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February 8: Mark 7:8-13
Key Verse: Mark 7:8
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’
Devotion:
How many times have you gone along with what other people are doing or saying rather than sticking to the rules? I’m sure we have all done it at some stage, but how far do you go? When we read our bibles, they are not a set of suggestions you may or may not want to believe in – why would God give us His Word if it were not exactly what He wanted us to hear!
The disciples learned quite quickly how the Jewish laws had been changed over time to accommodate more modern practices; and this still goes on today. We change the laws to suit our modern world, but if we are not careful we let go of the meaning of God’s word because we are focusing too much on the wants and desires of mankind instead.
Jesus pulled up the Pharisees here because they had changed the wording of the laws. The original Torah (scriptures as given to Moses) focused on saying we should honour our parents and if we don’t we should expect bad things to happen! What they had changed it to was to say we could receive blessings if we did good things to our parents. It may not seem much when we think of what we do in our own families, but these new words could quite easily be twisted in our modern world.
Jesus gave us the bible the way it was because He wanted us to learn the truth up front and not have to try and filter out all of the modern sayings before we could get to the truth. God have us the scriptures so we could know the truth. What we do with the truth shows Him how much we love and respect Him… or not!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to take the bible the way it was written?
How many things do you change to suit yourself instead of glorifying God?
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February 7: Psalm 132:2-5
Key Verse: Psalm 132:5
till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.’
Devotion:
How many temples, cathedrals, churches and other religious buildings have you been in? Have you ever wondered at what the architects, sponsors and builders thought about when they designed and built them? When you get to discover what thoughts went into these buildings, you get to see a bit of what these people thought about their gods. When you go into a church you get to see an insight into the heart of the congregation...
God does not need a grand building to live in or to visit! He wants to be able to live in your hearts and in your lives. When we build something for God, it is an outpouring of our hearts to give something worldly we think is going to please God. He does not require it, but what we do does please Him because it is a measure of our love for God which everyone can see, not just Him.
When we do things like that in our lives, we get to witness to a whole lot of people; we get to show them how much God means to us. Oh there are all sorts of reasons why we should not do things which are grand by earthly standards: we cannot take anything with us to the afterlife, they become a worldly icon which people may get more excited about than God, God does not need worldly possessions… and so on.
It is more our actions than our intentions which speak loudly to others; so we should never rush in and do things classed as rich by worldly standards when we know God is looking for faithful servants who are willing to love and obey Him. Think about what you are going to do and try to do it for the glory of God.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for God?
Do you look for worldly recognition or God’s recognition?
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February 6: 1 Corinthians 15:1-2
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:2
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Devotion:
What is faith? Some describe it as believing in the unseen. Others as trusting in a deity. Others may try to give a longer explanation so they feel like it is more worth while… But I think these couple of verses sum up what faith is all about – but don’t read these verses incorrectly! This is not a warning telling us if we don’t believe it’s all a waste of time!
When the apostle wrote this letter to the churches in Corinth, he wanted them to be encouraged by what they were doing and he wanted them to continue their walk of faith in Christ. He had taught them about Jesus and how they too could be freed from their own sin debt by believing Jesus died for them too. He wanted them to trust entirely in the truth as he had given it to them.
The people in the churches believed what the apostle had taught them. They trusted it as the whole truth and they stood firmly by that truth. I wonder whether there had been a person casting doubt and this was to dispel that doubt. It is by the gospel story these people were saved – in other words by what had happened, how Jesus had given His own life in their stead. This is the gospel they heard and believed.
The call was not to continue believing in this truth, because if they turned their backs on this truth, they would be saying their own journey of belief had all be for nothing! But the more they trusted in Christ, the more they knew this truth was definite and worthy of holding on fast to. This is the same call to us – we need to continue believing in the gospel truth and share it with others so they too can get to have hope in God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue to firmly believe the gospel?
Will you trust your belief to be exercised?
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February 5: 1 Kings 3:4-13
Key Verse: 1 Kings 3:10
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.
Devotion:
When you pray for help or pray for something you need, what is the motive behind your prayers? We often hear the verses which remind us how God will always answer our prayers – but if we are going to be selfish or greedy with our prayers, should we really expect God to answer them!
