August 7: Matthew 17:14-20
Key Verse: Matthew 17:17
‘You unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’
Devotion:
Can you imagine Jesus yelling at people? Can you imagine Jesus doing anything out of the ordinary? Well, He was not ordinary! Far from ordinary! Jesus did things, not to get a response from anyone, but because they needed to know the truth or to be shown the truth.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the world we lose focus on what is actually important – we leave behind the things which matter and we take on the useless things which are of no real value, treating them as though they matter! Jesus also pointed out to people when they were losing focus on their own faith, something we need to keep a tight hold on in our lives.
Often, we stop believing certain values in our lives because we see too many people either breaking those values or discarding them; we become despondent and no longer hold those values as precious. Jesus wants us to remember the values He gives us and which we have written in our bibles. He wants us to remember the things God has been trying to teach us because those are the things we need to remember rather than all the clutter in our lives.
The disciples had faith – why else would they be following Jesus and believing in Him! But it was at times like these when they saw a bit too much “agro” or a bit too much heavy going when they would turn away from that faith and believe in the worldly things instead. Jesus wants us to know we can go to Him at any time, we can lift up our prayers at any time and we must keep believing He is going to answer those prayers all of those times we ask. That is why it is called faith...
Points to Ponder:
Do you get side-tracked by the world?
Will you try to focus on Christ more today?
August 6: Psalm 97:1-6
Key Verse: Psalm 97:6
The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory.
Devotion:
Have you ever said you would prefer to live in the past? Have you ever wondered how good it would be to live when Jesus was walking amongst us? Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be wandering through the desert with God? Sometimes we do paint a very rosy picture of how the world was back then and we tend to ignore the everyday things.
Our bibles are full of descriptions of how people either obeyed God or disobeyed Him, but not too many pictures painted about everyday life back then. Let’s look at some of the basics we take for granted in the Western world... How about running water? We tend to forget these people would have had to search hard for water and dig wells to reach it in many cases. Some of these wells are known by the people who started them and in some cases who dedicated them to God.
What do you do with the everyday things you have in your life? Do you just take things for granted and live as best you can, or do you thank God for allowing you to live as you do in these times? I know I continue to thank God for the time I was able to spend in hospital here in the UK because of the amazing care I received by amazing people, many of whom I found to be Christians too!
Will you take the everyday and make a point of showing or telling others your God is amazing because He has allowed you to live with these things? Will you tell people of the amazing things God does in your life from the most mundane looking breaths of life to the amazing answered prayers? People need to know!
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell people what God does for you?
Will you give God a bit more glory today?
August 5: Matthew 16:13-16
Key Verse: Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
Devotion:
How many different names have you been called because you said you were a Christian? I can think of quite a few but whatever name people come up with, I can always see the positive side rather than the negative side they think they are dishing out. I think the only one which I did not like over all the years has been when someone said I had ‘got religion’ because I know my relationship with God is not about religion!
When Jesus was wandering round with His disciples, there were many different names He was being called, none of which stuck because they were not the truth. As long as we can see the truth and cling to that truth, we will rise above any name calling.
But there is another side to the coin here. People can call us names because of the things we do, things which are not very Christian or how we should be behaving in our walk with Christ. The names the people were coming up for Jesus, or their ideas about who He was were mostly based on religion and not on knowing Him. As soon as people got to know Christ, their relationship grew and they would know who He is.
Our goal should be to show people who Jesus is and what our relationship is with Him. If we can get called names which reflect Christ or our relationship with Him, then we have shown people the true Christ; the Christ who has always been there, but the Christ who has been hidden by people who just don’t know Him yet. Let’s make a difference today and show people who Christ is!
Points to Ponder:
Do you mind being called a Christian?
Will you try to show the true Christ through your actions?
August 4: Matthew 15:21-28
Key Verse: Matthew 15:28
Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Devotion:
Do you ever feel like an outsider where you don’t belong to a church or you don’t go to one? Well Jesus was reaching out to the Jews at this time when a Canaanite woman approached Him begging for healing for her daughter. Jesus was quite plain in ignoring her initially and then basically telling her she was not a Jew so would not get answered. But her persistence and faith carried her plea forward.
This send out a very special message to all of us – though we may not be part of the chosen people or a big church or whatever, we can still rely on God to answer our prayers. This woman admitted she was not a Jew but she still fully believed in Jesus being the Son of God; she believed He could heal her daughter without a second thought. That faith lifted her daughter up to be healed at that moment!
I used to be worried my prayers would not be answered because I was not in church or I had done something wrong; this act by Christ shows us He listens to us all, not matter what sex, race, creed, location or even our pasts! This is a personal thing between you and Christ. This is a very personal relationship in which He looks into your heart alone.
No matter how much you think a big church is being blessed because of all the healing and things which are happening in it, we can still be equally blessed by believing Jesus can do things for us too. They may get all the visible blessings because they talk about it, but He still hands out hidden blessing for those who take their faith to Him in private.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel left out of a church?
Do you have faith Christ will answer your prayers?