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Jun 5: 2 Timothy 1:6-12
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1:11
And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.
Devotion:
What do you do when things go wrong in your life? Do you complain constantly o shut down and crawl into a proverbial cave? I know what sort of person I am but I also know God continues to be with me every step of the way – especially when things are going wrong or when people seem to be bent on doing things against me!
God has always got you back and will continue to love and support you no matter what goes on in life. If we can remember that and continue to thank Him even when things are going wrong, then we will come out with a few things: A stronger relationship with Christ. A better understanding of what God wants in our lives. A new way of looking at problems which we face daily!
As we read through some of the things which happened to the apostles and disciples, we find out they were working against a sect of people who had all but obtained power through dishonest means. They continued to spread the truth and tried to show people they were willing to continue with that truth no matter what would happen to them. They were doing this because they knew God was on their side and knew it was what God wanted.
Working for God often makes it seem like we are working against the whole world – it is just because the world does not yet understand what God wants. We need to tell them!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you react to bad things in life?
How often do you walk with God when those things happen?
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Jun 4: Psalm 90:1-9
Key Verse: Psalm 90:6
In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.
Devotion:
Life is too short to have to worry about everything which is happening in our lives. Our life span is but a grain of dust in the grand scheme of things, especially when you listen to the scientists as they try to figure out more and more about how the earth came into being!
Ours is to trust Christ and to wait for what He gives us after we have spent a while on earth trying to figure things out. If we make it to the end with a firm belief He has been the one in control all along, we will surely find out how special things can be when we do trust Him!
God wants us to be able to enjoy life as best we can, but He also does not want us to lead any other people astray by walking away from Him. He will come along and ‘water the grass’ to try and keep it green. He will tend to our needs and watch over us, feeding us when we need to be fed and trimming us when we need it too.
By trusting Him we are saying “Here I am, use me!” so He can then allow someone else to come along and see just how green life can be on the other side of the fence. We may not realise how much of a difference we can make in other’s lives until we get to meet them in Heaven and see how we changed something small which led to their life-changing event! Be the change...
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like you want to make a difference?
Have you tried changing something small in your life first?
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Jun 3: Mark 12:1-12
Key Verse: Mark 12:5
He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
Devotion:
I woke up a little early this morning and wondered what had changed in my life to make me stop writing these devotionals each morning… So I got up and started again! Only to find the verses this morning simply saying to me “My Grace is sufficient!”
God will always be by your side and His Grace really is all we need. He will allow us to have a rest and allow us to take time out, but when He thinks the time is right to get you back on your feet – He is there and gives you a little nudge. Sometimes the nudge He gives you will make you feel uncomfortable so you take a moment to think things through and other times the nudge is just what you need to gently get back in the saddle to continue the journey with Him in your life.
This morning my nudge was to get me back in the saddle and share my love for Him with you all once again. It is not going to be a ‘Big Bang’ event which will shake the earth and change everyone’s lives, but a little ripple in the pond which will change someone’s life some way down the track – even if it is only my life it changed!
This parable about the vineyard owner who got the ‘tenants from hell’ who went against everything the land owner had entrusted them with. We must expect to meet people like that in our lives every now and again, but we should keep God with us and move on to the next chapter knowing His Grace is sufficient and His ways is always the best way...
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like you have reached the end?
Will you take a step of faith with Christ today?
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March 18: Psalm 23:1-6
Key Verse: Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do is to find the good in something when you are surrounded by bad things! Most of the time we will not see the good until we look back on the times we had and see where the Lord has worked wonders in our lives; even then it can be hard to see what God has been doing because we focus on the things which we can see or those which gain our attention.
I love the words of this Psalm because it show what we should always be thinking – God has got our backs and He continues to watch over us in every walk in life. My last words with my Dad before he passed were us knowing he was in the very best hands possible and how he could finally stop chasing his tail.
No matter how dark and oppressive things get in our minds, we should be able to lift our heads and know Christ is walking with us. No matter how much we think we are failing, God is helping us up and giving us a hand to complete the task in front of us.
As long as we are willing to work for God and to serve Him in whatever way we can, He will keep His promise to us to never leave us or forsake us. He will be our strength when we need it, our guide when we are lost and our comforter through the roughest seas in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you give things to God?
How often do you try to take things back?
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March 17: Romans 5:12-21
Key Verse: Romans 5:13
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered why the world seems to be getting worse? Have you ever looked back and thought “it wasn’t as bad back when I was younger?” We can blame things on the world, people, television, the Internet and anything else we can think of, but the fact is this is all down to us – human beings! We were given the free choice to choose the path we walk, and we have done something wrong somewhere along the way.
The more we try to cover things up, the worse things become because of the lies we have to tell to try and cover things up. The more we dig, the deeper the hole becomes. And all of this is because we keep choosing the wrong path.
God has shown us where we have gone wrong by giving us some rules to follow. Once we see the rules have been broken, we can then choose to change… if we want… The problem seems to be we keep choosing the wrong path.
God has also told us the penalty for choosing the wrong path. He has told us what the punishment for breaking the rules and He continues to warn us… Now is the time we have to make an active choice to either turn our backs on sin or continue down this path of self destruction!
