January 29: Luke 15 8-10
Key Verse: Luke 15 10
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Devotion:
I would love to know exactly what Jesus was talking about in this parable because whatever these coins were they were quite valuable; losing one was worth spending time looking for it rather than forgetting because you still have 9 others. Speaking to other people about the things they care for is quite enlightening; you find out how some people are so focused on the material things in their lives, how others are focused on the sentimental things and others on the spiritual things.
No matter which way you look at this, spending time looking for something that is of great value to you just seems normal. This is how God sees us. We are of great value to Him, not just because we are very complex mammals which He created but because we have the ability to love Him just as He loves us. I thank Him daily for loving me but I am amazed at how He can love me when I have the ability to do so much wrong in my life.
Have you ever ‘lost’ your keys or your glasses? Sometimes I have been late for work or for an appointment because I put my glasses down in a safe place and no matter how much I try to look for them I don’t think of looking in that safe place… until I spot them in a silly place where I would not normally put them! But God is not like that with us. He may be compared to the woman in this parable and we may be compared to the coin but He does not have to search everywhere for us; He has His eyes on us at all times!
We may feel like we are lost and that He is having to search for us, but in reality He already knows, we just have lost sight of Him. We are not lost by Him; we are just lost in our own eyes and as seen by our own eyes. We are worth a whole lot more than any coin and even any bird as Jesus also told the disciples when in the market place. We are very valuable to Him and He continues to search for us because of His love for us. That is just amazing for me!
Points to Ponder:
What do you value in life?
Do you know your worth to God?
January 28: Psalms 27 7-14
Key Verse: Psalms 27 14
Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
Devotion:
Ok, so we know The Lord can give us the strength... We know The Lord can look after us... We know The Lord has already won the battle... What are we going to do about it? Too many times in our lives we take God for granted. Yes, He wants us to put our faith and trust in Him. He wants us to depend on Him for everything. He wants to be able to supply our every need. He wants to be our everything; but how can He be anything in our lives if we are not going to let Him know exactly that!
“Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice...” When we want Him to do something for us, we have to let Him know! It is no good us ignoring Him and allowing Him to continue providing and basically running our lives if we are not going to show Him we are at least thinking of Him! We can trust Him to do everything for us, but He wants us to continually ask in prayer for those things we require. Why? Because we are the ones who need constant reminding that we are depending on Him!
What happens to you when you get given everything on a plate? You become complacent and think everything will continue to be given to you. We tend to take too much for granted! When our little world starts to collapse around us, we suddenly start to cry out to God for comfort and support! What we should be doing is continually asking for that comfort and support. For as long as we do, we will be reminding ourselves about the comfort and support God does give to us all the time. We will continue to build up our trust and faith in exactly the way God wants us to.
God is patient enough to watch and wait for us all the time. He is there waiting and watching. But are we doing the right thing and speaking to Him, or are we ignoring Him and continuing to think we can go it alone until we trip up?
Points to Ponder:
How many friends have you lost contact with?
How good is your conversation with God?
January 27: Psalms 3 5-6
Key Verse: Psalms 3 6
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around.
Devotion:
You don't have to be at war with anyone in order to be afraid of them. You don't have to be fighting to be afraid either. There are many things in our lives that intimidate us, as well as many people that do the same. There are many good reasons to be afraid too. If we were not afraid of anything, we would most likely do something stupid and end up without a life to live!
As Christians, we are in constant battle with the forces of evil. If Satan had his way, we would be bowing before him now, but God has already provided our Salvation. He has already done everything required to defeat Satan and because of that, we no longer have to be under his control. This does not mean that we can become complacent in any way because the evil is there and close by, we are living in a world willing to give in to evil empires and evil governments. Why? Because they do think they can get away with it. They think this way because they want to have things their own way! But what they do not realise is Christ is protective over us, watching and witnessing everything in all of our lives. There is no way they will get away with things!
As long as we are willing to show The Lord that we do believe and follow Him, He is more than willing to make sure we have the strength to continue our struggle. And that it is! Our struggle in everyday life is because of the evil which surrounds us all the time. We continue to struggle because we think we have to fight all the way... But what we should be doing is placing more trust and faith in Christ to deliver us from evil. He will show us the way and give us the strength we need!
Rest assured we will get to see Him, we will get to heaven, we will survive the enemy surrounding us... Because Christ has won that battle for us already!
Points to Ponder:
How do you see evil around you?
The evil one is always close by waiting for people to trip up!
January 26: James 3 13-18
Key Verse: James 3 17
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Devotion:
How would you describe wisdom? Most people would say it is having more knowledge about a subject than others. Whilst that in itself is true, I think wisdom is a whole lot more than just knowing more than others. What happens to us when we learn something new? We want to be able to show others we know something new; but how we go about that makes a huge difference to our standing with others.
We could boast about it to others by telling them some of what we know so we can show that we are better than them in some way. If someone boasts about some knowledge to us, then we would envy that person's knowledge. In both of these instances, strife is being build up between two or more people.
What happens when we think we know what has to be done? Particularly when we think we know and someone else, who clearly does not know comes along and guesses the right answer to the problem? Our first reaction may well be to try and bring that person down. We know they have come up with the truth, but they have no idea if it is or not. In this case we would be trying to distort the truth in some way to make ourselves come out on top again.
You do not have to look too far around you to see the effects of a little “wisdom” in people’s lives. You do not have to look far before you too can see just how bad some people can make things just because they know a little more than others. How can this be called wisdom? Wisdom, as described in these verses, is the ability to have knowledge about something and to be able to use that knowledge in a way where it teaches others without causing strife. That way of using knowledge will ensure that peace is maintained. That ‘wisdom’ will be keen to teach, keen to promote itself in such a way as to maintain the student’s reputation!
Points to Ponder:
Do you respect teachers?
Do you try to teach with wisdom, justice and fairness?
January 25: James 3 3-10
Key Verse: James 3 8
But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Devotion:
How many people have you called two-faced, but not to their faces? How many people have you called liars, but not to their faces? How many people have done the same to you? How many times have you said one thing to one person and another to another? We all seem to have a problem with our mouths at one stage or another – be it the things that we say under duress, or the things that we do not say.
There are many small things in life that can change big things. Take the bit in a horse’s mouth; small, but effective. Or the rudder on a ship, small but equally effective. Each can be used to great effect, but similarly if they are used in the wrong manner they can be used with dire consequences! Our mouths are those small things in our lives that can be used effectively, or disastrously!
We have all seen the cartoons of people with large noses being seen approaching corners because of their noses, but in truth what we have is a string of words coming out of our mouths that can be heard before we are seen. The effects of those words are going to travel much quicker than we can. When we say something wrong, everyone gets to hear about it before we can try patch up the mistake. We cannot grab the words in mid-air to take them back. People would already have been making up their minds about us before we can have a change to explain.
The more we allow to come out of our mouths, the more we think they are normal and the more we are willing to allow them to come out! But if we were able to hear ourselves talking, maybe we would start to think twice about the things we say. People are not able to hear our thoughts, but they can hear our words. We can think “good” as much as we like, but unless the same goodness is going to flow out of our mouths, we are not going to be able to convince people of our true intentions. Too many times people get the wrong idea just because we let something out during a time of stress. Take a second before you speak!
Points to Ponder:
How many friends think they have been let down with what they think has been said by you?
Where do people’s opinions of you come from?