Friday Reading: 1 Kings 12 12-15
Key Verse: 1 Kings 12 14
and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”
Devotion:
Do you always try to justify everything that you do? Do you try to pick out bible verses or bits of verses so that you can do things your own way? Have you ever tried to get a bit deeper into what is actually written down in your bible and then follow what that says instead of what you want to hear? It can be a hard thing to ignore the advice from other people who think they have your best interests at heart when you have been guided by God to do something; even worse I imagine when you are a leader of the people!
The advice of man can never live up to the advice of God and we need to make sure that we keep that in our hearts. The elders were advising one way and the young man was advising the other way; which should Rehoboam choose? We face that type of choice daily, though not as drastic as what a king would face. We have a choice as to whether we do follow the advice of others or go our own way. Advice is always a good thing and should always be considered! Which advice you accept should be a choice that you make with God’s backing.
Never leave God out of any important decision you are going to make in your life because He wants to be able to guide you through those moments to allow you to end up on the right track. I know I have made many bad decisions when I have tried to do things my own way, but the decisions that I have made with God have stood the test of time. Mind you, some of them have tested me too. We do not see the whole picture as God sees it but limit things to what we know. God can see further ahead and knows what is best!
Trusting God can be difficult until you get used to trusting Him in everything. I look back on my decisions and wonder why I left Him out of them and then I see how I had focused on the world instead of on God. Just like David did. Just like Solomon did. Just like so many of our leaders do each year. We are going to make mistakes in our lives, but we also need to focus on getting the right advice from God when we make decisions in our life. Don’t leave the most important element out of any decision, keep God in them!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find yourself making many tough decisions?
Are you lightening your load by asking God to help?
Thursday Reading: 1 Kings 11 9-13
Key Verse: 1 Kings 11 12
Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
Devotion:
When we are young, be it young in Christ or young in age, we tend to accept some things without too much questioning; one of those things that I always accepted was that Solomon was rich, wise and loved God, the same as his father David. But when we actually get down and read carefully through the book of the Old Testament we do find out a whole new side of things. This is the real world that we are living in and the people are real people; none of us is perfect!
David had his problems which stopped him from being allowed to build the temple for God. Solomon was picked to build the temple, built it, loved God and showed great wisdom… right up until he turned away from God! That is something that many would not be able to grasp; how can someone as wise as Solomon turn away from God when God had given him so much wisdom? The answer to that is one that we can only guess at. My guess being that the ways of the world tempted him, just as they tempt us, and he gave in to those ways.
This is a recurring theme right throughout the bible, people draw close to God, get comfortable with Him, and then start going astray because they see everyone else around them not obeying God! Why should we be the only ones who stand up for God when everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves in the world? Well, life with God can be tough because we do have to make a stand against so much; but the results of that standing are far more than we could ever hope for as a reward from this earth!
Even when God does come down on us to try and straighten us out, He will always leave a path that not just leads back to Him, but one that we can handle! God will not totally destroy us like He did with the flood because He has promised never to do that again. But when the time comes for us to be called into heaven, don’t expect Him to turn a blind eye to the people who never accepted Him as God! God is just. That means that He will do what is right! We may not like that, but we should recognise it as being right.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you have messed up?
Are you asking God to guide you back?
Wednesday Reading: Matthew 19 16-22
Key Verse: Matthew 19 19
“honour your father and mother,” and “love your neighbour as yourself.”
Devotion:
When this rich man came up to Jesus he did not get the answer he expected to hear. Many times we bring our questions or prayers to God and we want Him to answer them just the way that we want; this is not bringing your prayers to God but rather asking Him to have your will be done! The Lord’s Prayer does not have “my will be done” but “Your will be done” in it. That means that we should be asking things of God but expecting Him to have His own way so that he may get the glory and not us!
