Wednesday Reading: Matthew 12 18-21
Key Verse: Matthew 12 19
He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
Devotion:
Despite all the news we hear about Jesus teaching and preaching we also have a lot of places in our bibles showing us that He was not one for standing on a soap-box and shouting all about what He was doing. Rather we find places where He told the crowds to keep it quite so that He would not upset the religious lot. Jesus wanted to be able to go about His Father’s business without the interruptions that would come if He were announced in the news.
Whilst we may well get more people to hear us if we stand on a street corner and shout about God’s Word, we may find that many people are going to be offended rather than come to listen to what is being said. But if we keep quiet and don’t tell anyone, we are the ones who will be held accountable because we have refused to tell others about Christ… So where do we draw the line? When do we keep quiet and when do we shout out loud?
Christ wanted the disciples to get out there and teach others about the truth. They did not have the instruction to shout all about it, nor to keep quiet about it. We are the ones who need to sit down and learn what the people around us will accept. If we continue to annoy people and chase them away from our churches, then we are not going to be doing our best for Christ. If we keep quiet and continue doing the same old thing, we too will not be doing the best for God. We have to find that middle ground where we are able to tell others firmly about the Word of God and yet still be able to reach them.
God does not give us explicit instructions because He knows that we are all different and need different instructions ourselves in order to reach more people with His Word. It is going to be His Word that will change people’s minds and not how we can jump up and down to encourage others. Yes it does help to keep the audience awake, but it also helps to have an audience… Ask God for that instruction so that you can do your best for Him!
Points to Ponder:
So you think you know people!
Do you know people better that God does?
Tuesday Reading: Matthew 28 18-20
Key Verse: Matthew 28 19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Devotion:
I do like the way that the gospel of Matthew ends with Christ’s commission to the disciples to go out and teach others themselves; or in other words, go and find people to become disciples themselves. This does not mean that we have to go and discern who is going to be a believer and who is not and then only teach those that we think deserve to be called disciples! Far from it! Christ gave them the instruction to go and teach all over the place. Up to that point the instruction was to teach the Jews, their own people, the truth about Christ.
We are often very selective with who we want to be able to teach because it is hard to try and teach someone who does not want to listen. I do not envy teachers who have to teach students no matter what! They do not (or should not) have a choice as to who they teach based on who they think will achieve the greatest results; nor should we. We should not turn someone down just because they speak against us.
God wants us to reach out to those people who are hard to reach, even those who seem to be working against us every step of the way. But in order to reach out to such people we do have to be prepared for the journey! It is no good going to try and teach a geography class if the only subject you know is history. They may seem close enough to some people, but anyone who is listening to the teaching may be able to pull it to pieces if they know a few things. This is what we face when teaching others, some people who know a little or who have firm ideas of what they believe; we have to present the truth to them and be able to defend that truth.
Christ made sure that the disciples knew as much as they needed before they were sent out to teach others. Christ chose Paul because of his vast knowledge of the scriptures even though Paul was working against Christians. We can go forward in Christ’s name and teach others as long as we are willing as well. Jesus gave others the chance to hear the gospel. He told them the truth. He allowed them to make their own decisions; but the truth had to be told to everyone.
Points to Ponder:
Do you tell others about Christ?
Have you been selecting who you tell?
Monday Reading: Psalms 143 7-12
Key Verse: Psalms 143 8
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.
Devotion:
Do not ever be shy of asking God for guidance and instruction! We are the ones who do need the guidance because we are the ones who are walking in the darkness of this world. If we do not ask for the light to lead our paths then we may well find ourselves tripping over everything as we try to muddle our way through. God wants us to walk a path that is righteous and correct, but in order to know that path He wants us to ask so that we know we are depending on Him.
If we get complacent in believing we know the path or that we do not need constant guidance then we will fall into the traps that the evil one lays before us. We must be vigilant, but we must also recognise that we do not see all the traps because Satan is must wiser and more cunning than we are! Don’t ever think that you can go up against him because that is God’s place and not ours!
