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April 16: Matthew 27:62-66
Key Verse: Matthew 27:64
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’
Devotion:
After Jesus had given His life up on the cross, people started doing strange things – most of them for selfish reasons. Joseph had asked for Jesus body to be given to him so he could bury Jesus in the tomb he had reserved for his family; this was out of love for the Lord! Of course, others helped Joseph and I’m sure quite a few people were willing to help out and stay guard over the body too.
But the chief priests and the Pharisees had other ideas. They had been talking amongst themselves and knew Jesus had said he would rise again in three days time. Their counting of three days and what actually happened is a bit different, but still three days by Jewish law. The Pharisees were worried someone would come and take the body and make it look like Jesus had risen – they were not so worried He would because they had never seen anyone do that before!
What they did not count on was the power of God working for those who love Him. What they were doing was taking the world before Christ and doing what they could to remain in power over the people. They had seen how the Romans would cave in to pressure and they had no wish to back down now!
Once again the Romans caved in and listened to the priests and Pharisees. They sent some guards to go and secure the tomb and also stay guard over the tomb to make sure nobody came in. They had seen their earthly power increase when the Romans gave in and now they wanted more power – the pride and greed which comes with earthly power is tantalising to many.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look to earthly success and power?
Have you considered Christ’s power instead?
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April 15: John 17:1-5
Key Verse: John 17:5
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Devotion:
How often do you feel guilty about praying for yourself? I know I sometimes do even though I know God is listening to me and I know God will answer my prayers, I still feel guilty about asking God for things when so many people around me do not have things! We don’t have to look very far to see the desperate need of so many people around the world; from those in war torn countries to those where disasters have torn people away from the basic needs of their lives!
Yet, despite all of this, when we pray to our Heavenly Father, He is listening and He will answer! Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him and He still stepped forward into the breach! What gave Him to confidence to do so – the Love of His Father for us and the love He has for us!
Is it OK to pray for yourself? YES! God has promised us eternal life when we believe in Him. When we feel that is threatened or we are losing confidence, we should be praying for ourselves so we can get back on track! Jesus knew what was going to happen so He prayed God the Father would glorify Him just as He was when He was in Heaven. Did He need to pray this? I don’t think so because God had already said this was His Son; but He prayed this for a reason.
When we go back and read what Jesus did this day many many years ago, we are shown the example by which to live. To make sure God is involved in our lives before anything else! Jesus prayed for normality before He prayed for anything else, because that is what was important. When we are down or threatened, we should be praying for ourselves so we have the courage and strength to step forward and pray for everything else because praying for anything is a lot easier when we know we are safe first of all!
Points to Ponder:
How safe do you feel with God?
Will you secure your place so you can pray confidently for others?
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April 14: John 13:1-11
Key Verse: John 13:8
‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’
Devotion:
As we remember the events of what happened almost 2000 years ago, we mark today with various events which help us to remember the story. After the Passover meal, Jesus, knowing what was going to happen to Him in the next few hours came together with the disciples for their evening meal. Instead of having a normal meal together, Jesus got up and started to do something very different.
It was customary to wash your feet, or have them washed, after a long day. The open sandals or other footwear they had did not stop the dust and dirt from getting onto your feet – washing them so you could walk inside without spreading further dirt was a very good idea! But Jesus did not get a servant to fetch water and start washing people’s feet, He got down and started washing the disciples feet Himself!
When it was the turn of Simon Peter, he objected and said he should be washing Jesus’ feet and not the other way round. Jesus reply was to allow it to continue, not because it was right or wrong, but because it was something which needed to be done for them to understand what Jesus was doing later on. Simon Peter then jumped at the chance and said he should have his whole body washed if it was that important!
Jesus’ symbolism with the next words needs to be remembered by us all. For those who have had a bath (or been washed) need only have their feet washed to be totally clean – in other words, if we have been forgiven our sins, then we only need forgiveness for the sins we have done since we last were forgiven. He said these words knowing that one of the disciples had already organised to sell Jesus to the authorities!
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue to ask for forgiveness?
Have you brought your latest sins to Christ?
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April 13: Hebrews 12:1-3
Key Verse: Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
Devotion:
When people ask me why I believe in God or in Jesus, my answer normally starts with “take a look at the world around you.” The more we look into the nature and design of the world around us, never mind the universe, we see so much detail we can be forgiven for getting totally absorbed with looking instead of getting on with our lives!
