April 9: Proverbs 3 1-8
Key Verse: Proverbs 3 6
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Devotion:
I do love the encouragement that the book of proverbs give me each time I read it and these words are some of the best. God is constantly looking out for us and we need to remember that in everything that we do in our lives. I get carried away sometimes and allow my heart to rule my life a bit too much, but each time I do I know that I can come back to God’s Word and make sense of my life again.
There is nothing in the world, be it historical or future things, which God’s Word will ever be stumped by. God has given us this very word so that we can learn about living our lives for Him and not against Him. It is the very encouragement that we need in order to keep our feet on the path that He has set for each of us. It is the order in our chaotic lives that will lift us up when we crumble between the cracks of our lives. But in order for us to get anything from it, we must not ignore it.
In mankind’s history we can see how societies have crumbled because they have left God out of everything. We can see how great men have fallen because they have tried to go it alone. We have seen how poor or insignificant people have risen up to be blessed by God. We have seen all of this and yet we choose to ignore so much of it when we get to applying God’s Word into our lives! Why? Because we think we are different in some way and think we can work above the rules or work better than others have in the past.
What God is trying to tell us is that we still need Him, His direction and above all, His strength and wisdom so that we can live for Him. He knows what is best for us and He knows where we should be heading; what we do know pales into insignificance when compared to the path He has actually set before us. Don’t try to outthink God because we can never do that. Include God, listen to God and enjoy His life for you!
Points to Ponder:
Do you acknowledge God in everything?
Do you really?
April 8: Matthew 21 12-17
Key Verse: Matthew 21 13
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
Devotion:
This is one of those passages that has given so many people something to talk about, and it was no different at the time it happened either! Jesus came into the temple and was distraught that the people in charge of the temple had allowed all manner of people in to do their trading instead of reserving the temple for what it was designed – for the worshipping of God. Jesus was very upset that men had done something so wrong in the face of God and, I think, must have taken it in the same manner as people worshipping idols.
Now I’m sure many people will disagree with what was thought or even done at the time; we can see that through all the actions we see in films and pictures made of this event throughout history. We are told very little in our bibles because expanding on what was done would detract from the real message which I believe to be that we need to have places where we can worship God and not have to face the world and all that it stands for. Our places of worship should be exactly that, places where we are free to worship God.
Does this mean that we should only ever allow church services and nothing else in church buildings? Think for a moment how you would define worship. Do you limit it to the time you spend on Sunday in a congregation, or do you worship God through many different ways? I personally worship God in many ways and I try to make sure that worship is done every day of the week. I know there are things in life that are not a part of worship, like working for a living, so I don’t bring those into my worship with God. This does not mean I exclude God from them, quite the opposite!
God wants us to be able to focus on worshipping Him; if that means setting aside a place where we can do that, then we should be doing so. Don’t bring the world into your worship with God but rather try to take God into your world. Keep your time of worship as something special that you share with Him; share it with others too, spread the Gospel, share His love… but don’t bring it down to just another thing you do, keep it special!
Points to Ponder:
How do you worship God?
Do you have a special relationship with God?
April 7: 2 Peter 1 3-11
Key Verse: 2 Peter 1 9
But whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Devotion:
Count your blessings today; literally… stop what you are doing and spend a few minutes counting your blessings. I know we all have all sorts of stuff in our lives that we don’t want, like, need or can’t get rid of, but we do have so much to look at and be thankful for. The more things that go wrong in my life, the more I used to get down and depressed about them; but turning back to God and thanking Him for what He has brought into our lives is very special.
I don’t always thank Him for the horrible things that come my way because that may seem patronising, but what I do thank Him for are the very special people that are still here around me no matter what goes on. I thank Him for the people He has allowed into my life so that I can deal with the hard times. I thank Him for the special gifts He has given me to help dig me out of tight spots. I thank Him for the amazing world that He has created for us to live in whilst we get to know Him better!
