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October 8: Matthew 6:9-13
Key Verse: Matthew 6:11
Give us today our daily bread.
Devotion:
This important part in the middle is to continue to ask God for our daily bread – the reason why you are probably reading this in the first place! A simple request to God – please feed us... Not with a nice fresh loaf of bread each day, but with the spiritual sustenance we need to continue going. We need to look to Him for all of our guidance and strength too; the best way being through reading and meditating on His Word.
How does a child get to learn how to live? By following instructions daily from their parents or guardians. The more they listen and learn, the more adept they will be at living a life. The better the instructor, the better the student and the better prepared the student will be to live a life by themselves when the time comes!
If we refuse the instructions, then we are refusing to learn from the people who know better than us. If we refuse to learn how to live our lives to the best of our abilities, then the less likely we are to get anywhere in life! Now, we could focus on all the things of the earth and we could get by in this world very nicely – the more intelligent we are the more we learn and the more we get to know... and so it continues...
But if we want to be able to learn all about God and what He has in place for us, then we have to listen to a teacher who knows more about God than we do. Even then, when we start to outgrow our teachers, we can still learn from others because they will have learned different things to us. The more we mix with others and learn what they know about God, the more we get to have a meaningful friendship and relationship with Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know your bible?
Do you know what God wants in your life?
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October 7: Matthew 6:9-13
Key Verse: Matthew 6:9
This, then, is how you should pray: ‘“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Devotion:
I would like to spend the next few days going over the Lord's Prayer because I have not done this for a while – at least I cannot remember when I last did it (not that my memory is much to go by sometimes!) When Jesus was giving instructions to the disciples about how to pray, he was quite concise and direct; giving us what we know as the Lord's Prayer nowadays and one which is often recited allowed together. But have you ever thought about why He gave them this prayer?
He begins the prayer with words showing respect to God His Father in heaven – very important starting point for all of us; we need to acknowledge God as our God who is in heaven and Father over everything. A friend reminded me of the way this was taught many years ago, and which I don't hear enough of nowadays... A.C.T.S.
A is for adoration. We must place God in His rightful place in our lives! C is for confession where we are willing to bring our faults before God and ask for His forgiveness. T is for thanksgiving where we verbalise what we are thankful for in our lives, because God is our provider! And the S is the final part of supplication where we lift up our prayers for ourselves and for others.
So, starting with our adoration, we need to know God is creator God, Father over all and in Heaven where He is separated from our every day sins! We need to remember Heaven is a place where everything is right, righteous, Holy, without sin. For us to get there we have to be totally forgiven – our aim should always be heavenward!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always remember to adore God?
Will you start to acknowledge Him fully in your prayers?
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October 6: Ephesian 5:21-24
Key Verse: Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.
Devotion:
Are there any parts of the bible you don't think you are going to like because they talk about contentious subjects? Like these verses... When we read this at first glance we may well begin to think God has ordained the man to be the head of the house and the wife has to be second to him in some way... But read through the words a few times and start thinking here...
The first thing which is said is in a Christian household we should submit to one another, reminding wives they should submit to their partners just as their partners should be submitting to Christ. In other words, if Christ is not a part of the relationship, then, just maybe we have missed the mark and don't understand what a relationship should be about!
Think about our place in the church. We should all have an equal place in church because we are all children of God, all called to serve Him and to obey His will in our lives. If we don't get it right, we should expect someone to notice and to pull us up on what we have done wrong – not because they can blame us for anything, but because they want us to do right by God...
The same must be said about our relationships with each other. We need to look out for one another and to say when something is not right – only then can we understand how we affect others in the things we do wrong and can work toward putting things right between us and God and each other. Any relationship must be a three way thing, between three partners, each other and God in a trinity.
Points to Ponder:
Do you have a good relationship with your partner?
Are you keeping God in your relationship?
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October 5: Ephesians 5:15-20
Key Verse: Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Devotion:
When Jesus was amongst us on earth He continued to try and get us to understands how we should be willing to live, not as people who try to be the richest, wisest or most cunning... Jesus taught the disciples to be wise in Heavenly things by listening to Him and trying to understand what God's will was for them.
