October 10: Acts 6 8-15

Key Verse: Acts 6 10
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Devotion:
If you don't believe me about getting wisdom through asking God for it, then take a page out of the Bible and see just what happened to Stephen. He was a man who did depend on God. He was able to do “great wonders and miracles” because he trusted God to provide them when he called on God. He knew God was listening all the time and he knew that God answered prayers. He knew that all he had to do was ask!

He asked for that wisdom and he was given it. He was then able to go out and do far more than he was able to before. He was even able to convince the people who tried to dispute the Word of God with him. He called on the Holy Spirit at that time to guide him and allow him to answer the questions which were put before him. He was able to answer them in such a manner the people could not fault him!

The only way that they could get their own way was to get “professional false witnesses”... People who had been paid to tell lies; they were paid off! They were willing to go to court and lie about what Stephen had said, which made the people paying them even bigger liars! But when he was face to face with the council, they saw in him the truth. They could tell that what he was saying was the truth – but that did not stop them because they had dug too deep a hole for themselves and did not want to lose face.

We are surrounded by people who are willing to go that extra lie to get their own way. People who are willing to get others to lie for them too! What we have to do is to keep to our word, keep to God's word and never give in to the temptation to bare false witness.

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever tried arguing a point which you know nothing about?

Will you let God explain things for you?

October 9: Proverbs 4 3-7

Key Verse: Proverbs 4 7
Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom.

Devotion:
You may think wisdom can only be gained from those who are more wise than you. But this is not entirely true because wisdom can be gained by seeing the stupid mistakes that others make as well. Wisdom can be gained by watching others. Wisdom can be gained by sitting is a classroom listening to the teacher. Wisdom can be gain by reading books. Wisdom can be gained by watching nature.

But true wisdom can only come from one source, and that is from God. We may not get messages straight from God, but we can understand what God wants us to do by keeping up with His Word. So long as we continue to keep reading His Word, He has a conduit through which He is able to feed us, to make us wiser. But if we are going to read His Word and then disregard it, we are doing nothing more than ignoring Him directly! And doing that is not going to help us at all! Remember yesterday’s key verse. To put it bluntly... If God had any stupidity, that stupidity would be wiser than our wisest thoughts! If God had any weaknesses, they would be stronger than our strongest strengths!

So long as we continue to keep up with God's Word and to bury those words in our hearts, they will guide us; then we have no need to fear anything for we are being guided by the best guide in the world! Continuing to listen to that guide when we have so much noise going on around us may be a very different problem we have to face up to though!

When we try to attain wisdom from the Bible and from the Holy Spirit, we will be shown the way and sent toward more understanding than we had ever imagined! God wants us to know more so we can help others to understand Him and His ways. God wants us to become wise enough to know His Word is true; but not to overthink things and think we know more than Him. We just don’t!

Points to Ponder:
Did you think your parents were wise when you were small?

Are you willing to admit you’re weak before God?

October 8: 1 Corinthians 1 18-25

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1 25
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Devotion:
There is a big difference in the way people perceive the Bible. When we are saved, we see it as something great, something to remember, something good, something strong... But to the unsaved, they see it as foolishness, and even a sign of weakness.

There is also a big difference in the way that we look at the world! The people that are not saved will see things as strong, see some people as wise, see money as the absolute. We, being saved, start to see through these things. We begin to see the wisdom of man as being a drop in the ocean, and the strength of man as a whisper of wind in a storm.

Think about just how much thought had to go into creating a single atom, the basic building block of everything. Man is still trying to figure out how the atom holds together and is constantly looking for more parts to the atom to explain the things they cannot explain. Man is still trying to figure out why atoms are stable when the forces within are so strong.

When we try and tell others of the Wisdom that resides within us from God, they will think of their own minds. When we start to try and explain things, we very quickly realise we are not as wise as we think we are. We need the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit to be within us if we are to try to explain a bit of the knowledge of the existence of that Wisdom. Never be defeated by the overwhelming thoughts about how great God is. God is more than we can imagine. God can guide you actively as you speak. God can control your mind. But He is waiting patiently, waiting for you to ask Him in to do the guiding. He will not take over your life. You must give it to Him!

Points to Ponder:
Does architecture amaze you?

How amazing is God to allow people to think like that?

October 7: 1 Timothy 6 6-10

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 6 9
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Devotion:
We worship a God who is all powerful. We worship a God who was able to stand up to every temptation direct from Satan. We worship a God who loves us so much He gave His Son to die for our sins so we would not have to pay that debt. But let us not stop there…

Jesus was tempted for 40 days! Have you ever been able to go 40 hours without being tempted, or even 40 minutes without being tempted? I know I would have difficulty trying to think of any extended time in my life where I did not think of something I should not have! Money does seem to crop up rather a lot too. But notice what Jesus did in every occasion. He held up the Word of God. He effectively shoved His Bible in Satan's face each time in a very straight forward manner. He did not shove it down his throat but enforced the idea the Bible holds the truth.

You cannot get anywhere in life by simply following the way of the world. Yes, you can get rich and get corrupted by money and give in to all the trimmings which follow on from money, but if you were to have a heart attack and die... where would it go? If you built up an empire based on wealth, would you be able to get away with murder? You probably think you can – if you had enough money you could find enough corrupt people to 'prove' your innocence. But the fact still remains, you are guilty and people will still know you are guilty!

God can and does forgive all of our sins. God is the ultimate judge who says the final “Innocent!” He alone is able to do that because He alone has covered our sins. Live with God and love Him and not the world.

Points to Ponder:
Do you pull others down by encouraging wrong doings?

Have you tried encouraging others through God’s Word?