When I was in hospital (OK, I won’t mention it for a while again) I did pray for many things, but my health was always secondary to my prayers. I knew God was looking out for me and I did ask for healing and comfort, but it was always after praying for someone else or for something else for someone else. My thoughts were something along the lines of, I know God is watching over me because the doctors though I was not going to make it several times, so why should I harp on about it!
Solomon was given everything on a plate. His father, David, had done so much for Israel and had built up everything anyone could want for so Solomon did not have to ask for anything worldly. Instead, He asked God to give him the wisdom he needed to effectively and faithfully rule over God’s people!
When God heard what Solomon was asking for, He gave him the wisdom he needed as well as great wealth and honour – things he had not asked for! God does actually know what is best for us; and God knew that for Solomon to be an effective ruler of Israel, he would need the wealth and power which came with being a great king (or at least that is how the people would see it) Trust in God for your answers to prayers for what you need, not what you want!
Points to Ponder:
Do you pray for what you need or what you want?
Will you lift up others in prayer first?
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February 4: Genesis 22:2-8
Key Verse: Genesis 22:8
Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.
Devotion:
When you read a story like this, what feelings are invoked by these words? Are you wonder how Abraham could have even considered taking his only son to be a sacrifice? Do you wonder at the barbaric suggestion to sacrifice your son? Or do you see a man who is torn between the love for his family and the love for God...
What you need to do is to remember what Abraham was doing here. He was not blindly taking his son to be sacrificed. He was, instead, listening to what God was telling him and obeying! He had no idea what God was going to do, but he did have a firm belief God would not let his son die because of the promise God had made to him earlier.
What we see is a man taking his son to be killed. What we should be seeing is a man obeying God and trusting fully that God would make a way for this all to be possible without letting his son perish – after all, how would God keep his promise to be a father of many generations if this one was cut short before it started!
Sometimes we look at what God is asking and we compare it to what we think we know and how the world can fulfil the request. But what God is asking is for us to obey and trust He will make all things possible!
Points to Ponder:
When God asks you something difficult, what do you do?
Will you trust Him to make the impossible possible?
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February 3: 1 King 2:1-4
Key Verse: 1 King 2:3
and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go
Devotion:
When King David was about to die he made sure Solomon, his son, was reminded of the love and mercy of God, especially when we walk in His ways and obey His commands. David knew the people around him who would not follow God, and he knew the people who would. His wish to Solomon was he should walk in obedience to God, keep God’s commandments, His laws and follow where God would send him.
David had learned this through living with God for many years, breaking the rules and having to live with the consequences of failing to obey God. David wanted Solomon to have the best possible life and knew the way to do that would be if he would walk with God all of his life.
It is hard to follow God sometimes, especially when the people around you are doing their own thing and looking like they are getting away with it. This is not the case because God does see everything, and because He is not bound by time, everything is remembered all the time. But, Jesus came to give His life for us so we could escape from those dark consequences and live with God as if we were innocent!
God has a plan for each of us. When we walk within that plan, we can expect to have things go well and to prosper. When we walk away from that plan we may find we have to face the world by ourselves and we get horribly lost or overwhelmed by what the world has for us. Walking with God may see hard at times, but it is always the right thing to do!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you listen to God?
How often do you obey God?
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February 2: Psalm 32:1-5
Key Verse: Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Devotion:
If there is one thing which stands out for you in the Old Testament, what would it be? When I first started reading through the Old Testament, the thing which struck me the most was the amount of things which went wrong, the amount of fighting, wars and horrible things happening to people. But as I continued to study the bible, I learned of the reasons for what happened. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but a lot of it had to do with the attitude of the people!
When man first rebelled against God, there had to be put in place limits which would prevent man from going as far as the evil one. If we had continued on in the same way, we would have given ourselves to the devil just to try and stop things happening; it’s our weakness as humans.
But, now, the thing which stands out to me the most is the amount of times God was willing to forgive people and bring them back to Him. I am amazed by the mercy and faithfulness of God; not just saying He would forgive, but forgiving time and time again! Whilst there were consequences for man to live with, God was always willing to forgive. If there were no consequences, might we have continued to sin without measure?
