Thursday 12 Jul 2012

Thursday Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-7

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:5
5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

Devotion:
After Christ had gone back to be with God our Father in heaven the disciples suddenly got a real taste of what it is like to work for the Lord. Previously they had been working with Jesus in their midst and probably had all manner of encouragement from the fact that He was with them, but now they faced people on their own (not literally because they already had the Holy Spirit and they also had each other). There are going to be times in our lives when we do have to face others by ourselves and it is those times when we have to know that it is Christ who strengthens us and not we ourselves.

No matter how good you think you are, or how fit you are or how prepared you think you are, Satan will always throw a spanner in the works and that is what is going to hurt us most. Just when we think all is going well we get some news that we were not expecting or we get to hear something that just levels us. But in every one of those trials we can know and should always remember that it is through God’s grace and His mercy that we can continue to take Him and His word with us wherever we go.

If we want to be able to continue in God’s strength then we should be aiming at making sure that we walk in His ways first of all. If we are allowing all manner of strange things into our lives then we will most likely give in to those things and those ways when push comes to shove. When the going gets tough we look to those things instead of the hidden things of God because it is those things that we have got used to seeing and hearing. We do need to separate ourselves from the worldly ways because God does not walk in worldly ways but we should be walking in His ways!

We need to stop and think about what sort of people we are – but not to think too deeply because we must always remember that we are forgiven, cleansed and made whole through Christ Jesus. It is not just His strength that allows us to continue but the fact that He has forgiven those that believe on Him and who have asked for that forgiveness. It is because He is supporting us that we can continue to work for and with Him every day – and that should be our aim, to be with Him constantly!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get tired of working?

Are you working for God yet?