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June 3: Acts 25:13-21
Key Verse: Acts 25:21
But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.’
Devotion:
When you are asked to do something, how do you go about starting? Do you try to find the easiest way forward, or the hardest way forward so you will not have to end up doing it? Do you maybe try to find someone else to do the work for you? When we get asked to do things in our everyday lives, we often find ways we can change the way we do the work to either make it easier or to get someone else to do the work for us… It seems to be in our nature to do these things!
Paul was caught in between a rock and a hard place (and English saying) meaning if he chose one way he would have to face the Pharisees and Sadducees again, or he would have to face the Roman law which was know to be quite harsh at times. Paul appealed to Festus to see if he could get his case heard by Caesar! Talk about aiming high!
We may think this was a bit much, but when God asks you to do something, you should be willing to go all the way to try and achieve the goal set before you. This may take you way out of your comfort zone – we do like to stick to what we know and to what we think we can achieve… Let us not forget God knows us better than we do. He knows what we are capable of because He is not blinkered by our fears and worries…
Festus was the man in charge; and yet he chose to bring this before King Agrippa because he was not confident he would do the right thing. This is quite normal for us human beings! We do doubt ourselves and we do like to consult others if we think we are not up to the task… we should be consulting God and listening to the Holy Spirit at times like this!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you go to for advice?
Will you ask and listen to the Holy Spirit for some advice today?
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June 2: Act 23:6-11
Key Verse: Acts 23:11
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.’
Devotion:
When we read about all the things which happened to Paul, we should take great courage in knowing God is going to look after us in similar manner to these things. It did not mean Paul had a smooth and carefree life which was filled with joy. Paul went through many hardships and had to face many people who seemed to want to take him down and put him in prison all the time!
Paul was given insight into each situation. God made sure someone prompted Paul when he needed to be prompted. God made sure Paul knew what had to be done next – be it uncomfortable or hard – he knew what had to be done. Can you imagine what was going through his mind when he stood up and called himself a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees… He was going directly up against the Sadducees and siding with people who were trying to get rid of him!
With all the uproar, God picked a commander to make the next step. This is what God does – He picks people from the world around us and uses them to make a difference so we can continue to do what He wants us to do. The commander took Paul away from the crowd which seemed to be getting very boisterous and putting Paul’s well-being in danger!
After a night away from the warring crowds The Lord stood by Paul and told him what would have to be done next. Once we submit to God’s ways we will see how He draws closer to us so He can guide us better. God was now telling Paul he would have to face up to the Romans just as he had done here facing up the the Jews (Pharisees and Sadducees.) If we are willing to listen to God and obey Him, we may find our path forward is not with the people around us, but new pastures where we don’t know them!
Points to Ponder:
Are you listening to God?
Where is He leading you to go?
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June 1: Acts 20:28-31
Key Verse: Acts 20:28
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Devotion:
Do you know what it is to be a disciple? Being a disciple is not just following Jesus and learning everything you can from Him… Being a disciple means seeking Christ, learning, listening, obeying and then taking this new-found knowledge and love and sharing it with more people around you; encouraging them to find out more, learn, listen and obey. Being a disciple is an ongoing task which Christ is asking you to do and the Holy Spirit it guiding you to do.
Yes, you heard me right – the Holy Spirit is teaching you and guiding you. That means trying to listen out for and to the Holy Spirit. That still small voice which you know is the Spirit; not the loud shouting of the world around you or the savage wolves who are trying to hide the voice of the Spirit…
It is our task to look after the flock of the Shepherd – Jesus is our Shepherd and the flock belong to Him. We have been given the task to look after them. Sometimes that is going to be teaching and talking, sometimes it is going to be sitting by their sides. There will be times when you are just called to sit quietly close to them so they know God through your presence.
Sometimes it will be stepping forward to grab a hold of a hand reaching out for help; a hand which is clutching at anything they can reach. Jesus sends us to the right time and place when we listen so we can be there for the right person at the right time. They are going to be the next disciple in the chain of events.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you reach out to people in need?
Will you try to listen to the prompting of the Spirit to find out where He wants you?
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May 31: Romans 12:9-16
Key Verse: Romans 12:11
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to hear is often someone telling you to be nice to someone who is horrible to you! But these are the words the disciples learned from Christ – to love one another above ourselves. Whilst we may find it hard to do so by ourselves, holding the Holy Spirit close and trusting Him will allow you to do things greater than by yourself.
