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July 14: Matthew 13:24-30
Key Verse: Matthew 13:25
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Devotion:
We have to be ever vigilant and ever ready doing God’s work. Whenever we slack off and get involved with other things instead of being vigilant with our work for God, the evil one is going to come in and throw a few weeds amongst our seeds we are planting. This may not seem like a problem at the time because we know we can pick up the next day and make sure our seeds will survive and thrive… but when it comes time for the harvest, the work is going to be twice as hard. So what sort of things are these weeds going to look like? I know I am terrible at identifying weeds from flowers!
One thing the evil one is going to use is doubt. The seeds of doubt are going to be sown in amongst the seeds of the gospel. This is not just going to make the work harder during harvest, but is also going to stunt the growth of the normal crop. The more doubt is scattered around the people in the community, the harder it is to promote the gospel because the doubters will have a louder voice. Selecting a few key people and preparing them for the work is going to make our work for God easier because the work can be shared.
Another thing the evil one will use is the success of the people who don’t hear the gospel or who don’t follow the gospel. The more he can make it look like success comes from any other place than God, the more people will look to other places and other people for personal gain instead of looking to God for eternal gain. Short term success is nothing in comparison to eternal salvation, but with everyone looking at the here and now, they loose focus on the future and only aim for personal gain.
One more thing the evil one will do is to bring down a community through whatever means he can. With a whole community feeling down because of something which has happened within the community, the harder it is to see the future and to see the hope Christ brought with Him. Switch on the gospel lights and keep them on!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you promote God’s Word?
How often do you follow up what you promote?
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July 13: Psalm 119:105-112
Key Verse: Psalm 119:112
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.
Devotion:
What do you see your bible as? Do you see it as a book of rules which you have to keep because that is what God has said? Perhaps you see it as a guide book which should be read as a life story. Perhaps you see it as the absolute truth and something you can always go back to. Whatever you view of the bible, I do hope you see it as a light in your life which will guide you in some way or another!
These words were written hundreds of years before Jesus came to be with mankind in human form, probably at a time when the views were beginning to change as to the outlook of the scriptures – none of the New Testament existed then and these words were only just being written down. Two things stand out to me and I would like you to go away with these thoughts in your hearts.
The first is the scriptures are a lamp by which you can see your way forward. What do you see the first few moments when you switch off the lights? Nothing… blackness… and if you are walking when the lights do go out, you probably want to stop and wait for your eyes to adjust to the new light level so you don’t fall over anything in your path. We do need a bit of light to see our paths, but the better the light source, the more confident we can be about walking forward without tripping up.
The second point has to be what you do with the scriptures. God has made sure these scriptures, both Old and New Testaments have survived throughout time and have been reproduced in many different languages all around the world. The bible has made its way into countries which have banned its publication and continues to be a world wide best seller. Now, what are you going to do with your bible? Are you going to read it and put it down like a novel, or will you read it and keep the words in your heart so you can live a better life?
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you pick up a bible a week?
What do you do with the words of the bible?
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July 12: 2 Corinthians 10:7-11
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 10:11
Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Devotion:
No matter who we are, we belong to Christ. Whether we acknowledge this and live with Christ in our hearts is another thing. What none of us have is the right to put down others or abuse others. When we do, we are putting down a child of God!
It is easy to pre-judge people by the way they look or by what you have heard about them, but meeting them and communicating properly with them will allow you to see who they are and even why they are that way. God may well have chosen us first of all, but He does not give us the authority to put anyone down just because we think or act differently to them. You only have to look around the world to see just how different we are from our neighbours, in fact you probably only have to look next door to see the differences in any of our big cities around the world.
If you are honest with yourself you will admit to being different to the way you talk sometimes. We may well have the courage to talk about something but not to carry out the actions in front of others. I count myself very lucky I have not worries about writing down my feelings about God and also being able to be open to others about Him. Many may not have the courage to do the actions even though they can talk about them; to them I say, continue talking and don’t worry about doing just yet… your time will come when God knows you are ready!
Don’t worry about not being able to meet in church buildings and sing out to God as one choir – stay at home and worship God in your silence or on your own. He knows what you get up to and He will acknowledge you in just the same way as He acknowledges someone who is the public figure of the church. God has put some people in positions of authority because He knows they are ready for the role He asks of them. He may well give you the authority to write down your feelings instead of talking about them… write...
Points to Ponder:
Are you finding it difficult to ‘connect with God in lockdown?’
Will you step up and worship Him from your heart in private?
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July 11: Romans 8:1-8
Key Verse: Romans 8:3
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh
Devotion:
I got a bit bored waiting for computers to update and upgrade yesterday and started flipping through the various news channels from around the world; it really is amazing to see how many problems there are all around the world despite so many countries saying they have all the right laws in all the right places! Well, they are only as good as the corrupt people in charge of those laws!
