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October 27: Romans 7:18-25
Key Verse: Romans 7:23
but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
Devotion:
I am sure we all try to be good at times, and I am sure we also get into trouble at times because we are not good. As hard as we try to be good at everything we do, we will always fall short of the standard we set for ourselves and the standard God set for mankind! So what makes us go off the rails and do bad things, or things we should not do?
We could blame it on the temptations or the others around us who lead us off into those sinful acts, but what it comes down to in the end is we have a sinful nature which takes over at times and makes us do things we know are not right. We have the knowledge to stop ourselves but we don’t seem to have the strength to stop.
As this letter to the Romans puts it, we have a war raging inside us where our minds say it’s alright to do things so we go ahead and do them. We may know before hand, during or after the fact these things are wrong and work against God, but our minds say it’s going to be ok this time: this is our sinful nature taking over.
We can thank God Jesus came to give us a way out of this sinful trap we find ourselves in. He came to deliver us from those sins so we do not have to be a slave to this sinful nature which lives inside us. Instead we can draw on the strength Christ gives us through the Holy Spirit to avoid those situations and turn our backs on the sin. Through His blood we have been forgiven!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things you know are not right?
How often do you call out to Christ to help you avoid those times?
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October 26: Romans 6:19-23
Key Verse: Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotion:
One of the things you never get to see when you are encamped in sin is how destructive your life and behaviour is to your soul. The more you get involved with the sin the more you lose sight on the righteousness in life and the more you are convinced you have to do certain things to survive. You lose sight of real life and you become a slave to sin.
What Jesus came to teach people was we can, with His help, turn our lives around so we no longer feel entrapped by the sinful life we used to live. He wants us to be free from the sin and all the traps of the sinful life because they lead to nothing but destruction, both to yourself and to the people around you.
The more we turn our backs on sin and focus on righteousness the more we are able to show ourselves and others there is a better way of living; one which not only invites righteousness, but one which involves Christ in every step of life. When we grow closer to Christ in our lives we do see the shortcomings of this world and the sin which traps people from all walks in life.
With Christ’s help we can walk away from those traps rather than giving in and falling into the pit of despair which sin digs for us. It is not ourselves who cause the sin but the evil one making the temptation of false promises look real; then we fall into his trap and cannot find a way out.
Points to Ponder:
How much of your life is Christ invited into?
Will you make Him an honoured guest?
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October 25: Roman 6:12-14
Key Verse: Romans 6:14
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Devotion:
One of our biggest downfalls is we think we are greater than sin or that we can overcome it by ourselves. Once we allow sin into our lives the battle to turn away from sin becomes greater and greater until we have no hope of being able to stop by ourselves. The only way is to allow someone else to help us. I say allow because there is a difference between being forced to stop sin and allowing someone to help you stop it.
When we are forced to stop sin we don’t really understand the power of sin because someone else has taken it away for us. But if we are part of the stopping of the sin, then we understand how destructive it can be and are less likely to allow it back into our lives. Now there are sins which you can get help with from friends or other people, but to make sure we turn our backs on it we need extra help.
A friend can only help you to manage it, but God can help you to turn your back on it all together. The sin can be identified by the law, be it the law of the land or Gods law. To understand sin and the affect it has on our lives we need Gods insight. The law of the land will allow you to see the sin and understand it is wrong, but Gods insight will allow you to see a whole lot more.
Because Jesus gave His life to cover our sin debt we owe, we no longer have to live under just the law and we no longer have to fight sin alone. Christ came to take the burden sin gives us and allow us to move forward with Him in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with sin?
Will you allow Christ to help you?
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October 24: Luke 12:35-38
Key Verse: Luke 12:37
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will make them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Devotion:
You could take this passage in almost any part of life and apply it, but here we should be thinking of the readiness of every Christian when our Lord does return. You may have noticed the harder you work, the more likely your employer is going to give you rewards… so do we apply this in our Christian lives?
