- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 783
August 13: Romans 10:5-11
Key Verse: Romans 10:11
As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’
Devotion:
I find it very interesting to compare the letters which the apostles wrote to the various churches to see what emphasis was put on which ways of life. Here, for the Romans, the apostle knew they had a strict regard to the law because the emperor would make sure his army would knock out any dissident activities with force! The Romans also did not dare to bring down the name of Caesar or to lift themselves up to his level – instead there was a strict hierarchy which would be followed! If only the people would have the same regard for God as they did for Caesar!
But human society desires would play a very big part of the Roman society with people always striving to be better by citizens by proving themselves against each other! They would always measure themselves against one another! This is not what God was trying to get people to do – quite the opposite. Christ was teaching the disciples no matter what social standing they had, God would always look at them by what was in their hearts for God!
Christ reminded the disciples it was all about their belief in what God had done and what He was doing. This belief did not have to have foundations on any human measures or levels in society. The Romans were brought up in a racist manner (by comparison to our modern world racism standards) and they would have thought this God was a God for the Jews and not for them. The apostle had to convince them otherwise!
We are not limited in our relationship with Christ by our social standing, race or any other worldly measure – the only justification is through what we believe. God gives us all the chance to be in a relationship with Him through our belief – and that is it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you fall short of what you think a Christian should be?
Do you know your belief in Christ is enough?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 735
August 12: Deuteronomy 6:10-13
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6:12
be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Devotion:
The first time I read the Old Testament I was a bit confused as to why I should have to know about these people who were slaves in Egypt, went for a great trek through the desert and ended up taking over someone else’s country! At least that is what it seemed like back then… I first thought the people were barbaric and did strange things...
But when you get to learn history and get to know God, a whole lot of things fall into place. How could a people change when they had only ever remembered being slaves and being treated like they did not deserve anything their whole lives! God showed them His mercy and compassion filled their ways. It must have been very hard for the people to turn their lives upside down!
Sometimes we may think God is being totally unreasonable by asking us to do things which we just don’t understand; things which seem to go against logic and against what we expect to happen in this world. But if we give Him time to explain things and trust Him, then we too will see great rewards. As we go through each step of that journey we may start to feel comfortable because things are finally turning round. Those are the times when we have to be most alert!
The more comfortable we get to feel the less we will be on guard for the wiles of the evil one and the more danger we put ourselves back in. God is leading us down a path which may not seem like the best path we would like to choose, but it will make sense when we reach our destination. If we give in before then or get too comfortable and put God aside, we may not be able to grab that last rung on the ladder!
Points to Ponder:
Do you shy away from things which seem illogical?
Will you be able to fully rely on God?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 722
August 11: Deuteronomy 4:32-40
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 4:39
Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
Devotion:
How often do you get discouraged by things which go wrong in life or don’t seem to ever get done? We get to see films about people doing things, making things and may even get encouraged to try and do things yourself, only to be discouraged because it is taking too long! What we don’t get to see is how long the people making the things we watch take to do what they are doing! When I moved into my flat where I live now I knew what sort of computer set-up I needed in order to do my work properly – I also knew I couldn’t afford to lay out all that money in one go to set it up; it has to be done in stages, and is still ongoing over two years later!
Sometimes we impose limits on God because we want things to be done now as opposed to being done right. He is God after all and nothing is impossible with Him! But we forget we are the people on the receiving side and we need time to adjust to things and time to get ourselves in the right place at the right time for things to come together. What we should be doing is looking back on what has happened, how it happened, how long it took and plan ahead with realistic timetables!
I see many things starting to come together in our church too, things which have taken years to come together and will take years to complete; for these I pray we will continue to have a loving supportive church community who are not in a rush to get some results rather than the proper results!
What I always try to do is to take time out regularly to remember just who God is. He is the one who has this plan all organised for the long run. As long as we continue to listen and obey Him, we will be able to build upon things and end up with the church we need in this community. He has the plan and we need to be patient and work with Him to make sure He gets the glory in the end the way He planned it!
Points to Ponder:
Are you working to God’s plan?
Or are you working to your own plan?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 739
August 10: Numbers 20:1-13
Key Verse: Numbers 20:12
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’
Devotion:
Stories like these used to confuse me as a youngster because of my lack of understanding of the bible at the time; and partly because of the lack of explanation from the church leaders at the time too. This is not a blanket statement, just an observation based on my personal experience as a youngster trying to figure out life!
