May 24: Acts 17 29-31
Key Verse: Acts 17 30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent
Devotion:
When Paul saw the people of Athens had erected an object of worship to the unknown God he jumped at the opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ. How often do we jump at the chance when we see a small crack or hint of anything that we can use to reach out to people? What he did was to tell them that all their idols and other gods that they were worshipping were false and all in vain; a brave step for anyone!
It is no use allowing people to build up false hopes when you have the chance of telling them the truth and opening the Gospel to them. Allowing people to strengthen their own false hopes is as good as telling them lies. How we go about doing that is what we need God’s help with. If we bashed them over the head with the truth and belittled them for believing false things we may well alienate them from the truth instead of opening their eyes. If we just brushed over it then they would discount what we had to say and continue on in their own false hopes.
What we need to do is to build people up with encouragement and invite them in to share the truth with us. If they can see that we firmly believe in what we are talking about then they will be more willing to listen to what we have to say. Jesus would always open people’s eyes to new things by explaining the truth in terms they could understand. We need to follow on from His example and to do that we really do need The Holy Spirit as our guide.
There is going to be a time when all people will face Christ in judgment and we must not cover up that truth. We need them to know that it is Christ who will be the judge and not any man, especially not us. We are human just as they are and we make mistakes as well. God is just and will uphold the truth for all eternity, there is no escaping that and people need to know that. Open up the Gospel today, but do it with compassion just as Christ has shown us grace.
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about Christ?
Do you show others grace and mercy?
May 23: Psalms 102 1-7
Key Verse: Psalms 102 6
I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
Devotion:
I do love the way that words are used in the Psalms; the descriptions of various states in life and feeling are often expressed as animals of various kinds. Here the broken spirit of a person is described as being a pelican of the wilderness, a solitary bird out in the wilderness fending for itself. Or to be compared to an owl in the desert, another solitary bird whose distinct cry can be heard a way off.
We are like these descriptions in many ways because we do tend to withdraw when we are in trouble or being hurt. We feel like we are all alone and that we have to lift up our unique cry to God because nobody is there. But God is always there and He always listens to our cries. We lift up our prayers to God and He listens to every part of our cry.
When we lift up our prayers we want God to answer them quickly because we fear we cannot wait for His perfect timing. When we feel down spiritually we often do forget to eat our daily bread; we find it hard to give time to God and time to studying because our minds are so occupied with the pain of the separation we feel. We feel starved as we weaken in spirit without that daily bread. But God is still there and He is still listening to every word in our prayers.
But pray we must. We need to lift up our requests daily and constantly. We need to be in constant contact with God otherwise we fall into disrepair very quickly. If we do not eat properly we suffer physically. If we do not consume our spiritual food properly, we suffer spiritually. God continues to supply what we need and it is our task to accept that daily bread and to consume it so that we ca continue to grow.
Points to Ponder:
Do you eat regularly?
Do you ready God’s Word regularly?
May 22: Exodus 2 24-25
Key Verse: Exodus 2 24
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Devotion:
I find it amazing that God continues to remember us even though we do so much in our lives to go against what He stands for. God created us and He continues to watch over every aspect of our lives day by day; it was described to me recently as being like a CCTV camera constantly following us. God watches closely so that He can help us through our daily lives. Those lives we lead are often all over the place and yet He continues to be there with us.
The Hebrew people were facing pretty rough times under the Egyptians and they were now groaning under the strain. We may question why they had to go through so much after God had made the covenants with Abraham and Isaac but to try and understand God’s ways is beyond us. If we are able to accept His ways and continue to trust in Him we will find out just how much He does care for us. God was listening as the Hebrew people lifted up their prayers to Him, living under the banner of oppression as they were.
God really does understand us. It may sound like a bit of a cop out saying that God understands all of our ways until you remember that he created us. It is God who put us together and not any random occurrence of nature. God created us in His image and we hold a very special place in His heart. He listened to the people and He understood what they were going through; but they had to go through this for what was to come.
The promise God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to bring them out of being afflicted, out of the hand of strangers and into a land they could call their own because God would give them the land. God had compassion on their situation and changes were about to be made; not by using the greatest men in power but by using Moses, a man with many problems and a murderer! God understands our faults and our mistakes. He just wants to have a good relationship with us – when we let Him into our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Do you restrict God in your life?
Will you call on His name?
May 21: Matthew 13 47-52
Key Verse: Matthew 13 48
which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
Devotion:
Jesus had a way with words that encouraged the disciples and continues to encourage us as well. The words written down may not be the exact words He said but they are how each of the disciples remembers them; they were the ones there with the understanding and they are the ones who have written those words down for us to read about now. Christ continues to try to explain His Word and His will to us through things around us, just as He was then.
It is a lot easier for us to understand things when they are explained in terms that we can understand rather than the official or exact words that define things. I still struggle with some English explanations even though my home language is English! (but then you have probably noticed that through my grammar in the past) I can understand computers and things like that much more than I can people; and yet I still manage to get God’s words down on paper for each daily devotional. I give God the glory for opening my heart and mind to His Word each day!
We have an urgency to present the Gospel to other people around us and we need to be willing to take what we understand and share it with people in new ways and in words they can understand. It is no use telling someone how great God is unless they have an understanding of what God is. I use what instead of who because many people do not grasp just how magnificent God actually is and what He can do; to them it is a case of what and not who because they do not know Him yet.
Each of us learns more about God as we study and the knowledge and understanding we build up is like a treasure to other people. The difficult part can be trying to open that treasure up to others so they can see it for what it is and not for the sake of big words! We could all just say the big words and expect God to do the explaining, but sometimes God calls us to be the fishermen who can explain it in terms of fishing or the carpenters who can explain it in terms of wood working. God can use us as long as we are willing to let Him do so!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are not worthy to lead?
Do you know more about God than someone else?
May 20: Mark 16 14-17
Key Verse: Mark 16 15
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Devotion:
When was the last time that you were asked to go and do something which scared you witless? I’m not talking about any time you have been asked to go off and do something which you know is safe and has to be done but about something new, maybe even untried and untested, something that you have never even contemplated before, something that has not crossed your mind before?
Well, now and again, God asks people to go off and do something entirely different. He does this knowing that it is right and also knowing that we are scared about it. He does not ask wondering if anything is going to come out of it or wondering if you will succeed, He asks you to go forward knowing that you can succeed. The doubt is in your own mind and not in God’s!
Stepping away from all the things you know and have come to trust and striding out toward something that nobody else is outwardly doing is scary! But when you are sure that God is asking you, then it is going to succeed and not to fail! Immediately we think of ways in which we can do things by ourselves to fill the requirements and that makes us even more scared because we know we fall short. By trusting God, listening to Him and following His instructions we will go all the way and we will succeed; but it is that faithful and trusting few steps that we take that will make the difference.
When Peter stepped out onto the water, He stepped out trusting God. That trust started to crumble as soon as he realised what he had done and he started to sink. God will not allow us to sink if He is asking us to step out on the water. God will make sure that we continue to walk on the water with Him as long as we continue to trust Him and rely on Him. The first step makes all the difference, but the steps that follow will make or break the whole plan.
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust God?
Do you trust Him all the way?