A fair amount of Christians do subscribe to that philosophy and indeed our Bibles do tell us of greater rewards for some, but it is not for works. There are some who make a living out of doing work for the church even though they do not have faith in Christ. There are some who give their lives to serving Christ and expect nothing in return. Where do you stand? Maybe somewhere between the two?
Do our Christian lives need to be a balance between working for a living and serving Christ? I used to try to make sure I made enough money to be able to pay into church funds and help support the church. I never seemed to be able to do that as well as I wanted to because there was always something lacking. So I started trying to listen to God and find out what it was He wanted me to do…
When we do listen to direction from God, He will make sure we are in the right place at the right time to do the greatest for the kingdom of God. When we begin to rely on Him we find earthly things fall into place and we have our needs met one way or another. Just be ready to serve God when He calls!
Points to Ponder:
Do you serve God at all?
Are you ready to say yes when He calls?
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October 23: Romans 4:20-25
Key Verse: Romans 4:21
being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised
Devotion:
We don’t have too much to go on with regards to Abraham’s early life, but we do have a lot to go on with his later life because we know he was a man of faith. In these words he is described as being a man who knew God would deliver on His promises; even if he did falter a bit when Sarah questioned whether things were going the right way.
Sometimes we just have to rely more on our faith than we were initially prepared to do. When we are pushed to our limits or questioned hard about our faith, we may be tempted to give in to the ways or ideals of the world instead – because it kind of makes sense…
In the end Abraham did realise just how sure God’s promises were an we have the stories in our bibles to remind us of this. Now it is our turn to try to stand firmly in our faith and not to falter as the world sways this way and that way. When we feel tempted to give in to ‘worldly wisdom’ we should be reminded by what Abraham went through and rise above things to stand with God.
He has never let people down. Some may think so but it is only their desires and wants which drive them to those conclusions. If we check things against our needs we will see God delivering on every promise He has made. God raised Jesus from the dead to show us everything is possible with Him and He always keeps His promises!
Points to Ponder:
How often is your faith tested?
How often do you give in to the world?
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October 22: Matthew 22:15-22
Key Verse: Matthew 22:15
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.
Devotion:
If you think you are the only one who has to face people asking you awkward question to get you to say something wrong, think again. This has been a tactic used by people virtually since the beginning of humanity. Here the Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to say something wrong so they could discredit Him and continue ruling the people as they wanted to.
Jesus saw right through them and turned the tables on them very quickly. This is not always obvious to us when we are faced with others asking us difficult questions. We do not have the foresight to see when people mean what they ask or if they are just trying to get you to say something wrong.
Jesus always relied on the Holy Spirit to guide Him and to allow Him to see who meant what they said. We can do the same because we do have full access to the Holy Spirit – we just don’t tend to think of that when we get flustered. We give in to emptions and we blurt out words we don’t mean or which can be heard to go against what we mean.
We live in a world which is governed by people and rules set by people. Legally and socially we should follow the rules to live a life which should not upset others; but sometimes people have already made up their minds to work against the truth and then we definitely need guidance from the Holy Spirit to get us through those times.
Points to Ponder:
Do you go with the flow and follow people?
Will you try to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow God?
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October 21: Luke 12:8-12
Key Verse: Luke 12:9
But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.
Devotion:
God is very serious about the relationship He has with you; He does not take it lightly, and neither should we. His promise to us is He will acknowledge us before angels if we acknowledge Him before other people. But it goes further than that because He also promises to be our advocate and deliver us blameless before God if we trust Him.
When Jesus was telling the disciples they would have to face all manner of opposition just because they wanted to tell others about Him, He also reminded them they should trust in the Holy Spirit to guide them whenever they faced trials. The Holy Spirit will guide us forward into saying the right things and being able to tell of the truth. We don’t have to go to school to figure out what we have to say!
This does suppose you are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit for your guidance and not rely on what you have been taught to say by other people. If we only rely on what we learn through schools and universities, we will only go as far as the world will allow us to go through what we have learned. But if we are willing to be taught by higher powers, we will go further!
