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February 3: 1 King 2:1-4
Key Verse: 1 King 2:3
and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go
Devotion:
When King David was about to die he made sure Solomon, his son, was reminded of the love and mercy of God, especially when we walk in His ways and obey His commands. David knew the people around him who would not follow God, and he knew the people who would. His wish to Solomon was he should walk in obedience to God, keep God’s commandments, His laws and follow where God would send him.
David had learned this through living with God for many years, breaking the rules and having to live with the consequences of failing to obey God. David wanted Solomon to have the best possible life and knew the way to do that would be if he would walk with God all of his life.
It is hard to follow God sometimes, especially when the people around you are doing their own thing and looking like they are getting away with it. This is not the case because God does see everything, and because He is not bound by time, everything is remembered all the time. But, Jesus came to give His life for us so we could escape from those dark consequences and live with God as if we were innocent!
God has a plan for each of us. When we walk within that plan, we can expect to have things go well and to prosper. When we walk away from that plan we may find we have to face the world by ourselves and we get horribly lost or overwhelmed by what the world has for us. Walking with God may see hard at times, but it is always the right thing to do!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you listen to God?
How often do you obey God?
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February 2: Psalm 32:1-5
Key Verse: Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Devotion:
If there is one thing which stands out for you in the Old Testament, what would it be? When I first started reading through the Old Testament, the thing which struck me the most was the amount of things which went wrong, the amount of fighting, wars and horrible things happening to people. But as I continued to study the bible, I learned of the reasons for what happened. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but a lot of it had to do with the attitude of the people!
When man first rebelled against God, there had to be put in place limits which would prevent man from going as far as the evil one. If we had continued on in the same way, we would have given ourselves to the devil just to try and stop things happening; it’s our weakness as humans.
But, now, the thing which stands out to me the most is the amount of times God was willing to forgive people and bring them back to Him. I am amazed by the mercy and faithfulness of God; not just saying He would forgive, but forgiving time and time again! Whilst there were consequences for man to live with, God was always willing to forgive. If there were no consequences, might we have continued to sin without measure?
God wants us to walk with Him in our lives, which means trying to avoid sin and trying to follow His instructions. We will fail time and time again, but God will forgive time and time again too. We just have to look back at the consequences for our actions and allow them to persuade us from doing that sin again!
Points to Ponder:
Have you admitted your sins to God?
Will you try to live with His instructions?
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February 1: Psalm 86:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 86:1
Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Devotion:
When we read through the New Testament stories about how Jesus reached out and healed or helped people, it was normally the poor and needy people who got help! Jesus wanted us to know how valued every single person is, especially those who are poor and needy. It is not the healthy and fit people who need to seek out the assistance from doctors, but the sick and unwell people who need doctors.
David had a good understanding of what God wanted him to do (even though he failed at times) and he tried hard to live up to those things because of his love for God. He learned at an early age how much God answers prayers and how we can depend on Him at time when we need help most of all.
David’s request here is to ask God for assistance in keeping his life on track; these words being penned when king David was not in a good state. Each time he asks God for protection, strength and even wisdom, God answers him and allows David’s faith to continue growing every day.
God wants us to be happy and full of Joy. He wants us to be health and wise. He wants us to lack for nothing… but we really do need to ask for His help and not just assume He will do everything for us! When we start taking God for granted, we see our answered prayers taking longer, our health and wealth going downhill… God wants us to be constantly aware of how much we need Him and how much He cares for us.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you call out to God?
Will you start calling out to Him before you are in dire need?
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January 31: Psalm 3:1-8
Key Verse: Psalm 3:6
I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
Devotion:
The more we face things in life we don’t like, the more we wonder whether God is looking out for us. The more things go wrong, the more we blame others, including God, for the things which are going wrong. Sometimes we just have to stop and accept we live in a world in which things go wrong and people react in ways we don’t expect or like…
If we were all depending on God and listening to God, the world would be a very different place. We would not have to fight. We would not have to face illness. We would be able to love each other like we are supposed to. But we don’t all depend on God and we don’t all listen to Him, never mind obey Him! God knows this and this is why He allowed Jesus to come and be the Saviour, the one who takes on the sin of all the world!
