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March 11: Micah 7:18-20
Key Verse: Micah 7:18
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy.
Devotion:
How many times have you had to ask someone to forgive you for doing something wrong? How many times have you been willing to forgive someone else for doing wrong against you? How many of those times did you get angry because you did not want to forgive them? How many times did you object just a little bit too much and continued to make them wait on you...
God is very different to us when it comes to showing mercy and love. His love for us goes far beyond anything we can think of and far beyond our own limitations. When we give in and get angry, God continues to forgive and wait. When we don’t want to forgive – God finds a way to make forgiveness possible!
The longer we hold on to grudges and the longer we hold out before we forgive, the darker and deeper our anger and ill feelings become. Unless we are willing and able to put aside the ill feeling we have toward others, we will continue to harbour bad feelings and continue to get caught up in sins we don’t realise.
We have grown to expect God to forgive and forget. It’s it time for us to move forward and be willing to forgive and forget those who sin against us. Jesus hinted at this in the prayer He taught the disciples – forgive us as we forgive others. God wants us to start the ball rolling by forgiving those around us; then we can see a way forward where He will be able to forgive us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like seeing people being forgiven?
Are you willing to show love through forgiveness?
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March 10: Matthew 21:40-43
Key Verse: Matthew 21:43
Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Devotion:
One of the ideas which troubles me greatly is the idea put forward here by Jesus – the idea the kingdom of God will be taken away from the people who do nothing about being children of God! What exactly does a child of God mean in this context. We could glibly say a child of God is someone who believes and trusts in God, someone God has call His child...
But there are two sides to most coins and this is not going to be any different. In this context Jesus was telling the people a parable about a man who who rented his vineyard to other people. When the time of the harvest came, he sent his servants to collect his fruit, to collect his harvest. Now, we are not told the intricacies of the deal they struck up with the vineyard owner, so we can’t comment on that other than the owner obviously was expecting to get some of the harvest!
When the people who rented the vineyard turned their backs on the deal and did terrible things to the servants he sent, what do you think he thought of the tenants? Now Jesus turns this parable back into context by comparing this vineyard and owner to God and the kingdom of heaven. He sent His Son, Jesus, and we, the people, killed Him! Now you get the picture!
Jesus knew this was going to happen, because He was telling the parable, and He knew who would do the deed and who would continue to follow Him… He still came and stepped up to give His life for us – that is how much he loves the people who DO what He asks. If we don’t do what God asks, we are no better than the people who killed His Son. That’s the scary part – we should be doing God’s will in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Have you asked God what it is He wants you to do?
Are you ready to listen to Him?
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March 8: Jeremiah 18:18-20
Key Verse: Jeremiah 18:20
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke on their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.
Devotion:
How many times have you thought that God was not on your side because bad things were happening to you, or not enough good things were happening? How many times have you asked God why He allows the evil people to have so much and yet you don’t have a lot? I’m sure we have all been there at some stage in our lives...
We need to ready through our bibles and not get caught up in a few verses which seem to support or or a few verses which go against us. The bible is a story from the beginning right through to the end and the story does not make as much sense if we read just one part and not the whole! God wants us to remember all which has happened in the past so we can have an idea why things do not always go our way.
It is not that God is against us because we have done something wrong. It is not that God cares for others more than He cares for us. It is not that we should require God to punish the evil people and allow us to go free. God has given us enough to show that he looks out for all people and He cares for us all. When good things happen and when bad things happen, God may be the one who has ultimate power over it all, but He is not going to turn His back on anyone just because someone else wants to get to know Him more!
Jesus warned the disciples they would have to endure all sorts of things because they were going to be in the proximity of bad people. When bad people misbehave, they seem to get themselves and all around them in even more bad things. God wants us to know we are just as likely to attract bad things if we are close to them – but we should know we have the choice as to where we go and what we do. If we remember Jesus’ words when He said we need to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds, we can move forward with confidence He is with us!
Points to Ponder:
How many good or bad times do you remember?
Will you remember what God has done for you throughout history?
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March 7: Isaiah 1:10-20
Key Verse: Isaiah 1:18
‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Devotion:
I wonder if you have heard people talk about verses where God was not pleased to accept burnt offering any more. Or maybe you have heard the verses where God talks about looking after those who are less fortunate than you. Or where He says our sins can be washed away even if they are as red as scarlet… How many times have you been told these are all in the same place in your bible?
