- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 823
Feb 14: Matthew 6:16-18
Key Verse: Matthew 6:17
But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
Devotion:
How many times have you competed against someone in an argument and got carried away with the truth, or lack of truth? How many times have you bragged about something and got caught up in describing things as being a bit bigger, better or worse than they really were? We all get carried away some time or another and say things which are not exactly true, where the truth has been stretched a bit…
Jesus was very different in that He always told the truth and said things as they really were without embellishing on any truths – He certainly did not lie! During this section of scripture He is reminding others of their duty to uphold the truth and not get carried away with things just to make yourself look better. This is especially true when conversing wit God because He already knows the truth!
God does not want us to compete against each other for His attention or for His love. He wants us to work together in spreading the truth and love He first showed us. He does not want us to brad to others about how much God means to us or how much we think we mean to God. He loves us all like His children.
When we come to Him in repentance, we should be telling the truth as it is and not trying to hide things in stories or behind the sins of others. God wants us to be honest to Him and to others! His loves for us goes beyond our understanding and He has already allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sin debt already!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you brag about your own things?
How often do you admit the truth?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 757
Feb 13: Mark 8:14-21
Key Verse: Mark 8:21
He said to them, ‘Do you still not understand?’
Devotion:
There are times when I just don’t get what God is trying to tell me – more times than I care to admit to! What I have come to understand, though, is this is OK! We don’t have to understand everything all at the same time because we are just humans trying to do what we can and God knows that!
But He would like us to try and listen to Him a bit more in our lives so we can get closer to the truth and to His will in our lives. Jesus had to tell the disciples things over and over before they got to understand things. Don’t forget the gospels were written after everything had happened – they were not written as things unfolded.
We are still in the process of growing in Christ and learning from Him every day. We do not hold all the answers yet and we will probably not understand until we get to be with
God in heaven. When Jesus was talking to the disciples here He reminded them of the two occasions where God provided more than enough food for the thousands of people who had gathered. There was seven baskets of food left over on each occasion!
God wants us to remember nothing is impossible with Him. The more we hold on to the earthly ways and definitions, the more we will not be able to grasp just how much He can do in our lives; and that is OK. But He still wants us to take time and try and learn – which means looking back over the things we learn from Him and putting things together so we do gain an understanding – this is how we can help to spread the good news!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you doubt what God can do?
How often do you look back and see how much He has done?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 830
Feb 12: James 1:9-11
Key Verse: James 1:9
Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.
Devotion:
This letter was written by James as a letter of encouragement to all of us who are or have gone through tough times as a Christian; but I have selected a few verses which give a little insight into the way we approach our lives with Christ. James fully understood what it was like to have to face trial and tribulations whilst trying to encourage others to follow Christ.
As Christians many people think we should always be happy, encouraging and smiling all year round. This is often far from the truth because we do face opposition for the positions we hold and we face people who simply don’t like the fact we should have anything to smile about when they don’t!
James levels the playing field by reminding us we are all equal in Christ’s eyes and should not elevate ourselves when Christ does not! If we come from the most humble positions or lifestyles we should be proud to be able to be called a Christian since it makes us equal with some great names in our history! Equally, if we come from the highest social or political standings, we should take pride in the humility we bring by living as Christians!
Being a Christian is one of the great levellers on this earth! We are equal in Christ’s eyes and we are all treated as children of God. No matter what happens in the world and no matter what happens because of the social positions we hold, we are and will always be important to God as His children!
Points to Ponder:
How do you see yourself as a person?
How do you think Christ sees you as a person?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 781
Feb 11: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:5
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Devotion:
When you read somewhere how you should be preaching the gospel or at least telling people about Christ, what do you think? Do you get worried about how you should go about it, or do you think that it should be left up to those who have studied the scriptures? I’m not here to tell you how you go against God’s wishes if you don’t spread the gospel. I’m not here to say you are doing anything wrong by not preaching on street corners…
Being an outgoing person who stands up in crowds and shouts about Christ is not something we can all do. I do like telling people about Jesus, but not shouting about it on street corners. Instead I look at it from a slightly different light than the evangelical people who can do those things.
