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August 26: Nehemiah 1:1-4
Key Verse: Nehemiah 1:4
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Devotion:
I must admit to taking the idea of the next few devotions from talks the Rt Rev Jill Duff held on the United Breaks Out sessions this year for New Wine. This is something which has been playing on my heart for a while and has roots back to over a decade ago when Pastor Frank Thompson talked about Nehemiah’s mission.
The background is a country which has been devastated by the Babylonians and others and now is in a state of disorder and despair. Certain ruling parties wanted to be in control but were clearly not doing a particularly good job of things. Nehemiah was one of the cupbearers to king Artaxerxes I, a position where he would potentially be in a life-or-death situation with every meal! But God was able to do amazing things through him in his current predicament.
Nehemiah was distressed by what he heard of the people back home and the king noticed. Normally you would think the king would demand Nehemiah be taken away because of his attitude, but God changed the king's heart and allowed him to be moved by what Nehemiah told him. This is the king who had taken Jews as slaves and yet God softened his heart to want to do something for the Jews!
When we say God can do anything, we don’t always think of situations like this where God is using the enemy to bring about a change for the good! But when we show God we really do care and we really want change; He is going to make it happen one way or another! It is words like these which inspire me to move forward and do something in a community which is going to make a difference! One which would normally fill me with fear, but one I know God is behind.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you impose restrictions on what God will do?
Will you stop and listen to find out what God wants you to do?
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August 25: Deuteronomy 18:15-22
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 18:19
I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.
Devotion:
No matter how much God does in your life, you may well still face temptations which you give in to or do things you should not be doing. “We are human” is the excuse we all turn to in these cases… We may be human, but we still do have a choice despite the peer pressure and despite all the temptations. We will be held accountable for the choices we make.
We can look throughout the bible to see how much God has supported us and how He has bent over backward to try and get us to obey Him – yet we still go astray like sheep walking off into the wilderness instead of staying with the shepherd. We do this because we make choices and we follow our own choices rather than the people God has put into our lives to guide us.
We may be scared by a God who is able to do anything and who has told us the wages of sin is death… but that same God has listened to our infirmities and has placed people into our lives to allow us to gracefully come back to Him by listening to those people. God has continued to do this throughout time and will continue to do this because of His great love for us! It is not God giving in to our wishes, but a God who is using everything and everyone to try and reach out to us and guide us back to His side!
He has given us His Word in the bible. He has told us He will put people into our lives to teach us because we are scared to listen to Him directly. He has told us we need to discern who is telling the truth by their actions in His Word. We have everything we need to make the right choice in our lives – but we do still have to make that choice for ourselves. Nobody else can make the choice for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God’s servants?
Are you obeying God’s wishes in your life?
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August 24: 1 John 4:16-18
Key Verse: 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Devotion:
This letter really does drill home the words God is love! But words are just words unless people listen to them and act upon them too. We could all speak the right words and go off and do our own things instead, making the words of little or no effect; meaningless!
As Christians we do need to fully rely on God’s love in our lives because it is central to being a Christian and central to our lives in general. If we do not love then we are meaningless vessels who are of no real use in any community. The more we realise God is love, the more we draw closer to Him when we do exercise love in our own lives. Focusing on what the love is for and not just that there must be love will help us to focus on God’s love in our communities too!
We do need to remember there is no fear in love! Notice I say there is no fear, not there should not be fear… If we bring fear into the equation then we are making an excuse where we will not have to love unconditionally. This unconditional love is the love God has for us and the love we need to spread in our families and in our communities. Good and wholesome love will drive out fear because the definition of love does not contain fear.
The basic concept of fear has to do with punishment in some form or another. Love does not include punishment… punishment is sometimes dealt out in the name of love because we would rather see someone punished now to stop them from offending than to face greater punishment after they are found out. Love did not cause the offence in the first place, love had to deal with the real-world problem after it has happened!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you bring fear into a relationship?
Are you ready to put it all on the line so love can make the relationship better?
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August 23: Romans 12:1-2
Key Verse: Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.
Devotion:
Nicodemus was willing to try ans find out how he could be saved from this debt he owed because of his sinfulness. He came to ask Jesus how he could do this and the answer was a whole lot simpler than Nicodemus probably thought. To simply present himself to God because of what Jesus would do on the cross for us all...
Once you have made the decision to allow Jesus fully into your life, you need to think about how you live your life! If you are going to tell God you are willing to be a Christian, then you should also be willing to start acting like one – to change your life away from the sinful things which were a part of your life and to aim to be more righteous – not so you can be assured a place in Heaven, but to show God you are serious about being a Christian!
