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December 13: Isaiah 40:25-31
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:30
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
Devotion:
As I grow older I start to feel the limits of my body more and begin to realise I am now part of the ‘old people’ clan! But my mind continues to thrive on all things and keeps me thinking I am younger than I am. As a youngster I used to think I was able to do so much, and compared to now, it was a whole lot more, but I don’t complain because I know the Lord has much more for me to do yet.
As a young man I did not see much of the beauty of the world around me, instead I looked for more things to do and explore. Now I tend to see much more of the awesome world around us and see just how much love God has put into creating this amazing world we live in. As humans continue to expand their knowledge of the universe I realise there is a lot more to things than just my little corner of the world.
We see scientists and explorers expanding the ‘known universe’ and humans doing things faster, better and smarter in all walks of life; except for those who just don’t seem to grasp what it is all about! Even then we seem to reach limits and records which stand for a long time, waiting for someone to come along and change things up once again. But if we continue to hope in the Lord we will continue to see things expand and improve because we know we can gain strength and wisdom from God: that is when we get to soar!
Points to Ponder:
Is there something you are trying to get better at?
Will you take God with you and praise Him when you achieve the next step?
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December 12: Isaiah 40:6-8
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:7
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
Devotion:
Not all the news Isaiah had to dish out was bad news. Here we see comfort coming back to the people of Israel; someone will come and prepare the way of the Lord and with that the people will eventually listen and things will turn round for the good of everyone who praises God. But it’s not just the people of God who will benefit: everyone around them will enjoy the good times as well.
We come, not to just praise God and hope for blessings, but to show other people we are praising Him and receiving blessing. God’s glory is revealed through our blessings. Unless we tell people we have these blessings because our God is good, how will they know where any of this comes from.
The evil one will be jumping up and down trying to take credit for all manner of things which look like they are good. He wants to take the credit away from God so he can get the praise instead of God getting the praise.
We have to show others we may not be like a great pillar of stone which remains strong even in the strongest winds. We have to show people we will get battered and bruised in the bad times just as they will. But when we continue to praise God, even in those bad times, He will bring blessing to us which far outweigh the praise we give Him. We will fail during the hard times just as others will unless we continue to receive our strength from God to remain firm.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard during hard times?
Have you tried praising God even when you don’t want to?
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December 11: Isaiah 35:1-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 35:3
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
Devotion:
Can you imagine being told by God you have to go and tell people they are going to face hardships they never dreamed of and lose almost everything they had worked for? I don’t think Isaiah liked having to tell the people of Israel that someone was coming to break down their holy city, but equally telling the Gentiles they would gain everything must have hurt.
We may look on these words in various ways like above, but really they were telling of a change in the church, from the reign of the Pharisees to a time when the Gospel message would bring a new season for the church. Isaiah knew someone would come to overthrow Jerusalem – a few hundred years later the Babylonians did that. But he also knew a Saviour was coming who would overturn all the old ways and bring in something which would mean more to all people than before.
With hindsight we can look back on these words and figure out what was coming and what would happen after the initial destruction and enslavement of the people. Isaiah had the unenviable task of tell all of this news to the people of Israel.
We have been given these words, our history and all manner of things to show us how truthful and serious God was and is. If we can stop from our busy lives and read over what happened, reconcile that with the message from God and look to what is still to come, we can be encourage and filled with hope. We have to change our lives and fill them more with God’s presence and His promises...
Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving out bad news?
Don’t forget the good news of the gospel!
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December 10: Mark 1:1-8
Key Verse: Mark 1:4
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Devotion:
Sometimes I wish people would not create names for everything – like being “saved” as a mark of becoming a Christian. Some people find it very hard to accept words like this which can be used for good or for boasting and even ridicule. Jesus did not place people in pigeon holes just so they could be named; instead He invited all to come forward and change their lives.
John was not called to forgive anyone or to heal or bless. He was called to prepare the way for Jesus to come and bring people hope, a hope of being able to be forgiven and accepted into Heaven alongside Him. John taught people about baptism being a sign of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
The repentance had to come from the people themselves. The forgiveness had to come from God through the promise Jesus gave us when He went to the cross. The people came forward to confess their sins in front of John, the people and most importantly in front of God. They then took a plunge into the river to signify the old lives coming to and end and a new life living in forgiveness beginning.
John knew the limits of what he was doing, but also knew there would be no limits to what Christ would do. John did not dress up for any occasion but wore clothing made from camel’s hair and a leather belt. He was just a strange person called by God to do something very important for all the people of Judea. He answered that calling and dedicated his life to that calling.
Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in the religion and pomp and ceremony?
Why not just focus on what God is asking of you?
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December 9: Matthew 9:35-38
Key Verse: Matthew 9:38
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Devotion:
One of the greatest problems we have is not having enough people who are willing to share their faith with others. Jesus highlighted the problem back then just as it is today, His response being we must ask God to send out more people willing to share the gospel message. The next chapter in Matthew starts off by saying Jesus called His disciples together and gave them authority to go out and do miracles just as He was.
And this leads us to another issue we seem to have in modern times: who now has the authority to drive out spirits and cure diseases nowadays? We are not told by written law who gives authority to anyone other than by the words written down by the disciples and told us here in these verses.
We should not judge people about their authority to do anything unless it goes against God’s words in our bibles, after all we know the Spirit enables us to have different gifts from God which we can do. There is not a chain of command here where we get elected things by church elders, but gifts given us from God.
One thing we do know is the disciples would fail in some cases because they wrote about that too. In these cases they brought the people to Jesus to ask why, to which Jesus replied they did not have enough faith or they did not pray… which leads us to be reminded we should ask everything through the name of Jesus. Take everything to God in prayer!
