- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 881
March 16: Jeremiah 11:18-20
Key Verse: Jeremiah 11:18
Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.
Devotion:
One of the things I am always amazed by is how much God can and does look after you. We are surrounded by a world which, at times, seems out to get you and yet we continue being safe and secure when we live our lives with God. This has been the same throughout history and for many of the people in our bibles!
Jeremiah was protected in ways which we can look back on and know God was there making him safe when the world was plotting against Him. I know that feeling of being totally safe when you are surrounded by strife and dangers because I have been there a few times in my life and I know God was looking out for me during those times!
It is when we look back on the dangerous situations we see just how much God was doing behind the scenes. When we look back and are frightened by what has happened, we are also amazed at how calm and secure we felt at the time – because we knew in our hearts there was someone watching over us!
This is the pace we have in God, the knowledge we have He is there and He is protecting us when everything else seems to be falling apart. This gives us the strength and faith we need to continue living our lives with and for God!
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you been in trouble?
How many of those times do you think God was with you?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 888
March 15: Jeremiah 26:8-11
Key Verse: Jeremiah 26:11
Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, ‘This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!’
Devotion:
Sometimes, one of the hardest things to hear is the truth! We are scared of the truth if we know or suspect the truth will either expose something we are doing wrong or it will put us in a bad light! We all would like others to see us as good and not bad and when someone comes along and upsets the status quo in any way, we feel threatened in some way.
This is the same fate Jeremiah had to face up to when he was trying to tell the people what God had said. Here was a prophet saying bad things would happen to the people of the city because they were not doing what God wanted them to. The objected and wanted to continue doing what they liked doing rather than having someone talking them down!
The same fate faced Jesus when He tried to tell people of the things they were doing wrong. They turned on Jesus just as the people of this city were turning on Jeremiah – just because they were confronted by the truth and they did not like it!
We are going to have to face similar reactions from people if we dare to tell them the truth and the show they should change their ways or face God’s wrath! But how are they going to find the truth unless someone steps forward and tells them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you face the truth or run from it?
Will you help others face the truth too?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 864
March 14: Exodus 32:7-14
Key Verse: Exodus 32:9
‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people.
Devotion:
Have you every stopped to think what sort of an impression you make on God? Do you realise just how much He hates sin, and He has to watch you bringing sin into your life! We tend to stick with the things we know, with the things we have done before, the things we think are part of our past… even when we begin to realise they are not right!
God wants us to turn away from sin in our lives and turn toward keeping Him closer to us through everything we do. The closer we keep God in our lives, the easier it is for Him to help guide us and the easier it is for us to listen! It is not impossible for Him to do anything, but if we keep rejecting His ways He has to do more and more work!
Why not try to keep God a bit closer so you can hear when He is trying to tell you where to go. Why not invite Him to be a controlling part of your life instead of an after thought! God wants to make us happy and wants to be able to give us so much – that is how much He loves us. Isn’t it time to stop driving a wedge between Him and you?
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things out of habit?
Will you try to change your ways and keep God closer?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 910
March 13: Isaiah 48:8-11
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:10
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things I had to cope with when reading the Old Testament as a young person was words like these where God was telling the people they had gone through hard times because He allowed it to happen! I used to think this was quite barbaric when I read it as a young person, but the longer I spent reading the bible and understanding God’s ways, the more I began to see a new side of these words!
God may well have allowed things to happen during those times, but He was doing so because of the hard hearts and stubbornness of the people! They went out of their way to do things contrary to what God was asking of them. They were doing things in spite of all the good God had showed them. If people were doing that to me, I would probably have exploded a long time before this point… yet God chose to stand by them and walk with them as they went through these tough times!
When we see some of the things which happen in our lives, do we ever look back and try to identify what we were doing during those times? I’m fairly sure we will find we were probably doing all manner of things which God was not looking forward to! I’m not saying God was choosing the fate of the people – they were sealing their own fates by exposing themselves to the world around them and God was trying, every step of the way, to remind them of the things He had asked of them in the beginning!
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things selfishly?
How often do you think of the people around you, including God?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 855
March 12: John 5:5-16
Key Verse: John 5:12
So they asked him, ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?’
Devotion:
When a prayer gets answered, what do you do about it? Do you keep it a secret and not tell anyone? Do you tell your friends in the hope they will be the ones who believe you? Do you go out and tell everyone to try and convince them it is the truth?
This story is about a person who was waiting close to the pool called Bethesda. This was a gathering place where people believed they could get healed when the waters were disturbed. This was because of something which had previously happened there and they wanted to see some healing happen to them or their families. This person did not have anyone they could depend on to get them to the waters edge if and when they were disturbed.
So when the person told Jesus about his plight, Jesus had pity on them and healed them without having to get to the pool. When asked about how they were healed, they simply said a man had told them to get up and walk! The teachers of the law were bust telling this person off for picking up their bed!
When Jesus does something in your life, He may well get you to do something out of character. If you know it was Christ then you should listen and obey no matter what the people around you think. Don’t be put off saying something which sounds incredible because this may be the one thing which will convince the people around you to believe in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell people all Christ does in your life?
Or do you hide the truth from others?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 896
March 11: John 4:43-54
Key Verse: John 4:53
Then the father realised that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and his whole household believed.
Devotion:
I love stories like this in the bible because they remind me of times in my life when God has helped me out of tight spots. I’m not just talking about the times when I have come close to death in hospital or around that time, but times when I know, looking back, someone was there making sure I came through to live another day.