Here we have a very good clue about how God would have us tell others about Jesus and the scriptures. We should try to be examples because being a good example is going to make a big impact on someone’s life who is too timid to stop and listen to another shouting out the gospel.
We should be trying to make sure people see Jesus through what we say and do. Jesus did preach to many, but it was normally when they wanted to hear something. Jesus did act differently from others – all the time. Jesus did talk differently to others – all the time! So if we want to be more like Jesus we should do what He did – always...
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared about preaching?
Will you simply try to act more like Jesus did?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 832
Feb 10: Mark 8:1-10
Key Verse: Mark 8:4
His disciples answered, ‘But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?’
Devotion:
One of the things Jesus was always doing was showing the disciples, and others, just what can happen when you fully trust in God! I wonder how many times people would go away thinking Jesus was doing this by Himself… Just like all other times Jesus stops and gives thanks to God for what is about to happen – none of this is a solo effort but done in conjunction with God the Father!
The disciples grew to know this from the start because Jesus always made sure they knew He was not acting alone. Even then, when Jesus stopped and showed compassion for the people, the disciples would often allow their worldly limitations and expectations to get in the way of things – they would doubt because their earthly expectations were limited!
Jesus wanted them to learn just how much is possible with God and to fully rely on God at all times and not just when up against the wall! This demonstration of feeding the four thousand was just another thing to remind them of God’s ultimate power over everything!
When we get to trust fully in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we will get to see just how much He can do for us when we ask things of Him. God wants to please us and wants us to know there are no limits when it comes to living with Him. The limits are imposed by our minds and our hearts, nothing more...
Points to Ponder:
Do you limit what God can do?
Will you trust a bit more and see what He can do?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 856
Feb 9: Psalm 81:8-14
Key Verse: Psalm 81:9
You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.
Devotion:
The psalmist recounts God’s feeling for mankind here, something we get to understand when we do have a relationship with Him. The closer we draw to Him the more we are able to understand this love and jealousy He has toward us; and hopefully, the more we get to understand just how important it is to love God with everything and to worship Him alone!
When we try to listen to God and open our hearts to His will in our lives, He teaches us His ways and tries to direct us down the best possible path in our lives. It’s the listening part which we seem to have problems with. We get carried away with everything the world has to offer us and lose track of what God is saying in our lives. The more we listen to the world the harder we find it listening to God!
He is the one who has done so much for mankind and for His chosen people. He is the one who allowed His Son to die on the cross for our sakes. He is the one who guides and, strengthens us and directs our every move – so long as we allow Him to!
When we don’t listen we go in the ways of the world and find out the hard way things are not as they seem. Our enemies are all around us and they will take hold of us if we do not have a guard against them in our lives. That guard is God!
Points to Ponder:
Who directs your life?
How is it going with them directing your life?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 893
Feb 8: 1 Kings 11:4-13
Key Verse: 1 Kings 11:9
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
Devotion:
What was your first thought when reading through these verses? Was it a sense of disbelief of how Solomon could turn his back on God even though God had done so much for him and been so close and even direct with him? Or was it a feeling he was only human and what could we expect? I put it to you God is speaking directly to you through those very thoughts!
Solomon had go so involved with the world, his wives, their ways and now was giving in to peer pressure. He had been given great wisdom by God, but he was turning his back on that very wisdom to follow after human traits by trying to please his wives instead of God. I’m not saying we should turn our back on our families, but if our family loves us they will allow us to worship God in full!
God is a jealous God and will not allow us to go off worshipping other gods without something happening. God had promised Solomon things and was going to keep those promises; but he would have to know the things he had done were now going to affect his offspring instead – they would have to face losing the kingdom because of his own actions!
