April 4: Mark 16 1-7
Key Verse: Mark 16 6
But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
Devotion:
Tomorrow we celebrate Easter Sunday. We celebrate the risen Lord. We celebrate all things wonderful about Christ after a very sad and confused day yesterday for many. Most of us know what it is like to lose someone close to us and when we do we often go into some sort of automated mode where we just do stuff instead of reflecting on what has just happened. It is not just the everyday things we get caught up in turning into habits but those awkward times when we turn our duty mode on and our hearts off so we can cope.
Christ would rather we give our grief to Him than bury it because we think we cannot cope. If we don’t want to handle it alone then we need to share it with someone and Christ is always going to be here with us to share it with us. When Jesus rose from the tomb He did not disappear and leave us all wondering relying on an angel or two to deliver the news, he stuck around and made sure we would be ok.
Friends don’t turn and run away when we get upset, they gather around and help us get through things. Christ may be in Heaven right now, but He has never left us alone. He came to give us life by seeking for and saving the lost. As long as we are willing to come to Him and believe this is what He has done for us, then we are on the winning side already! I thank God that He allowed Jesus to come and save me from my terrible state I was in – but I had to ask!
Easter is our time when we remember all that Christ has done for us. The world has been caught up in all manner of strange ways of celebrating Easter as a big party event or a chocolate feast or other strange events. Christ simply wants us to remember what he has done for us so we can have faith that He is with us to the very end. Trust Him and live for Him!
Points to Ponder:
What do you do over Easter?
Are you trusting Christ?
April 3: Hebrews 10 11-18
Key Verse: Hebrews 10 17
then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Devotion:
Have you noticed how much of a creature of habit you can be at times? How you get caught up in doing the same things over and over again just because that is what is always done or because everyone else does it that way? If we are not careful then our Christianity can get like that as well, we get caught up in doing the stuff because that is what is done rather than doing it because you want to do something for God or to serve Christ. It can seem a fine line between doing church work and serving God but when you start to look at what your heart says about your work, things become clearer.
Christ came to break the mould once and for all. He did not want to see people get caught up in sacrifices, duty, habits and whatever other excuse people use to make it look like they are Christians. Christ wants us to be honest and open about our Christianity and about our relationship with Him. We may hide our relationship with others at times but our relationship with Christ needs to be out in the open for all to see – that is the way the Gospel is spread.
It cannot start from doing stuff and hoping that will show people how much we love God – that is just doing stuff! It has to start from your heart which then leads you to do things for Christ which then allows others to see your relationship with Christ. Just doing stuff shows others that you can do stuff. Well, anyone can do stuff, but not everyone is willing to show others they love Christ openly.
Christ wants us to remember His covenant, His promises, with us. He wants us to show others how much they mean to us. He wants us to trust in those promises. He has promised us to take our sin debt away from us and leave us without blame – as long as we are willing to believe in Him and trust Him to do that. He has shown us what He has already done, can we now show Him what we can do?
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust Christ?
Do you follow Him?
April 2: 1 Corinthians 11 23-26
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 11 26
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Devotion:
The Lord wanted to encourage the disciples to remember Him often when He was not physically with them. What better place and time to remember God than when we eat and drink? I know that fast food and strange eating habits have taken the meal away from the table but that does not necessarily mean we have to leave God out of our thoughts even though we may not be meeting for a meal around the family table.
When we look back on the life of the Jews and the relationship they had with God we see a recurring theme: They would have difficulties and call on God. Their relationship would grow closer as they depended on Him more. They would become happy as they had prayers answered. They would grow lax in their relationship with God. God would warn them they are walking away from Him. They would get lost and find themselves in difficult times. They would call out to God again… and the cycle repeated over and over again.
We still live in that same cycle as we go away from God and find ourselves in deep water, call out to Him and become joyful when He answers. Yet if we were keeping our minds fixed on Him more each day, we may not walk away from Him as often as we do now.
The Lord’s Super is a special time when we gather together as church and we remember what Christ has done for us, just as He was trying to plant the seeds of what would happen on this first event so many years ago. It does not mean we have to separate ourselves into different churches and only do this once a year. Christ instituted a single church; we are His church. Yes we meet in different buildings and we argue because we don’t all agree on things, but we are still one church. Christ said we should remember Him as often as we eat this bread and drink this wine. Remember Him!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you celebrate the Lord’s Supper?
Do you think about all He has done for you?
April 1: Hebrews 12 1-2
Key Verse: Hebrews 12 1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Devotion:
How much does it take before you start believing in things? I know that it is very subjective with me because I will believe some things very easily, but continue to question other things especially those where I have been wrong in the past. When it comes to believing in Jesus I don’t have a problem, but I do have a problem believing what other people say about Christ some of the time. And that is just part of this endurance race that we have set before us – having faith to continue believing even though there are going to be mile upon mile of obstacles in our path!
We may well be easily persuaded by some people because we think we should be able to have faith in what they tell us, but this passage reminds us that we need to look to Jesus for the absolute answers. Even some of our Bible translations have got it wrong in the past and have led many people down a wrong path, but when we dig into them and study what Jesus has said we will be able to discern the truth. And so we should.
Jesus had to believe what lay ahead of Him in order to make it through the sadness and madness of the days which led up to His death. He trusted in God to see it through to the end, facing the cross, death and the tomb finally leading to His resurrection and life with God in Heaven.
If it were not for His faith in knowing what lay ahead He should not have gone through with it just in case we should be saved. It was a sure thing knowing that God was allowing this all to happen. We now have many witnesses surrounding us giving us our daily supplies in order that we should believe in Christ as the Son of our Living God. Stand firm with Christ and allow God to lead us through our daily lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe everyone?
Do you compare what people say with what Christ said?
March 31: John 12 27-33
Key Verse: John 12 30
Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.
Devotion:
Sometimes things happen so we can know that there is a God and He loves us and looks out for us. There was no real reason for God to speak audibly to Jesus and no reason for Him to make noises other than for us to hear it. If we did not get the voices, noises, miracle, visions or whatever else we seek, then we may well be counted amongst the doubting Thomases of this world!
So, instead, God chose to make His presence known to the people around Jesus giving hope and assurety. Jesus was certainly not looking forward to what was about to happen to Him but he knew this was the way that God the Father could be glorified once and for all. Because of that trust and absolute faith, God answered and allowed people around to hear, giving them hope and assurety.
Jesus did not make it all like it was from a fictional novel but gave the people the truth about what would happen next. Jesus told them that all the prophecies already known about would start coming to life before their eyes. People would have to take notice of the things said by prophets such as Hosea because they were coming to life!
We are under the spell of the god of this world as we all seek the good things in life. We get persuaded that everything that looks good must be good because the tempter knows we can be swayed by things that look or sound good. We need to listen carefully to God and break the spell we are under as we get to understand all we have got wrong in our lives. God is patient and kind but has set a time when we all have to face up to reality; what will you be doing when the final tick of the clock sounds?
Points to Ponder:
Do you need proof?
Do you always seek assurety?