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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?
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August 10: Ezekiel 9:1-7
Key Verse: Ezekiel 9:4
and said to him, ‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’
Devotion:
Often when we read the words of the prophets like Ezekiel we lose sight of the compassion and mercy of God and simply look at the death and destruction which is portrayed in the words instead. But we have to read the words of the Old Testament fully and understand what is written. The New Testament words are often more straight forward and we find them more digestible...
In amongst all the death and destruction we read about, we must remember the words of verse 4 where the holiness of God is revealed showing His compassion and mercy. We must also understand the judgment on the idolaters would probably carried out by angels and not by men; God would not leave the final judgment of His people to be done by other men.
Even amongst this judgement God had appointed someone who would visit each person and see whether they were sorry for the things which were being done by others – this is not by asking them in person but by looking into their hearts for the truth. This would not be able to be done by mere humans unless God was instructing them!
We also need to see the holiness of God as fully encompassing all mankind and not just the people from certain areas. As humans we often pass judgment on people just because they live in a different area or because they go to the right or wrong church! This is not what God does. He looks into the hearts of all people all over the world, in every corner, and makes His decision based on what He sees in our hearts.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think of some churches as being better than others?
Will you trust God to be the judge?
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August 9: Matthew 18:10-14
Key Verse: Matthew 18:13
And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
Devotion:
When Jesus was talking to the disciples about the relationship they should have with God the Father, He would describe them as being His children. At the beginning of this chapter Jesus called over a child and sat the child between them using this picture of the trust of a child to show how they should trust God; trust without questioning! He said here the angels who look after the children will always have a direct connection to God in Heaven – we should always remember that!
If we are to get through to people and convince them about our God, we should remember the children because they are closer to Heaven in their relationships than we realise. Setting the right spark to ignite their passion for God at this stage in their lives is what we should be aiming for. Jesus reminds them He is here to look for the lost and to tell them the truth – what we should be aiming at doing too!
The parable Jesus uses here is of a man who owns a hundred sheep; if one of them should wander off, the man would go out of his way to go and look for the lost sheep to bring it back to the fold. We should be aiming at looking for the lost children of God too & encouraging them to come and seek out Christ in their own lives.
The joy of finding one lost soul and bringing it back to safety is much more than the joy of keeping souls which are not lost. When we go out to tell people about Christ, should we not be telling people who do not know Christ so they have the chance to get to know Him. If we simply continue telling people who do know Christ, what good is that other than strengthening their resolve?
Points to Ponder:
Who do you want to talk to about Christ?
Will you try speaking to someone new?
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August 8: Matthew 17:24-27
Key Verse: Matthew 17:27
‘But so that we may not cause offence, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.’
Devotion:
When Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collector of the temple tax confronted them demanding the tax for entering the temple. This was something of a historic act which had been done for many years and was used for the upkeep of the temple and all who served in it. Jesus’ answer to whether they should pay the tax was to compare them as being children of God and showing how children are not normally asked for anything from the parents.
But, because this had been the normal, for everyone to pay the tax, Jesus sent Peter to throw a fishing line into the lake and catch a fish – from the mouth of that fish would be enough to pay the temple tax for him and Jesus! He did this, not to admit He had to pay the tax, but to appease the collector of the taxes; to appease the humans who were demanding the tax!
This tax is not the same as tithes we give to support the churches in our communities because tithes are voluntary and are given by us knowing we are helping to keep the church together and have a safe place to worship God. The people from the temples were demanding the taxes because it was what they had always done. It was a set amount and everyone was expected to pay!
Christ wants us to do our best to promote and keep the church going. This means giving willingly toward the upkeep of the church building and helping the teachers, priests and workers to keep going as they willingly give of their time and possessions. God likes it when we give willingly and cheerfully...
Points to Ponder:
Would you object to having to pay to enter your church building?
How much are you willing to give to God?