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July 8: Matthew 6:5-8
Key Verse: Matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Devotion:
After Jesus had told the disciples how they should not behave as the hypocrites were behaving in the synagogues, He reminded them they should keep their prayer life in a similar manner and not to go after publicity for what they were saying! When people are saying things out loud just so others are going to hear them and think well of them, they are just saying things out loud! Jesus wants us to pray to God from our hearts and not necessarily from our mouths!
Jesus often closed Himself off from others when He was going to pray to His Father; not because it was a big secret what He was going to pray about, but because it was a very personal time between Him and God the Father. This is still how God would prefer us to handle our prayers too – so they come from our heart directly to God’s ears...
It is not as if we have got to pray before God will look out for us; God already knows what we need in our lives and He already has a plan to do what is right. But, we need to know in our hearts we are asking God so when our prayers are answered, our faith will be made whole by seeing them answered.
If we go about shouting our prayers out to make sure other people hear them, then you could say we have already had our rewards – because we have let others know our requests and we know they have heard them... This does not mean God is going to answer them. He would rather we ask from our hearts and allow Him to do what is right and at the perfect time.
Points to Ponder:
How do you pray to God?
Will you spend some quiet time with God today?
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July 7: Matthew 6:1-4
Key Verse: Matthew 6:4
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Devotion:
How many times have you done something just to be noticed by others? I know when I was growing up in junior school, I used to get up to all sorts of things just so I would be noticed! I did work out it was not getting me anywhere, but the temptation was always there to do something to be noticed. I like to think I am different nowadays, but I know if the temptation is too great, I may well give in!
But this is where God can help us in our lives. If we are willing to make Him a bigger part of our lives and do things to please Him instead of the world – we will get a lot more out of things and even find we have more strength to resist those temptations which come our way.
God wants us to stop trying to do things to help ourselves and to start doing things which are going to help others. This is what Jesus came to teach us face to face; how to be better people by loving others! The only reward we are going to get from doing things for ourselves is that – what we get out of doing things. But when we start doing things to please others, we not only get to please others and ourselves, but we are helping them and pleasing God too. For this, our reward will be in Heaven!
So let us stop trying to make things bigger than they are. Let us stop trying to make ourselves look better than we are. Let us stop making big of the small things in life. Let us, instead, make more of other people and show them God’s love through what we can do for them. Let us show others we are willing to be servants just like Jesus came to be a servant for us. Let us take the small things in life and share them with everyone!
Points to Ponder:
Do you build things up when you tell others about them?
Will you try telling God’s truth instead?
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July 6: Ezekiel 2:3-8
Key Verse: Ezekiel 2:7
You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.
Devotion:
Do you like speaking to people who don’t bother to listen? I’m pretty sure we all can agree on thinking it is not worth speaking to people who are not going to listen! But notice what God is saying to Ezekiel here – and this goes for the rest of us too. God wants us to step forward and tell people about Him even though we know some people are not going to listen!
Why would God ask us to do something we think is going to be futile? He is telling us this because He promised us the whole world will be given the chance to listen to His Word and make up their own mind whether we believe in Him or not... But if we are not willing to tell other people, how will they get to hear about Him?
We are all part of God’s plan and we should be willing to step up and do our part for Him when He calls us. Sometimes that is going to see futile. Sometimes it is going to see like harder work than we can do... But He alone knows what is possible and what we are capable of – He alone knows what is best for us and the people around us.
God asked Ezekiel to step forward amongst a people who were actively rejecting God! He asked him to step into what could be described as a pit of scorpions! Now I am thankful He does not ask all of us to do this – otherwise many of us would never end up talking to anyone – especially to our friends and relative... amongst whom will be the hardest people to talk to because they think they know us better than God!
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to listen to God?
Will you still listen if it sounds like hard work?
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July 5: Mark 6:7-13
Key Verse: Mark 6:8
These were his instructions: ‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.
