Thursday Reading: Psalms 12 1-8
Key Verse: Psalms 12 3
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
Devotion:
When you ask most people what they think bad times consist of they will talk about lack of money, lack of trade, lack of prosperity or even lack of health; but what God offers as an explanation goes so much further than the humanistic view we all see. Bad times according to man always seem to fade and pass. We can look at all the major depressions and disasters and we see how the affect they have had dissipates over time as memories fade. But when we think about the eternity that faces us, surely these times are a dot on the wall in comparison.
We can build ourselves up with all manner of words and money. We can build up our lives with riches and glory. We can seemingly bring back to life a dead economy with the right moves. But to what goal are we aiming? What do we seek as our destination? Man’s ways and his words will always fade over time. We can look back at great poets and marvel at their works, but their works only last as long as the time that people are willing to pick up a poem and read it. God’s Word has lasted a whole lot longer and continues to be made available!
We build others up with words and we break other people’s hearts with words, but that is what they are, words. God does not want us to have empty words that we pass around – that would be like passing round fake currency that will bring down the economy. God wants real words, coming from our hearts, heart-felt honest and humble words that means what they say. That is the affection He wants us to have for each other as well as for Him. He has already displayed that affection toward us through everything He has done for us. Now is the time for us to return it and stand up!
God’s Word will continue to be kept from generation to generation. Not all people will keep it, but God will make sure that it remains intact for as long as He requires it. When this world is no longer required, when we are ready to move to our new heavenly homes, then He will show us that all is complete. Until that time we need to remain trusting His Word alone in faith and hope of what is yet to come.
Points to Ponder:
Do you flatter God?
Or do you really love Him?
Wednesday Reading: Psalms 50 22-23
Key Verse: Psalms 50 23
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Devotion:
So how would you describe someone who is slowly (or quickly) drifting away from God? What would you say to someone who walks away from God instead of running toward Him? To be brutally honest we should all say that we have been there and done that and hence keep quiet! Well, not so. We should not be keeping quiet as our friends and family walk away from God, not should we be quite if our enemies are walking away from God!
As soon as we recognise that someone is walking away from God we should be standing firm and setting things straight again. That does not necessarily mean berating them for daring to step away from God because we may well be just as guilty in other ways. We do need to recognise when people are separating themselves from God and make a difference. If we don’t make a difference then we are supporting them in the walk away from God. What we need to do is to prepare the way which they can follow back to God.
When people lift up others, are they doing it for the right reasons or are they doing it to glorify someone else? Being there for others and lifting them up is one thing, but glorifying them when we should be glorifying God is a different kettle of fish. God is the one who should be getting all the glory because He is the one behind it all; but that does not mean not lifting up others when praise is due. If we can lift up someone who will then give the glory to God, we are glorifying God… which then bring us to the point that we need to tell others of their need to know God first of all.
As a committed Christian I try to glorify God in all that I do. I do not look for praise but am glad when it comes my way because I can then tell people that I am working for God. Now we are all probably willing to teach others about God when we see they act responsibly and respectfully; but not so much those that are always acting up. In fact we should be aiming our Gospel teaching at those who need it most of all, the worst sinners! Jonah was not asked to go to a pretty city to teach them about God but told to go to a vile sinful place to teach them that they were sinners and get them to come back to God – only then could they give the glory to God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you teach the weak or the strong?
Were you strong before knowing God?
Tuesday Reading: Psalms 50 14-15
Key Verse: Psalms 50 15
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Devotion:
Sacrifice is certainly not dead! That should not be any surprise unless you are stuck on thinking of sacrifice as the killing of an animal in order to appease a wrathful God. The more we read through God’s Word the more that we should come to the conclusion that God was always looking for more than a simple animal sacrifice – after all, what could a simple animal sacrifice actually achieve?
