June 8: Genesis 15 1-6
Key Verse: Genesis 15 6
And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Devotion:
Some people can relate directly to the story of Abraham not having children. Whilst I do have my own children and grandchildren, I do see and feel the hurt in other people’s eyes when I see them without. Just because we get married and love our spouses and do all things the right way does not mean we will automatically have children and families. Our bodies are incredibly complicated and only doctors and scientists will understand just how hard it should be to have children – and yet God allows it!
Abraham and Sarah could not see how it would be possible to have children as they got older and older, so as a last ditch attempt they tried to take a short-cut and Sarah got Abraham to sleep with the servant Hagar… This was not God’s plan and deep down I’m fairly sure both Abraham and Sarah knew it. God made this covenant with Abraham and when God makes a promise we should be absolutely sure He will carry out His promise!
When Abraham questioned God’s promise God came back and explained it would be his own child born to him and Sarah and not any other child born in their house. The Jews had laws which they began to introduce alongside God’s laws and they began treating them as important as God’s word. Abraham and Sarah were trying to introduce something of their own to work alongside God’s word. Neither of these things will work because man’s word is just that.
God will bless us when the time is right and He will make sure we have things according to our needs. Our lot is to wait patiently for the Lord and not to try and work things out our own way when we already know God’s ways are perfect. Christ came to earth in human form to fulfil God’s law and to show us it is all true. Allow God to work in your life today…
Points to Ponder:
How good do you think you are?
Can you compare to Christ?
June 7: 2 Chronicles 20 14-23
Key Verse: 2 Chronicles 20 20
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”
Devotion:
I do love looking back in the Old Testament at the things God did for the people of Israel. From the miracles through the desert journeys to the things that happened during the reign of the kings, God continued to show Israel He was there with them and looking out for them. This is one of the stories that should be sung about all the time to remind us of how much God can do and how much He does when we believe.
Zechariah’s son was told by God this was going to be the day God showed His power to everybody; all Judah had to do was to believe God. What they did was profound and an example we should aspire to. They did not just believe but they placed their lives in God’s hands and they went forward praising God before they saw what God could do. If we were bold enough to praise God for victory before He gave it to us, should we not expect similar results?
Our problem is we have doubts and we allow those doubts to overcome our belief in what God can do. It is not the fact that God cannot do what we ask because He can do anything. It is not the fact we ask Him in the wrong manner so to speak. It is more likely to be us asking Him and then either trying to do it ourselves or allowing those doubts to come back and rule over God.
Do not be discouraged when things do not go your way because it may not be the right time for things to happen according to God. Judah had faced many things and it was the son of the prophet Zechariah who came forward to say the time was now right. Waiting on God can be very difficult because we often want to get on and do things in our own time. Waiting too long is also easier than listening to God if He asks difficult things from us. But listening to God and believing totally should be our aim.
Points to Ponder:
Do you ask God for things?
Do you always wait on God?
June 6: Mark 5 35-42
Key Verse: Mark 5 36
As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
Devotion:
How many times do we lift up our prayers to God with doubts in our minds because we know we are asking for something we have not been able to do or asking for something that we do not think is possible? How many times has God answered seemingly impossible requests in the past; and yet we still doubt? The doubts come into our minds and eat away at the core of our faith breaking down our strength in Christ because we start thinking God is not all powerful.
Jesus turned to the ruler or the synagogue and told him to just believe, to believe that this was possible and in the healing for his daughter. I am not advocating any false hope here because we will not all be healed as this girl was, but what I am saying is that we need to believe that anything is possible with Christ! What we tend to do is to limit God’s abilities through what we know is possible. What Christ was saying to the ruler was he should stop worrying and believe.
Yes it is very hard to believe in something we think is not possible and even more so when we deal with things we ‘know’ are impossible. We have lived our lives and we have learned many things about life we think are cast in stone because we see them happen all the time. Turning to Christ and believing He can do more than what we ask is something we just don’t get; until He answers!
I think one of the hardest things to accept would be the death of your child. Fortunately I have not had to deal with that so far and always lift up my children in prayer because I know God can protect them much more than I can! Does that stop me worrying? No, I still worry and I still lift up yet more prayers because I love my children and family. God wants us to believe. That means lifting up our prayers and knowing inside He will answer. Lifting up His word knowing He will work in other people’s lives. Lifting up each other knowing He will get the glory.
Points to Ponder:
How sure is your belief?
Do you know God knows your belief?
June 5: Mark 5 25-31
Key Verse: Mark 5 28
For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
Devotion:
One the way to see the daughter of Jairus, Jesus was surrounded by many people trying to get close, hear what He said, touch Him and even try to get themselves healed. This woman had faith in Christ’s abilities to such an extent she just wanted to be able to touch Jesus’ garment and supposed she would be healed. She had not openly told Jesus, not the disciples and probably nobody else either what she intended to do…
And yet as soon as she touched Jesus’ clothes He was able to sense healing had gone out to someone of great faith. Jesus was so sensitive to the needs of and the faith of the people around Him and probably wanted to be able to heal many more people than just those who came forward. He knew each person around Him and He knew their needs; even amongst such a great crowd of people jostling to get close, He was still able to pick up individual needs.
There is nothing we can hide from Christ and nothing He does not know about us. He wants us to be honest and open about our needs, not because He wants to see us begging but because He will get greater glory when others see Him answering prayers openly than silent prayers answered in secret. Jesus wanted to give the glory to God so stopped and questioned who had been healed to make sure others knew what had happened.
He did not stop and question because He was cross or to apportion blame. He stopped and questioned to make sure God was given the glory at that point in time because He knew this woman had had this issue for many years. God wants to continue healing people today and He still gets the greater glory when we do so publically rather than in private. Lift up God and give Him the glory publically for all He does for you.
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to ask God to do things in private?
Have you tried to ask in public?
June 4: Philippians 2 1-4
Key Verse: Philippians 2 3
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Devotion:
The Apostle’s encouragement to the people of Philippi is to look out for one another and not just to focus on themselves. So many things in modern society tell us how well we can get on or how much more we can earn or how much better we would be if we just looked after ourselves properly. Well, yes, we could be a lot better off if we looked after ourselves, but at what cost? Some business people would go as far as suggesting we do not take notice of others because they will bring us down; society shows us we all tend to fail when we do not look out for each other.
Life is not just about being a successful person in your life, career, school or other way of living. Life is also about the people around you and it is amazing how we can destroy others just by not caring for them. How bad do you feel when someone turns their back on you just when you need them? How bad do you feel when someone blames you for something they did wrong? I’m sure we have all been in a position where something like this has happened so we could empathise a little.
When we look out for the people around us we get more of a positive response from them than when we ignore them. This is the very basis of friendship, being able to be a support to others in one form or another. It does not have to be bailing them out with money or spending all of yours to feed them, it can just be offering a hand of friendship so they have someone to talk to when they need it. It can be going round to someone’s place and just saying hi when they are feeling lonely.
In order to be more of a friend to the people around us, we have to admit we need people sometimes. If we are very popular we may not see how much we need others, because there are always people there; but having people there is the key. If we are popular we may not think of going round to see someone who is not at all popular – but they probably need it more than others. Admitting we need others can also be difficult because we think of that as being weak; but friendship is what builds us up!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have many friends?
Do you try to be friends with others?