July 18: Exodus 2 11-14
Key Verse: Exodus 2 14
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
Devotion:
How many times have you ‘conveniently forgotten’ something you have done wrong? You knew it was wrong when you were doing it, but thought nobody would find out and it would be ok… God is watching us every step of the day and I’m sure does not like what He has to watch much of the day from people all around the world!
I would like us to think about the standards we have in our lives and how we apply them. Consider this… you see a friend of yours do something wrong. Do you report them for doing this? Do you point out their misgiving and ask them not to do it again? Do you forgive them and ignore what they have done? Or do you pretend you never saw anything in the first place?
We would probably answer this differently depending on who is doing wrong. We may well report someone who we don’t like or don’t even know because they have no relationship with us, but when it comes down to best friends, the answer goes the other way… Our overall standards differ according to where we are in life and who we are with. Moses was no different at this time. He did not think much of killing the Egyptian for doing wrong, but only warned his fellow Hebrews!
When Jesus came to tell us the most important commandment was to love one another, it was to make sure we change our ways and stop putting some people before others just because they are the same race or colour as us! God loves every one of us a His children and expects us to do our best to follow on in this same light. The historical records of the Western world have tended to be very biased toward those who are considered to be loyal or from the same part of the world as us. God wants this to change to be more in line with how Jesus showed love toward all mankind!
Points to Ponder:
Have you been given false history lessons because your government deemed is so?
Are you willing to follow Christ’s example and love all human beings?
July 17: Exodus 2 1-10
Key Verse: Exodus 2 8
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
Devotion:
One of the amazing things about God is He can enable things to be done which we think are impossible. I love the way God made sure Moses was nursed by his own mother because God knew that was the best thing. If it were you or I trying to circumvent the laws we would probably be found out immediately and everything would end up in a bit pile on the floor – not so when God was involved!
God knew the best place for Moses to be nursed and made it so. He also knew the best place for Moses to grow up and learn the ways of the world, and that was with the Pharaoh’s daughter where he would be able to learn how to take care of a whole country; something which was going to be required of him a few years down the line!
God continues to know what is best for us and if we are willing to trust Him with decisions which we feel are too much for us or we are out of our depth handling them, then we can expect a good outcome… better than if we had planned things! The problem is we don’t always listen to God in every part of our lives – we like to keep some things private, or at least we think we are keeping them private!
God knows exactly what we get up to and He does try to continually guide us through the ‘storm of life.’ We find ourselves out of our depth in many things in life, but even in those cases, God continue to be able to cater for everything. God is going to use the people around us to enable us to do more as well, not just the priests and prophets, but everyone around us. The sooner we begin to realise God has ultimate power over everything, the sooner we can move forward and trust Him with our whole lives and not just the parts we think He should have. God wants to care for us in our entirety!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you try to keep from God?
Will you allow Him to do more in your life today?
July 16: John 18 25-27
Key Verse: John 18 25
Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.”
Devotion:
What is your reaction when people ask you if you are a Christian? Or maybe they have asked if you are ‘one of those bible punchers’ or a ‘Jesus freak’ or some other derogatory slogan. Well, its only derogatory if you choose it to be so; you can make it a positive and praise God instead of bowing down to people who don’t believe in Him...
Jesus knew what people would be like and He faced up to them. He also told the disciples they would have to face people who would seek to harm them and even think they were doing this in God’s name. God does not choose to have us beaten, flogged or mocked. We open ourselves up to this because we dare to stand up for Christ and dare to sing praises to God. We do this because people do not get us, they do not believe in God and they don’t know what else to do!
The people had all been almost beaten into submission by the scribes and Pharisees. These were supposed to be the leaders of the church and yet they were the ones who were leading people away from God because they refused to believe Jesus was and is the Messiah. They did not want to accept the simple truth and continued to look for the difficult ways of living to show their devotion to God!
God does not want us to live a difficult life just to prove we believe in Him! Believe in Him first of all and many things in your life will fall in to place as you follow the will of God. Don’t be shy about saying you are a Christian and you believe in God. Don’t be worried about what others can do to you because what we have in Heaven is so much more and eternal!
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you rejected God in your words or actions?
Will you admit to believing in God?
July 15: John 15 1-8
Key Verse: John 15 6
If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Devotion:
Being a good Christian can be difficult in this world where more and more people say we should be free to do what suits us rather than following other people’s rules and regulations. But if we are willing to keep our focus on Christ we will find it easier to continue walking with Him and doing His will in our lives. Doing His will is such a big part of being a Christian when it comes to our faith; if we are blocked from acting like a Christian, we may well find it more difficult to be a Christian...
But its not all about us and our walk with Christ. Yes, it all starts here and this is the branch from which we grow in strength and spirit… Don’t stop looking at how you react and how you can grow or whither. Start looking at the example we are to those around us and the strength they may gain from what we do and say. Start looking at how our actions affect those around us!
God wants us to remain strong and fruitful. If we break off and do our own thing, we are more likely to fail because we do not have the backing we had when we walked with Christ. The further we go the weaker the link and the more likely we may fail. What then happens to those around us who are looking up to us as being the example to follow? What happens to those who are not strong enough to last on their own?
The more we do things with those around us the more people are going to watch and listen. The more we are an example the better example we need to try and be. Not for our own sakes but for Christ and the sake of His children around us. Id don’t look at this as a burden of any kind but more as an opportunity to grow in Christ and allow other to join us in our growth!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you re-base yourself in Christ?
What makes you strong enough to reach out to others?
July 14: Matthew 13 24-30
Key Verse: Matthew 13 25
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Devotion:
We have to be ever vigilant and ever ready doing God’s work. Whenever we slack off and get involved with other things instead of being vigilant with our work for God, the evil one is going to come in and throw a few weeds amongst our seeds we are planting. This may not seem like a problem at the time because we know we can pick up the next day and make sure our seeds will survive and thrive… but when it comes time for the harvest, the work is going to be twice as hard. So what sort of things are these weeds going to look like? I know I am terrible at identifying weeds from flowers!
One thing the evil one is going to use is doubt. The seeds of doubt are going to be sown in amongst the seeds of the gospel. This is not just going to make the work harder during harvest, but is also going to stunt the growth of the normal crop. The more doubt is scattered around the people in the community, the harder it is to promote the gospel because the doubters will have a louder voice. Selecting a few key people and preparing them for the work is going to make our work for God easier because the work can be shared.
Another thing the evil one will use is the success of the people who don’t hear the gospel or who don’t follow the gospel. The more he can make it look like success comes from any other place than God, the more people will look to other places and other people for personal gain instead of looking to God for eternal gain. Short term success is nothing in comparison to eternal salvation, but with everyone looking at the here and now, they loose focus on the future and only aim for personal gain.
One more thing the evil one will do is to bring down a community through whatever means he can. With a whole community feeling down because of something which has happened within the community, the harder it is to see the future and to see the hope Christ brought with Him. Switch on the gospel lights and keep them on!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you promote God’s Word?
How often do you follow up what you promote?