Devotion:
When Jesus went out village to village, He did not just carry on doing the same things, teaching, healing, praying... He laid the ground for the disciples to go out and start to learn to do the same thing by themselves. Jesus knew He was not going to be around forever with the disciples, so He made sure they were prepared for the work which they had to carry on with.
He also knew they would face the same uphill tasks as He had to face whilst around their own friends and family – so they went to new places to meet new people and carry on God’s work there. This did not mean they went to the other side of the world to teach others, but they were not in their home towns.
Jesus taught them they would have to face new challenges because of this. They would have to seek out the people in the new communities who would accept them and give them space to do God’s work. It would not be very productive if they were to get opposition whatever they tried to do, so finding people who would support and encourage them would be a good starting point.
When we go forward to try and do what God wants us to do – we are going to have to find people in the communities who will support the work we know God is asking of us. It is not always going to be easy either – so Jesus was sending out the disciples with little else but what they had with them so they would have to depend on the support of the communities. Being in a vulnerable position is probably going to get you accepted quicker than I you went in with all guns blazing...
Points to Ponder:
Do you rush in and try take thing over normally?
Will you let God guide you and depend more in others?
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July 4: Mark 6:1-6
Key Verse: Mark 6:4
Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’
Devotion:
Jesus must have felt distraught with the lack of faith of the people He grew up with... On one hand you can relate to this – if you grew up with a person, would you believe them if they said they were the Son of God? But, equally, they should have recognised there was something very different between Jesus and the rest of them; not just because He could perform miracles...
When we chose to have Jesus in our lives, we should be choosing to make a very different place for Him to be with us than we had before in our lives. He wants us to see how vastly different it is to be with Him than to be with the world. God wants us to be separated from the world – not hiding away from it, but choosing to be different from it!
When Jesus was amongst the people He grew up with, they did nothing different from what they had always done – including being part of the world. They did not change their lives to be more like His; they did not change their lifestyles to be more in line with God’s ways... This meant they had prejudice against what Jesus could do – not that they wanted this prejudice, it was just natural for them!
When we are too stuck in the world and its ways, we take away from Christ because we are showing others we do not have faith in Him. This is not a blind faith, but one we have grown up with and one which we need to cultivate with Him by our sides.
Points to Ponder:
Do you walk you own way in life?
Will you invite Jesus to walk with you?
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July 3: 2 Samuel 7:4-7
Key Verse: 2 Samuel 7:5
Go and tell my servant David, “This is what the Lord says: are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?
Devotion:
When was the last time you tried to do something for God – something which you thought He needed or you thought would please Him... I mean without being asked by God to do it first...
There are times in our lives when we get all roused up about something because we think it is a good idea and we think it would be good for God! See, that is where we fall down at the first hurdle – us thinking we know what God needs or wants. If we go back over the bible we will see enough occurrences of God asking people to do something for Him – and when those people obeyed God, good things happened!
But when people started thinking more of the things they were doing and less about God, there are cases where God got angry with them! We should not presume to know what God needs or wants – He has made it clear He will ask when He wants or needs something from us – we just have to listen!
When David thought about the house he was living in and compared it with the tent constructed for God, he got a bit worried or upset and wanted to build God a big house or palace – something befitting a king. But that is not what God had asked for and not what He wanted David to do. So He told Nathan to tell David this is not what God wanted – which probably upset David a bit because he probably got it in his head he should be doing something great for God!
Points to Ponder:
When was the last time you stopped and listed to God?
Will you wait for God to ask before you rush off and do something?
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July 2: 1 Thessalonians 2:13
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
Devotion:
How do you see the bible? Do you see it as a book written by men? Do you see it as a collection of letters written by men? Do you see it as historic records and prophecies? We can come up with many descriptions of what the bible is nowadays, but unless we accept the roots from where it came, we have nothing more than a collection of writings!
God inspired the right people at the right time to write down what He had taught them. He chose the people we now know as the authors of the writings because of their belief and their faithfulness. It is a truly diverse group of people over a very long period who have written down the records, thoughts and beliefs they have learned from God over a wide range of subjects.