As a young man I spent some time trying to design what I thought would be the next computers we should be using – my thoughts were deep into using the power of microprocessors and LCD displays to make something portable. I was quite taken by the size and power of microprocessors but also knew they would be worthless without some sort of intelligence being programmed into them to start with.
Forty years on and we now have phones which have more computing power than I had ever dreamed of – and they are totally useless without the operating system to make them work! Without the intelligent design which has happened over the last few decades, we would still be using analogue devices instead of the wonderful digital world of devices we have now.
Then I look at the world around me and I marvel at the intelligent design which has gone into nature in order for us to live on this planet. We may well be destroying it with our greed and lust for everything, but underneath, the world is even more amazing than the devices we take for granted! God made this all possible, and Jesus came to set into motion the instructions which would change our destination forever!
Points to Ponder:
What do you find most amazing about the world?
What will you do to make the world an even better place?
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April 12: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1:21
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Devotion:
How many times have you tried to figure out the questions like “why do things go wrong?” or “why do we have death?” Those are the sort of questions which stop us from understanding God. The more we seek after the answers, the more we figure out we don’t know and the more confused we become about life. God is not asking us to figure out those sort of questions or their answers; He does not expect us to have to find the answers because He knows them already!
Back in the days of the prophets, God wanted us to know we would be confused by these questions and that they should best be left for Him to answer. God tried to get us to understand the more we sought those answers, the more confused we would become and the more frustrated we would be about them.
God wants us to allow Him to handle the difficult questions in our lives and to simply trust Him to do what is best for us. The more the teachers of the law tried to understand the laws, the more they would trip themselves up because the more they would be confused by life.
As time went by, different people sought after different goals because they each chose different answers to the questions they were asking – even though the questions might have been the same to start with! The Jews demanded signs from God so they could believe. The Greeks looked for wisdom and started trusting the philosophers in preference to the prophets.
Points to Ponder:
What are your beliefs based on?
Will you believe and trust in Christ?
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April 11: Hebrews 9:11-15
Key Verse: Hebrews 9:13
The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
Devotion:
We live, work and worship in a very imperfect world, a world which continues to sin and breaks God’s laws time and time again. Is it the fault of the world? No! Is it the fault of God? No! It is because we listen to the evil one instead of listening to God. We may not realise we are doing so, but when we stop listening to God, we are listening to everything else around us, including the evil one!
The blood of goats and calves was used to make the people ceremonially clean so they would be able to continue moving forward with God instead of having to face their sins head-on and fail. The only problem with this is there are physical limitations to what signified a clean sacrifice; part of it being the hearts of the people offering the sacrifice as well as the hearts of the people carrying out the ceremonies!
When Jesus stepped forward to offer His own body and blood to be the sacrifice, He was doing this as a single step because He was offering a perfect Sacrifice without any blemishes; one God could never turn down! Because this was the perfect sacrifice, it went a lot further than the animal sacrifices previously offered because the hearts of the people who accept Christ to be their sacrifice know Jesus and are open to being cleansed of everything!
Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, our advocate for the covenant being signed, sealed and delivered! The first covenant, the laws as described by Moses, and the sacrifices offered because of these laws, were always in a bit of a precarious position. However, Christ being the perfect sacrifice and conclusion of the new covenant, sets us free from any sins we have committed.
Points to Ponder:
How much are you willing to pay for a clean heart?
Will you accept Christ as your full payment for your clean heart?
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April 10: Luke 22:14-20
Key Verse: Luke 22:20
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
Devotion:
When Jesus sat down at the last Passover meal He would have with the disciples, He instituted what we follow today in our Holy Communion services. Jesus knew this was going to be the last Passover and He wanted it to be special. He knew He was facing punishment, betrayal and finally crucifixion, not because He deserved it, but because we deserve it for all the sins we have done before God!
Jesus took the container of wine He had and told the disciples to share it out amongst them all. He wanted every person around the table to take part in this Passover, not just the feast side of things but the sharing of this wine and bread which would take on a new significance for all of us to come.
Jesus took the bread and He gave thank to God for allowing them to have it in the first place. But sharing a loaf of bread was something they had probably done before, so Jesus made it that much more special by saying they should think of it as His body which was going to be given to them as a sacrifice to cover all sin. Jesus was giving it freely just as He was giving the bread freely.
