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March 1: Genesis 37:17-28
Key Verse: Genesis 37:27
Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.’ His brothers agreed.
Devotion:
The story of Joseph and his ornate coat may not be very well known, but the fact he had an ornate coat is remembered. The truth is told here as his brothers, who were jealous of him for the attention he got from their father, plotted to get rid of him so they could get some attention. At first they had evil thoughts of getting rid of him altogether, but those thoughts mellowed a bit and they decided to sell him to the Ishmaelites instead.
Whatever happened, these brothers knew they were doing wrong and they knew if the truth got out they would not be in a good place. What they had forgotten in their jealousy was God had His eyes on them all the time and would make sure the youngest brother would get all the attention from God!
God was there in their midst protecting Joseph because He knew what could happen if Joseph would be able to continue living even if he was living as a slave. This is the power of God, using a young man destined to be a slave to become a leader and protector of God’s people!
No matter how far we walk away from the path God wants us to walk, He will continue to try and get us to walk the best path He has designed for us. God will use the people around us to try and make sure we get every opportunity to walk this path and will make sure those who do love and serve Him are protected in their walk with Him. Even when mankind sells us to the highest bidder, God is protecting us and guiding us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God when He talks?
Are you ready to obey God in His design for you?
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Feb 29: Isaiah 43:16-21
Key Verse: Isaiah 43:18
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
Devotion:
One of the things which has always held mankind back is doubt and fear of what is ahead. God has tried to encourage us to move forward, to look forward and, above all, to trust in Him. When we look forward we get scared because we cannot foretell the future. When we look back we focus on all the bad things which have happened and we become scared of them happening again.
How do we get out of this circle of fear and doubt we are in? We have to let go of the past and trust in a future which is new and which is being controlled by God and not by us. God tells us to forget about the past because it is the memories of failure which hold us back. He tells us to look forward to what is ahead, not because we can make that big a difference but because He wants to be in control and show us the right way!
God is the one who begins by making a change in the future. He knows what we are capable of and how we can achieve that future – and it is not by us going forward alone! As mad and chaotic as the world is around us, God can bring on peace and control because nothing is impossible with Him!
Even though we cannot see a future which is bright and decent, God can and wants us to go forward into that future. The problem is we have to let go of our past errors and ways and allow God to work new ways into our lives. Only then can we move forward into the good future He has for us!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you worry about the past?
How much do you worry about the future?
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Feb 28: Matthew 20:17-28
Key Verse: Matthew 20:26
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant
Devotion:
When Jesus was telling the disciples He would soon be captured and put to death before being raised up again, their thoughts were not of how they could prevent this from happening or what they could do to protect Jesus – instead they were thinking about what Zebedee’s wife had said about them being on the right and left hand of Jesus when He was back in His kingdom!
They were more concerned with their position or standing in the eyes of others than what they had just heard. I think they must not have comprehended the gravity of what Jesus had just told them but focused on who was going to be labelled as the best or closest in the kingdom to come: it was all about pride at that stage!
I know I have been guilty of personal pride at times when I should have been thinking of the people who were around me at the time. We lose focus on what is important and rather grasp hold of our pride and our feelings at the time; this is our human ways and will always be a temptation we have to face when push comes to shove!
God would like us to put aside our pride and take on the humility of a servant so we will not be consumed by this pride which stands in our way. When we let go of our pride and take on the measure of a servant for Christ and for the people around us, we can learn a lot more about what it is to really love the people around us!
Points to Ponder:
How do you show your love to the people around us?
Are you willing to set aside your pride for them?
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Feb 27: Isaiah 1:16-20
Key Verse: Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;
Devotion:
The prophets tried to do as much as possible to get the people of the land to listen to what God had told them. Some of them had great success whilst others fought and ongoing battle which seemed to be a losing battle throughout their lives!
Isaiah warned the people they would have to listen to God once again or they would end up losing everything God had given them. He gave the people stark warning which some listen to whilst others ignored. We have the same choice as the people of that time – to listen to what God is saying or to ignore the good advice!
The prophets tried to lay it out as simply as possible – listen to God and live, or disobey God and put up with the consequences of your actions! Isaiah also told them their sins would be forgiven no matter how dire the sin was or how much they had disobeyed God. If they truly came to Him with repentant hearts, they would gain full forgiveness and live as a child of God!
For those who chose to ignore God, they would have to live and die with the consequences of their actions. I don’t know how much else Isaiah could have said to warn people – and still many chose to ignore God. Today many people continue to chose to ignore God and they, too, will have to pay for their actions!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you listen to God?
How much do you obey Him?
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Feb 26: Luke 6:36-38
Key Verse: Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do as a person is to not imitate others! We learn by seeing how others do things and then we try the same. We learn through what we see and hear. We are imitators. We have this built in desire to be able to do things as others do them so we can fit in or be accepted by others.
This is not what Jesus did. He came into the world as a human being, but from the very start He did things differently, listening to the Father instead of to His human peers. If we want to be more like Jesus then we should do things the same way, putting aside the things of this world and accepting what the Father tells us!
Once we can begin to master the actions of our Saviour toward the world, then we can hope to become more like Him and to please God the Father in all we do. But as long as we give in to the ways of the world the only things we will succeed at is pleasing the world an people of this world.
We should be aiming to do more: we should be aiming to please God the Father in all we say and do. He showed Jesus how we should behave so we have an example to try and attain to. If we can put aside the ways of the world and accept the ways of God, we certainly will have drawn closer to God in the same way Jesus was close to the Father through everything He said and did!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to act like your heroes?
