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July 2: Matthew 16:1-4
Key Verse: Matthew 16:3
and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Devotion:
How many times have you checked up on sayings like “red sky at night, shepherds delight?” Sayings like these have been used and depended upon by many people over the past – and now we know there is scientific basis for some of these sayings. But we do not trust in and believe biblical sayings… I look at the arguments going on in churches about the Black Lives Matter movement and wonder what goes through people’s minds as they try to make sense of things for themselves.
There is no way on earth we can support the way in which black people have been treated in the past, and this is not just America but has roots in countries all over the world. I was born in a British colony and was taught lies in school based on what the British colonialists wanted me to know. The more I read about the work Christians were doing behind the scenes to try and get help for the under-class, the more I got involved and the more I was alienating myself from many of my ‘white friends.’
Jesus taught a ministry of full inclusion and not exclusivity. Too much of the modern world is built up on the lies of many generations and those lies need to be exposed. For much of my life I have wondered who is actually telling the truth because I have seen so many things which have been against Christ’s teaching in churches and governments. I don’t condone violence to support a cause, but when the governments themselves are covering up the truth there are going to be people who cannot take it any more, people who will have to use violence to get themselves heard.
Many countries will call this terrorism because it is so violent. What we need to do is to preach the gospel message Jesus brought to us, and if that means going against the very countries we have been brought up in, then Jesus’ ministry must be upheld. If we stick to our old ways we can never move forward to embrace Christ’s truth, we will be stuck with the old ways, ways which have been causing us problems for far too long.
Points to Ponder:
Do you really believe we are all God’s Children?
Will you open your heart and home to everyone?
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July 1: Matthew 13:47-50
Key Verse: Matthew 13:48
When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
Devotion:
I wonder what the people thought of Jesus when He compared them to various things, from animals to plants and more! I’m sure there were quite a few people who could not quite get their heads round what Jesus was saying at times – but each time this happened, He would sense it and offer some sort of explanation if it was required. I think the disciples got this one quite quickly because many were from a fishing background and understood what happens to the catch when it is sorted…
This may sound a bit harsh to us nowadays because we are so insulated from the reality of where food comes from and what is required to deliver that food from the source to our plates, or freezers! Jesus wanted them to understand the gravity and finality of what was going to happen, so He used their own lives to describe it.
When the gospel message goes out to the world, it does not get selected for the few who know Jesus at the time, it goes out to everyone who is near at the time. Some of those people are not going to want to hear it whilst others don’t know they need to hear it. The net goes down and scoops up everyone who is there at the time. But not everyone is going to be selected from that net load because some will still not believe and some will still not want to know.
When it is time for the net to get drawn in, when it is time for Jesus to come back to take us home, there are going to be people who are caught up in the net but do not believe or do not understand. Jesus has the task of sorting out the fish on that final day and He will go about His task with due diligence, without bending the rules and without making exceptions just because we kick off a bit!
Points to Ponder:
Have you told the people near you about Jesus?
Do they know it will be time soon for Him to return?
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June 30: John 21:15-19
Key Verse: John 21:16
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
Devotion:
How often does your loyalty get called into question? If you are like me then it is probably quite often because I seem to do silly things without thinking of the consequences and end up upsetting people without wanting to. But there are a couple of things these verses remind us of...
I think the first one is that our actions are going to have consequences. No matter how careful we are about doing things, there will always be someone who does not agree with the way we do things and points it out at some stage. Whether this is good or bad is going to depend on what we are doing! But, as Jesus was reminding Simon Peter here, so He reminds us every day as well. We say one thing, but are we following what we say up with what we do – are our actions the same as what we say they should be?
Jesus knows our hearts and knows what we are capable of. He asks us to stretch ourselves when we do things for Him, but He knows we are capable of doing those things before He asks – we may not think so… He has carefully selected each one of us for the things He has planned because He knows what has to be done. If we are going to be the ones saying ‘here I am, use me’ then we need to live up to that!
The second thing we are reminded of here is our own commitment to Jesus. We may say we believe. We may say we care. We may say we love… but how much of that bears fruit in our lives? How much of what we say does happen? Jesus made sure each promise which came out of His mouth came to pass and He continues to live up to those promises. He did not say “I promise to...” but simply spoke the words and we can take those words as promises. Why can’t we be more like that in our lives? Why can’t we just tell the truth and mean what we say?
Points to Ponder:
Do you bend the truth sometimes?
Do you know God sees the actual truth all the time?
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June 29: Ezekiel 34:11-16
Key Verse: Ezekiel 34:16
I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
Devotion:
In the Western world we have all seen the results of people rejecting bad authority, fighting for justice and generally doing things their own way; there is a whole lot of chaos, disruption and even danger for the people involved just because they got carried away with their own thoughts and wants instead of sticking to the way of justice. Now I am not saying we need to obey our governments words if they are wrong, and believe me we have seen our fair share of governmental blunders this year… We need to strive toward real justice and real authority.