If we continue to try and live like He taught the disciples, then we have a good chance of getting things right. If we run off to try and learn from the world, then we are going to fall short of God's will and ways in our lives and end up doing more evil than we want to. It if not ok just to be good and to follow the law about everything because there are holes in our laws – this is how criminals get out of going to prison even when they are guilty!
God wants us to turn to His ways and to try to live our lives according to His ways. There is no way we can follow all the rules God gave the Israelites through Moses, because we all fall short of those rules at times during our lives. What God wants is for us to try to live for Him instead of living for the rules.
If we try to find out more about Him and try to live our lives according to Jesus' teachings, then we will get closer to living with God on earth. God cannot abide evil and will not accept it at all – but because Jesus paid for our evil on the cross, we have the choice to turn away from those evil ways and turn toward obeying Christ in our lives. Praising Him will become second nature when we walk closer to Him!
Points to Ponder:
How many mistakes have you made yesterday?
Will you try to draw closer to Christ today?
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October 4: Hebrews 1:1-4
Key Verse: Hebrews 1:2
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Devotion:
When Jesus wanted the Jews to understand more about Him, He sent the disciples to go and teach them the truth – not as missionaries, but as eye witnesses to what He did and what He promised to do in their future. Jesus did this for all of us and continues to be the Saviour we all need.
When God sent the prophets to teach the Jews, they accepted the word, but continued to fall short and get things wrong; they even turned their backs on the prophets and on God at times! This continues to be the case for all of us nowadays too – we hear the word, we listen and we try to obey, but we continue to get things wrong at times and we even walk away from God because we don't like what He is trying to teach us!
Jesus was not just an angel (I say 'just' with a pinch of salt because angels are very powerful beings) but was and is the Son of God – and so is equal to God in every respect. If we are willing to believe this truth and hold it dear to our hearts, He is just and faithful to make sure we are saved through all He has done for us on the cross.
Jesus is now in Heaven with God the Father – not ignoring us because He is 'up there' but listening out for us and even answering prayers we ask for in His name. He left behind the Holy Spirit who continues to try and guide us daily and seeks to continue teaching what Jesus was teaching. This comes straight from God! Be it God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or any of His faithful servants who continue to pass on the word to us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God's servants?
Will you try to obey someone who passes on God's Word to you?
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October 3: Mark 10:10-16
Key Verse: Mark 10:15
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Devotion:
It still amazes me how much people get caught up in life in ways they should not. I'm not saying this as a person who always does things right because I know I get things wrong all the time and I even get caught up in things I should not be in... But it still amazes me how we do get caught up in things!
The Pharisees were questioning Jesus about divorce and all things like this. They wanted to see what Jesus would say and if they could catch Him saying something which did not agree with the law, they would have something against Him. Jesus tells them it was because of the people they were given rules about divorce! In an ideal world, we would meet the right person and we would stay with them for the rest of our lives together and Jesus wanted them all to understand how much God wants us to stay in a relationship when we start one – but also how we should pick the right relationship to start with.
When the children were being brought to Him the disciples started trying to turn the adults away, telling them off for bringing the children to Jesus. His response was to rebuke them for what they were doing. He knew the hearts of the children were open to the truth and they had no guile in them at this stage!
It is the feelings we build up inside of us which break things down. We harbour feelings which we should be letting go of because they harden our hearts and build up resentment when we should be forgiving and moving on. When the disciples were sent out to do their thing, Jesus warned them to move on and forget about the people who rejected them. Children are very good at letting go of others who treat them badly and holding on to those who treat them well – should we not be following this example?
Points to Ponder:
Do you have any bad feelings you are holding on to?
Will you give them to God and move on to something new?
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October 2: Luke 10:23-24
Key Verse: Luke 10:24
For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.’
Devotion:
When I first because a Christian, I used to think how cool it would be to be able to see miracles and other wonders first-hand all the time... I even got a bit despondent when I had not seen anything for a long time! Instead of being like me back then, take these words and read them through a few times!
Jesus acknowledged the disciples had seen many things while they were with Him, but also told them many prophets and kings had not seen anything like this, but they still had faith and believed! Jesus knows how easily we can get led on and knows how easy it would be to show us a miracle so we would believe Him, but that would be a bit biased of Him to do so.
