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December 8: Matthew 9:27-31
Key Verse: Matthew 9:31
But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
Devotion:
One of the things Jesus did on many occasions when He healed people was to tell them not to publicise the events. But, as we see here on this occasion the people who were blind and given sight by Christ went out and told everyone they could. Jesus was in the height of His ministry and did not want people to go and brag about His miracles to the Pharisees and the leaders of the church at the time otherwise they would seek to kill Him quicker than expected.
Even though Jesus knew the people He healed would go and spread the news to everyone, He also had so much love and compassion for the people He would not stop healing the poorly. The disciples may well have continued to write about all the things Jesus did had these people kept quiet, but on the other hand those people who needed healing the most may not have had the courage to come forward and be healed had they not heard from so many.
The more we show people how much God does in our lives the more likely they will come forward and try find out more about Him. The more people get to know about Jesus the more the good news will continue to spread. Jesus has already paid the price so we should be more than willing to tell of the good news nowadays.
But one thing we do need to do more of is to listen to Him and not to the people around us. I still do get persuaded at times by people around me to stop doing things and some of those people are church leaders. I continue to pray I will hear God’s words louder than the people’s voices so I can do His will!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you listen to most in your life?
How much do you really listen to God?
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December 7: Matthew 7:24-27
Key Verse: Matthew 7:26
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
Devotion:
Whenever I read these verses I remember the song we used to sing as small children for Sunday school. I wish I could also say I knew what the words meant back then but all I can remember is those words being used for telling children to be good instead. Jesus not only did miracles and cured people of their ailments but He taught a lot as well.
Some people could listen to Him in the temples and understand what He was telling them. Others in the market places would have to have the words explained in more simple terms because they had not had the luxury of being able to learn the scriptures in the same manner as those who were always in the temples or being taught by the teachers of the law.
This story puts things in a very simple way and it is not to do with being good. It has everything to do with listening to God, the scriptures and doing what it says. In other words it is not good enough to just be good; Jesus wants us to live out the scriptures in our lives.
He also laid it down plainly how we should behave so nobody would get confused about how to act as Christians. The root of it all is to love God and to love everyone just as much as we love God. If we love God and others, then doing good things for those who need it is second nature to us. We should not have to go out of our way to be good!
Points to Ponder:
How many of God’s lessons do you apply to your own life?
Will you try to love others as much as you can?
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December 6: Isaiah 9:2-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Devotion:
How many times a day do we hear news about another official somewhere making false promises or going back on what they said beforehand? How many times do we attribute that to power hungry lust, greed and lies? It is unfortunate we live in a world where we see a lot of this happening and we accept it as if it is normal.
The governments around the world make all manner of promises and get caught up in scandals from which they have no escape but to lie, beg, borrow or steal from others so they can get their own way. We see corruption on a scale we have not seen in the past. We see presidents and prime ministers doing things they ought not to… the list goes on.
We can be assured Jesus will not be like that when He returns; instead He will bring truth and justice like we have not seen before. All those who have taken their own way instead of the truth God has shown us will have nothing other than the earthly riches they have gained – even them some of them will lose more than they bargained for.
What we will see is a Lord who comes to set things right and to allow us to joyfully rejoice before God. Nations, kingdoms and alternative powers will all crumble as Jesus takes control. This is that same baby who was born a couple of thousand years ago who the powers crucified because they wanted their own ways instead. I can’t wait!
Points to Ponder:
Do you want to see peace in all the world?
How many people have you shared Christ with?
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December 5: Isaiah 11:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 11:1
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Devotion:
Do you have a hard time trying to convince people God exists or how they should believe and trust in Jesus? Well, maybe you are going about things the wrong way round… Jesus did not come and start shouting out the gospel trying to get people to listen to Him. He came to first belong with the people as a human Himself. Then He did righteous acts to persuade the people there was a different way of existing.
Then, and only then, did He perform miracles and tell people about God. He came to be amongst us and to live with us so we would not feel threatened or disbelieve incredulous stories. He came and showed people a different way of living and showed them they too can choose to live differently; a way which encompassed having God at the very core of life!
When Jesus showed compassion, it was for the people who needed it in their lives. He did not ignore people because they had not dressed up or gave enough money, He chose people because He knew they needed God in their lives, people who would be willing to listen in the end.
He did not judge people by the way they looked or talked. He judged people with absolute righteousness given to Him by The Father. When we listen to God we will be surprised at the people we get to sit at the table with and we will be further surprised at how He can change their hearts… not us...
Points to Ponder:
Have you tried to tell people about God?
Did you start by simply belonging with them?
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December 4: Isaiah 2:6-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 2:6
You, Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practise divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.
Devotion:
This is what Isaiah saw as visions and words from God. He knew there would be a division between people where few would call others to worship God and many would succumb to the ways of the world. They describe people abandoning everything they once stood for so they can follow after money and other riches instead; the very things God warned them about years beforehand.
God know we give in to the temptations of the world very easily because we lack the riches of the world. What is being described here is the love for money instead of for God, the love for superstitions instead of the laws of God, and the ways of the strangers instead of the ways of God.
The more we get entrapped in the ways of the world, the more we lust after them and the less we an focus on God because our hearts and minds have been taken over by these things, temptations and greed which surround us.
Isaiah does not want God to forgive and forget the sins of the people – why should he have to work so hard and sacrifice so much only to see those who do not care living the lives they seek. But it is not our choice as to whether God will forgive them or not – that is Christ’s choice alone because He came to give His life instead of us having to face the price for our sins.
Points to Ponder:
Do you just go with the flow and follow what others are doing?
Or do you try to live a separate life with Christ?
