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July 22: Psalm 42:1-5
Key Verse: Psalm 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Devotion:
How thirsty are you for God’s Word? How much do you really want to hear from God? Living in this world, we get to hear a lot of people asking “where is your God?” when they see things go wrong, and we even hear people in our church communities asking this as well. And whilst we have been in lock-down all around the world, we have probably asked “where can we go to meet with God?” because we have been kept from our church buildings and meeting places...
But each prayer you ask, each smile you wear for thankfulness, each tear you shed in sorry, God is watching over you and is with you. Why do we cling to the illusion we have to be in a building to worship God? I love the pictures I’m seeing of drive-in churches, where people are able to come together to feel more like they are with a church congregation… but I fear that is no substitute for an actual encounter with God!
We don’t have to be in the building we call church. We don’t have to be a group of more than 20 people before we can say we are a church. We don’t have to even leave our homes to be with God – because He is always with us in spirit and in truth!
We should not be mourning the loss of a meeting place. We should not be mourning the loss of a congregation. We should be rejoicing knowing our church continues to be wherever we are with God… and that can be anywhere!
Jesus Christ came to earth to be our Saviour and our God. He came to show us He is with us and meets with us even in our brokenness. We don’t have to be straight with God before we can meet with Him. We don’t have to get dressed up smart to be meet with Him. He came to us as a servant to show us He is with us...
Points to Ponder:
How did your church meet before lock-down?
Are you still meeting with God every day?
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July 21: Matthew 6:19-21
Key Verse: Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Devotion:
What are your goals in life? What do you aim to do in life? I know those are really big questions, so lets trim this down a bit… what do you aim to do today? Does this differ from what you want to do, what you desire to be able to do?
If we are all very honest with the question “what do we want to do” then we are going to say things which may not be likely or possible for us. These are the things we seek after in our hearts and these are also the things which will probably make a very big difference to our lives if we are able to achieve them.
Quite often we set goals which are more achievable so we can get to them and make ourselves feel good about being able to get there. When we get to the goal, the goal is complete and we set up another one – and so the story goes on and on. We get to feel good, not just once, but multiple times… But what happens when we are able to achieve a goal only to see it crushed by someone else doing something which makes it of no affect? What happens when our goals are dashed on the rocks? We feel down and despondent…
Any goal we set up here on earth, be it getting the latest game on our computer, getting the latest fashion, getting to be a millionaire… these are all things which are temporary and get bashed and dashed multiple times within our lifetimes. The joy of achieving them is overshadowed by the grief of having them taken away.
What we need to do, then, is to aim for goals which other people cannot take away from us. Goals which can never be dashed, bashed or destroyed by any human being or anything else here on earth! This is why we are encouraged to seek and save up treasures in heaven where they can never be touched by other humans. The joy is everlasting!
Points to Ponder:
What is your goal today?
Have you tried to ask God for your next goal to reach for?
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July 20: Isaiah 44:6-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 44:6
This is what the Lord says - Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
Devotion:
And when God asks you to do something for Him… what is your response going to be? I think we would all like to think we would jump up and down for joy at being asked to do something for God and go right ahead and do it… But we are facing all manner of things which work against God in our lives and He may well choose one of those things to either work against or to talk against!
I can remember the horror of being asked to come to London to do God’s work here, and not only that, but to be on one of the estates which was in the top ten worst estates just a decade ago! But God’s timing and His will can give us the strength to do many things if we are willing. There is no one like our God and we need to remember that every day!
OK, so it may have been meeting the local people and finding out how great the takeaways were which finally persuaded me – but God knew what would make me happy and He already had everything in place before I got here. He had even sent me on mission trips with others working in very deprived and unloved areas to prepare me for what was ahead. He taught me there is still love here despite what everyone else talks about!
God may well ask you to do something which you don’t like the sound of, but being patient and listening to Him each step of the way will allow you to do things which you never would have dreamed of doing before… It is God who can do amazing things and has done so much before us to try and convince us. We just need to take that first step and trust Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared when you do something new?
How willing are you to fully trust God?
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July 19: Exodus 3:1-6
Key Verse: Exodus 3:3
So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.’
Devotion:
After his escapade with killing the Egyptian and judging others, Moses went into hiding from Pharaoh and stayed there until after Pharaoh had died and things looked like they were calming down again. In the mean time he had to find work and was now looking after the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. Whilst looking after the sheep near Horeb, the mountain of God, an angel of the Lord appeared as a fire in the midst of a bush. The fire was burning but it was not burning the bush or consuming it as we would expect.
Moses, in his inquisitiveness, wanted to go up to the bush and see why the fire was nor burning it up… But God called out to him from within the bush! He called him by name so there was no doubt who God was calling. I’m not sure what I would have done in this instance other than wanting to go and touch the fire to see why it was not burning the bush!
