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November 5: Romans 15:14-21
Key Verse: Romans 15:18
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done
Devotion:
I wonder how much opposition Paul got for going to teach the gentiles about Jesus after all the disciples went to teach their own people, the Jews, instead. No matter what Paul faced, he would continue to teach the gentiles as much as he could, recounting how he used to be before he got to know Jesus and comparing it to how much he had changed and how much he could teach now.
It is not because of the opposition he kept going but because he got a lot of support! He probably would not have been able to continue if all he got was opposition. He needed the support of those who came to know Jesus to keep him going – just as we do. But it is not the be all and end all to have hundreds of followers or hundreds of people you have taught Jesus to.
Paul sums it up quite nicely by saying he was convinced the gentiles he had come into contact with were full of goodness and they had learned enough to start teaching each other more about Jesus. This should be our goal – to get people to understand who Jesus is and give them the love and support to be able to go out there and teach others what they have learned. This is discipleship!
But Paul knew this was not his doing, but Christ working through Him. He knew it was because he was able to obey God. He knew the healing and miracles which did happen were because God granted them and not his own power. No matter what, he stood by the promised God gave that the whole world would get to hear the gospel and many would get to believe it and have faith in Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Have you told anyone about Christ?
Will you keep spreading the gospel with me?
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November 4: Luke 15:8-10
Key Verse: Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Devotion:
This parable has always puzzled me a bit – why did Jesus use a parable about a person who would go searching for a coin. I know silver coins back then were worth a bit more than our coins nowadays, but we could look at it as being a tenth of a week's wages or something like that. Let's expand on that a bit more – what happens when you are in a bit of a bind? You probably tell someone about it in the hope of getting some sort of help, or sympathy!
We would then go about searching high and low for the money we have lost so we can at least get by for the week like we would normally do. If we do find the money, we may well tell the people we told about losing it in the first place. If those people knew how much we depended on that money, they would be sad and happy when we lost and found the money.
Sometimes we have to put things in the light of some worldly example or possession so we can begin to understand how much we mean to God. Each time one of us wanders off or is lost, God becomes upset and goes on the ‘hunt’ for us. The hunt is going to be a bit different that looking for lost money because we are the ones who have to do the turn-around. God does indeed search for us, but we are the ones who need to respond to the calling so we can be found.
Just think how much easier life would be if the possessions we lost called out to us to be found! Just think how wonderful it is for God when we do call out to Him to be found!
Points to Ponder:
Would you like your possession to call out to you when you go looking for them?
Will you call out to God when you have an issue?
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November 3: Romans 13:8-10
Key Verse: Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.
Devotion:
As the apostle continues to expand on how Christians should behave to the Romans, he also explains the evolution of love. Jesus taught the disciples how important love was, not just toward God and your friends and family, but toward those we do not think of loving in our normal discourse of life.
After explaining how the Romans should continue to obey the law and the governing authorities (something we do second guess when we don’t agree with the governing bodies) he explains the only debt people should owe is to return the love Christ has showed us by loving others because this is what Jesus commanded!
A reminder of the commandments from the Old Testament is talked about because the Jews would have taught these commandments as being the centre of their lives. Jesus did not come to overturn these laws, but to expand on them in ways which we like to think makes sense nowadays, but which did not come naturally to the Jews. Because of their differing lifestyles from the more liberal Romans, the Jews could keep their private lives because they could blame the Romans for their liberal lives.
What Christ teaches us, however, is to uphold the love for one another as being the logical conclusion of the law of the Torah (The Old Testament scriptures) If we love each other as Christ commanded, then we will live up to the Torah as well as going a bit further like Jesus did during His mission on earth. He came to show us how important love is in our lives; to love God with everything and to love the people around us just as much as we love ourselves.
Points to Ponder:
How many Old Testament commandments do you remember?
How many of those are a logical conclusion of loving others?
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November 2: Romans 12:4-8
Key Verse: Romans 12:7
if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
Devotion:
Before I went to school, I can remember wanting to be a train driver when I grew up. In primary school, that changed to a pilot – because my Dad was a pilot. As I went through high school it changed to wanting to design aeroplanes which probably came from me designing, building and flying my own model planes; but it was the things like designing a new aerofoil (the shape of the wing) so my gliders could glide further than others. When I got to university and went through all the training to be a plane designer, I could not get a job after qualifying – so I looked elsewhere for work.
