September 6: 1 Chronicles 14 8-12
Key Verse: 1 Chronicles 14 10
And David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” The Lord said to him, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.”
Devotion:
This is the same account as told in 2 Samuel 5 17-21 where king David asks the Lord before going to war with the Philistines. The Philistines were probably testing the water after David had become king not knowing that God was behind this king. When evil rises up against God and God gives command to go out and defeat that evil it is a battle in vain for evil because God has already declared the victory. This is the awesome power of our God and we should remember these instances when we are feeling a bit weak in the knees.
God will always support those who go out in His name and in His will. If we take it upon ourselves to go forward and do things then we would be wise to make sure that we have the wherewithal to complete the task or that God is behind us. David was depending on God for the victory and not upon his own strength.
During our own spiritual battles in our lives we need to make sure that God is with us and that we are not running off under our own steam. It is God’s strength and wisdom that will win the fight against evil and not ours. The demonstrations of God’s victory over so much evil and so many of Israel’s enemies should give us the faith and strength we need to depend on God for our spiritual and physical victories; but never go it alone because we need God with us every step of the way!
God had a plan from the beginning because He declared that the Messiah would be a son of David. This did not mean that David would not be able to do anything wrong. David did many things wrong and he himself was not allowed to build the temple for God because of those sins and disobedience. But God made sure that it was still possible for His own promise to come true. We need to make sure that we fully rely on God and continue to uphold His name and ways above all else; that way we can be sure that God is with us in all that we do.
Points to Ponder:
Do you make sure God is with you?
Do you fully rely on God?
September 5: Judges 6 13-16
Key Verse: Judges 6 14
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
Devotion:
When God called Gideon to release Israel from the oppression of the Midianites it came as a bit of a surprise to Gideon. Firstly Gideon thought that this must have been a bit of a bad joke because they were so heavily under the oppression at that time. How could God allow this all to happen to them if they were supposed to be the chosen tribe? Gideon had severe doubts as to whether they were the chosen tribe after all!
When God makes a promise or a covenant, it is meant to last forever and not to be a flash in the pan like man’s promises are. God was allowing this all to happen to Israel because they were busy rejecting Him at the time. Now that the oppression was upon them they were coming round to seeing how they had probably brought this upon themselves rather than God causing this to happen. But in order for them to bounce back, something extraordinary had to happen! Why? Because that is what man seems to require once in a while.
It is sad to think that we need some sort of proof for just about everything before we believe in it. It is sad to see how much we forget over time when things seem to be going well. But when we go astray we open the doors for all the bad things to come into our lives and we invite danger, sadness and toil in the front door! Gideon was still sulking a bit and needed a bit of a reminder that God was actually in charge!
What God was instructing Gideon to do was to go forward with his own might and then to see that God was going to be behind him. When we know that God is asking us to go forward He is not expecting us to go forward with a legion of angels so that we cannot fail; He is asking us to go forward in our limited selves, knowing we are not capable. That way He will be able to show us that it is possible when He is with us!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you have to have power to go forward?
Are you really relying on God?
September 4: Judges 4 4-10
Key Verse: Judges 4 8
And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
Devotion:
When Deborah called Barak to take a large army to fight against Sisera it was not something that Barak should have taken lightly. Deborah was a prophetess and was currently judging Israel; she was getting told by God what should and should not be happening. Barak should not have doubted God’s command in any way, but he did. He asked Deborah to accompany him to the fight as if to say “if you are so sure that it is safe for us to go fight Sisera, then you come along as well and back me up when I tell the forces!”
It was not as if he was being told to take a small army like Gideon, but rather a huge army of ten thousand men. He was to take them to Mount Tabor where he would probably have had to exercise them to ensure they were fit for fighting and all knew what was required of them. Barak was to give these men the command from God and encourage them to fight for God as He had commanded. Barak was lacking in confidence or faith and required that Deborah come along as well. The men would definitely listen to Deborah who was the recognised judge at that time.
