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September 4: Jeremiah 18:3-11
Key Verse: Jeremiah 18:8
and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.
Devotion:
This passage tells us of God’s great mercy and also His holiness! No matter what we have done wrong, whether it be as a nation, community or by ourselves, God is always willing to forgive us when we admit to what we have done wrong and ask for forgiveness. When Jeremiah received these words it was to show him Judah could be forgiven if they were to come back to Him and ask forgiveness; but equally, if they were to turn away from Him, then He would turn His back on them!
God may have chosen the Israelites as His chosen race, but when they turned their backs on Him and did all manner of sins against Him, He had to show them He is Holy and cannot abide the sin. But when they turned their backs on the sin and turned back to Him, He would show them mercy beyond their understanding!
Time and time again the people of Israel turned away from God and had to face all manner of things going wrong because they were walking away from God at the time. But as soon as they turned back to Him, they prospered and were able to live with His great blessings once again.
It is not God who is changing, but us. We are the ones falling in and out of grace because of the lives we choose to live. Once we turn back to Christ, our lives change once again and we begin to live the blessed life He wants us to have.
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep changing your love for God?
Will you try to be more consistent with your love for Him?
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September 3: Acts 8:18-24
Key Verse: Acts 8:20
Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!’
Devotion:
There are many people around the world who make money out of religion! Some of those people are very well known and continue to say things which many believe and after which many follow them. But when we compare those lives with what Christ teaches us, we find gaps and even polar opposites!
This Simon was a man who practices sorcery in the city and was well known for the things he did. When people said ‘this man is rightly called the Great Power of God,’ he did not disagree with them nor tell them they were wrong. Instead he continued to be content with the notoriety he was receiving and continued to practice his sorcery!
When Philip came and told them all the gospel, people started to believe him because they saw it was the truth. Even Simon believed and ended up being baptised, following Philip and being astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw – this was the true power of God working in the people. When the disciples heard about this they sent Peter and John to come and bring Christ and the Holy Spirit into their lives.
Simon offered them money to receive the Holy Spirit! None of us can do this! Christ does not give out the Holy Spirit to the highest bidder. The Holy Spirit is shared with people who truly believe Christ in their hearts. When people do believe in their hearts, God allows them to receive the Holy Spirit as their continued guide and strengthener. Simon, on realising his mistake, asked for forgiveness right away knowing this was the real truth!
Points to Ponder:
Have you tried to gain Salvation or Godly support through earthly means?
Will you simply trust in Christ and receive His full attention?
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September 2: Luke 5:36-39
Key Verse: Luke 5:37
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
Devotion:
This is one of those answers Jesus gave which causes more questions than answers to many people – it is only after trying to get to the bottom of what He is saying we begin to understand… but what does this relate to in our lives, after all we live in a throw-away society where old clothes are thrown away and new ones bought, and wine comes in screw-top bottles!
I believe Jesus was saying these things to make the people stop and think about why they were doing what they were doing! Much of the time we do things out of habit or because of tradition; after all isn’t it the way it has always been done! Jesus wanted the people to stop blindly following tradition and think about the real reason they did what they did!
Often we don’t think through the whole story and end up doing what others do or what is traditional to do. This is not what Jesus wants because that is doing things because of our worldly ways. Jesus wants us to think about the personal reasons for doing what we do. If we want to do something for God, then we should be making our work give glory to God and not just doing it because we think it’s what He wants!
When we do things because of tradition, we often end up messing up what we try to do and then we blame something or someone else because it “should have worked” like it always used to! Equally, when we often will not try something new in fear of it all going wrong. I think Jesus wants us to try new things to keep our lives with Him more interesting and to allow younger people to feel like they can get involved especially when they don’t like traditions!
Points to Ponder:
Are you traditional or contemporary?
Will you simply make room for God instead of worrying about traditions?
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September 1: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 3:20
and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’
Devotion:
I used to think of myself as being very intelligent and quite practical; I even compared myself to others to see how well I was doing. It was only when I started walking close to God I realised how futile my endeavours were to be the clever one! When I was in junior school I used to slack off work because it seemed too simple for me to do – when it came to tests at the end of the year I failed in parts because I had not learned what I should have done!
