Thursday 30 Jan 2014

Thursday Reading: John 16:25-33

Key Verse: John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Devotion:
I think that I may have been a bit frustrated if I were chosen to be a disciple by Jesus at that time; to have to figure out what was being said, what was meant and to constantly look for further meanings in everything must have been hard. As a man I tend to miss a lot of things in life because I don’t get them, but as a disciple of His nowadays, I do like to try and understand Him better each day.

We do have many excellent reference books that can show us what other people think about the writings we now call our bibles, but if we want to truly know what it is all about, we do have to consult God. He has promised us that he will guide us through our faith with and in Him. He has promised to explain things to us when we listen and trust in Him. But He has never said that it was all going to be plain sailing all the way!

On many occasions God has reminded us that we do face opposition and that we have to look beyond what we face in order to be encouraged. If we were to dwell on every hardship we faced we would not last very long. Christ tried to encourage His disciples by telling them that they would never be alone and that we could always call on Him at any stage in our lives. Our comfort must come from the fact that we do have God with us at all times, even when we face hardships!

We may not understand things as they happen, but they will be explained to us. We may not like what we face, but facing them will strengthen us and allow us to grow in our relationship with Christ. When we face opposition we can call on His name and see how He answers us; that brings a deeper trust and a more faithful relationship is built up between us and Him. God has already beaten the world and all of the opposition, we just have to remember that and trust that He knows where to lead us when we get to a dead-end!

Points to Ponder:
Do you despair with opposition?

DO you fully trust Him always?