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December 19: 2 Peter 1:3-11
Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:8
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Devotion:
One of the things the disciples learned was very important was to be disciples! Being a disciples is not just about following Jesus and being a good person! Being a disciples is about taking what you learn and learning from it, then taking that and going out to show others what you have learned so they can learn like you have done. Being a disciples is about making disciples by being a disciple...
It may sound strange to say things like this in the beginning because we are answering a question by being the question – or something like that! Jesus taught the disciples through example. He taught them they had to reach out to others and get them to not just learn but to then reach out to others themselves!
Here we learn the basic steps of starting out on the road of being a disciple. We need to be the person Christ has been asking us to be. Only then can we see why He has asked us to be like this. Adding all the attributes of Christ to our daily life means stepping forward and inviting others to do the same – just like Jesus did to the disciples.
When we stop trying to learn more about Christ, we stop growing in Christ and others will see we have given up on something. This will not encourage them to find out more about Christ – instead they will learn by example to stop learning about Christ. This is the circle of discipleship – learning more about Christ to show others how they can learn more about Him...
Points to Ponder:
Do you strive every day to learn more about Christ?
Will you try to learn one new thing about Him today?
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December 18: Isaiah 7:10-16
Key Verse: Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Devotion:
What does it take for you to believe something someone tells you? Do you have to see physical proof? Do you have to read about it on the News? Do you have to hear about it on social media? We all have places or people we believe and trust to hear the truth from, but what happens when the truth sounds unbelievable for some reason?
God continued to tell people they would have the Messiah come to them to be their Saviour at some stage in their lives; they did not know the date or time of this even but the Jews continued to wait for it to happen… When it did happen, they could not bring themselves to believe it because they had grown too used to having to wait – they had made the wait a more important occasion than the actual occasion itself!
God sent multiple messages through multiple prophets to make sure the people all had the chance to hear about the Messiah coming. They were told of the miracle which would happen, that the Lord would come to them by being born of a virgin and they should call Him Immanuel… yet when it happened they did not want to believe it!
We need to take God’s Word and believe it because it is the truth and has continued to be the truth from the beginning. It is the people who have corrupted it and have tried to make it of no effect because they have built things up to be more important than God in their eyes. This is the same thing that were warned about in the beginning too – yet we still do it...
Points to Ponder:
What does it take for you to believe?
Will you simply trust God’s Word?
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December 16: Matthew 18:6-9
Key Verse: Matthew 18:7
Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to accept in life is disappointment or hardship. Nobody wants to endure either of these things and yet we all do face at least one at some stage in our lives. It is no consolation to know that everyone will face one or more problems in their lives which they feel they will not be able to get past or over, but it is the truth. No matter how much we try to steer clear of the bad things in life, they seem to find us.
It is not because we deserve bad things to happen to us for the bad things we have done. It is not that we get punished by God for the evil in our lives. God would rather see us enjoying our lives and living a life which is filled with love and support. One only has to take a look at Job’s life and see how happy God was when things were going well.
What happened to Job? It was the evil one who brought bad things into Jobs life! It was the world around him, and his friends, which caused him heart-ache and even hardship. You see, we all live in this world together and things happen in this world because of our interaction between each other and with good and bad. So many people choose the evil and bad things because they think they will be able to control them and win in some way…
God wants us to see the truth and to be able to live righteous lives with Him at the centre. God wants to be able to reward us for all things in our lives – which means we should stay close to Him so He can reward us. If we are too busy running off in the wrong direction, it gets easier for evil to win through… God is watching every interaction and will make sure the good things get good rewards!
Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to balance good and evil?
Have you noticed how slippery evil is yet?
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December 15: Matthew 17:22-23
Key Verse: Matthew 17:23
They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.’ And the disciples were filled with grief.
Devotion:
Has anyone ever told you they were going to die? What sticks in your mind is the fact they will die, not what they say before hand or afterward, just the fact they will die. When I read these words I could not but help think of the words spoken to me a while back when my Dad told us he had cancer and did not have long to live. Those words stuck with me. As it happened Dad did continue to live for a few years during which time we grew closer.
