June 13: Luke 7 1-10
Key Verse: Luke 7 9
When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
Devotion:
There are some people that you meet that you look at and wonder how they can have so much faith because your own faith seem to fade into nothing when you compare it with theirs. But each of us has a different measure of faith and we will display that faith in different ways as well. This centurion was a man who displayed his belief in Christ by doing things for others but how much faith he had may not have come across in the same way.
There are going to be people in our own lives that do many things for God and yet we don’t get to see their faith; that is up to Christ to see because He is the one who will be able to see inside their hearts and not just what they get up to physically. We may see things and see them as faith instead of just being faithful. We may see things as see them as being weaknesses instead of being full of faith. This centurion displayed his faith in his belief by telling Jesus and His entourage that they did not have to come physically but just to say the words.
Many of us look for the physical experience rather than the actually blessing from God; that is just the way we are and it is how we work. What God seeks is not the faith that people have after they have seen the proof, but the faith they display before they get to see the proof. Faith is a belief in the unseen not a belief in what we see, that is proof not faith.
God wants us to have a firm belief in Him and all that He can do because of what others, including Christ and the Holy Spirit, have taught us. He does not want us to build up a “faith” in what we have seen and what we have experienced. Yes it is hard trusting in what you hear rather than what you see, but that is exactly what Christ has called us to do; to believe in the word of God, what the prophets and disciples have written down for us to believe in.
Points to Ponder:
Are you a person who needs proof?
Are you willing to trust the bible?
June 12: John 1 45-51
Key Verse: John 1 50
Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered whether you would give a similar reaction to any of the other disciples if you were chosen by Christ as a disciple? Have you marvelled at how they accepted Jesus as the Messiah with so little proof? Well Jesus did not just randomly choose each of these men as He walked along, but chose them because of their belief in their hearts. God already knew who believed in Him, already knew who would be best for the positions of disciples and knew who would grow with teaching and grow the kingdom of God as well.
Just the same as He chose those people back then, God continues to choose people now though not in human form. God wants people to work for Him who will make a difference to other people’s lives. Now I am not saying that God is not going to choose people who are not willing to go and teach others, because He will never turn anyone away who is willing to believe in Him. But not all people that become Christians are chosen to go and teach others about Him.
God has called every one of us to go out and spread the Gospel to others which is different to actually teaching others. Telling others about God is like putting the seeds into their lives from which the vine will grow. Being able to be an effective teacher is not just about giving out bucket loads of information for others to learn by, but giving that information in the best way for each person to grow by. Does that sound impossible?
Well it’s not impossible because we are all human after all. We all seek the truth and we all thrive on information that will allow us to grow and feel good. If you have been given the gift that allows others to hunger and thirst after the Gospel, then you have been chosen as a teacher. The time to use your gift is now because you have been chosen by God. Start small. Start by telling one person something you know. Start by planting a seed not by trying to plant a tree!
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever planted a seed?
Have you tried planting a Gospel seed?
June 11: Matthew 16 13-19
Key Verse: Matthew 16 17
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Devotion:
When Simon was asked who he thought Jesus actually was, his answer was that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. That marked the point where Jesus starts calling Simon Peter because Jesus saw in him a belief and trust in God Himself. That depth of knowledge comes from God showing us what things mean, showing us what the bible means and opening our hearts to see how much He actually loves us.
Each one of us will probably face a point in our lives where things start to make sense as we put things together and they add up to the truth. Yes there are times when we think we know and we fall flat on our faces the next day because we did not understand; but when we are willing to listen to God with open hearts and open minds then He is going to try to explain our lot in life. Peter was willing to accept Christ’s word, His will and His teaching and to move forward with that truth to show it to others. Yes Peter still had a few bridges to cross as he faced up with rejection from others, but he was facing in the right direction now.
Don’t get worried that you do not know it all because it will take the rest of your life to continue learning about God and about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, but you are pointing in the right direction when you take them as the truth and trust in God. From that point on you have God working on your side and nothing should be able to stop you.
Don’t fret when you do get things wrong or when you do break down because you can’t cope with the strain of working for God when the world around you is working against you. It is not easy work and it is not straight forward; if that were so then we would see many more people running around telling others about God all the time. When we work against the world we find just how high a mountain it is to climb and then we begin to realise just how much we do have to rely on God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find working for God hard work?
If you don’t, are you doing the right thing?
June 10: Isaiah 54 11-15
Key Verse: Isaiah 54 13
All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.
Devotion:
There are so many passages in our bibles that give us encouragement, but my vote goes out today to the people without children who are still faithful to God! This verse struck a chord with me this morning as I was searching through my bible and it felt so right to give encouragement to others instead of seeking what would also encourage me. I do love reading my bible because of all the encouragement and strength I get from God’s Words, but this meant a lot to me this morning.
God is faithful and just. That is an absolutely awesome phrase because it shows just how much God continues to uphold all that is right, all that is good and all that is just; not just when it happens, but always! When we give in and say that we give up or stop turning the other cheek, God is the one standing behind us encouraging us to do it one more time. God watches over us and sees everything that we do, the good, the bad and the ugly; and He is just. That means He will do what is righteous!
I cannot imagine what it would be like to not have children especially when you do want some of your own, so my heart goes out to all people in that position. I know many say that the world is over populated, but children should never be taken lightly and should not be passed over when God gives them to us. The love that you see in some people for their children can never reach the height or depth of the love that God has for us, and yet we pass over it without a thought.
Never turn your back on a child that needs someone! I love being able to be here for young people as a youth leader because I can see how much a stable figure is needed in so many young lives as the world passes them by; and yet we see people longing to have a child of their own. It does not seem right. That is because of man, not because of God. God is just! Man is not! These words give hope to the people with no children saying that they too can be there for other children and their reward will be great because God watches us and sees what we do for others. Reach out and care for children, not because it is a job but because you care; don’t exclude them.
Points to Ponder:
Do you work with children?
Do you know God is smiling over you?
June 9: Joel 2 28-32
Key Verse: Joel 2 28
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Devotion:
These words were written by the prophet Joel many years before Christ was on earth in human form and certainly years before they fully understood anything about Pentecost! This is another promise of God that we see was carried out in full and one we remember with festivals and commemorations… but how many of us take these words deep in our hearts and entrust our lives in God’s hands so that He can do His will in our lives as well?
It is one thing to say that the Holy Spirit will come into your life and another thing entirely the deep seated belief that He is going to live in you from that day onward. The deep seated belief must change us and our attitude because we then should be remembering every day that God is in us! If God is in us do we really want to embarrass ourselves every day by giving in to sin once again? We don’t have to, but we do. With the Holy Spirit in us we do have the strength to resist and turn away from sin. We do have the wisdom to tell others about God and to read and understand His Word… if only we will allow Him to work in our lives!
Joel wrote that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh; that means every one of us has the same chance at being able to live our lives fully with God in them. We have the same choice of accepting Him and living with Him as everybody else, but it is still a choice that we have to make first of all. And when we do make that choice we should be making it fully and not a half-hearted attempt! If these people would be able to prophesy, dream and see visions then surely we should be able to if we accept that same Spirit into our lives.
The difference here being that the disciples were together, all trusting Christ for what He had done, all believing that Christ could do anything, all trusting God to send them a helper and waiting on God. If we submit to God’s will, His ways and wait on Him then should we not expect the same from Him? God has promised us the Holy Spirit will dwell within us when we believe in Him. Believe and receive!
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe Christ died for you?
Do you wait on the Holy Spirit?