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December 3: Mark 13:32-37
Key Verse: Mark 13:36
If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
Devotion:
Have you ever been baby sitting for someone and not knowing when they are coming home? You tend to be on your very best behaviour all the time to make sure if they come home early you will be ready! This is the idea Jesus was trying to get over for the disciples; to make sure they were always going to be ready for when Jesus will return.
I like the way Jesus made sure they knew He did not know the time when He would return because it was entirely dependant on the Father. Jesus was walking into a nightmare where He would be taking on the sins of the world and having to be separated from His Father for a time while He took on the sins of the whole world.
Jesus sees how we have the face the world and knows what it is like. He has been through it all, the only difference being He was able to avoid sin for the whole time right up until the moment He had to take the sin of the world on His shoulders. He was our perfect sacrifice to ensure we would be able to spend eternity with Him and His Father in Heaven.
Jesus did not know when He would return because the Father had kept that from Him to ensure He was totally prepared as a perfect sacrifice for us. As we move into December and start thinking of all the worldly celebrations and family gatherings we will have, spare time this year to think about what Jesus had to do for His short life on earth just because He loves us so much!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know when you will die?
Are you ready right now in case?
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December 2: Luke 21:34-36
Key Verse: Luke 21:34
Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
Devotion:
One of the things which always seems to pop up at this time of year is some sort of depression: the nights are drawing in, it’s getting dark far too early, it’s cold and icy and lots of people come down with colds. But one of the things which affects us most is staying indoors for longer periods because the weather is just not hospitable outside – or at least that is the excuse we give.
Scientists and phycologists will tell you there are reasons for us all feeling down and for people taking up drinking and allowing the anxieties of life to take hold – they say it is because of the lack of sun and being outside. But it is more than that. That may be the physical reason why people to feel down, but when we do allow those feelings of anxiety in its many forms to take hold we are allowing the world to take over our lives.
God has warned us for a very long time we should not allow the ways of the world to grab hold of us and lead us away from Him. Sadly, anxiety and depression are just some of those things which take us away from God. We can call out as much as we like and tell people they only have to read the bible, but unless they have some sort of relationship with Christ, reading the bible may not help because they may not understand it!
God wants us to be in a relationship wit Him so He can guide us through the dark times; physically, mentally and spiritually. These worldly feeling can pounce on us like a trap and we will feel helpless against them; but with God’s help and encouragement we can weather them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you allow worldly feeling to take hold?
Have you tried depending more on Christ to stay those feelings?
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December 1: Psalm 139:13-18
Key Verse: Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Devotion:
How often do you look at the biology of the human form? I was never any good at biology because I could not remember all the names of the parts of the body and how they worked together; I could remember some parts of various others things like plants, but human anatomy just went over my head. I can, however, get my head round most engineering things, mathematics and technical drawings…
So when it comes to the bible talking about how God knows everything about me, I look at it as an engineering problem instead; even then the logistics of how we exist in this work are far beyond my computational thinking! So going through these verses makes me think of a designer who has thought long and hard about the design to make it the best possible knowing all the pitfalls and problems it is going to face for years to come.
So many things in our lives don’t seem to be designed to last. Instead people seem to design for a limited lifespan so they can make things obsolete and not have to worry about them in the future. Not what God has done! God has made us to live forever with Him, having a spell down on earth while we make the choices we need to make first.
God was there, doing things, planning and waiting patiently until you finally came together inside your mother’s womb and started the greatest journey on earth in preparation for the greatest life in eternity with Him and all who believe in what He has done for us all!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know when you started life on earth?
Are you ready for when your life will end on earth?
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November 30: Romans 10:12-18
Key Verse: Romans 10:13
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Devotion:
This is one of the verses the pastor of the church I went to continued to remind people of and it was a verse which would often go unnoticed by the people who came to visit to see what church was all about. But as we go through the verses in this section of the letter to the Romans we find another side of this verse which always has to go hand in hand with it.
How can people call on the name of the Lord unless they have heard of Him and heard what it means to call on His name. We could say to people they should visit a certain web page to get details, but if they have not heard of the Internet or have not been exposed to it, they will not know what you are talking about!
We take so much for granted in life and assume people know what we know. We give them directions from what we know and hope they will follow the directions; but they do need to know what the base is before they can build on that base. This is why we need to continue spreading the gospel from the roots up.
We cannot assume people have heard the gospel and know how to respond because there are still many who have not heard the Good News about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Don’t just tell people to believe, give them something to hope in so they can build their belief on firmer standings.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you tell people they need to believe in God?
How often do you tell them about God first?
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November 29: Daniel 5:1-6
Key Verse: Daniel 5:6
His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.
Devotion:
When was the last time you were faced with the truth after trying to hide it for a long time? How did that feel. Now imagine something a bit more horrifying as King Belshazzar sat there and the finger of a human hand appear before him and start writing something on the wall! We may joke about seeing things and write books and films about strange happenings, but seeing something write text on the wall by itself would be on my top list of things I don’t wish to see!
After this happened the king called in all his enchanters, astrologers and diviners to see what this writing meant; but it was only when Daniel was called in could the writing be deciphered. God had made this writing appear and had placed Daniel at this time and place to decipher the writing and warn the king about what he was doing!
We may not like the places God puts us sometimes because we don’t like to be placed anywhere where we are in danger or uncomfortable. But Daniel stopped and listened to God to find out what was happening and what God wanted the king to hear.
If we stop from our busy lives and spend time with God we too will get to know what it could be we are doing wrong or where He wants us to be. Daniel trusted God would look after Him and his faith in God was not let down. God delivered and made sure he would be well looked after while the king decided how he was to live his life.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared God may put you in a difficult position?
How will your faith grow without depending more on God?