With that in my heart I think I begin to know what the disciples were going through when Jesus told them He was going to die. Nothing they could do would be able to stop that death. They could hope for more time and could pray for more time; but the Father had the time in mind and knew when this all had to happen in order for our sins to be covered by Jesus’ blood.
I’m sure the disciples were trying to come up with all manner of excuses so Jesus would not have to face death; they would have been distraught knowing their Saviour would die and I don’t think they thought too much about the words after that. Jesus tried to console them by reminding them He would be raised from the dead three days after His death. Those words were probably not realised until after it had all happened…
When we look back over the time Jesus was with the disciples, we can see what He was promising because we know the outcome. At the time I don’t think the disciples fully grasped those words saying He would be raised from the dead until after He was!
Points to Ponder:
What promises do you think of which God has given you?
Will you look back and realise the promises were true?
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December 14: Isaiah 51:1-3
Key Verse: Isaiah 51:2
look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
Devotion:
How often do you doubt when someone tells you God can do anything. How often do you doubt when you see all the bad things surrounding you? How often do you doubt because there seems to be so much going wrong and nothing going right? It is very easy to be swayed by the world when there is so much going on in the world.
People follow people – that is the way we do things and have been doing things for a very long time. God knows this too and He has given us quite a few things which we can look back on to see nothing is impossible for Him! God made a promise to a single man, Abraham, saying he would be the father of a great nation. In our eyes we may think God is promising to allow Abraham to have many children – because that is about as far as we can see!
God made the promise knowing Sarah was barren at the time and knowing they would try something to make things happen quicker! God wants us to trust Him and to be patient while trusting Him. His timing knows no bounds and it certainly not timed with a stopwatch like we want it to be!
God has tried to impress His promises on us and not to have time limits for those promises to come true. God indeed blessed Abraham, but not with hundreds of children of his own, but through his family tree and Abraham grew to know this promise as he waited patiently (in the end!)
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to rush God’s decisions?
Will you try to have a bit more patience with God?
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December 13: Matthew 21:28-32
Key Verse: Matthew 21:30
Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go.
Devotion:
How often do you put things off? How often have you said you were going to do something for God and not got round to doing it? I don’t want you to drop everything and go off and do something without thinking about the consequences – but God does ask you to do things now and again. When He does ask, we should be willing to listen. We may start off by saying we are too busy or we don’t want to, but our answer should be “yes Lord!” in the end, just like the son who was asked to do something by his father.
Our Father in Heaven does not need to ask us to do anything because He is more than capable of doing everything, but He does stop and ask us from time to time. Why do you think He does that? God the Father knows our shortcomings and our faults, and yet He still stops to ask us to do things for Him from time to time. This is because He knows we are capable of doing what He ask and He wants us to be able to grow into better people.
If we start acting like the second son and say we will do things but never get round to doing them, are we any different to people who continue to tell lies? God would like us to be honest and say what is on our minds as well as to say “yes” when He asks something of us. If we think something is not right, then we need to stand up and say something. When we do not, we carry around that ill feeling inside of us; that feeling which will eat at our hearts just like a bit of yeast does in a bread mix.
When we stop to talk to God about the things which are on our minds, He will take time to stop and explain things to us so we can better understand what it is that is going to be best for us in our lives. No sin can ever take that away from us.
Points to Ponder:
Do you say yes and then think about whether to do things?
Or will you be honest and say what is on your heart before listening to what is on God’s heart?
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December 12: Numbers 24:2-7
Key Verse: Numbers 24:6
‘Like valleys they spread out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters.
Devotion:
Balaam was a prophet who lived amongst the people of Israel when they were travelling through the desert. It must have been quite a sight to see all of the tents made up in a camp knowing all of the people were doing this because they wanted to please God. They did not have any direct way of knowing they were pleasing God other than what the prophets told them.
God wanted the people to know what they were doing was appreciated by God, so He spoke to them through Balaam at this time. The poetic way in which the display of obedience is described means God definitely was watching them and was pleased with the way things were going.