In high school I only wanted to focus on the subjects I enjoyed, and to that end I got prizes for Engineering Drawing and mathematics; but failed in many other subjects because they just did not interest me! When I started work I taught other people how program before I was sent on the programming course – it just seemed natural to me at the time. Looking back I now think of so much of that time as foolish because I was trying to conform to a rigid world which had no lea way for people who were above average!
Coming to know Christ better set my playing field level once again as I started to see the many facets of life which I had missed out on because of the privileges I had as a youngster. When I went to work in the mission field in London my world was brought down to meet with the people who were nothing like me and needed help and direction in so many ways – things I had taken for granted as a youngster!
God wants us to focus on the people around us and not on the world around us. If we focus on the world we will compare everyone to the world and find so much wanting we may well get scared and run off to a place we feel more comfortable at. Christ wants us to reach out to the people around us and allow them to draw closer to Him where He will be able to do the protecting we cannot hope to do!
Points to Ponder:
Do you really want to help others?
Will you introduce them to your God?
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August 31: Luke 4:38-44
Key Verse: Luke 4:39
So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
Devotion:
After spending time in the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house where he found Simon’s mother-in-law suffering from a high fever. Now the writer could have just said He healed the woman, but instead says He rebuked the fever! This, to me, shows the amazing power of Christ over everything in life! When we say there is nothing impossible for Christ, we don’t often think about things like Him talking to fevers!
Jesus had more of an understanding on everything in life than our scientists will ever have. Our scientists may be able to work out many amazing things and be able to do amazing things, but Jesus was able to understand what the underlying issue was and do something directly with that.
Quite often when we go to see our doctors we go through a barrage of questions so they can narrow the scope down a bit before trying things out. If they could see inside of us they may well be able to get to the root cause much quicker and be able to try and start treating the issue, but they cannot do that and have to go on experience and knowledge to give a best diagnosis – most often than not getting it right and helping us out!
Jesus got word directly from God to know what the issue was and work with that to start with; but not in the same way as our doctors and nurses do nowadays – He dealt with the issue in ways we cannot understand. This is the awesome God we have in our lives and this is how we can have greater peace and comfort than with any practitioner of any kind… even if we do need the practitioners to help us to fix the problems we have!
Points to Ponder:
Do you see Christ as your everything?
Will you ask Christ to guide you more today?
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August 30: Acts 7:11-14
Key Verse: Acts 7:12
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Devotion:
We are back online! Sorry for not being here and sharing God’s Word with you over the past few weeks but I have been in hospital where I had to undergo emergency gastric surgery to allow me to eat and drink again. I have been home for a few days already, but I had also promised I would not do any work until this week – the first things to pick up on is these devotionals and answering emails...
I had thought about writing things down before but seemed to have difficulty sitting still for long, especially at my desk to do the studying required. And one of the things I have found difficult to do is to ask for help from friends and family – until this session when things went very wrong for me. So when I read this chapter and read these words, the idea of asking for help and receiving more than you imagine resounded deep within me!
When Jacob and his family were struggling with a great famine in their land, they were getting desperate and did not know what to do at first. When they found out there was grain to be had in Egypt, Jacob sent his sons to go an see if they could obtain some grain. What they did not know was just who was in charge of the grain in Egypt… it was family, estranged, but family.
The love which binds us together as family means we are willing to go above and beyond to help each other out; but asking for that help can always be hard even when you are desperate. I’m truly blessed to have the family I have around me and have enjoyed their love, company and help. This is what we do as family, be it blood, relationship or church family, this is what we do – to love and support each other, always.
Points to Ponder:
Do you enjoy your family?
Will you thank God for them and ask for blessings on each of them today?
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August 14: Luke 12:49-53
Key Verse: Luke 12:52
From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
Devotion:
How often do you have a difference of opinion with a family member? How often do you argue about silly things in life? How often do you stand your ground on the more important things in life – like believing in Christ!
I have learned a long time ago it is quite normal to have a difference of opinion with family members, and one of the strongest differences may well be your beliefs, after all that makes us different from them! Jesus knows our beliefs will not just make us think differently but also cause many arguments in our lives; but just because there are going to be arguments does not mean we should give in and allow people to persuade us otherwise.
You don’t have to have big fights about your beliefs. You don’t have to fall out with your family just because you believe in Christ – but think about Peter and Christ. Peter was willing to give in to peer pressure and say he was not a believer just so He would not get drawn into the punishment Jesus was facing. We can agree to disagree. We can stand up for our beliefs. We can share our beliefs.
