September 16: Psalms 5 1-8
Key Verse: Psalms 5 3
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
Devotion:
What is the first thing that you do in the morning? Do you scrawl out of bed and stumble your way to the kettle for your morning fix to wake up? Or do you crash into the shower to see if that will work? Or are you one of those annoying people who wake up instantly and rush around doing things as if it’s already the middle of the day? Well, I’m not! It takes me a while to wake up and a bit more to get my brain in gear; but I often find that that is the time of the day when I am most likely to listen to what God has to say as well!
That may sound odd, but before I get going and stuck in my ways for the day, I try to open myself to what God would have me do. I pray and ask for guidance and I wait for it. It is no good getting in a few words to God and then blasting off to do your own stuff expecting God to catch up with you along the way and tell you what to do! If you are asking God what to do then you must wait for an answer!
God is not going to try and break into your world that you build up to keep yourself busy. God is not going to give it all to you in writing so you can have a shopping list for the day. God wants to spend the day with you and not fighting for your attention. Starting the day in the right spirit by waiting patiently for Him will allow you to listen more attentively when you ask for that advice! Just because we say that we will listen does not make us good listeners. Just because we say we don’t like the worldly ways does not separate us from the worldly ways. Just because we tell Go we are following Him does not make us good disciples!
The act of doing has got to follow the act of saying otherwise we are not worth much at all. God wants you to spend time with Him, so spend time with Him. Take time out of your day to open His Word. Take time out of your day to speak to Him. Take time out of your day to just stop and listen and wait for Him. We spend time waiting for all sorts of things in our life, but we don’t always spend time waiting for the most important things in life!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like waiting?
Will you honour God by waiting?
September 15: Isaiah 38 1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 38 1
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”
Devotion:
What would you do if you were told that you were doing to die very shortly? Not too difficult to imagine yourself getting on your knees and begging God to change His mind about your imminent demise! But how would you feel about the fact that you would die before you wanted to? Would you feel like God has turned His back on you or would you feel like God thinks of you as a failure that has to be fixed?
I’m not sure how I would feel because I know that I have done many things wrong and I know that I may well deserve for my life to be taken. But the greatest thing is that I also know that because of God’s great mercy and His patience with me, I have a lot of work to still do for Him. I know that He can use me still and that he will continue to use me as long as He wants to.
God is not bound by the ways of the world. He is the creator of everything and has complete control of it all. Yes God does allow some pretty horrible things to happen and many may well blame God for those things or get angry with Him for allowing it all; but we are the ones who have made this all probable! We are the ones who have done many things wrong, maybe not us personally but the world and the people around us have done so much wrong that we should not expect anything less. Just because we are caught up in this is not God’s fault. We just happen to be here and now!
Never forget that God is willing and able to answer prayers. Never forget that he is listening to your every prayer and that He is still in control. Hezekiah was sure that he had done as much as he could to please God and yet he did not blame God for his sickness. When Isaiah came to tell him of his demise he got down to some serious praying. God listened and answered; not because he knelt down once but because this would have been continual prayer lifted up until God answered! Hezekiah asked with faith and with perseverance. God answered because of that faith and perseverance.
Points to Ponder:
How do you ask for things you want?
Do you pray as hard as you ask?
September 14: Psalms 103 8-13
Key Verse: Psalms 103 10
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
Devotion:
We can always be sure that God is going to do what is right and not just do things because He feels like it. We tend to do the opposite and do the things that we feel like doing instead of doing what is right and proper all the time. But then we find a new side to the Lord when we get to know Him better. We find He is willing to forgive and to forget much more than we ever do to our neighbours. When the people around us do something against us we sometimes fight back without thinking about what we are doing and we do not follow the law.
We can be very thankful that God is willing to forgive because if He was to impose on us the debt we owe immediately without waiting we would not last very long in our lives. Imagine what it would be like to find that we had the death sentence immediately imposed on us as soon as we told a lie! I guess that is not really easy to imagine because we know so many people do tell lies. If we were to place our finger in the flame of a candle it would burn us the very first time we did that. But God does not do that.
