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October 30: Matthew 5:13-16
Key Verse: Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Devotion:
One of the things I struggle with during these lock-down periods is the hidden pressure it places on your spirit when you try to do what is righteous. We are all called to obey the law whether we are Christians or not, but as Christians we should be setting an example other people look up to for hope and encouragement. That in itself puts a burden on our shoulders!
Jesus was not just talking to the disciples when He said these words; He was talking to a crowd of people and was standing on a hillside to make sure more people could hear Him. To be heard, He would have had to project His voice, not like a quiet vicar speaking to a small, quiet congregation; this was more like the shouting of an evangelist to the crowd! Now, read the verses again. They take on a new meaning when you think about Jesus being evangelical in front of the crowd!
We are the salt, the flavour, the seasoning, the small part which makes a big difference to the whole! We are the light, not hidden in a cupboard or under the bed covers, but a bright light shining to allow others to see the truth all around them! Don’t hide your Christianity in the cupboard. Place it in a prominent place where others will stop and look, think and hopefully allow Jesus to work in their hearts!
Above all, give God the glory for everything in your life. Allow others to see how much God has done for you so they can have hope for their lives too. This is the light. Back it all up with words from your bible. This is the salt. Now you have set a table, a meal, properly seasoned, where others can come and enjoy the feast Christ has for them in their lives too!
Points to Ponder:
Are you quiet about your Christianity?
Will you stand up with your light on and season others people’s lives?
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October 29: Matthew 5:3-12
Key Verse: Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Devotion:
The Beatitude are used a lot to show how we are blessed in so many ways, but have you ever looked more closely at the wording used by the author. What does it mean to be poor in spirit, meek, hunger for righteousness, pure in heart or a peacemaker?
As we continue to have the Coronavirus spread through our lands and communities, we begin to be weary, not because of the virus itself but because we are pushed to the limits in our spirits. The more sickness and death surround us, the wearier we become trying to keep things going. The more we grow weary in our spirits, the worse our physical health becomes and, worse still, the worse our mental health becomes.
In these times we need to have hope on the horizon otherwise we fall deeper into a blackness which we feel smothered by. Christ has given us hope beyond what this world can supply; though the talk of a vaccine on the horizon will give us hope for the future!
God does not look at the sick just because they are sick, or the poor just because they are poor, God looks at them because of the deep dread they have within their spirits. God wants us to look up to the hope we have in Christ, but knows we face mental and spiritual battles which prevent us from looking up to God. His heart comes out to us and His faithfulness ensures He continues to bless us in many ways we don’t fully realise because of our downed spirits. Look up to the light which is Christ Jesus!
Points to Ponder:
How are you coping with life under coronavirus?
Have you had a frank talk with God about it?
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October 28: Mark 14:32-42
Key Verse: Mark 14:41
Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.’
Devotion:
How many times do you ask someone for help before you give up asking? I think most of us ask once and when we don’t get a positive response, we back off to try and find another way forward. This is not God’s way – not the way shown to us by Jesus!
I’m sure the disciples did get tired with all the walking and helping out wherever they went, but despite this all, Jesus, who was doing all the disciples were doing, continued to lift up His prayers to God through everything. The disciples gave in to their tiredness and fell asleep while they waited for Jesus; I don’t think they knew the gravity of the situation which was looming ahead.
Jesus knew exactly what was to happen and announced it here in these verses just before Judas had arrived to carry out his betrayal of Christ. His prayers to God were simple: “If there is any other way, please can we do that instead... but if this is your will, then let it be so.” Did Jesus doubt anything? Why did He ask three times? No, Jesus did not have any doubts, but He wanted to be sure nothing else could be done first.
No matter how difficult things get, or even how easy they are, we need to keep God in our lives and in our lifestyles. We also need to be sure we are doing what God is asking, because when we do get stressed or overly happy, we tend to get caught up in things of this world rather than listening to God! Stop and spend time in prayer – listening!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you ask for help?
When you ask, do you wait for an answer?
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October 27: 1 John 4:4-6
Key Verse: 1 John 4:5
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
Devotion:
After warning us not to believe every spirit, the writer wants us to believe the Holy Spirit because He comes from God! This opens up the suggestion there are other spirits in this world; but that is another message... We do have to be careful whom we listen to because not everyone or everything is in support of our God.
