Saturday 6 Jul 2013

Saturday Reading: Mark 13:8-13

Key Verse: Mark 13:11
11  But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Devotion:
I cannot imagine the pain that a new mother must come up against when they are giving birth for the first time. There are many people who will tell us that the pain is made bearable by what is promised ahead or that the pain is forgotten as soon as the child is born, but that fact is that that pain is very real and it does take time! I know men complain about many things and women will not normally complain about child-birth, but we are all different and we all face things in different ways. God has given women that strength and stamina to be able to bear child-birth; and for that I praise God!

In some way what we face as Christians could be looked at in a similar light. What we face is many people that will rise up against us just because we say openly that we believe in Jesus. I may be an adult who teaches children about God, but that does not stop some of those children rising up against me as they try to show me how evolution is the way forward. That really does hurt me to know that they are being taught things which they cannot uphold. When I show them scriptures or pick apart their theories they withdraw very quickly knowing that they do not have the answers but still cling to their theories because a ‘real’ teach has taught them those ‘facts’.

It hurts me to listen to some of the lies that they are taught about Christianity when they are taught by people who do not believe in Christ. If only the schools would allow us more time to be able to bring the truth that we know (the Gospel according to Christ) into schools and teach those same children. They deserve the chance of being able to make their own informed decisions and not to have to go with the theories the teachers want them to hear.

Sometimes we will try to prepare for an argument against a person who believes those theories and when we are faced in discussion we fall flat on our faces because they ask a question we have not studied about. We need to have faith in The Holy Spirit. Christ promised us that He would never leave us and that He would guide and direct us – so long as we are willing to listen to His teaching. We will face compelling arguments by people who have studied their own theories; unless we stop and learn from The Holy Spirit we may well lose our arguments and end up doubting the truth!

Points to Ponder:
What books do you learn from?

Are you listening to God’s Word?