Don’t think of all the horrible things they have done to you. Don’t worry about all the bad things you have to face in the future from them… Instead try to love them like Christ loves you! We have been sinning against God for a long time and yet He is able to put that aside and to love us no matter what! If we can live just a little more like Him, we will be able to love others!
Sharing your life and your blessings with others will allow them to see the love God has for you and for them too. This is the start we should aim for to give others the best opportunity to live with Christ too. If you see someone in need, then join them in their need and see if you can make a difference in their lives – it just may be what they have been waiting for to start their life with Christ.
I wish country and political leaders would take notice of these words – that they would put aside their pride and greed to live more like Christ and feel for others as Christ feels for them. Just because someone has had issues in their past, does not mean they will take it out on you – maybe they just need a smile to get through the day… you can be that smile!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you help others?
Will you think a bit more like Jesus and reach out to those in need?
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May 30: John 16:29-33
Key Verse: John 16:32
‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
Devotion:
I wonder if you have been very committed to something in your life and never imagined you would ever give up – until you look back and realise you have given up! I’m quite certain the disciples would never have imagined they would give up on following Jesus, especially now they were coming to terms with Jesus being the Son of God, but Jesus was predicting what they would end up doing when He gave His life up on the cross.
God is the one who knows all things; He certainly knows what lies ahead for each of us even if we cannot figure our own lives out! Even if we try our hardest to follow and obey God, we will probably still fall short of the mark just as the disciples would end up doing. They were committed to Christ and yet when they faced what they though was an impossible position, they gave in and followed the world, going back to their old lifestyles and wondering what went wrong!
Jesus knew what lay ahead for Him. He knew it was an impossible position, but He continued going forward to make sure that set of events which were foretold would come to pass. This is because He knew God had this all planned out and He was going to follow and obey no matter what!
We are human like the disciples. Jesus was human too… but He was not going to let the world dictate what He did – He was going to allow God the Father dictate what would happen. We are going to have to face certain trouble in our lives because we live in this world full of trouble. Jesus had to face trouble because He was human too. What we do with that trouble will dictate what sort of people we are! Jesus made sure He followed God. That is our aim too!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to worldly things?
When was the last time you obeyed God instead of the world?
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May 29: Revelation 22:12-13
Key Verse: Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Devotion:
When the apostle was shown visions of heaven and all that is still to come, he was told the Lord would be coming again – soon. We get upset when things do not go according to our plans. We get cross when we are told something will happen and it takes longer than we thought. Jesus had already told the disciples they would not know when He was going to return; they were told only God the Father knew the time when Jesus would return.
That must have been a bit of a hard pill to swallow because they would have been used to knowing when things would happen. But now they were working with no time frame and no certainty like they may have ben used to!
Jesus wanted them to know they would receive their just rewards upon His return. These rewards would be based on what they had achieved in their lives, not a reward for being able to do good deeds or righteous acts but rewards for how much they had been able to do for God while they lived on earth!
Jesus declares Himself to be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end! Jesus was with God in the beginning when the earth was created. He spoke the words which brought everything into place. He came to be with us and He came to lay down His life for our sin debt. He rose from the dead to overcome that sin debt on our behalf. Jesus is going to be here in the end too because He promised to come back to us!
Points to Ponder:
How do you see Jesus?
Will you trust Him with everything He has said?
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May 28: John 16:23-28
Key Verse: John 16:26
In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
Devotion:
As Jesus started to open up about being the Son of God, He started to tell the disciples these things figuratively; He knew if He told the the truth outright they would have trouble understanding and believing, but if He continue to drip-feed them until they could understand the truth, they would be able to accept it. Until now Jesus had told the disciples God would always listen to them when they lifted their prayers up to Him. Now He was telling them to ask Him for things...
This must have been a bit strange to the disciples then, but we can look back and understand what he was saying. They would have to take a leap of faith right there and then to accept Jesus as being their Messiah. I love the way the disciples are told not to ask Jesus for things hoping He will forward those prayers on to God, but to just ask in Jesus name!
