Tuesday Reading: Hebrews 11 39-40
Key Verse: Hebrews 11 40
since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Devotion:
When you look at the chapter of faith, the roll of honour of the faithful through history, we find something that we need to hold dear to our hearts; these people in this roll of honour did not get to see Jesus Christ come to live amongst man, they just had to believe He would be coming as the scriptures had said! We have Jesus firmly embedded into our history and have a calendar that is centred on the fact that Jesus was born over 2000 years ago!
Each of the people listed in the previous verses in this chapter suffered in the name of the Messiah that was to come. They continued to bear witness for God even though they faced persecution and all manner of trials. They were blessed in many ways but they did not personally receive all of the things that had been promised such as the land of Canaan, deliverance, victory and other blessings. God is not going to give us every blessing that is listed in the bible either! We may receive this or that but we will not all be made kings, live in Israel, have untold riches, have wisdom beyond our thoughts; instead God is going to give us what He knows we need!
What God has given us (His Son) is worth far more than the blessings we seek through earthly means. What God lines up for us is what we need to be able to give Him the glory. Each of these people listed in Hebrews 11 believed in the Messiah who was still to come and because of that they received the same gift of eternal life that has been promised to us. Just because we know that Jesus was born, lived and died for us should make us even more certain of the promises made such that we should never doubt that we can have eternal life through Jesus Christ!
Sometimes we do forget that Jesus Christ has always been and will always be. We forget that Christ is not just our Saviour but that He is God incarnate. We forget that Jesus was there when the universe was created. We forget that He does know us from the inside out. Christ is the one who has made these people from our history perfect just as He will present us perfect before God! It is not the law or history that has made them perfect, but Jesus Christ. Allow Him to work in your life right now!
Points to Ponder:
Are you fighting Christ?
Do you allow Christ to guide you?
Monday Reading: Galatians 5 19-23
Key Verse: Galatians 5 22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Devotion:
The difference between man’s ways and God’s ways is never more clearly displayed than in the descriptions held in these verses in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. When they are written down and we study them and we look into our own lives we should feel undone until we realise that we have a Saviour who has already paid for our sins. So many of us get caught up in what we have done in our pasts that we struggle to move forward and live in the manner in which Christ wants us to live. These two opposites displayed here should spurn us forward toward changing our lives and living for Christ instead of for ourselves.
Don’t be caught up in your past. Don’t be hung up in your faults. Don’t be pulled down by your mistakes. God gave His Son so that we could be forgiven and it is our lot to accept what Christ did for us on the cross and move forward in our lives rejoicing in the fact that He has set us free to live a new life with Him! Christ did not go to the cross so that we could all be terribly sorry and despondent; rather He gave His own life so that we can be set free to live for Him and to turn our backs on our old ways.
Yes we do still have that same sin nature inside of us and we will continue to make mistakes and to upset God with our ways; but we do have a choice as to whether we try to live for Christ and obey His ways or whether we just give up and sink into the pit of despair that Satan would have us in. When we give up we dwell on our pasts and we always remember the faults and mistakes we have done. But when we accept that we can live for Christ we will see some changes in our lives. We begin to like doing things for God. We begin to want to do what is righteous. We even turn our backs on the things that are wrong.
Once we do that we then begin to see that the changes that Christ has brought into our lives bear fruit, and those fruit are listed here. We begin to love others instead of turning them down. We have joy and happiness in our lives. We have a peace that Christ brings into our hearts. We put up with the mistakes other do around us. We treat others with tender care. Our faith in God grows and is strengthened. We begin to see how much closer we can get to God through His Word and we enjoy it all. Man cannot stop us from loving God!
Points to Ponder:
Are you accepting Christ’s forgiveness?
Are you bearing fruit or still dwelling on the past?
Sunday Reading: Hebrews 13 1-2
Key Verse: Hebrews 13 1
1 Let brotherly love continue.
Devotion:
When we look at the death on the cross, the price Jesus Christ paid for our sins, we see the awful truth about our sins and the horrible side of life. We even look at the emotional side and try to put ourselves in His shoes so that we can try to begin to understand just what He went through. But even if we get close to the horror that Christ had to face, we will still be missing one of the most important reasons why.
Why did Christ give His life on the cross for us? Because of His great love for us.
