Monday Reading: Malachi 1 6-9
Key Verse: Malachi 1 6
“A son honours his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honour? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’
Devotion:
Have you looked back in your life and wondered why God has not kept up His side of the bargain? Yes that is the way that we tend to look at life sometimes, but it should not be! Just because we say we are doing things and because we tell others about all the things that we do, does not mean that we are actually doing the right stuff! Throughout history man has shown that he falls far short of the mark by offering work that is sub-standard. We offer up all sorts of excuses about running out of time and money and try to justify why we have cut things short or not done all that we ought to have done.
I know that I have cut things short by not proof reading these devotions every day so that what you get contains errors and mistakes. I praise God that you have not all written to me and complained about the mistakes! Instead many have offered very kind words and wonderful support. I thank you!
You see, when we start to lift up ourselves instead of lifting up God we start to ignore the cracks and the faults, brushing over them and hoping that God will brush over them too. God cannot do that because He is holy and He is omniscient – He knows everything! We cannot get away with offering half-hearted service to God because He knows what we are doing before we get there to do it. We cannot sit back and carry on doing what we have been doing and make cut backs thinking everything will be ok. If we do not continue moving forward and improving our relationship with God then we are not doing what God has asked us to do!
If we say that we are willing to come forward and do Gods work then we need to rush forward and pick up the tools to do the work. That does not mean we rush forward picking up any tools we can see and start hacking away to build something out of what we have lying around. We need to pick up what God gives us and make things according to His plan; that may mean waiting for the instruction and even waiting for someone else to build the ground work that we need to build our work upon. It has to be according to Gods plan and not our own plans!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like building things?
Are you building according to Gods plan?
Sunday Reading: Malachi 1 1-5
Key Verse: Malachi 1 2
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved;
Devotion:
There are so many things that we need to be thankful to the Lord for but far too often we forget about them and start asking God why He has not supplied us with the things that we want when the world goes wrong around us! We live in this world and things will go wrong; that is just a fact of life. If we build a chair with our own hands, some day that chair is going to break because it will get used. I can remember making things in woodwork classes in school and wondering if I would get to use them thinking that they may not even make it home!
When God makes things, He makes them properly! But when man comes along, we tend to break things properly! God made this world as a place where we could live and learn about Him with the goal of being able to praise and worship Him for all that He has done and all that He is. The evil one came along and corrupted us by giving us doubt and a sinful heart. That sinful heart has learned how to break the things God has made for us so that we then doubt that God has made things properly.
We come along, eventually, and see a corrupt world full of things going wrong and start asking God why He has not made things just the way that they should be; when in fact we should be looking at the broken world and trying to restore it back to Gods design so we can get the best out of it again. What God has already done for us since we broke things is actually pretty amazing! He has shown us love and mercy beyond what we deserve and has been continually encouraging us to pick up the pieces and put them back together again.
When we start to pick up the pieces, He then gathers more in His hands and gives them to us to make our task that much easier… But we must be the ones who start to pick up things first of all. When we show God that we want to get serious and put Him first in our world, He will show us what He has done and what He can do when we place our faith and trust in Him. It is us that are preventing our own selves from having a wonderful and fulfilling life with Christ and not Him; we separate ourselves from Him just because of our doubts…
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust your friends that stand by you?
Do you trust God who has always been here?
Saturday Reading: Romans 15 10-13
Key Verse: Romans 15 10
And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
Devotion:
Too many times we look at our Christianity and ask things like “what am I getting out of this?” or “what can I gain?”. Well, life is not always about what you can get out of it but also about what you can put back into it. If everyone is going to be sucking the life out of life, then who is going to be putting something back into life that we may suck things out of it?