We often see what we think of as contradictions in the bible and we get confused. But, if we spent a little more time reading our bibles and getting the full picture, we would go away a lot happier and a whole lot less confused. God has given us the same truth from the beginning and will continue to do so until the end of time. We are the ones who forget about the parts in the middle where we are given warnings or where we were told not to do something!
God simply wants our faith and trust in Him. When we start doubting and relying on the world, He gives us what we are seeking – worldly replies and rewards. But if we are able to continue relying fully on Him despite what is going on in the world around us, then we will continue to see His full love and support.
God was looking for trust and faith. The people of Israel started falling back and losing faith because of their impatience. God’s instructions were simple. Moses took an earthly approach to a heavenly instruction; so He was given an earthly reward for what he had done. I know full well it is a big ask for us to have faith in something we cannot see, but we must try against all odds!
Points to Ponder:
How would you describe your faith?
Are you willing to wait on your faith in Christ?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 752
August 9: Matthew 15:21-28
Key Verse: Matthew 15:28
Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Devotion:
One of the things I used to struggle with when growing up is knowing that I did bad things which I hid from others, and wondering how God would handle such things. Then when I was in high school a senior took time to explain the gospel and the mercy and forgiveness which comes through Christ. He also explained how I would need to lift up those mistakes to God and be willing to face the consequences should God deem it necessary. What excites me throughout my life is God has seen me as innocent because of what Christ did on the cross for each one of us!
This woman coming to Jesus knew He was here walking and talking with the Jews and knew, as a Canaanite woman, she was looked at as an outsider in Israel. Jesus questioned her to find out whether she was really a believer or whether she was putting it on. I guess even in those days there were people who came with sob stories which were not true just to get some reward!
Jesus did not look at her as an outsider in her faith, He accepted her for what and who she was because of her belief in God. Once that was certain He had no issue with blessing her with the same gusto as He would if it were a Jewish person. That is the excitement I feel. I know I have done things, I know Christ knows what I have done, I have admitted those things to Him and to others, and I know He forgives me just as He looked upon this outsider with grace and mercy!
If you truly believe in Christ and turn away from the things you have done, you will see this grace and mercy in action in your own life. Allow Christ to guide you out of the minefield and into the pasture where you can rest in safety with your Shepherd!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have issues you carry around with you?
Will you allow Christ to handle them?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 723
August 8: Matthew 15:10-14
Key Verse: Matthew 15:11
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.
Devotion:
There are times when I read about what is happening in some churches and I see people leaving churches, splitting churches or even closing churches, and these things make me sad. No, I do not have a perfect church to go to and there are problems we have to face each day; if only we were able to curb our outbursts!
If there are things which you face in your local church which you do not agree with, then you should be going to them and talking to them to find out why things are being done the way they are. As a congregation which is part of the Church of England we have to abide by some rather archaic rules and regulations which make many people sad and even confused, but how we react to them could make waves in our congregations.
When Jesus talked about loving our neighbours it really did mean loving people around us. When someone does something wrong or says something wrong, we should approach them and give them time to see what they have done or said wrong; we could be the ones who have made the error in judgement! But if we broadcast the error to everyone we are alienating that person from everyone who hears the broadcast. We are driving a wedge into our congregation!
What we say and do can be used to build up a congregation or break it apart. We need to think about what we are saying to others so we can, hopefully, build up our congregations instead of breaking them down. God has called us to spread the gospel and not spread gossip. God has called us together not apart. He chose us and will look after us just as a loving Father does; but He may well chastise us if we are the cause of arguments between others!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you replicate gossip?
How often do you replicate the gospel?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 755
August 7: Matthew 14:22-33
Key Verse: Matthew 14:31
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’
Devotion:
One of our biggest problems seems to be keeping faith when the world around us is raging. We have many accounts of this happening all throughout the bible, and it will continue to be displayed time and time again. Most of this comes from broken promises; we get so used to broken promises from other people we no longer have faith they will keep their promises – even when it is a friend making a promise to us.
Jesus always makes sure all of what He says will come to pass – He always keeps His promises. We can see this, also, throughout the bible and so we should be able to know what he has said will happen. Yet we continue to doubt because of the broken promises around us. The way to change this is to try to make sure all the promises we make are kept because that will go a long way to making sure people see promises can be kept.
The more people keep their promises and tell the truth, the more others will have faith in those promises and trust the truth. This will go a long way to encourage people to trust in the promises of God and believe the truth in our bibles. The only real way to convince people to trust in something is to give them reason to trust in what you say!
