- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 712
May 25: Psalm 16:5-11
Key Verse: Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Devotion:
The more you get to know God the more you get to know just how much He does for you. The more you rely on God the more you get to see how much He does for you. The more accept Him in your life, the more you see how He can do so much more! We really do need to praise Him for everything He has done, does and has promised!
As we go through our lives we get to see how much the world can break things, how much hatred there is in the world, how much greed and pride people have and how much all of these things can and do affect us in our lives. The secret is to try and have someone by your side who will help you get through these rough times, help you combat the evil and help you avoid the things which bring you down. That is God!
The more things go wrong, the more we look for help and the more we are willing to accept help as well; or at least the more we should be willing to accept help! There are times when we are going to have feeling which prevent us from asking for help because of our pride. God does not want us to give in to the pride but to ask for and accept the help He offers. The more we get to ask for and accept the help He offers, the more we get to see how much more He is willing to do…
This is sounds too good to be true to the outsiders who do not believe; and it is that belief or lack of belief which will separate us from the help God offers. God wants: to keep you secure, give you an inheritance, counsel you, instruct you, keep watch over you and make sure you are safe from everything. Ask Him for that help and allow Him to help!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get caught up in shame and pride rather than ask for help?
How often do you really ask God for help?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 700
May 24: Acts 20:28-38
Key Verse: Acts 20:35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Devotion:
I wonder how many people you have helped in the past and wondered how they are doing without your help nowadays? Many people might shy away from helping others because they may think the person or people will abandon the help and go back to their old ways once they leave… but I put it to you “how are they going to know there is a different way of living unless you show them in the first place!”
It is not our job to make sure people all stay on the right track all of the time. We are sent as disciples to go and show people there is a new way of living despite what the world says about them. We are not here to be a mother hen who looks after ever person we meet – we cannot be with everyone all of the time. That is the domain of God!
We should not be put off by the evil ways of the world either. God is going to continually be with us in one way or another. How we survive in the world is going to be our testimony to others about our life with God. It is not all about our testimony as a human or a success story, but our relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If we cannot convince people there is a different choice in life, then they will never know!
God wants us to open people’s eyes to what He has done, what He is doing and what He can do. It is not our job to police them and make sure they always do it right; God has given us free choice and we need to extend that free choice to others. They do need to be told there is a choice and shown what choosing Christ will be like in their lives. God then does the looking after and continued teaching through us or others.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you say no because you can’t see a way forward?
Will you trust God to show you a way forward when there seems to be none?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 727
May 23: John 17:6-11
Key Verse: John 17:9
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
Devotion:
I find the way Jesus prayed here for the disciples fascinating. Jesus stands up to say to His Father in Heaven He is witness to the fact the disciples believe in Him as being the Son of God. Jesus is standing up on their behalf and saying to God the disciples’ lives have been redeemed through what they have done. What have they done? Simply believed in Him as being the Son of God. In other words, nothing they have done – even though they were trying their best to keep the laws – accounted for their entry into Heaven but their belief!
This is why we see the gospels and letters in our bibles proclaiming the only way to Heaven is to believe Jesus is the Son of God and came down to give His life for our sakes. They do not say we have to make sure we keep every single law of the Old Testament or that we have to sacrifice innocent animals in stead of us paying for our sins – they are saying the new order dictates we simply believe in Jesus Christ!
Jesus says here not everyone is being counted innocent. He is saying those people who believe in Him are being counted as innocent and Jesus asks God to make sure they can join them in Heaven. Whatever Jesus asked of His Father was granted! In other words, Jesus has already asked for us to get to Heaven if we believe! Simple!
All this time Jesus is acknowledging God as Holy Father, sitting on His throne in Heaven. This is the title He wants us to call God too – Holy Father. He declares us innocent because He gave His innocent life in our stead. He personally asks God for us to join Him in Heaven, to be as one!
Points to Ponder:
Do you doubt your position in Heaven?
Will you simply trust Christ because He has already asked God!
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 741
May 22: Psalm 68:4-6
Key Verse: Psalm 68:7
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Devotion:
This is one of the things I love about God – He is not only always there for me but He looks after me in ways I cannot understand! I have done some pretty stupid things in my lifetime, not all of them within the law, and despite all of that I am still here and still able to share the gospel. I have not intentionally tempted the Lord nor have I gone out of my way to do something silly, but there have been times when I have asked myself “WHY!” after the fact!
