August 31: 2 Corinthians 3 12-18
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 3 14
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
Devotion:
Our biggest problem as human beings is that we don't know when to ask for help... We always leave it until it is far too late! It seems in all walks in life we are trying to be independent, but in doing so we turn our lives into a race against ourselves. We try to go it alone in all cases to prove we are independent when we should be asking for help. We cannot go through life depending on others for everything, but there has got to be a limit before which we ask for help – it's just finding the limit which we find difficult.
How many times have (or did) your parents or friends said to you they wanted to help and you should ask for help? How many of those times did you continue to go it alone until you had gone too far and broke something, maybe yourself? It is at those times we know if we had asked, things would have been explained to us so we would have been better prepared for the task in hand. Just asking once would have made all the difference!
It's not just us who are in this situation – all of history will show many people who have gone through exactly the same. Here in this passage we are reminded the people of Israel continued to try and find things their own way, they continued to uphold the law from the old testament because it had happened that way in the past. They were not willing to change to believe in Christ. If only they had, they would have had a huge burden lifted from themselves!
Each time one of us call on Christ to be our Saviour, we have the potential to answer questions from within through the Holy Spirit. Christ made sure we knew that the Holy Spirit can explain things to us as well as comforting us. Christ wanted our eyes to be open to help because He continues to offer that help to us – even if we do ignore it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ask your friends to help when things get rough?
Christ continue to offer help – are you asking?
August 30: Mark 4 10-12
Key Verse: Mark 4 10
But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.
Devotion:
Sometimes we need to look at things for a while before we start to understand what we are looking at. Sometimes we may well be staring right at the answer but cannot see it because we are thinking in a different way to what we need to in order to understand. We close off ideas and truths from ourselves just because our brains are coming to conclusions based upon other things rather than the one staring us right in the face!
How wonderful it must have been to have been within the presence of Jesus as He ministered to the people, and even more so as He ministered to the disciples. But, as He has promised, we are never alone. For as long as we have accepted Him as Saviour, The Holy Spirit is always with us, willing to explain things that we ask about... if only we ask and listen!
The disciples would have been none the wiser about the parable of the sower if they had not asked about it. Their minds were thinking of the physical rather than the spiritual concept which Christ had raised. They needed to ask for help and then to listen to that help as Jesus explained things to them. This is exactly what we are up against every day – we are faced with situations where we need God to explain what is happening around us and why. The only way we are going to find that out is by asking and listening!
We hear God's Word and can understand that He does love us and how we should fear Him as God. But to understand more we have to submit to Him and start to really listen to what He is saying to us... That's often the hard part... We don't have Christ standing in front of us, so we close off our minds to any other explanation – but if we listen to Christ within us (The Holy Spirit) then we can learn from His Word. As we read God's Word, He will continue to explain things so we can understand His Word. When we do, we can take it forward to others so they can begin to see how awesome our God is!
Points to Ponder:
How well do you listen to your friends?
How willing are you to listen to God?
August 29: Proverbs 15 5
Key Verse: Proverbs 15 5
A fool despises his father’s instruction, But he who receives correction is prudent.
Devotion:
A loving father will always try to guide you in ways which are prudent. This does not mean they will always say yes to everything! It means they will give you encouragement when it is due and punishment when it is due! It means they will be effective in their authority over you.
But if you are not going to listen to that authority, then you will be the one who is making a mockery of what is probably sound judgement! You will be the one who is ignoring the sound advice. We cannot go through life just taking in the good parts (the parts we think we like) and ignoring the bad parts (the parts we think we can do without). We have to make sure what we listen to is the whole truth and not just part of it!
When we come up against someone who has authority over us, we should listen to what they have to say and not go all out to rebel just because we think we can. We should heed the advice that they give us. Equally, if we are in authority over someone else, we should be acting like a loving father to them in the way we guide them – not always an easy task – even when it is your own children!
If we do not give in to the authority, we are going to find we very quickly get into trouble. Likewise, we should make sure we quickly and sharply give reproof where it is due. Allowing anyone to continue going against what is right means we are agreeing to what they are doing – or so it seems to them. It is very difficult to point out what is wrong when we can see it happening to someone we love, but as long as we do not point it out, they will continue to move father and father away from the truth. We may not want to point out what is wrong when we see that doing so will cause hardship to the person being affected... Likewise, we need to take notice when others point things out to us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get angry when friends point out your mistakes?
What do you do when God points out mistakes?
August 28: 1 Corinthians 15 33-34
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15 33
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
Devotion:
Isn't it amazing how many bad habits and things we pick up in life... No matter how hard we try to do things the right way, we always seem to be able to mess things up at some stage or another! No matter how much we try to do what is right, we think about the wrong things and eventually we have a go at one of them! We can only thank God He is able to save us from this life that we lead! We can thank Him also He is willing to forgive us of those sins; each and every one of them!
Before we get to know about God, we pretty much run around and do anything we like (so long as our parents are not watching!). We get up to all sorts of mischief that many of us may not like to admit to – but God has been watching over us, watching each step we take and cringing at the steps we falter on... Waiting for that moment when we are going to realise He is our God and He alone deserves our worship. We try to do things right when people are watching – just so we don't get into too much trouble. But as soon as we think we are alone, we go all out to look “bad” with our friends.
I look back on some of those days and I think – why? What was in it for me at the time... I can think of many a time when I knew I was doing wrong, when I knew that there was nothing in it for me, but because of those around me I went ahead and did it anyway – lead on by others who in turn were being lead on by Satan. And then there are the time when I simply gave in to Satan's temptations and did it anyway!
All because of our lust of the flesh – we think in some way we need to do things wrong to be noticed. And we will never grow out of that until we give in to Christ and allow Him back into our lives! For as long as we keep Him out of our lives, He takes a back seat and waits patiently for us to acknowledge Him. What love is that how He can wait for so long and put up with so much... just for me!
Points to Ponder:
What bad things do you get up to with friends?
How much thought do you give to God during those times?
August 27: Luke 7 18-23
Key Verse: Luke 7 22
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Devotion:
No matter which way we look at it, the Bible continues to stand up as the single truth in this world. The Bible continues to be the most selling book of all times. God continues to make sure we are all exposed to His Word in some way or another. He continues to live up to His promise that everyone will be given the opportunity to make their own minds up about the truth.
But it is not only through reading the Bible that people get to know Christ. We have a duty to live our lives according to His laws. He has already paid the price for our sins, and as the One True God, we need to realise we do have to worship Him. We cannot continue to make no choice in our lives, because by making no choice, we are in fact making the choice to ignore Him. Living our lives according to His laws will show others we are willing to live up to the truth and we are willing to show it to others too!
It is not just living the life that will encourage others either. When they start to see how we live, we must tell them about why we do. Just watching something can lead to deception. Take magicians for example – they make a living out of deceiving people with various tricks. If we simply go through the motions, then how do people know we are not just doing a magic trick on them? We have to tell people about how and why we do what we do. If we are open with them about everything that we do, then we are going to be able to show them the truth! Jesus knew John was doing the right thing but wanted someone to fully explain just how wonderful God is to him.
Showing people and telling them are two different things! Most of us are too shy about going up to someone and telling them about Gods word alone... but if we had someone with us, helping us.... Well, we do. The Holy Spirit goes with us every day. He explains things to us when we ask. He guides us when we need guidance. He certainly will help us to tell others about Christ, if only we depend on Him!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you correct your friends when they are wrong?
How often do you correct them about spiritual matters?