Wednesday 6 Feb 2013

Wednesday Reading: Galatians 1:15-20

Key Verse: Galatians 1:17
17  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Devotion:
One of the things we may find very hard to do is to listen to what God wants from us in the beginning. And then the second big thing is to listen to God when we get comfortable in our ways. God is someone that we need to listen to constantly to find out what He wants in our lives. Each of us live very different lives and as we live them, they change. We have to be ready to adjust to the changes in our lives so that we can continue to do our best for God in the ways that He wants us to live and not necessarily what we think is OK.

When God told Paul where he should be going it was not to go to the other disciples and learn his trade from them but to get out there into the world and teach the gospel as Christ revealed it to him. God does not always pick us to go via the recognised routes of bible college and various scholastic methods to learn about Him but will do what He knows is best for each of us as long as we are willing to let Him work in our lives. Paul had no problem with allowing God to have His way after what he went through; we are not going to get the same treatment as Paul did on the road to Damascus so we have to listen for God’s instruction in our own ways.

We now have a complete Gospel in our bibles that has been put together for us over many years. God has made sure that we have it available and that we can learn from it as well as use it to teach others. He has shown us through example that the Word is sharper than any two-edged sword because He used it to rebuke Satan himself. This means that we have a very sure Word that is able to stand up to anything; let us then fully trust in it from the beginning to the end.

I have been very fortunate in that Christ has brought me to a church where the Gospel is preached all the time and where I am able to continue learning all the time, not just through what I can read but through the most excellent teaching of our Pastor. This is where God put me because He knew that this is what I needed, and now as I grow in wisdom through reading and preaching I can share what I have learned to many more. I do this because of my love for Christ and earnestly hope that you can learn from it and pass on your new-learned wisdom to others as I do.

Points to Ponder:
Do you seek God’s ways?

Are you listening to His Word?