Each new day that we step into, God is already there waiting to show us the path to walk. If we are willing to stand and listen then we will get the instruction. If we run off ahead to see what is ahead, we may well fall off the cliff that we cannot see in front of us. In order for God to be pleased with us, we need to be more like Job and do what God says; even if that means doing things when we think our lot is undeserved. God is the one who knows what is best for us, not us.
Listening to God may well seem like a hard task if we are not willing to bend down and listen to instruction. Obeying God will be very difficult if we did not want to listen in the first place. Expecting a good outcome if we are not listening is just not going to happen! Living a full life with Christ starts with is listening, then obeying and trusting every step of the way. God is just and faithful, but we need to be trusting and willing!
Points to Ponder:
Are you a trusting person?
Are you trusting the world or God?
Sunday Reading: Psalms 25 1-7
Key Verse: Psalms 25 3
Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
Devotion:
When we put our faith and trust in God, we need to do so properly! Making a half-hearted attempt at doing so will not give us much in the way of anything apart from doubt… When we say that we are willing to allow God to work in our lives we must acknowledge that God is the one who knows what is best and hence we need to allow Him to guide us to do His will and not us our own will! If we say that we want to trust Him then we must do exactly that; trust Him to show us what is best and then to DO IT!
Too many times we look at what God is telling us or the path that He is laying before us and we are too proud to admit that we have done something wrong, so we ignore this path or we change it slightly so that we can still look good! But, just like Job, we need to put aside our pride and allow God to have His way in everything and not just the things we want Him to!
When we turn round and say that we want God to do something, many times we get cross if He does not do exactly what we want. What we need to be doing is allowing Him full access so that He can accomplish what is actually needed in our lives instead of what we think is needed! We must never be ashamed if God’s ways and our ways are not the same. If we do not give in and follow His ways, then we are too proud to give control to God even after we have said that He can have full control!
Yes, God is merciful, patient, loving, kind, just and all those other wonderful words we like to attribute to Him… but He also knows what we need in our lives and sometimes we are not going to like what He sends our way, especially when we do not like or understand what He has allowed into our lives. Trust means exactly that. Trusting even when we do not understand why. Trusting when we cannot see the end. Trusting when we are lost. Trusting when we do not understand. Trusting because He is God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust God?
Are you willing to trust even when it hurts?
Saturday Reading: Job 9 16-19
Key Verse: Job 9 16
If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
Devotion:
Oh how many times do we have to blame God before we put aside our pride of life! Pride is something that grows from the smallest of things into a huge overwhelming mountain unless it is nipped in the bud! We have all been there so we cannot turn round and say “it must be them he is talking about”. God wants each of us to realise that we owe everything to Him and to Him alone. Satan continues to try to build up things like pride in our lives so that we will wander away from God without thinking about it, because if we are distracted whilst we walk away we will not think of it until it is too late.
God also wants us to know that He is just in all His ways and that if we do walk away from Him, we will have to pay the consequences until we put aside our pride and come back to Him. I do speak through experience from my past because I know that I have been in various positions that have been brought on by pride. I like to think that I am now able to identify pride more easily in my life because of what I have been through – but, like Job, I’m pretty sure that I will have to put it aside again before God is done with me!
God also wants us to know that He is merciful and continues to be very patient with us whilst we do run around in circles! Our pride does make us ignore directions and it does make us run after things we should not be. Job may have lost everything but his attitude was wrong in thinking that God had no right to allow anything bad into his life. Just because we love others, give things away, praise God always, and live an righteous life, does not mean that we will escape all bad things… We live in a very corrupt world and we will be affected by this world as we walk through it. That may well mean having to put up with the bad stuff we tread on as we walk.
But we must never forget that God has greater rewards for us in our futures with Him. No matter what we have to put up with in this world, we have a fantastic future with Him is we will place our faith and trust in Him. It may seem like we go through hell to get there, but God’s promises are sure!
Points to Ponder:
Do you get sick of this world?
Do you look forward to your future in Christ?