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November 23: Luke 19:41-44
Key Verse: Luke 19:44
They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.
Devotion:
Imagine knowing exactly what is going to happen to each member of your family; how would you be able to cope with that knowledge! When Jesus reached the point where He could see Jerusalem, He stopped and wept because He knew what was going to happen. Despite all the teaching and the scriptures, the people had built up their own ‘religion’ based on what they thought was good and not what God was trying to tell them.
People become self-important when they think the stake of others lives are in their hands. They make decisions based on their own intellect instead of the wisdom of God. Nobody has enough knowledge to be able to cater for a whole country and any dictator who assumes such a role will fall.
God’s peace comes to those who follow Him and obey Him. It comes to the people who are willing to listen and not to make their own minds up. It comes to the people who look out for others and not promote themselves over all else. Too many politicians take on the role of self promotion when they gain some power and that separates them from the people.
God wants people who will support people and love people. He wants leaders who are willing to do as He asks for His people and not promote their own ideology. God would like good and faithful servants...
Points to Ponder:
What do you see as the most important thing in your community?
Where is God in your community?
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November 22: Luke 19:11-26
Key Verse: Luke 19:25
“Sir,” they said, “he already has ten!”
Devotion:
This is very much like the parable as told in the Gospel of Matthew, but there are slightly different circumstances. Here the man is of noble birth and is going to get crowned as a king leaving ten minas to ten servants while he is away. Once again we see one of them prosper and return great gains, another prosper and return slightly less but the third being too afraid to do anything with the money and keeps it hidden until the master returns.
I want us to think about the earthly values being talked about here instead of the parallels with the kingdom of Heaven. The master is not liked by any of the local people and they try to stop him from being crowned as king. His apparent disregard for the welfare of the servants seems to be something which is echoed in the parable in Matthew… but the servants all do different things with the money entrusted to them.
One of them manages to gain ten more minas from the one he was given, another five more. They were probably following the masters ways to gain such amounts. But the third servant talked about here had simply wrapped the money up in a piece of cloth to return it safe to the master.
The master then places the servants in charge of various cities according to how much they had earned. His response is to give to the servants what earthly riches they had gained and to kill those who tried to stop him from being king. From an earthly point of view none of this seems very nice at all! We do have to be aware of the temptation of earthly rewards instead of heavenly rewards, and our lives may not turn out like we had hoped just because we are surrounded by people seeking earthly rewards above all!
Points to Ponder:
Do you do your best with earthly rewards?
Do you do your best with spiritual gifts?
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November 20: Luke 18:35-43
Key Verse: Luke 18:42
Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’
Devotion:
When I read verses like these I almost cringe at the thought of many churches doing the same as the crowds who were watching the procession which was all around Jesus. So often we get caught up in the spectacle or we get caught up in what people are doing and do not see what God actually wants from us and from His people!
The crowd were so caught up in the moment they neglected to see what Jesus wanted. This blind person called out to Jesus mentioning Him as the Son of David which showed the blind man had known the scriptures and was sure this person was their Messiah, the one who was a descendant of David who had come to save them all from their sins.
Jesus stopped to talk to the person, asking the crowd to bring them to Him. He wanted the crowd to see the power of faith and true belief… I wonder what was going through Jesus’ mind when He heard the crowd trying to stop the blind person from calling out to Him by name! I wonder whether there was a bit of despair because He could see people discriminating against the blind person or whether He felt the pride in some people that they were able to see Jesus in person…
We do need to stop and think about what Jesus wants from us and from every situation. We need to include Him in everything we do so we can do what is best to progress the spreading of the gospel to everyone before He returns!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in doing stuff in church?
Do you make time for Christ to work in your life?
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November 19: Matthew 25:14-18
Key Verse: Matthew 25:18
But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Devotion:
What are you doing with your life? Do you think you are making the most of your life, or do you feel like you are fighting a battle against adversity and just keep to yourself as much as possible? God has allocated things for us because He knows us better than anyone else. He has entrusted us with this life and possessions so we can make the most of things while following His will.