Jesus is our advocate, but He is not a simple messenger! He is not there to ferry our prayers on to God but to answer our prayers in His position of the Son of God. Jesus wants us to know we can depend on Him and ask Him for anything, just as we ask God the Father for things.
With this and what we know about the Holy Spirit and Him being sent by Jesus to live with us, we can now ask the Holy Spirit things knowing He is God too. What a wonderful position to be in, being able to ask God, Christ or the Holy Spirit knowing He is going to answer our prayers. If you feel like God and Jesus are too far away because they are in Heaven, then ask the Holy Spirit because He lives with and in us here on earth!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you pray?
Will you ask for things from God in person?
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May 27: John 16:20-23
Key Verse: John 16:21
A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
Devotion:
I always try not to laugh when I read this verse because I really don’t think men know what it feels like to go through child birth. Why would a man write such an example when he does not know what it really feels like! I think maybe something was lost in translation, or it is an imagined feeling because the writer did not know what else to write!
These are the words which ring through my head when people say that being a Christian is going to be good and fun and a life without pain! The more we get to see how much opposition we get being a Christian in this world, the more we will begin to understand what it takes to stand up against the crowd. We will face a barrage of things which will make us hurt, fell uncomfortable and even want to give up – but we need to continue on forwards just like Jesus did.
We will never know the true pain and anguish Jesus went through because we do not have to carry the weight of the whole world on our shoulders like Jesus did. We will face people who want to shout at us. We will face people who will say we are weak and feeble. We will face people who treat us like we belong in a gutter… But if we can stand up and continue to say we are Christians and continue to show people we will not give up on Christ, then, just maybe they will take notice!
These harsh times are not going to last forever – they may feel like they are never-ending at times, but they will end when it is time for us to join Christ in heaven. We will not have to face any more of this grief when we get to heaven and the rewards will far out-weigh the punishment we went through… it just won’t seem like it at the time!
Points to Ponder:
How easy do you give up against hardships?
Will you make a stand for Christ?
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May 26: Acts 1:7-8
Key Verse: Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Devotion:
After Jesus had died and rose again, He appeared to the disciples on a few more occasions. On this occasion they asked Him if He was going to restore the kingdom of Israel because He had talked about the building of a kingdom. What they did not yet understand was this was the beginning of the new kingdom – a church which would grow and cover the world before Christ would return.
Here Jesus reminds them they are not going to know the date and time of His return because only God the Father knows that moment; we all have to remain prepared as if we expect this time to be the next moment in our lives.
Jesus did not leave us alone but sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide, protect and teach us. We are to be the witnesses for the next generation. We are to be the disciples who go out and teach more people to be disciples. We are the next generation, but probably not the last generation – only God knows that.
I do like people knowing I am a Christian and I do like people knowing I am a human being! Sometimes we think if we are labelled as Christians then we will somehow lose our identity and struggle in some way. Jesus did not promise a fool-proof and gold covered path to walk; but He did promise to leave us the Holy Spirit who can look after us and guide us. With God’s help through the Holy Spirit we can reach out to more people and show them being a Christian is probably the best thing in our lives! Spread the news!
Points to Ponder:
Do people know you are a believer?
How many people will you encourage today?
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May 25: John 16:12-15
Key Verse: John 16:14
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
Devotion:
When Jesus was here on earth as a human being, He wanted to tell the disciples everything! But that was a physical impossibility, so He made sure we have ready and permanent access to what He needs to tell us through the Holy Spirit… all we need do is listen!
One of our big issues in life is our inability to listen to God all the time. We know we ought to, we think we can, but we fall short when we try. Jesus knew this would be so and that is why we have been given access to Him through the Holy Spirit at all times. This means that when we do fail, we can stop and think about what we have done and come back to Him where He will be waiting with open arms to tell us more of the truths we need to know.
The Holy Spirit does not hold anything back – it is normally our minds and hearts which cannot absorb everything because we assume we cannot do so much because we see the world through physical eyes instead of through spiritual eyes. If we were able to stop seeing it all with our physical eyes, our hearts would be open to a whole lot more!
God sent His Son to us so we would be given something physical to believe in. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit so we would not be limited to the physical. God wants us to know more about Him and more about what our lives are going to be like – or can be like. If we listen to Him through the Spirit, we will be able to learn more about how we can live a better and fuller life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you bless the Lord?
Do you know He wants to bless you always?