February 2: Colossians 4 18
Key Verse: Colossians 4 18
This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.
Devotion:
Paul seemed to spend a lot of time in prison because of various accusations from people, but each of those reasons was linked to his Faith. No matter what got in his way, he continued to uphold God’s Word above all else. His zeal for getting The Word out was extraordinary. At the time when he wrote this epistle to the Colossians he was probably not too comfortable – can you imagine being chained to people on either side, and not being able to go anywhere or do anything without them!
Paul dictated this epistle to a scribe who would then write it all down, but, like the others, he would end it in his own hand. His inscription was simple and short – probably not too comfortable trying to write with chains on your hands. But he wanted to make sure a few things did get across. First, that it was actually him sending the letter. His personal subscription would always be added to show others he was always personally involved with each of the churches he wrote to. Typing out a letter is one thing, adding your personal subscription or signature ensures others know it is you.
The next point was that he wanted others to remember he was in prison and chained up because of his love for Christ. He was setting an example to others, showing them how they should be willing to go the extra mile for Christ's sake. There is no way he could have written the whole letter with his own hand; the chains may not have totally prevented him, but his eye sight was also failing him. None of this would stop him from getting personal and writing his own words.
If we want others to know we are believers, then we have to get personal... we have to show them it really is us and God... and that we are willing to go that extra mile to show that Christ is everything!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like being told to stay in or sit still?
Making sure that we rely on God for everything will keep us strong!
February 1: 2 Corinthians 7 9-11
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 7 10
For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Devotion:
It is not nice to see someone grieved, for when you do, you want to be able to comfort them. If they are sad about something bad happening in their life, then you probably wish you could either change or remove it for them. But when others are remorseful over things which they have done wrong, then we have a different outlook on things. We begin to see that they are genuinely sorry about something which has gone wrong. When we see that genuine sorrow, we expect them to be forgiven; and if we are doing the forgiving, we forgive in the knowledge that they have learned from their mistake.
When we first admit to Christ we were sinners, we conclude that we were the ones who had done things wrong and Christ had paid for those sins. We realised He is real and we had made so many mistakes in our lives. It is God who opened our eyes so we could see we had been rotten and sinful which then made us grieve over the things we had done in our lives. Realising the truth and how it applies to our lives is something others can be happy about. Even though we seem sad at the time, it is a revelation when we see the truth and then we can walk in that truth from then on!
But when we get sad and sorry over things which happen in earthly circles, we have a problem. Not everyone is going to be forgiving, not everyone is going to forget. God says He will separate our sins from us as far as the East is from the West. But we (people) continue to carry round those memories of what we have done to others and what others have done to us. Grudges seem to be carried for a long time! The longer those grudges are carried, the more we are spiritually or emotionally pulled down by them. When we are sorry for the right reasons, it makes us change and think about how we can improve ourselves. With God's help, we can achieve many things.
Points to Ponder:
Are you carrying grudges around?
Isn't it about time you asked God to help you get rid of them?
January 31: 2 Corinthians 2 5-8
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 2 7
so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
Devotion:
Two things many people find very hard to do: One, to admit to an issue and two, to forgive someone. None of us like to have to admit when we are wrong or that we have done something wrong, because we have this sense that if we do we will no longer be the 'good' person we used to be... the thing is, we have already done wrong and we need to be able to clear away the wrong-doing so we can start again. But when it comes to others doing wrong against you and then having to admit their mistakes, we expect them to admit to it immediately. And even when they have admitted to it, we take our time at forgiving them just in case they did not really mean it in!
Most of this all stems from pride. The pride we carry round to try and show others we are more than we seem to be! We don't like to admit when we are any less than we seem to be. We don't like to admit we can do wrong. We don't like to admit we do get things wrong – but unless we are going to start to admit it, we have to continue carrying round those issues forever. For as long as we try to cover up issues, we build up a seething mess under the covers which will one day make itself known.
When things get too much, the embarrassment of having to admit to the issues is greater the longer we have tried to hide things. The more we try to cover over things, the greater the 'revelation' when they are uncovered. No matter how bad we think things are, they only get worse the longer things are covered for! I am sure each one of us can think of a time when we had to admit to something embarrassing! Now think back to that time and how you craved for people to forgive you. Think back to the need you had for people to genuinely forgive and hopefully forget. That is why we have to look at how we forgive people – don't wait until they are dying with embarrassment!
Points to Ponder:
What are you hiding from your friends?
Do you think you are hiding anything from God?
January 30: Proverbs 18 13-15
Key Verse: Proverbs 18 15
The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Devotion:
How often do we make our minds up before we hear the whole story? How often do we come up with a conclusion before we hear all the facts? If we are going to be honest, then we would probably say we do that most of the time, but we don't air our views all the time. But how dangerous it is to make up our minds before we know the facts. We see this sort of thing every day as some people go about worshipping their idols in various ways and other go about worshipping gods that declare war on everyone at the drop of a hat. It is the people who have made up their minds without hearing the whole truth who are going to be in for a shock when they do find out the truth!
We face a similar battle internally every day as well. We face the battle against sin and temptations. The more we give in to sin and the more we are tempted by those temptations, the more we find we are not able to resist them – the easier they become to do. That weakness grows within us until it then become Satan's strength. That weakness has grown into something we stood against and it now consumes us from the inside out.
We need to listen to God's Word day in and day out to make sure we will be prepared to stand up to those things that we don't think about – the ones which have become habits. We need to listen to His Word to make sure we do gain strength from Him. We need to grow in that strength, knowledge and wisdom so we have the wherewithal to stand up and fight those temptations. We need to listen to His guidance so we know that we walk with Him all the time. How can we fail to stand against them if we have Him by our side?
God is wonderful. He is our counsellor. He is our strength. He is our guide. All we need to do is listen... really listen to what He has to say about our lives and follow His wisdom!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get into trouble by listening to others?
God will never tempt us! Listen and learn...
January 29: John 7 37-44
Key Verse: John 7 38
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Devotion:
It is a wonderful thing that we do have so many scriptures, our complete bible, from the beginning to the end. Without the whole of God's Word, we would be in a bit of a quandary just like the people were here. They heard the words which Jesus spoke, they heard how masterfully He spoke. They heard how much He knew the scriptures. He saw what an example He was... yet they used their earthly powers to try and make their minds up about whether He was Christ or not!
It is great to know we do have the Holy Spirit within us to guide and protect us. It is wonderful to know He can impart God's Word to others through us because of that very fact. Yet without the whole bible, men did not have much of a chance at understanding what Jesus was saying. John, when he wrote this, knew because it was written after Jesus had explained it fully to them – how else would we know of such wonderful news.
Through the Holy Spirit we are able to understand many things in God's Word, He is able to explain what we see in our lives and just what He means to us. He is able to give us comfort beyond which we can understand. He is able to guide us when all about us flounder and trip up. He alone is able.
Yet when we are faced with earthly troubles, we look for earthly solutions. We try to apply like for like. Whilst it may not be wise to try and crack open a nut with a sledge hammer, there is nothing wrong with using a tool which may well be over-rated for the job in hand. Christ has left us with that 'tool' which is the Holy Spirit. He is able to overcome any situation we find ourselves in. He is able to guide us through any troubles which we face. He is able to give us comfort when all others will fail. We never do expect His miraculous love, yet He continues to supply it, without end.
Points to Ponder:
Which person do you most look to to solve problems?
How often do you call on God to help out with everyday things?