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June 24: Mark 8:14-21
Key Verse: Mark 8:18
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
Devotion:
How quickly do you forget when things happen your way? I’m sure we can all recall a time when things went wrong or they did not happen in the way we expected them to, but how many times do you remember when things happened the right way? If you are like me, then you tend to forget the good things because we are expected them to happen and they happened; but those bad things I remember!
Jesus pointed this out to the disciples because He could sense they were only picking up on the bad things. We are very much like the disciples in the way we remember things too. If we want to try and see the amount of times God is actually doing things in our lives, then we have to make a big change in how we remember things. I could say we should all write down each good or bad thing, but I know I keep forgetting to write down the good times.
Our attitude needs to change, not so we can try to overcome the bad things but so we can focus on the good things and start to expect the good things every day of our lives. The more we expect God to do things, the more we will ask Him to intercede because we are expecting something good to come out of it! But so long as we focus on the bad times, we expect to not get our prayers answered – whether we use the excuse that we are asking the wrong things or at the wrong time, or whether we say “God doesn’t want me to have that yet” is not really the question…
We should be looking back in our lives and picking up on the things God has done so we will be encouraged to ask for more. We should be asking and expecting positive responses all the time. This is what God has promised and what we should expect! Is it time for us to make a change? Yes! Expect better things and start loving the people God has brought into your lives!
Points to Ponder:
Do you focus on the bad times like me?
Will you join me in trying to focus on what God has done?
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June 23: Mark 7:14-15
Key Verse: Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.
Devotion:
What is it which makes you afraid of going out into the world and showing people you are a Christian? I know we all still have fears during this time when the virus is still hanging round our necks, but what I am aiming at here is the choice we have to go into a different surrounding to our normal lives and try to make a difference. I used to be very scared of allowing myself to be ‘corrupted’ by people whom I thought not to be Christians, but God has taught me we have to do what Jesus did!
Jesus did not just limit His journey to a few converts and teach them all they needed to preach to others. He went into the most deprived places, the places where criminals kept company and to the places where one would not normally invite yourself into. This is what He wants us to do as well – as scary as it does sound and feel!
The thing which opened my eyes was to go onto a travellers camp and open up the bible to the young children. I have never felt so comforted by God and, as it happened, so protected by the people I was sharing God’s Word with! When God wants you to go somewhere, He is going to make sure you make the right impression and are comforted and cared for as long as you are doing what He is asking. It is very easy to go in with your guns blazing and try to do things by yourself and how you think things should be done. This is not what God is asking. He is asking us to continue listening to His instructions!
So how do we know the difference between what we want and what God wants? There-in lies the issue for us. We have to ask Him and wait for instructions. Not just a couple of seconds after we pray as our minds fill up with good ideas, but wait for as long as it takes for Him to give us a definitive answer – that is always the hard part!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are doing the right things for God?
Are you doing what God is actually asking?
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June 22: Mark 7:1-8
Key Verse: Mark 7:7
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.
Devotion:
It is very easy to get caught up in the feelings of a mass gathering and do things without really meaning them. It is very easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment and do something which you would otherwise not think of doing. This is part of our human nature; a part we need to watch out for when we come to worship God.
God is not caught up in the moment and will not accept a repetitive task being done as a substitute for a relationship with Him! We may be able to fool people by doing something over and over again to pretend we are doing it for the right reasons, but we cannot pull the wool over God’s eyes – He sees everything, including what is in your heart.
The prophet Isaiah had been given warnings from God that the people would ‘turn cold’ because they would get caught up in doing things out of habit instead of doing them because of their love for God. He wrote those things down for us to remember and people do remember these things; but we still get carried away with doing things out of habit instead of doing it for God. Christ came to give His life for us so we could draw near to God. He gave everything so we could come closer to God with open hearts and minds. The least we can do is come forward with open hearts…
Jesus berated the Pharisees and the teachers for doing things out of habit or because that was the way the other people were doing things. God does not teach us to follow human rules but to follow His rules. He does not want us all to be people who gather round and do things together just because our parents or our grandparents did so. He wants us to do things because we love Him and want to honour Him with our actions and our thoughts.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do to honour God?
Will you do something different today to honour God?
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June 21: John 6:60-66
Key Verse: John 6:66
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to accept is a person who once believed everything you said, turning their back on you and saying they no longer believe you. If you had given them a reason to turn away such as telling a lie, then you have nobody but yourself to blame. But if you have continued to tell them the whole truth, how do you come to terms with this? The answer is a difficult one to accept, but one we will have to face as Christians from time to time. We have to accept some people just do not want to know the truth when the truth gets hard to accept into their lives...
If we had built our lives on bending the truth all the time, then we would find it very hard to straighten our act up and accept the truth – because that is not what we are used to and not what we have accepted up until the point where we heard the actual truth! We are going to face many people who will say they believe in God and who say and do the right things, but when they have to face the truth, they will turn their backs on God and go their own way.