Sometimes we lose sight of what God says to us because we don’t listen to the people of God speaking to us; God uses people to speak to us because He knows we don’t all listen intently to the Spirit. He knows some will find it difficult to listen to the Spirit, so He talks to us through others…
I have learned to listen to people when they tell me they have a message from God for me. I have learned to stop and spend time waiting for God to speak. I have learned God will always speak to me when I ask Him something – it is not always the same way though. Sometimes it is through others, sometimes through what He does and sometimes even in dreams; we just have to stop and listen!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop to listen to friends?
How often do you stop to listen to God?
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December 11: Matthew 11:2-6
Key Verse: Matthew 11:5
the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Devotion:
When John the Baptist heard about all the things Jesus was doing, especially the healing, he sent word to ask Jesus if He was indeed the Messiah. John was in prison at this time so could not go to meet with Jesus himself. What Jesus did was reach out to John and ask him to trust his faith...
I don’t think I have seen this side of the story before, but as I was reading through the words in this Gospel, I could not help but see this point of view! John had faith the Messiah was coming and he had been told these things through the Spirit; so much so he went out to baptise people and teach them about repentance and to get people to trust in the Messiah who was to come!
So, being a human like the rest of us, he sent word to find out if Jesus was actually the Messiah – maybe that would have made him feel more complete and that he had accomplished his task in life… I think Jesus would have seen these thoughts in his heart and so, instead of finishing the story there and then, started the true story of faith!
Jesus does not want to have to prove to us in a court of law and through pictures and physical proof that He is the Messiah. He wants us to have faith in our beliefs. He wants to see us grow in our faith and trust in Him rather than having all the physical proof we can get! This is what He was probably trying to get John to do – trust in your beliefs and have faith!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you trust in your beliefs?
Will you rely on your faith a bit more?
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December 10: Matthew 17:10-13
Key Verse: Matthew 17:10
The disciples asked him, ‘Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
Devotion:
One of the things many people struggle with is the fact we are very different in Gods eyes than in mankind's eyes. That includes our names, reputations and most other things which we take for granted. Jesus saw people for what and who they were in Gods eyes and was not swayed by human emotions like we are.
When the disciples were asking Jesus about Elijah coming before the Messiah, they were not ready for the answer He gave them – that Elijah had already come. What they did not realise was the Elijah God was talking about was not the Elijah they were thinking about. We tend to get mixed up with people and names; often thinking of the wrong people when someone mentions a name, and even judging people by what name they have been given!
Jesus was talking about the man they knew as John the Baptist, the man who was living out in the desert and baptising people in the river Jordan based on the scriptures which had been revealed to Him through the Holy Spirit. This “Elijah” was the human who was preparing the way… If they had defined the man by the act he was doing, they may have been able to recognise John for the name God knew him by, but they were too entrenched in human ways – like we are!
God can and does use anyone. I have met many people whom the world has rejected because of what they have done in the past. Jesus came into their lives and turned their lives around – they have become extraordinary disciples who are totally different to how they used to be!
Points to Ponder:
Do you judge people by earthly standards?
Will you allow God to tell you about people instead?
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December 9: Isaiah 48:17-19
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:18
If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.
Devotion:
The theme seem to be “listening to God” this week! Isaiah had the onerous task of having to tell the people what God was saying, and much of the time it was not good news for the people – they had grown weary of listening and wanted to do their own thing! As they continued to do their own thing, they moved away from God and slowly they began to find out God could not help them as much as He used to! It was not because God could not reach them, God can go anywhere and do anything; but he gives us free choice!
That is the important part – we are given free choice to do what we want. If we go off and do things which go against God’s teaching, He no longer has the right to intervene. We have chosen not to allow Him to intervene in our lives and He abides by our choice – that is what makes it free choice!
As the world begins to shout louder, we start to listen more to the world and less to God… why… because we grow so used to God helping us and guiding us we take Him for granted. Once we take Him for granted, we don’t listen to His instructions as much as we used to! This goes for anyone in your life – if you grow used to them, you stop concentrating on their words and advice…
If mankind had continued to listen to God right from the beginning, we would have had a much better and deeper life with Him! I know it is “empty” just saying that because we only have one side of the story. We have the side where we stopped listening to God and did our own thing. We don’t have the side where we listened to Him so we can’t really compare what it should have been like… or can we? Try reading the Old Testament and see what happens when people stop listening to God!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you really listen to God?
How much do you listen to the world?