We read and remember that there is no greater display of love than someone giving their life for someone else and it is not something we get to experience from the giving side unless we actually do give our life. We may be lucky enough to experience it from the receiving side when someone gives their life for us (apart from the gift Christ gave us). The love Christ displayed is meant to be the greatest example of love that we can imagine and it is that seed that God has sewn in our hearts so that we will be able to share true Christian love with others. As I sit and write these words down a few people spring into my mind, people that I love to love because I know them as true, honest, loving Christians themselves. It is easy to love people like that because they are so special in our eyes and so special in the eyes of God. But what about the other people that we get to meet?
It is may seem odd to most people that you can love someone from the very first moment that you see them; but if you are willing to allow Christ to guide you through your life then you too will be able to love those people that God brings into your life for a very special reason. I am not talking about the beautiful women or the handsome men because all of us are beautiful – it’s just hard to find that beauty in some people who hide it so well. God wants us to share His love with others and that means opening up your heart even when you are scared that you will be hurt. After being hurt some time ago I gave up on that love for a while but quickly found out that by doing that I was closing off Christ’s love to others as well. Don’t be scared of loving people; just let God guide you toward the people He wants in your life and stop trying to choose what you want!
Points to Ponder:
Do you actually allow yourself to love others?
Can you name three people you really, really love?
Saturday Reading: Hebrews 10 23-25
Key Verse: Hebrews 10 24
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Devotion:
If we have declared our faith in Christ then we must hold on to it with all our might because it is a faith based on a promise from the most High, from God our Father. It is not man who has promised but God Himself and the faith we have in Him must remain firm in all three parts, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Those promises from God go far and beyond a promise as we normally see it. When God described the usefulness of faith He compared faith the size of a mustard seed as having more power than we can imagine. It is that faith that He is considering here.
Our faith should not be looked at as something that is just for us and not to be shared. When we share our faith with others we can share more than just an idea; we share something real. We may think of our faith as being the size of a mustard seed, but others may well see it as the size of the whole mustard plant or even the size of a mountain. Sharing that faith gives more hope to others than we can see because they share in what they see in us and not what we see in ourselves.
We may well just be human but we share a common heritage. God is our Creator. Christ is our Saviour and the Holy Spirit is our Guide. When we think about each other we should be considering more than just a common heritage. We may have similar feelings or worries to other people and because of that we have an affinity with them. We may share similar weaknesses and strengths and can draw on each other to help each other. It is our faith that needs careful consideration as well because that faith can build others up more than we realise.
Each of us have gifts given to us from our Creator God; when we share those gifts we become stronger as a team. If we do not share those gifts but hold them up as a hindrance to others then we are not lifting each other up but breaking each other down. As member of the church of Christ we need to try our best to build each other up. By sharing our gifts we can strengthen each other and share the joy that good works bring to each other and the glory it brings to God as well. Sharing good works with others who are in need allows us to lift others up when they need it most, stirring up our faith a bringing cohesion within the church. The best way of bringing those gifts together is by being together to start with.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like sharing your gifts?
Do you come together with others in Christ regularly?
Friday Reading: James 1 5-7
Key Verse: James 1 6
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Devotion:
How many times have you come up against something that you have not understood and you have asked God to explain it to you? Ours is not to understand everything but to have faith that God does know everything. When we do have faith in God we begin to grow spiritually as we listen to Him and we also begin to see that no matter what does come into our lives, there is a purpose. Whether the reason for things happening in our lives is because of God or because of man will be a talking point that many will not agree on. If we do realise that God does allow things into our lives we will naturally seek some sort of explanation to justify why, especially if we do not care for what happens!
No matter how much we try to explain things to each other we will always fall short of the truth because the truth must come from God. God is not going to continue punishing us for our sins after we have brought them to Him in repentance. Once God forgives us those sins are removed from our record on a permanent basis. In other words it is as if they were not committed in the first place. God is a just God and this is what He has promised already.
Our problem comes in the form of doubt after we ask for explanations. If we have doubt that God will allow us to see why we have issues in our life then we may well not get the answer we are looking for. I know that I have asked many things of God and it is only when I have asked in faith, believing that He will answer that I have seen the answer clearly. When we have doubts it is those doubts which cover the answers we seek and hide what God would have us to see clearly.
If we do not have faith the accept the answer God is going to provide then it is as though we are asking for a bucket of water without having a bucket to hold the water in. We could put our hands out and gather a mouthful of water, but most of it would be lost through our fingers – those very fingers we thought were so good at handling things. If we have doubts in our minds, how are we going to accept anything that Christ gives us to accept?
Points to Ponder:
How do you see faith?
What doubts are holding you back?