December 20: Proverbs 11 24-26
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 25
The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.
Devotion:
God wants us to be sure we do understand not only His Word, but what it tells us about the way we should live. Many people shake a finger at rich people and say they are not being Christian because they have built up such wealth... but it is not what you have but how you use it that is important! If you are selfish with what God has allowed you to gain, then you are not doing what God has already done to you! If you use your gain to help others out, then you are doing what God has already done for you.
If we want to show our love for Christ this Christmas, we do not have to go out and buy the world a present, we need to go out and show the world they have a wonderful free gift waiting for them! One which will overshadow all the presents under the tree! If we do not sow seeds this year there will not be a harvest later on in the year!
What good are any things God gives us unless we use them to the full potential that God allows us to. This does not mean we have to go out and spend all our wealth on others. It does not mean we have to give everything away. But it does mean we should not ignore those in need when we have the ability to help others! If we have the water enough to water the crops, then we should not let them die, but tend to them so they may be plentiful in their time.
God has promised us that if we continue to show others our Christian love by giving them things we are able to, then He will make sure we have enough to continue giving and helping... and then some! He has promised us when we do give to others, more will be given to us; don’t go out to give so you can get more back because that is not giving in my books! If we are able to give to others but withhold what we do have then people will very quickly turn against us, telling us we are not good Christians! But as soon as we do show others the true Christian love that abide within us, He will ensure the blessings are not withheld from us!
Points to Ponder:
What Christmas gifts have you bought for others this year?
Do they need to know about God?
December 19: John 15 14-17
Key Verse: John 15 16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Devotion:
As friends, we should be willing to do things for each other. We should be willing to listen to the needs of others and to be able to do things for them to fulfil those needs. Not to have to wait until we are asked, but to do them willingly... just because we love our friends.
Jesus made sure the disciples knew He was treating them like friends, that He wanted their relationship to be a close one. His love for us continues to be shown in the same way it was shown to the disciples. He continues to love us unconditionally as a friend should. All we have to do is to show Him a bit of that love back by following His commandments that He has already shown us. We don't have to wait, because He has already asked us. I may have said this a few time already, but this is because it is important.
He wants us to be friends because friends know their friends better than a servant knows his master. He wants to show us He knows us better than we think! He wants us to know Him as well as a best friend should know a friend. We can do that by following His commandments and by reading up on His Word. Yes it is important!
He wants us to be sure He has not hidden any secrets from us from the beginning of time right through to the future. He wants us to know He has been 100% open with us and has shared everything with us. A friend should be able to share everything with a friend no matter what it is and to know those words are safe. The best thing is that anything is possible through Christ Jesus, so this friend we have is actually able to do everything for us! But probably the most important thing God wants us to do is to share His gospel with others. How else are the others going to get to hear about the gospel in this dark world?
Points to Ponder:
Do you share everything with friends?
Do you share the Gospel with them?
December 18: John 15 9-13
Key Verse: John 15 11
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Devotion:
One of the best ways of showing your love towards someone is to do things for them. If we are going to show our love for other people, then we should be willing to do things for them, even when they do not need it. But to show them true love, you must not do things that are untoward or unkind, even when they are misguided into thinking that they need them. The great thing about doing what God would want us to do is we are guaranteed that what He needs and wants of us is 100% correct and true. If we are willing to do whatsoever He asks of us, then we are guaranteed we will be doing the right thing. There is no error in Christ!
So to show God that we do love Him, we must be willing to do His work whenever He asks. Not whenever we think we can fit it in, but whenever it is required! Before we knew Him, before we even knew of Him, He was willing to lay down His own life for us. He was willing to do that just in the hope we will turn our lives round and follow Him. His love for us is so awesome we will never be able to understand it while here on earth.
It is one thing for a soldier to rush in on adrenaline to give us his life for us (even though we do not deserve that either), but it is another thing for Christ to willingly go forward to face the horror that He did just for us. We certainly did not deserve that sort of love.
As we get closer to Christmas, we are still reminded we should be showing compassion and love one towards another, but we get reminded less and less each year about the One who started Christmas! The one who came to earth as a man so He can show us His great love. All He asks us in return is to show a bit of that love back by following His commandments. For as long as we follow His commandments, we will be more willing to do His work and to show others how great a joy we find in Him.
Points to Ponder:
How do you show love toward others?
How will you show God your love today?
December 17: John 15 1-8
Key Verse: John 15 7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Devotion:
What gives you more confidence in something than being able to actually experience it and practice it? What gives you a better understanding of something that being able to find out what can go wrong? What gives you a better feeling about something than knowing you have someone close by who will be able to help if anything gets out of hand?
When Jesus started this talk to the disciples just before the last supper. He had so much to say and not too much time left to say it within. He wanted to make sure they understood what they had left to do with their lives. He also wanted them to know they must depend on Him for everything. This was probably a bit of a struggle for them to understand just after being told that He was going to die, but using the vine branch as an example was excellent.
If you want your vine, or even a fruit tree, to produce more fruit at the right time of the year, you have to tend to it in many ways. One of those ways is by pruning; cutting away the useless branches and trimming back the good branches so they will be invigorated. The more you trim back a branch (so long as you know what you are doing) the more the shrub or tree will to likely to produce. Another way of making sure the plant survives is by cutting off a piece of a good branch and splicing it into another tree so it has a good place to grow.
We are like those branches. We need a good environment in which to grow. We need to be cut back now and again so we continue to grow in the right ways. If we were to be let loose to grow as we please, we would not choose the right ways and we would end up being useless in many ways and good in only a few. But whilst there is someone to keep us in trim, we continue to be of the very best use! If we were to start failing in one environment, moving us to another may well be the answer for us, so we can expand to our full potential. But whatever way we look at it, we are nothing without the ultimate gardener to tend to us. We are nothing without the love and care from that gardener. We need only ask for His assistance and we will get it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you look forward or backward when things go wrong?
Will you ask God for help to continue forward?
December 16: John 14 28-31
Key Verse: John 14 30
I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Devotion:
Have you ever stopped to think who is in control of your life? Have you ever stopped to think what things you actually let control your life? Have you ever stopped to think what your weak points are? If each one of us were to be brutally honest with ourselves, we would see just how much we make compromises in our lives. We would be able to see just how far we let ourselves go each and every day. We would be able to see just how much we give in to the evil one each day!
Although Jesus was doing His best to show the disciples how much He had depended on His Father and how much He had trusted in God all the time, He also warned them about just who was in control of the earth. Yes, we are living in the period of His grace (living after His ultimate sacrifice so that we still can attain eternal life through Him simply by believing in Him) but we are still living in a world that surrounds us with evil.
The world we live in is a place where people give in to Satan every day without knowing or realising it. His deceptive ways have so corrupted the world that he continues to enjoy a whole lot of control over so many people. Not just the unsaved, but Christians as well. We do give in to the ideas that he plants in our heads, we do give in to the people he uses to corrupt us, we do give in to things... because it is so much easier to do so – or to fit in with the crowd!
Jesus surrounded this warning with words of encouragement, telling them He was about to do more because it was God's Will. He was doing things because it would glorify God. He did not carry on things because it was easier to do them; He was facing a terrible few days! But He knew He was going to join God in Heaven shortly. He did it to show us just how we can love God too. He did it to show us how we can obey God if we choose. He did it to show us we do not need to give in to Satan quite as much as we do. God is here with us to help us and guide us all the time!
Points to Ponder:
What have you compromised in today?
Did you ask God to help you avoid things today?