God may not appear to you from within a burning bush or even in a great wind or earthquake, or whatever! God may be calling you by name but because you are not listening out for any call, you are not hearing it. That is one of our problems living in this noisy and crowded world we live in – there are far too many distractions for us to just sit still and listen to see if God is calling us by name…
I must say I do like the fact there is not a constant stream of planes flying overhead any more. It was something we got used to because it was there, virtually non-stop. But when it stops, you hear the difference and realise how much noise you have just accepted. Noise which is distracting and may be stopping you from hearing God. God called Moses when he was all alone, near Horeb and tending sheep. There was nobody else to take notes and guide Moses as to what to do next, he just had to put the world on pause and listen to God...
Points to Ponder:
How busy is your life?
Are you willing to pause your life and listen out for God?
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July 18: Exodus 2:11-14
Key Verse: Exodus 2:14
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
Devotion:
How many times have you ‘conveniently forgotten’ something you have done wrong? You knew it was wrong when you were doing it, but thought nobody would find out and it would be ok… God is watching us every step of the day and I’m sure does not like what He has to watch much of the day from people all around the world!
I would like us to think about the standards we have in our lives and how we apply them. Consider this… you see a friend of yours do something wrong. Do you report them for doing this? Do you point out their misgiving and ask them not to do it again? Do you forgive them and ignore what they have done? Or do you pretend you never saw anything in the first place?
We would probably answer this differently depending on who is doing wrong. We may well report someone who we don’t like or don’t even know because they have no relationship with us, but when it comes down to best friends, the answer goes the other way… Our overall standards differ according to where we are in life and who we are with. Moses was no different at this time. He did not think much of killing the Egyptian for doing wrong, but only warned his fellow Hebrews!
When Jesus came to tell us the most important commandment was to love one another, it was to make sure we change our ways and stop putting some people before others just because they are the same race or colour as us! God loves every one of us a His children and expects us to do our best to follow on in this same light. The historical records of the Western world have tended to be very biased toward those who are considered to be loyal or from the same part of the world as us. God wants this to change to be more in line with how Jesus showed love toward all mankind!
Points to Ponder:
Have you been given false history lessons because your government deemed is so?
Are you willing to follow Christ’s example and love all human beings?
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July 17: Exodus 2:1-10
Key Verse: Exodus 2:8
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
Devotion:
One of the amazing things about God is He can enable things to be done which we think are impossible. I love the way God made sure Moses was nursed by his own mother because God knew that was the best thing. If it were you or I trying to circumvent the laws we would probably be found out immediately and everything would end up in a bit pile on the floor – not so when God was involved!
God knew the best place for Moses to be nursed and made it so. He also knew the best place for Moses to grow up and learn the ways of the world, and that was with the Pharaoh’s daughter where he would be able to learn how to take care of a whole country; something which was going to be required of him a few years down the line!
God continues to know what is best for us and if we are willing to trust Him with decisions which we feel are too much for us or we are out of our depth handling them, then we can expect a good outcome… better than if we had planned things! The problem is we don’t always listen to God in every part of our lives – we like to keep some things private, or at least we think we are keeping them private!
God knows exactly what we get up to and He does try to continually guide us through the ‘storm of life.’ We find ourselves out of our depth in many things in life, but even in those cases, God continue to be able to cater for everything. God is going to use the people around us to enable us to do more as well, not just the priests and prophets, but everyone around us. The sooner we begin to realise God has ultimate power over everything, the sooner we can move forward and trust Him with our whole lives and not just the parts we think He should have. God wants to care for us in our entirety!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you try to keep from God?
Will you allow Him to do more in your life today?
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July 16: John 18:25-27
Key Verse: John 18:25
Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.”
Devotion:
What is your reaction when people ask you if you are a Christian? Or maybe they have asked if you are ‘one of those bible punchers’ or a ‘Jesus freak’ or some other derogatory slogan. Well, its only derogatory if you choose it to be so; you can make it a positive and praise God instead of bowing down to people who don’t believe in Him...
Jesus knew what people would be like and He faced up to them. He also told the disciples they would have to face people who would seek to harm them and even think they were doing this in God’s name. God does not choose to have us beaten, flogged or mocked. We open ourselves up to this because we dare to stand up for Christ and dare to sing praises to God. We do this because people do not get us, they do not believe in God and they don’t know what else to do!
The people had all been almost beaten into submission by the scribes and Pharisees. These were supposed to be the leaders of the church and yet they were the ones who were leading people away from God because they refused to believe Jesus was and is the Messiah. They did not want to accept the simple truth and continued to look for the difficult ways of living to show their devotion to God!