The same can be said of the church and of God’s children too. The laws may be perfect or well meaning, but if they are being upheld by people who are always willing to bend the rules, then those rules look as bad as the people in charge. Now, we may not all have very corrupt governments, but there is corruption in every government I was hearing about on the news, and that covered much of our world! If we have church leaders who fall into the same bracket as those corrupt governors, then we are in for a rough time!
Even though we may well be corrupt and we may well have a long string of things we have done wrong, God is not going to hold them against us if we have asked Jesus to forgive us of those sins. Christ came to make sure we are forgiven and we have a clean slate to be presented to God. He has taken our debt and paid it in full – giving us the chance to start afresh. This is where our task comes in… we do need to do something about this sin we have been living with/in.
Jesus tells us our sins will be forgiven if we ask for them to be forgiven, but He also expects us to do something about it to show our sincerity. By going back and doing the same things wrong we beg for forgiveness for, we are showing we don’t quite mean what we said. But if we are willing to try our best to not go back into that sinful life, then we are going to have a faithful Saviour who continues to be there on our behalf – no matter what happened in the past!
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue doing things wrong after admitting to them?
Will you ask God to guide you away from your past sins?
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July 10: Isaiah 55:9-13
Key Verse: Isaiah 55:11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Devotion:
I used to think I would never be good enough to get up in front of a congregation and bring the Word of God to other people – my first attempts at public speaking in university did not go down too well with the powers that be! But after many years of just speaking about God and saying what God has taught me, I have realised it is not about me and the way I can do things, it is all about what God can do when you have the faith to get up and share your journey with others.
The prophet Isaiah tells us how God told him it was not about his own abilities but about God’s abilities to use our lives that makes the difference! Just as the mad weather we have at times is actually used to water the plants around the world, so are our mad abilities used to reach people around the world. I love the fact I can write something here in the UK now and a decade later someone on the other side of the world will come across what I have written and it just clicks in their lives!
It is what God can do with us and not about what we can do with God! Allow God to encourage you to reach out and say things as the Holy Spirit guides you. If you say something out of turn, people will tell you and you can learn from what they say. If you say something rather special which is going to apply to someone a decade later, don’t expect to have them congratulate you – just allow God to use what you have done to reach others.
I continue to live and love on the estate I live on in London and don’t expect to be put up on any special pedestal, in fact I hope for the opposite. I hope my words I write will be able to reach out silently in someone’s life and allow them the freedom to believe in God, not because I have followed the rules or because they have followed the rules, but because God has deemed it so. Give the glory solely to God!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you wait for feedback before saying anything about God?
Will you just say what you believe God is telling you?
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July 9: Isaiah 55:6-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 55:6
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Devotion:
We do all have a choice as to whether we listen to someone speaking about God or whether we turn off and allow our minds to wander in our deepest thoughts. Yes, we have all been there and we have all allowed our minds to wander instead of listening to our church leaders, but what do we do about it when our church leaders are not with us? Do we switch off and do our own thing, or do we continue to try and uphold what God has tried to teach us?
It is a difficult thing to continue doing something when it seems like the whole world is going off to do something else. It is difficult to focus on something small and quiet when the rest of society is shouting at the tops of their voices about something else. But God asks us to stop from the noisy world and focus on Him for a short while to hear what He has to teach us.
God is with us. He is not at the other end of a long dark tunnel when seems to lead into oblivion – He is with us, here and now. Just because the world is in a dark place or in a noisy place, does not mean we have to join them. Step aside and listen out for God. He is not going to be that tornado whistling past us, not the thunderstorm bashing our ears… He is going to be that still small voice which reaches out to us and asks us to listen intently and humbly.
God wants the world to stop and listen. He has tried doing things the hard way by sending a flood or famine in the past, but now He wants us to make the choice and stop to listen out for the real God in this very real world! God continues to show us amazing mercy and love, with a faithfulness which is faultless and without end. Stop and listen...
Points to Ponder:
How easily are you distracted by noise?
Will you stop and listen just for a short while?
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July 8: Romans 10:16-21
Key Verse: Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Devotion:
What does or has your church life look(ed) like during these times of lockdown? Have you been able to continue worshipping God in some way on your normal ‘church day’ or have you had to do something by yourself? I am so pleased to be in a church where we have been able to shift everything online and continue with some sort of church service every week. You don’t realise just how important this is until you are faced with not being able to do ‘normal church!’
God has continued to try and make sure people gathered in one way or another so they can encourage each other as well as be encouraged by the Holy Spirit – especially since we have not been able to meet together face to face with all of our normal church family. Even during the early church years when God was gathering the people of Israel together, people still would wander off when they did not hear from God in one way or another.
Those early years were centred around the prophets being able to bring God’s Word to them, but not everyone would listen. For those who chose not to listen, they missed out on the message God was trying to get across to them – much the same as we are going through at the moment. Just because we are all stuck at home does not mean we should be ignoring God’s Word. If you are part of a church where nothing is going on because of a lack of technology or expertise from the leaders, then I encourage you to find something online where you can join in a ‘home service.’