God wants us to walk with Him in our lives, which means trying to avoid sin and trying to follow His instructions. We will fail time and time again, but God will forgive time and time again too. We just have to look back at the consequences for our actions and allow them to persuade us from doing that sin again!
Points to Ponder:
Have you admitted your sins to God?
Will you try to live with His instructions?
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February 1: Psalm 86:1-4
Key Verse: Psalm 86:1
Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Devotion:
When we read through the New Testament stories about how Jesus reached out and healed or helped people, it was normally the poor and needy people who got help! Jesus wanted us to know how valued every single person is, especially those who are poor and needy. It is not the healthy and fit people who need to seek out the assistance from doctors, but the sick and unwell people who need doctors.
David had a good understanding of what God wanted him to do (even though he failed at times) and he tried hard to live up to those things because of his love for God. He learned at an early age how much God answers prayers and how we can depend on Him at time when we need help most of all.
David’s request here is to ask God for assistance in keeping his life on track; these words being penned when king David was not in a good state. Each time he asks God for protection, strength and even wisdom, God answers him and allows David’s faith to continue growing every day.
God wants us to be happy and full of Joy. He wants us to be health and wise. He wants us to lack for nothing… but we really do need to ask for His help and not just assume He will do everything for us! When we start taking God for granted, we see our answered prayers taking longer, our health and wealth going downhill… God wants us to be constantly aware of how much we need Him and how much He cares for us.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you call out to God?
Will you start calling out to Him before you are in dire need?
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January 31: Psalm 3:1-8
Key Verse: Psalm 3:6
I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
Devotion:
The more we face things in life we don’t like, the more we wonder whether God is looking out for us. The more things go wrong, the more we blame others, including God, for the things which are going wrong. Sometimes we just have to stop and accept we live in a world in which things go wrong and people react in ways we don’t expect or like…
If we were all depending on God and listening to God, the world would be a very different place. We would not have to fight. We would not have to face illness. We would be able to love each other like we are supposed to. But we don’t all depend on God and we don’t all listen to Him, never mind obey Him! God knows this and this is why He allowed Jesus to come and be the Saviour, the one who takes on the sin of all the world!
I would not wish illness of any kind on anyone, not even my enemies. I truly cannot understand how people can create poisons or go about designing things which destroy life… but for every person who creates something to save a life, there will probably be someone who is disillusioned and wants to create something to take a life. God knows this of us and has tried to steer us away from harming one another for a very long time!
Yet we do still do things which harm others. Maybe we are trying to save our own life and don’t think of the consequences on other people’s lives. Maybe we are selfish and do anything just to stay safe. God does not work this way and He did not design us to be this way. This is what sin does in our lives and how it destroys us from the inside out. We need something on the inside to clean us and keep us on track!
Points to Ponder:
Do you truly care about others?
Will you allow God to guide you toward a more loving life with others?
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January 30: Luke 2:25-35
Key Verse: Luke 2:26
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
Devotion:
We don’t know how long Simeon had been waiting to see Jesus, but we are told the Holy Spirit told him he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Once he came into contact with Jesus, he knew this was what he had been waiting for for so long. What I find amazing is how long Anna had been worshipping faithfully in the temple night and day, and she came up to them at the moment Simeon came into contact with Jesus. That is the most amazing answer to prayer I can think of!
God uses every opportunity to bless the good and faithful people who continue to praise and worship Him. It may not seem like it when we worship and don’t seem to have our prayers answered immediately, but if we are willing to continue on without setting limits to what we do for God, He is not going to set limits on what He is willing to do for us!
Jesus had to be born fully human in every way so He could become the ultimate sacrifice for us all. If He continued to be God it would have been seen as some sort of wizardry that He would die so He could rise up again – but because He was fully human, we see it for what it was, a true miracle of God!
All the right people had lived in all the right places at the right time so Mary and Joseph would be together at the right time for Mary to become pregnant and to have a baby boy who could only have been created by God. This is our Messiah who came to set us free from the sin debt we owe, and this is how He was presented at the temple just as any first-born human male at the time appointed by God for all to see.
Points to Ponder:
Are you impatient with your prayers?
Will you give God the time to do what He knows is best?