God is not limited by the things of this world or time or any other constraints we impose on Him. When He says something we can be sure that will happen – just as Jesus told this royal official his child would live, it happened there and then! We should learn to rely on the things Christ has said because they are the truth and will come to pass!
Our minds cannot grasp just how that could be possible and so we impose limits and we live by those limits – because we think we know the limits of what is possible and what is not! Jesus does not live by those limits and He wants us to remember that when we bring our prayers to Him!
Don’t pray thinking God cannot answer your prayers; rather, pray knowing He is going to answer them! Allow God the time and the space to work all good things in your life and depend on those things which you ask for knowing He is listening and He will answer just as He has promised!
Points to Ponder:
How many limits do you impose on God?
What if you allowed Him to work?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 891
March 10: Numbers 21:4-9
Key Verse: Numbers 21:8
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’
Devotion:
When we cry out to God in our desperation, He often answers us in ways we cannot see because we think He has to do such a difficult thing… whereas He knows He is doing something simple! When the people of Israel were being led through the desert, they grew impatient and wanted God to give them their land before they grew any more thirsty and had to face any more hardships!
When the snakes arrived on the scene the people were terrified they would all die from snake bites, never mind from thirst or heat stroke! They could not see a way out of their situation because they focused on all the bad things happening. God had promised them a land of ‘milk and honey’ and yet they had lost sight of their target.
The people cried out all the more when the snakes were biting and they begged Moses to ask God to take away the snakes so they could at least live! They realised they had been a bit harsh with their words and they asked for forgiveness. What God told Moses to do was something very different from what they expected!
Moses was told to make a statue of a snake and put it on a pole to be lifted up. This must have gone against their thoughts – why should they lift up a snake on a pole when they were trying to get rid of the snakes! But God wanted them to stop looking at the immediate issues and to look at something He was doing. When God is doing something, we should take notice and praise Him for what He does!
Points to Ponder:
Do you focus on your problems?
Or do you focus on what God can do?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 874
March 9: Luke 18:9-14
Key Verse: Luke 18:14
‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Devotion:
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be aware of what people were thinking or feeling all the time! I know we see films made about people who can sense other things or read people’s minds, but they are all science fiction and fantasy for us and for our entertainment. None of us have been given the gifts Jesus had during His life on earth!
I wonder how many times Jesus would stop and tell people a parable and the people around would get more confused instead of hearing the parable as a warning to themselves and their ways! Here Jesus is trying to get the people around Him to be humble before God instead of being overly righteous in their acting – and I say acting because we do that!
Jesus wants us to be honest and humble before Him. He does not want us to be the best and the brightest because He knows we are all broken and in need of a Saviour. He wants us to acknowledge those facts and still come to Him for love and guidance.
The tax collector in His parable here was standing at the back trying not to be noticed as he repented of his ways before God. Why should we shout out about how good or bad we are? We should be loving and supporting one another so we can feel confident in coming before Him with open and repentant hearts.
Points to Ponder:
How good do you think you are?
Will you put that aside and be honest with God?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 872
March 8: Psalm 81:6-10
Key Verse: Psalm 81:8
Hear me, my people, and I will warn you – if you would only listen to me, Israel!
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to sit down and count how many times God warned the people of Israel about only following Him, only worshipping Him and listening to Him? Time and time again God had to warn the people of Israel through prophets, kings and priests. They would listen for a while and then get side-tracked and go off and do strange things!
Nothing much has changed for us nowadays either. We promise to follow God, to listen to Him and to obey Him, then we get side-tracked by the world and by other people. We begin to do things according to what people say instead of listening to God and His instructions. We run off and do things we know in our hearts we should not be doing, just because we think it will be OK this time.
God does not change and His instructions will not change over time. If we cannot follow them in the beginning then we will find it difficult to follow Him at all. If we do follow Him and then go off and do other things, we are making a choice to do that. We are choosing to run off in the other direction which is what God has warned us time and time again about!
I can almost imagine God pulling His hair out and pleading “why will you not listen!” God is the one who has done so much for us from the beginning. He is the one who continues to do things for us, even when we turn our backs on Him at times. He does this because of this great love He has for us. If we can see that we should respect Him and show Him love in return!
Points to Ponder:
Did you follow God at one point?
Will you still follow Him?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 873
March 7: Jeremiah 7:21-26
Key Verse: Jeremiah 7:25
From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.
Devotion:
How many times do you think God has tried to get through to you? It’s not something many of us will think about because we don’t want to feel guilty for not hearing God! We are living in a world where we have many distractions, temptations and noises drowning out what we should be doing for God!
We can look back at what God went through with the people of Israel and we see the same familiar pattern – mankind not listening to God, God trying harder and harder until mankind falls into their own traps or circumstances built up with nothing more than ignorance by us!
We tend to listen to whatever noise is the loudest and we give in to things which sound more interesting or will pay us more in the end. Yes we are driven by material things and the world is full of material things – so we give in to many earthly items and ways… Not what God is trying to get through to us with :(
God will continue to knock at the door to see if we are going to be willing to open the door. He does not give up on that knocking until the end. At the end it is too late! We have to respond to that knocking too. We cannot leave the knocking and expect God to walk into our lives uninvited: we must invite Him in and open the door to allow Him in!
Points to Ponder:
Are you ignoring the knocking?
Or are you just not opening the door?