Friday Reading: Hosea 14 1-7

Key Verse: Hosea 14 3
Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.

Devotion:
What is it God requires from us when we have walked away from Him? This we can find in many places in our bibles, but this prophet gives a direct message to Israel telling them what they had to do and reminding them about God’s love and mercy. This needs to be applied directly to anyone who has fallen short of loving and obeying God.

First the acknowledgement that it is because of our own weakness in giving in to sin and temptation that we find ourselves in this position. Admitting that we have a problem is a big step forward. Then we need to take God’s Word and obey it; do what it says! Lift up our own voices to God and admit our shortcoming openly knowing that He is merciful to receive us! Admit that we cannot do anything of our own selves because we are not gods and neither are our leaders; it is the Holy Trinity alone that we stand before.

And then Hosea bring us God’s promise in précis form. He is willing to forgive us of our iniquities when we bring them to Him. He will not be angry and blame us for everything because He will separate us from our guilt. He will feed us again, spoon feeding if required. He will lift us up spiritually and strengthen us for our walk once again. He will set us amongst people where we will have support. God will not turn anyone away who is willing to come openly in repentance.

Why then do we stay away? Why then do we think we have gone too far? Why do we say nobody can help us? Why? Because we forget these words! The evil one will do all he can to distract us from God’s Word. He will do things in our lives that pull in doubt. He will chisel away at our faith until he finds crack and weaknesses. We don’t have to wonder when he will do that because he does that all the time; but as long as we walk with God, come back to Him when we trip and trust in Him alone, we will not have any need to worry.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you trip up?

Do you come back and ask for help?

Thursday Reading: Isaiah 57 15-21

Key Verse: Isaiah 57 21
“There is no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.”

Devotion:
God is with us all! That is a statement that must never be taken lightly because doing so means that we no longer believe that God is really with us. We sometimes water it down a bit to say that God sees everything or that God knows everything or that God is watching over us always; but the actual truth is that God is with and in every believer! Christ revealed this to us by telling us plainly that the Holy Spirit would indwell us from the time we first trusted in Christ and would never leave us.

The prophets had been given these words for us to think about many years before Christ came to earth and yet people would not grasp the scale of what was being said. Maybe it is similar to us nowadays believing that the Holy Spirit could never be with us personally because we are just not good enough or we have not done enough good things. Well, God does not look at the things we have done by the things of our heart.

When we say that God allows us to go through some pretty rough stuff in order to strengthen us for what may be ahead, it is not going to continue on forever; that would be counterproductive because we would become down-cast and feel utterly rejected. Instead God allows a certain amount of stuff in our lives to make us stronger; just the right amount to make us stop and think. He will never leave us so He makes sure that we do have good times and do get peace and live with joy.

But for those people who continually reject Christ, there is not going to be any real peace and joy to be held. They will not be able to rely of God supporting and guiding them from the inside as He does with us. They will not know the love and peace that He alone extends to His own children. Much like a parent taking care of their own children, but sending the other children home after play time; we too will face a life without God unless we know Him as our Lord and Father God. I am glad I know God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about God?

Are you helping others come to God’s family?

Wednesday Reading: Psalms 66 8-12

Key Verse: Psalms 66 10
For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.

Devotion:
We surely do have every reason to bless our God for all that He does for us and all that He has done for mankind. We need to remember how He has shown us so much love and mercy over the years as He has dealt with generation after generation of people that have turned away from their sinful lives and asked Him to be their God. I don’t think any of us could claim to have had an easy life where we have not had to face spiritual hardships, never mind the physical hardships!

But throughout all of this God has purposed to guide us and protect us as long as we have placed our trust in Him. The one thing that must always be remembered is that God has fully protected our souls throughout this fight that we have faced. No matter how much we have had to face, our souls have been held tight in His own hands! We may have faltered along the way as we had doubts about what we have done, but He has never doubted our spiritual safety.

We may have been allowed to face physical and spiritual wars and not just squabbles, but they have been allowed through our lives in order that we can come out much stronger people to face what He knows we will face ahead. That may sound a bit scary to some as they think what may be ahead; but if God has kept us safe this far, what do we really have to fear?

The goal that God has been aiming for will be reached because He has promised it so. He has told us that He has reserved a place in heaven for each of us who believe in Him. It is described as being a very large place where we will have rest; this is depicted as a mansion and a place where there is no more fear, tears, sickness or any other affliction. This is going to be well worth all the hassle that we face here and now; but that hassle is not here to show us how good heaven is, but to prepare us for the next step before we get to heaven. God is constantly working with us!

Points to Ponder:
How do you cope with hardships?

Do you trust God to strengthen you daily?

Tuesday Reading: Malachi 3 1-4

Key Verse: Malachi 3 1
“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.

Devotion:
I do like to study what other people think about passages from the Old Testament because they are normally built on a whole lot of studying of the ancient scriptures in various languages and also on what scholars and Rabbis in the past have said. I guess we shall never know exactly what was going through the original author’s minds as they had their words penned for all of us to see until we meet them face to face with Christ; but before we do get there, Christ has promised to give us an insight into what we need to know.

We do need to read through our bibles each day to gain more insight from God. I find it good to do some studying before getting going for the day so that it will set me in the right frame of mind. So whether this chapter starts out by talking about John or Christ will be something that you will need to seek out today. What I am bringing to you today is not a definitive proof one way or the other but rather the opportunity to think it through and the reminder that God has not left us alone.

God allowed Christ to come to earth so that we would have a Saviour! God made sure that John told people that He was coming. This is all recorded in history now and we don’t need to fret about whether it did happen or not; what is important is that many people wrote down these facts before Jesus was even born on earth. This is God’s Word to us. These are the promises He gave us and we now have record that those promises have been fulfilled. So reading about what is still to come should fill us with awe!

It should also give us encouragement that we can come forward and tell others about this great news because it is the truth. If we are able to share the truth with one other person then we have managed to spread the truth a little further. God does not requires that we go and evangelise whole countries because He knows that we are not all up to that task; I take one step at a time and reach out to people in ways that I can… I talk to people in my community. I go to schools and tell children how great I think God is. I write devotions like this to send out to many more people… Because I want people to know the truth!

Points to Ponder:
Have you started today on a good step forward?

Have your steps been steadied by God’s Word?