Sunday Reading: Matthew 28 16-20
Key Verse: Matthew 28 17
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
Devotion:
When things around me go wrong, and they seem to always, I do start to doubt many things; but I never doubt that God is not with me. For many years I have had absolute confidence that God is personally present with me every hour of every day! How can I be so sure? Well, I just am. I have learned to trust Him for so many things and every step of that path He has shown me that He cares for me. When I start to doubt it is doubt about my own conviction, or doubts about my own abilities or doubts about what I can achieve – never about God!
Does that make it any easier knowing that God is always here? Well yes, but not as much as you would hope because your own doubt can bring many things down around your ankles! When Jesus commissioned the disciples to go out into the world, it was with a firm foundation saying that all power in heaven and earth was at His disposal. And so it is! God is our creator and as such we must never doubt His abilities or His conviction. It is our own faltering that breaks our relationship down and not of His doing!
Jesus does not want us to go out alone but for us to take Him with. He has given us the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to overcome many things. He has given us the wisdom through His teaching so that we will always be able… as long as we are willing. That is where many of us fall down because we have doubts about our abilities. Well, it is not about our abilities but those of God instead! Do not allow other people to bring us down just because they think it is hard going; God is here to smoothen the way and lift us up.
Our task is to take His Word out with us and to inform people about His ways. Once that starts happening He is able to smoothen their hearts and calm their minds so that the seeds will germinate there and then! Don’t try to be the complete farmer because God is only asking you to sow seeds at this time. He is the One who will nurture them and get them growing. He is the One who will call in the harvest…
Points to Ponder:
Are you trying too hard?
Have you tried sowing lately?
Saturday Reading: Exodus 3 11-15
Key Verse: Exodus 3 14
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Devotion:
When God was preparing Moses to go and take His Word to the people of Israel, He made sure that Moses was under no misapprehensions about God not being with him or about them listening to Moses. None of us are confident when we first go out to tell others about God because we have so many inner doubts about ourselves. God wants us to get over those doubts and to go forward with confidence, relying on Him every step of the way.
Each doubt that Moses raised was countermanded by something from God as He encouraged him. That is exactly what God does with us when we prepare to go forward and tell others about God. The difference being that Moses was listening intently whereas we do not always listen as well as we should! Moses did still play down his own abilities but God shrugged them off telling Moses that He was going to be with him. The disciples learned that quickly as well as they stepped forward with Christ; with Christ, they could do anything!
We should never think that we are not good enough to go and tell other people about God. We have something that they do not have! We have God. And I am not saying that as if He was going to be standing in front of us like a teleprompter shows people what to say; but rather that we have something very special that needs to be shared with others. How are they ever going to hear about God unless we tell them they have hope? How will they ever hear any good news unless we are willing to say that there is good news!
God has already shown us so much by what has happened throughout history. We just have to be reminded now and again that it was God that did this all and not mankind. Too many people try to explain things away through natural means or by telling us we are delusional or even by bringing science into the equation… All we have to remember is that our Awesome God can do anything and He has chosen us to go forward and tell others about Him!
Points to Ponder:
Are you nervous?
Do you really think God can’t?
Friday Reading: Isaiah 42 5-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 42 8
I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
Devotion:
God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth; He is the one who created everything and gave it all to us to live within. We are the ones who spoil it all by going against what he has given us in our bibles. He gives us the air that we breathe and allows us to fill our lungs with that air so that we can live. He is the one who continues to hold out His hand to us so that we can walk with Him and be supported by Him!
He has a firm grip on our hands and will not let us go because of the promise that He has made for us. This contract that He has signed with us is eternal and cannot and will not be broken by Him. We may falter and bring all manner of things into bad places, but that is not what He does! He is here to open up our eyes so that we can show others how much He means to us. If we are going to ask who we are inside of us, then we have to consider who God is as well.
We may be overcome with the magnitude of all that God stands for, but whilst He has that firm grip on our souls, nothing will come between Him and us. Yes we may turn the other way and bring all manner of things between us and God, but He does not! Christ wants to make sure that we have nothing between us and God that will take away from giving God the glory. We must make very sure that we do not turn our backs against God or we are stealing that glory from Him!
God is trying to tell us about all the new things that He is giving to us and trying to show us. He wants us to grasp the new world He has placed within our grasp, we are the ones who turn to the world and give us His wonderful gift! God has shown us the new things. Christ has told us the new things. All we need do is pick up those new things and live our lives for Him and not against Him!
Points to Ponder:
Don’t try to limit God and what He can do for us!
Are you opening your mind and heart to Christ?
Thursday Reading: John 12 44-50
Key Verse: John 12 46
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Devotion:
If there was ever a statement that everyone in the world should listen to, then it is these few verses as spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ. He may not have spoken these exact words, but the meaning is quite clear for all to see and hear. We are all His disciples and we need to take in all that He tries to teach us; we should be acting like sponges and absorbing His Word every day.
I know it can be difficult to get down and read your bible every day; and I am not one to judge you or to even pretend that I do read it every day either… Some of these devotions are written days before they are published and the computer system publishes them automatically for everyone to read. But when I set my mind to it, even I can read and absorb God’s Word! Me being the first in the queue to get out of reading anything written down if I can find any excuse!
God’s Word is really important though because it is this same Word that will seal our fate if we choose to ignore what it says. Just because we don’t read it does not mean that we can get away with everything. Christ has given us ample opportunity to read it, He has given us many people in our lives that have shown us where the Word is and He has made sure that His Word is made available to every people! This very Word that will teach us right from wrong will be the same Word that stands to accuse us when we face that fateful day.
I really do that God that He has allowed me to at least read through the whole bible – even if it took me a very long time! He has allowed me to understand many things just by getting that Word into my mind. That is where He wants the seeds to be planted, in our minds and in our hearts. We are not going to be tested on the content as if we are taking an exam; God wants us to absorb the Word into our hearts so that we can understand it in our hearts. We will not be able to understand His every thought or deed, but we will be able to understand what we read when we allow Him to explain it to us. He wants to teach us!
Points to Ponder:
Are you ignoring God’s Word?
Will you stop and listen?
Wednesday Reading: John 14 12-14
Key Verse: John 14 14
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Devotion:
When the disciples were found wanting, doubting and questioning Jesus and whether He was from God as He claimed, His answer was to assure them of greater power through ardent prayer! Jesus was trying to paint the picture of His relationship with the Father whilst He was in human form here with us; He called upon God The Father at every opportunity to make sure that His own prayers would be answered and that He would be given guidance every step of is human walk!
Jesus promised us that He would leave our Great Comforter here with us to enable us to do wonders through prayer and supplication to the Father through His own name. Jesus was saying that He would personally listen to their prayers and lift them up to God the Father making sure that they were heard and answered.
What an awesome thing to tell someone that you will be their personal mail man delivering every word directly to God! Not that Jesus was seeking any great glory for doing our bidding but rather that God would be given all the glory because He would want to answer the prayers when they came through Christ! Jesus wanted them (and us) all to see that God answers prayer just as they are required by us – not how much we want or desire them, but how much we need them as God gets glorified!
Do not feel like you are letting the side down when you begin to doubt things and when you start questioning Christ. Don’t get down-trodden as you find yourself falling short. Christ is bridging the gap between us and heaven and He is faithful and just to carry out His promises. Christ lifts up our prayers, makes sure that God hears our requests, makes sure that He actions them and lifts the glory all to God the Father. We should want to keep His commandments because we love Him. He keeps His promises because He loves us and has loved us from the beginning!
Points to Ponder:
Do you continue to have faith through Christ?
Are you giving God the glory?