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November 19: Matthew 6:25-34
Key Verse: Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Devotion:
I do find these verses hard to read at times, especially when I am feeling down, rejected or anxious; but God’s promise stands no matter where we are in our lives and no matter how we are feeling! Jesus came to remind us of God’s promise and to give us hope through what He was able to do. We now have the Holy Spirit living with us so we can continue to know God has everything in hand.
It may not look like it when we are focused on the world around us, on our clothes or on the bank balance – but God has a plan. If we are willing to humble ourselves before Him and listen to what He has in store for us, we can be assured of a better life. That better life will probably no mean living in the best house or having the best car or clothes; but it will be having the most hope for your future!
Each time I see birds fluttering around here in London, I am reminded of how much God cares for us. They don’t get to have the best bird tables laid out with fresh country seeds, but they do get fed and they do bring joy to many people like me. If God can do this for tiny birds, then think how much more He can do you us when we focus on Him in our lives. The birds just accept God’s love and care without knowing it – they just are in God’s care.
We tend to get tied up in all the glitter of the world around us and we start to judge our own lives based on the glitter in the lives of people around us. We measure ourselves against worldly measures and forget about the eternal life we are going to have after we leave this earth. I thank God He has a firm grip on my life, and I try to listen to His instruction and His will so I can draw closer to Him every day.
Points to Ponder:
How are you measuring your life?
Will you allow God to show you your true life?
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November 18: John 15:1-8
Key Verse: John 15:2
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Devotion:
It is good to read and re-read passages from the bible because you get to understand the words and meaning behind the words as the Holy Spirit ministers to you. I know that sounds very evangelical but go over these few verses a few times and see what God say to you today.
As I look out at the garden and think of all the pruning I should have done last month, I begin to see just how important these words and actions are. When I was in hospital, not a lot was done with the garden and it showed when I finally did come home. The garden looked patchy and in dire need of work – but as soon as the rains started, so much of it sprung to life without me doing anything (at that time there was not a lot I could do because of my physical condition)
It reminded me how God is behind every life on earth and how His Living Water reaches far beyond our limits and restrictions. We should be willing to get in there are do the basic garden work so the harvest can be more fruitful, and the splendour even more than we can imagine! God calls us to tend to His flock daily – not to go into the garden centres to prune their plants, but to stay where we are and work with what we have: our neighbours!
God will not make it plain sailing because we will get lazy and not do anything to promote growth. But when He prunes in and around us, the growth afterward is even more than we can do and expect from ourselves. Allow God to do His work diligently and listen to His instructions so we can work diligently too!
Points to Ponder:
Are you growing lazy in the lock-down?
What is God asking of you now, right now?
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November 17: 1 Corinthians 8:4-8
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Devotion:
Sometimes we get carried away with wanting to know everything instead of resting faithfully in God’s grip! We like to think we are drawing closer to God though the things we read and all the things we do. Let us continue to always lift our one true God and to proclaim the name and deity of the name of Jesus Christ; let us also rest in the peace and mercy of the Holy Spirit who indwells us and continues to watch over us in everything we do.
I have been in churches where certain foods are not allowed to be eaten, in churches where certain drinks are not allowed to be drunk and, in many churches where certain things are not allowed to be said or done! God calls each one of us to live our lives with and for Him and those lives are going to be very different according to where we live. When we moved onto our local estate to live amongst the community, to belong to the community and to bring them the good news of the gospel, our lives changed dramatically.
If Jesus can come to live amongst people who are breaking the laws all the time, then we should be willing to do so too. It is not up to us to judge whether people are doing things right or wrong but to bring them the truth from and about Jesus Christ. We have done enough things wrong in our own lives to exclude us from Heaven – but because of Christ’s mercy and faithfulness, He has paid the price for our sins and allows us to join Him in Heaven.
Stop focusing on the rules people set up and focus on sharing the love Jesus has shared with us. We are the church, and we need to share the good news at all times wherever we are!
Points to Ponder:
Do you exclude things from your life?
Do you exclude people just because they are different?
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November 16: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to describe love? I always turn back to this chapter when someone asks me to try and define love, and every time I realise, I continue to fall short of the mark! Don’t despair at falling short of the mark when you read descriptions like this because love has to start somewhere – and that somewhere is typically in your heart, deep inside of you.