It is only when you look back on life you begin to see how God has been looking after you. It is those moments when the unexpected happens such as falling ill and spending time in hospital when you do realise God is looking after you because He still has plans for you!
I have a friend who has recently spent time in hospital too and they came out with this new realisation of how much God looks after you too. They are musically capable and so wants to be able to sing praise to His name. I can’t sing much nowadays so I will be supporting them in different ways when they want to be able to sing!
I know He looks after people in many ways, most often seen in support of the lonely, orphans and others who do not have what we think of as a normal life. He is able to comfort the people who have no way to turn and who have not got the support many of us enjoy in life. That is what sets my God apart from anything on this earth and that is why I love Him so!
Points to Ponder:
What keeps you going when the going gets tough?
When will you call on Him next?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 753
May 21: 1 Peter 5:6-11
Key Verse: 1 Peter 5:9
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Devotion:
How many times have you thought “why me” or “how car I bare this” when you are faced with things going bad? What we do in times of trouble, anxiety and depression will factor how best we can face the obstacles in front of us. I know it seems easy to say that, especially when you do not have these feelings but someone you love is struggling with them, but the answer should always be similar – take God with you on the journey.
When we face things which seem insurmountable, we should have someone with us who understands the problem and knows a way to help you out. Whilst many of our friends may fit one particular problem or be able to help out in one particular case or at one particular time, it is only God who can help out in all cases and all the time.
Christ wants us to know we are going to face trials and tribulations in our lives and He wants to be with us and helping us to get through those times; which means we must invite Him along for the journey. It is hard to call out for help from a friend sometimes because we can see them, see their reaction, see the reaction of people around us and that in itself brings fear and anxiety. But when we call out to God we can rest assured He will never turn us down or ignore us!
That calls on us to have faith in our unseen God. Faith in a God who is willing to stop and listen, willing to walk with you and willing to guide you and help you. We have to be ready to call on Him when we need to and not continue putting things off until it has gone too far. We are not the only ones to suffer in the ways we do; we may not know anyone ourselves who is in the same boat as us, but God knows plenty of people all around the world and all over time who are. Allow Him to help you by calling out to Him!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you call to when things get tough?
Will you try calling out to God before things get out of hand?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 727
May 20: Acts 18:22-28
Key Verse: Acts 18:28
For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.
Devotion:
If you, like I did once, think people can only preach the gospel if they have had years of experience and went to big colleges, then you are mistaken; it takes all sorts of people in all manner of positions to effectively convey the truth of the gospel to others. Here we have a brief account of how Apollos came to be a very useful person in teaching the gospel, especially when it came to teaching the Jews.
Apollos was a Jew who had studied the scriptures and would normally have upheld the Jewish laws and religion, but he had learned how John had taught the gospel. He must have studied it all further because he was able to link the scriptures to the gospel to prove Jesus was their Messiah – something many Jews did not want to believe because Jesus was a simple man.
When we want to tell other about the gospel we will probably find it more comfortable to tell people who have a similar outlook in life to what we had before getting to know Christ – because we can guide them in the way we asked Christ into our lives. Similarly we need people like Apollos who are very learned to be able to reach the other learned people in society.
The community you live in probably has a wide range of people from different backgrounds. This surely means we need a team of people from a wide range of backgrounds to teach people in our communities. Don’t give up because you think you have not got the qualifications to share the gospel with others. Jesus chose a variety of people to be His disciples!
Points to Ponder:
What is stopping you from sharing the gospel?
Will you try to share what you know as a start?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 711
May 19: Acts 18:9-17
Key Verse: Acts 18:10
For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.
Devotion:
Paul went through many trials as he continued to tell people the gospel truth and this is just one of many he had to face. Every time you step out and tell people the truth you will get people who stop and listen, people who ignore you and people who object and try to stop you. Listening to God to find out where He wants you to be is the first step in your journey as a disciple. He wants to protect you and care for you so as long as you continue to stay close to where God wants you to be, you will get the best protection possible.
I think of this like going into a game reserve where the animals are able to roam wild. If you stay on the roads and keep in your car you will be as safe as possible on your journey. Once you start straying off the road you will find out there are more obstacles you have to overcome; some of them may well stop you in your tracks and force you to get out of the car. Once out of the car you are no longer protected and may end up face to face with a dangerous animal.