That is how I ended up programming computers for a living, which led me back to church and finally into youth work for church and charities. If I had listened to some people as I grew up, I would have gone into teaching and been in youth work a whole lot earlier than I did – but it is often the whole journey in life which prepares us for the work God wants us to do and not just being in the right place at the right time!
God has created us all differently. Each of us has different ways of thinking, behaving and living which makes for a more complete community. If we were all the same, our communities would suffer and probably fall apart; but because we are very different, we can work with others or for others and become a better and stronger community.
God just wants us to do what we do well. He wants us to love our neighbours and Him and be able to do whatever we end up doing well. If we can share God with those around us as we do our jobs, all the better. If others can see we love God through the way we work, even better still! Encourage others to find God in everything they do...
Points to Ponder:
What do you do, or want to do, for a living?
Do the people around you know you are a Christian through the way you work?
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November 1: John 11:32-37
Key Verse: John 11:33
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
Devotion:
What goes through your mind when you read this story? What went through your mind when you read it for the first time? Did you wonder why Jesus had not hurried and saved Mary’s brother if He knew what would happen? Do you wonder why Mary got so upset? This story should provoke emotions deep within you!
Mary had had to say goodbye to her brother even though she had already called for Jesus – messengers had probably already been back to her to report Jesus was delayed – not because He had some other urgent thing to do, but because He simply said so!
What was going through Jesus' mind when He got there – what was He feeling? The only thing we know is He was upset enough to cry openly. People saw how upset He was... But what was He upset about. We can speculate and we can come up with stories based on what we know about Jesus, but we cannot know exactly why!
I like to think He was upset at what was unfolding around Him. He could see how upset others were. He could see how upset Mary was with Him. He could see people beginning to doubt. All of these things are valid and all would upset Jesus, maybe even enough to cry out loud. But put them all together and we begin to understand why Jesus was upset.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always try to not upset God?
Are you doing something little which may add to upsetting God a little?
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October 31: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6:3
Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Devotion:
When Moses learned about what God was going to do for the Jews, it was his task to tell people and to get them to follow what God was instructing them to do. Some of those instructions would be hard to follow and some would be easy; but all were designed to show people how much God loves them and to lay down a guide for the right way of living – with God!
These instructions were not just going to be for the people who heard them, but for their children and their children, right down many generations to come. This was how to stay close to God so God would be able to protect them and provide for them. At first the people were more than happy to listen, learn and obey God so they could be safe.
What people did not see was the temptations which would come and drive them away from God, the things which would make them think they knew better than God because they were the ones facing the situations and not God. People would begin to think they were separated from God – only because they chose to walk a different path instead of following God’s commandments!
God wanted the Jews to be serious about their way of worshipping Him. He wanted people to wear their love for God openly and not in secret. God continues to want to see us being proud of being in a relationship with Him, not just showing off we have a God who can do anything, but showing others how much we love and respect God in our whole lives!
Points to Ponder:
How do others see the relationship between you and God?
Are you willing to allow others to see how much you love God today?
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October 30: Romans 11:1-6
Key Verse: Romans 11:4
And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’
Devotion:
How many times have you given up on something because you thought nobody was there to help or support you? I wonder if you have ever found the most unlikely support from someone you never thought would support you? Too many times in our lives we don’t do things because we think of the failure which we are sure is just around the corner...
Jesus wanted the disciples to get out there without thinking of failure. He told them to step forward and tell people about the gospel without any thought for how they would survive and from where their support would come from. He said this because of the promises He has made to people from the very beginning. He has promised to be there for us when we call out for help; most often than not He is there before we call out for help and we only see the help after calling out!
When Elijah called out to God, he was sure there was nobody left who was looking to God. He was sure everyone had turned their backs on God because he continued to get so much opposition in everything he did. This is quite likely what we see when we face opposition – but God is already there and answering our prayers and supporting us behind the scenes.