One thing we need to be careful of is not trying to compete to make the best online service in the country! We need to focus on the people we are trying to reach in our communities and continue to share the content we would normally share in a service, but doing it in a new way. Our church service has changed somewhat and is made available through a chat group which goes out to all our community. We all come together around this chat group and worship God in our own homes, and if we’re late, no problem… It’s God we need to focus on and not perfect online presences with perfect timing!
Points to Ponder:
How do you meet on your Sabbath day?
Do you still get back to God’s Word?
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July 7: Nehemiah 8:7-8
Key Verse: Nehemiah 8:8
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
Devotion:
After the walls of the city had been rebuilt the people came together to be reminded of the law, the scriptures, given to the people by God, through Moses. These were the rules by which they should have been living and now realised they had lost so much by going off and doing their own thing. Now they sat and listen intently to the leaders as they read the law once again in the city.
The Levites went one step further and they interpreted the law for the people so everyone was in no doubt what the law said – no excuses this time round. If we want to be able to help the people in our communities then we have to be willing to go through similar steps to what Nehemiah went through and to go those few step further for the community.
Our first task is to go into the communities and to start by doing the physical works. Start by rebuilding things which have fallen apart. Start by organising relief for those in need and expertise for those who need it. What is a community if it is still falling apart? Once we have got things moving in the right direction again, we can continue helping those who need help and helping them to start helping each other again. Communities used to all club together and get things done – we need that spirit back!
When the community is at rest again they will make time to listen to God’s Word. When it is still knee deep in pain they will continue to ignore everything else, including God’s Word. This is when we can start explaining God’s Words in ways the community can understand. Jesus showed us how important this is by talking in parables for people to understand. When people begin to understand, they are more willing to spend a bit more time listening and so the cycle of learning about God continues!
Points to Ponder:
Who was the first person to explain the bible in simple terms for you?
Are you ready to simply the bible for someone else now?
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July 6: Jonah 4:5-11
Key Verse: Jonah 4:10
But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
Devotion:
How many times have you got angry with God – note I ask how many times, not if! We all do get angry with God at times because we want to see things done according to our own times and places, yet what do we do about all the other times and places the Lord allows us to be alive with and at?
Jonah sat outside of Tarshish to see what God was going to do to them because they were not obeying God or listening to Him. This was obviously a desert town because it was hot and no shade around anywhere, but God provided a small plant which grew up beside him to give Jonah a little bit of cover. Jonah did not give much attention to this plant other than being thankful for it being there. So it came and gave him shade and it went and died just as easily…
What lessons do we take from this? We need to not just be thankful for the things God gives us, but to take care of them too. Without us taking care of anything we are simply taking God for granted and living according to our own wants and needs. God is still with us and still cares for us, but when we ignore the very things He is placing around us, we are beginning to ignore God in our lives too.
Take a bit of time to stop and think about the things God is placing around your life. Take a bit of time not just to be thankful but to care for them too. This does not just include the plants around us, but the buildings, places, environment, and of course the people too. Stop taking them for granted and start offering a helping hand to the things and people which God places around you every day! Be thankful for more and care just that little bit more by showing you care!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get angry with God for not giving you what you want?
How much do you care for the things He gives you without you asking for them?
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July 5: John 5:31-40
Key Verse: John 5:39
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me
Devotion:
Talking all about yourself can be harmful for your image – the more we build ourselves up the more people will think we are not telling the truth because we are talking about ourselves! Jesus knew He would face this and that is why John was sent before Him to tell people of a truth which was coming, one which was going to change the world. This was what the scriptures had recorded in them and something the people should have already been prepared for… but the closer the time came, the more people ignored the signs.
We have seen this in action over the first half of this year and we will continue to see more of this as people ignore the warnings just because they want to go back to doing their own thing! We can look forward and say “we won’t get involved!” but after a very short while of not having our own ways we tend to give in to temptation and do silly things! We even start believing our own lies and tell those same lies to others expecting them to believe us…
Let us never forget we are those lights Jesus is talking about here, just as John was a light coming before Jesus, we are lights declaring the way before the Lord returns once again. We don’t know when it will be and we have no idea how other than this is because Jesus said it would be so. You may think we have a bit of an uphill struggle here because we don’t know enough details – that is where our faith comes in.
If we are willing to have faith and trust Christ will do as He has promised, then we can shine that light just as John did and people will believe us just as they believed John. The crowning glory will be when Jesus does come again and we can live out our faith! Ours is to simple tell it how it is, but Jesus has the task of fulfilling what has been said, no matter what!
Points to Ponder:
Do you shudder at the thought of having to tell people about Jesus?
Imagine having to tell them there is no longer any hope...