If we are told that we have a task to do from God then we should be willing to get on and do it knowing that if God has commanded it we are going to succeed. It may not be a prophetess or a prophet that gives us God’s Command, it may be someone we know; but if we know this is coming from God then we need to take notice of what is being said.
When we get given word from God that we are to go forward with His blessing, we should not have any doubts that we are to succeed; we are human and many of us will doubt because we have not had a direct instruction from God written down on a tablet of stone. Sad but true! Why should we require such hard evidence that God wants us to do things when we accept other forms of God’s Word without the same hard evidence? Faith is believing in what we cannot see for ourselves. Believing that God is able and will do things through us is one thing. Going forward and acting on that word seems to be hard for us to accept! Have faith. Trust God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you require hard evidence for everything?
Where is your faith?
September 3: Esther 2 15-18
Key Verse: Esther 2 15
Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all who saw her.
Devotion:
What would you ask for if you were taken to be presented to a king or queen and told that you could have anything that you asked for? Would you ask for something outrageous or would you just keep it to the basics such as a new car or two? If you think about what is being presented to you, would you take full advantage of the offer or would you be too shy to ask for anything?
When Esther was going to be presented to the king she was told by the custodian of the women (the virgins being prepared to meet with the king) what things she ought to ask for. This would have been some things that would have been pleasing gifts to receive but not too much as to make the king wonder what her intentions were. Whatever it was the outcome was that the king was not only pleased with what he saw, he was pleased with how she behaved and what she requested.
What sort of things do you ask from God? Are you asking for the outrageous things which will build you up, please yourself, bring you glory in some way? Or are you asking for the things which will bring glory to God and to other people around you? Are you requests aimed at pleasing yourself or aimed at pleasing others? I get very upset by people all the time because so many people do so many things and say so many thing which are just plain and simply spiteful or selfish. I know I can come out with some pretty stupid things as well, but I do try to aim to please others first of all.
God wants us to share what we have with others so that we can learn to love others properly and not just to try and get all we can from the world. Many people teach us that we have to make sure we look after “number 1” meaning that we should look out for ourselves first of all. Well I really do not like doing that and will always try to please others before myself. I consider myself to be a servant who is working for God and that means trying to please Him first of all. Try it!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you aim to please first?
Where are you enemies on that list?
September 2: Luke 12 8-12
Key Verse: Luke 12 9
But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Devotion:
When we hide our Christianity or hide Christ from those around us we are preventing them from getting to know the truth, the truth that Christ came to earth to spread amongst man. Christ came to speak openly and truthfully to everyone, including those who would not want to hear the truth but needed to hear it. Even though He faced death on the cross, Jesus continued to tell people about God and to encourage people to believe that He is the Son of God.
We should be bold enough to do the same, to tell others about God and to show them that we believe in Christ and want others to know this same truth. As we become more open about telling others about Christ, He is more open about telling others in heaven about us! Can you imagine that? Christ telling others about us in heaven! When I first thought about that it kind of blew my mind a bit… that Christ would want to tell anyone about me at all, never mind an angel in heaven! But when we show our faith in Christ He is more than willing to tell others about us and to show His support for us.
I know that I am nothing compared to many people. I know that my active life in Christ has been short in comparison to others. I know that I just do things. But I also know now that Christ knows me, little old me, and He is willing to tell others about me. That makes me much more confident and willing to tell others about Him, just knowing that He has some invested piece in me!
When you are faced with people who do not know about Christ and you wonder how you will ever be able to say anything meaningful, then you have to take that step of faith and allow the Holy Spirit to put the words in your mouth at the right time. When I look back at some of the words that I have written I know that they could not have been born in my mind; I struggle to read and I struggle to put the right words down to express my feelings. I know God gives me words to write because so many people are touched by these words. I give all the glory to God because I know I am nothing; but I know He is willing to talk about me and that makes me somebody!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever feel like a nobody?
Do you tell others about Christ?