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May 4: Psalm 66:1-6
Key Verse: Psalm 66:5
Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!
Devotion:
When the psalmist cries out for everyone to shout for joy to God, it is not because they need to shout for God to hear! It is because we all should be praising God for all He has done and is doing. Too often we look at what God has done in the far distant past and we think it is all but over because we don’t see anything like that nowadays.
What we need to do is to open our eyes and hearts to see and know what God is constantly doing all of the time. God continues to do miracles today. He continues to heal people and protect people. He continues to guide people and above all His love for all of us has not dwindled!
When the psalmist says we should come and see what God has done, his referral is to God parting the sea so the tribes of Israel could walk across on dry land to escape the Egyptians; so we stop looking for anything more! But if we do watch and listen we will see how much more God continue to do in our modern world. We can see the people who find love when they have none to give. We can see the hope in communities where there is none. God continues doing things today but we don’t go looking – that is why we don’t see them!
So when the psalmist says we need to come and see, we still do. Come out of the shadows and see what God is doing in the light. Come out of the despair and see the hope we have just because we believe in God. He is doing this all because He loves us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you go searching for things God has done?
Why not?
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May 3: Acts 7:51-53
Key Verse: Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
Devotion:
Stephen was a man on a mission to make sure everyone heard about Jesus, not the version the Sanhedrin wanted people to know, but the truth! When he was confronted by the Sanhedrin, he did not hold back on his views of them! His retort here was to tell them they may have physically been circumcised, but they were not spiritually circumcised!
He said this as a warning to them to show they were following the letter of the law instead of following what God was trying to impress in their hearts. We also have to be very careful in our modern lives to not get carried away with doing things because other Christians are doing it, or because it is the way others are acting! Jesus wants us to be individuals who are willing to listen to what He has to say to us and act accordingly!
We can see from the Gospels in our bibles that each of the Apostles had a slightly different view of what was happening; this is largely due to the Holy Spirit talking to each of the Apostles in their own way. We do not have to all be the same, we are individuals!
When we follow what others are doing, we are following them and not necessarily Christ. This may sound harsh and we could all say we are being taught by good Christian people and so we should be doing what they say, but there is always the human element involved and humans do get things wrong now and again. I will always freely admit I do make mistakes and this is why I always try to show you the passage in the bible where I am getting my devotions from – because God may have a unique message for you through the words in the bible!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you think about the words in the bible?
Will you take a bit of time to listen to what God wants to say to you?
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May 2: Psalm 119:1-8
Key Verse: Psalm 119:1
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Devotion:
How many times have you had to observe someone doing something bad, against the law or just plain wrong? We all get to watch someone do something wrong at some stage in our lives, and depending on the environment where you live or work, you may have to watch on more than you like. It eats away at the soul as you watch bad things happening – one of the worst things I am seeing too much of is the atrocities happening in Ukraine!
God has always asked us to obey the rules. He continues to love us no matter what, but He has also got to remain Holy, which means rejecting evil in all ways. When we do something wrong against God, we are effectively doing this in front of Him because He does watch over us at all times.
We have been given a whole book or laws which God wants us to try and stick to; this book, our bible, is not a list of what man says is good for God, but a set of rules from God. We cannot change those commandments even if we think they do not fit in with our lifestyles… but we do also have to obey what Christ came to tell us. These commandments have not changed over time, they were upheld by Jesus and explained in many cases.
God wants us to be able to worship Him with clean hearts and clear minds. If we get too engrossed in the evil things of this world, we may well find it hard to focus on what he is asking of us. If we wait on God and obey Him, we will be able to get closer to being able to follow His commandments more like how Jesus did.
Points to Ponder:
Do you put up with evil?
Will you reject evil and draw closer to God?
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May 1: John 21:15-19
Key Verse: John 21:17
The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.’
Devotion:
How many times have you been frustrated with what God is asking of you? How many times have you questioned what God is asking you to do? If we are honest we are going to say we have been both frustrated and confused about what we do for God; but we have to also be honest and remind ourselves we cannot see into our futures!