But as the writer confirms, we are from God. Once we invite Jesus into our lives, we are confirmed as being part of His kingdom and His children. From then on, we can listen to the Holy Sprit because He not only indwells us, but wants us to ignore the call from the world. The world is going to shout out to everyone and many people are going to listen to it because they do not know any better. But, as Christians, we are part of God’s extended family and must listen to Him rather than the world.
The evil one has his feet firmly placed on this world and will do many things to try and trick us into listening to him and following his ways. We need to step back from our impulses and try to listen to the quiet voice of the spirit instead of the shouting of the evil one. It may sound very hard when said like that, but we are given a very discerning spirit ourselves which can identify the voice of the Holy Spirit and allow us to listen to the truth...
But many will give in to listen to the loud shouts of the world rather than to separate those loud shouts from the quiet whisper the Lord gives us through the Holy Spirit. It will take a conscious effort on your part to stop and listen to God instead of going with the flow. Stop and listen.
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to peer pressure?
Will you make a stand with the Holy Spirit?
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October 26: Hebrews 4:12-13
Key Verse: Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Devotion:
I wonder how much the people feared the power, might and savagery of the Romans Empire. Here we have words hinting at the might of the double-edged sword, common in Romand times; used for all manner of fighting and atrocities. This is not to say the sword was only used for bad, because it must have been used for good in so many ways as well – but it is the bad stuff we tend to remember because of the fear it instils in us.
Have you ever tried to work out what your spirit it and what you soul is? These are questions I have never wanted to delve into because of the doubt it spreads in my analytical mind. I rather cling to the hope I have through the faith I have in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. What gives me this hope which is greater than the fear welling up inside me? God’s Word.
Without God’s Word I would not be able to separate what is righteous and what I simply want for myself. Without it I would not be able to separate God’s will and mans will. I still don’t get it right all the time because I am limited in my understanding of all things – but I hold tight to what I learn from God’s Word.
There is nothing hidden from God so knowing He has supplied us with everything we need to discern His will in our lives does wonders for my faith believing He is in control. Everything from pride to greed to lust are all uncovered by God’s Word as long as we are willing to learn from it. If we ignore it we are nothing more than from this world.
Points to Ponder:
How much do you read God’s Word?
When was the last time you sat and pondered over it?
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October 25: Colossians 1:21-23
Key Verse: Colossian 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.
Devotion:
I love the way the writer does not condemn people for what they have done, but reminds us all we are the perceived enemy, not because of what we have done, but because of what is going on in our minds... Once we can get passed the idea of being in conflict with God, we can quickly know how much God wants us to be with Him in everything.
God did not create us to work against Him or to be away from Him; He created us to be with Him! Christ came to earth to show us just how much God wants us to be with Him by giving His life so we can! Jesus’ body stands over us to cleanse us from all sin and present us before God in Heaven as if we had not sinned at all; this is the hope we have through our faith in what has happened and what has been promised.
The words in our bibles are those chosen for us to have; a source of knowledge and wisdom we need in order to have our faith supported enough for us to believe it and sustain it. As long as we continue to uphold this faith, we continue to hold fast to the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
Because of these words and this encouragement, we can share the hope and faith we have with those around us. We don’t have to memorise every single word in exact order but to be able to share what we have with others through the love we gain from Jesus. Enjoy reading and learning more each day and enjoy what God has in store for you!
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel alienated from God?
Have you read His Word lately?
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October 24: 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
Devotion:
How honest do you think you are? How honest do you know you are? We have all done something wrong with our bodies at some stage in our lives, from the stuff which comes out of our mouths, the debatable things running through our minds, the greed and lust of our spirits – the list could be endless for each of us if we brought up every little thing we have done wrong!
God wants us to know He will forgive us for the things we bring to Him. He has promised this to us, and Jesus came to live out that promise. If we want to continue to try and hide stuff from God (which is impossible) then we are harming our own spirits as we fight against an unseen enemy. The harm is not toward God because He already knows what we have done, but toward ourselves as we build up false hope on a foundation which is just not there!
This part of scripture is highlighting sexual immorality because it is probably one of the biggest things which will break down our spiritual and mental health. When we consent to sexual immorality, which we know to be wrong, we are heaping up fuel in the fire which is burning away at our spiritual and mental health. We need to be honest with God and honest with ourselves – that way we may have a better chance at hearing when the Holy Spirit tries to guide us away from such menacing things in our lives.
