April 14: Isaiah 11 1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 11 4
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Devotion:
For many years the people of Israel were told of the Messiah that was to come and that He would come from the line of Jesse and that He would do so much. They were told of His second coming where He would judge the remnant. All they would have to do is to believe in Him and to trust and obey His Word. So why did it go so wrong? Why did they crucify Him instead of worshipping Him?
If we look at our own ways and our own lives we can get an insight into why some rejected Him and why some recognised Him. If we are willing to trust God’s Word and to really search our own selves then we may easily believe in Christ. It is also easy to get caught up in the law and leave Christ out of it. If we stick with the rules and regulations we can reject Christ because He, as a man, was breaking the rules that had been set up. But what we need to recognise is that the laws were set up so we could recognise the truth not so we could reject everything.
We do have to be careful because of the number of false prophets and false teachers that will come up to try and persuade us away from Christ. There are many people who may think they have the right to lay down their own truth and their own ways; they may even believe that Christ has given them instruction to do so. What God did in the beginning, though, was to warn us of such people and to remind us that He would never go against His Word. Jesus the man did not go against the Word because He was fulfilling the words of prophecy told many years before.
The tricky part comes for us when we don’t know enough of the word to recognise when Christ was fulfilling scripture and when others come and teach their own words instead of God’s Word. Jesus demonstrated how we should fear God, how we should not judge others, how we should not believe our eyes or ears alone. Christ showed us proper and righteous judgement, caring for the poor and needy and how to uphold the scriptures. Let us follow His example.
Points to Ponder:
Would you have believed Jesus?
Do you know God enough to tell Him apart from others?
April 13: 1 John 5 14-17
Key Verse: 1 John 5 14
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Devotion:
Just who do you pray for in your time of prayer? Do you pray just for the people you know and love? Do you just pray for yourself? Do you offer up and all-encompassing ‘to whom it may concern’ in the hopes of catching everyone? We can learn a lot from the letters written by the apostles because they learned about prayer through example – the example Jesus showed them during His ministry on earth.
Our prayers should be specific in that we should know what we are asking for and about whom we should be praying for; just asking God to bless everybody is like trying to water a field of crops with a watering can. We will be making a difference but it is going to take a long time for us to identify whether the prayer is being answered. If we are persistent and direct in our prayers we will be able to see much better how God honours our prayers and answers them. That in turn will allow us to be encouraged more and to glorify God more.
Is it then a lost hope to pray for some people? If we know what they are up to we can pray that they will be turned away from what they are doing. What if we know they are up to evil deeds and know they are not sorry for what they are doing? Should we expect God to forgive them? Jesus prayed that the people would turn away from their deeds, that they would understand what they are doing wrong, that they would understand who God is. Targeting our prayer is important!
I thank God that there was someone who was willing to pray for me to gain understanding and to accept Christ into my own life. I thank Him because I know it was happening and I know God answered those prayers. So let us start to make our own prayer life a bit more meaningful by praying for individuals and for certain events and circumstances. God is still the God of miracles. Trust and ask.
Points to Ponder:
Will you pray for someone now?
Will you trust God to answer that prayer now?
April 12: 1 John 1 5-10
Key Verse: 1 John 1 6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Devotion:
This was probably one of the best descriptions that Christ gave to His disciples, that He is the Light of the World. When we find ourselves in the darkest of places, even a tiny shaft of light can light up enough space for us to feel comfortable again. Light will find its way into very small spaces and shine through them into the void of darkness to bring a ray of hope.
The disciples now knew why Christ had described Himself as Light and now they wanted others to see the same truth. But it is not just about having that ray of hope or that glimmer of light. It is about making an opening to let light into your life instead of closing everything off to block it out. Whilst it is very difficult to totally shut out light, it is possible; and when we shut it out the darkness is all-encompassing. If we then allow a little light into the darkness the light will make known all that is going on in the darkness…
If we are shutting out the light so we can do something untoward in the darkness, then letting that glimmer of light in will show us up! This is why Christ wants us to admit to those things before the light finds us out. If we can admit to them first He will be able to forgive us before we get into trouble.
But that does not mean we should continue doing wrong even in the light! God wants us to turn away from doing wrong by accepting His forgiveness and putting aside our temptations to continue doing wrong. Turning aside from sin is not always easy, but with Christ helping us we can do it and we can live a glorious life in the Light. Live with the Light of the World and live well!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like watching a sunrise?
Are you allowing Christ to flood your life?
April 11: Acts 6 1-4
Key Verse: Acts 6 3
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
Devotion:
When things get busy in your work for God what gets put to one side? Do you stop your prayers, stop your reading, or stop your time set aside with God? It seems bad when we talk about it in this light and wonder what we give up to do the work, but far too often we do not stop to think about our personal time with God. We like to think that if we keep ourselves busy with His work then we are doing OK and we may not have time to do all the personal things…
What happens in a relationship with friends when you get too busy to see them or speak to them? What happens when you have to turn them down because you are too busy? It does not seem too bad until we are on the receiving end of this sort of thing and then we complain about the lack of attention or love! I don’t hear God complaining, but I know that He has every right to complain the way that we act with Him!
We have people around us and they actually do say “let me help you.” If we are going to keep our time with God in order then maybe we should be allowing those people to help us in whatever capacity they can. If we overload ourselves we fall apart and we cannot do what we set out to do. If we overload our friends, they are the ones who cannot cope. We need to find that happy median where we are able to help each other and still allow each of us to spend that all important time with God.
The disciples saw that they were too busy and they set aside time to organise helpers who would be able to do some work for them. The people may not be coming forward to volunteer because they cannot see a need. But if we ask people they will see the need and they will probably step up to help; but we need to ask first. Jesus made sure that we all know that we have to ask Him before He can do some things…
Points to Ponder:
Do you suffer from overwork?
Do you know Christians around you?
April 10: Acts 5 1-11
Key Verse: Acts 5 4
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Devotion:
If you have ever used the excuse “God helps those who help themselves” in order to have your own way with something in your life, then I would like you to go through this with me. I know I have used that sort of logic before and it has never worked the way I intended! When we start to think that we know best we start to find out the hard way that we fall very far short of the mark – always!
Now I am not saying that we all need to sell up everything we have and give it into the pot to share with everyone else – though we would all be far better off if we could do that, what I am saying is take on board what is being said here! Ananias and Sapphira had their plot of land which they sold in order to share the same as everyone else was doing. But in comes the inner workings of all of our hearts, that same deceit we all carry round with us. Both of them agreed to keep back part of the money so they could have something good, much like us selling something and only putting half of the money in the bank and spending the other half on buying some luxury for ourselves.
Where did this go wrong? Well it probably started going wrong by the two of them thinking they could join the commune. They did not have the right attitude to join in with the rest of the people to start with. If we do not have the right attitude to work with those around us, no matter how much we do we will not be working with the right attitude and it will tell from the start!
Then they gave in to their temptations and everything went pear shaped from then on! God is not looking for people who can work 99 hours a week and still keep going! God is not looking for people who will pay for everything. God is looking for people who will be honest with themselves as well as honest with Him. God wants us to do what we can but always to try and do it for His glory and not for anybody or anything else. Love God and be honest with that love!
Points to Ponder:
Do you love God?
Are you showing Him your real love?