If you went around telling people you were a Christian and acted nothing like a Christian, a lot of people would question whether you were a Christian! God would love us to be good examples because that would encourage others to be more like that too! This is why the author here reminds the people to present themselves as a living sacrifice… not that there needs to be a physical sacrifice…
If you are willing to give something up, like you sinful life, then you are actually making a sacrifice because you are stopping that part of your life you once thought to be normal and aim to be more like Jesus asks us to be. This is our living sacrifice which we should aim to live every day as a Christian. We don’t have to do things the way we used to or the way anyone else says we should be – we should be trying to live according to how God wants us to live...
Points to Ponder:
Do you give in to the old ways you used to live?
Or are you making a sacrifice and living a more righteous life?
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August 22: John 3:1-3
Key Verse: John 3:2
He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’
Devotion:
Nicodemus, a man who had a position in the Jewish ruling council, wanted to know how to be saved. He had heard the gospel message and was convinced this was the way to go forward in his life. No longer was he blinkered by the man-made extensions to God’s Commandments, he was a man on a mission...
But he knew exactly what the Jewish ruling council could do to him if he opposed their strict rules. He was scared of what they may do to him if he was to admit he followed Jesus. So, he came to see Jesus at night when there would be much less chance of any of the rulers or their spies seeing him come to see Jesus.
How was he convinced? By what he had heard of and possibly seen happen to others. Jesus knew if He healed the right people, the right people would get to know about this and the Holy Spirit would be able to convince those people God was real and Jesus had come directly from God! That is such a huge statement! He was admitting Jesus came from God; he was admitting Jesus was the Messiah – something the Jewish ruling council did not want to admit to…
This is our reminder we don’t have to stand up in front of a church congregation to admit we want Jesus in our own lives. We can do it by being alone, even stuck in a cupboard or wherever! Jesus wants us to freely admit He is the Son of God and He has come to set us free, to be saved from our sin debt, to be free to worship Him whether it be in a church or alone at home or in hiding because another ruling council does not want you to know the truth!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know Jesus as you Lord and Saviour?
If not, will you ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour wherever you are?
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August 21: Romans 8:14-17
Key Verse: Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Devotion:
It may sound such a simple thing: if we are led by the Spirit of God, then we are children of God! But, as with so many things in life, it doesn’t always turn out to be so easy… Yes, we are children of God, but we live in a world surrounded by sin and by strange and divisive things. But, no matter how much we think of ourselves as being humans living in a sinful world, we are still children of God and can live as such!
It is not what we have done or how we have behaved which has brought us to the point where we can be called children of God; it is because of what Jesus has done and the Holy Spirit convincing us that this is ultimately true! If we had never had the Spirit convince us Jesus was real and died for our sakes, then we would never accept the fact He died for our sins… we would be eternally trapped in the sinful world with seemingly no way out!
But because we have been convicted by the Spirit, we can now cry out “Father!” to God and know He is listening and will answer our prayers just as He has promised us! The Spirit does not stop there and go onto the next person; He continues to convince us and guide us and will allow us to grow as long as we are willing to listen.
If we turn our back against the Spirit, then we will not learn any more than we know. Just like we will not learn anything from School if we never turn up for school! God has given us free access to Him through Christ and the the Holy Spirit. It is time we started to use that free access for the purpose it was intended – to have a relationship with God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ignore God?
Do you try to listen to the Holy Spirit every day?
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August 20: Romans 6:19-23
Key Verse: Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Devotion:
There are some verses which are used by themselves to remind us of the limitations of human life and the eternity of life in Heaven and this is one of them. But to put it into context gives a much deeper meaning than we normally think of when hearing this verse.
The author not only had a way with words but was able to reach out to the people to whom the letters have been written. In this case, these letters to the Romans were aimed squarely at the Roman citizens because of their almost separatist lives they tried to lead from other cultures. To say they thought of themselves as one above all other cultures was not an exaggeration!
We see this today in our modern societies where the ruling class often thinks of themselves as being far separated from the working classes – all for the wrong reasons. God does not teach us to be separatists, despite some Baptist cultures. Christ came to teach us to love our neighbours, and that included the people who thought of themselves as being above or below you in social standings. The simple rules of God were to be applied equally to one and all!
When we do realise how much we work against society, we should be stopping in our tracks and turning our lives around to show we have changed. This could be the simplest form of realising you are a sinner and asking God into your life. This could be realising you have lead a life steeped in rampant racism and changing your life to included other races as equal and as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Whatever, we do need to realise we are not above God’s law. We are not above others. We are all God’s Children and we need to work together to live our lives for Christ!
Points to Ponder:
What do you get out of every-day life?
Do you realise just how much more you can get from eternal life?
