- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 793
May 29: Revelation 22:12-13
Key Verse: Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Devotion:
When the apostle was shown visions of heaven and all that is still to come, he was told the Lord would be coming again – soon. We get upset when things do not go according to our plans. We get cross when we are told something will happen and it takes longer than we thought. Jesus had already told the disciples they would not know when He was going to return; they were told only God the Father knew the time when Jesus would return.
That must have been a bit of a hard pill to swallow because they would have been used to knowing when things would happen. But now they were working with no time frame and no certainty like they may have ben used to!
Jesus wanted them to know they would receive their just rewards upon His return. These rewards would be based on what they had achieved in their lives, not a reward for being able to do good deeds or righteous acts but rewards for how much they had been able to do for God while they lived on earth!
Jesus declares Himself to be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end! Jesus was with God in the beginning when the earth was created. He spoke the words which brought everything into place. He came to be with us and He came to lay down His life for our sin debt. He rose from the dead to overcome that sin debt on our behalf. Jesus is going to be here in the end too because He promised to come back to us!
Points to Ponder:
How do you see Jesus?
Will you trust Him with everything He has said?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 731
May 28: John 16:23-28
Key Verse: John 16:26
In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
Devotion:
As Jesus started to open up about being the Son of God, He started to tell the disciples these things figuratively; He knew if He told the the truth outright they would have trouble understanding and believing, but if He continue to drip-feed them until they could understand the truth, they would be able to accept it. Until now Jesus had told the disciples God would always listen to them when they lifted their prayers up to Him. Now He was telling them to ask Him for things...
This must have been a bit strange to the disciples then, but we can look back and understand what he was saying. They would have to take a leap of faith right there and then to accept Jesus as being their Messiah. I love the way the disciples are told not to ask Jesus for things hoping He will forward those prayers on to God, but to just ask in Jesus name!
Jesus is our advocate, but He is not a simple messenger! He is not there to ferry our prayers on to God but to answer our prayers in His position of the Son of God. Jesus wants us to know we can depend on Him and ask Him for anything, just as we ask God the Father for things.
With this and what we know about the Holy Spirit and Him being sent by Jesus to live with us, we can now ask the Holy Spirit things knowing He is God too. What a wonderful position to be in, being able to ask God, Christ or the Holy Spirit knowing He is going to answer our prayers. If you feel like God and Jesus are too far away because they are in Heaven, then ask the Holy Spirit because He lives with and in us here on earth!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you pray?
Will you ask for things from God in person?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 812
May 27: John 16:20-23
Key Verse: John 16:21
A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
Devotion:
I always try not to laugh when I read this verse because I really don’t think men know what it feels like to go through child birth. Why would a man write such an example when he does not know what it really feels like! I think maybe something was lost in translation, or it is an imagined feeling because the writer did not know what else to write!
These are the words which ring through my head when people say that being a Christian is going to be good and fun and a life without pain! The more we get to see how much opposition we get being a Christian in this world, the more we will begin to understand what it takes to stand up against the crowd. We will face a barrage of things which will make us hurt, fell uncomfortable and even want to give up – but we need to continue on forwards just like Jesus did.
We will never know the true pain and anguish Jesus went through because we do not have to carry the weight of the whole world on our shoulders like Jesus did. We will face people who want to shout at us. We will face people who will say we are weak and feeble. We will face people who treat us like we belong in a gutter… But if we can stand up and continue to say we are Christians and continue to show people we will not give up on Christ, then, just maybe they will take notice!
These harsh times are not going to last forever – they may feel like they are never-ending at times, but they will end when it is time for us to join Christ in heaven. We will not have to face any more of this grief when we get to heaven and the rewards will far out-weigh the punishment we went through… it just won’t seem like it at the time!
Points to Ponder:
How easy do you give up against hardships?
Will you make a stand for Christ?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 773
May 26: Acts 1:7-8
Key Verse: Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Devotion:
After Jesus had died and rose again, He appeared to the disciples on a few more occasions. On this occasion they asked Him if He was going to restore the kingdom of Israel because He had talked about the building of a kingdom. What they did not yet understand was this was the beginning of the new kingdom – a church which would grow and cover the world before Christ would return.
Here Jesus reminds them they are not going to know the date and time of His return because only God the Father knows that moment; we all have to remain prepared as if we expect this time to be the next moment in our lives.