Jesus wants us to stand up and admit to our faith in Him and not to give in to peer pressure saying we don’t believe just to stop the arguments from happening. Have you ever had someone say they are not your friend just to not get drawn into an argument with others? This is what it is like for Jesus every time we give in… Stand up and be counted!
Points to Ponder:
Do you stand up to your faith?
Do you stand up for Christ?
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August 13: Matthew 19:13-15
Key Verse: Matthew 19:14
Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’
Devotion:
Sometimes it is the brevity of words which makes the biggest impact on us; sometimes it is the meditation upon those words after we have heard them which changes our lives. Going through each of the epistles teaches us how we are all different but also how we are very similar or the same.
When the people brought their children to see Jesus, probably hoping for blessings and healing, the disciples began to rebuke them… this was a society which was adult and male centred! The Jewish ways upheld the man as the head of the household and children did not have much say until they became adults; little wonder the disciples did what they did!
But Jesus’ reaction was so very different. He wanted the children to come to Him because they had an innocence about them which the adults had all but lost! They were willing to accept what was being told to them as the truth, often without question. The adults were the ones questioning everything and ruining many things through pride and greed…
Jesus wanted society to go back to being as innocent as young children, willing to listen and learn, willing to accept what they were being told as the truth. Children will always question things when they hear two different instructions preferring to listen to their parents. This is how we should be, but listening to our Father in Heaven as our ultimate parent giving us the truth. If we can be more like that, we can learn more!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you listen to in your life?
Will you trust the Words of God a bit more today?
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August 12: Matthew 19:3-9
Key Verse: Matthew 19:6
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.
Devotion:
When people take these verses and use them against couples who do not fit the exact words said here I get upset. God wants us to know His word, to hold His word deep in our hearts, but also to understand what love is! The wording used here is said as such because the Pharisees started off by using those words – they were trying to trap Jesus into saying something which the law, as they saw it, would not agree!
Instead Jesus repeated their words and told them the truth. They then called out Jesus because Moses had given them laws about getting a divorce and wanted to know why Moses was given divorce laws from God. Jesus then had to remind them it was because of their own hard hearts which the laws had to be made for… it was because of mankind's shortcomings that the divorce laws had to be made!
God wants us to find out about love and stick with love. He doesn’t want us to follow the route of lust or infatuation because they are bound by human wants instead of our needs. God knows we can live long and happy lives when we do follow the love He teaches us about, the love which makes people come together and stay together.
Too many people read the words of the bible and make up their own laws because they think they know better than the original authors. Unfortunately we don’t always get translations correct because we don’t know the minds of the people who wrote the letters we now take as our Bibles. God wants us to trust Him and listen out for His instructions through the Holy Spirit rather than jumping to conclusions based on words we think should be there!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you read your bible?
How often do you stop to listen out for God after reading?
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August 11: Psalm 78:58-62
Key Verse: Psalm 78:59
When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely.
Devotion:
Do you often think what God thinks of you? Do you worry He is cross because of what you have done in your past? When we read verses like these in our Bibles, it can be the trigger which sets off feelings like this; it can be what makes us think God has rejected us. But we must remember what Christ has done for us and realise where God stands in this.
God is holy. He cannot abide sin. Does this mean we are done for before we start? Far from it because of what Christ has done for us. This is not an automatic get out of jail card we can play whenever we feel like it, but it is a get out of jail card! God was angry with Israel because they were unrepentant with what they were doing. They had turned their backs on God and were following other gods and idols. This angered God to the point where He was ready to reject Israel altogether.
What we need to realise is Jesus has made the bridge between us being excluded from Heaven and us being with God in Heaven. The bridge is there for us to cross, but we do still have to make the choice to cross the bridge! It is not an automatic thing where we will be pulled over the bridge even if we don’t do anything… we need to make the choice to ask Jesus for help to cross that bridge.
When we make that choice, it should be reflected in our lives to show we have made the conscious choice to do so. If we say we have made the choice but never commit to the choice, then we are only fooling ourselves because God sees the truth in our hearts. If we think we are too guilty to cross the bridge we are wrong. Jesus went to the cross to make sure every one of us is eligible to cross that bridge through our own choice!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared you have been too bad?
Do you know Jesus gave 100% for us and that is more than good enough?