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December 18: Matthew 1:18-24
Key Verse: Matthew 1:24
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Devotion:
Sometimes God may ask you to do something which you will not be proud of or something which may make others look down on you… These things can be difficult to take on board when we are not fully trusting in God for everything in our lives. Joseph had no problems with following what God was asking of Him even though it would mean many people may turn their backs on him for taking on a wife who was already pregnant.
God is not going to ask things of us which we cannot do; sometimes they may seem like that, but with Him walking wit us we should be able to do anything! We may not understand fully what God is up to when He asks us to do something, but we can be sure it is the right thing. When God asked me to come back to the village I live in now it was a difficult decision because I had just started to get fully involved with the people where I was living at the time.
Three years on and I am still working toward what God was asking me to do. It has been a struggle and I have met more than my fair share of people who seem to want to disrupt things. I also landed up back in hospital, but I knew God put me here so went with the flow. As it turned out the surgeon looking after me went the extra mile and performed a life saving operation on me.
Trusting God does not always seem like the logical thing to do, but you can rest assured it is the right things to do. He will take care of things when you fully rely on Him!
Points to Ponder:
How far are you willing to trust God?
Will you take that extra step if He asks?
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December 17: John 1:29-23
Key Verse: John 1:23
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”’
Devotion:
As we get closer to Christmas our thoughts continually turn to the live of Jesus and all it means to us. We see all the glitter and decorations and may wonder what it is all about since we should be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! But sometimes we need to go forward and do something which will make people stop and take notice.
Some of us may not feel like it is a festive time of year because we don’t seem to have much to celebrate ourselves, or we may be remembering sad times from previous years; John sets us an example for us to stop and think about and check our own lives to see if we are heading in the right direction.
I know many of the things we see around this time of year are commercial bulldozers or even pagan rights or habits; but let us not forget the reason why this holiday is celebrated all the world round. I know it is not on the actual birth of our Saviour, or at least we don’t think it is, but it is a celebration none the less.
John came forward to “Make straight the way of the Lord.” This means he stepped up and obeyed God to do what he had been asked to do. He set aside his own life and did something out of the ordinary. He was not the Messiah, nor was he Elijah, not even a prophets, just a man who listened to God and did what was asked of him...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do something someone asks you to do?
How often do you do what God asks of you?
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December 16: Matthew 17:10-13
Key Verse: Matthew 17:12
But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’
Devotion:
Some people get very particular about what is going to happen in the end times before Christ’s return. To them I say we should be focusing on what we are acting like before God and not focusing on working out the exact turn of events! Jesus warned the disciples about focusing on the wrong things a few times and this is one of them.
Some were teaching that Elijah would come first. Jesus’ response was to say, yes that is true, but he had already come and nobody noticed! People get too fixated on the physical world around them and on how others should behave; they miss the important happening because they are not taking each day as it comes.
When we expect things to happen in a particular order because we think we read or heard about it, we may well miss out on the real things happening because they are not what we expect to happen. We are so focused on what we expect, we miss the unexpected.
We have been told enough times Christ will return like a thief in the night, not announcing His return to everyone and everything, but coming and going without people realising… because we are focusing on what we expect rather than what is happening!
Points to Ponder:
Are you too caught up in what you expect to happen?
Are you truly listening to what God is saying here and now?
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December 15: Isaiah 48:20-22
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:22
‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’
Devotion:
Isaiah was fortunate enough to hear enough from God to make sure he did not get totally disheartened! It must have been very tough to tell the people of Israel about all the bad things which were going to happen with the Babylonians coming to destroy all they had built up. But those times came with a dire warning because the people had all but forgotten about God!
These few verses would give them something to hope for again – but only after they had turned their hearts around and started communing with God once again. God gives us so much, more than we ask for, so how do you think He feels when we turn our backs on Him after He has done so much for us?
God knew the people of Israel would end up coming back to Him, but He also hated the fact they were turning their backs on Him when they should have been praising Him and thanking Him for all they had accumulated. Don’t get me wrong, this was not God punishing them for turning their backs – this was God warning them things would not be comfortable when they turned their backs because the Babylonians wanted everything they had.
This was, in the end, the consequences of their own actions. This last verse says it all… there is no peace for the wicked… If we go down the path of the wicked, we should not expect God’s peace to follow us. Similarly when people work against us with wicked intentions, they should not expect to overcome us but for a little while...
Points to Ponder:
When do you give up hope – when you have it all, or when you have none?
Don’t give up on hope just because you think you don’t need it!
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December 14: Matthew 4:1-11
Key Verse: Matthew 4:11
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Devotion:
What do you think about when you read this story about Jesus being tested in the wilderness? Do you think about how evil the devil was to try to tempt Jesus by offering Him things he could not deliver on? Do you think about Jesus being strong enough to resist those temptations? Do you maybe think about how weak we are in comparison to Jesus and how we need help to be able to reject those types of temptation?
Whatever you think of, I would like you to think of something which struck me as I was writing this down… Jesus went through all of these things in the wilderness before the angels came to attend to Him! In other words, despite God having all the power to be able to turn things around, Jesus still had to go through these difficult times before God stepped in to send angels to comfort Him!
Sometimes we face things in our lives and wonder how we can ever get through these things, begging God to take these bad things away from us… but sometimes God knows we have to face something like what is happening before we will understand what it is like for others! I can remember thinking this while I was in hospital and coming to the conclusion God wanted me to know what it was like to be on the receiving end of bad health and unlucky times!
But, no matter what we go through, God will provide respite after the even when we continue to fully trust in Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are having a bad time?
Is God showing you things before He can reward you?