God wants us to continually rely on Him in every walk of life. This means our relationship with Him has to be ongoing and always at the front, not hidden behind the scenes. God wants us to be able to trust Him in any position we find ourselves in and not to only trust Him when we have exhausted our own ways!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try every which way to succeed before turning to God?
Will you turn to God before you try your own ways?
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October 20: Romans 4:1-8
Key Verse: Romans 4:8
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.
Devotion:
When you are in a salaried position, you are getting paid because your employer is obligated to pay you for the work you do. Depending on your position and how your salary is paid, you may have to work harder to earn more. But just because you have been working at your position for a long time, you are not guaranteed of being promoted…
Fortunately our relationship with God means we do not have to do all the right things at the right time to make sure we get to Heaven. God wants to know you love Him and you trust Him; this is the measure of your faith. And, like in a position of an employee, you will get rewarded even if you do the minimum! But this does not mean we have to work for our place in heaven!
Our place with God is only dependant on our belief in Him and our faith He will do what He has said He will do. Abraham did not have to father many children to make sure his prophecy came to pass. He simply had to trust God to make it come to pass.
David saw this truth and wanted others to know. We can see this throughout the bible and so we should be willing to tell others of this faith we have in Christ; the faith in trusting Him to forgive our sins no matter what they are, just because we believe He can and will do it.
Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to make things happen?
Will you trust God and allow them to happen?
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October 19: Romans 3:21-30
Key Verse: Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Devotion:
One of the things we often forget is we have all sinned against God at some stage in our lives. Now, as humans, we like to measure how much we have sinned and go according to some sort of scale, but according to the law God has given us, when we sin we are guilty. So if we have all sinned and are all guilty, how will any of us not have to pay for our sin debt.
This is where our faith in what Christ has done for us comes in. If we do believe Christ came to pay for our sin debt and we believe He is faithful and merciful to forgive us when we admit to our sins, then we will be forgiven just as He said we will. There is no law which excludes us from forgiveness and righteousness if we believe in what Christ has done.
Christ demonstrated His righteousness by allowing Himself to go to the cross even though He knew He had done nothing wrong. Through shedding His righteous blood He was able to pay for our sin debt once and for all. Now all we have to do is to have faith He did this for us. Why? If we do truly believe in what he did, then we should trust He is telling us the truth and will forgive us; this is the basis of faith.
If we start boasting about “our church” or how well we are doing we may well be starting to lift ourselves up instead of God. It is because of everything Christ has done we have what we have. Our faith is what makes the church and will help others to see there is hope when they cannot see any.
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever looked for a better church?
What can be more important that Christ?
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October 18: Isaiah 35:3-6
Key Verse: Isaiah 35:4
say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’
Devotion:
How many times have you been asked for something from someone who doesn’t really mean it? We do this all the time to friends and the people around us, so when we do really mean it sometimes we don’t get the answer we expect. If we are doing this with the people around us, then what are we doing with our relationship with God!
God wants us to be in a good relationship with Him and that means being committed to it and to Him. This does not mean normal and personal life should ever get in the way because any good relationship has space for other issues and other relationships. God know this and He encourages us to take Him with us into every relationship in our lives.
When we do begin to see how much we get out of a good relationship with Him, we begin to see how we can help others by showing them this communion we have with God. When the Bible talks about fearing God, it is not talking about trembling with fear because God is watching you… it is talking about having the uttermost respect for Him because He is willing and able to do anything in your life. If you are willing to take Him with you wherever you go and whatever you are doing, then He will be with you and He will show you the benefits of this communion with Him.
I have learned, especially over the last couple of decades, He is walking with me wherever I go and supporting me in so many ways and through so many people too. He makes sure I have the right people around me to get things done which will help me to glorify Him,
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel at wits end sometimes?
Will you take God with you, even to your wits end?