Saturday 30 Jun 2018

June 30: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Do not quench the Spirit.

Devotion:
We only have to take a look around us to see just how much God has created for us, has given us, and continues to bless us with. Yes, we do break a lot of it and we do many things wrong, but we must never forget just who supplied everything in the first place. We like to think we have created, invented and done so much, but in reality, if we were to compare it with the single task of creating a man, we have got a long, long way to go! That is why we need to rejoice and be glad for all that God has done for us.

Whilst we may well rejoice in our creature comforts, praying is as essential too. Without us continuing in prayer to God, we would not be thanking Him for our comforts. How else do we thank Him if not through prayer? When we walk in God’s will, we will see the comforts and the blessings that He continues to give us. When we walk by ourselves, we tend to think we are the ones in control and think we have done so much for ourselves… How wrong can we be? With God by our sides, the Holy Spirit within us, do we dare to think we are in control? We need to remember God is in control and He has made sure the Holy Spirit continues to guide us every minute of every day – whether we listen or not is what we do…

We need to remember to thank Him, praise Him and rejoice in everything that comes our way. We do not know what lies ahead and He is the one preparing the way for us. If we are going through trials it is because God has allowed those trial to reach us; it is not Him creating the trials or the hardships, they are typically man made or dropped in by the evil one! Maybe He is allowing something in our lives so someone else will see Him through what we do or how we react. People will certainly see evil through us if we do evil and so they will see good through us when we do good. If we can show people we are relying on God all of the time, then we have shown them a bit more of God through us. Rejoice and be glad for He knows our ways!

Points to Ponder:
How do you go about impressing people?

Christ wants us to be our true Christian selves?