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December 13: Isaiah 40:25-31
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:30
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
Devotion:
As I grow older I start to feel the limits of my body more and begin to realise I am now part of the ‘old people’ clan! But my mind continues to thrive on all things and keeps me thinking I am younger than I am. As a youngster I used to think I was able to do so much, and compared to now, it was a whole lot more, but I don’t complain because I know the Lord has much more for me to do yet.
As a young man I did not see much of the beauty of the world around me, instead I looked for more things to do and explore. Now I tend to see much more of the awesome world around us and see just how much love God has put into creating this amazing world we live in. As humans continue to expand their knowledge of the universe I realise there is a lot more to things than just my little corner of the world.
We see scientists and explorers expanding the ‘known universe’ and humans doing things faster, better and smarter in all walks of life; except for those who just don’t seem to grasp what it is all about! Even then we seem to reach limits and records which stand for a long time, waiting for someone to come along and change things up once again. But if we continue to hope in the Lord we will continue to see things expand and improve because we know we can gain strength and wisdom from God: that is when we get to soar!
Points to Ponder:
Is there something you are trying to get better at?
Will you take God with you and praise Him when you achieve the next step?
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December 12: Isaiah 40:6-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:7
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
Devotion:
Not all the news Isaiah had to dish out was bad news. Here we see comfort coming back to the people of Israel; someone will come and prepare the way of the Lord and with that the people will eventually listen and things will turn round for the good of everyone who praises God. But it’s not just the people of God who will benefit: everyone around them will enjoy the good times as well.
We come, not to just praise God and hope for blessings, but to show other people we are praising Him and receiving blessing. God’s glory is revealed through our blessings. Unless we tell people we have these blessings because our God is good, how will they know where any of this comes from.
The evil one will be jumping up and down trying to take credit for all manner of things which look like they are good. He wants to take the credit away from God so he can get the praise instead of God getting the praise.
We have to show others we may not be like a great pillar of stone which remains strong even in the strongest winds. We have to show people we will get battered and bruised in the bad times just as they will. But when we continue to praise God, even in those bad times, He will bring blessing to us which far outweigh the praise we give Him. We will fail during the hard times just as others will unless we continue to receive our strength from God to remain firm.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard during hard times?
Have you tried praising God even when you don’t want to?
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December 11: Isaiah 35:1-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 35:3
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
Devotion:
Can you imagine being told by God you have to go and tell people they are going to face hardships they never dreamed of and lose almost everything they had worked for? I don’t think Isaiah liked having to tell the people of Israel that someone was coming to break down their holy city, but equally telling the Gentiles they would gain everything must have hurt.
We may look on these words in various ways like above, but really they were telling of a change in the church, from the reign of the Pharisees to a time when the Gospel message would bring a new season for the church. Isaiah knew someone would come to overthrow Jerusalem – a few hundred years later the Babylonians did that. But he also knew a Saviour was coming who would overturn all the old ways and bring in something which would mean more to all people than before.
With hindsight we can look back on these words and figure out what was coming and what would happen after the initial destruction and enslavement of the people. Isaiah had the unenviable task of tell all of this news to the people of Israel.
We have been given these words, our history and all manner of things to show us how truthful and serious God was and is. If we can stop from our busy lives and read over what happened, reconcile that with the message from God and look to what is still to come, we can be encourage and filled with hope. We have to change our lives and fill them more with God’s presence and His promises...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving out bad news?
Don’t forget the good news of the gospel!
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December 10: Mark 1:1-8
Key Verse: Mark 1:4
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Devotion:
Sometimes I wish people would not create names for everything – like being “saved” as a mark of becoming a Christian. Some people find it very hard to accept words like this which can be used for good or for boasting and even ridicule. Jesus did not place people in pigeon holes just so they could be named; instead He invited all to come forward and change their lives.
John was not called to forgive anyone or to heal or bless. He was called to prepare the way for Jesus to come and bring people hope, a hope of being able to be forgiven and accepted into Heaven alongside Him. John taught people about baptism being a sign of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
The repentance had to come from the people themselves. The forgiveness had to come from God through the promise Jesus gave us when He went to the cross. The people came forward to confess their sins in front of John, the people and most importantly in front of God. They then took a plunge into the river to signify the old lives coming to and end and a new life living in forgiveness beginning.
John knew the limits of what he was doing, but also knew there would be no limits to what Christ would do. John did not dress up for any occasion but wore clothing made from camel’s hair and a leather belt. He was just a strange person called by God to do something very important for all the people of Judea. He answered that calling and dedicated his life to that calling.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in the religion and pomp and ceremony?
Why not just focus on what God is asking of you?
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December 9: Matthew 9:35-38
Key Verse: Matthew 9:38
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Devotion:
One of the greatest problems we have is not having enough people who are willing to share their faith with others. Jesus highlighted the problem back then just as it is today, His response being we must ask God to send out more people willing to share the gospel message. The next chapter in Matthew starts off by saying Jesus called His disciples together and gave them authority to go out and do miracles just as He was.
And this leads us to another issue we seem to have in modern times: who now has the authority to drive out spirits and cure diseases nowadays? We are not told by written law who gives authority to anyone other than by the words written down by the disciples and told us here in these verses.
We should not judge people about their authority to do anything unless it goes against God’s words in our bibles, after all we know the Spirit enables us to have different gifts from God which we can do. There is not a chain of command here where we get elected things by church elders, but gifts given us from God.
One thing we do know is the disciples would fail in some cases because they wrote about that too. In these cases they brought the people to Jesus to ask why, to which Jesus replied they did not have enough faith or they did not pray… which leads us to be reminded we should ask everything through the name of Jesus. Take everything to God in prayer!
Points to Ponder:
Are you listening to God?
Are you continually asking God for support?