Then Jesus took the cup of wine He had and asked God’s blessing on it just as He had done with the bread. This was now going to be remembered as the new covenant in His blood… not His blood, but a reminder of the promise He was making which would end in the shedding of His blood in their stead; in our stead.
He did this all in preparation for what was to follow, demonstrating His absolute love for us!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do before you eat and drink?
Will you remember what Christ did for you in future?
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April 9: John 11:45-48
Key Verse: John 11:48
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.
Devotion:
Many of the Jews who had listened to Jesus believed Him and they continued to want to hear more; but some when to the Pharisees and told them everything Jesus was doing. What did the Pharisees hear? They heard what they wanted to hear and immediately started blaming Jesus for what they thought would happen.
These verses tell of the power the Romans had over the country – they were not just ruling but were dictating what should be happening. Nowadays we would call this tyranny and call for justice to be had; but for the people caught up in the system, they could not see this. Those who were well off because of the Romans continued to want to be well off and obeyed what the Romans asked of them. This led to them doing what the Romans wanted instead of what God wanted!
When the Pharisees saw Jesus was doing some extraordinary things, they knew the Romans would be upset with them if they continued to allow Jesus to do “many signs!” Caiaphas had prophesied this Jesus would come and do many things but also that He would die for the people so the whole nation would not have to perish – Caiaphas knew the people were working against God and he knew something had to be done before it was too late!
Once again the same story was happening – the people were working against God and God was most likely to be upset by this which would lead to bad things happening which would lead to lots of sad people… then they would try calling on God for help and the cycle would continue. God knew something had to be done to break the cycle – this is what Jesus would do to break the cycle!
Points to Ponder:
Do you do what people desire?
Or do you try to do what God desires?
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April 8: John 10:31-42
Key Verse: John 10:38
But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.’
Devotion:
What does it take for you to believe what someone else is saying? Do they have to be your friend before you believe them or do they have to prove themselves before you believe? It is sad we live in a world where we feel like we do have to prove we are reliable before people will believe us. Long gone are the days when most people told the truth and most people believed them!
We see far too many lies and gossip being told in the news media and other publications around us to continue believing first of all. Now we are at the stage where we do not believe until we have proof! This goes against all Christ is trying to teach us – He knew He would not be with us all the time in human form, so He asks us to believe in Him even though we do not see Him any more. Some people will find this very difficult to do!
Once you start believing and you see the world changing all around you, it is very easy to continue believing as we can see the proof. But there are some who will stop believing because they do not get their prayers answered on time, or because they do not think God is listening to them – hence they don’t believe He is there.
Even the Pharisees and the Sadducees were doubting Jesus because He was saying things they did not want to hear. They had grown too used to the power they had over people and they did not want to give that us to server the people as servants – rather they wanted to be in control of the people and not the other way round! Jesus came as our servant King; He is King, but He came as a servant to us!
Points to Ponder:
What does it take for you to believe?
Will you take God’s written word as the truth?
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April 7: Psalm 105:5-11
Key Verse: Psalm 105:10
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
Devotion:
There are so many places in the bible where we can ready about the promises made to the people of Israel including the one made to Abraham confirming he would be the father of a great nation. These stories had been told from generation to generation before we had books and computers and everything else we have nowadays; they were faithfully retold.
Some of this seem to have been lost by our modern society where we have computers and smart phones which remember everything for us; but what they don’t remember for us is the stories. Yes we can read the stories in our books and on our computers or phones, but that is not quite the same as telling those stories to someone else. When I started Christian youth work I began to see how amazing it is to be able to tell these stories to the next generation. Something I have missed over the last few years from being in hospital and recovery and then Covid lockdowns…
But God always seems to find a way we can tell His stories to others. I have grown to love writing these schisms knowing that there are people our there who do not agree with what I write, nevertheless I continue to write what I believe. The joy I get when someone responds to the words I have written or the passages I have referred to is something special.
We do need to remember the stories we read in the bible because God wants us to be able to pass these stories on to others – not just telling them they can read about it in the bible or passing on the words, but giving them to others with love and an open heart. I pass on these words because I know people read them and I pray they will get the same joy out of them as I get from writing them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like telling stories?
When was the last time you told a bible story?