God is looking for us to sacrifice something dear to us, something that has great meaning to us so that we can show Him that He means so much more to us than that thing that we hold dear. So if we are sports fans and God wants us to give it up for one week and do something special for Him, we should have no worries about doing that to show Him we love Him more than our sport we hold so dear. (I’m not picking on sport, it’s just one than many of us relate to)
The sacrifice being called for here is the sacrifice of thanksgiving. You may ask how giving thanks can be a sacrifice until you look at two points, the first being that any sacrifice needs to be pleasing to God and the second being that we need to be giving up something. Tick. Tick. God is always going to be please to accept our thanks when we give Him thanks for all that He does in our lives. We are giving up our pride by giving the praise to God for what He has done and not what we have been able to achieve without Him!
The Jews had all manner of vows and ceremonies that they ‘had to’ do in order to stay close to God. They had worked it to a fine art so that they could achieve some great position with God by doing so much for Him. But when people get caught up in doing that sort of thing they quickly build up their own praise and stop praising God for all that He does. So thanksgiving is our way of taking any praise and giving it to God. If you know any special people that do that, go to them and give thanks to God together, right now!
Points to Ponder:
Do you give thanks constantly?
Do you seek His praise or give Him praise?
Monday Reading: Jonah 2 1-3
Key Verse: Jonah 2 1
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
Devotion:
Jonah was a prophet but he had a bit of an issue with God. God was telling him to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them of the things they were doing wrong and against God; but Jonah thought that those people were too far gone and that they would never repent of their ways. He was not interested in even trying to teach them anything but just wanted God to be done with them!
But when God tells us that we need to be doing something, the last thing we should ever think of is going against that wish because one way or another God is going to remind us that He is in charge and that His will is more important than our ways. We are the ones who cannot see past our own noses whereas God is the one who sees everything from start to finish. God got Jonah’s attention by making bad things happen to many more people than just him; Jonah’s attitude problem was affecting everyone around him!
When Jonah was put in his place by God allowing the big fish to swallow him whole, Jonah had no more issues about seeing that God was in control! He was more than willing now to lift up his prayers to God and ask for forgiveness. He was more than willing to put his own desires aside and take on God’s will once again. Do we really want to have to get God to do something drastic in our lives before we start listening to Him? God will do what it takes to get our undivided attention!
When we put aside our prayers and try to go our own way, we find out quite quickly that God is still in control and that He will try to set us back in the right direction. When we stop praying and asking direction from God we can be sure that He will allow a few changes into our life so that we get the hint! God wants us to be constant in prayer, meaning that He wants us to lift up our prayers to Him always and to wait patiently for an answer from Him too. Just because we say some prayers does not mean that we are off the hook – He wants us to listen out for the answers that He will send our way. We may not get them that minute or even that day, but we can rest assured that He will send us the answer and we will marvel when we get that answer! Somehow we always seem to be surprised when God answers prayers! Why not expect an answer for every single prayer!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen out to God?
Are you patient in your expectations?
Sunday Reading: Psalms 6 8-10
Key Verse: Psalms 6 8
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
Devotion:
When I first read this passage this morning I thought about the myriad of things that get us down in our lives. All those things that are not of God that come in and slowly eat at our souls (or so it seems); and those things that come in and virtually level us in one moment. These are the things we know are not from God because He is not going to tempt us or drive us away from Him unless we have first of all chosen to turn our backs on Him!
This Psalms is in two parts, the first being a cry out for help and this part being the response when David knew that God was listening and answering his prayers! When we begin to realise just how much God does do for us in answering our prayers we are lifted up and encouraged more than anything. When we realise just what it is that brings us down we then want to be able to have a way of escaping from that trouble. God will always make a route of escape for us; one where we will be able to go forward and help others as well.
Far too often we are focused on the things around us and we do not look at the bigger picture that God is trying to show us. We may not see all the people in need around us because we are focused on the few that we think we should be focusing on. Those may well be the people that are separating us from God because our focus is on them instead of being on God. Sometimes we do have to let go of our surroundings and allow God to guide us once again.
When we do give God control and when we do listen to His will, we find that we are able to continue on in His will. Yes we face trials and we face temptations and we have to fight them; but whilst we follow His will we find it easy to avoid them and continue with God. It is when we focus on others instead of God that we lose sight of God’s will and turn to our own ideas – that is when life become dangerous because we are then trying to walk on the water by ourselves instead of waiting for God to call us out onto the water.
Points to Ponder:
Are you focused on people?
Or are you focused on God?