I would not wish illness of any kind on anyone, not even my enemies. I truly cannot understand how people can create poisons or go about designing things which destroy life… but for every person who creates something to save a life, there will probably be someone who is disillusioned and wants to create something to take a life. God knows this of us and has tried to steer us away from harming one another for a very long time!
Yet we do still do things which harm others. Maybe we are trying to save our own life and don’t think of the consequences on other people’s lives. Maybe we are selfish and do anything just to stay safe. God does not work this way and He did not design us to be this way. This is what sin does in our lives and how it destroys us from the inside out. We need something on the inside to clean us and keep us on track!
Points to Ponder:
Do you truly care about others?
Will you allow God to guide you toward a more loving life with others?
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January 30: Luke 2:25-35
Key Verse: Luke 2:26
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
Devotion:
We don’t know how long Simeon had been waiting to see Jesus, but we are told the Holy Spirit told him he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Once he came into contact with Jesus, he knew this was what he had been waiting for for so long. What I find amazing is how long Anna had been worshipping faithfully in the temple night and day, and she came up to them at the moment Simeon came into contact with Jesus. That is the most amazing answer to prayer I can think of!
God uses every opportunity to bless the good and faithful people who continue to praise and worship Him. It may not seem like it when we worship and don’t seem to have our prayers answered immediately, but if we are willing to continue on without setting limits to what we do for God, He is not going to set limits on what He is willing to do for us!
Jesus had to be born fully human in every way so He could become the ultimate sacrifice for us all. If He continued to be God it would have been seen as some sort of wizardry that He would die so He could rise up again – but because He was fully human, we see it for what it was, a true miracle of God!
All the right people had lived in all the right places at the right time so Mary and Joseph would be together at the right time for Mary to become pregnant and to have a baby boy who could only have been created by God. This is our Messiah who came to set us free from the sin debt we owe, and this is how He was presented at the temple just as any first-born human male at the time appointed by God for all to see.
Points to Ponder:
Are you impatient with your prayers?
Will you give God the time to do what He knows is best?
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January 29: Mark 4:35-41
Key Verse: Mark 4:38
Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’
Devotion:
When was the last time you questioned whether God was looking out for you because things just didn’t seem like He was! I know I have been there and have questioned whether God is watching over me, but spending a time in hospital a couple of years ago made me realise just how much He does care for me – despite all I do wrong!
When the disciples were trying to get across the water in the boat, they did not count on a bit of a storm popping up when they were half way across! You must remember some of them were fishermen who would have been used to bad weather, but they would also have kept an eye out for the weather and turned back to shore if they saw any approaching. So why did they get upset?
Not all of them were fishermen to start with. They were all concerned for the weather and yet Jesus was sleeping it off! It was not so much them being afraid of the weather, but the fact Jesus did not seem concerned at all. One flippant comment from one of them would have caused them all to start over thinking the situation. Just we we overthink things when one part goes wrong, they too were troubled by their own minds!
Jesus immediately calmed the storm and them as soon as He was woken. He was asleep because He totally trusted God would look after Him, no matter what! Sometimes we do lose focus on just who is in charge and who has the upper hand in our lives. If we are willing to give it to Christ and allow Him to look out for us, He will! That is what I found out in hospital. I could not do anything and the doctors had their doubts; but God didn’t!
Points to Ponder:
Do you doubt God’s watchful eye?
Will you stop to give God a chance?
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January 28: 2 Samuel 11:1-17
Key Verse: 2 Samuel 11:2
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman washing. The woman was very beautiful
Devotion:
This is written down in history so we can see we all have our issues and we all give in to temptation at some stage in our lives. King David is looked at as being the king who always sought God and set a good example for the people of Israel to follow… but he also had his own issues! David was tempted from seeing a beautiful woman washing and called for her to come to him. What the king says goes!
David sent someone to find out about the woman and then, despite knowing she was a married woman, still sent for her to come to him. He then proceeded to sleep with her and made her pregnant at that time. When he learned she was pregnant, he sent word for her husband, Uriah, to come back home to her in the hopes he would sleep with her. This would give him an excuse to say it was not him who made her pregnant.
However, Uriah did not want to take advantage of being in his home town to sleep in comfort at home whilst all his fellow soldiers were still camping out on their military campaign. That put David’s plans to no avail and he would not be able to cover up his deeds!
