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September 22: Luke 8:1-3
Key Verse: Luke 8:3
Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Devotion:
One of the things which society has left out of their recounting of the bible is the amount of women and partners who were involved with all stages of the events recorded in our bibles. Depictions of what Jesus looked like and the disciples are all more modern views of what people wanted to remember; but today we remember the great supporters in our lives!
Throw away the picture you have of 13 men walking around teaching the gospel and bring on a new picture in your mind. A group of people going around as a mobile church: a group made up of our Lord, 12 chosen men and many more who had been healed and helped who were now willing to give support back.
Our church needs to be made up of the leaders who are willing to share the gospel, the helpers who are willing to help with the day to day needs of the people and the people who are in need. Now, we are all in need at some stage, but how many of us are willing to step forward and pay back what we have received, not just from other people but from God too!
Now do you see the greater picture. This is not just about the people up front doing the talking, this is about a whole group of people who come together because they all need each other in some way – all aiming to be disciples in one form or another! Now you are seeing the truth about being a Christian!
Points to Ponder:
Are you wondering if you are part of the church?
If you are willing to come, you are part of Christ’s church!
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September 21: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to wash in dirty water? As long as you are more dirty than the water you are going to have some sort of success but you will not be able to get as clean as you might want to. Now we don’t have that problem with Christ covering our sins because He was the perfect sacrifice and is able to cover all of our sins; which means we get washed cleaner than anything!
Does this mean we can go out and ‘play in the mud’ as much as we like because we know we will get washed clean of our sins? Certainly not! God wants us to live a changed life with Christ at the centre and that life should be seen as cleaner than the lives of everyone around us – how will we be able to persuade people to change if we are not different!
The more we play around with sins in our lives the more we get used to being in a sinful way and the less we think about how God wants us to be. We don’t have to worry about being able to be clean before God because our sins are covered by Christ’s blood, but we should not go out seeking sins just because we know we will be forgiven.
People of this world will not see the need to be different because they would rather fit in with everyone else – that does not make what they are doing right! God has allowed us to see the difference between our old sinful selves and the new children of God we are now. We must embrace this difference and allow it to be a beacon whereby others may be encouraged to find out why!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you need to ask God to forgive you?
Will you try to live a different life for Christ?
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September 20: Luke 7:31-35
Key Verse: Luke 7:35
But wisdom is proved right by all her children.
Devotion:
I do like the way Jesus would use all the little things He saw around Him to show people how God can be seen through everything in life. He took the example of the children in the market where they would argue with each other for the silliest of things just because they wanted some attention or didn’t know how to complain about being bored!
Jesus then turned this on the people and showed them how their arguments were equally as childish as the children in the market. First they would complain about John having a demon when he was not doing anything wrong and kept himself separated from the people in town. Then they would complain about Jesus eating, drinking and mixing with sinners.
But what they were missing is that the truth always comes out. With children arguing over inane things, the truth comes out and they go about their day a bit disgruntled but wiser for learning. With the people finding fault in everything; gossip spreads the fastest and ruins lives quicker than any truth builds up people. Again, the truth comes out in the end and people should admit their mistakes.
Our problem is we don’t like to admit to mistakes so we continue trying to place the blame on anyone around us with those closest to us getting the brunt of the arguments. God wants us to love each other past the gossip and past the arguments, focusing on the truth and allowing the truth to win before it gets rough for everyone!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you spread a bit of harmless gossip?
How often have you been hurt by gossip?
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September 19: Luke 7:11-15
Key Verse: Luke 7:13
When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’
Devotion:
Jesus continued to show His love and compassion for all people as He walked amongst us. Here a widow was mourning for her only son who had died, going to bury him to make sure he was well kept up until the end. Jesus saw the love this woman had for her son and saw through her heart she had lost everything she loved, both her husband and now her only son.
