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November 7: Jonah 3:1-10
Key Verse: Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Devotion:
To me, the Old Testament contains so many stories about how people were so quick to forget about God, this chapter is almost a summary of what we are like! When things are good and we are enjoying our lives, we can get carried away with our lives and the content therein rather than where it all came from and who we have to thank for our lives.
We sometimes think of the Old Testament as being irrelevant because of the time which has passed between this period in history and now. We think we have changed too much and it does not reflect how we live today. But when we look at this we should be able to relate to it as the way we live in our modern world.
If we wanted to walk from one end of a modern-day city to the other, we would take a long time to do so. Our cities themselves may officially be big, but if we take into account the suburbs and surrounding towns and villages which have been encompassed by the cities, we can imagine the size of Nineveh. We can also know what goes on in our cities – some being places which have forgotten about God because they are too focused on being cities instead of being communities.
Jonah had the thankless task of going from one end of the city to the other telling them they had forgotten about God and because of this, the city would be destroyed before long. Thankfully, the people remembered where they had come from and how much God had done for them to get to where they were then. They turned back to God who was more than willing to forgive them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have a good life?
Do you thank God continually for what you have?
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November 6: Romans 16:25-27
Key Verse: Romans 16:26
but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith
Devotion:
Paul closes this letter to the Romans off by listing many people who have faithfully told others about Jesus, not because they had to under the law, but because they wanted to share their knowledge of Jesus Christ so others could get to know Him too.
This is what Christ has encouraged each one of us to do too – He has asked us to tell people of our own experience with Him so they can be encouraged by the love, joy and peace we find in our relationship with Christ. It is not an onerous task to tell someone of the great things Christ has done for you, and should never be looked upon as being that.
I continue to be surprised by how much God does for me and how much I can share with others. It could just be a little word here and there, or it could be standing up in front of others and sharing what you have learned from your bible... or it could be showing them through what you do rather than what you say.
Quite often our actions do speak louder than our words, not because we don’t know what to say, but because people do react to actions more than they react to words. Quite often we can be thinking of something else, be distracted or just stop listening to others – but when we see them doing something, or not doing something, we remember that more than the words.
Points to Ponder:
How do you tell others about Jesus?
Will you show someone Jesus by the way you act today?
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November 5: Romans 15:14-21
Key Verse: Romans 15:18
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done
Devotion:
I wonder how much opposition Paul got for going to teach the gentiles about Jesus after all the disciples went to teach their own people, the Jews, instead. No matter what Paul faced, he would continue to teach the gentiles as much as he could, recounting how he used to be before he got to know Jesus and comparing it to how much he had changed and how much he could teach now.
It is not because of the opposition he kept going but because he got a lot of support! He probably would not have been able to continue if all he got was opposition. He needed the support of those who came to know Jesus to keep him going – just as we do. But it is not the be all and end all to have hundreds of followers or hundreds of people you have taught Jesus to.
Paul sums it up quite nicely by saying he was convinced the gentiles he had come into contact with were full of goodness and they had learned enough to start teaching each other more about Jesus. This should be our goal – to get people to understand who Jesus is and give them the love and support to be able to go out there and teach others what they have learned. This is discipleship!
But Paul knew this was not his doing, but Christ working through Him. He knew it was because he was able to obey God. He knew the healing and miracles which did happen were because God granted them and not his own power. No matter what, he stood by the promised God gave that the whole world would get to hear the gospel and many would get to believe it and have faith in Christ.
Points to Ponder:
Have you told anyone about Christ?
Will you keep spreading the gospel with me?
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November 4: Luke 15:8-10
Key Verse: Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Devotion:
This parable has always puzzled me a bit – why did Jesus use a parable about a person who would go searching for a coin. I know silver coins back then were worth a bit more than our coins nowadays, but we could look at it as being a tenth of a week's wages or something like that. Let's expand on that a bit more – what happens when you are in a bit of a bind? You probably tell someone about it in the hope of getting some sort of help, or sympathy!