Will you try to act more like Jesus?
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Feb 25: Genesis 17:15-22
Key Verse: Genesis 17:16
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’
Devotion:
This is one of those stories which shows the failings of humans and the greatness of God all in one! Abraham was a faithful man, faithful to God, but he was getting old and he thought the time was probably long passed when he and Sarah would be able to have a child. Even when God spoke to him and told him Sarah would have a son, there was doubt because he and Sarah thought they were much too old.
I look back in my life and see how I had children when I was younger and think about what it could be like if I were to have another child at this late stage in my life. Just the logistics of having a child and looking after them at this age takes on a new meaning!
But we always forget nothing is impossible with God and as long as we are willing to place our faith and trust in Him, He is able to make things happen which we thought impossible… not that I am wishing for another child! God is the one who knows what we need and knows what we can handle.
Giving God space in our lives to do what He does best – miracles – can be difficult when we are limiting the space for Him to work by having those doubts. But if we can imagine a wide open space for God to work in instead of the tiny box we are giving to Him, then we will see just how much He can do!
Points to Ponder:
What are you limiting God to?
Will you open up the whole playing field to Him instead?
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Feb 24: Matthew 5:43-48
Key Verse: Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
Devotion:
As we grow up in this world we learn worldly responses to worldly events – some of them are not always the right response we should have to those events. Jesus tried to show people a new way of living whilst He lived amongst us. He went out of His way to show love to people who others had already discarded or deemed not to be worthy of any love!
We need to try to be more like Jesus in that way and to not judge people just because they have done something wrong or because they are different to us. We need to be open to the idea others need a chance to live their lives and that they could change their ways if they were give the chance to do so. Jesus was always willing to give people chances to change their ways.
He also warned us to allow people to make their own choices and if they chose to continually work against us, then we should be ready to walk away instead of picking a fight with them. But our first response should be to show them love because that may well be the one thing in life they have not had!
When Jesus showed love to people who were known to be sinners, those people often turned their lives around and began to walk with Him. This does nto mean we should eb the ultimate push-overs and accept everything and anything which comes our way… but we should be willing to show people they have a chance of getting things right!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you judge someone based on what others say?
How often do you show love to those who work against you?
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Feb 23: Matthew 5:17-20
Key Verse: Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Devotion:
When Jesus was amongst His disciples and the people He would make sure they knew He had not come to overturn everything the prophets had brought to the people; in other words He had not come to overturn the word of God but to support it and fulfil it!
Sometimes it is difficult to spot a fraudster from a crowd because the fraudsters try to blend in and work quietly from the inside. This is what we are up against as Christians, we are up against an adversary who will go out of his way to try and trip us up by offering us more than we have.
Jesus went through this when He was facing temptations from the devil but He was able to rely on God and not be tempted even though He was promised all manner of things. When we look back on instances where we have faced fraudulent people we can wonder why we did not spot them to start with – but that is why they do this, because they can hide the truth until it is too late!
Jesus also warned the people they would have to be better behaved than all of the rules from the past before they could come close to joining God in Heaven: something we will find impossible to do because we are tempted by things all the time. Jesus was stepping forward here to make a new way open to us because He knew we would not be able to avoid temptation all of our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Would you avoid a tempting dinner if offered it?
Do you know the evil one will tempt you with your inner desires?
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Feb 22: Isaiah 55:6-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Devotion:
One of the things I got to learn from an American Pastor friend of mine was we should be seeking the Lord at all times; not because He told us to or that we will get punished for not doing so, but because we only have a short time to do so! We have a finite life span and during that life we have to make a choice as to whether we follow Christ or follow mankind… and by not making a choice we have already made the choice!
The more we try to follow the world and its ways the more we will lose track of what we should be doing. The world changes its mind all the time. People change their minds all the time. God is the same today as He ever was and will always be the same!
God has warned people from the beginning of time how we will make bad choices and choose temptation instead of righteousness. He knows this because He knows what we are like. If we choose to seek Him we will be aiming at a better way of life and are more likely to get there than if we follow the ever changing will of people!
God allowed Jesus to come to us to show us the way we can live our lives with Him. He has given us the best choice to make – but we do have to make the choice. Choose to follow Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you actively seek Christ in your life?
Have you noticed He is actively seeking you?
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Feb 21: Luke 11:29-32
Key Verse: Luke 11:30
For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.
Devotion:
How many times have you been asked “why doesn't God look after Christians” or something similar to that? When I am asked this I try to find out where the person asking is coming from or why they don’t think God is looking after people – the answer is normally in the way the person asks the question!
When Jesus was talking to this crowd of people He knew the intentions o the people around Him; He knew some were seeking questions like this and His answer was probably directed to those people. God knows there are many people who have ulterior motives in life and who are not seeking the things they say they are!
We should never forget God sees right through us and knows what we are aiming for. Yesterday we talked about being honest and open with God – this is why! We can never hope to hide anything from God and being honest and open means we are honest and open with ourselves as well. The longer we try to hide things from God, the longer we will be faced with harsh judgements!
God is holy. God is righteous. This means God does what is right! If we do wrong we should expect to live with the consequences of our actions. God has every right to judge people and if we are harbouring people in our lives who are dishonest or evil, we should expect the consequences to affect our lives as well!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to live righteously?
Do you admit your faults to God?