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March 10: Matthew 7:7-12
Key Verse: Matthew 7:7
‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Devotion:
Have there been times in your life when you have dared not ask for something in your prayers just because you think it is not possible, or not probable and you didn’t want to be disappointed? That is not the way God works – He is the God of the impossible and will answer prayers according to His perfect way. If we do not ask, then how will He answer your prayers?
We cannot really imagine just how awesome God is and how much he wants to do for us – but when we start asking for the things which seem impossible and He answers, then we begin to see a new side of God answering the impossible! Don’t hold back on your prayers because you think you don’t deserve it. Don’t hold back because you have done things wrong in the past. Open up your heart and humbly ask God to answer your prayers.
When someone asks us to do something and we do it, it is either because we want to do it or because we can do it. If someone asks us to do something impossible, we generally would tell them it is not possible, but help them out in ways we can. When we bring our prayers to God, we cannot imagine anything which is impossible for Him to answer. Ask!
I love to do things for others, I like helping out where I can and if someone asks I would rather say yes than no. But if someone does not ask, I get a bit lost because I am not very good at telling people’s needs without talking to them and them opening up to me. Now, whilst God does know everything, He would rather you open up to Him and tell Him about everything before you ask.
Points to Ponder:
How many people do things for you without asking?
How many people do things for you because you asked?
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March 9: Psalm 51:16-17
Key Verse: Psalm 51:17
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Devotion:
Even during the time of great sacrifices, people of God were realising it was not the animal sacrifices which were important, but the heart of the person offering the sacrifice. What good is a named sacrifice if the person offering it has said sacrifice in abundance and would not miss out by sacrificing it?
God wants us to show Him we are willing to offer what we have, what we treasure, so we can know who our real treasure is – not the things of this world, but God. If we are willing to put aside the things of this world and embrace God with everything, we are on the right track to have Him as number one in our lives.
God wants to be able to look after us, to guide and protect us; if we are far too concerned with the things of this world then we are not likely to listen to Him with the right attitude in our hearts and minds. If we are willing to put aside the desires we have from or of this world, then our desire will line up with God’s desire for us to have a better life with Him.
If we are willing to offer wholly from what little we have, God is going to be more pleased with us than if we offer the biggest and best because we can afford it! When we offer wholly from our hearts, we are giving our all and not withholding what we have or can do from God. Do not be afraid to give it all because He is willing to support us through everything!
Points to Ponder:
What do you think God deserves?
Will you try to give Him everything?
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March 8: Isaiah 55:10-11
Key Verse: Isaiah 55:11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Devotion:
I can remember as a youngster looking at the over simplistic pictures which depicted the water cycle: the rain clouds, the rain falling, turning into streams then rivers then the ocean. The sun warming the ocean and water evaporating eventually being made back into the clouds… What they didn’t tell you about was the water would carry all manner of nutrients and allow so much more to happen. They didn’t tell you about the sun being required for the photosynthesis which allowed the plants to grow and soak up those nutrients – that was another lesson!
When we hear about bibles being given to others we don’t think of all the little things which will come out of those simple acts. We don’t think about the person who will have their eyes and heart opened just by reading the words. We don’t think about the kindness which will grow in the person who hears the words. We don’t hear about the people who will take those words and give them to others. We don’t always get to hear about our God who has planned this!
When I read the bible nowadays, it is mostly in electronic form and the words are not words written by a skilled hand on a sheet of paper, but formed by electrons and shining lights. But those words still take my heart and allow it to grow and spread joy where I can. It is the Author and the words which mean things and not just the ancient manuscripts which were faithfully copied generation after generation.
God has made sure we get to remember enough of His words so we can get to know Him and the love Him. We get to hear the affects of those words on many people over many years. We get to hear how people have submitted to God and been transformed by knowing those words. Long may it continue!
Points to Ponder:
How much of your bible have you read?
Will you think about those words and try to remember them?
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March 7: Leviticus 19:11-18
Key Verse: Leviticus 19:13
Do not defraud or rob your neighbour. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.
Devotion:
I’m sure many of us can get most of the ten commandments right because we hear a lot about them; but this is just a small section of the commandments God gave through Moses. Here we have another look at what God was trying to impress on the people. God does not want us to take the laws as they are written and stick to them according to your interpretation or your translation of the words… God wants us to think about the words He has given us and apply them through our hearts!