We would then go about searching high and low for the money we have lost so we can at least get by for the week like we would normally do. If we do find the money, we may well tell the people we told about losing it in the first place. If those people knew how much we depended on that money, they would be sad and happy when we lost and found the money.
Sometimes we have to put things in the light of some worldly example or possession so we can begin to understand how much we mean to God. Each time one of us wanders off or is lost, God becomes upset and goes on the ‘hunt’ for us. The hunt is going to be a bit different that looking for lost money because we are the ones who have to do the turn-around. God does indeed search for us, but we are the ones who need to respond to the calling so we can be found.
Just think how much easier life would be if the possessions we lost called out to us to be found! Just think how wonderful it is for God when we do call out to Him to be found!
Points to Ponder:
Would you like your possession to call out to you when you go looking for them?
Will you call out to God when you have an issue?
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November 3: Romans 13:8-10
Key Verse: Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.
Devotion:
As the apostle continues to expand on how Christians should behave to the Romans, he also explains the evolution of love. Jesus taught the disciples how important love was, not just toward God and your friends and family, but toward those we do not think of loving in our normal discourse of life.
After explaining how the Romans should continue to obey the law and the governing authorities (something we do second guess when we don’t agree with the governing bodies) he explains the only debt people should owe is to return the love Christ has showed us by loving others because this is what Jesus commanded!
A reminder of the commandments from the Old Testament is talked about because the Jews would have taught these commandments as being the centre of their lives. Jesus did not come to overturn these laws, but to expand on them in ways which we like to think makes sense nowadays, but which did not come naturally to the Jews. Because of their differing lifestyles from the more liberal Romans, the Jews could keep their private lives because they could blame the Romans for their liberal lives.
What Christ teaches us, however, is to uphold the love for one another as being the logical conclusion of the law of the Torah (The Old Testament scriptures) If we love each other as Christ commanded, then we will live up to the Torah as well as going a bit further like Jesus did during His mission on earth. He came to show us how important love is in our lives; to love God with everything and to love the people around us just as much as we love ourselves.
Points to Ponder:
How many Old Testament commandments do you remember?
How many of those are a logical conclusion of loving others?
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November 2: Romans 12:4-8
Key Verse: Romans 12:7
if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
Devotion:
Before I went to school, I can remember wanting to be a train driver when I grew up. In primary school, that changed to a pilot – because my Dad was a pilot. As I went through high school it changed to wanting to design aeroplanes which probably came from me designing, building and flying my own model planes; but it was the things like designing a new aerofoil (the shape of the wing) so my gliders could glide further than others. When I got to university and went through all the training to be a plane designer, I could not get a job after qualifying – so I looked elsewhere for work.
That is how I ended up programming computers for a living, which led me back to church and finally into youth work for church and charities. If I had listened to some people as I grew up, I would have gone into teaching and been in youth work a whole lot earlier than I did – but it is often the whole journey in life which prepares us for the work God wants us to do and not just being in the right place at the right time!
God has created us all differently. Each of us has different ways of thinking, behaving and living which makes for a more complete community. If we were all the same, our communities would suffer and probably fall apart; but because we are very different, we can work with others or for others and become a better and stronger community.
God just wants us to do what we do well. He wants us to love our neighbours and Him and be able to do whatever we end up doing well. If we can share God with those around us as we do our jobs, all the better. If others can see we love God through the way we work, even better still! Encourage others to find God in everything they do...
Points to Ponder:
What do you do, or want to do, for a living?
Do the people around you know you are a Christian through the way you work?
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November 1: John 11:32-37
Key Verse: John 11:33
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
Devotion:
What goes through your mind when you read this story? What went through your mind when you read it for the first time? Did you wonder why Jesus had not hurried and saved Mary’s brother if He knew what would happen? Do you wonder why Mary got so upset? This story should provoke emotions deep within you!
Mary had had to say goodbye to her brother even though she had already called for Jesus – messengers had probably already been back to her to report Jesus was delayed – not because He had some other urgent thing to do, but because He simply said so!