He has not entrusted us with more than we can handle, though if we allow the world to get the better of us we certainly can feel like we have more than we can handle! He has given us the opportunity to make the most of what He has given us and wants us to succeed! But if we bury the treasure, skills and wherewithal He has given us because we don’t want to upset anyone, then we are not doing what He has asked of us!
Just like this man called his servants together to hand out bags of gold so they could continue his work for him, God has already handed out tasks for us to do. If we try to do our best and make the most of what He gives us, He is going to be pleased with what we do and allow us more. But if we hide His light under a bushel then we are preventing others from doing what He may want them to do.
Think carefully about what God has given you and listen to what He has to say so you too can do the best with what you have!
Points to Ponder:
Are you doing things in church?
Aren’t you doing anything outside of church which may help too?
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November 18: Psalm 105:16-22
Key Verse: Psalm 105:19
till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.
Devotion:
A few nights ago we were talking about Joseph and the hope he had in God, his total reliance of what God had promised and all the agony he went through to get there. Our lives are not always going to be smooth sailing as Christians; often we will have people working against us because we dare to tell the truth. God always upholds the truth and will reward those who stick to the truth!
Joseph had his own brothers working against him. He was left for dead by them, sold into slavery and endured a hard life up until what he had forecast came to pass. This is when people stop to take notice and their attitude changes. For Joseph the attitude change came from the top and he was brought out of slavery and placed in a position of honour.
God will always try to make sure we get the best possible outcome in our lives, but the path to get there may be troubled. As long as we are willing to stop and listen for His instructions, the path will be the best way forward. The world around us is going to try and convince us otherwise so we do really have to listen for Gods call.
All throughout the bible we get to hear of all the things which are consequences of man’s greed, pride and lust. When we can look past those evil ways of man and look toward the truth we have in Christ we will always reach the best God has for us, be it in this world or the next...
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle with others?
Are you trying to listen to Christ instead of the world?
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November 17: Psalm 19:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 19:3
They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
Devotion:
Have you heard the Sun shouting out about God recently, or maybe the Moon shouting about Christ or maybe a Tree shouting about The Holy Spirit? We can marvel at the things we can see from the Sun, the planets, our Moon and so many things on this planet. All of them are silently shouting out about God and how they have been created; we just don’t hear them unless we listen to God!
Mankind has always wondered how the universe came into being and we shall only be able to make guesses about it until God explains it to us. Some of the advances mankind has made through guessing have been truly remarkable and our scientists are expanding our horizons all the time. But the more they find out the more questions arise as to how…
I am rather partial to beautiful sunrises and sunsets and have witnessed spectacular colour in the skies because of light being diffracted or filtered. We known this now because we have studied the effects of various things interacting with light… but who has made this possible?
Our God has done so much more for us than we know of and we discover things every day. He continues to make sure we can survive through all He has done for us. If we did not have the various layers of gasses around the earth we would literally roast! We find water in the air and under ground so we can be sustained even in the harshest areas… because He loves us!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you marvel at creation?
How often do you thank Him for creation?
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November 16: Philippians 1:12-20
Key Verse: Philippians 1:15
It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
Devotion:
Have you ever been envious of people who go to a mega church where they are joined with thousands of others every week? I’m not talking about going to a camp or huge gathering which spans a few days or a week, but rather a congregation which meets every week, all year. I’m sure we all want more people to come to our churches so we can spread the gospel more, but numbers are not everything.
Then there is the clash between institutional style gatherings and more evangelical or liberal gatherings… We may even be confused by people who say there is only one style and the others are not good for you… I have been fortunate enough to go to a wide variety of churches over the years and I can say there are some who love God and their people and others who seem to be constantly at odds with each other – and they cross all styles of gatherings!
Paul was chained up in prison for telling people the truth and here he reaches out to the churches of Philippi to tell them they will have to face the good times and the bad times together. He even goes as far as saying his imprisonment is going to advance the gospel – that sometimes takes a whole lot more faith than some of us have!