His compassion for this family made Him stop and touch the bier they were carrying the dead body out on. The people carrying the bier stopped and Jesus told the young man to get up. He chose His words carefully by saying “I say to you, ‘get up’” This was Jesus expressing the power of God, being the Son of God, telling the laws of nature to turn around and let this man live!
This happened after He had cured the centurion’s servant but before He met John. Jesus was loving the people around Him. This is the example He gives us to show the people around us. We must have compassion on the people we see around us and not walk on the other side of the road. How is God’s love going to continue spreading without people showing compassion.
We may not be able to bring people back from the dead but we can and should comfort people and care for our neighbours. We are the church, we are the legacy Jesus came to build on and strengthen. We must continue to do what we can to build up this wonderful church of God’s people and we do that by starting to show love, mercy and compassion!
Points to Ponder:
Do you sometimes shy away from helping people?
Why not give someone a hand today?
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September 18: Luke 7:1-10
Key Verse: Luke 7:9
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’
Devotion:
I love reading the words slowly through this telling of the healing of the centurion’s servant because it show the centurion had faith in what Jesus could do. The centurion had made friends with the Jews by constructing a synagogue for them and he seemed to take care of them. He called a few of the Jewish elders and asked them to go to Jesus and ask for healing of this servant whom he valued greatly.
Why didn’t he go himself? As a centurion the local people would have come to respect him and the authority he stood for. If he had approached Jesus he would have an armed escort (because that is what they did) and that could have panicked the local people; so he chose to send some Jews in his stead.
I’m sure Jesus was intrigued by what He heard and wanted to go and see this centurion himself. So He started on the walk to go and find the centurion; which I’m sure must have gathered a bit of a crowd too. The centurion’s reaction was to send others from his household to tell Jesus He did not need to come to the house but just to say the words and his servant would be healed.
Jesus’ reaction was to tell the people around Him this centurion had greater faith than anyone else He had met, throughout Israel! Why did Jesus believe these words from the people? I think because the centurion, being of great stature amongst the people, humbled himself before Jesus saying he was not worthy for Jesus to come to him...
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect Jesus to answer your prayers?
Do you humble yourself before Christ during your prayers?
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September 17: Romans 4:1-12
Key Verse: Romans 4:10
Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!
Devotion:
The Romans and the Greeks had to know the ins and outs of things before they followed or believed things; at least that is how we look at them nowadays and what it suggests through words like this. But if we look at all societies around the world we see these traits or similar traits because people like to find excuses not to do things!
The apostle tries to encourage the Romans by getting them to question the stories they have heard. If people simply follow the stories they have heard they tend to have a half-hearted belief in what they hear because they have no proof, only what others are telling them. But when they begin to question things they look for answers as well as looking for cracks in the stories.
Abraham is know as the Father of the Jews because God promised him he would be the father of a great nation. Abraham did not have many children but he is in the lineage of the nation. Abraham believed God before he took on this persona as the father of the nation; it was his belief in God which made this all possible, not the other way round.
All this talk about circumcision was raised to make the Romans ask questions about it and not just to get circumcised so they could be counted as ‘Christians!’ What makes us Christians – our belief in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What makes people do things like get baptised or circumcised – for them to show others how much they believe in God!
Points to Ponder:
How do people know you are a Christian?
Will you try to be more open so others will know?
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September 16: Luke 6:46-49
Key Verse: Luke 6:46
Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?
Devotion:
How many people do you know of who go to church at the weekend and then behave like anybody else during the week, or even as soon as they step out the doors of the church? Unfortunately there will always be people who say they are Christians and even behave like Christians in front of others but who do not really believe in what Jesus has done for them; we have known this throughout history.
As Christians we should be listening to Christ and obeying what He asks of us. Whilst it is not always easy to hear what Christ wants from us because of the noise of the world around us, we should still try to do what the Bible teaches us. People all throughout the world are taught to do things for work purposes and are expected to continue doing those things in the right manner for work.