That seed of love from which great big trees and bushes grow is nestled deep in you and fed by God with something so special we don’t realise it is feeding us. Just like you can plant a seed in the ground and see it blossom when we water it, so God has planted the seed of love deep within us and continues to water it with His living water!
Just like a new plant growing uncorrupted and unbroken, so too does our love start to grow. But, just as the world bashes and knocks the plants, so does it bash and knock our love down. As long as we continue to accept and feed from God’s living water, we will be able to see our love continue in its growth. The world will continue to bash us and knock us, but we can continue to grow and even thrive when we stay close to God!
God does not want us to record every step of our love as we would in a scientific experiment, but to enjoy the growth and fruitfulness which will follow from that growth. God wants us to imagine the finished product and not to worry too much about how we will get there. The more we worry about how we get there the more we focus on the things around us and not on our goal to grow in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you focus too much on getting there?
Will you trust God’s guidance and simply grow in Christ?
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November 15: Isaiah 41:8-10
Key Verse: Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Devotion:
Don’t you love the way this passage starts out, calling on Israel and identifying Jacob as a servant who He personally chose to lead the nation who are all descendants of Abraham, God’s friend! This is a very personal relationship between God and all of Israel, identified through Jacob and going all the way back through Abraham and beyond!
God reminds us through this we are His chosen people, people who are called to serve Him, not as slaves, but willing servants. That is the huge difference between slaves and servants – servants are willing to come forward and do the work for which they will receive support from the master. It is not a role where we have to stand up and go forward to do work where God is not willing to do it Himself; far from it!
God leads us forward with Him, staying with us every step of the way, leading us through troubled lives toward a place where we will finally be released from all the hassle and strengthened to fight with God, side by side as friends of God. Abraham was willing to stand up and be counted as a friend of God. It does not matter how much he doubted or even how old he was, because God had chosen him to step forward as a father of a great nation to come.
God continues to call people to stand up and be counted as friends and as servants, willing to take on the work He wills in our lives. What an awesome privilege it is to be counted as a friend of God and have Him work by our sides!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like to work alone or as a team?
Will you gather a team and work with God today?
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November 14: Acts 10:34-38
Key Verse: Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism
Devotion:
When you see people in need, who do you approach first? Do you go toward the person who you like the look of, or maybe the person sitting in the right place? We all have our failings and we do tend to show prejudice against whom we help – because we are the way we are. God accepts we are all going to be very different but would like us all to be able to set aside our favouritism and help those people who need the help most of all rather than the people we want to help!
As we start to get closer to Christmas and we see the desperate need for people in our society and local communities, we need to put aside our own feelings, pride and favouritism and reach out to the people who need help most of all. The group of Christians I am currently working with are reaching out to the people who will not be able to afford a proper Christmas meal by themselves; we put together everything a family would need to have a meal in a box and deliver it to them a couple of days before Christmas.
If you can see the need of a family close to you, why not reach out to them by giving them some support coming up to Christmas. If we want to be more like Jesus, then we need to step forward and help those whom society is rejecting or ignoring because that is what Jesus would do!
God does not show favouritism when it comes to those who need help. He wants us all be able to live together and share things willingly. God has continued to show us how He cared for the people who were desperate for some sort of hope. We can give people hope by giving them help and allowing them to see how God can enable anyone to help anyone!
Points to Ponder:
What will you be doing for Christmas?
Will you help someone who needs it today?
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November 13: Romans 8:35-39
Key Verse: Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Devotion:
No matter how many times we are told “we are safe,” we still doubt and have this nagging fear we are not as safe as we should be! To a large extent this is normal human behaviour, but it is also learned behaviour because we see people projecting this on our TVs and social media, but we do not see enough of the truth Christ is trying to spread – the truth we are totally safe in His arms!
Does this mean we will never have to face any hardships or confrontation? Far from it because we may well face more confrontation because we are making a stand against what people see as the social norm. We are working to bring hope and assurance to people where circumstances are taking everything away from communities.
None of this will be able to separate us from the love of God. His love remains strong and secure no matter what we face in our lives. It was the ultimate declaration of love when Jesus gave His own life up on the cross so we could live forever in Heaven with Him. Nothing on earth will detract from that demonstration of love despite people trying to say otherwise.