The world revolves around laws and rules. Without them we would be in chaos as each person wanted to do their own thing. The chaos would make for very uncomfortable times as well as very exciting time, much more of a roller-coaster ride through life than in a normal semi-controlled society.
God does not want you to be so limited by human rules and regulations that you cannot follow Him; but He does want you to obey the local rules so you are kept relatively safe. It is the greed and pride of some people which spoil life for the rest of us, the ones who corrupt the laws and force new rules on people just because they are in a position of power or have the money to do so. God wants you to find and follow the truth.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find people stop you talking about God?
Are you sure you are where God wants you to be?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 626
May 18: Luke 24:44-53
Key Verse: Luke 24:52
Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
Devotion:
Today we celebrate the ascension of Jesus! As much as He had taught the disciples about what would happen to Him, how He would die, be buried, rise again and ascend into Heaven, I think this would have been the moment when it all started to make sense to the disciples! As much as we read about what Christ has done for us and what our future holds with Him, we too have to get over our doubts and listen to what Jesus is saying to each one of us!
All this has happened because of God’s great love toward all of us and when we get our heads around this, around the human limitations and look at the possibilities which are before us, then we too will be able to continue celebrating and worshipping Christ all the time.
We come together on our appointed days to worship Christ together in our churches and we feel refreshed and ready to face the world again. How long that refreshed feeling lasts will be entirely on how much you continue to trust Christ outside of your church meetings!
Just because Jesus is in Heaven does not mean we are not in touch with Him or He not in touch with us. We have the Holy Spirit who is ever present who has taken on the task of continuing to teach us and allow our minds to be opened just as the disciples minds were on this day many years ago. What I love about our local church is how people always spend time after our services to talk and be with each other – that goes a long way to building us up to be ready for the week ahead!
Points to Ponder:
How much time do you spend worshipping Christ?
How much time do you spend being a disciple?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 744
May 17: John 16:12-15
Key Verse: John 16:12
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
Devotion:
When was the last time you had so much good news to tell someone and not enough time to say what you wanted – or maybe you were cut off before you got to the interesting part because they did not want to listen? When people start talking and they have things to say they will try to talk as much as possible even if it means they talk over someone else speaking...
Why! Well this seems to be the way we have been brought up because I can remember times when I was a small child and people would stop what they were doing to listen to others! The more society bloats peoples’ egos, the less people are going to listen and the more they will want to talk instead.
When Jesus was with the disciples they wanted to listen to what He was teaching them, but they were also stuck between listening and living in this world even at that stage. Jesus knew He had so much to teach them and knew there was not enough time to teach them everything while He was with them. So He made plans for the Holy Spirit to be with them and us after He went back to Heaven. His words here are chosen carefully to encourage the disciples to listen to the Holy Spirit.
I fear we do not do that enough in our modern lives because of all the distractions and the encouragement by others to move on and gain ground in whatever manner is current at the time. Jesus wants us to stop and listen. Take time out from our busy schedules and listen. It may be hard to do that where you are but after a short while of making time to listen, you will get to hear more from God through the Holy Spirit.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you stop and listen to others?
How often do you stop and listen to God?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 723
May 16: John 16:5-11
Key Verse: John 16:8
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement:
Devotion:
I’m not quite sure what I would have been thinking if I were in the place of the disciples when Jesus first said this. When Jesus first told them He was going to be betrayed, taken away and then leave them, they must have thought all manner of things. Why would their Messiah have to leave them! But when they thought about what the scriptures had been telling them for so long already, their minds must have been in turmoil!
Ours is not to wander why Jesus left the disciples, but to wander why this had to be done in the first place. That is when we should be looking back on ourselves and this world we live in. The three points Jesus raises need to be remembered by us to make sense of what happened so many years ago with the disciples.
The outcome of this all was to make people see the real sin is not believing in Christ. Because of what He has already done for us, there is no other sin which is too great to be forgiven by Him! As much as people tried to be righteous, they failed and changed the rules to suit themselves. God does not change the rules and only righteous people get to go to heaven. And finally, the god of this world, Satan, has already been defeated!
When we put that all together we begin to realise we have to believe in Christ because that is the only way we will be permanently forgive of our sins. When we are forgiven, we are counted as righteous. The judgement for our righteousness comes from Christ alone, the one who stands as judge over us all from the beginning of time to the end!
Points to Ponder:
Do you share your beliefs with others?
How will others get to heaven without knowing these things?