November 9: Ephesians 3 16-19
Key Verse: Ephesians 3 19
to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Devotion:
We are given many examples of how the disciples prayed for strengthening, not from the outside, but from the inside. Being with Jesus had taught them much and they were rapidly seeing just how weak they were in comparison to Christ. They were seeing how they continued to judge people and how they continued to look for outside strength instead of relying on what God can supply for them.
The unselfish desire of the author to wish that God would grant riches for those in the churches of Ephesus is clearly show. It is not the riches we see every day, but deep, hidden riches which only God can supply. He was not talking of gold, silver and great belonging, but the inner peace and comfort we all seek. After all, what use is a bucket full of money if there is nowhere to spend it!
We know we are living in the age of grace, where our sins have already been paid for. But that does not mean we all automatically get things paid for without our asking. We are the ones who have to acknowledge Christ is there and He can do everything for us. When we do that, and tell Him we are sorry for what we have done, He is able to forgive us. There is nothing we can physically do or see which will change anything. We have to simply believe He is our Saviour by faith.
He wants to know we are sincere about our belief! Simply going to church each week is not going to cut it with God. Simply giving our money and time to others will not get us to heaven. God wants to know how much we want Him as our Saviour from the heart. He wants to know we love and need Him and that we are not just sitting close to Him in the hopes something will rub off! For us to be able to find the love and peace which “passeth knowledge”, we have to make sure God knows we are sincere about our relationship with Him. At that stage He is just and faithful to show us true love and give us those inner riches!
Points to Ponder:
What do you treasure most from your friends, friendship or money?
What is your relationship like with God?
November 8: Hebrews 13 20-21
Key Verse: Hebrews 13 21
make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Devotion:
How do you look upon others when you see them doing wrong? Do you look down on them for doing things wrong? Do you turn your back on them when they start doing things they should not be? I'm not talking of the physical motion of turning you back on them, but your inner emotional response to what they do.
We are told Christ looks at us from the inside, that He knows our inner thoughts... but we do not pay much attention to our thoughts when we are thinking of others. We do tend to be judgemental when it comes to others. We do look at other societies, including other faiths, and judge them according to what is told to us through the media. We don't know what they are thinking, or feeling, yet we are still willing to judge them by their actions.
We look at other religions and ask how their gods can be loving when we watch them destroying others’ lives. We look at other societies and ask how they can believe in any gods when they continue to do evil day after day. We are looking at them and building a picture of their gods by the way that they live. We build up feelings for or against others because of what they are doing and how they are living. We build up feelings for their gods based upon how they are acting. Those feelings are held inside us and may well surface and trick us into doing something that is out of character for us... and others will see that and form an opinion! Oh, how quickly we can force others to have opinions on us!
Our God is awesome. He is the First and the Last. He is The One who has shown us complete love by allowing Jesus to die for our sins. He is our Great Shepherd who tries to lead us. His promises last forever. He is the only one who can chance attitudes and hearts... but do our actions help or hinder Him? People watch us to see what we do with our lives and what we do with our God! Their opinions are formed on our actions...
Points to Ponder:
Do your friends like you for what you are or what you do?
Are you living your life for or against God?
November 7: Proverbs 16 4-8
Key Verse: Proverbs 16 5
Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
Devotion:
One of the biggest traps in our lives is our idea that “if everyone is doing it, it must be OK”! We get lead into all sorts of things through simply following in others footsteps. Here we are given a stark warning about doing exactly that. God has indeed created each one of us. He created us so we would have a free choice to go in whichever direction we chose in our lives. He also created us with an amazing mind and even a discerning spirit. He did this so we could see for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. Each one of us can make those choices for ourselves; our problem is that we learn from others!
How many times have you picked up on something that your friends were doing, only to get home and find yourself in deep trouble when your parents found out what you were doing? We are very easily lead by example which has been mankind’s problem from the beginning of time. Far too often we would rather pick up on what others are doing than to think about what we should be doing!