I know I have had a few occasions when I have questioned what God has asked of me… especially when I was so sure He was asking me to do something else! We get these ideas in our heads about what God wants of us and we tend to stick with those instead of waiting patiently for God to speak. We all should be doing a lot more listening and and little less talking back!
Peter was in the boat when they had little luck with catching fish; once they had landed the enormous catch of fish and realised it was Jesus on the shore, Peter jumped out of the boat and swam ashore as soon as he could. But when they had finished eating, Jesus then said these words to Peter. Peter got upset because He asked him three times in a row…
Jesus did not do this to hurt Peter but rather to make him stop and think; sometimes we get too caught up in doing what we think is right rather than waiting on God to see what is actually right! Jesus wanted Peter to stop and simply follow Him. Is this what Jesus is asking of you – just stop and listen...
Points to Ponder:
Are you too caught up in trying to do things for God?
Will you stop and listen to what He wants?
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April 30: Acts 6:1-4
Key Verse: Acts 6:3
Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
Devotion:
How many times have you failed at doing something because you either ran out of time or strength to accomplish the task? We are human and we have to be able to work within our physical strengths; we cannot hope to work continually without rest or to continue helping and supporting others if we do not get help and support ourselves! God stopped and made sure He had a day of rest as an example to us.
But rest is not just the physical act of stopping work and sleeping. Rest and recuperation is the act of stepping away from the work we are doing and either doing something we enjoy or physical rest. Sometimes just being able to escape away from the rigours of work will help more than we realise.
When the disciples recognised they were being over worked and some people were missing out on the due care and attention they should have been getting, they made the bold choice to take on more staff to help out with the work. A church cannot be carried by the priest in charge or any single person. A church must be people working together to further God’s work in the community.
We are the church. The people are the church. If we do not act together and help each other out, then someone doing all the work will get too tired and miss out on doing what is required. God wants us to share responsibilities when needed and when it is better for the church and community.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do in your church?
Are you willing to step forward and help?
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April 29: Acts 5:34-39
Key Verse: Acts 5:38
Therefore, in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
Devotion:
Gamaliel was brave enough to stand up in front of the Sanhedrin and speak some wise words. I like to think these words came from God even if he did not know this! God can, and does, use people from all walks in life to do the right thing at the right time. It is not always the righteous person who stands up and does something for God… If Judas had not sold Jesus out for a bag of silver, things would not have happened the way they did.
In order for Jesus to be able to do God’s bidding, Judas had to do what he did. In this case, Gamaliel had to stand up and speak these brave words as he did to make sure the apostles continued the work which had been planned by God. This was the very early institution of the church as we know it. The apostles had to spread the word to the right people so we too would know about what Jesus did…
Too often we close door because we cannot see a way out of a situation or we pull back because we cannot see the way forward. If we had the right amount of faith and trust in God, we would be able to make a huge difference in the world around us. We are the modern day apostles who have to step forward and allow people to hear the gospel.
If we try to go ahead and do things under our own strength, things will be found out and our plans will come to nothing. We have seen this happen time and time again throughout history when people turned their backs on God. But if we stand up with God and allow Him to guide our every step, then anyone who tries to come up against us will be facing God and not just us! God will ensure things happen one way or the other!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give God the right amount of control in your life?
Will you continue to share Jesus with others just as He has asked?
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April 28: John 3:31-36
Key Verse: John 3:33
Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
Devotion:
If you want to be able to achieve something, do you aim at the lowest point to focus on doing that alone, or do you aim high and try to get as much done as possible? Sometimes we do tend to give up before we start because it seems like a much easier task than to have to fight all the way to the top!
God sent us a perfect man to teach us the truth and open our hearts and minds to what is possible with Him. If we are going to ignore that and continue focusing on what the earth has to offer – that is all we are going to see in the end because that is all we want to see!
God has given us a very high mark to aim for. One which is impossible to reach without His help. He wants us to reach out to Him and ask for that help so He can do more for us. When we have faith and trust Christ, we are saying to God that we believe in Him and we are willing to obey Him. This is the truth Jesus came to show us and to expand before us.