Being able to stop and see what positive things there are in your life will allow you to praise God all the more. The evil one will try to make you over analyse things, over think things and generally try to pull you down when you should be being lifted up because of all that God does do in your life. Don’t ever blame God for the bad things when they come (and they will come unfortunately) because He does not invite them in, and you don’t necessarily invite them in either! Stuff happens, to all of us, to the good and the bad.
But deal with it in the proper manner. Don’t just push things aside and try to get on with life. Rather stop and think about what God has allowed into your life, then lift Him up in praise before you start the day. I love being able to read my bible every morning and to write these devotions because it sets me up in a positive way with Christ, knowing that He is at the centre of my day. Christ is willing to forgive and forget. We must be willing to accept that in our hearts and love Him for what He has done!
Points to Ponder:
How do you start your day?
How much time do you spend with Christ every day?
April 6: John 11 1-16
Key Verse: John 11 14
So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead’
Devotion:
Do you try to be tactful when you tell someone else of some bad news or do you just blurt it out to get it over with? I like to think that I am compassionate and break the news as gently as possible, but sometimes the news just has to be said how it is. I think that if the disciples had known that Lazarus was going to die, they would have made a plan to get there as quickly as possible and they would have been on at Jesus to do so.
God is the one who knows the best time and place for everything and sometimes we just don’t get it. God has a plan that He is working to. We don’t get to see the grand scheme of things but rather limit our view to what we can see in this world. That is exactly what the disciples were focused on and what Jesus had to teach them about. When they turned toward earthly wisdom and practices, He stopped them with this plain talk “Lazarus is dead!”
Are you going to wait until God has to drop a bombshell on you, or are you going to try to listen to what He has in mind for you? When we pray using the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for His will to be done and not our own. We should be living up to this and not trying to bend His ways to fit in with our own ideals. I know it is hard to listen to God when the world is screaming out so loud, but we can go to a quiet place with Him and just listen; just as Jesus did when He withdrew to the garden to pray.
God wants personal time with us so that He can get through to us. Sometimes we are not going to like what He has to say because we have shut Him out for so long and the only way that He finally gets through is by allowing something drastic to happen! I don’t like it either, but I know that our God does things for His glory and not so that He can intentionally hurt us in any way. He is a God that loves us first of all and part of that love is telling us the truth, whether we want to hear it now or not!
Points to Ponder:
Do you read your bible alone?
Do you skip over the hard parts?
April 5: Psalms 98 1-3
Key Verse: Psalms 98 2
The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
Devotion:
If we go out and tell people that God has given us a new heart, a second chance, a new creature; should we not go out and sing a new song? I mean it is all well and good saying that we have been given this glorious hope in Christ, but if we don’t live for and with that glorious hope then we are not fully acknowledging it! It is the grace of God that has given us this new hope in Him and we should be singing about it loud and proud!
I know my singing voice is not up to scratch, but when I was much younger I actually managed to sing in a choir for a short while until my voice changed. At that stage I thought that I would no longer be able to sing… but many years on and a bit of practice once again… people now have to put up with what they hear! But if we are singing to the glory of our God, then who can say otherwise?
We must always be aware of all of the glorious things God has done, from the amazing birds that He has given us on earth to the minute mites that annoy us, from the smallest of brightly coloured fish to the mighty dull grey whales. God has constructed the ultimate playground for us and has given us dominion over it. But just like children we play and break things all the time; just like a loving parent, God fixes things and gives us more to contend with. I stand in awe of what God has done just because He loved us first of all – that is what He tells us.
Jesus was raised from the dead to give us hope, to lighten the path for all of us to live toward. This is the glory for the people of Israel, their God has done this for all of us whilst maintaining them as a people, loved first of all by God! If this is what we do truly believe then we should be singing this new song so that all of the world can hear. We need to make sure that God knows we are serious by giving Him the glory for the great things He has done!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like singing?
Do you sing about God?