Yet, what we end up with is a set of writings which all support each other and come together to give us an informed position of what God wants from us in our lives. These words have been written by people during their lives with God, spanning many years, forming a complete story of mankind's walk with God.
What we do need to remember is this is not just a bunch of writings by humans, but an inspired work of God, brought to us through humans who have recorded what God inspired them to write for our sakes. This was God’s plan, and it continues to be His plan as we learn what he wants in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
How do you describe the Bible?
Will you be inspired by God to read His Word?
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July 1: Colossians 4:2-6
Key Verse: Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Devotion:
In the previous chapter the author is trying to get across to people how they should behave no matter what position they have in life – some of the words we may find objectionable nowadays, but these were for the people at that time, but still apply to us. But no matter what position people hold in society or rank or wealth, they should all be subject to these words – to pray always, to be watchful and to be thankful.
We may be in a very difficult relationship, in a dead-end job, without work, sick in hospital... but we should always find time to pray, watch and thank! God wants us to watch out for others, to be thankful for having others in our lives, and to pray for others too.
We should be open to pray for others and also be open to request prayers from others. Christ always lifted others up in prayer throughout His ministry here. He lived a life of prayer and thanksgiving, always watching out for the people around Him. If we do not feel up to going out and teaching others about God, then we can stay home and pray for them instead. If we feel threatened by others, we can still pray for them without confronting them at all.
It is also good to be a bit different from the world. If we are no different from the world around us, then we are not going to be noticed and people will not take any notice of the things we say or do – because we are just like everyone else! God wants us to be full of grace and mercy, just as Jesus was on earth. He wants us to be noticed for the good things we do – not to get praise from others, but because we want them to be able to see God through us and through what we do!
Points to Ponder:
Is your life a bit different from the people around you?
Will you stand out from the crowd and allow people to see a bit of Jesus through you?
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June 30: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 1:6
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Devotion:
When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica, he wrote of the way they had lived their lives as imitators of Christ. When Jesus came to live amongst us, He did not set Himself up in a palace and rule over the people, he set aside everything and moved in with the people. He became part of the local community and lived with the people.
The Thessalonians were doing the same – they were setting their own lives apart and living for the people and with the people. They had set aside the rules of society where the rich do things differently and the poor must be kept in their place... they brought the people together as one and lived for God’s glory.
People see how we live. People watch how we behave... If we want to make a difference in our communities, then we have to make sure we live more like Christ and less like the world. How will people see anything different if all they see is the world through you. They should be seeing glimpses of Christ through you – they should be being encouraged to live in the same manner and turn their own lives toward God.
It is our duty to make a difference so people will see Christ as different from the world. This way they will be able to learn something new from the Holy Spirit and not just another human acting like all the other humans!
Points to Ponder:
How do people see you?
Will you try to reflect a bit more of Christ today?
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June 29: Mark 5:35-43
Key Verse: Mark 5:39
He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’
Devotion:
Have you ever been in a situation where you were totally distraught but there was someone there who was able to comfort you with some simple words? I know I can look back on my life and see how many times friends and family have been there for me and I really do appreciate and love them for that. I try to be there for others wherever I can.
If we were to ask the people looking after the girl, they would say she had died and that was the end of it. If you were to ask the father, Jairus, I think he would be confused and would not want to accept the fact his daughter had died. So when Jesus came in, His words were aimed at consoling and comforting Jairus and the people around them. They probably did not believe it when He said she was just asleep – after all they would have probably started the funeral rights...
But Jesus knew what Jairus felt in his heart. He knew what had to be done to answer Jairus’ call for help and to build up his faith in God. Jesus knew it was possible to raise this child up no matter what had happened to her. To be able to raise the child up He got everyone except the parents and a couple of disciples to get out so He could be close to God and show Jairus and his wife just what God thought of them!
When we are serious with God, we need to be able to show Him by dispersing all the distractions of the world so we can be alone with God. We need to have faith God is able to do anything. We need to be fully dependant on Him when we feel the world has done nothing!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you spend time with God?
Will you put aside the distractions of the world to spend a little more time with Him?