Why do we expect anything different from God. He has given us so much and continues to show us the many ways through which we can get to know Him, but unless we do those things we are nothing different from the rest of the world. Belief has to be shown in order for it to be believed itself.
When Jesus came to live amongst mankind He showed us through example how we should live and how we should always lift up the name of God. He depended on God and He listened to Him obeying whatever God asked of Him. This is how we should try to live because through a life led like that we can show others the true hope and strength we have in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you act like a Christians?
How often are you living as a true Christian?
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September 15: Luke 6:39-42
Key Verse: Luke 6:40
The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
Devotion:
One of the things I don’t like about our society is the way young people seem to have been brought up to expect certain things in life as if they are rights rather than things earned or learned. I’m not quite sure how this came about since my parents brought me up to learn and earn rewards in life. This also meant sharing the knowledge we have with others so they are not left behind or left alone.
On my YouTube channel there is a video I put together for the children's song “Is There a Plank in Your Eye” which regularly gets viewers from all over the world. A simple song about these verses which I put together for use during the children’s clubs I helped to run a while ago. An effective method of getting the idea across, but it does not do justice to these verses.
We need to remember we all depend on each others and we have a task to teach the next generation, not just about life, but about God and the way he wants us to live by. Making sure we always try to do righteous acts and not blame others for things we also do wrong.
The blame culture in the world is not helping Christians or any other people. If we, as Christians, continue to join in with the blame culture of this world we are not going to further God’s Word like He wants us to because others will not look to us for help because they feel injustice instead of mercy and justice like God wants us to teach.
Points to Ponder:
Are you quick to blame others?
Will you try helping someone instead of blaming them?
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September 14: Philippians 2:5-11
Key Verse: Philippians 2:9
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
Devotion:
One of the things which impressed the disciples as they grew to know Jesus more was how He seemed to be one of them even though they knew Him as the Son of God! This is one trait which encourages me when mixing with other people; if they elevate themselves above me and try to put on airs and graces, then I am not interested in what they have to say; but when they reach out to me as a fellow person I will listen and learn.
Jesus wanted us all to see this is the way through which we can love one another; but when we start lifting ourselves in position of authority because we think we deserve it, then community breaks down. Jesus wanted to build the church on people who loved one another and did not form a society where there are rulers and slaves!
God showed us all His great support for this by making sure people knew He exalted Jesus above everyone even though Jesus was walking as a person just like everyone around Him. Jesus did not separate people because of their backgrounds or because of their stature in society but treated everyone the same.
God wants us to know if we want to be more like Jesus then we have to start acting the same toward everyone and not picking sides, stature, class, race or any other societal division people come up with. Love starts with us taking the first step and continuing to walk as equals.
Points to Ponder:
Who would you like to invite into your circle?
How about opening up your circle to everyone first?
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September 13: Isaiah 46:1-7
Key Verse: Isaiah 46:4
Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Devotion:
The prophet Isaiah has a way of making you stop and think. There are so many things he has written down for us to feed on and to remember just how great our God is; this chapter being one of them! We can see this sentiment reflected in the New Testament as the disciples saw this in action when Jesus would drive demons and spirits out of people, the former being scared of Jesus!
God alone is the one who is going to continue looking out for us and caring for us no matter what life can and does throw at us. We may find it hard as we fight with life or with people around us, but God is always there and as long as we are willing to listen and obey, our outcome and life will be better!
We do tend to get things in our lives which we build up and start to depend on because we think they matter. The more we build them up the more we draw away from God because there cannot be more than one god in our lives which we follow. I know as a Christian I used to think I would never be counted as someone who following anything which I would think of as more important than God; but there have been times in my life when that has happened even without me realising it.
Keeping God in the centre of your life and as the most important part of your life is what counts. When we do that He will give us space for loving our partners and friends and family as much as we should – this is what I have grown to realise in my latter years!
Points to Ponder:
How close is God to the centre of your life?
Will you hold Him closer today?