March 4: Isaiah 51 17-23
Key Verse: Isaiah 51 22
Thus says your Lord, The Lord and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: “See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it.
Devotion:
How many of you have been on the receiving end of some sort of bullying? How many of you have been forced into doing something you did not want to? How many of you have been on the receiving end of violence?
I hope that not too many of you have had to endure anything which has caused harm, but as we hear in the news, we are surrounded by many people who live in fear of their lives each and every day. We hear the news about car bombs going off in places crowded with people. We hear about terrible natural disasters which take the lives of many thousands of people.
We only have to look back in history to find out what the Lord does when faced with people that are abusing His people. If we go back to the days when many people from Israel fled to Egypt for food, we find how they managed to flourish in Egypt. But we also see how they were treated because they flourished. We see how they were put to slavery, how they were made to be the lowest of the low just because the local people took offence!
Then we see how they turned back to God and finally asked fervently for help. That is when Moses was sent in to show the awesome power of God. Through his hands, the Egyptians experienced God's power and might. As if plagues of frogs, flies and locusts were not bad enough, they had to deal with boils covering their bodies from their heads to the soles of their feet. They had to deal with hail and fire, days of darkness and finally the death of all the first-born! When God steps in to make a difference, you had better be ready for a reply you had not expected. If He can make our planet fly around in the universe at amazing speeds without bumping into anything, just imagine what He can do with a few small physical things here!
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever got more help from friends than you asked for?
How much more can God give?
March 3: Haggai 1 5-9
Key Verse: Haggai 1 7
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
Devotion:
Let's do a bit of role playing? Let’s say you are the ruler of a third world country which has been running along fine for many years. Suddenly a big bully nation decides they are going to make your life difficult and try to force you into a tight spot so you have to give in to their way of thinking – basically giving them control of your country. You know there is a bigger force out there which will support you, but you have never asked for any help, and when they did offer it many years ago, you turned them down saying you did not want to be controlled by any large country.
Right now, you are in a tight spot! Do you keep quiet and let the bully nation carry on to ruin your country? Or do you turn round to the other nation and ask them for a bit of help? Bit of a no brainer! You ask for help! Many of you would have added the proviso that the other nation does not interfere in your country after they have helped you out.
We live in a world where we are surrounded by 'bullies', by people wanting to mould our lives into their own ways so we depend of them for everything. They do that for personal gain, mostly by entrapment.
God has given each one of us the choice. The choice to consider our ways and to follow the way of truth. He does not want us to depend on anything on this planet for our lives. He does not want us to depend on anyone else for our lives. He just wants us to depend on Him. Like a father or mother wants their children to depend on them, He wants us to turn back to Him. If we do want any kind of help and protection, there is only one whom we should turn to and that is God.
Points to Ponder:
Do you just wait for help from friends or ask for help?
Are you actually asking God for help or just waiting?
March 2: 1 Peter 5 8-9
Key Verse: 1 Peter 5 8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Devotion:
How many nature programs have you watched where the lion or other hunting animal goes after the biggest and largest thing that it can see? How many have you watched where they will attack a crowd or herd of other animals? The answer to both should probably be none. The Lions will normally pick out a weak animal which it knows it will be able to track down and take down. The lions slowly work their way closer and closer until they are between the weakling and the herd when they will then make their attack.
Just like that, Satan is a wily dealer who will wait for any moment that we have in our lives where we are off guard or in some way wanting. He will then spring his master plan upon us in such a way we don't recognise it as him but as some friendly intercession who is there to help us! His aim is to drive a wedge between us and God so he is able to tempt us in every respect. He aims at our weaknesses because he knows that is where we are going to be more open to temptations.
His aim is not to have a little fun with us, but to destroy our relationship with Christ. He may well know we are saved, but that is not going to stop him from trying to make sure we do not walk with Christ. Just like the lion does not have a conscience about which animal he picks on, Satan does not have any thought for who he picks on. He will pick on our friends to get at us. He will pick on our family to get at us. He will pick on us when we are down...
Satan made his move on Jesus when Jesus was alone. He waited until Jesus was alone in the desert before he tried to temp Him. Jesus' response was swift and secure – He held up God's Word – the Sword of The Spirit. The only way that we can hope to do anything against Satan is by making sure we are wearing the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6 13-17) all the time. When we do, Satan will not be tempted to have a go at us!
Points to Ponder:
How many times have you been hit when you were down?
How many times do you wait until you are down before calling on God?
March 1: Jonah 2 1-2
Key Verse: Jonah 2 2
And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.
Devotion:
We are all “Jonahs” in some way or another. We are all running away from something in our lives, finding excuses not to do things, finding excuses to go out and do things. How many times have you told yourself that something was not as bad as others had said just so that you could go out and try it? How many times have you bent the rules so that you would be “allowed” to go out and have fun? How many times have you bent the rules so that you would not have to do something? And how many of those times were you caught out?
Do you know how many of those times someone was watching you? Do you know how many times someone saw you when you broke the rules? Do you know how many of those times you upset someone because you did not do what was right? Every single time!
Jonah had it in his mind that he would be able to sidestep the Lord and run off to do something else. But God was watching Him every step of the way and He was about to make Jonah's life a bit of a misery! He wanted Jonah to stop and think about what was happening. He wanted Jonah to stop and listen! So God prepared the great fish and He made sure Jonah stayed alive whilst inside the fish to make him stop and listen. When God wants you to do something for Him, ignoring Him it is not the right thing to do!
In our lives, God gives us the choice, freedom of choice, to find our own way to Him. He does not want to entrap anyone. He does not want us to be trapped within some strange cult – He wants us to find out the truth and believe in that truth. He wants each of us to make our own way back to Him. When we have found our way back to Him, and have given our lives back to Him, then He has every right to stop us when we stray from His will in our lives. For many of us, that may just be to spend time with other Christians, helping us and them to grow in strength.
Points to Ponder:
How many times a week do you bend the rules?
What happened when you went against God’s will?
February 29: Psalms 147 1-9
Key Verse: Psalms 147 5
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
Devotion:
Has it been in your mind over the last few days about how special you are? About what a great creation you yourself are? About how awesome a being it must have taken to make the first human, whole, ready, able to reproduce, able to live, able to love! You don't have to look too far around you to see the wonders of the world. You don't have to look too far to see the amazing secrets held in some parts of this world. Today we have amazing nature programs on TV to show us the wonders of the natural world.
God made the world as a living place. A place where life and death both continue to happen as they have for many years. He created a place which is alive. A place that has history. Without any of that, we would not have a world that would be so perfect. Without the foresight of being able to see that we needed a world that has everything in its place, without the foresight of being able to see we needed a place which looked perfect for us and looked like it would last forever, without all this, we would have been able to pick holes in everything and cast doubt over everything.
Instead, God had the wisdom to be able to create a place which just looked “like it belonged”! A place where we would fit in perfectly; even if we messed things up as we went along!
No matter how long we try to teach computers about how to think, I believe we will always be able to spot the difference between a computer talking to us and a human talking to us. This is because our brains are able to process so much more information than computers in such a unique way. God was able to “program” us in the beginning and in such a way where we would be able to pass on this ability to the next generation as they are born to us! Is that awesome or what!
Points to Ponder:
What balances life and death?
Do you trust God who has done all this already?