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March 5: Isaiah 58:9-12
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:10
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Devotion:
When you think about helping others, what do you think about? Do you step forward and help someone because you know you can help them? Do you shy away from helping when you know you cannot do much or anything to help? If you see someone in need but they are on the other side of the country or world, do you give up and focus on something else?
I know these are hard questions to ask because we want to say we will help whatever the cost, but in reality we do shy away from many things in our lives because of the personal cost. I have stood up and gone to help people. I have walked away because it was too hard. But all the while I have been asking God to do what I cannot do. I know that is little consolation to those on the other side but this is life.
It is not God’s will that Ukraine should face such horrors at this time. It is the fault of an individual who has corrupted so much and so many. The person who is behind the evil is the one who is responsible, not God. God has promised to give us control of this world – this means we are responsible for what we do. The people who look away from God will only see the bad and the evil; they will work with what they see and live by those thoughts.
If we are willing to look to God and live by His word, then we will see a whole new world in which we can make a difference. When we step forward to do or say something, others will take notice and be encouraged by what we do. God is willing to guide us when we look to Him; His will is not to see us fall but to see us thrive. It is the will of the evil ones to do otherwise...
Points to Ponder:
Will you help to rebuild what has been broken down?
Will you show people God’s love through your actions?
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March 4: Isaiah 58:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:4
Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Devotion:
As we move deeper into lent, have you given much thought to why you are giving up doing whatever it is you are doing? Is it for you or for someone else? I have never been one to declare I was giving up anything for lent because I knew in my heart it was not going to continue. Those things which I have given up without shouting about have been because I wanted to make a difference to myself and the people around me. I have tried to continue those inward promises and will continue to do so as long as I can...
When the time comes and I break down and give in, I will look back and make a judgment call as to whether to keep on trying or to revert back to normal. You may think “that’s pragmatic” or “that’s life,” but when a choice is life-changing, we should take it seriously and continue to follow it up even when we falter.
God wants us to make changes in our lives because we know it is for the better and we know other people may take notice and want to change too. But when we just do something for lent, we are liable to fail and ignore the result because we know we are going back to normal afterward! Not what God had in mind!
God wants us to see the lives we lead, not in the light of the world, but in His light. He wants us to see them as He sees them. He wants us to admit to the things we have in our lives which make Him stop and take notice! For some of us, that is quite a lot! But, even though we may have a long list of things to give up, we can only do better if we allow God to walk with us in the journey!
Points to Ponder:
Did you promise to give something up for lent?
Are you taking God with you on the journey?
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March 3: Luke 9:22-25
Key Verse: Luke 9:24
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Devotion:
Have you ever been puzzled by these verses? Should we really have to give our lives up just to be with God? Well, yes, but not to take our lives or anything like that. What is said here by Jesus is we should be willing to give up on our personal dreams, desires and wants in order to follow the path God has laid down before us; that sort of giving up!
Jesus came into the world to be our sacrifice. In order to do that, He would have to give up all of His titles which we rightly give Him in order to be our humble and righteous sacrifice. He came as our Messiah, our King of Kings. He had to give up that title and be a humble human being to be in a position to give up His life for us.
He wants us to be willing to do what is asked of us too; just as God asked Him to step forward and allow Himself to be at the mercy of the human beings, the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law. Those very people who corrupted the law and were taking more for themselves than giving to God. This is what Jesus wanted to get rid of, the human corruption which was taking away from the worship of God!
What good is it if we are able to be the richest person on earth if we cannot take any of those riches with us when we die. What good is it to have all those riches but not to be happy? What good is it if we loose out on getting to Heaven just because we turned our backs on God because of the temptations of this world. Turn your back on the glorification of the world and turn towards Christ!
Points to Ponder:
What is the most important thing in your life?
Would you be willing to give that to God?
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March 2: John 8:1-11
Key Verse: John 8:11
‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’
Devotion:
As we continue to watch an horrific war happen on our doorsteps in Europe, we lift up the people of Ukraine and all their friends and families pleading for God’s grace and mercy, strength and guidance, and for a reminder for the perpetrators they are fighting many Christians. Whilst there may not be too much many of us can do, we can pray and we can open up our borders, homes and hearts to those being displaced.
