May 19: Jeremiah 1 6-10
Key Verse: Jeremiah 1 7
But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Devotion:
We need to take notice of what God said when He called Jeremiah and several others because when He calls us, we too are probably going to come up with a string of excuses about how we cannot do what God calls us to do. I know I tried to come up with excuses and failed too!
God knows who He is calling and He knows why He calls those people. Jesus knew the people He chose to become disciples because He knew them from the inside and not from the outside. God knows what we are capable of and He knows how to get us to make the most of what we do have. I look at the work that I am doing now and look back at what I wanted to do; two very different careers and very different people. I was all in to doing things with my hands and mind and leaving my heart out of the way. But God turned me round to using my heart once again to reach other people.
At one stage in my life I had it drummed into me I would not be able to work effectively if I were to allow my feelings to get in the way of my work; so I tried to go down that route for quite a while. It was only when I allowed God to guide me that I saw how effective your heart can be. If you depend on your own heart it will fail you because we get big ideas and desires which take us away from God’s plan, but listening to God and following His plan in your life makes great sense! Don’t try to shut God out because you think it is all just in your heart; allow Him to guide you deeper into His love.
God has taught me to love people above and beyond what others would call normal and I can see now He made me this way from the beginning. It has landed me in a few tight spots but I continue to trust my God and my Saviour above all. How do you tell others about this trust that you have in God? You show them the trust by depending on Him and following His guidelines. Don’t give in because others think you are using God as a crutch. Don’t give in because others think you are not strong. God has chosen us and He knows what is best; follow Him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust others?
How much do you actually trust God?
May 18: Acts 2 1-4
Key Verse: Acts 2 2
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Devotion:
Have you ever tried to explain to someone how they might encounter God? When you tell someone God wants to be their friend, they probably build up a picture of a person coming to them and shaking their hand (or whatever the local custom is where they live). That is just not going to happen, well, not unless Christ comes back there and then!
The apostles were all in one place when this sound from heaven came and the wind filled the whole house. It’s bad enough having a storm that blows and rattles the tiles on the roof, but having this experience they shared must have scared them at first. God does not do things by halves and this was not going to be a time to sit back and do nothing. When God shows you His grace and opens up His Spirit to you, you are going to notice!
Recently I was able to attend a leadership conference where there were some pretty amazing church and worship leaders all in the same church hall as me! Many would think that was going to be enough and that would have been the highlight of my day… but no, I was looking for something else. What did I find? I found a God who is bigger, greater, more loving, more fulfilling and there all the time. A God who wants to fill every gap in your life with His love and His will. He actually does know what each of us needs and He does know the perfect time to make changes in our lives.
This was the perfect time for God to bring a change in the apostles’ lives that would set down the life they were to live from that point onward. God brought about change in a big way and with a big entrance. We may not get to have such a grand change in our lives, we may only get to hear the hint of a slight breeze instead of the winds of change, but God will let us know the changes are coming as long as we listen to Him and for Him.
Points to Ponder:
Are you waiting for the big impact?
Or are you willing to listen carefully now?
May 17: Acts 7 54-60
Key Verse: Acts 7 55
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God
Devotion:
Stephen was willing to turn his eyes away from the world and look toward God with love and blessings. Stephen was facing a mob who just did not want to listen to anything he had to say. They had rejected Christ and they did not want to hear anything that would dissuade them otherwise! Isn’t that just how we get when we want to look the other way; we blinker our vision so that we do not see anything other than what we want to see.
Stephen was steadfast and looked up to God knowing that as he did so, the crown would get carried away and he would face their wrath. He did not hold back the truth of that moment but told it out loud for all to hear. The people knew it was the truth but refused to accept it otherwise they would have to accept and follow that truth. Instead they wanted to continue living their lies and covering up anything that was good – how else could they continue in their sin?
We face those choices every day, though not quite as drastic! We face the choice of carrying on in evil or turning our backs on it to look toward God and righteousness. It is our lot to choose the truth and follow our Saviour and not our polluted minds. Stephen was accepting, upholding and trying to explain that truth he saw; but everyone else was rejecting it.
The price he paid for standing up to the truth was absolute and spelled his demise. It was not a case of some people turning against him but everyone turning against him at the same time. How can we ignore the truth if one person would stand up and proclaim the truth? God wants one person to stand up and knows that others will follow. He sent His Son to explain things so that one person would stop and listen. We make changes by starting one step at a time!
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect to overturn the world?
Have you tried one pebble at a time?
May 16: 1 Corinthians 15 42-49
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15 43
It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
Devotion:
After listening to someone talk about living with grief and coming to terms with death, this passage took on a new meaning. Rick Warren and his wife Kay talked about their grief at the leadership conference in London recently and I had to go off and re-read this passage a few times just to see how profound a statement it is. We are nothing really. Chemically and physically we are a bunch of chemicals, water, carbon and we are all glued together in some miraculous way that makes us unique; but what really makes us stand out is our spiritual selves which don’t come from nowhere but from God!
There is no way that we can be what we are without an intelligent creator and no way that we can justify ourselves without looking to that creator, our Awesome God! Our bodies are certainly not perfect because we are born with all sorts of imperfections. I can remember the nurses saying that we had perfect babies when each of them was born; and in our eyes they were perfect too! But as we grow up the faults and mistakes start to show and we fail at many things in life. This is normal! We are not created perfect, even if someone says we are when we are born.
Our bodies are vessels in which we live. They are not going to last forever in the state they are in because they have many imperfections. I know I have my faults, not just age, but issues with the way do things, make decisions and generally live. I know I cannot please all people, sometimes not many at all, but I know that God is my creator and what He has allowed is for me to live this way with all my mistakes because it is what He says is OK. If we were all perfect life would be a bit boring, great, but boring. It is because of our faults that we get to find friends in each other.
It is when we can look past those faults and find deeper friendship that we can grow with God and aim for a fuller spiritual life with Him. God knows we are imperfect and He knows we need help with all sorts of things, but He also showed us that He will make us perfect one day before we get to go to heaven with Him. I look forward to being able to leave my imperfections behind, but I look forward to learning how to live through those imperfections until that day!
Points to Ponder:
How many mistakes do you make?
Do you learn from those mistakes?
May 15: Acts 3 1-10
Key Verse: Acts 3 6
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Devotion:
When the apostles went out to do what Jesus had told them, they did not spend a few years building up reserves so that they could get back home if everything failed, they got up and went with what they had. What they had was not a big saving account but God’s strength and power through the Holy Spirit. That is all they needed to go out and show people that God is real. That is all they took. And they used what they had been given to the fullest extent.
If I had money I probably would spend it all on making sure that other people were ok and had what they needed, but like the apostles (not that I am worth as they) I go out with what I have and give it to others. I have God’s Word and I have the Holy Spirit and I know Christ as my Saviour. That is more than enough to share with everyone I come in contact with and so I carry on.
Peter and John did not rely on their own strength and power because they knew they were as plain and ordinary as the next person; but they also knew that God through the Holy Spirit could do anything through them. Christ had told them they were now empowered to go out and do what He had been doing and they believed Him. When our belief and faith is lacking a bit we find it hard to go forward and share things. What we need to do is to get back into God’s Word and to be reminded of all that was accomplished through faith and know that we can do the same.
We do have so much history and past events that we can look back on to see what has happened, and yet we still cling to our own strengths and wonder if we can ever achieve anything. It is not up to us but up to God who can work through us. It is not up to how much we have or how much we can do because that is just us. Allow God to work effectively through you and you will see how much He can actually do!
Points to Ponder:
Are you limiting God to your own strengths?
Are you allowing God to work with you?