When Jesus gave this short list of commandments it was also significant that He chose these ones and not to list the commandments saying that we should love God above anything else. Jesus chose His words carefully so that the rich man could think about what he had in life. He probably had all manner of things and could but what he wanted, but what he did not have was Christ or God in his heart. Yes he was keeping the other commandments and living a good life, but that is not enough!
Christ calls us to believe in Him and to love Him above all others. That is not just because we need to return the love that He has shown us but to realise that it is God in whom we should trust for everything. Why should we say that we want to trust Him and then come forward and try to cover our own needs after He has promised to supply them? Why should we think that we can do anything more than God, create or Heaven and Earth?
Loving our families is a huge step forward in learning how to love God. We do not always agree with friends and family, and yet we choose to continue to love them. That is what Christ wants in our lives; we may not always agree with the way that He does things (though we should) but we should always love Him and realise how much He loves us. God has shown us more love through His simple actions than all of our friends and family put together; and yet we choose to ignore Him daily!
Points to Ponder:
Which commandments do you keep?
Do you also love people openly and honestly?
Tuesday Reading: Psalms 95 3-6
Key Verse: Psalms 95 3
For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.
Devotion:
No matter how many times you read a Psalms like this or sing a song with these words in them, we must always stand amazed at the Lord God our maker! I love to sing and worship Him, even though I do not have a trained voice and sing slightly out of tune at times, I know that He knows I sing from my heart. So how do you hold the Lord your God in your mind?
Do you see Him as the only God in this world? Do you see Him as a single God that spans heaven and earth? Do you see Him as ruler over everything? Do you see Him as King of Kings? However you look at it, we live in a world where many people proclaim many different gods and some of them go to extraordinary lengths to try to convince you that their god is better in some way that God our Father.
When we do acknowledge Him as creator of everything then we begin to get a bit closer to knowing how magnificent He actually is. When we hold His name above all else then we begin to know how we should be treating and respecting Him. When we lay down all else and know that He alone is God in heaven and earth, then we start to realise that there is only one God. Mankind has a history with God that goes back a long way and that history is being unfolded just as it has been written about.
God saw that we would need convincing and He saw that we would have doubts all along the way; so He gave us great men of faith who would diligently write down all that He inspired them to write. These words give us the hope and trust that we need to know Him personally. Each of us can get to know Him through His Word because He wants that personal relationship with each of us – how else are we going to have faith in any god unless we are able to make that personal and permanent link with them. God has given us that and sustains that for and with us.
Points to Ponder:
How do you call upon your God?
Do you know your God?
Monday Reading: Exodus 18 7-12
Key Verse: Exodus 18 11
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.”
Devotion:
How are we ever going to know just how much God has done for us unless someone tells us about it? That is the reason why we need to go out and tell others the Gospel story; Christ did not give us that commandment just so that we would look like we are doing something, but so we would be telling people the truth. That truth then encourages others to think about what has happened in their own live and how much God has actually done for each of us already.
When we talk about being a witness for God it comes in various ways. It is not just us going out and telling others that we are Christians and showing them our bibles. It is about living a life that shows people we believe in and trust in God. It is about telling others that we do and telling them what God has done. It is about telling them about Christ and all He has done for us. It is about telling people that they too can have the Holy Spirit with them every step of their lives. It is all of this and more.
When we come together and share God’s Word or share what God is doing in our lives it is a good time to make something of that news as well. This is part of the good news that Christ wants us to spread; the fact that He is active in all of our lives but especially in the lives of those who are willing to allow Him to guide them. There is another witness, showing others that God is actively working in their lives!
Don’t be a closet Christian, one who stays in doors, stays at a church and worships God in secret. Be one who is willing to show the world that there is a wonderful and awesome God that wants to work in their lives too. Don’t hide His light under a bushel otherwise you may well find that that bushel catches light and attracts more attention that you ever dreamed of to start with! God wants each of us to tell others the simple truth. He will do the changing of hearts.
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about Christ?
Do you tend to hide some of the truth?