Sunday 14 Dec 2014

December 14: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Test all things; hold fast what is good.

Devotion:
How many things have you thanked God for today? How many creature comforts do you enjoy and yet don’t give thanks for all the time? I know that I do not always thank God for all that He gives me and it is verses like these which remind me to do so! God is good! Even when we have what seems to be an overwhelming tide of bad things coming into our lives, we should still be able to find time to thank God for those few things in between that make a big difference. It may just be that single moment when you saw someone today that you have been praying for or thinking about.

Praying has got to be one thing we keep up constantly with as it is the means by which we allow God to know our wants and needs. Whilst we can always know that He knows our innermost thoughts anyway, we need to lift up our prayers to make sure we remember it is God who is answering them. If we do not pray we are taking God for granted and not recognising just how much He does for us behind the scenes!

God wants to be able to work through us and to do that we need to listen to Him; the Holy Spirit indwells us and wants to work with us, not forcing us to do things against our will, but willing us to change our ways to fall in line with God’s ways. Once we realise God’s ways we can live more for Him and less for our own selfish selves. Don’t push the Holy Spirit into a corner in your life but allow Him to flourish and change your life.

God has shown us all of the prophecies that came to man before Christ came to be with us; they all came true and changed the world. Don’t continue to put down prophecies of what is to come in the future because God is showing us this is what will happen, not what might happen. But always test what others say to make sure it does agree with God’s ways. The evil one is sly and will use all manner of strange ways to entice us to follow him instead of God. Don’t be a fool and follow the foolish ones, but stick with God and follow the Holy Spirit’s teaching.

Points to Ponder:
Are you a good listener?

Are you listening to yourself or God?