When I see the back-biting and slandering which is going on because of the war in Ukraine, I want to be able to shout out some of the lesser thought of commands God has given us such as these highlighted today! Don’t gossip about the people around us. Don’t defraud them, don’t keep things away from them, don’t hold back money owed to them…
When Jesus reminded us to love our neighbours, it was not an idle word said in the heat of the moment; this was Jesus trying to get us to stop and think about how we are treating the people who are around us. The Russian leaders are ignoring these words and doing and saying things which are wrong and even evil; but then so are some of the Western leaders unfortunately!
If we are going to spend time praying for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine like we pray for our brothers and sisters in our church, we should also be willing to treat them like our brothers and sisters and not leave them to their demise just because we didn’t sign a treaty at the right time and place with them. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ; isn’t that enough?
Points to Ponder:
How do you treat your family?
How do you treat your church family?
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March 6: Psalm 91:14-16
Key Verse: Psalm 91:14
‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
Devotion:
No matter where you look at the bible, there are many places where God keeps His promises. You can see the results of those promises being kept and you can read about the hope it gives future generations as they look to God for hope, strength, mercy, salvation and much more!
God’s chosen people elected to obey God in the beginning. The people around them chose to oppress and abuse them. The people of God chose to continue depending on God, trusting Him with everything. God saw this and had compassion. He promised to look after them and we have seen that promise come true. We have also seen how people have gone back on their word and not followed God – only to find out life was too difficult on their own.
With God’s help, we can overcome so much in our lives. We can stand strong in the knowledge He will protect us when we are willing to trust in Him. That being said, we live amongst evil and despicable people. Because of this, we often get into trouble because we are close to those evil people. Don’t blame God when things go wrong because of evil people – blame them instead.
My prayer today is for more people to come to know the power and mercy of our Lord God. I pray for people to make God their own refuge and to uphold the name of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Through this they will see the love and protection of God – for which there is no match in this world.
Points to Ponder:
Do you give God the glory He deserves?
Will you trust your life in God’s hands?
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March 5: Isaiah 58:9-12
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:10
and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Devotion:
When you think about helping others, what do you think about? Do you step forward and help someone because you know you can help them? Do you shy away from helping when you know you cannot do much or anything to help? If you see someone in need but they are on the other side of the country or world, do you give up and focus on something else?
I know these are hard questions to ask because we want to say we will help whatever the cost, but in reality we do shy away from many things in our lives because of the personal cost. I have stood up and gone to help people. I have walked away because it was too hard. But all the while I have been asking God to do what I cannot do. I know that is little consolation to those on the other side but this is life.
It is not God’s will that Ukraine should face such horrors at this time. It is the fault of an individual who has corrupted so much and so many. The person who is behind the evil is the one who is responsible, not God. God has promised to give us control of this world – this means we are responsible for what we do. The people who look away from God will only see the bad and the evil; they will work with what they see and live by those thoughts.
If we are willing to look to God and live by His word, then we will see a whole new world in which we can make a difference. When we step forward to do or say something, others will take notice and be encouraged by what we do. God is willing to guide us when we look to Him; His will is not to see us fall but to see us thrive. It is the will of the evil ones to do otherwise...
Points to Ponder:
Will you help to rebuild what has been broken down?
Will you show people God’s love through your actions?
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March 4: Isaiah 58:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:4
Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Devotion:
As we move deeper into lent, have you given much thought to why you are giving up doing whatever it is you are doing? Is it for you or for someone else? I have never been one to declare I was giving up anything for lent because I knew in my heart it was not going to continue. Those things which I have given up without shouting about have been because I wanted to make a difference to myself and the people around me. I have tried to continue those inward promises and will continue to do so as long as I can...
When the time comes and I break down and give in, I will look back and make a judgment call as to whether to keep on trying or to revert back to normal. You may think “that’s pragmatic” or “that’s life,” but when a choice is life-changing, we should take it seriously and continue to follow it up even when we falter.
God wants us to make changes in our lives because we know it is for the better and we know other people may take notice and want to change too. But when we just do something for lent, we are liable to fail and ignore the result because we know we are going back to normal afterward! Not what God had in mind!