Think of is as being like a huge bonfire. The more fuel we give the fire, the more we hear the fire and not the voices around us. We may not be being consumed by the actual fire, but the noise it produces consumes our thoughts and we are quickly lost in the noise of the flames instead of the communion with the people next to us. Don’t feed the fire...
Points to Ponder:
What do you throw into the fire every day?
Will you give it to God instead of feeding the fire?
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October 23: Matthew 25:1-13
Key Verse: Matthew 25:10
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
Devotion:
This story has always fascinated me because it just seems so far from what I think of Heaven being like. It’s not about the fact these were virgins but half of them were described as being foolish, not because they did not come prepared, but because they were not fully prepared.
If we bring this into a more modern setting, we won’t talk of virgins coming to a bridegroom but of people coming to meet a long missing friend who is flying in to meet them; the problem being they are at an airport in the middle of Africa where there are no lights other than torches and battery lamps carried by people (we’ll ignore the fact there must be lights on the runway for the plane to land!)
Now each friend brought a torch with them which worked. But half of them did not have spare batteries. The plane was delayed... like really delayed... So they all took a nap while they waited. When they heard the plane arriving, the torches had run out of battery power. The half who had spare batteries simply swapped out the batteries and carried on. Now, we can’t share batteries between torches, so some had to run off to the local shop to try and buy a new set of batteries... but when they returned, they were too late to meet their friend...
God wants us to be prepared to try and cope with many circumstances we will encounter while we wait for Jesus to return. If we do not have the wherewithal to cope in some way with what we face, we may well to too tied up in the world to notice when Christ does return. God wants us to be ready – which means being prepared for as much as we can be.
Points to Ponder:
Do you wait till you run out of batteries before you get more?
Are you running short in spirit because you are not being charged by God’s Word?
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October 22: Ephesians 2:8-10
Key Verse: Ephesian 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Devotion:
Every day we should be getting up and remembering we are saved by God’s Grace. It is nothing we can do to earn this position other than having faith God will allow us to attain it because we trust in Him and believe His promises. God has created us and assigned us to be saved by what Jesus has already done for us – this is what He has done before we even got to know Him – because He knew us first!
I love knowing there is nothing in the way of me being able to be with Jesus in Heaven for all eternity other than the choice I make. Jesus came to save the world and has given us this gift; yet, if we do not open this gift, we have nothing.
So, when we, as Christians, say there is nothing we can do to obtain this gift, there is the choice we each must make which has to be done so we can open the gift! Other than that, there is nothing we can do to earn our way to Heaven. Jesus has laid down the path by which we get to Heaven and we simply must walk that path. It does not matter if we fall off and must climb back on, it does not matter if we can’t find it until someone shows it to us... The path is always there.
I know many Christians like to shout about how wonderful life is with God, and it is! Shout we must! But we also should remember it is because of this gift Jesus wrapped up for us which we simply need to unwrap. We can boast all we like about the gift after we have opened it, but boasting about how you earned the gift is not the truth...
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others you are a Christian?
Do you boast for Christ or for yourself?
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October 21: 1 Peter 2:7-10
Key Verse: 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Devotion:
After talking about Jesus being the cornerstone the writer opens up on how the world views this cornerstone we know as Christ our Saviour. The world does not see a precious and chosen cornerstone, but some random stone picked up and used as a building block which in their minds does not have a place in the building! The world cannot see the value of God’s chosen cornerstone!
Because of the vast difference between how the world views Christ and how we see Him, this cornerstone is a stumbling block for many; they cannot reconcile the importance of this cornerstone. They know how important any cornerstone is, but they cannot see why Christ has been chosen when in their eyes they need to see something (or someone) much more spectacular!
The cornerstone may well be on show and may well command a special place in many people’s eyes, but for the person who is filling the house with stuff they want, the cornerstone simply doesn’t matter to them; they are leaving the importance of the building and the foundation out of their lives.
God has chosen us as a special race; special people who are going to take good care of the whole building, acknowledging the importance of the foundation and the cornerstone. God wants us to shout and sing the praises of our cornerstone, Christ Jesus, to the world, to shine as bright lights in the darkness of this world, to season the tasteless communities with salt and allow people to know our cornerstone!
Points to Ponder:
Are you hiding the cornerstone or displaying it proudly?
Will you live up to the name Christ gives you, “a royal priesthood”?