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February 28: Matthew 6:7-15
Key Verse: Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone when they have done something which has upset you; but that is what Jesus asks us to do for every things which has been done against you. If you find it hard to even think about forgiving someone, then start off by thinking about the things you have done wrong. How many of them have been done by error or without you thinking about it?
Jesus knows what we do get up to and He knows we will make mistakes and sometimes we get angry too and do things which are out of character. That is because we have been born into this world and have lived amongst people who do the same things! It is no use saying we do things because we are human – even humans have a choice to do good or bad!
Jesus went to the cross to pay for our sins. He knew we were and are going to sin. He has every right to be very upset by us. But He still went to the cross knowing this – because He loves us! When we do love someone it is easy to forgive them. When we grow to hate someone because of all the things they have done wrong, it seems very difficult to get out of that rut.
Jesus has set the mark. He stepped up and said He would forgive us no matter what we have done wrong. He gave His life so we could be blameless to God and join Him in Heaven. When we do things wrong against God, He sees what Jesus has done and leaves it up to Jesus to forgive us if we are willing to admit to our faults and ask Him to forgive us. If we don’t ask, we don’t get...
Points to Ponder:
Do you remember all the things you have done wrong?
Will you allow Jesus to present you blameless to God?
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February 27: Leviticus 19:9-10
Key Verse: Leviticus 19:9
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
Devotion:
When God laid down the rules about sacrificing, He was making sure there was equality for all – unlike many governments nowadays! The people were expected to follow Gods rules and hence ensure the community as a whole would survive and thrive. When He gave commands about sacrifices and reaping He made sure provision was put in place for people who could not afford to live because they had no money!
God still wants us to be fair and to uphold justice; and justice is not all about making sure the laws are followed to the exacting words or ideals of the person in charge. God put the laws in place so everyone would be able to survive, with the rich who had plentiful allowing the poor who had nothing to glean and gather that which was not profitable to gather.
Farmers will try to harvest as much as is practical whilst ensuring their machines and people are kept safe from dangers. If the edge of the field has become to wet and muddy, driving a machine through that part would cause damage to the machine and to the field. By leaving these parts of the field untouched by the harvesting, they are preventing accidental damage and expense but also giving the poor and needy a place where they can manually gather the meagre amounts they may need to survive.
What God may prefer is for us to be able to gather the harvest and share it with the people in need, not just banking everything and making as much money as possible! God was saying these things because He would ensure they had enough to gather and harvest the first time round and also that enough was left for the people in need. But each person had to do their thing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect God to supply everything?
Will you work with God instead?
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February 26: Matthew 4:1-11
Key Verse: Matthew 4:11
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Devotion:
When was the last time you gave up on something because it got a bit too hard to carry on? If we are honest we can all admit to giving up before we should, and then carrying on with something else far longer than we should do! Our judgment on things of this world is not always as good as it should be because we are swayed by earthly things as well as emotions and peer pressure!
Jesus probably knew He was going to have to face the evil one at some stage in His human existence, and after fasting for 40 days He was probably at His weakest point of all. I find it hard to fast for a single day, never mind multiple days! But Jesus had put His mind to it and knew God was going to look out for Him – not to see if God would look after Him!
The evil one approached Jesus and tried to get Him to tempt God or to perform a miracle for Himself so He could eat. Jesus was not going to give in to the temptations which the devil would throw at Him! Just when you think things are at their worst, the evil one may well approach you in some manner and try to dig a little more out of you; not because he wants to see you suffer, because he wants to see if he can tempt God into doing things!
Jesus did not call out to God during this visit and certainly was not going to give in to the temptations or peer pressure being exerted on Him by the devil! Instead Jesus stuck up for God by upholding the scriptures and reminding the evil one of the truth. When the devil could stand it no more he demanded Jesus should worship him instead! Seeing right through that Jesus reminded him of the commandments to serve God alone, the very one he had broken to be cast out of heaven!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in too easily?
Will you trust God a bit more like Jesus did?
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February 25: Mark 9:2-13
Key Verse: Mark 9:13
But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.’
Devotion:
How many times have you been totally confused by what your teacher is trying to teach you? I can remember a few times when I just could not get what the teacher(s) were trying to say; but through persistence and time I have learned many things and have overcome most of those confusions!