God continues to keep His promises! We read about some of those promises given to the prophets of old and I am personally amazed at how these continue to come true no matter what we get up to in our minds and hearts. Christ promised to be our Good Shepherd and we have seen how He can do this when people listen to His instructions. Sheep will listen to the shepherd because they have learned that is where the safety is… mankind doesn’t seem to get that!
In this passage our Lord promises to look for us in all the wrong places we get into, to rescue us from those dark times, deep pits and general confusion. He promises to watch over us and keep us safe. He promises to give us rest and a richer experience if we follow Him, just as sheep would follow a shepherd.
One of the aspects we often look over are the snippets we can draw from these prophets as they interpreted the word of God for us. One thing which caught my eye was how we are promised our own land, just as God delivered the Israelites into a new land, we too are promised a new land where we will be able to live in true justice and peace. I look forward to that day; in the mean time we work toward that goal!
Points to Ponder:
Do you expects things to be done for you?
Or will you work hard to help the Shepherd?
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June 28: John 9:13-23
Key Verse: John 9:16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
Devotion:
Jesus did cause quite a stir wherever He went, not just because He was performing miracles or because He was telling people the truth about God, but because He was doing so when and where the help was required. Too many times we get caught up in the when and where and lose focus on the what and the whom for. Jesus was always focused on the whom for and He was willing to do what it took when it was required!
Now, if we were to do things more in the way Jesus did them, we too would find a barrage of people willing to speak up against us because we dare to do what is right! People are too entrenched in the ways of their lives and lose focus on who they are serving; and yes, as Christians we too are guilty of this because we get too caught up in what our church should look like instead!
One other thing we tend to lose focus on when we focus on our church or our own lives is what Jesus can do! The Pharisees refused to believe Jesus was the Messiah and limited Him to being a prophet, this would give Him authority to do some things, but He would have to keep within their laws – something Jesus was not willing to do. We need to free ourselves from the restrictions of what we think should happen and allow Christ to show us what can happen when we give Him the proper authority due!
When we impose our ways and our limits, we are also imposing limits on the people we are trying to free. When we limit Jesus in ways we can understand, we are limiting the faith of the people around us to what we can explain in human limitations. God is not limited by what we can understand! We need to change to expect more from God so the people around us can see more of what God can do!
Points to Ponder:
Do you limit your belief?
Will you free your faith to grow to Jesus’ proportions instead?
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June 27: John 7:14-18
Key Verse: John 7:18
Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
Devotion:
How many know someone who is always telling everyone how things actually are and will not stop to listen to anything anyone else has to say? I’m sure we can all think of people in our communities who fit this description and if we are honest many of us will go out of our ways to stay out of their ways because we don’t want to get involved in an argument against someone who will never admit defeat!
But imagine if you met someone who actually did tell the truth and did know the answers for everything. Someone who was not pompous about it and did not refuse to listen to your point of view – or even more to know your point of view before you got into any argument and was able to point out the problems with your way of thinking before you dug a big hole for yourself with words which were more emotive than truthful!
I think I can imagine how the people in the temples felt about this ‘unlearned’ person coming in and telling them the truth. As much as they hated the truth being pointed out to them, they had to accept it. But they did not want to go down without some sort of fight or argument! So they started to blame His knowledge on things out of their control, things they knew as evil and demonic in any way!
We need to be more like Jesus and know what we are talking about if we are going to try and face arguments from others. But a better way is probably to simply tell the truth at the level of your own understanding and not to try and get one up on others who may well know more than you. Our’s is not to promote ourselves, but to promote God in all we say and do – this is the life of a Christian and one we should revel at upholding for our God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like a good argument?
Will you stick to what you know about God?
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June 26: John 4:39-41
Key Verse: John 4:41
And because of his words many more became believers.
Devotion:
How often do you talk about what God has done in your life. If, like me, the answer is always ‘not enough!’ We simply do not tell people enough about what God does in our lives because we don’t always think of the things He is doing for us every day, you know, the every day things… But when we realise He has done something big in our lives we tend to keep quiet about it in case someone does not like the fact we have had something special done for us… Bit of a catch 22 thing going here!
God would love us to talk about Him all the time so others will get to know the little things He does as well as the big advertised things He does. I am in the middle of trying to put pen to paper about just what God has done for me over the last year and a bit, how He has brought me through when doctors and family thought things were going south for me! It is difficult because I don’t want to sound pompous about God doing something for me – but that is God’s love in action and people need to know about it...
When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well, it was not a long theological debate, just the simple truth about who He is and what He can do! We don’t have to worry about the theology behind what God does in our lives, just to remember it is Him doing these wonderful things and not just random chance. I love God because of what He has done for everyone and want Him to be able to do so much more for other people, and He knew that so made sure I survived and will continue to tell the story and give Him the glory.
