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June 2: Psalm 104:24-30
Key Verse: Psalm 104:26
There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
Devotion:
Stop and have a look at the world around you. Go and find out what the world looks like now with more fresh air and clearer skies before we go back to spoiling it all again! God has created this all and He continues to love and support this world we live in – but we continue to spoil it through out antics and through our greed! What use is a whale other than for our pleasure to watch and marvel at?
God provides feed and shelter for the wild animals – mankind comes along and destroys much of it without thought. But as we go through this time of lock-down we can see a big difference in our world, a big difference which allows us to re-see the beauty God created in the beginning. When I look at some movies depicting end of the world scenarios where cities have gone back to nature, I see a lot of artistic licence because we have done such a bad job at spoiling things I fear it will never be that easy for nature to come back again.
But, as we look around and see some of the beauty, we can stop and think about how much God loves us – the fact He set this all up in the beginning and He set it all in balance so it would survive and thrive. I should not take too much for us to change the world for a better place to live in – but mankind is a bit lazy and a bit too greedy to allow that to happen just yet.
I do hope and pray you have all stopped and looked at the world around you today and seen what God has given to us. I do pray it will make you think about the way you live personally – because if we all change just a little bit, the overall change is going to be very dramatic, just as we have been able to witness during lock-down. Stop and give God a go!
Points to Ponder:
Do you live according to God’s wishes?
Do you really live according to God’s wishes?
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June 1: Numbers 11:24-30
Key Verse: Numbers 11:29
But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Devotion:
How do you feel when other people prophesy over you? I must admit that I am sometimes a bit scared of what people are going to say about me… I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in a wonderful hot climate where we spent most of our time outdoors; I still long for the time when I can spend longer periods outdoors and in the bush. When I came to England I spent a while travelling around and finally settled in Suffolk where I enjoyed being close to nature again and far from cities. So when someone told me I should be thinking about going to London to work for God, I was a bit stumped! Why!!!
But the longer I am here the more I realise why God has put me here in them middle of an estate in London – because this is where He wants me to be, this is where the need is. As we live through this lock-down and start to come out the other side of it I know so many people here on the estate are fearful of what is ahead for us and fearful of what will happen because so many people live in close proximity to each other. But I also know we were brought here to share the hope we have and allow people to see the greatness of our God!
It is wonderful to see so many people engaging with God on this estate; I must add I am a late addition to the team here because our vicar has been here for over a decade already. I love seeing the local people rise up out of their entrapped lifestyles and blossom as they receive gifts from the Holy Spirit, all unique and all so desperately needed here. God knows exactly what he is doing but we don’t always see it!
We really do need to encourage people to live with the Holy Spirit and accept Him as part of their lives. Through this we will see God’s kingdom grow and more people start their wonderful and eternal relationships with Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get jealous when others hear from God?
How often do you stop and listen?
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May 31: 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:7
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Devotion:
This is the day we celebrate the culmination of Jesus’ love for us when we see the promise He gave of someone to be with us forever come true! This is the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit filling the disciples and we see the differences of how the spirit worked in each of their lives. The Holy Spirit will fill us with different strengths so we can all work for the common good, so we can fulfil God’s hope for a loving Christian society.
To see how the Spirit worked in each of the disciples lives, we have to try and read between the lines; even though we see how each of them worked for God’s glory and continued to share the gospel wherever they were, we don’t tend to get a running commentary about what the Spirit was doing in each of their lives, they just got on with doing what God was asking of them!
As long as we remember the words that the Spirit is given for the common good, then we can listen to all He is teaching us and work to give God the glory He deserves. We don’t have to have it in writing or have a contract in place before we do anything – God gives us the power and strength to do things by His guidance through the Holy Spirit. As long as we are willing to listen to God, we are on the road to living in His will.
Each of us are going to receive different words, different instructions, different strengths and different tasks to achieve in our lifetimes. Don’t panic about not being able to do enough for God because He is working in your life to prepare you for the task He has for you to do. This may be ask simple as telling your next door neighbour about Jesus or it may be as complicated as taking the gospel into a country where worshipping God is banned! Just listen and trust God knows best!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop and listen to God?
How often do you act on what God tells you?
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May 30: 1 Kings 18:11-14
Key Verse: 1 Kings 19:12
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Devotion:
Most people want some sort of ‘big bang’ to happen when God talks to them or when they ask for something from God. In reality God is going to silently and covertly answer so many more prayers than the ones we notice because they are big events! I love these verses which depict Elijah standing on the mountain waiting for God; there are all sorts of big events which people would otherwise claim to come from a god: wind, earthquake and fire. But none of those were God’s presence even though we expect God to show Himself in awesome physical ways!
God does not have to boast about His love for us and does not have to make the whole world notice when He wants to speak to us – but He does want us to stop and listen for Him and wait for His instruction. How did Elijah know it was God when the other forces of nature looked even more powerful than the whisper which got to him? Elijah waited for something unique from God, a personal touch which the world cannot give us.