God gives us warnings. God gives us people who can point out that we have done wrong. God gives us a chance to turn away from what we are doing and turn back to Him. Not one chance, but many chances. He does not ‘flip’ as soon as we do one thing wrong but is patient to give us time to realise what we are doing wrong. God cannot ignore what we have done wrong, but because of what Christ has done for us, He is willing to forgive and then forget about what we have done when we ask for that forgiveness is Christ’s name.
It is not just a case of saying sorry to God but also remembering why we can be forgiven. We need to know that we can ask for that forgiveness because Christ has paid for our debt. We need to believe He did that for us. We need to believe He will forgive us. Faith is believing in this all even though we cannot see it. The act of showing God we believe will make a big difference!
Points to Ponder:
How do you show friends you care?
How do you show God you believe?
September 13: 2 Peter 2 1-3
Key Verse: 2 Peter 2 2
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Devotion:
We may all think that we are immune from false teaching and false preaching because we go to a good church or because we don’t mix with the more liberal people; but we are open to the same temptations as they are and we will have the face many people who would lead you astray if you allowed them to. That is how it has been for a very long time and will continue to be no matter what we say or do.
Just the other day I read about another report of someone claiming to be Jesus and who was building a church of loyal followers. It does not seem to matter to them that their actions do not line up with what Christ has taught us. It does not seem to matter to them that they are living a covetous life where they want for so much and get it through conning people into believing them. But who are we to judge? Do we have the right to point any fingers?
What we have the right to do is to open up the truth in our bibles and show people that they are working against God’s Word. What we can do is talk to them and encourage them to read the bible again. We cannot judge them, but the Word of God can do that! We cannot say they are covetous, but our bibles can show them they are. You see, we may well be as guilty as them because of us coveting something else in our lives. Just because they seem to be doing it all wrong “in your face” does not make them worse than you! Guilty means guilty, it does not matter how guilty, it’s that fact that you are guilty.
In this mixed up world we have all manner of degrees of guilt as can be seen with what happens in our court rooms. But in God’s eyes we are guilty until we accept that Christ has paid our guilt and has redeemed us with His blood. We need to accept the truth and work with that truth. We need to open that truth to others so they can find out more for themselves. God wants to work in their hearts too; they may need it more than you in your eyes, but in God’s eyes we need it just the same!
Points to Ponder:
Do you judge others all the time?
Will you accept God’s judgement?
September 12: Acts 20 25-31
Key Verse: Acts 20 29
For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Devotion:
Paul had an amazing ministry as he went all around visiting people, preaching and teaching the gospel and making sure that people got to hear about Christ. He had learned a lot from reading the scriptures and getting to know what God expected of him; but his real revelation came when he got to know Jesus Christ personally. This then opened his mind to how much God actually wants people to hear the truth and to share that truth.
We may think that it is ok to tell someone about Christ and then leave it up to their local church to fill in the gaps or to make sure that they get to continue hearing the Gospel. This is not what Christ wants! Christ wants us to continue encouraging people and lifting His name up high all the time. Why? Because He knows all too well that there are so many things that will take us away from Christ!
We may get to know and love Christ, but if we do not continue to know and love Him by spending more time with Him, we will grow tired and weary and lose focus on God. Not just because we are not hearing or reading the scriptures but because of the distractions and the people out there who don’t want you to know Christ personally. Yes there are people who take offense of us getting to know Christ personally. Yes there are people who will go out of their way to stop us from hearing about Christ.
When we ask for protection against the evil one we should also be asking God for protection against what the evil one does in our lives. Just like Eve was tempted by the serpent in the garden, we too will get tempted by the evil one time and time again. He will not spare us from anything and will continue to try and take us away from Christ. Don’t give in, just love God, love Christ and continue to serve Him faithfully!
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about Christ?
Do you ask for protection from temptation?