Jesus did not leave us alone but sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to guide, protect and teach us. We are to be the witnesses for the next generation. We are to be the disciples who go out and teach more people to be disciples. We are the next generation, but probably not the last generation – only God knows that.
I do like people knowing I am a Christian and I do like people knowing I am a human being! Sometimes we think if we are labelled as Christians then we will somehow lose our identity and struggle in some way. Jesus did not promise a fool-proof and gold covered path to walk; but He did promise to leave us the Holy Spirit who can look after us and guide us. With God’s help through the Holy Spirit we can reach out to more people and show them being a Christian is probably the best thing in our lives! Spread the news!
Points to Ponder:
Do people know you are a believer?
How many people will you encourage today?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 706
May 25: John 16:12-15
Key Verse: John 16:14
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
Devotion:
When Jesus was here on earth as a human being, He wanted to tell the disciples everything! But that was a physical impossibility, so He made sure we have ready and permanent access to what He needs to tell us through the Holy Spirit… all we need do is listen!
One of our big issues in life is our inability to listen to God all the time. We know we ought to, we think we can, but we fall short when we try. Jesus knew this would be so and that is why we have been given access to Him through the Holy Spirit at all times. This means that when we do fail, we can stop and think about what we have done and come back to Him where He will be waiting with open arms to tell us more of the truths we need to know.
The Holy Spirit does not hold anything back – it is normally our minds and hearts which cannot absorb everything because we assume we cannot do so much because we see the world through physical eyes instead of through spiritual eyes. If we were able to stop seeing it all with our physical eyes, our hearts would be open to a whole lot more!
God sent His Son to us so we would be given something physical to believe in. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit so we would not be limited to the physical. God wants us to know more about Him and more about what our lives are going to be like – or can be like. If we listen to Him through the Spirit, we will be able to learn more about how we can live a better and fuller life with Him.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you bless the Lord?
Do you know He wants to bless you always?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 658
May 24: Acts 16:22-34
Key Verse: Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them
Devotion:
Paul and Silas did what they believed was right; they were being mocked by a spirit within a woman who continually made her shout out things about them. Paul got so annoyed with her constant shouting he turn round and commanded the spirit to leave the woman – which it did! The problem being this spirit was how the woman made her living by fortune telling. When her owners heard she had the spirit removed they were annoyed because they would no longer be making a load of money from her!
The owners of the woman seized Paul and Silas and took them to court because they were reportedly doing things against the Roman laws! Well, the Roman laws demanded people would not worship anyone save their emperor. They even convinced the crowd to side with them and the magistrates caved in, ordering them to be flogged and thrown into prison!
Even after all that, Paul and Silas did not stop praying and singing hymns. They were not about to give up worshipping God, even in the face of danger and torture! God saw this and knew they were doing this because they loved God above all else. God did not sit back and do nothing. He caused a mighty earthquake to rock the prison and break them free.
The guards were very afraid because of the earthquake, but also very afraid because they knew they would be in deep trouble if the prisoners escaped! This put the jailer in a very awkward position and he was about to take his own life knowing he had no hope. Paul and Silas stopped him from harming himself and spent time talking to the jailer instead of trying to escape. Getting one more soul to come back to God was more important that their freedom!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do when people mock you about being a Christian?
Will you be more like Paul and Silas by worshipping God in the face of evil?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 775
May 23: Luke 6:27-31
Key Verse: Luke 6:29
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Devotion:
I wonder how you were brought up to treat people who did not treat you properly… how about how to treat thieves? We live in a world where we call for justice in many ways, one of those being to try and stop people from doing terrible things like taking stuff which does not belong to them… So why do these words encourage us to not punish thieves?
We could argue these words do not apply to criminals, but that would not get us very far! Jesus wants us to have open minds and hearts to the many things which we will face in our lives. One of those things is going to be facing thieves. I would argue we have to take every case separately and to try and find out what Jesus said and not our English loose translation… The direct translation is probably not “pinch!”
If someone is in desperate need of something you have, then why not allow them to have it, and whilst we are there, why not see if they are in need of anything else. This is much more likely to be the intended translation of these words. Jesus did not withhold things from those who were in need, but rather gave them what they needed and sent them away with a blessing – most commonly seen when Jesus healed people!
When people come asking for a favour or asking for help – what do you do? Do you add that help to “the tab” and remember how many things they now awe you, or do you willingly give and not expect anything in return. If the recipient does have the means to give back what they have taken or borrowed, then they will do so… If, however, they are taking things with the intent of never returning anything, they will have to live with the consequences which continue to build up each time they take...