We may think of such things like the pandemic s being a judgement from God, but in reality it is simply a mistake made by mankind and one for which the whole world is paying for! This has nothing to do with God other than us lifting up our prayers for mercy and an end to this all. But if it suddenly stopped tomorrow, got wiped off the face of the earth by a single word from God, how many people would go back to doing exactly what they were doing before the pandemic?
We do need to stop and listen, not just to the world as we begin to realise how much we have polluted and broken it, but to God who has been trying to get this message to us for a long time! To listen properly we have to stop all the fuss and just sit with God until we hear Him. How can we hear Him when we have so many other things distracting us? How can we focus on the still small voice when we have a country shouting at us from all angles?
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop and listen?
Will you set aside a small amount of time every day to stop and listen to God?
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May 29: Luke 15:25-32
Key Verse: Luke 15:29
But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
Devotion:
How do you feel when other people get all the attention and you don’t get any? How much worse is it when you have been doing all the work and someone who has done nothing right comes in and they get all the attention! We all have a sense of self-importance which tends to rule our emotions much of the time, but this is not what God has asked for!
Jesus did not come into the world as a major celebrity to entice people to join the gang or to be part of the latest social craze; instead He came as a servant to us, someone who was willing to do so much for us and end up by giving His life for us. He did this all with the minimum of fuss and tried to keep the peace except when telling people about His Father in Heaven.
But if we look at it from the point of view of the ‘lost sheep’ who had wondered off, we see a Saviour who is willing to go out into the worst places to find the lost and bring them home. The celebration for seeing that one lost person come to have a relationship with Jesus as we know Him is a celebration for all of us and not just the people concerned! In fact, we should be concerned because they were lost!
Some of us may have known Christ almost all of our lives and we just keep going, doing what God asks and keeping things in order day after day… then along comes some drug-addicted lost person and they get all the attention as God turns their life around. This is time for us to celebrate, not be jealous! God has done what we could not. He has broken the chains which bound that person and set them free from their old lives. Just because we have not been tied up with anything stronger than a piece of thread does not mean we should not celebrate with our new brother or sister; they have a whole lot more pulling them back to their old ways than we do – give them the help they need to keep going for Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get upset when others get more attention from church than you?
Do you know God has been working with you to make that possible?
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May 28: Romans 8:37-39
Key Verse: Romans 8:39
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotion:
When we look at the love we have or have had for other people, we may question what love is because so many relationships and friendships end with cruel break-ups which have nothing to do with love. I know I have looked back on past relationships and wondered how I could have thought I was in love knowing what has happened since then, but then I also look back and see how easy it is to look past grievances and uphold love in stressful times!
The writer here expresses his opinion of how the love which God shows toward us should never end, but he does so in a way which makes us stop and think. There is nothing he can imagine which could stop the love God has for us. Nothing here on earth and nothing up there in Heaven or anywhere in between! This is not the same as our earthly ‘loves’ because we can imagine what would happen if we broke up and we do have such imaginations even in the greatest relationships we have.
I continue to marvel at this love God has for us and I continue to be astounded by it after seeing how He has loved me during my ups and downs in my relationship with Him. His love has never wavered but mine has been a bit of a roller-coaster at times! For anyone to be able to love me knowing my faults and knowing the things I do wrong is so very special to me and keeps me going in my rough times.
Because of this love we are ‘more than conquerors’ as described in these verses. The power and strength we get from this love and relationship with God means we can achieve so much more than we could if we were not in a relationship with God. The encouragement and strength I have received means I am able to stand up and pass on that love to the people around me – even though I know I don’t deserve the love, it continues to rain down on me!
Points to Ponder:
Name one thing you have done wrong in an earthly relationship!
God still loves you even though you have done more to Him!
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May 27: 1 John 3:16-18
Key Verse: 1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Devotion:
What sort of things do you do because you love someone? Do you pray for them? Do you give them food when they need it? Do you care for them when they are ill? Do you go out of your way to be there for them when they are anxious? All these things are actions which we can do to show our love toward others and this should not be limited to the people we hold nearest and dearest only – God wants us to do these things for our neighbours!
What is love if there are no actions to follow it up with? I know it is very difficult to show our love in ways we used to a few short months ago, but this should not withhold us from showing love in other ways. Prayer is one of those ways we can reach out to others in love, not because they can hear you praying, see you praying or be with you praying, but because you know God will answer your prayers and uphold them toward those you pray for!
One of the biggest ‘actions’ we can offer in love is to tell the truth, no matter what! I have learned the hard way that telling a lie will not end well and will bring down you soul as well as the people who hear that lie. This can be a lie spoken out loud, or even a lie kept to yourself – people are still affected by your lie even when you do not say it out loud. The people who are going to be most affected by your lies are the people who are closest to you, the very people you do not want to lie to!