God does not want us to live a difficult life just to prove we believe in Him! Believe in Him first of all and many things in your life will fall in to place as you follow the will of God. Don’t be shy about saying you are a Christian and you believe in God. Don’t be worried about what others can do to you because what we have in Heaven is so much more and eternal!
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you rejected God in your words or actions?
Will you admit to believing in God?
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July 15: John 15:1-8
Key Verse: John 15:6
If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Devotion:
Being a good Christian can be difficult in this world where more and more people say we should be free to do what suits us rather than following other people’s rules and regulations. But if we are willing to keep our focus on Christ we will find it easier to continue walking with Him and doing His will in our lives. Doing His will is such a big part of being a Christian when it comes to our faith; if we are blocked from acting like a Christian, we may well find it more difficult to be a Christian...
But its not all about us and our walk with Christ. Yes, it all starts here and this is the branch from which we grow in strength and spirit… Don’t stop looking at how you react and how you can grow or whither. Start looking at the example we are to those around us and the strength they may gain from what we do and say. Start looking at how our actions affect those around us!
God wants us to remain strong and fruitful. If we break off and do our own thing, we are more likely to fail because we do not have the backing we had when we walked with Christ. The further we go the weaker the link and the more likely we may fail. What then happens to those around us who are looking up to us as being the example to follow? What happens to those who are not strong enough to last on their own?
The more we do things with those around us the more people are going to watch and listen. The more we are an example the better example we need to try and be. Not for our own sakes but for Christ and the sake of His children around us. Id don’t look at this as a burden of any kind but more as an opportunity to grow in Christ and allow other to join us in our growth!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you re-base yourself in Christ?
What makes you strong enough to reach out to others?
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July 14: Matthew 13:24-30
Key Verse: Matthew 13:25
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Devotion:
We have to be ever vigilant and ever ready doing God’s work. Whenever we slack off and get involved with other things instead of being vigilant with our work for God, the evil one is going to come in and throw a few weeds amongst our seeds we are planting. This may not seem like a problem at the time because we know we can pick up the next day and make sure our seeds will survive and thrive… but when it comes time for the harvest, the work is going to be twice as hard. So what sort of things are these weeds going to look like? I know I am terrible at identifying weeds from flowers!
One thing the evil one is going to use is doubt. The seeds of doubt are going to be sown in amongst the seeds of the gospel. This is not just going to make the work harder during harvest, but is also going to stunt the growth of the normal crop. The more doubt is scattered around the people in the community, the harder it is to promote the gospel because the doubters will have a louder voice. Selecting a few key people and preparing them for the work is going to make our work for God easier because the work can be shared.
Another thing the evil one will use is the success of the people who don’t hear the gospel or who don’t follow the gospel. The more he can make it look like success comes from any other place than God, the more people will look to other places and other people for personal gain instead of looking to God for eternal gain. Short term success is nothing in comparison to eternal salvation, but with everyone looking at the here and now, they loose focus on the future and only aim for personal gain.
One more thing the evil one will do is to bring down a community through whatever means he can. With a whole community feeling down because of something which has happened within the community, the harder it is to see the future and to see the hope Christ brought with Him. Switch on the gospel lights and keep them on!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you promote God’s Word?
How often do you follow up what you promote?
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July 13: Psalm 119:105-112
Key Verse: Psalm 119:112
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.
Devotion:
What do you see your bible as? Do you see it as a book of rules which you have to keep because that is what God has said? Perhaps you see it as a guide book which should be read as a life story. Perhaps you see it as the absolute truth and something you can always go back to. Whatever you view of the bible, I do hope you see it as a light in your life which will guide you in some way or another!
These words were written hundreds of years before Jesus came to be with mankind in human form, probably at a time when the views were beginning to change as to the outlook of the scriptures – none of the New Testament existed then and these words were only just being written down. Two things stand out to me and I would like you to go away with these thoughts in your hearts.
The first is the scriptures are a lamp by which you can see your way forward. What do you see the first few moments when you switch off the lights? Nothing… blackness… and if you are walking when the lights do go out, you probably want to stop and wait for your eyes to adjust to the new light level so you don’t fall over anything in your path. We do need a bit of light to see our paths, but the better the light source, the more confident we can be about walking forward without tripping up.
The second point has to be what you do with the scriptures. God has made sure these scriptures, both Old and New Testaments have survived throughout time and have been reproduced in many different languages all around the world. The bible has made its way into countries which have banned its publication and continues to be a world wide best seller. Now, what are you going to do with your bible? Are you going to read it and put it down like a novel, or will you read it and keep the words in your heart so you can live a better life?
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you pick up a bible a week?
What do you do with the words of the bible?