We don’t have to be scared we will not be able to do anything for God. We can put our faith and trust in Him and He will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and lift us up as we do His bidding. He is not going to leave us high and dry! Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit would be here for us after He went back to heaven. We have God on our side and we have strength and guidance without limit and without end! Use it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you place your trust in God?
Will you listen to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to guide you properly?
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April 27: Acts 5:17-26
Key Verse: Acts 5:23
‘We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.’
Devotion:
I wonder, have you experienced anything out of the ordinary happen to you while God was in charge? Too much of our lives are spent trying to make sense of things and defining what can and cannot happen according to the laws of science. Well, there is a whole lot more to life than just science and there are things which will happen where we will not be able to explain it away with science, history, common sense or whatever!
The high priest and his associates who were all members of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy because the Apostles were taking so much attention away from them; focus was being placed directly on Jesus, the man whom they had condemned to death, the same man who God brought back to life so we would have a way of paying for our sin debt once and for all!
God was with the apostles and protected them no matter what was happening at this stage because He knew they had a task to fulfil. God knew when they were going to be taken and He knew it would be the same ruling party who would condemn the apostles to death just as they did to Jesus. But before then, they had a job to do – to open the eyes of the people so they could see the truth despite the corruption of the leaders!
God took them directly out of jail without them having to break out, open the doors or even creep past the guards. The captain of the temple guards could not explain it, but I’m sure he got to know about it after people started telling others about how God freed the apostles.
Points to Ponder:
Do you cling to what you know?
Will you trust God to do something impossible for you?
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April 26: 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 2:11
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him;
Devotion:
When we see how much the disciples went through, we begin to see why Jesus taught them about suffering. People are bad! People do things wrong! Christ was the one who stood up to tell people the truth. He knew it was going to upset a lot of people because He could see they had been following worldly ways for a while now instead of continuing to listen to and be guided by God.
It only takes one person to turn away and many may follow them because it looks like they are doing the right thing. But when someone turn and gets into trouble because they have turned, we don’t like to follow, believe or trust them because they had got themselves in deep water! We follow human emotions and human ways just because it looks right – after all it must be if someone else is doing it, right?
Jesus had to go through so much suffering we cannot grasp how He was able to continue going on! Some people are chained up by their situations – they cannot let go and they cannot do what is right without getting into trouble themselves… so they back off and allow bad things to happen. When we see bad things happen, we shy away unless we can see they are reaping the benefits in major ways!
Unfortunately we do like to follow the path of least resistance and least punishment. We like to have an easy life, because we can see how that benefits us. We don’t normally get to see how bad things benefit us because we don’t stick around long enough to see the benefits which come at the end! Christ did!
Points to Ponder:
We must be willing to follow Jesus!
Are you willing to put up with the consequences of following Christ?
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April 25: Acts 15:35-41
Key Verse: Acts 15:39
They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered why churches split up or people leave one church to go to another? It is all part of being human and having our own faults. We try to hide our feeling at times because we are afraid we may hurt someone or we may be hurt ourselves. We try to go along with what other people are saying even though we think it is wrong. We make mistakes; not just us, but all of us, everyone, church leaders included!
We see many references to how the chief priests and religious leaders at the time went against what the disciples were learning as the truth. We may even wonder why they could not see the truth. If we place ourselves in their shoes, then maybe we would not see how the disciples were trying to do what is right – we may only see them as troublemakers.
It takes context and more knowledge than we have to see what really happens – too much of the time what we see as being right and wrong are jaded by our surroundings and by the people around us. Because we are all human and because we all make mistakes, we should be more aware of others and more aware of what can go wrong, both in our lives and in others lives!
Paul and Barnabas had a major disagreement because they had their own ideas about what should be done. Barnabas wanted to give Mark another chance to prove himself. Paul was in no mood to let that happen. Something so little caused a major argument which ended up in them parting company! This is life and we have to learn how to cope with circumstances like this so we can move forward. What we need to do is to put aside our own feeling and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us… and that is hard!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have strong ideas about what should happen in your church?
Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you even when others will not?