This story from the Gospel of John reminds us of two things in particular; the first being that we all have guilt in our lives and we should not be blaming others for the guilty things they carry round when we know all too well we are still guilty! One of the first song I used to teach young children in our church groups was “is there a plank in your eye” which reminds us we cannot hope to find the small things wrong in others lives when we have something big wrong in ours!
When I look at the situation in Ukraine, I cannot help but think of the troubles many of the Russian soldiers must be facing, wondering whether they are doing the right thing as they get to see the war on the front line. It’s the knowledge they have things wrong in their lives and their countries, so why should they be looking at what someone else says is wrong in their enemies lives!
When we stop to think about things, God will fill us with mercy and grace – the mercy to forgive those people who have done wrong, and the grace to step forward and say “you are forgiven!” Don’t allow the things in your life spoil other people’s lives. Rather accept we all do get things wrong from time to time and try to forgive and move on.
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry round guilt in your life?
Do you know Christ is willing to forgive you no matter what?
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March 1: Psalm 89:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 89:2
I will declare that your love stands firm for ever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
Devotion:
How much of the news do you believe? We hear two different stories coming in about the war in Ukraine; we hear the Russian side which says everything is going as planned, and we hear the Western side which says nothing is going to plan… so who do we believe? I would like to believe the Western Media is getting us the truth, but I have been deceived by the Western Press a few too many times to believe everything they say!
Are we going to be seen in that light when we present the gospel to people, or are they going to see us as people who are doing everything we can to make sure the truth is presented above all? Jesus wants us to tell people the truth and to allow Him to work in their hearts instead of us trying to do so. When we try too hard to tell people to believe in what we have to say, it normally comes over as us bending the truth or covering it up in some way… because we live in a world of deceit and mistrust!
The apostles must have had a very difficult time trying to get people to listen to them. They were fighting against the religious leaders at the time – the leaders who had been deceiving the people for so long, they had started to believe the lies… or the half truths!
God wants us to present the whole truth and not to try to make people believe. He wants people to hear the truth so they will be able to find out what God has done in the past and what He promises to do in the future. We should allow God to open peoples hearts and not try to do it ourselves. When we try, things go wrong...
Points to Ponder:
How do you tell people the truth?
Will you use the same method to tell people the gospel?
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February 28: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Key Verse: 1 Peter 1:6
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Devotion:
Sometimes have have to face trials in our lives and during those trials we often start to wonder whether God is looking after us or whether we are on our own! The thing is, we live in this world in which there are all manner of people, those who believe and those who don’t, those who are good and those who aren’t. Because we live in proximity to evil, we have to endure what evil does from time to time.
It is not that God has forgotten us, or that we have gone so far away He can no longer reach us; it is simply the fact we are in close proximity to evil! We can see this in the world today as we see the evil of various dictator and tyrants who impose their own ways on anyone who gets close to them, or anyone who stands in their way!
Let us pray fervently for Ukraine at she faces the evil onslaught of someone who has gone too far. We are all affected by this simply because we are close to where they are. Unfortunately, the world is getting “smaller” as we have the means to travel to the other side of the world today – which means Ukraine is on our door step!
We cannot all pick up arms and face the evil which is descending on Ukraine, but we can all get down on our knees and pray for God to intervene. We have written records of how much God has done for people He loves and looks after – this has been happening for thousands of years. Yet, when we grow weary and stop praying like we used to, we cannot expect God to continue doing everything for us.
Now is the time to pray. Now is the time for God to show us His love.
Points to Ponder:
How much do you pray for your loved ones?
Will you share a prayer for Ukraine and Europe?
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February 27: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:15
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
Devotion:
One of the biggest problems with people and the bible is how we refuse to believe something which is written down because it happened such a long time ago. However, the Jews continue to uphold the scriptures which Moses gave to the Israelites so many more years before this! They are caught up in what was written for them and they refuse to let it go even though that same scripture tells them of the coming of the Messiah who would turn things around for them!
When we set about learning from a text book, we get transfixed by the words in that book and we tend to discard other information we may receive. This is the same with the Torah and the Bible. The Jews knew the words recorded by Moses and kept generation after generation were true; and because of that they will not let those words go. Even though Jesus came as the Messiah and fulfilled everything which was written about the messiah, they will not let their ancient scriptures go.
They had become dull to the words of Christ and the apostles. Their hearts are set on what Moses did and said and they do not want to let that go. The same can be said for many things in life. The text books in my schools used to teach of colonial rule and correctness; what we now know as the truth is the corruptness and deceit of the colonial rulers – not what we were taught in school!
