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September 11: Joshua 4:1-7
Key Verse: Joshua 4:6
to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?”
Devotion:
What things do you have which remind you of what God has done in your life? When the people of Israel finally got the go-ahead to cross over the Jordan, it was Joshua leading them over and not Moses. Even though so much had gone wrong over the time they spent in the desert, God was still willing to stop the flow of the Jordan river so they could all cross over in safety; and God wanted them all to remember this had happened.
So, He told Joshua to appoint one person from each of the twelve tribes and to get them to pick up a large chosen stone and take it with them as a reminder of what God had done. These were no ordinary stones, but stones from the riverbed when the flow of the river was stopped for them; rather unique!
I think we should all take something from our journey with God and use it as a reminder for what God has done. When we have these items, people may stop us and ask what the significance of these items are. We then have the chance to tell them of the great things God has done in our lives!
Take a bit of time out from your busy day today and pick something in your life which reminds you of what God has done – something unique which can be a starting point for a conversation. Take this item with you, physically or in spirit, so you can tell others of what God has done for you. Keep it close and be willing to share how great God is!
Points to Ponder:
How much has God done in your life?
What makes you think of something God has done for you?
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September 10: Galatians 3:15-18
Key Verse: Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds’, meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed’, meaning one person, who is Christ.
Devotion:
If we read our first book in the Old Testament, we will read about Abraham being told by God his offspring would inherit the land. We can also read about how Abraham went about trying to have a child which God had promised him. But if Abraham had waited on God to fulfil His promise, Abraham would not have gone through so much heartache!
Far too often we try to hurry God along, or we try to help God to do the things He promises to us. I have learned to be patient, not just for a minute or two, or even hours, but to be willing to wait for days, months and years. When God promises us something, we should be willing and faithful to wait for that promise to be fulfilled by Him!
We can now look back on the Old Testament writings and see Christ was the one to inherit the land. This is because Christ is a descendant of Abraham – however many generations there are between Abraham and Jesus – they are family. We can continue to compare the Old Testament promises with what was delivered in the New Testament and see just how many promises came true.
We should be more than willing to expect His promises to come true based on past history! We should be more than willing to wait patiently for God to fulfil those promises. Yes we get impatient. Yes we want things to be our way. God has made the promises – stand back and wait!
Points to Ponder:
Do you look back and check up on promises?
How many prayers do you look back on and see them answered?
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September 9: Galatians 3:1-6
Key Verse: Galatians 3:3
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Devotion:
How many times have you started doing a job one way, only to finish it off another way because it was getting hard or you just wanted the easy way out? I can think of a few projects I have been involved with where corners were cut and the product came out not being what was ordered in the beginning!
Christ came to demonstrate once and for all He needs us to have faith in what He has done for us. This means not just believing it, but continuing to believe it and to depend on it! It's no use saying we believe only to change our minds when the rules look a bit easier to follow on the other side of the fence! What faith is that!
We believe so we can have Christ's gift. We trust so we can depend on His promises. We obey so we can be sure we are doing the right thing. If we give in and follow the 'good old ways' then we are saying to Christ we don't think what He did was enough! I really don't think any of us would dare say that to His face – so why say it behind His back... It's not really behind His back because He sees what we do anyway!
All the people from the Old Testament did believe! Their righteousness was because of their belief and not because they managed to sacrifice the right animal at the right time! Without their belief, they would not have deemed it necessary to follow the rules give to them by God through Moses. Our belief is what counts. Don't make it count for nothing!
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
Will you continue to trust and obey Him?
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September 8: John 5:36-40
Key Verse: John 5:39
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me
Devotion:
How many times have you got tied up with the wording in the Bible? We can look back in time and see how many people got confused by the Scriptures and how to interpret them. One case which spring to mind was the Ethiopian Eunuch; he could not get his head round the words of the scriptures after hearing about Jesus and had to have them explained.
We have many scholars available to us – far more nowadays because of such things like the Internet. It does not mean these so called scholars are the definitive guides we should believe without question... God wants us to understand things so has given us enquiring minds. The disciples had to be taught what the relationship was between Jesus and God. Christ had to explain it a few times too!