Let us not tar everyone with this same brush. If we had lived our whole lives in the dark, accepting the light is difficult and living in it a long hard slog. In this case we may well creep back into a dark corner now and again just to get some rest from the bright light which is showing up every little thing we do wrong! But when we do, God knows what is in our hearts and He will extend out His arms to welcome us back every time we walk away – that is His love!
When we see the truth of how much life the spirit gives us, we will be more inclined to allow the light to shine so the spirit can guide us in the light. The light may well be too bright for us to accept at first, we have to become acclimatised to the light. We may well have to accept it in small doses at first otherwise we become totally lost; but the light is the only thing which will show us the correct way to go.
Points to Ponder:
Do you still shy away from the light?
Will you ask the spirit to hold your hand and guide you when the light is too bright?
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June 20: John 6:30-33
Key Verse: John 6:30
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
Devotion:
What does it take for you to believe something? Do you have to see it in action or do you trust what other people tell you? What then has brought you to the stage where you sought out the great questions of life and of God?
For some it has been a traumatic event in their lives which has made them question their own lives and turn to find comfort in God. For some it is the mundane existence of their lives which has led to them seeking something more from life and found themselves looking at God. But, whatever has happened in your life to get you to this stage where you are seeking God, just remember one thing: It is what comes down from God in Heaven which makes all the sense and what we should be seeking.
We like to try and justify things through earthly events and like to make sense of things according to our own rules or expectations – but sometimes it is beyond our comprehension and we just have to accept there is more to life than our existence. God continues to try and allow people to see how much more to life there is than what we see. He tries to open our hearts to allow true love to come in. He allows many things in our lives so we can try and identify what parts come from Him.
But all through this, He is continuing to pour out His love to us and continues to lift us up when we trip up and stumble. As long as we are willing listen to what we are hearing from God, we are going to be able to achieve what He would like us to do. But when we turn up the volume of the world instead, we lose focus on Him and allow our minds to go off for a wander into the pitfalls the evil one has laid down before us. It is the bread from Heaven which will feed us and allow us to grow stronger each day.
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to survive on whatever food you can get hold of?
Do you continue to look after your spiritual life with bread from Heaven?
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June 19: Mark 6:14-16
Key Verse: Mark 6:16
But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
Devotion:
How far are you willing to go to have your own way or to cover up a lie you have told? I know I have gone pretty far in the past, but most of the time I was found out pretty quickly and things always went South after that! I was raised in a country where racism was a way of life, not one I liked and as I grew older, not one I supported. Some of the people around me were going to extraordinary lengths to do very racist things and many times they would not even bother to cover them up – that was what they had been conditioned to believe!
After years of being away from that environment and living amongst the people in England I started to think things were so much better here, but even here I started to realise there was still racism in society. It is not something we can just switch off or run away from, it is something we have to live with and change from the inside out.
Because Herod was in a position of power, he thought he could get away with anything he wanted to do; something we still see in our leaders all around the world. There is nothing new about people abusing their positions of power to suit their own wants and desires! Unfortunately there are always people on the receiving end who get abused because of this greed and we, as Christians, need to stand up for all of us and promote the way Jesus wants us to live – by loving our neighbours!
I love living on the estate I currently live in because there is such a diverse group of people who live together; many live at or below what is considered as the poverty line on our estates here in London. We try to show people there is hope through Jesus Christ and allow them to experience a bit of God’s love where the country seems to be leaving them behind. This is just as bad as racism, yet so many countries ignore these situations just as they ignore racism. Now it the time to change. Now is the time to love your neighbour – no matter who they are!
Points to Ponder:
Do you love living where you live?
Are you sharing God’s love with your neighbours?
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June 18: Mark 6:7-11
Key Verse: Mark 6:9
Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.
Devotion:
Now, this was not a literal command for all Christians to wear sandals and not an extra shirt, but rather a command for us to get out there into the world without having to lug round all our creature comforts. Life is not all about being as comfortable as you can make it without regard to others. Life is all about living with others and being part of their lives. Life is about including everyone who is willing to be included and sharing life together.
How many things do you pack before you go on holiday? Do you make sure you have all of your comforts met by the amount of stuff you take with you, or do you take the bare basics and make do with what you have? Well, Jesus was telling these disciples to not pack bags but to just get out there and spread the gospel. If people do want to hear about God then they will be willing to open up their lives a little to allow you to work with them. It’s not about enforcing your way on others to prove them wrong!
I see what is happening in society at the moment and I am dismayed there are people out there who refuse to believe there is a crisis happening right now, one which has been brewing for hundreds of years and has had far too many people turn a blind eye or even support the wrongful suppression of a human beings right to live as equals. Far too often people hang on to the riches they have gained and refuse to let them go in fear of not having those luxuries to live with.