It is only through God's grace and mercy He continues to allow us to find things out for ourselves. He wants us to be able to learn about the truth. But He also would rather that we learned by asking than by going out and trying for ourselves. He would rather see us ask and find out than stumble and fall as we try in desperation! He would rather show us and illuminate us than have us stumble through the darkness.
When we listen to what God has to say in our lives and obey Him, we find out that He knows a whole lot more about our situation than we thought about. He knows what others are thinking so can guide us to the best possible solution before we upset others. He would rather we ask for a little guidance than find out all the truth after it is too late!
Points to Ponder:
How many things do you do because your friends do?
How many things do you ask God to guide you through?
November 6: Proverbs 16 1-3
Key Verse: Proverbs 16 3
Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.
Devotion:
No matter how hard we try to get things right in our lives, we always seem to be able to stumble at some stage, often wrecking everything in our path! We may always try to make sense of a situation before leaping forward into it, but we do not always make the right decisions before leaping – that is where our fault lies. Even the wording in these verses from the King James Bible seems to suggest a different meaning to what was actually written in Hebrew.
Are our thoughts deliberate (suggested by preparation in verse 1) or do they just roll out like our actions? Whatever we think we do need to give our actions to Christ, commit them into His hands in the hopes He will guide and protect us. We do indeed propose our wishes because we think they are right, even righteous. However, God is the one who will answer as He sees fit because He is the only one who does have the answers. So, when we think God is letting us down by not answering our prayer requests, just maybe we are asking for things in the wrong way. We need to make sure what we do ask for will promote God to His proper place as our King and Saviour!
We may do things right and manage to please the most people we can, but the only one who can judge as to whether we have the right motives in our hearts is The Lord. Christ alone paid for our sins on that cross and He alone has the sole discretion to judge our intentions. The only way we are going to be able to make sure we do things the way which Christ wants us to is to make sure we commit each thing to God before we start it. Allowing God to guide us through our works will make sure we are doing things the way He would have us do them. What better way than to do it right first time rather than to do what we think is right. How many times have you handed in work you thought was good, only to get a whole bunch of red markings on it where the teacher or your boss picked holes in everything?
Having our Teacher guide us through our work will inevitably make sure we do get the work done in the right way the first time round and we will not have to go back and correct it time and time again!
Points to Ponder:
Does everyone follow your directions properly?
How well do you listen to God's directions?
November 5: 1 Thessalonians 5 16-18
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5 16
Rejoice always
Devotion:
God has given us so many verses in our Bibles which offer up encouragement to us, just as these do. He has given us so much in our lives which we do take for granted, so much we do take without thinking, so much we take without thanking Him... Each and every day He continues to give us an extra day, more life, loving friends and family and His Word continues to be here for us to read. No matter how many things try to get us down, there is always something which we can look up to and rejoice that we do have.
We need to make sure we do continue to talk with God. We need to show Him that we do think of Him constantly and we can do so by praying to Him. We need to show Him (and remind ourselves) He is important in our lives by speaking to Him. We need to show Him that we are not going to let other things get in our way of praying. We need to continue showing our faith by making sure we do tell Him everything and express all of our fears and doubts directly to Him. There is nothing that He does not want to hear about!
During our time of prayer, we must make sure we do thank Him for everything which we rejoice in. There may well be times in our lives when we do not understand why we have to go through things in our lives; during those times, we still have to make sure we do thank Him because it will all be happening for a reason, a reason which we may yet not understand. We cannot hope to be able to understand just how awesome our God is, how He can prepare us for any eventuality through ways we cannot understand!
By making sure we give our thanks directly to God, He knows we are living our lives in faith. As we express our continual faith, He will be able to express His continual love for us. It is exactly what He would want us to do. He wants us to depend on Him and to show our faith and dependency continually and openly. Only through that way we will encourage others to seek what we can rejoice in!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you thank your friends and family for little things?
How often do you thank God for everything?