God does want us to be praising Him. God does want us to be telling others about Him. God does want us to put love back into this relationship we have with Him. When we are able to lift Him up, to praise Him and to tell others about how great our God is, we are doing more than we realise. Not only are we obeying God but we are also planting seeds in other people’s heart that God can cultivate and grow. Sometimes it does just take a kind word and an invitation to join us in church. Sometimes it does just take a single verse to convict a soul. It is not always about being the best preacher or prophet or example…
But if we are not going to praise God for all that He has already done for us then we are not lifting His name up to its rightful place. How are we going to then convince others that we are doing his because we want to? Have you tried telling someone about the virtues of one brand of supply while you go out and buy another brand? You will not get many people believing you if you are going to be doing the opposite of what you talk about!
When we do invite God into our lives we should be maintaining that invitation. I don’t mean that we have to be able to do things to keep it from breaking up because God has got us firmly in His grip and will not let go. I mean that we have to show others we are willing to live our lives with Christ and present Him in the light we talk about. We have to be willing to be Christians and not just talk about it!
Points to Ponder:
What do you like talking about?
Do you ever talk about God?
Friday Reading: 2 Timothy 2 7-9
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 2 7
Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
Devotion:
One of the most amazing things about our bibles is even though they were written down with human hands, you can clearly see God was the actual author inspiring those people to write down the incredible truth that we have now. If we are willing to allow God to guide us then we will be able to help others to see what God has written down for us to understand. It is not our minds that can discern these things God has inspired to be written down, it is the Holy Spirit who works within us to allow us to understand what God has in store for us.
Have you ever read a bible verse and wondered how someone else can get a totally different view from that bible verse means to you? Unless we are listening to God, through the Holy Spirit, we too will be apt to make up our own minds about what is meant by the words written down. God may well make us think of different things relating to that same verse than someone else, but He will give us all the same truth because He is unchanging and will not come up against Himself.
Always remember it was Jesus Christ who came to give His own life for our sin debt. He made the choice to do what He did knowing the consequences but also knowing the treasure in store for us when He went through what He did! He knew God would not leave us alone after His physical death because He knew the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in all who believe. He knew we needed a personal guide to make sure we understand what He went through and why. He made sure we would have the Holy Spirit before He surrendered His life for us.
Don’t try to figure God out with your limited mind. He created your mind in the first place so His understanding goes far beyond the understanding of the whole human race put together. What He has given us is a book of writings, scriptures, letters, history and prophecies that come together to give us all we need to know to get to have a personal relationship with Christ. There are simply not enough books in the world to write down all that God has done for all of us so He gave us some of the important things that were done for a specific set of people so that we could gain an understanding. We need to grow up from that!
Points to Ponder:
Do you want someone to give you all the answers?
Are you willing to ask God for understanding instead?
Thursday Reading: Psalms 119 73-80
Key Verse: Psalms 119 73
Your hands have made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
Devotion:
God made us for a purpose and that purpose may be seen as serving Him and enjoying our lives with Him. Are those opposites? Far from it. God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, not just to be there and enjoy it, but to look after it and make it thrive. God also expected them to remember that He is God and to revere Him in the appropriate manner; those purposes go hand in hand.
It is our sinful nature that breaks us away from living for God and stops us from living a purposeful life for Him. It is our sinful ways that drag us away from a close walk with Him and lead us deeper into counterproductive ways. Those comforting and loving ways that God teaches us and has taught us from the beginning are broken down and left behind as we jump down the road of pride and destruction.
So when the psalmist writes these words, it is with a genuine desire to seek God’s ways and a long life with Him that they ask for guidance to do just that; to be able to serve God and enjoy life with Him. That peace of mind that we find in God as Christians should be a light to others so that they see how wonderful God really is. It is not just the joyful life when all things go our way but also that joy that we find in knowing God is still with us even when we think our world is falling apart; that same joy that will be a shining light for others to look at and seek.
God really is supporting us all the way and really does want us to enjoy our lives with Him. We can see this through the mercy that He shows us when we do get it wrong and even break His heart. If we are still willing to acknowledge that we get things wrong and ask for His forgiveness and understanding, then we will be more encouraged to seek after His will and obey His law. We can gain a whole lot of support from those around us just through fellowship with them.
Points to Ponder:
Are you seeking fellowship with Christians?
Do you listen to God’s ways?