December 24: Luke 26 36-40
Key Verse: Luke 26 39
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
Devotion:
Oh how unbelieving we are! Just like the disciples, we have a few obstacles thrown in front of us and we start to break down our belief. Someone comes along and shows us something that may be plausible and we believe them because they are in front of us... we believe them because we see them...
Over the last few days we have seen how God is ready for anything. He continues to show just how ready He is in this case by being at the right place at the right time for the disciples to see Him and to know He rose bodily from the grave, not just in spirit. We have also seen that He is everywhere... How else would He have known to be at this place at this time to cement the disciples’ belief so they would be ready to go out and take the gospel with them. We see that another promise is kept – He always keeps all of His promises. And we see His love for us by the fact that He had risen and He came back to make sure each disciple would know what to do from then on so they can instruct others.
Ready, Everywhere, Always, Loving... R.E.A.L.! We server a REAL living God who loves us so much He gave us His Son so our sins may be forgiven! His love for us goes beyond all we can wonder at. His mercy extends beyond anything we can imagine. His power is unbelievable!
As we get ready to celebrate Christmas tomorrow, take a thought for how it all started. A virgin with child, shunned from homes and inns because they were all full, lodging in a stable alongside animals. To that virgin, to us all, was born a baby boy who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Just as had already been foretold; just as God had promised. We remember Christmas, but how we tend to forget His birth because of all the distractions! We do serve a risen Saviour, one who always and forever will love us more than we can imagine!
Points to Ponder:
Who will you be seeing tomorrow?
Will you be remembering Christ, our King, tomorrow?
December 23: Psalms 63 1-11
Key Verse: Psalms 63 3
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
Devotion:
Have you ever had doubts over whether God was going to live up to His promises? I'm sure we all have at some stage, but depending on our faith is the only way we are going to see just how He lives up to each promise. Yes, we will see how He has completed each and every promise when we join Him in heaven, but why wait? His love for us extends down to us right here and now!
David wrote this Psalms many years after the people of Israel had been freed from slavery in Egypt. He shows to us his fears and his faith in the Psalms, especially in this one. He starts off by showing his resolution to actively seek God and he longs to actively enjoy his relationship with God. He shows us that any relationship with God must be active and must be full. Why? Because God's love “is better than life!” David knew that and he wanted to show everyone and not just to God. David knew how God's love could satisfy parts nothing else could reach! David knew he could depend on God's love 100%.
How could he know this after so many years of them living in all sorts of problems in their new-found land? David continued to believe in God, trust in Him and to depend on Him. Yes, David still made mistakes (whoppers at times) but he continued to trust God for everything. He continued to wait on God. He continued to show his faith in the unseen...
We now serve a risen Saviour. Jesus Christ rose from the grave to conquer our sin debt. He did that out of love. He continues to show His love for us. He continues to keep His promises because of His love for us... How much more proof do we need to know that His love for us is forever!
Points to Ponder:
How many people do you know who stay the same forever?
How can we not trust The One who never changes?
December 22: Matthew 28 18-20
Key Verse: Matthew 28 20
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Devotion:
I wonder how many times you have been promised something and after a few weeks (or maybe longer) you find that that promise was not quite up to it and had been broken. Quite often we look back and think that it has lasted long enough and dismiss it. But when God makes a promise, He keeps it. When God makes a promise, we know we can depend on it.
Christ's instructions to the disciples were simple: (paraphrasing) “I have all power in heaven and earth, there is nothing I cannot do. Go out and tell people of everything you have learned and bring them to know me like you do. Do it in my name.” Whilst we may not all live up to those instructions, His promise that follows does not exclude people just because they have not lived up to them...
That promise is He is going to be with us forever! Not just to the end of our lives (however short or long), nor to the end of our family tree, but to the end of the world to come! His spiritual presence will be with us throughout the times of this world... always! Then when we who have accepted Him as our Saviour join Him in heaven, we will continue to be with Him throughout eternity. The great transition of Him being with us to us being with Him! He is never going to be anywhere but by our sides.
How many promises from friends can you think of that have stood the test of time? How many of your promises have you managed to keep? We do our best to make sure we do, but there always seems to be something which forces us to break them for fear of doing more damage than that keeping them. But God is in control down here and He knows exactly how to keep all of His promises made to us throughout time!
Points to Ponder:
How long do you think a promise should be kept?
How many generations has Christ kept His for so far?
December 21: Psalms 139 7-10
Key Verse: Psalms 139 8
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
Devotion:
One of the most wonderful things about God is the fact He is omnipresent – or absolutely everywhere at the same time. He's not just is all the good places, He is absolutely everywhere! In order for Him to maintain our world even our universe, He has to be sure He is everywhere. He must therefore be omniscient – He knows everything!
No matter how far we try and hide by running away from Him, no matter how far we try and separate ourselves from our God, we cannot. He wants to be part of our lives, He needs to be part of our lives... In order for Him to be able to do the best work in us, we have to be willing to fit into His rules and not to try make up our own.
But it's not the fact we try to physically hide away from Him, it's the fact we try to spiritually hide from Him. We think we can hide our sins... not so! We think we can pretend things are ok... not so! We think we can hide our thoughts... not so! If He can be in heaven and hell, then taking in our thoughts is a small issue!
But it's not the guilt trip that I am after here... It's the positive side... The fact that He is everywhere gives us access to His help and guidance at any time of the day or night and wherever we are! We can be flying high in a plane, or sailing under the ocean in a submarine; we can be rushing off to meet somewhere is quietly spending time alone... God is with you! He wants to be with you! He wants to be able to help you up when you trip, when you falter He wants to be there to catch you. His arms are always fending off things that we ask Him to. His arms are always protecting us like an umbrella in the rain. His arms are picking us up from having to wade through the floods... His arms are always wide open waiting for you to come into them.
Points to Ponder:
Who's arms do you rush to when you feel down?
Do you pick God first or last?
December 20: Nehemiah 9 16-17
Key Verse: Nehemiah 9 17
They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.
Devotion:
There are always times in our lives when we get it into our heads we are the ones who are right and we will not budge from that position no matter what! Not only do we do this through things we do but also with our beliefs. We may hear something from someone else and think about it for a while, it may not be a long while! And then we form an opinion which we stick with, not because it is the truth, but because it fits in with other things we are doing!
We like to be able to fit in with those around us and so we change our lives so we can be more compatible! We like to be acceptable to others by doing the same things as they do... We do not often think exactly what we are getting ourselves into. Instead, we bend our rules to fit in with our surroundings.
Before too long we can look back at those stages in our lives and see where we have drifted away. We can look back and see the mistakes we have made. We can look back and see how easy it was to walk away. But the best part about this all is that we can always look forward to our God who is ready and willing to listen to our apologies!
Throughout history we see how people have made mistakes, from the small to the whoppers! We can even see those reflected in our own lives. And every time that this happens, we can see a God who is willing to listen and ready to take back the sinners! A God who is always ready, not just ready after we think we are finished, but always ready. Not just ready, but willing...
Points to Ponder:
Are your friends always there... even when they are not?
Are you ready to apologise to God?