At this stage David was not willing to admit to anything and so went a stage further. He sent Uriah back to the front to serve in the most dangerous place he could be in the hopes he would be killed and not be able to complain about anything which happened back at home! We can look back and see how many opportunities David had to say no, admit to sinning and ask for forgiveness. Instead he went deeper and deeper until it ended with Uriah being killed!
Points to Ponder:
How far do you go when you know you are wrong?
Will you admit to being wrong before it becomes too late?
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January 27: Mark 4:21-25
Key Verse: Mark 4:25
Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.’
Devotion:
When we read some verses, we may get a bit scared by the words we read; but every part of the bible needs to be read in context and not as single verses by themselves. That would be like finding someone guilty of murder because they said “I’ll kill you” even when it was said as part of a story being told about someone else...
When we read how things can be taken away from us, we should get worried! Not for ourselves when we continue to follow Christ, but for people who have not yet heard about God! We have our bibles which contain so many facts about God, about Jesus and about the Holy Spirit. We can go over the words and meditate on them and be strong in our belief just because we have had the opportunity to hear these words…
But what about someone who has not yet heard about Christ? What about the person who has not yet had the chance of getting to know Him and what He can do for them. These verses are warning they may well lose more than they bargained for when the time comes for Christ to return. We can expect our faith to be bolstered by us reading the bible. We can find strength and direction when we know what God’s word says.
But for the people who don’t get to accept God’s word, there is not a lot to look forward to. When they reach their end of days, that is the last good thing they can have to look out for. We need to be aware of this so our time can be spent sharing God’s word and giving people hope in this otherwise hopeless world. They can look forward to receiving a whole lot more than just the words they hear or read...
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep God’s Word from others?
Will you encourage someone today to read God’s Word?
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January 26: Mark 4:13-20
Key Verse: Mark 4:19
but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Devotion:
I do like the fact Jesus had to carefully explain the parable of the sower to the disciples; I do find God’s Word hard to understand sometimes! The more we get to know our bibles by reading them and meditating on what we read, the more understanding grows in us. We may be totally confused the first time we read or hear it because it does not agree with what we learn from the world.
I can remember learning one version of history in my first year of high school, and then, two years later, I was told a different version because someone had uncovered the real truth and it had to be told. We may not like what we read in the bible sometimes, because we have learned something different in our lives. We may disagree with it at first, but because it is the truth, we need to stop and hear it!
Each of us are going to face the same truth in different ways. Some of us will turn away from that truth immediately because we think we know the real truth from what we have learned in our past. Some of us hear the truth and agree with it, but are persuaded very quickly to go back on what we said or heard. Others will hear it but the people around us will persuade us to follow what they say instead.
If we are the lucky few, we will hear the truth and we will believe it and keep that truth in our hearts. We will then be able to depend on that truth in the future and even tell the truth to others – the truth will grow.
We do need to listen out for the truth and we need to stop and understand when we hear the truth, take it in and keep it in our hearts and minds.
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with hearing the truth?
Will you allow Christ to give you an insight into His Truth?
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January 25: Matthew 19:27-30
Key Verse: Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Devotion:
Christ may ask us to go further than we have imagined, but He does not do it without knowing He can reward us when the time comes. This is not to say we need to know the rewards before we step forward and do something for God – that is simply us working for rewards, the same as any earthly job or position.
God separates our work from the world because He does not want us to work for rewards; it is a fine between what we do for God’s rewards and what we do because we love God – at least that is how we see things because we live in this world where we have to work for a living. God does not want us to do the work because we will get rewards at some stage. He wants us to do the work because we love Him. He is rewarding us because He loves us!
Jesus was giving the disciples some reassurance they were not going to have everything taken away from them; they had left everything of their world behind. It wasn’t the best of worlds they left behind, but it was a world they had lived in all their lives. To give that up and follow a human who was claiming to be the Messiah was a pretty bold step for them. Jesus was giving them the reassurance they needed to continue stepping out in faith.
If we are willing to take the first step out in faith, Christ is willing to give us the reassurance we need to continue stepping forward in faith. It may not be obvious, like the disciples new life did not have an obvious goal, but Christ will give us what we need to keep on moving forward with Him in faith. He does not expect us to “walk off a cliff” and expect to live. He will show us how we can live before we step off the cliff.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to uphold your faith in Christ?
Will you listen to Him to find out what he has for you?