December 15: John 14 27
Key Verse: John 14 27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Devotion:
The disciples were about to witness the awful truth that was ahead. They were about to witness Christ going to the cross for sins that He had not committed. They were about to be left by the very one who had them leave their own lives behind. They had given up their lives to follow Christ as disciples; yet when the time was nigh, He had nothing earthly to give to them. We are used to people leaving behind things for others to have...
What Christ was leaving behind was far more than anyone else could leave. He was leaving His perfect peace: (Philippians 4 7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”) But He was leaving it to them, not the sort of peace we try to have and try to give others, but in His own way. A Way that we do not fully comprehend, yet we feel it when He gives it to us.
Just like a young child will run into their father's arms for protection, we have that place of refuge open to us in His Arms. More than a child can find peace in their parents being in the same room as them at night, we can find peace wherever we are because we know that He is always with us! Have you ever tried to find the word protect in the Bible? It is not used other than to mock the lack of protection other gods offer to people. What God gives us is far more than protection! Protection implies a limit outside of which there is no protection. What God gives us crossed all boundaries and will maintain us much more than any protection can give us!
The love of God has already crossed all boundaries for us to see. His Son has willingly laid down His life for us so we may live. He has given us life in the face of death. With this knowledge and the words which Christ spoke to the disciples, how can we ever be afraid of anything in our lives again!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you go for for protection?
Do you depend on God for protection?
December 14: John 14 19-26
Key Verse: John 14 26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Devotion:
The Holy Spirit is with us all the time. As a comforter, He continues to allow us to understand situations we would otherwise find difficult to bear. He gives us inner peace when we would otherwise fall apart. He holds us tight when we think we are flying apart.
The disciples still did not quite understand what was going to happen but Jesus was telling them all things so they would remember what happened when the time was right. He continued to minister to the disciples all the time, caring for them as only a Father could. He is able to go one step further than any earthly father today can. I'm sure any fathers wish today would be able to leave someone behind who would be able to look after and care for their children when he does die. Jesus has given that gift to all who believe!
He made sure the disciples knew that when the Holy Spirit comes to all who believe, He makes us His home. He does not come for a visit but stays with us all the time. So everything we do after that point is with Him. Every step we take can be guided by Him. Every action we take can be guided by Him. Yet He does not force us to do anything. If we so wish, we can continue to do wrong, say wrong, be wrong, but His love for us dictates that He will never leave us. Do every time we do do wrong, He is grieved as He is there with us!
The disciples were the ones who heard these things straight from Jesus' mouth. They were the ones who were given the words. They were the ones who would have to write them down so we can have them as an eternal Word. The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples so they could remember what Christ had said to each of them. They were given the wisdom to be able to recall His words and write them down. As believers we also have the Holy Spirit. We also have Him as a helping hand to remember His Word so we can pass it on to others. Don't be stuck for words, just trust in Him.
Points to Ponder:
Are our school teaches with us every second of every day?
Will you trust the Holy Spirit always?
December 13: Proverbs 11 23
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 23
The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Devotion:
This may sound like quite different scenarios, but think about it for a bit. When you get mad with someone or something, you expect bad things to happen. You expect things to go wrong. You expect there to be some sort of fight, not necessarily between two people, but between two situations. And yet when you are feeling good, you want good things to happen. You probably even go out of your way to make sure that good comes from certain situations.
So why do we find phrases that are just common sense in the Bible? Why are they not teaching us about God? The answer is they are. When we see the physical evidence of what God is like (when Jesus came to us) we see the first part of our phrase. We see that He did everything for the good of mankind. His desire was only for good. His desire was to please His Father. His desire was to Glorify God. The best way He could do that was to make sure that everything happened for the good!
When we see the physical evidence of what man is like (we don't just have to look in the Bible, but anywhere) we see the second part of our phrase. We expect bad things to happen in our lives. We expect arguments. We expect fights. We expect wars. We expect evil. That is the life we are brought up in. As young children we are often not aware of the evil that is all around us, but as we grow, we become more apparent of that evil. The more aware we are of it, the more we expect it to play some part in our lives. We become slaves to the evil.
The only way out of this pit is to make sure we have God actively in our lives and we aim follow His desire, His will, His expectations and not our own. Our minds are full of the trappings of evil. There are times when we just cannot seem to make any sense of things and fall into its trap. But if we were to truly listen to The Holy Spirit, we would be able to avoid it in our lives and avoid the arguments we jump into!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like fighting?
Does any good come out of it?
December 12: John 14 15-18
Key Verse: John 14 15
f you love Me, keep My commandments.
Devotion:
The second promise Jesus gave to the disciples to tell the world was that He would send us a comforter. He would send us the Holy Spirit who would abide within us forever. But not just to anyone, but to those of us who believe in Him.
One of the hard things to do nowadays is to stand out from the crowd, not in a sense of being different by dressing up in strange clothes, but by being a real Christian. God wants us to do our best to keep His commandments... not that we may find any salvation through keeping them, but so we can stand apart from the world. By keeping the commandments, we are steered away from the trappings of this world which surround us all the time, the temptations which goad at our sides each day and the stumbling stones which trip us up when we walk with our eyes closed.
We are open to so many things that do lead us astray so when we do just go with the world we will continue to walk against God each and every day. But by doing what we can to follow the commandments, we are at least assuring ourselves we are aiming in the right direction. For while we are at least focused on God's Word, we have a good chance of The Holy Spirit being able to make His voice heard!
When you go to a disco, how easy is it to hear someone sitting across the table from you? If we are in a quiet room we have a better chance. If we are going to allow ourselves to walk into bad situations, we have to put up with not being able to hear that small quiet voice telling us anything! Jesus Christ has been faithful to deliver on each and every one of His promises. All we have to do is to listen to those promises, listen to what they are telling us, listen to the advice they give us, listen to His requests... listen to the commandments...
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you pretend not to hear someone’s advice?
Do you ignore God’s advice?
December 11: John 14 12-14
Key Verse: John 14 14
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Devotion:
Jesus continued with His promises to the disciples and to us in this passage. He knew the disciples were not going to be happy with the fact He was going to die and He wanted to make sure they were aware that they were still going to be supported even after His death.
The first line of support was that of prayer. Jesus makes it quite clear we can do many wonders in His name. So long as we have faith He is going to do things through us, then we can do them; it does not have to be bucket loads of faith either. But the only reason why we shall be able to do things is so that God will be glorified. If we are going to go out and try and make ourselves look good as a Christian, to go and help others and do things for others because we want to, then we are not going to be able to do anything more than we are physically able. But if we change our attitude and go out and try and do things so that God will be glorified, if we go out and do things in Christ's name, then He will be there to carry out those tasks with or for us. Physically we cannot do miracles, but He can and still does. He does them through us or for us. Just like He has promised!
But the most important thing we must remember is that we have to take it to The Lord in prayer. It is such a fine line between making ourselves look good and doing something for Christ. If we are not sure about what we should be doing, then we had better be sure by taking it to Him in prayer. We can gain answers to those questions by reading His Word. He has left this incredible legacy behind which continues to stand firm for every one of us who read it. His Word is complete and continues to be complete!
So if you are worried about something, unsure about something, questioning something, or just need to know, then take it to Him in Prayer. He will not shout out the answer for all to hear whilst you ask Him, but He will answer you so long as you listen. We listen by watching things around us and reading His Word...
Points to Ponder:
How often did you say “I’m going to tell Dad” as a child?
How often do you tell your Heavenly Father?