What was going through Jesus' mind when He got there – what was He feeling? The only thing we know is He was upset enough to cry openly. People saw how upset He was... But what was He upset about. We can speculate and we can come up with stories based on what we know about Jesus, but we cannot know exactly why!
I like to think He was upset at what was unfolding around Him. He could see how upset others were. He could see how upset Mary was with Him. He could see people beginning to doubt. All of these things are valid and all would upset Jesus, maybe even enough to cry out loud. But put them all together and we begin to understand why Jesus was upset.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always try to not upset God?
Are you doing something little which may add to upsetting God a little?
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October 31: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6:3
Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Devotion:
When Moses learned about what God was going to do for the Jews, it was his task to tell people and to get them to follow what God was instructing them to do. Some of those instructions would be hard to follow and some would be easy; but all were designed to show people how much God loves them and to lay down a guide for the right way of living – with God!
These instructions were not just going to be for the people who heard them, but for their children and their children, right down many generations to come. This was how to stay close to God so God would be able to protect them and provide for them. At first the people were more than happy to listen, learn and obey God so they could be safe.
What people did not see was the temptations which would come and drive them away from God, the things which would make them think they knew better than God because they were the ones facing the situations and not God. People would begin to think they were separated from God – only because they chose to walk a different path instead of following God’s commandments!
God wanted the Jews to be serious about their way of worshipping Him. He wanted people to wear their love for God openly and not in secret. God continues to want to see us being proud of being in a relationship with Him, not just showing off we have a God who can do anything, but showing others how much we love and respect God in our whole lives!
Points to Ponder:
How do others see the relationship between you and God?
Are you willing to allow others to see how much you love God today?
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October 30: Romans 11:1-6
Key Verse: Romans 11:4
And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’
Devotion:
How many times have you given up on something because you thought nobody was there to help or support you? I wonder if you have ever found the most unlikely support from someone you never thought would support you? Too many times in our lives we don’t do things because we think of the failure which we are sure is just around the corner...
Jesus wanted the disciples to get out there without thinking of failure. He told them to step forward and tell people about the gospel without any thought for how they would survive and from where their support would come from. He said this because of the promises He has made to people from the very beginning. He has promised to be there for us when we call out for help; most often than not He is there before we call out for help and we only see the help after calling out!
When Elijah called out to God, he was sure there was nobody left who was looking to God. He was sure everyone had turned their backs on God because he continued to get so much opposition in everything he did. This is quite likely what we see when we face opposition – but God is already there and answering our prayers and supporting us behind the scenes.
He has promised to make sure there will always be people who are willing to worship – this means He has already gone out there and reached into people’s hearts before we get there. We just need to step forward and give people a little nudge so they remember what God is doing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel alone as a Christian?
Do you not know He has already got people ready to hear the gospel?
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October 29: Ephesians 2:13-16
Key Verse: Ephesians 2:14
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility
Devotion:
Have you ever become friends with someone who you never thought you would even like? We don’t have to look too far throughout history to find this type of thing going on all over the place – people making friends after swearing they would be enemies for life... or becoming arch rivals even though they swore they would stick together no matter what!
Humans tend to go overboard with feelings and emotions when they should not and clam up and hide their feelings when they should be letting go! God has seen this happening from the beginning of time, and yet He continues to share His open love with us all. If we swore to be His enemy and then changed our minds, we would be forgiven and accepted back into His family!
The Jews had built up a hatred for the people around them, not because God had commanded them not to mix with others early in their history, but because they took those feelings and emotions too far, allowing them to get the better of their lives. The more they allowed the hatred to build up, the more they hated the people who were not Jews – just because they were not Jews!
God allowed Jesus to give His life for everyone, not just the Jews, but the whole world, using the Jews as the example. He continued to try and show the world how much He loves us all and wants us to see the futility of building things up around our own notions of what we think is right and wrong. God allowed Jesus to pay the price for everyone in the hopes we will come together and see how much stronger we can be when we live together as one family instead of perpetually fighting!
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry grudges around with you?
Will you give them to Christ to allow Him to help you forgive and move on?