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August 14: Matthew 19:3-12
Key Verse: Matthew 19:8
He said to them, ‘It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but at the beginning it was not so.
Devotion:
Have you ever noticed how mankind comes up with rules and regulation to get around what should be done or what shouldn't be done.
Back in those days people had followed what Moses had taught them about divorce, making sure that it was done in a proper manner with all the legal forethought.
What Jesus was telling them was something slightly different. Yes people could get divorced if there was something very wrong in the relationship, but doing it just because they wanted to made a mockery of the promise they said before God when they got married.
God wants us to go through life enjoying it, but also thinking carefully about what we do so we do not have to find ourselves in difficult circumstances and having to do something unlawful in God's eyes!
Points to ponder:
How often do you look for an excuse to not do something?
How often do you do something just because you said you would do it?
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August 13: Acts 4:32-5:11
Key Verse: Acts 5:2
with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Devotion:
There are times when we do not want to hear the truth and times when we gloss over things people have done wrong because we just don't want to get involved.
This passage tells of a time when all the people in this area gathered together and they wanted to live as one big family, sharing all they had with all around them so nobody would go shorter of anything than anyone else.
This meant that when things were short, everyone balanced out the goods, and when things were plentiful, everyone shared in the plentiful goods. But, there were some amongst them who did not want to share everything.
Ananias and his wife sold their parcel of land and only brought forward part of the money because they wanted to keep it. This may seem fine to us, but they were all living under an agreement to share everything.
Things did not go as planned when they were found out.
Points to ponder:
How often do you say one thing and do another?
God wants us all to be honest, open and generous!
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August 12: Matthew 18:15-20
Key Verse: Matthew 18:18
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Devotion:
How do you deal with conflict? Do you try to avoid it so you don't have to get involved with people who have disagreements? Do you go in shouting and make oters back down because they dare to disagree with you?
We are all made different, and as such, we will all think differently. This should be seen as a positive and not as a detriment to the way we live with others. Having differing oppinons allows us to see things from a different perspective and may allow us to right our own wrongs!
If we really do not agree with someone, we should start by discussing the situation with them in person; no good shouting about it to others people because we will only make enemies instead of friends.
The more we have issues with others and do not work things out, the more baggage we will take with us when we get to heaven. The more we work things out, the easier our lives here and after will be!
Points to ponder:
Do you harbour grudges?
Do you try to resolve issues with others before things explode?
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August 11: Matthew 18:1-5
Key Verse: Matthew 18:4
Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Devotion:
As a long time youth worker I really like these verses because there are quite a few people out there who still adhere to the saying 'children should be seen and not heard.'
These verses tend to put people who think like that off because it is probably the biggest encouragement for young people to join in with being Christians and living a life with Jesus in it!
I suppose the diciples were thinking of all the great prophets who had gone before them and trying to work out who had done their best for God. But Jesus was not thinking like that - he was looking into their hearts.
One of the biggest lies we can tell ourselves is that we are doing things right and others are doing things wrong! That immediately stops our hearts from joining in with the Gospel and joining in with the way Jesus wants us to live our lives.
Points to ponder:
Do you compare youself with others?
Why not just work on doing what Jesus would like you to do!
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August 10: Matthew 17:22-23
Key Verse: Matthew 17:23
and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.’ And they were greatly distressed.
Devotion:
how many times do you tell the truth even though you know it is going to hurt in some way? Most of us will 'embelish' on the truth so it does not sound as bad as it could, or to make it sound even worse when we want sympathy!
Jesus was not one for doing any of that. He told the truth and he wanted the disciples to get used to telling the truth. I think this is one of the reasons why I feel I can trust the bible, because of the truth being told 'warts and all!'
We can read through our bibles and find out the people who did lie and we can see the consequences they had to face for those lies - some of the consequences being as bad a death and others affecting all the people around the liar and not just them.
Jesus has tried to warn us of the consequences of lies throughout the bible and throughout history, but mankind still chooses to cover up the truth and lay out a bed of lies instead.
Points to ponder:
How often do you tell a white lie?
How often have you faced up to the consequences for admitting the truth?
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August 9: Matthew 14:22-33
Key Verse: Matthew 14:29
He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus.
Devotion:
How many times have you done something without thinking, and then, after thinking about it, cannot do it again? Our brains may well be a significant part of us, but they can also let us down.