When Jesus was telling the disciples about all the things which had to happen, they probably grew weary because they did not understand what He was talking about. But, once they had lived through all of these things, they had no problem believing and even writing about the issues – this is why we have our bibles, because they took the time to try and explain things to us after living through the events.
When Jesus was telling them about these things He had lived through many of the things which had been talked about already. He knew what lay ahead and knew what had to be done in order to live our what is written in the Torah, or the Old Testament books as we know them. Jesus wanted them to trust the written words and to believe them knowing God was working toward making sure they all came to pass!
We have a God who has stuck to His word and continue to tell us the truth in all ways. We are the ones who have grown weary and have not been able to listen or understand because we were too caught up in the things of this world. God is not limited by anything from this world and so will make sure everything will come to pass – we just have to trust Him and believe in Him!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get confused because you are thinking about the wrong answer?
Will you set time aside for God to explain things to you?
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February 24: Genesis 11:1-9
Key Verse: Genesis 11:6
The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Devotion:
One of the things which worried God was the capacity for mankind to do wrong. It was not the capacity of mankind to do good, because God knew we could do anything if we set our minds to it – why else would He have created us in this manner if He did not want us to do good! But it is our failing which worried Him most of all and He did not want us to compound those failings…
When I look back on the bible I see civilisations which were able to accomplish great things and all throughout the world of archaeology we see the remnants of the great things mankind has done – but we also see the remnants of the great destruction we have wrought on the world too!
God wanted to stop the people from building the tower and making things great because they were doing it all for the wrong reasons. We I look around at the amazing inventions and science and technology we have in the world, I see the result of the intelligence God created us with… But when certain people get going, they don’t stop when they go overboard and end up hurting a whole lot more people than they do with the good they have done.
We need to take account of what God has done for us, why He has given us the intelligence and where-with-all we have; and we need to use what he has given us for the good of all mankind, not just a select few who want to get richer while the rest of the world gets poorer!
Points to Ponder:
How many things do you do which are for the good of many?
How many things have you done which are for the good of your own self?
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February 23: Genesis 9:1-3
Key Verse: Genesis 9:2
The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.
Devotion:
One of the things I always used to wonder about was why animals always run away from humans. I started to think it was because of the way we treat them, but that only goes as far as a generation or until the animals have no contact with humans… Then I read this verse in the bible and it reminded me about how awesome our God is in everything!
Not only did He have a plan for everything and make sure the plan was executed, but He knew us before we were born and knew our wants and needs. For us to be able to survive He made sure there would be plenty of food available for us. Unfortunately mankind has all but ruined the ecological system God put in place and we struggle with all manner of foods nowadays. But the plan was there in the beginning and was set up by someone who knows exactly what we do need.
I have been enjoying trying out all sorts of foods they cook in China, Japan and Korea and it has amazed me how different the diets are compared to what I was used to. I must admit that I do feel a lot better eating a more varied diet; but what excites me more is knowing God had planned all of this out in the beginning! Each different country and society, even community, has its own specific likes and dislikes built up over generations of people. Each has chosen their own preferences from all of the food God has given us.
I will never look down on people who choose to live their lives differently because I know those differences are probably man made to start with – God gave us free choice in the beginning and He continues to uphold that free choice… If we abuse that choice then we have to live with the consequences, but if we abide by it and keep it close to our hearts, the God will continue to reward us as He has all the time!
Points to Ponder:
What are you favourite foods?
What are your favourite things to do for God?
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February 22: Genesis 8:20-22
Key Verse: Genesis 8:22
‘As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.’
Devotion:
I don’t know about you but I love the smell of cooking; well, most cooking smells, but some are not nice. I know this is not what is happening here, but that is the first thing which came to mind when I read the passage. When we look at what was happening, we see something which is very endearing. Noah was told to take some of the animals and sacrifice them to God… What does that mean? Well it means they were taken away from Noah as a food source and given to God. Noah was putting His families needs as well as his own need aside and giving it all to God!
That is a big deal! How often do you take your livelihood and offer it to God? How often do you take things which you need to survive and give them to God? I do try to give things to God, but I don’t give everything like Noah was doing here. God wants us to be confident in giving things to Him and knowing we will still be looked after by Him. This doesn’t mean we give everything to God and wait to see if He feeds us! This means we give what He asks and know He will cover our needs!