We can all see the enormous affects of lie which governments tell, the lies penetrate the lives of every person in those countries! Those lies seep the energy out of souls who would otherwise be fed by the truth and by encouragement. It is little wonder lawlessness breaks out when lies are told… God always tells us the truth. Jesus came to fulfil the truth and allow us to see the power of truth. He stepped forward and took action when others were just talking about it. I love the slogan of the charity I work with “Be the change!”
Points to Ponder:
How do you like showing people you care for them?
Will you put aside your wants for someone else’s needs today?
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May 26: John 17:11-12
Key Verse: John 17:11
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
Devotion:
In recent weeks we have talked about the love Christ has for us and previous to that we looked at how God has asked us to love one another; so one more about the love Jesus had and knew that He had to uphold above everything! When Jesus prayed before He was to be taken away and punished in such a horrible way, He lifted up those around Him in prayer. He knew God had given Him charge over the disciples and He knew He must protect them in order to for the correct outcome to be fulfilled.
Whilst Jesus was with the disciples, He was able to protect them from harm, but He also had to make sure Judas Iscariot would be allowed to betray Him. He was doing this out of love, love for the people around Him and love for the whole world as He put into place everything required to cover the sin of the rest of us!
It is this love He wants us to extend toward other as well, a love which will take love first in order to uphold what is righteous and what needs to be done. This was not a political statement or move, but a prayer out of love for all of us. He wanted to make doubly sure the people He had been able to mix with were going to be protected by God from this point onward. Jesus had been able to see the power of a personal relationship with another person, one which promoted love.
This prayer was to extend that personal relationship between God and everyone. To define the love God has for us. Previous to this we had not had such a public and open display of His love on a personal level; we had seen God protecting the people of Israel over and over again, but now it was for the relationship between Him and every person on earth – you and I included!
Points to Ponder:
Do you now see the love Jesus has for us all?
Will you extend that love to the people around you?
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May 25: Matthew 18:12-14
Key Verse: Matthew 18:13
And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
Devotion:
How many of your friends are always there for you and how many of them just seem to come and go when it suits them? I know this is a harsh thing to say and I know there are so many reasons why we all ‘come and go’ in friendship circles, so generalising is not encouraged! But there is a friend who will never leave your friend circle and who will always come and find you when you go off and get lost! That friend is Christ!
In our societies we often look at the profit margin rather than in our hearts when it comes to business decisions – but people’s souls have nothing to do with business decisions, or at least they should not have! God does not weigh up things and see where and when the most profitable time and place will be to gain the most souls! God seeks out every single soul, leaving none alone!
This is so aptly told in the parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd is looking after 100 sheep, notices one of them has wandered off, leaves the 99 safer sheep and goes off to find that one lost sheep. He knows those 99 are going to be safe because He knows each one of them. Often as Christians we get down-hearted because we think God is not listening or we think He has wandered off to do something else… These times are when He has faith in us, knowing we are strong enough to continue going while He makes a detour to find another lost sheep!
God does not want to see any one of us wander off and get lost. As Christians we need to stick together to keep each other safe from the world; we need to encourage each other knowing we are in the fold where we are safe. God is not leaving us alone and He certainly is not turning our backs on us; just maybe He has made a detour to find the single lost person and wants you to be strong and loving to welcome them in when He returns with them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get tired of just being a Christian?
DO you know God is trusting you with Christianity to be ready for the next one?
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May 24: Romans 5:6-8
Key Verse: Romans 5:6
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Devotion:
This is probably the most important part of God’s love which we need to be reminded of – especially when our lives are being turned upside-down with the pandemic situation! This is how God loved us even before we got to know Him! Have you ever ‘fallen in love instantly?’ Not that this can be compared to the love of God, but you know how it changes your life and eventually the life of the other person if you get together. It’s that point I want to focus on – how your life will change when you reciprocate a bit of that love God showed you first of all!
It’s not like we had to do anything to get God to love us – something I see so much of around me and something I find a bit disturbing. We may be able to fool other humans into believing we care for them for a while, but the truth eventually comes out. We cannot really hide from the love of God because He has shown His love for us from the beginning and has done some pretty amazing things to try and convince us of His love… even before we got to know Him!
God knows what we are like. He knows all the bad things we get up to and He knows what is going on in our hearts and minds; yet His love for us knows no bounds and continues to be poured out on us. We don’t have to sort ourselves out before He can love us. We don’t have to make sacrifices before He loves us… He loved us from the beginning and that was when we were powerless to do anything about that love! Jesus died for us even though we were doing things against Him!
We may think we would protect our nearest and dearest even by giving our lives for them, but would we do that for our enemies? Would you willingly give your life so your worst enemy could live? That is what Jesus did for us! That is the awesomeness and faithfulness of Christ’s love for us!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for the people you love?
Do you know how much Christ has done for you already?