We often take verse out of context to support something we are saying or talking about. We often emphasise the verses to uphold out point we are trying to make. But God was saying all of these things to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah! The city that was levelled because they did not listen…
God gives us plenty of warning and He continue to make sure we hear the truth and have every opportunity to bring our sins before Him and ask for forgiveness. He promised the world would not end until the time is right and that time will only be when everyone has had the opportunity to hear the truth and to choose the path of truth or evil…
All people on earth are given the truth at some stage in their lives. God makes sure of that. He gives us the opportunity to walk away from evil and to choose to follow Him. He gives us plenty warning what could happen if we do not listen and if we ignore the warnings. We have no right to blame God for anything which does happen because we are the ones who walked away from Him to start with.
Points to Ponder:
Are you still walking away from God?
Will you choose the path He directs you toward?
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March 6: Luke 6:36-38
Key Verse: Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do can be to forgive people for doing things wrong against you or to not judge other people when you think they are doing things the wrong way! It’s very easy to say we will not do this, but when we get caught up in the moment we often judge and blame without thinking. Jesus was very careful to not judge people without knowing what they were doing wrong. He had every right to judge people because He was without fault – but He chose not to to show us it can be done!
We should only have to look at the things we do and say to realise we do often get things wrong; why then do we jump at the chance to blame or judge others when we think they should not blame or judge us for the things we do wrong all the time!
I find the best thing to do is to wait before answering or saying anything. Every week I hear people judging and blaming others and gossiping… and that is in church! I know I am guilty of it when I speak out of anger or impatience, but when I spend time to think about the things I am about to say or do I tend to follow Christ’s example instead. I know in my head I am wanting to say things because that is what it was like growing up in a boarding school…
The more we try to make the changes, the more we are going to be the change! That means the change is going to start from what we do and say differently as an example to others. I have seen what God can do to peoples hearts and how He can change the way they live and talk – let us be the example that will make them think...
Points to Ponder:
Do you get angry or gossip quickly?
Will you try to take a few seconds to think first?
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March 5: John 3:5-8
Key Verse: John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’
Devotion:
If there were three people standing next to each other and only one of them was a Christian, how could you tell the difference? If they are simply standing and not doing anything, then we may be hard-pressed to tell the difference, but when they start doing things and talking, we could probably start to make informed decisions based on how they were affecting the others or the people around them.
When the wind blows we do not see the wind blowing, but we do see the affects of that blowing wind: we see trees swaying, dirt flying and flags waving… We do not see the wind, we see the effects of the wind on everything around it. When Jesus was talking about being born again He was not talking about the physical aspect of it – I’m sure most of us would know we cannot get born a second time because we grow breathing and moving about…
Jesus was talking about the spiritual part of our lives, the part we don’t know we have until it is show to us. We cannot see this spiritual side of us, but, like the wind, we can see the affects it has on everything around us. Without the spirit how are we going to commune with God in Heaven because He does not have a human body in Heaven.
Jesus did not remain in spiritual form when He came to live amongst us – how would we have been able to see Him! He came in Human form to live amongst us so we could see the effects of His life on everyone around us. He came to demonstrate how we can do things in human form and what we can do to make sure we do join Him in Heaven in spiritual form after we leave our human bodies behind...
Points to Ponder:
Do you have any health issues?
Are you looking forward to having a perfect body in Heaven?
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March 4: Matthew 5:43-48
Key Verse: Matthew 5:46
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Devotion:
One of the hardest things Jesus asked of us is to love our enemies; we are brought up in societies which tend to love the people close to you but reject and even hate the people on the other side of the fence! We can’t blame society for this because we are the root of society – if we dare to change the way we think, then society will change, given time...
Jesus wants us to be the start of that change, here and now so our children and descendants will be the ones who don’t have to think about who to love and hate, but will love everyone – that should be our goal! If we are all acting like the children of God we are supposed to be, then we will get along like a big family which God wants us to be. Yes I know people in families argue and get upset, and that is a part of life because we all make mistakes from time to time and those mistakes are going to upset someone along the way.
But if we can take a step back from those mistakes and learn a new way forward as people who care for each other, then wars and enemies will become less important and we will be able to live a better life. No matter whether we are as good as gold or as evil as anything else, we all live in the same world and are affected by the same things; be it earthquakes, floods, rain or sunshine. God’s world does not choose who to affect!