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August 19: Romans 11:28-32
Key Verse: Romans 11:29
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Devotion:
Sometimes you just have to fall flat on your face so someone else can help you to get up… but what you do after that is what counts! God has given us a promise which He keeps, not intends to keep, but keeps!
We have historical records which show how mankind has walked with God, wandered off from God, worshipped other gods and eventually come back to the One True God! We have many of these accounts in our bible which scholars have tried to ensure is as much of the truth as we need to have in order to know the truth. But, despite having all this history, records and encouragement written down, we still falter and trip up. It’s just the way we are and we need to accept ourselves the way we are.
If we were going down the road of taking drugs or drinking too much alcohol, we would have to admit to ourselves we have a problem before we could make any changes in our lives. If we don’t admit we have an issue, then we cannot identify where we are going wrong and what the right path is to take. The same can be said for our Christian walk with God. Unless we admit to having issues in our lives we cannot hope to identify we have problems and sin in our lives.
The most important thing we have to remember is God’s gift and His call are irrevocable! That means the gift has been given freely and will always be there for us to accept. He also knows the people He wants to step forward and take the gospel out to others. This call is also always there. No matter how far we wander off and sin, no matter how much we ignore His call, it is always there and will always remain for us to pick up as His free gift to us.
How else can God show us His amazing mercy and grace unless we have in some way fallen from that grace at some stage in our lives. Does this mean we need to fall before we can live with Christ? No! For those lucky enough to have only stumbled a little, the gift is still there and still free and just as important and powerful as to someone who has fallen off a cliff (figuratively speaking!)
Points to Ponder:
How far do you feel from God?
Do you really want to hit rock bottom before you take up your free gift from God?
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August 18: Psalm 133:1-3
Key Verse: Psalm 133:3
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life for evermore.
Devotion:
How would you describe living with God to someone in your life? This Psalm was penned many years ago and it relates to how they lived, behaved and governed their lives back then. It may not mean so much to us nowadays because our modern lives seem to be so far different from these words… We now have all manner of things going wrong around the world today with so much political upheaval and so many social injustices happening all round the world. How do we stop and take time out with God in this chaos?
Well, much the same as they did back then. We have to put aside the horror which surrounds us long enough to focus on the good things which have happened in our lifetimes. Yes there are good things, but sometimes they are buried deep in chaos and trouble! God wants us to remember those good times and to use the memories to build up our own hope and faith because it is those times which can strengthen us in times of deep trouble.
Trouble and natural horrors are always going to be with us – this is the world we live in. But when we focus on the good and the pleasant times, we can think of more good things and more good times. I know it is easy for someone to say “just remember the good times” and I know the bad and sad time do overwhelm us much of the time, but we really do need to try and remember the good times so we stop focusing on the world around us and look to God instead.
I have found the last couple of weeks have been tough as we remain in the “in between state” of half good and half bad things going on around us. Whilst it looks like there can be an end to this pandemic and the stress it brings into our lives, we also see failings in so many places which bring doubt to those hopes. God has shown us many good times in the past and we need to hold firm to those good times so we can hold firm to God and what He has in store in our futures!
Points to Ponder:
How much of your time is spent worrying about things around you?
How much time do you try to remember the good times with God?
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August 17: Matthew 15:10-11
Key Verse: Matthew 15:11
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.
Devotion:
Jesus was good at picking out the people who were pretending to be Christians! Take a look around you and try to understand why Christians act the way they do… try to discern why they do what they do and compare it to what God has asked of us. Far too often we fall back into the ways of the world when we get comfortable in a church; we go ahead and redefine what we think God has told us so we are more comfortable too!
God does not pick us out because we listen to the wrong things or because we eat the wrong stuff. What God does pick us up on is what we do wrong. I know we are often persuaded to do things wrong because of what we listen to and what we watch, but that is us making a conscious choice to do what we know is wrong.
God has given us enough direction for us to know the right path to follow. He continues to try and give us direction for as long as we are going to listen too. God’s instructions are for us all and not just a select few in church. This is why Jesus called the crowd to Him before telling them the truth about what they do; the warning signs are there that people will judge others by what they listen to, eat and drink, but God can look past that to what comes out of people’s hearts at the end of the day!
As long as we are able to separate the worldly ways from the Heavenly ways, we should stand a good chance of being able to do the right things and not to be fooled into doing the wrong things… but we are weak and we do give in; especially when we see someone doing the wrong thing but being rewarded for doing that! God is not going to reward those who constantly choose the wrong way, but He will reward those we do choose the righteous way.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things wrong because you see others do things wrong?
Will you take encouragement from God’s righteousness?