He has promised to make sure there will always be people who are willing to worship – this means He has already gone out there and reached into people’s hearts before we get there. We just need to step forward and give people a little nudge so they remember what God is doing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel alone as a Christian?
Do you not know He has already got people ready to hear the gospel?
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October 29: Ephesians 2:13-16
Key Verse: Ephesians 2:14
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility
Devotion:
Have you ever become friends with someone who you never thought you would even like? We don’t have to look too far throughout history to find this type of thing going on all over the place – people making friends after swearing they would be enemies for life... or becoming arch rivals even though they swore they would stick together no matter what!
Humans tend to go overboard with feelings and emotions when they should not and clam up and hide their feelings when they should be letting go! God has seen this happening from the beginning of time, and yet He continues to share His open love with us all. If we swore to be His enemy and then changed our minds, we would be forgiven and accepted back into His family!
The Jews had built up a hatred for the people around them, not because God had commanded them not to mix with others early in their history, but because they took those feelings and emotions too far, allowing them to get the better of their lives. The more they allowed the hatred to build up, the more they hated the people who were not Jews – just because they were not Jews!
God allowed Jesus to give His life for everyone, not just the Jews, but the whole world, using the Jews as the example. He continued to try and show the world how much He loves us all and wants us to see the futility of building things up around our own notions of what we think is right and wrong. God allowed Jesus to pay the price for everyone in the hopes we will come together and see how much stronger we can be when we live together as one family instead of perpetually fighting!
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry grudges around with you?
Will you give them to Christ to allow Him to help you forgive and move on?
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October 28: John 15:9-17
Key Verse: John 15:17
This is my command: love each other.
Devotion:
Often we think of love in terms of how much we give someone... We think of love as being able to be measured by what we do whilst being measured in worldly term; like it cost a lot to buy such-and-such for you therefore I must love you...
Love doesn’t work like that and Jesus wanted people to realise this. Far too many people were thinking like this in the temples. They measured their love for God by how much they gave in tithes or how much time they spent in the temple. What Jesus was trying to teach was not a new way of loving but a true way of loving. Yes I know we do go further because we love people and we do buy more because we love etc, but this is not a measuring stick to measure love by.
What Jesus was hinting here at was the willingness to carry on giving and carry on obeying. Love is not a once off how much can we give, but are we willing to continue giving even when the going gets tough. Jesus wanted people to show God their love by obeying Him too; not just saying they do, but actually obeying God! Jesus showed us His love by giving right up until the end. He did not brag about how much He would give only to step aside at the last moment – Jesus gave and continued to give even when it meant giving His life!
God does not want us to be servants who have to obey Him and do exactly what He says when He says it – that is not love but duty. God wants us to be willing to give I.e. give because we want to give and not because we have to give. Jesus showed us His love by doing some pretty extraordinary things. He continues to show us His love by answering our prayers and by continuing to give to us – even now!
Points to Ponder:
How far do you go to prove your love?
Will you simply obey God to show Him you love Him?
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October 27: Deuteronomy 32:1-4
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 32:2
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Devotion:
I love the words used here ; to me it describes a very natural thing which should not be extraordinary but rather ordinary! No, I am not calling the Word of God ordinary because it is not, but why should we look at it as being something unheard of instead of commonplace?
God wants us to be Christians, not to stand out from the crowd and be noticed as someone doing something which is unheard of, but to be seen as someone doing what they should always do. So how do we get to the point where God’s Word is normal in our lives? By making sure we include it in everything we do and all the time. This way we will be able to see it as normal and share it as if it is normal too!
The rain falls from the sky – we see it as perfectly natural. But to someone who has not heard of it or see it, it would be very strange... seeing this water falling from the sky! No matter where in the world we are, we probably see the morning dew at some stage in our lives and we get to learn it appears at dawn. It becomes natural.
We should be sharing the Word of God as if it was totally natural in our lives. We should praise God as if it is the right things to do – always! He has been here for us from the beginning and continues to be here for us no matter what happens in life. He is as firm as the rocks which make up a mountain. His word continues to be true no matter what we go through in our lives. God continues to do what is right and we should expect Him to always do what is right!
Points to Ponder:
Do you treat God’s Word as something special?
Shouldn’t you be treating it as purely natural instead?