When we can see we are all people in the same world and start caring for human life instead of treating it like some sort of commodity, then we will be able to do more in life. It does not take a Christian to make the difference, but, as Christians we should be the ones leading the change so we can encourage others to do the same!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you value human life?
Will you set aside your habits to make a habit of caring for people?
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March 3: Psalm 130:7-8
Key Verse: Psalm 130:7
Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
Devotion:
I still marvel at the words of the Old testament even after years of knowing what it all means. These words were written hundreds of years before Christ came to live amongst mankind. They warned the Israelites of the judgement of God. They warned them of the backsliding and all the things we see in our history books; and yet people still chose to ignore those warnings time and time again!
The people of Israel were told to put their faith and trust in their Messiah, and they taught each other of the coming of the Messiah… But when the Messiah knocked on their doors, they did not hear Him because they were too busy worrying about getting things right according to the law.
The words of the scriptures warned people to take heed of the scriptures and to put their faith and trust in this person who would come to be their Messiah. They knew they had to do this; but when the time came, it all seemed a bit too easy , so they tried to make it more complicated again!
Believing and trusting in God is very easy! It’s the giving up of the sinful ways, the temptations and they laws which make you look better than others which are the hardest things to give up. Why should we choose the easy path when there is always a more complicated path to choose! Jesus wants us to take the simple path which He opens up to us...
Points to Ponder:
How often do you try to make things more complicated because you think it will be better for you?
Will you simply trust?
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March 2: Isaiah 55:6-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Devotion:
If you were to lose something would you wait for another day before looking for it, or would you look for it as soon as possible in the hopes you may remember where it was? The things which we do misplace or lose are more likely to be found sooner rather than later. God starts off by being close to us and as we get further from the truth we get further from Him too until we do get lost because we can no longer see Him...
When I was in high school in Zimbabwe I grew close to God and knew He was close to me. When we left Zimbabwe to come to England, we left behind all manner of things and I left God behind too. Why? I have no idea and I certainly cannot figure that one out. But, after many years, someone knocked on my door and invited me to church once again – that was the first step in finding God once again. I didn’t have to look too hard because He was already waiting for me!
He must have been walking beside me all along as I wondered round in circles not knowing which way to go in life; all I needed was that simple invite to get to knowing Him once again. God has a habit of picking the right people at the right times to make the biggest impact on our lives until we notice He is standing right beside us all along!
We don’t have to figure out why or when, just knowing He is standing next to us at all times should be more than enough for us to figure the relationship out. He committed to a permanent relationship when He first met us and we need to realise that before we wander off into the woods where it will be harder for us to see Him because of all the trees!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you wait on God?
Do you know He is waiting on you?
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March 1: Jonah 3:1-10
Key Verse: Jonah 3:5
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Devotion:
Whenever I read this story I think of a large modern city where you can catch buses and taxi cabs from one end to the other without too much bother; but back then it would have been a very different story, having to walk instead. Back in high school we used to stay in a boarding school in a city in Zimbabwe where walking into the city centre was normal for us and on weekends I would sometimes walk out to the suburbs where my grand parents lived so I could have a break.
The walk was only an hour or so, but once out of the school walls we would lose track of what was happening very quickly. We didn’t have mobile phones or the internet back then so it was quite easy to get out of touch very quickly. When we look at the words in this passage it seems like the city of Nineveh was quite different in that people got to hear about Jonah’s warnings from God very quickly! I think it must have been the fact they knew the city was in a bad state and knew they were doing wrong against God.
When we find out we have done something wrong we try to hide the fact and go on as if we have not done anything wrong; why should we call attention to ourselves! But the people of Nineveh took what Jonah was saying on board and they all wanted to change! The news spread very quickly and it was not long before the king found out what was happening and heard the news.
But, despite all they had done wrong, God was willing to forgive them and allow them to live despite having been under a could of death when Jonah highlighted what they were doing wrong. How quickly would you spread the news if you found out there was going to be a disaster coming to the city or town where you live? Would you wait until you were threatened with destruction, or would you try and say something before it was too late?
Points to Ponder:
How long do you plan on hiding the Gospel from your town?
Will you allow people to live under God?