Don’t go to a church to feel comfortable. Don’t go to a church because lots of other people go there. Don’t go to a church because they are rich. Don’t go to a church because a vicar or pastor tells you to… Find a church where people love each other and grow together sharing the love and the gospel together!
Points to Ponder:
Are you trying to find a nice church?
Have you tried to find people who love each other instead?
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November 15: Luke 17:11-19
Key Verse: Luke 17:18
Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?
Devotion:
One of the things Jesus must have seen a lot of was the lack of people acknowledging God for everything which was done for them. Here is a case in point and one which we may have been caught up in during our lifetimes. Jesus healed 10 people who had leprosy and simply told them to go to see the priests – they were the ones who would have authority to say whether a person was healed from leprosy or not.
As they started walking to see the priests they were all healed. One of them, upon realising they had been healed, came back to praise God for the miraculous healing… only one! The person was so pleased they threw themselves at Jesus’ feet even though they were Samaritan by birth. You have to remember Samaritans and Jews did not mix at that time!
Jesus acknowledged their faith and told them it was because of their faith they had been healed. I wonder what happened to the other nine people and how they reacted to being cleansed of leprosy!
Sometimes God does things for us and we are so caught up in enjoying our new freedom, health or other blessing, we forget to come back to Go to thank Him for our blessing. We should be thanking Him daily for every blessing we have and even for those times we have to wait for the blessings. We should be praising Him for everything in our lives!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you thank God for your blessings?
How often do you praise Him and admit that to others?
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November 14: Titus 2:11-14
Key Verse: Titus 2:14
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Devotion:
God wants us all to have full and free access to salvation… What does that mean? During the times of the Old Testament there were more and more hints about God making a way by which all people would be able to find salvation, but most authors have limited this to the people of Israel because, to them, that was the only ‘known world’ which was pure enough and also chosen by God.
When Jesus came to live amongst us He continued to teach us this was not going to be limited to the people of Israel but the everyone in the world, no matter where they come from: This is why Paul was sent out to give the gospel freely to all people outside of Israel.
The key elements of this are for us to turn our back on earthly ways, to ungodliness and things like greed, pride and lust. Instead Jesus wants us to turn toward self-control, upright ways and everything which is pure even though we live in an uncontrolled, unrighteous world. If we are eager to turn away from the unrighteous things and accept the righteous ways of Christ, then we have taken the first step.
Keeping Christ close and in the centre of our lives we have an advantage over the world because we have the guidance and strength to turn away from the ways of the world. Christ wants us presented to God as pure and innocent in every way – that is why He laid His life down for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are not good enough to be a Christian?
Don’t you know Christ died so you can be?
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November 13: Habakkuk 3:17-19
Key Verse: Habakkuk 3:19
God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to understand in life is rejection or not having things go as expected in life. I’m sure we can all pick a time in our lives when things have all seemed to go against our expectations or against our wishes; especially when you have pleaded with God to allow things to go a certain way! This seems to compound our disappointment!
I don’t often get to read all the books of the minor prophets in the bible, but when I do I seem to be able to relate to what they talk about and how my life seems to unravel or play out! We are not all great and strong leaders like David or Solomon or the disciples and so we should not expect our lives to live out as if we were.
God has planned a life for each of us as unique individuals; each of those plans are going to differ from our neighbours and from our friends lives. Our church leaders may be trying to teach us of a life with which we cannot fully relate because we are very different than they are; so these words should be taken to heart by each one of us!
Not everything we do will be a success. Not everything will go according to plan. Sometimes it may seem like we have done this all for nothing this time round! What we must aim to do is to always rejoice in Christ and to exult God no matter what happens in our lives. Yes it is hard. Yes it may seem pointless sometimes. But when we see why He has chosen our path in life we will soar like eagles!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get down when things don’t go your way?
How many times have you listened to God’s replies to prayers?