God wants us to see the lives we lead, not in the light of the world, but in His light. He wants us to see them as He sees them. He wants us to admit to the things we have in our lives which make Him stop and take notice! For some of us, that is quite a lot! But, even though we may have a long list of things to give up, we can only do better if we allow God to walk with us in the journey!
Points to Ponder:
Did you promise to give something up for lent?
Are you taking God with you on the journey?
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March 3: Luke 9:22-25
Key Verse: Luke 9:24
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Devotion:
Have you ever been puzzled by these verses? Should we really have to give our lives up just to be with God? Well, yes, but not to take our lives or anything like that. What is said here by Jesus is we should be willing to give up on our personal dreams, desires and wants in order to follow the path God has laid down before us; that sort of giving up!
Jesus came into the world to be our sacrifice. In order to do that, He would have to give up all of His titles which we rightly give Him in order to be our humble and righteous sacrifice. He came as our Messiah, our King of Kings. He had to give up that title and be a humble human being to be in a position to give up His life for us.
He wants us to be willing to do what is asked of us too; just as God asked Him to step forward and allow Himself to be at the mercy of the human beings, the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law. Those very people who corrupted the law and were taking more for themselves than giving to God. This is what Jesus wanted to get rid of, the human corruption which was taking away from the worship of God!
What good is it if we are able to be the richest person on earth if we cannot take any of those riches with us when we die. What good is it to have all those riches but not to be happy? What good is it if we loose out on getting to Heaven just because we turned our backs on God because of the temptations of this world. Turn your back on the glorification of the world and turn towards Christ!
Points to Ponder:
What is the most important thing in your life?
Would you be willing to give that to God?
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March 2: John 8:1-11
Key Verse: John 8:11
‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’
Devotion:
As we continue to watch an horrific war happen on our doorsteps in Europe, we lift up the people of Ukraine and all their friends and families pleading for God’s grace and mercy, strength and guidance, and for a reminder for the perpetrators they are fighting many Christians. Whilst there may not be too much many of us can do, we can pray and we can open up our borders, homes and hearts to those being displaced.
This story from the Gospel of John reminds us of two things in particular; the first being that we all have guilt in our lives and we should not be blaming others for the guilty things they carry round when we know all too well we are still guilty! One of the first song I used to teach young children in our church groups was “is there a plank in your eye” which reminds us we cannot hope to find the small things wrong in others lives when we have something big wrong in ours!
When I look at the situation in Ukraine, I cannot help but think of the troubles many of the Russian soldiers must be facing, wondering whether they are doing the right thing as they get to see the war on the front line. It’s the knowledge they have things wrong in their lives and their countries, so why should they be looking at what someone else says is wrong in their enemies lives!
When we stop to think about things, God will fill us with mercy and grace – the mercy to forgive those people who have done wrong, and the grace to step forward and say “you are forgiven!” Don’t allow the things in your life spoil other people’s lives. Rather accept we all do get things wrong from time to time and try to forgive and move on.
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry round guilt in your life?
Do you know Christ is willing to forgive you no matter what?
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March 1: Psalm 89:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 89:2
I will declare that your love stands firm for ever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
Devotion:
How much of the news do you believe? We hear two different stories coming in about the war in Ukraine; we hear the Russian side which says everything is going as planned, and we hear the Western side which says nothing is going to plan… so who do we believe? I would like to believe the Western Media is getting us the truth, but I have been deceived by the Western Press a few too many times to believe everything they say!
Are we going to be seen in that light when we present the gospel to people, or are they going to see us as people who are doing everything we can to make sure the truth is presented above all? Jesus wants us to tell people the truth and to allow Him to work in their hearts instead of us trying to do so. When we try too hard to tell people to believe in what we have to say, it normally comes over as us bending the truth or covering it up in some way… because we live in a world of deceit and mistrust!
The apostles must have had a very difficult time trying to get people to listen to them. They were fighting against the religious leaders at the time – the leaders who had been deceiving the people for so long, they had started to believe the lies… or the half truths!
God wants us to present the whole truth and not to try to make people believe. He wants people to hear the truth so they will be able to find out what God has done in the past and what He promises to do in the future. We should allow God to open peoples hearts and not try to do it ourselves. When we try, things go wrong...
Points to Ponder:
How do you tell people the truth?
Will you use the same method to tell people the gospel?