He wants us to make up our own minds, not by having the absolute physical proof shown to us at every opportunity, but by having faith He will do what He has said! He wants us to exercise this faith so we become strong in our belief and more able to stand up against the inevitable problems we will face in our lives.
Don't be worried you don't hear His voice physically all the time. Don't be put off by not seeing miracles. Don't allow the troubles of this world to weigh you down so you become cold in heart. Fill your life and your heart with God's love and have faith He is faithful and just to deliver on those promises – no matter what!
Points to Ponder:
Do you worry you are not seeing God?
Have patience and wait on God with faith!
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October 1: Luke 10:13-17
Key Verse: Luke 10:17
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’
Devotion:
When Jesus sent out those other disciples to go and teach the gospel, they came back to Him with great news about how many people were believing the truth – even demons were submitting to the truth! So what is the truth? This truth they were talking about was how Jesus had come to be our Saviour and He is the Son of God.
We all have a choice we can make, to believe this truth or to reject it. If we act like we don't care and say we haven't made up our minds, we have already chosen not to believe it. What happens if Christ returns before we make up our minds?
When Jesus sent out these seventy two people, it was not a test to see who would believe and who would not, but another chance for the people who had already chosen to wait and see, or to wait for more proof! Or worse still, had chosen not to believe God would allow His Son to come to earth like He had promised! These people wanted to believe in earthly things instead of what God can do.
Jesus' response to this was to warn others of the pending doom of these people. Jesus has given us free choice – but if we actively put off that choice, we are choosing to not believe for the moment! The warning was dire and once we should not ignore for our own sakes... time to step forward and tell others about this truth to give them another chance to make the right choice before it is too late.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving people another chance?
How many times will you give people the chance to know Christ?
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September 30: John 1:47-51
Key Verse: John 1:48
‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’
Devotion:
One of the biggest revelations I had when I became a Christian was how Jesus knew me before I knew Him. I thought of this first as a teacher would know of me before I got to go to the class for the first time, but it's not like that. When we say Jesus knows us before we know Him, it is more than Him simply knowing our names and knowing we are going to accept or reject Him at some stage... it is a very personal link between Him and you.
The more we hang out with someone, the more we get to know them. The more we get to know them the more we understand how they live and the closer we can become to them. It takes us time to get to know others because we cannot get a brain dump of all the information but have to discern things over time. Christ knows us from the inside out in the beginning!
When Nathanael was approaching Christ he was introduced to the others as a man who was not deceitful in any ways. Nathanael was a bit surprised by this statement and challenged Jesus asking how He knew him. The answer not only surprised him but also gave Nathanael confidence he was talking with the Son of God – someone who knew him intimately!
Don't try to hide things from God. Be honest and open with Christ because He is honest and open with you. Accept what He has for you in your life and do your best to do His will – because He already knows what is best for you!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know Jesus well?
How many things do you hold back from Jesus?
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September 29: Psalms 103:19-22
Key Verse: Psalms 103:20
Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
Devotion:
One of the things we learn from the scriptures is how many beings there are who already worship God with everything they are; and I'm not talking about people but the angels and heavenly hosts who have more power than we know. They choose to follow God and to obey Him. They still have the choice, but they have chosen to worship God because they can and they know it is best for them!
We have nothing compared to them and yet we think we can choose to ignore God and to do things by ourselves instead. Why? Because we don't have the knowledge or wisdom to understand just who God is – so we go with what we know and all we know is what we see and hear here on earth!
Let us put aside our earthly ways and set up a new life following God in heavenly ways, with faith. When we submit to Him our earthly ways and allow Him to guide us with His heavenly ways, we will begin to see just how much God does for us and how much He cares for us.
So what is God asking us to do? Is He asking us to be His slaves and do everything even if it is hurting us? No! He is asking us to trust Him with everything we have – to lay it all on the table and allow Him to guide us forward. He does want what is best for us, but, because He gives us free will to choose our ways, He does not control us like slaves...
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to trust God?
Will you trust Him with more today?