Points to Ponder:
What path have you chosen in your life?
Will you listen to God and try turn your life around?
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March 16: Jeremiah 11:18-20
Key Verse: Jeremiah 11:18
Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.
Devotion:
One of the things I am always amazed by is how much God can and does look after you. We are surrounded by a world which, at times, seems out to get you and yet we continue being safe and secure when we live our lives with God. This has been the same throughout history and for many of the people in our bibles!
Jeremiah was protected in ways which we can look back on and know God was there making him safe when the world was plotting against Him. I know that feeling of being totally safe when you are surrounded by strife and dangers because I have been there a few times in my life and I know God was looking out for me during those times!
It is when we look back on the dangerous situations we see just how much God was doing behind the scenes. When we look back and are frightened by what has happened, we are also amazed at how calm and secure we felt at the time – because we knew in our hearts there was someone watching over us!
This is the pace we have in God, the knowledge we have He is there and He is protecting us when everything else seems to be falling apart. This gives us the strength and faith we need to continue living our lives with and for God!
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you been in trouble?
How many of those times do you think God was with you?
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March 15: Jeremiah 26:8-11
Key Verse: Jeremiah 26:11
Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, ‘This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!’
Devotion:
Sometimes, one of the hardest things to hear is the truth! We are scared of the truth if we know or suspect the truth will either expose something we are doing wrong or it will put us in a bad light! We all would like others to see us as good and not bad and when someone comes along and upsets the status quo in any way, we feel threatened in some way.
This is the same fate Jeremiah had to face up to when he was trying to tell the people what God had said. Here was a prophet saying bad things would happen to the people of the city because they were not doing what God wanted them to. The objected and wanted to continue doing what they liked doing rather than having someone talking them down!
The same fate faced Jesus when He tried to tell people of the things they were doing wrong. They turned on Jesus just as the people of this city were turning on Jeremiah – just because they were confronted by the truth and they did not like it!
We are going to have to face similar reactions from people if we dare to tell them the truth and the show they should change their ways or face God’s wrath! But how are they going to find the truth unless someone steps forward and tells them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you face the truth or run from it?
Will you help others face the truth too?
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March 14: Exodus 32:7-14
Key Verse: Exodus 32:9
‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people.
Devotion:
Have you every stopped to think what sort of an impression you make on God? Do you realise just how much He hates sin, and He has to watch you bringing sin into your life! We tend to stick with the things we know, with the things we have done before, the things we think are part of our past… even when we begin to realise they are not right!
God wants us to turn away from sin in our lives and turn toward keeping Him closer to us through everything we do. The closer we keep God in our lives, the easier it is for Him to help guide us and the easier it is for us to listen! It is not impossible for Him to do anything, but if we keep rejecting His ways He has to do more and more work!
Why not try to keep God a bit closer so you can hear when He is trying to tell you where to go. Why not invite Him to be a controlling part of your life instead of an after thought! God wants to make us happy and wants to be able to give us so much – that is how much He loves us. Isn’t it time to stop driving a wedge between Him and you?
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things out of habit?
Will you try to change your ways and keep God closer?
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March 13: Isaiah 48:8-11
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:10
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things I had to cope with when reading the Old Testament as a young person was words like these where God was telling the people they had gone through hard times because He allowed it to happen! I used to think this was quite barbaric when I read it as a young person, but the longer I spent reading the bible and understanding God’s ways, the more I began to see a new side of these words!
God may well have allowed things to happen during those times, but He was doing so because of the hard hearts and stubbornness of the people! They went out of their way to do things contrary to what God was asking of them. They were doing things in spite of all the good God had showed them. If people were doing that to me, I would probably have exploded a long time before this point… yet God chose to stand by them and walk with them as they went through these tough times!
When we see some of the things which happen in our lives, do we ever look back and try to identify what we were doing during those times? I’m fairly sure we will find we were probably doing all manner of things which God was not looking forward to! I’m not saying God was choosing the fate of the people – they were sealing their own fates by exposing themselves to the world around them and God was trying, every step of the way, to remind them of the things He had asked of them in the beginning!
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things selfishly?
How often do you think of the people around you, including God?
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March 12: John 5:5-16
Key Verse: John 5:12
So they asked him, ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?’
Devotion:
When a prayer gets answered, what do you do about it? Do you keep it a secret and not tell anyone? Do you tell your friends in the hope they will be the ones who believe you? Do you go out and tell everyone to try and convince them it is the truth?
This story is about a person who was waiting close to the pool called Bethesda. This was a gathering place where people believed they could get healed when the waters were disturbed. This was because of something which had previously happened there and they wanted to see some healing happen to them or their families. This person did not have anyone they could depend on to get them to the waters edge if and when they were disturbed.
So when the person told Jesus about his plight, Jesus had pity on them and healed them without having to get to the pool. When asked about how they were healed, they simply said a man had told them to get up and walk! The teachers of the law were bust telling this person off for picking up their bed!
When Jesus does something in your life, He may well get you to do something out of character. If you know it was Christ then you should listen and obey no matter what the people around you think. Don’t be put off saying something which sounds incredible because this may be the one thing which will convince the people around you to believe in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell people all Christ does in your life?
Or do you hide the truth from others?