What I'm saying is we are not alone when we question things and get confused. Ours is not to know every minutia about Christ and God, but to know enough to believe. When we believe, then our dependence comes down to our faith in what we receive from God and no longer on having to know the details.
If we have enough knowledge to give us faith, then we have enough to accept Christ as our Saviour and to get our free pass to Heaven. The stumbling stone for many is the belief Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to give us a way of attaining eternal life through what He did for us thousands of years ago. Once we have enough faith to step on the stone and not fall over it, we have enough to accept what Christ has done for us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you still struggle with the details?
How willing are you to accept and believe the basics?
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September 7: Leviticus 3:1-5
Key Verse: Leviticus 3:1
If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the Lord an animal without defect.
Devotion:
How can this apply to us nowadays when we are all starting to concentrate on animal welfare and other things like climate change? Valid question... But is your question holding you back from offering true worship to God? We tend to get hung up on all sorts of things now with all the latest fads and trends we see in our modern societies.
Let us turn back the clock a bit to the time when this was commanded by the Lord. Raising animals would have been these people's lives – they did not have to worry about whether their car would make it through another road test or whether their shed would stand up to the next big storm... these are modern problems and not something they would have thought of.
Instead they would focus on what matters to them at that time: their herds, their crops and their lives. This is why the focus was on animal sacrifices then. What would be the modern equivalent now? Would it be your bank account, your possessions, your vast wardrobe, your amazing shoe collection, or your bank of computers doing bitcoin mining?
God is calling us out, not to give up on the things we have built up, but to be willing to give up the best one if we are called to do so. I love building up PCs and giving them away to people who need them. I love doing the work I do for reduced rates because I know it is helping those who need to be helped. I love doing sound at church because I know it helps the hard of hearing to join in the service.
Points to Ponder:
What do you love doing?
Are you willing to do it within your church?
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September 6: Luke 6:12-16
Key Verse: Luke 6:16
Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Devotion:
One thing we can be sure of about God is He will choose the right people for the right job at the right time. We may not agree with the decision God has made. But then again we don't know the big picture. We are limited to what we can see and hear and we don't quite get things we cannot yet see or hear yet... It does not mean those things are not there and are not real – it's just we have not yet understood how they can be true!
God chose these twelve disciples to be apostles – He even chose Judas! But why did He choose Judas if He knew he would betray Him in the end? Jesus knew this is what the Father wanted – not what He wanted as a human, but what the Father wanted. God knows what is best all the time!
Just because we don't get it does not mean it is not right. Just because we don't want something, does not mean we should not accept what is actually right for us at the right time! Sometimes it is hard to accept the things we don't understand, especially when all we see is hurt and pain... God sees the result, the long term result, the result which counts in the end.
When God calls you out to stop doing something, or He calls you to come forward to do something – accept it and move forward with Him because He is calling out the right play at the right time. We don't have to understand everything. We don't have to like everything all the time. But what we should be doing is accepting what God calls out and obeying Him in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God?
Will you finally accept what he is calling you out to do?
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September 5: Mark 9:30-32
Key Verse: Mark 9:32
But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
Devotion:
Has this sort of thing ever happened to you? A friend says something which has happened or is about to happen and you just don't want to believe it can be true! I know this has happened a few times to me – something I don't wish on anyone. How you handle the situation and what you do can shape your life...
If we try to put this thing out of our minds and move on without it affecting us, we may well have to continue dealing with this for a long time to come. We go back to this time in our lives and we think about how we could have handled it differently – how we could have done things better. If we are not careful we allow those thoughts to affect our lives – sometimes for the worse.
God wants us to live our lives. Sometimes that is going to be by accepting the things we cannot change and sometimes it is going to be by changing the things we do not like. Whichever way, we should be doing this with God and listening to Him for our daily guidance; this way we can at least know we are being pushed in the best direction and not into a trap which will stick with us forever.
Sometimes when we don't understand something, or we don't want to accept something, the best way forward is going to be to talk about it with someone else – someone whom we trust. If you have a friend who fits that bill, then go to them and start talking. If you don't think much of the people around us, then go to God and start talking... and listening... He will guide you towards the right person at the right time.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you go to when things go wrong?