Jesus wants us to live a life which is similar to the one chosen for the disciples to live, one where they could go out and share their lives without worry or shame for what they were doing. A life where Jesus Christ is at the centre and is the cornerstone upon which everything should be built. It is not our job to build up enough resources to carry others or to make others successful. It is our task to share Christ with everyone who is willing to listen and to live a life which simply gives glory to Him at all times.
Points to Ponder:
Are you worried about your bank balance?
Will you willingly share your bank balance with Christ?
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June 17: Mark 6:1-6
Key Verse: Mark 6:5
He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
Devotion:
What is it which would prevent you from believing in Jesus? We all have our own things we believe because of what we have seen in our lives, or at least what we believe we have seen. But, as you go through life, you begin to realise things are not always what they seem. If you are willing to find out the truth and change your perceptions then you will be able move on further than if you stick to what you think are the right ways.
When Jesus went back to His home town, the people there knew Him as Jesus the Son of Mary and Joseph, not as Jesus Christ our Saviour. Their imaginations and faith were clouded by the fact they knew Him as a mere human being and not as the Son of God! Some of them accepted He was some kind of prophet because of the knowledge He had about God, but that was also their limiting factor, they did not want to believe further than that.
Sometimes we have things in our lives which are preventing us from seeing the truth about God and fully realising our faith in Him. This was a clear statement about how our faith was able to make things possible with Jesus being the catalyst and not the doer of all things. Jesus wants us to know it is our faith in God which will make things possible – things beyond our normal understanding.
When He tried to get people to be the doers instead of just being hearers of the word, things went south because of the lack of belief from the local people. When we go out into our communities we need to believe that Christ is going to work through us and not just us doing what we can. If we do what we can, we can help the people we touch, but if we have faith, God can do so much more in our communities than we can by ourselves!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like working alone?
Will you invite Christ to join with you in reaching your community?
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June 16: Mark 5:9-17
Key Verse: Mark 5:17
Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
Devotion:
What is your first reaction to something you find unbelievable? Do you stop and question how or why? Do you just accept it as unknown and move on? Do you seek advice from others to try and form an consensus? Do you freeze and begin to panic? We all like to think we would be composed and react in a civilised manner, but if we are honest, we would have to face the unknown before we actually knew how we would react. Judging others because they are doing things differently after being forced into a corner they have not known before is dangerous ground!
When Jesus was faced with a legion of spirits who had taken up residence in a poor man His reaction sparked off a variety of ways in which people acted. The legion of spirits knew who Jesus was and they begged Him to not send them away for good. The rest of the people had reacted in many different ways, but the general feeling was probably fear from the unknown and they distanced themselves from the man who had been possessed.
When Jesus was able to get the spirits to leave the man and to go into the herd of pigs nearby, people were amazed and also afraid. The people did not know how to deal with this action they had not seen before and were now facing. Even though some people had been eye witnesses to what had happened and probably accepted what they had seen, the others began to get worried and started to demand Jesus left them alone.
We tend to over-react to things we hear and have not seen before because we have a built-in fear of the unknown. This is probably why there are so many conspiracy theories which plague our communities. God simply wants us to know the truth and to accept the truth. He wants us to know He has power over anything we fear and anyone we come against in our lives. As long as we are willing to ask Him for aid when we need it and listen to that help, we will be able to face the unknown without fear.
Points to Ponder:
Do you ask God to take your fears away from you?
Or do you ask God for help to face your fears?
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June 15: Mark 4:35-41
Key Verse: Mark 4:39
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
Devotion:
Sometimes in life we seem to be swamped by storms! Everything seems like it is out of control and we start panicking because we think we are going to sink! This may well have been a real storm for the disciples as they were crossing the sea, but Jesus’ reply goes much deeper than the physical storm. In just a few words He was able to calm the storm and allow the disciples to relax once again – none of this had bothered Jesus in the beginning because He was asleep during the storm.
It was all about trust and faith. Jesus had complete faith and trust in His Father in Heaven. He knew His Father would look after Him no matter what! He knew no matter what He faced in this physical life, God His Father would continue to be there and look out for Him. What faith!
When we are faced with physical, emotional or spiritual hardships in our lives, we do need to remember God is in control and has this! Yes, it is hard to remember the pace of Christ when we are surrounded by a storm in our lives, but, as demonstrated here, it is the perfect way out of any storm. Does this mean we are not going to face storms? Certainly not, we are surrounded by people making storms, by situations which have grown up from tiny streams into raging torrents – all because a succession of people have not yet called on the name of God to calm the storm.
If we are able to call on God to help with the situations before they turn into storms, then we are ahead of the game and others will not have to endure those storms. If we are able to share this encouragement with others, they will feel a whole lot safer when they see the storms approaching. It is our faith which will be able to help others find theirs. It is our faith which is that light shining in the darkness. It is our faith which is that tiny seed from which a whole lot of goodness can grow!
Points to Ponder:
Do you sink or swim?
Do you call on God before the storm or only when it rages?