When the woman went back to tell others about what had happened, they knew her past, the knew who she was and they did not expect God to show her love. But He did! That is the base of the story which made others want to come and find out more for themselves. When we talk about God, we need to make it personal and allow people to see He does things for ordinary people like us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you have to be special for God to love you?
Have you asked Him to come into your life?
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June 25: John 4:1-9
Key Verse: John 4:1
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John
Devotion:
One of the things I have tried to stay away from is the ‘numbers game’ where church leaders or missionaries try to measure their success by the number of people the reach or gain into their ‘flock.’ I try to fool myself into believing I have never lead anyone to the Lord because I feel better for what I do if I think in that manner! Jesus went about His daily life in teaching mode when with the church leaders, in loving mode when with disciples, in exploring mode when with people asking questions and in merciful mode when meeting with sinners.
He did not treat people all the same. He treated them differently, but loved them all the same. When He heard the Pharisees were trying to take count of how many people were being added to the Christians following, He went off to do something different. It was the disciples who were doing the evangelising even though they did not see it that way. It was the disciples doing the baptising most of the time, but Jesus welcomed every one of them into the church, no matter what circumstance surrounded them.
When they came to the town called Sychar, Jesus sat down at the well and waited, not for the crowds to develop or for the number to increase, but for the lone person who was about to come to the well hoping they would not be noticed! It was not all about gathering as many people together to try and convert them, but reaching out to a single person at the right time with an open heart.
We need to stop our race to make a big church and reach out to the single people who come through our lives, the ones who are slipping through the cracks because they don’t want to be ridiculed by the righteous people. The ones who Jesus loves because they are hurting and missing out on the love He wants them to have just because of their circumstances.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you think your church is aiming to reach?
Will you step off the beaten track today to reach out to a very lost soul?
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June 24: Mark 8:14-21
Key Verse: Mark 8:18
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
Devotion:
How quickly do you forget when things happen your way? I’m sure we can all recall a time when things went wrong or they did not happen in the way we expected them to, but how many times do you remember when things happened the right way? If you are like me, then you tend to forget the good things because we are expected them to happen and they happened; but those bad things I remember!
Jesus pointed this out to the disciples because He could sense they were only picking up on the bad things. We are very much like the disciples in the way we remember things too. If we want to try and see the amount of times God is actually doing things in our lives, then we have to make a big change in how we remember things. I could say we should all write down each good or bad thing, but I know I keep forgetting to write down the good times.
Our attitude needs to change, not so we can try to overcome the bad things but so we can focus on the good things and start to expect the good things every day of our lives. The more we expect God to do things, the more we will ask Him to intercede because we are expecting something good to come out of it! But so long as we focus on the bad times, we expect to not get our prayers answered – whether we use the excuse that we are asking the wrong things or at the wrong time, or whether we say “God doesn’t want me to have that yet” is not really the question…
We should be looking back in our lives and picking up on the things God has done so we will be encouraged to ask for more. We should be asking and expecting positive responses all the time. This is what God has promised and what we should expect! Is it time for us to make a change? Yes! Expect better things and start loving the people God has brought into your lives!
Points to Ponder:
Do you focus on the bad times like me?
Will you join me in trying to focus on what God has done?
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June 23: Mark 7:14-15
Key Verse: Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
Devotion:
What is it which makes you afraid of going out into the world and showing people you are a Christian? I know we all still have fears during this time when the virus is still hanging round our necks, but what I am aiming at here is the choice we have to go into a different surrounding to our normal lives and try to make a difference. I used to be very scared of allowing myself to be ‘corrupted’ by people whom I thought not to be Christians, but God has taught me we have to do what Jesus did!
Jesus did not just limit His journey to a few converts and teach them all they needed to preach to others. He went into the most deprived places, the places where criminals kept company and to the places where one would not normally invite yourself into. This is what He wants us to do as well – as scary as it does sound and feel!
The thing which opened my eyes was to go onto a travellers camp and open up the bible to the young children. I have never felt so comforted by God and, as it happened, so protected by the people I was sharing God’s Word with! When God wants you to go somewhere, He is going to make sure you make the right impression and are comforted and cared for as long as you are doing what He is asking. It is very easy to go in with your guns blazing and try to do things by yourself and how you think things should be done. This is not what God is asking. He is asking us to continue listening to His instructions!
So how do we know the difference between what we want and what God wants? There-in lies the issue for us. We have to ask Him and wait for instructions. Not just a couple of seconds after we pray as our minds fill up with good ideas, but wait for as long as it takes for Him to give us a definitive answer – that is always the hard part!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are doing the right things for God?
Are you doing what God is actually asking?