When an act of love like that is shown, nothing can take away from it; but, because we are who we are, we allow time to slowly erode our hope until we think there is no more hope. Bu, when we turn to fully face Christ and ask Him for love and support, we again see the fullness and extraordinary depth of that love.
Points to Ponder:
Are you getting down with lock-downs?
Will you turn to face Christ and ask Him for strength to carry on?
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November 12: 1 John 4:7-12
Key Verse: 1 John 4:9
This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Devotion:
How do you show love to others? If, like me, you loved to hug people, this year has been very difficult because of the pandemic and not being able to mix with people, never mind hugging them! But love goes a whole lot deeper that a hug or a kiss, love is at the centre of your being and you have to be the one who allows others to see into yourself.
We know from the scriptures Jesus encouraged us to be like lights shining on hills rather than hiding behind bushes and so should it be with our love. Love is no good if it is going to be hidden from others, it has to be shared openly and willingly. This love we have within us was given to us from God for the good of everyone; it is something we live with and need in our lives.
God showed His extraordinary love for us by allowing His Son to come and live amongst us and share that love with people in amazing and miraculous ways. Jesus then showed even more love by taking the blame for our wrong-doings and permanently nailing it to the tree when He died for us. Even our scriptures remind us there is no greater love than a person laying down their life for others.
God has shown us the way through His scripture. Jesus came and demonstrated the way through His actions. He now asks each one of us to continue this string of love by always sharing it with others. None of us have seen God the Father because none of us are in Heaven yet, not counting the people who have already died and are enjoying eternal life in Heaven already; but we can live out the love on earth before we get to Heaven by sharing and caring.
Points to Ponder:
How do you show your love to others?
What will you do differently today to demonstrate love?
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November 11: Psalm 86:14-17
Key Verse: Psalm 86:15
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Devotion:
What goes through your mind when people attack or abuse you for seemingly no reason? I’m sure we have all faced some opposition to what we do as Christians, but when people attack you because they don’t know what you are trying to do, it can get very disheartening. Jesus wants us to know we have a friend in Him who is standing with us and defending us at every opportunity!
It is easy to attack back when we are attacked, but this is not what God is trying to teach us. He knows we are going to face opposition and knows we are going to find it hard – but if we are willing to call on Him for support and trust Him with that support, we can get through so much more.
Unlike our short fuses which get tried over and over again, God has compassion and grace which extends far beyond our means and our minds. He will not get angry with us just because we slip up and do something wrong. He will not condemn us just because we tripped up. God’s love for us means we can still make mistakes and know He is going to continue loving for us and caring for us!
We long to see positive action being taken when we go out to do something for God. We love to see some rewards for what we do... because that is what we are like. God longs to see us do things for Him too, but He will never hold it against us when we fail to live up to righteousness goals. Always be on the watch for the things God does in your life because He is doing amazing things all the time!
Points to Ponder:
Do you live life for the rewards?
Will you humble yourself and live for God?
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November 10: Luke 22:35-38
Key Verse: Luke 22:36
He said to them, ‘But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
Devotion:
How many times have you stopped what you were doing because you saw someone else doing what you were trying to achieve? How many times have you stopped just because the going got a bit tough for you? If we are brutally honest, we have all thrown in the towel at some stage in our lives just because it got a bit difficult or it looked like someone else was doing it better!
Jesus knew what lay ahead for the next few hours and days, yet He continued to press forward doing everything which was required so we could enjoy the gift He was giving us! Jesus knew a sword would be needed to complete His work and He wanted to make sure they had a sword at hand. He did not promise a smooth ride all the way. He did not promise an easy life for the disciples. But He gave them hope to look forward to!
I am writing this just as the news is breaking about a viable vaccine being available to help against Coronavirus! We are being given hope, but even with that hope we are still a long way off being ‘safe’ because we are facing terrible times ahead until such time as the vaccine is made available to everyone. There will still be heartbreak and sorry as people continue to die and be adversely affected by the virus – but we have hope!
Jesus had to be counted as a rebel, as a villain, as someone who was working against the country in order for Him to be hung on the cross for our cause. He knew what lay ahead, but knew He had to endure so we could have hope. Just as we were talking about people in the wars and conflicts before us laying down their lives for our sake, so too are we called to lay down our pride and desires to give others hope in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you focus on other's needs?
Will you set aside your desires for someone else's needs today?