Sunday Reading: Acts 11 15-18
Key Verse: Acts 11 18
When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”
Devotion:
As we read through our bibles we very quickly should realise that God chose the people of Israel for a reason; He wanted to set them apart from the rest of the world to be as an example. That went further in making sure people would come to see them as different and to know that God was looking out for them. One of the big things during Jesus’ ministry was that The Holy Spirit came to dwell with the apostles and those Jews that believed.
Now we are being shown that after Christ accomplished what had to be done, He fulfilled His promise to the rest of the world by making sure that The Holy Spirit came to dwell with the gentile as well. This was a huge step forward for the rest of us to know that Christ loved all of us and His word came to life. When Jesus stated that ‘whosoever’ believed, He meant every single one of us who placed our faith and trust in Christ and not just the Jews anymore.
This outward demonstration of Christ and His love for every single one of us was something very special that we all needed to know! Once again Christ fulfilling the word from the prophets is as important to us as the air we breathe because it is the fulfilment of God’s Word to us all; God’s promises coming to light!
But it is not just a statement whereby we can all be saved just because of the love that Christ has for us; this is the beginning to show us that we do need to repent of our sins before anything happens. God may love us more than we can realise and God may well uphold us, but unless we are willing to accept His love, accept that we are sinners and move forward trusting Christ, then we have issues all along. It is through God’s grace that we are saved and nothing we can do; but we must follow Christ’s commandment by bringing our sins before Him to start with.
Points to Ponder:
Do you say sorry when you do things wrong?
Do you say sorry to God?
Saturday Reading: Acts 3 17-21
Key Verse: Acts 3 19
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord
Devotion:
It is amazing that God allowed His only Son to come to this world in the form of a lowly human being knowing exactly what would happen to Him. It is further amazing that Jesus grew up knowing that He would have to do something so amazing for us and He kept on coming forward, all the way. The prophets had foretold that the Messiah would come forward and have to be treated so badly, that He would have to die on our behalf but that He would defeat the evil one once and for all.
When we have a goal to look forward to then we should focus on that goal and allow God to work out the things around us. That goal must not be one that we have come up with to please ourselves but one that God has shown us is the right goal to aim for. When Jesus knew that goal He continued on steadfast unto the end; the same way that we should be aiming for our heavenly goal.
When we come forward to repent of our sins, God has promised us that He will forgive us because of what Christ has done for us! That is not just something He said in passing but a promise given to all mankind and clearly demonstrated by Christ giving His own life on the cross – we now have that clear goal to aim for, to be in heaven with Him! This is not a goal that has been invented by man but one that God has told us about from the beginning of time and one He has told us through many different ways.
Let us not lay aside any of the promises that God has given us but pick them up and work with them all. Let us be sure in the knowledge that Christ will forgive us of our sins because it is His promise. Let us never grow weary of waiting for His return because that is a promise. Let us never lose faith that we have a wonderful home in heaven because that is His promise to us. The prophets foretold them. Jesus reminded us and the apostles left us with this all in writing.
Points to Ponder:
What proof do you require?
Do you depend on God’s promises?
Friday Reading: Matthew 1 19-21
Key Verse: Matthew 1 19
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
Devotion:
One of the greatest things about God is that when He wants you to do something that sounds unbelievable He will always make sure that you hear this things from other sources. I know that He has asked me to get involved with some things over the past decade that I would never have dreamed about doing and He has made sure that I know He wants these things because of what He has shown me and who He has brought into my life at the right moments. God is real and you had better start listening to Him!
Mary and Joseph were in love and wanted to get married, but you may be able to imagine what was going through his head when he found out that Mary was pregnant. Our bibles tell us that he just wanted to take her away and hide her so that others would not talk about them. His love for her did not stop because it was a real and deep love; no circumstance ever changes that love and if you have ever been faced with something that has ‘changed your love’ then I put it to you that it was not real love to start with.
The love that God has for us is a real love that goes beyond what we may be able to imagine and so He makes sure that we hear about this love from many places and many people. As we grow with Him we begin to accept how much He loves us and we can then grow in that love, believing it and relying on it. That does not mean that we can abuse it! Love must never be abused!
Mary and Joseph may have each had their doubts to begin with, but when they both heard from angels that this was all God’s plan, I think they would have come ever closer together than they were before. When God places people in our lives we need to grow with them and nurture them as God has done with us. Whatever age they are and whatever relationship you may have with them, God has a plan and we need to listen to Him and move forward with that plan. We do not know the time and the place, but we do know God loves us and guides us every step of the way. Trust Him. Love Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you love others?
Do you return God’s love?
Thursday Reading: Luke 1 35-37
Key Verse: Luke 1 35
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Devotion:
I really don’t know what I would have said if I was told something like this; I know I am a man so wouldn’t, but being told some news like this would blow my mind! When I was first told that I was going to have a child I was a bit shocked. It took a while to sink in, and that was just a normal child! But our God is the God of the impossible because nothing is impossible through Him!
How often we do forget just how powerful and awesome He really is because we try to relate everything back to things in our own lives instead of just accepting that He is God, above all and in charge of all! He is the one who has created everything for us so that we can know Him as God and give Him all the glory that He deserves. But still we try to make up our own theories about how things came into being so that we do not have to rely on an omnipotent God!
What is wrong with having an omnipotent God in our lives? Shouldn’t that make all things better because we can attribute things to Him rather than take things away from Him? That is where our pride gets in the way and we want to be able to attribute things to ourselves or to chance, that way we will not have to answer to Him as being our Lord and creator God!
Any doubts that Mary may have had about the visit from the angel would have been swiftly put aside when she realised that she was actually pregnant and would be having this baby! I wonder, do you seek proof of everything before you believe? It is hard to believe in something that you cannot see or hear or smell; but when you get to know God and put your faith and trust in Him, the world becomes a totally different place as you begin to see everything that He has done for you. Just seeing the world around you can build up your faith in our awesome creator God!
Points to Ponder:
What do you struggle to believe?
Are you really trusting God?
Wednesday Reading: Proverbs 30 11-14
Key Verse: Proverbs 30 12
There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet is not washed from its filthiness.
Devotion:
We like to think that we live in a generation where everything is different, where we can look forward to good times and where people will be happier than ever before. But we also look at what we do now and see times in the past when we have been doing the same things; so we may think we live in cycles of life or habits. But what we do not like looking at is the sinful lives that we live or that man has lived in his past.
These verses may well have been written this year as we look at the current generation who is so far from God. We look at the young people and wonder how things have got so bad that they have not been taught about God. But if this was written so many years ago, then should we not see that man has been like this for a long time? If this is not encouragement enough to get up and do something for God right now, then what will be? Would you rather the world get deeper in sin, walk further away from God, live more evil lives and then have to walk an even longer path back to Him; or would you rather get people to walk back to God before His name is off their lips?
Jesus went amongst the Scribes and Pharisees and showed them up by revealing what was in their hearts. He revealed that they were doing things to look good instead of doing things because of their love for God. If you have a love for God, no matter how small, then you need to stand up and be counted for God. That way you will be able to change someone else’s heart before the day is out. You may not see it, but they will see where your heart is.
Don’t be caught up in the past. Don’t be caught up in the sin of the world. Don’t be caught up in what the world has to offer because nothing from this world is going to last forever. It is God and the things of God that will last forever because God is eternal. We can change this world by doing things for God, but we will not make any changes unless we step forward and do something first of all! We may be living in a generation that lacks a simple understanding of God, but we can change that by talking about God. They can’t really stop us! No, really, they can’t!
Points to Ponder:
What are you doing for yourself?
What are you doing for God?