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep tally of what people owe you?
How much less stressful would it be to forgive the debt?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 831
May 22: Revelation 21:22-27
Key Verse: Revelation 21:23
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Devotion:
Have you ever seen something which seems to be impossible, or too lovely to describe with words? Have you ever tasted something which was so different you could not explain the taste in words? I guess John must have felt a bit like this when he got to see a glimpse into heaven!
We don’t quite know how to describe Heaven to others because we don’t know what it is like to live in a place where there is no guile or evil, where there is no darkness to hide inside… Heaven is going to be something we cannot describe in words to our friends because it will be something totally different from everything else in our lives. It is not going to be able to be described as a mansion or palace because it will be so much more than a mere physical place!
God wants us to have faith there will be a place where we can be with Him forever and not have to worry about all the things we worry about here on earth. No more bills. No more rent. No more electricity cuts. No more water shortages. No more food shortages. Heaven is going to be a place where we no longer have to live without anything.
We will never be cut off from God, Christ or the Holy Spirit. We will never be cut off from all the Christians who have gone before us. We will never have to worry about anything bad, evil or impure getting at us when we are in Heaven…. I find it easier to describe what we will not have to worry about than trying to depict what it could look like or be like – because that is currently beyond our level of understanding or imagination!
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust God has a place for you?
Will you trust Him more on earth because you have a sure place after life?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 749
May 21: Acts 16:6-10
Key Verse: Acts 16:10
After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Devotion:
Sometimes we do have some rather strange dreams and visions; how we take them and how we react to them is going to be different for each of us. I know I had some pretty strange dreams the other night, but I also know they were entirely related to a strange film I watched earlier on TV. Sometimes God is going to try to get through to you in different ways, maybe it will be an intense feeling you should be doing something, or maybe it will be a dream, or, failing everything else He may send someone directly to you to tell you about it!
We don’t always listen to what God has to say to us because we are not always totally in tune with Him. I know I have had very deep feelings and prompts when I have been away at camps or festivals, but I have also had very deep feelings being at home by myself… when I was thinking of God, praying or just having a quiet moment with Him. If we are tuned in to the world around us we may miss out on what God is saying because the world is shouting louder!
Paul and his companions were going through Phrygia and Galatia and had not done a lot of preaching because God was not giving them the chance to. When they came to the border of Mysia and tried to enter Bithynia, God once again stopped them from going further. Instead, God gave Paul a dream where he had a man of Macedonia standing and begging him to come and help them. For that sort of dream to come out of the blue, Paul knew God was reaching out to him…
If you have dreams or thoughts which are unrelated to anything else which is going on, stop and think about them; maybe God is trying to reach out to you. But how do we understand what God is asking… we stop and allow God to explain things to us through spending time with Him. Speak to God in prayer and wait for an answer. Wait. Wait a bit longer, He will answer...
Points to Ponder:
Do you spend enough time with God?
Will you stop and allow God to answer?
- Details
- Written by: DJ Dave
- Hits: 670
May 20: Acts 15:23-29
Key Verse: Acts 15:24
We have heard that some went out from us without our authorisation and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.
Devotion:
When I first read this letter the apostles sent out, I was a bit disturbed by what they wrote; so I sat down and re-read it a few times to get my head round the words… How often have you read a letter your received and gone off in a rage because you thought they were not understanding the situation or they were being flippant with their writings?
When we receive a letter, it is normally written with some forethought and maybe discussion amongst people about the content. So, if they have taken the time to think about what they are writing, should you not take the time to think about what they have written!
This is not a letter going out to apologise for the apostles or disciples which went there to teach about the Gospel – this is a letter to apologise for other people who have gone and spread their own stories, possibly even the religious leaders going and demanding the believers get circumcised… This letter was followed up by men going with Paul and Barnabas to remind them of the Gospel but to also set their minds at ease regarding the circumcision demanded by others.
The apostles listed clearly what the people should AIM to do. This was not telling them they would be damned if they did these or did not get circumcised; this was laying down a few truths they ought to try and keep with! Consuming food which was dedicated to idols was just wrong, both for the people consuming and for the people who had offered. Why go out of your way to upset others by disregarding their beliefs; rather we should be opening up the gospel and showing them what really happened. Keep things real and trust in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to keep the commandments?
Will you try to keep these at the very least?