This comes down to the same sort of thing where Satan tempted Jesus to throw Himself off the ledge to see if God would catch Him… We don’t tempt God. But if God asks us to do something, we do it! Abraham was asked by God to offer his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Abraham was obedient and was doing exactly that when God turned the tables and gave him an offering to use instead of Isaac.
If we can be confident in our faith like Noah and Abraham, then we too will see the awesome grace and mercy of God as He gives us what we need to fulfil His requests. It’s all about faith in God and obedience to Him. Noah and Abraham are extremes for our sake so we can see God is always going to give us our needs!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you totally trust God?
Will you listen out for God’s calling?
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February 21: Genesis 7:1-5
Key Verse: Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.’
Devotion:
Have you ever got so mad at someone you did something totally out of character? I know I have done and said things I should never have when I got mad, and looking back at those times I regret them, but they happened because of situations which got out of hand at the time. After having such a great relationship with Adam and Eve, God had to endure total betrayal from them and for that He threw them out of the Garden of Eden.
When mankind continued to do more and more evil things against God, He could not throw them out of Eden because they were no longer there – but He could take away everything they had gained from their relationship with Him; after all they were certainly not acting like they were in any relationship with God any more! God had every right to be angry with the world because the world was working against Him and doing all manner of evil instead.
Noah had chosen to listen to God and to obey Him. Because of this Noah would have to face a very disturbing future, not because he had done wrong but because he was in proximity to the people who were doing wrong. This is one of the side effects of doing things wrong – we affect the people around us almost as much as we do ourselves and those closest to us. Noah would have to face the fact he and his family were going to survive when everyone else would not!
It is bad enough being picked out of a crowd, but when the whole crowd is going to get punished and you are not – things stand out a bit more. When I was in high school I often gave in and did what everyone else was doing instead of standing up for what was right just so I would not get labelled as a swat or goodie goodie! Noah chose to be different!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to peer pressure?
Will you stand up to be different for God?
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February 20: Genesis 4:6-10
Key Verse: Genesis 4:9
Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
Devotion:
Can you think of an occasion where you got into trouble and the first things which came out of your mouth just didn’t make sense? When we are guilty of something and we try to cover things up, we get into more trouble and eventually make things worse for ourselves because we somehow think the truth is not going to get out. With God the truth is always going to come forward and He warns us of this.
All throughout the bible we see occasions where mankind has done some pretty stupid things because they think they can cover up the truth by telling a lie. The more the lies build up the taller the tower until it gets too tall and everything comes crumbling down in one big mess! The same can be said for most things in our lives and the more we try to get away with sin, the more we build up unsustainable towers which will eventually come crumbling down around us.
God wants us to own up to problems as soon as they are recognised. The quicker we can get to the truth and allow the truth to strengthen our positions, the better we will be off in the end. Yes there will be times when we have to face the consequences of our actions, but if we face up to them earlier, they may not be as big and bad as they can be if we continue to try and deceive instead of stating the truth!
Cain was given the chance to confess to what he had done out of greed and anger. Instead, he did the “very human thing” and told a lie to try and cover up his misdoings. The more he did this, the worse things got for him. There is nothing we can ever hide from God, so being honest and open with God from the beginning is always the best!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to cover up your problems?
Will you try to allow the truth to come out?
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February 19: Psalm 136:1-9
Key Verse: Psalm 136:2
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures for ever.
Devotion:
If you have the time, stop and read through all 26 verses in this psalm; I have chosen the first few to illustrate the point I wish to make, but there is so much more to gain from reading the whole chapter. These first few verses solidify the idea of exactly who God is in our minds – or at least it should do!
All too often we take friends and family for granted because they are always there – you don’t have to ask them to stick around and you don’t have to go hunting for them when they go out because they are bound to come home… These verses reminded me of how we take God for granted in our lives. As a new Christian you will probably say all manner of prayers thanking God for what He does and you continually ask Him for a little bit more of everything…
But as you grow up and older as a Christian, you often get a bit too used to God doing things in your life and you stop asking Him so much. You start expecting Him to continue doing things for you even to the point of getting cross with Him when He does not do something! Each verse in this psalm reminds us to give thanks to God for everything He does. Each verse lists something He has or is doing and reminds us of His enduring love!
We don’t have to continue asking Him to love us, because he already does. But if we continue to thank Him for what He does do and continue to acknowledge Him for those things He has done, is doing and will do – then we are worshipping God and giving Him all the glory for our lives and for the lives of those around us.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you speak to God?
How often do you thank God?