God continues to support us and all the promises He has made to us will always stand; but there will be consequences to all of our actions we do in our lives. For those things we do against Him, we will see the consequences unless we turn back and ask for His forgiveness.
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things which God has said not to?
Will you ask for His forgiveness?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 824
Feb 7: 1 Kings 10:1-10
Key Verse: 1 Kings 10:10
And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
Devotion:
I have never really looked at this interaction between the Queen of Sheba and Solomon too closely before… but something struck me when I was reading it today: The Queen was from a very different background to Solomon and clearly ruled in a very different manner to Solomon. What she saw of Solomon and Israel was a bit too much for her to fully understand; the only thing she could come up with in the end was to leave Solomon with such an abundance of spices and precious stones that Israel has never seen the like of again!
Once again, Solomon did not ask for the riches and praise. His request from God was for wisdom to rule the people and that wisdom is what he shared with the Queen. Whatever the Queen asked of Solomon, he was able to answer the questions and shed wisdom over all the queries.
This got me thinking about us and God’s ways. We have ways of thinking and ways of behaving which somewhat dictate the habits we get into and the lifestyles we live. When something new and incredible is introduced to us we have a hard time trying to get our heads round it. If we ask for wisdom in the same way as Solomon did, we will get a better understanding of God’s ways!
We can receive all of this wisdom and understanding; in return we can give what we have in our lives. We may have riches which are measured in terms of earthly riches: these can be used in church to make the gospel more accessible to others – give what you can!
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle to measure up to God?
Why not just give what you can?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 812
Feb 6: Mark 7:1-7
Key Verse: Mark 7:7
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.
Devotion:
I can just picture scenes like this during Jesus’ ministry – the teachers of the law getting so upset with Jesus and the disciples because they did not follow all the rules and regulations laid down my them! Here the Pharisees were complaining about the disciples not washing their hands in the ceremonial manner they had deemed necessary…
Jesus answer to their complaints was straight forward and easy enough for us to understand, but I don’t think the Pharisees saw it that way at all. They had become too embroiled in their ways and in their traditions, leaving the truth behind and making rules which no longer honoured God but honoured men instead.
This is the same trap we face in our modern world. We look to the traditions and ways of man because, somehow, we think man's ways are good enough for God! Nothing we can do will ever be good enough to impress God; but what we can do is to offer our hearts in truth to God because that is what He is after. He does not want us to come up with the most sophisticated ways in which we can worship Him but simply to show Him we love Him in humble ways!
Here the Pharisees had made up more and more elaborate ways they could show off to each other instead of worshipping God with their hearts. God does not want us to worship each other – He wants us to worship Him with our hearts!
Points to Ponder:
How often have you got caught up in traditions?
How often have you got caught up in worshipping God with your heart?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 841
Feb 5: Mark 6:53-56
Key Verse: Mark 6:55
They ran throughout that whole region and carried those who were ill on mats to wherever they heard he was.
Devotion:
When people began to realise Jesus was healing the sick people from all over the regions came often carrying the ill just to be able to have the chance of getting healed. If this was a random chance then maybe not so many people would have come, but these people knew Jesus was not being picky about who He healed and was not reserving the healing for the rich and famous – He was healing anyone who came to Him!
Our modern societies have made an art form of serving the rich and famous; it is the people who have the money and connections who get seen to first and who have the best chance at getting the help they need. The poor and frail are being left behind and ignored. The richer seem to get richer and the poorer get poorer. This is not what Jesus was about!
We have to stand up to make sure people who are most in need get the attention and help they require irrespective of their social standing or the wealth and connections. We need to get things back to the way Jesus was showing people back at the times of the disciples.
This also means we have to be a part of the wheel of help too – we cannot turn our backs on the people who need help. We have to be more like Jesus and reach out to everyone who is in need. We must be willing to help just because they need help and not because they can do something for us or give us a reward!
Points to Ponder:
Do you do things for reward?
Or do you do things because they are needed?