Will you trust Christ a bit more today?
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September 4: Luke 6:1-5
Key Verse: Luke 6:3
Jesus answered them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
Devotion:
Have you ever read passages like this in the bible and wondered why Jesus was not doing what the Old Testament law said? Why was He doing something which teachers of the law would question? It's not a case of reading between the lines and saying we can break certain laws nowadays because Jesus showed us we can, or trying to re-structure the law to fit in with what Jesus did instead of what the Old Testament scriptures said...
The answer is far simpler than this. Jesus showed compassion over and above what people would recognise. The Pharisees and other teachers of the law were teaching how people should always follow the law no matter how hard it was to do so. This would often mean people were being let down, rejected, refused and even punished because they had followed the law.
Jesus was teaching the disciples about love and mercy, two things which must be taken into account always. How else can we expect to love our neighbour if we are not going to follow the line of compassion? Jesus wanted the disciples to learn this so they would teach it to others as well.
David had shown compassion to his companions when they had nothing to eat, save what had already been offered as a sacrifice. He knew God would not refuse his companions a bite to eat even though the law deemed it not right to do so. This is the love he had learned from God and was trying to show his people – unfortunately he did not always get it right. And nor will we always get things right...
Points to Ponder:
Do you always follow the rules no matter what?
Are you willing to show love and mercy above and beyond?
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September 3: Luke 5:33-35
Key Verse: Luke 5:34
Jesus answered, ‘Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?'
Devotion:
How many times have you felt guilty about missing church when you have gone to be with your family for a special occasion? I used to get up tight when I would miss out on a Sunday service because I felt guilty I was not doing what God wanted me to do – until someone pointed verses like these out to me!
God knows we live lives! That includes all the things which happen in normal lives (or even not so normal lives!) He wants us to live our lives to the full and that often means doing something earthly! Parties were part of life during the time Jesus was on earth and continue to be part of our lives. Jesus even went to parties for special occasions, and the last night was spent having a feast!
God wants us to be happy with what we have. It does not mean we should go out of our way to avoid church or avoid living... But we should take note of what we do at those parties, celebrations and whatnot! Just because He wants us to enjoy ourselves, should not mean going totally overboard with things, nor does it mean being totally minimalistic about everything. We have to find a balance with our earthly lives where we can still show people we love God!
When we are not celebrating birthdays, weddings and other special occasions, we should be reminding people we are Christians who chose to live for God and for His values. This will often mean we do things differently to the rest of our friends. It may even mean we do things differently to the rest of our family. Whatever you are going to do, take God with you and enjoy this life He is giving you!
Points to Ponder:
Do you avoid parties?
Will you celebrate your next party with a difference by taking God with you?
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September 2: Luke 5:1-11
Key Verse: Luke 5:5
Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’
Devotion:
I wonder, have you ever been in a position like this where you have tried almost every way to do something and failed, when along comes some stranger and tells you to do something you have either tried, or something which sounds silly... only to find their way actually worked! I know I have turned down help from people before thinking that I know better, and on many occasions I have failed altogether because I refused to just try their way...
Jesus was teaching people, by telling them the truth and showing them how God's word (the scriptures) is as important then as it was in Moses' day. The same is true for us now, the bible being so important and true even though it depicts events many thousands of years ago. These are the stories Jesus was trying to explain to the people.
We look at the bible and we think it cannot be relevant because it is so old, but the truth is it is still as important now as it was back then. The ways we live and how we do things is definitely very different, so we have to think on the words we read. We drive cars, fly in aeroplanes and cross oceans in boats bigger than palaces were in those days... but God's Word is still relevant and true now...
If we are willing to listen to God and obey His wishes, we will find things come together in our lives. Not in the same way as they did thousands of years ago, but as they are now. Computers help us. Doctors have amazing skills now. Medicine should blow your mind! But God still wants us to hear the truth and to trust Him and obey.
Points to Ponder:
What great things happen today?
Do you thank God for those great things?