Jesus wanted the disciples to see He could be trusted, even in the wildest storms and the seemingly impossible feats. He now wants us to go out into the world and give people reason to trust in the truth and believe the promises God has made. This is the task of a disciple: to go out into the world and share the faith we have in the truth so others can have faith and go out to share their faith...
Points to Ponder:
Who are the people you always believe?
Will you try to keep your word more?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 754
August 6: Luke 9:28-36
Key Verse: Luke 9:35
A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’
Devotion:
When we look through our bibles we find differing descriptions of God and of Christ and you may ask yourself how they can be different or not consistent. I would put it to you that each of us will describe something differently because of the way we handle thoughts and sights and so it was to all who were able to see something of Christ or God; their descriptions are what they felt and saw whilst trying to make sense of something they had never dreamed they would see!
This description from Luke gives an added insight about the apostles who accompanied Jesus whilst He went to pray. They must have been tired because the writer describes them as being very sleepy, probably dozing off during the prayer time. But when they saw other people there they struggled to become fully awake with Peter asking Jesus whether they should be building shelters for the others. Peter knew they were important in some manner and even called them by name assuming them to be who he called them!
I can imagine them being shocked awake when a cloud appeared and covered them with a voice telling them “this is my Son, whom I have chosen!” Obviously not in English, but the words are similarly described by others. This was God Himself telling these people present Jesus was His Son. What other words could have meant more to the disciples!
When we bring all the stories of encounters with God together, we see a common thread where God tells people He sent His Son to come to us. These words come from ancient scriptures and more recent scripture from the disciples; I say recent being a couple of thousand years instead of thousands of years before then as the people of Israel trekked through the desert.
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you have to hear a story before you trust it?
Will you trust the scriptures and trust in Christ?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 716
August 5: Leviticus 25:14-17
Key Verse: Leviticus 25:17
Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
Devotion:
When I came out of university there was a bit of a financial slump going on and finding work, even as a graduate, was difficult. Needless to say I did try various jobs to get money in which is where I found out about the greed some people and companies have; something I could not live with.
God has tried to educate people time and time again about living together as community, sharing what we have and supporting each other. This has prompted some to give up on things and live some pretty radical ways of life. But God also taught about buying and selling, supporting ourselves, having businesses and much more. This points to a very varied society where people look out for each other a live by fair rules and fair trade.
What we have in modern society is very far from that in many cases. We have a few people making big businesses out of supplying what people want and extorting what they can from the supply chain in order to turn a profit, not caring for the individual but rather the corporate profit margin instead. This sees the workers who make products or farmers who grow produce getting offered lessor wages whilst the people buying the goods being forced to pay more.
God wants us to love our neighbours. This means putting aside greed and profit margins to make sure our neighbours get what they need and not what you want them to have. Each of us does have to make a living, but we do not need to extort others in order to get what we desire.
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to earn as much as you can?
Do you help others as much as you can?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 751
August 4: Matthew 13:54-58
Key Verse: Matthew 13:57
And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in his own town and in his own home.’
Devotion:
One of the things about going away to learn something and returning home is the people you know before you went away expect you to come back being the same as when you left! They know you have gone away to learn things, but they expect you to still be the same – that’s just the way we are. As they get used to you with your new-found knowledge, they will change their views of you. But if you come back a very changed person and have greater knowledge or wisdom than they do, they may take offence!
When Jesus returned to His home town, He faced a lot of people who expected Him to be “the carpenter’s son” still and did not expect a level of wisdom and knowledge which would outshine their own. When Jesus stood u and started teaching the people in the synagogue, they were probably a bit upset someone could come in an have such wisdom when the people who had gone through much learning and studying were the ones they expected to have the wisdom.
So we have two sets of people being upset with Jesus. The teachers who had spent their lives studying so they could teach; they being the ones who got upset because this “uneducated” person came in with so much wisdom. The other set being the people who had known the family as carpenters and expected them just to be carpenters and nothing more.
Each of us will face someone in our lives who expects us to be the underdog and will get upset with us when we prove them wrong. Because we are brought up in societies where we are encouraged to be the best, being anything else hurts our pride. If we are not willing to put aside our pride and accept others can be better than us, we will always struggle in life. Christ reminded us we are all different and we will all excel in different ways!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always measure yourself against others?
Will you accept God made you unique?