God wants us to take what we know, learn more and continue to live with God explaining the truth to us as we grow with Him. If we refused to embrace the truth, we will be stuck in the past and will not get to know the truth. Once we accept what Christ has done, we can move forward with that truth and find out so much more!
Points to Ponder:
How many books did you learn in school?
How much of the bible did they teach you?
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February 26: Psalm 141:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 141:1
I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you.
Devotion:
Have you ever had an open fire in your house? Did you do the right thing and put a wire guard in front of it to make sure the popping embers did not set your house on fire? Well, just like an open fire with the wood popping and embers jumping out making a mess, our mouths will make a mess of just about any situation if they are not guarded!
We may think we have to have an open mouth to make sure God will hear us – we may think we have to shout out our prayers from the roof-tops just to ensure God hears us… Well, the greatest thing is God will hear us even if we whisper our prayers from our hearts. We don’t have to make sure we have the best sound system to get the message across – we just have to give people the truth…
A few days ago we talked about the mess we can get ourselves into by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time; this is what we need help with and we should be asking God to help us on that front. If we ask Him for the guidance, and we listen to that guidance, we will come out with some good things to say and we will not be berating our fellow Christians – or anyone else for that matter!
We also have to make sure we are not drawn in by the ‘too good to be true’ stories which lead us away from God and His ways. If we can stick close to God and make sure we have space for Him to live with us in our lives, we are going to make a whole lot less mess than if we rush off with the crowd. Having an open fire without a guard is like having a ‘too good to be true’ story as our goal instead of having God as our leader.
Points to Ponder:
How easy is it for you to rush off and say things you shouldn’t?
Will you allow God to be your guide and your guard as well as your God?
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February 25: James 5:9-12
Key Verse: James 5:9
Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Devotion:
I wonder if you have ever said something to a friend about another person only to find they are standing right behind you! I know I have put my foot in it many times, so nowadays I try to not say things about others – but still we get caught up in gossip...
Jesus did not go round talking about people behind their backs – if there was something to be said, He would say it to their faces because they needed to hear it. Unfortunately for us, our minds play havoc with us and we start imagining stuff which is not true, ending up believing the untruths and falling into the trap of gossiping about others because of what we have heard and not because it is true!
One of the earliest passages in our bibles is believed to be the book of Job. In that book we hear of the jealous workings of the evil one who wants to trip someone up. The evil one says God is looking after Job too much and protecting him from everything; he surmises that if he were able to hurt Job, he would turn against God. This did not happen. Job was willing to put up with terrible things which happened to him and continued trusting in God even though he lost so much.
God rewarded him later with blessing which far outweighed the blessings he had before and took away the angst he had because of the things which happened. God wants to be able to protect us all the time and comfort us in every part of our lives. Unfortunately, we live in a world filled with evil and we are influenced by the world. We cannot help but be caught up in some of the terrors of this world, like dictators and tyrants who rule with fear and deceit instead of with honesty and truth.
Points to Ponder:
Do you allow the world to unduly influence you?
Will you ask God to influence you more than the world can?
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February 24: Mark 9:42-48
Key Verse: Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
Devotion:
For the longest time I used to think these verses were horrible and unloving in some way; but they show us true love in a way instead! When we are tempted, we give in and go off to do something else wrong in our lives. The more we do things wrong, the more easily we seem to be turned away from righteousness and the more we give in to the things we should not.
When Jesus was teaching the disciples, His words may have seemed harsh at the time, but they were there to lead the disciples into the best path forward; sometimes that path is not the nice easy path we think of in our lives, but the hardest way we think forward. Jesus wanted the disciples to know we have a choice and the choice is what will set us free. We can choose to continue following the things which get us into trouble, or we can choose to turn away from them.
If it is something dear in our lives (illustrated here by body parts) which is causing us to stumble and turn away from God, then should we continue to depend on that or should we turn away from it? Sometimes, cutting it out of our lives all together is the only way forward because we are so dependant on our old ways. God wants to set us free, but we do have to make the choice to want freedom from our sins.
Some religions have taken these words too literally and they will cut off your hand when you use it to commit a sin. God does not want us to chop all our body parts off which are getting us into trouble – He wants us to see the issue we have and turn away from those sins to live a better life with Him. It is our choice!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get into trouble a lot?
Are you willing to turn away from that part of your life?