of God. He came to bring them to life so we would no longer have to have what we may think of as blind faith! God has tried to show us so many things through scripture, prophecies and through miracles too. Jesus came to bring them to life so we would have something tangible to look back on... Yet we still have doubts!
This passage from the book of Psalms show us God had tried to encourage many people before Jesus came to live amongst us. God showed the fishermen the secrets of the deep, the storms and even how He was able to protect them at sea when they put their trust in Him. God continues to try and encourage us to have this sort of faith, placing our trust in Him...
It is the love of God which has been demonstrated to us since the beginning of time. It is God’s love which has brought us peace, happiness and joy. It is God’s love which has given our lives meaning and direction; but we have to see the directions, trust in them and do them! What use is reading an instruction manual unless you are going to follow the directions!
Points to Ponder:
Do you read the scriptures?
Do you apply them in your life?
June 22: Luke 15:1-7
Key Verse: Luke 15:2
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’
Devotion:
Jesus was like no other man! We speak of Christ as being the Son of God and we praise Him for all the things He has done and has promised to do. We sing of His miracles and want to tell people about all the things we have learned from our bibles... but Jesus the man was not like any men of that time.
The Western World paints a picture of Jesus as being a tall white man with a big beard and wearing white robes. Well, that certainly would have made Him different from any other man at the time! But Jesus was a local man, born of a local woman – which means He probably looked like one of the local men. But that is where the similarities ended.
Jesus did not act like the men of the time because so many of them had become corrupted by pride, greed and general lack of respect for God. They thought more of their own rules and ways of living than of God’s ways. When Jesus stepped out and visited the sinners around Him, it was not to become a sinner but to show them God loved them just as much as He loves those who were trying to follow God’s will in their lives.
God wants us to love our neighbours. That may mean stopping what we are doing and stepping forward to do something for someone else who others are turning away from. God wants us to step out and reach for the one person who is lost. Jesus wants us to break with our safe ways and step into the unknown with Him. He loves us all. He wants us all to love one another. Sometimes it will look like we are mixing with the wrong people...
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to help everyone?
Will you step out of your comfort zone and help someone in need today?
June 21: Mark 4:35-41
Key Verse: Mark 4:38
Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Devotion:
I loved the story we were told in our local church today where our elder compared this to a story of a child learning to ride a bike. When they first start, they wobble all over the place, but as they get more confident and can balance, they need less and less support... but the first time they realise they were riding by themselves, they probably wobble even more and fall off!
When we first learn to be Christians, we wobble all over the place and get things wrong. As we become more confident and learn more, we can do things and even act like Christians – but the first time we get challenged by someone or something, we fall flat on our faces because we don’t yet have the full confidence we need to continue alone.
Christ is like the father running alongside the child, supporting, then less so and finally not holding us up as we move ahead with Him; but as soon as we realise we don’t have Him holing firmly onto our hands, we fall flat and get things in a right mess again!
The disciples were still learning to put their trust in Christ and when they thought He was not looking out for them – they were in the middle of a storm whilst He slept – their faith, or lack of it, let them down and they called out to Christ for help!
Christ is always there by our sides and continues to support us in many ways while we learn more; but there will come a time when we will be the ones running alongside someone else as they learn and we should have the confidence to support them as they learn.
Points to Ponder:
Are you still learning to ‘ride you bike’?
Will you try to believe and trust in what Christ has already taught you?
June 20: 1 Samuel 17:32-37
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 17:32
David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.’
Devotion:
How many times have you been stuck in a certain situation and have thought about it so much there does not seem to be a way out of it – but along comes a friend and asks ‘have you tried this yet?’ A fresh pair of eyes on the situation can often see a way through when you are lost in your own issues!
God has promised to continue looking out for us and watching over us. He continues to support and love us just as He has promised. We can see this happening every day when we look for it; but if we focus too much on the world we lose sight of what God is trying to do to help us out and we lose out on that help because we discard it because we can only see the problems ahead and no solution!
God has given each of us unique abilities which we can use to either do things for ourselves, or to help everyone with. David was unique in how He trusted God. If he had simply stayed with his father's sheep, he would have continued fighting off predators without anyone getting to know what he was doing. But God opened up a door where he would be able to step up in front of the world and show them what God had been doing behind the scenes for so long – to open their eyes to what God can do once again.
Sometimes we have to step forward and put our faith and trust in God once again to allow people to see what He is capable; not to see what we can do, but to see what God can do through us. If we are willing to show people it is God who does these things through us, we will be able to do anything God has in mind for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you limit yourself to what you think you can do?
Have you tried stepping forward and allowing God to show you more?