Points to Ponder:
Are you listening to God?
Are you continually asking God for support?
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December 8: Matthew 9:27-31
Key Verse: Matthew 9:31
But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
Devotion:
One of the things Jesus did on many occasions when He healed people was to tell them not to publicise the events. But, as we see here on this occasion the people who were blind and given sight by Christ went out and told everyone they could. Jesus was in the height of His ministry and did not want people to go and brag about His miracles to the Pharisees and the leaders of the church at the time otherwise they would seek to kill Him quicker than expected.
Even though Jesus knew the people He healed would go and spread the news to everyone, He also had so much love and compassion for the people He would not stop healing the poorly. The disciples may well have continued to write about all the things Jesus did had these people kept quiet, but on the other hand those people who needed healing the most may not have had the courage to come forward and be healed had they not heard from so many.
The more we show people how much God does in our lives the more likely they will come forward and try find out more about Him. The more people get to know about Jesus the more the good news will continue to spread. Jesus has already paid the price so we should be more than willing to tell of the good news nowadays.
But one thing we do need to do more of is to listen to Him and not to the people around us. I still do get persuaded at times by people around me to stop doing things and some of those people are church leaders. I continue to pray I will hear God’s words louder than the people’s voices so I can do His will!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you listen to most in your life?
How much do you really listen to God?
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December 7: Matthew 7:24-27
Key Verse: Matthew 7:26
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
Devotion:
Whenever I read these verses I remember the song we used to sing as small children for Sunday school. I wish I could also say I knew what the words meant back then but all I can remember is those words being used for telling children to be good instead. Jesus not only did miracles and cured people of their ailments but He taught a lot as well.
Some people could listen to Him in the temples and understand what He was telling them. Others in the market places would have to have the words explained in more simple terms because they had not had the luxury of being able to learn the scriptures in the same manner as those who were always in the temples or being taught by the teachers of the law.
This story puts things in a very simple way and it is not to do with being good. It has everything to do with listening to God, the scriptures and doing what it says. In other words it is not good enough to just be good; Jesus wants us to live out the scriptures in our lives.
He also laid it down plainly how we should behave so nobody would get confused about how to act as Christians. The root of it all is to love God and to love everyone just as much as we love God. If we love God and others, then doing good things for those who need it is second nature to us. We should not have to go out of our way to be good!
Points to Ponder:
How many of God’s lessons do you apply to your own life?
Will you try to love others as much as you can?
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December 6: Isaiah 9:2-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Devotion:
How many times a day do we hear news about another official somewhere making false promises or going back on what they said beforehand? How many times do we attribute that to power hungry lust, greed and lies? It is unfortunate we live in a world where we see a lot of this happening and we accept it as if it is normal.
The governments around the world make all manner of promises and get caught up in scandals from which they have no escape but to lie, beg, borrow or steal from others so they can get their own way. We see corruption on a scale we have not seen in the past. We see presidents and prime ministers doing things they ought not to… the list goes on.
We can be assured Jesus will not be like that when He returns; instead He will bring truth and justice like we have not seen before. All those who have taken their own way instead of the truth God has shown us will have nothing other than the earthly riches they have gained – even them some of them will lose more than they bargained for.
What we will see is a Lord who comes to set things right and to allow us to joyfully rejoice before God. Nations, kingdoms and alternative powers will all crumble as Jesus takes control. This is that same baby who was born a couple of thousand years ago who the powers crucified because they wanted their own ways instead. I can’t wait!
Points to Ponder:
Do you want to see peace in all the world?
How many people have you shared Christ with?
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December 5: Isaiah 11:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 11:1
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Devotion:
Do you have a hard time trying to convince people God exists or how they should believe and trust in Jesus? Well, maybe you are going about things the wrong way round… Jesus did not come and start shouting out the gospel trying to get people to listen to Him. He came to first belong with the people as a human Himself. Then He did righteous acts to persuade the people there was a different way of existing.
Then, and only then, did He perform miracles and tell people about God. He came to be amongst us and to live with us so we would not feel threatened or disbelieve incredulous stories. He came and showed people a different way of living and showed them they too can choose to live differently; a way which encompassed having God at the very core of life!
When Jesus showed compassion, it was for the people who needed it in their lives. He did not ignore people because they had not dressed up or gave enough money, He chose people because He knew they needed God in their lives, people who would be willing to listen in the end.
He did not judge people by the way they looked or talked. He judged people with absolute righteousness given to Him by The Father. When we listen to God we will be surprised at the people we get to sit at the table with and we will be further surprised at how He can change their hearts… not us...
Points to Ponder:
Have you tried to tell people about God?
Did you start by simply belonging with them?
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December 4: Isaiah 2:6-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 2:6
You, Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practise divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.
Devotion:
This is what Isaiah saw as visions and words from God. He knew there would be a division between people where few would call others to worship God and many would succumb to the ways of the world. They describe people abandoning everything they once stood for so they can follow after money and other riches instead; the very things God warned them about years beforehand.
God know we give in to the temptations of the world very easily because we lack the riches of the world. What is being described here is the love for money instead of for God, the love for superstitions instead of the laws of God, and the ways of the strangers instead of the ways of God.
The more we get entrapped in the ways of the world, the more we lust after them and the less we an focus on God because our hearts and minds have been taken over by these things, temptations and greed which surround us.
Isaiah does not want God to forgive and forget the sins of the people – why should he have to work so hard and sacrifice so much only to see those who do not care living the lives they seek. But it is not our choice as to whether God will forgive them or not – that is Christ’s choice alone because He came to give His life instead of us having to face the price for our sins.
Points to Ponder:
Do you just go with the flow and follow what others are doing?
Or do you try to live a separate life with Christ?