When we think too hard about something, the doubts and fears crawl in and stop us from doing what we would otherwise be able to do at times.
When the disciples got over their fear about seeing a person walking toward them on the water, Peter decided he should be able to do this too & immediately got up and did it; until he thought about it!
Our faith and our beliefs are quite different at times because both vary in strength at time depending on the circumstance we are in. Jesus wants us to be able to see past these limitation and grasp hold of what he can do for us in our lives.
Points to ponder:
How often does your brain hold you back?
Will you look to Jesus and allow him to guide you more?
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August 8: Matthew 17:14-20
Key Verse: Matthew 17:20
He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’
Devotion:
I think one of the hardest things to hear would be someone telling me I did not have enough faith! Whilst we can read about this happening to the disciples from Jesus, none of us has the right to even think this of another, never mind say it to another!
Inwardly I have always thought of my faith as lacking in various ways, and I know my parents thought the same; but that is because we are thinking about ourselves and we know what we beleive, where we are strong and where we are weak.
But I love the way Jesus ends this recourse after saying they have not got enough faith. He tells them if they had just a minute amount of faith they would be able to do wonders.
I believe this is not telling them they don't have an ounce of faith, but rather saying, just a tiny bit of faith matters - as long as you know it is faith and as long as you hold on to it as faith.
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever sell yourself short on faith?
Did you know just holding on to a tiny bit of faith makes it bigger than mountains!
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August 7: 2 Peter 1:16-19
Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:19
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Devotion:
When you want someone to believe something, there is not a lot better than an eye witness to do the encouraging. This letter to Peter is written with that in mind, the disciples being eye witnesses to the moment when God allowed people to hear him declaring that Jesus was his son!
You may be asking yourself now, how can I be a witness like that because I was not around when Jesus was around... Well, you are around now and Jesus is around now too. He may not be walking amongst us in human form, but he certainly is with us every day.
The closer we get to Jesus, the more we get to know him, the better witness we become and the more people will start believing us when we talk about him. I know I am able to be confident in talking about Jesus now because I have had this personal relationship with him for quite some time.
Points to ponder:
How close are you to Jesus?
Have you tried talking to others about this Jesus you know?
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August 6: Mark 1:29-34
Key Verse: Mark 1:31
He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
Devotion:
When Jesus went into the house of Simon and Andrew, Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever. Nowadays we haev all manner of medicines to calm fevers and to heal us. Back then, it was your body against the fever... Jesus immediately went to her and took her by the hand and lifted her; the fever leaving her as soon as he did so.
It was then her choice to get up and to server them. Something she may well have been wanting to do ever since she went down with the fever. But now the fever had left her, she was more than willing to get up and server them all. This may sound odd to us in this day and age, but then it would have been common practice. This sort of behaviour has been common practice for many years and it is only through the distortion of ways through political and social pressures that we now think of this as odd.
One of the things we face as modern Christians is trying to get an understanding of the ways of the world back when the words of much of our bible were written. Once get get to understand the ways of people, we get to understand much of what God was trying to do at the time too.
Nowadays God may well reach out to us in ways we would never dream of, such as through computers and the like. But he is constantly trying to get through to us!
Points to ponder:
Do you dismiss things from the Old Testament because they are 'old ways?'
Will you accept God reaching out to you in all new ways?
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August 4: Isaiah 48:12-19
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:16
Draw near to me; hear this! From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.
Devotion:
As I am relaxing at the end of my 'day off' as a person who works from home, I had this passage pop up in my YouTube plays suggestions. So I naturally sat down and went through it a few times as the person explained, in their mind, just who is speaking to us through these words.
Isaiah was a great prophet who was very in tune with God and on many occasions he told us what God was telling him; this being one of those times. A passage which is pure, looking forward, backward and in the here and now for us to unpick.
For me this is one of those occasions when God reminds us, through Jesus, that he alone is God, but in the full Trinity and not just God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. All three working together as one for our benifit, written so many years ago before we even get to see Jesus walking amongst human beings.
But we can look back to Genesis and see Jesus talking to us. We can look at the Gospels and hear Jesus talking to us. And we can look at Revelation to find otu what Jesus has in store for our futures.
Points to ponder:
How often do you think of God being a historical entity?
How often do you look at God as being in three parts and with us constantly every day!