Monday Reading: James 1 12-14
Key Verse: James 1 13
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Devotion:
Sometimes we look at things that go wrong and we expect to be blessed because we have had to face something undesirable. Sometimes we look at what others have and we expect to be blessed because we think that we are more deserving than they are. But what are we actually seeking, aiming at or expecting in these circumstances? And what has this got to do with temptation?
Because Satan is such a wily enemy we do have to be very aware of how he can infiltrate our lives because he is always doing what he can to not just trip us up but to bring us down and take us away from God. It is his goal to try to trick us into worshipping him instead of God. Even God has warned us that in the last days our evil enemy will we persuading many people to do wrong and worship him instead of God. Can you imagine being faced by someone who heals the sick and makes all manner of things happen just when you are at your lowest point in life? Of course many are going to cling to such miracles – unfortunately they will be false miracles in that they will be working against God!
When things go wrong we always look for a way that we can obtain a blessing or some other encouragement. When we are seeking in desperation we will not always see everything for the truth that it is and we will look in many places we should not be looking in. I see it in the places where I work and the places where I try to reach out to people and encourage them toward God. Satan is already there, working against us to try and persuade others to ignore the things of God and focus on the unreal.
When things go wrong we look for anything that will pick us up – and, just like drugs, we may find something that will pick us up for a moment before dashing us against the rocks. God will never do that because He wants us to find the truth that is built on the solid Rock! Never think that God will tempt us by showing us things that are not real – God will always show us the truth and uphold that truth no matter what else is going on around us. Don’t be led away by false prophets…
Points to Ponder:
Do you seek experience?
Or do you seek God?
Sunday Reading: Matthew 4 1-11
Key Verse: Matthew 4 6
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Devotion:
After Jesus had been baptised, He went out into the wilderness as He was guided by the Holy Spirit and there He fasted for forty days and forty nights. That in itself is a miracle, but we will not dwell on that because it is what follows that I wish to explore. Each time we hear another story from the bible we hear something else as the Holy Spirit talks to us. This time, whilst reading through these verses after hearing it being taught again, I marvelled at the cunning of Satan.
He does not just throw a temptation at us now and again but will wait for the perfect moment before subtly lobbing the single temptation toward us that will most likely get a response from us! Jesus had been alone for a long time and was hungry so the evil one threw in the temptation of food, that Jesus would make it Himself to break His dependence on God the Father. But Jesus remembered what had been written before and quoted the scriptures.
The next temptation was thrown at Jesus in a twisted way. Jesus would have been weary from being hungry so Satan misquotes the scriptures to try and trip Him up! The number of times that I have had the scriptures misquoted at me, even in this last week, is becoming a worrying trend! People are abusing God’s Word to get their own way. There is only one truth and we must never abuse it! Christ’s response was to uphold the name of God and His ways.
The last temptation was a bit desperate! Satan blatantly lied and promised Jesus the whole world if only He would bow down before him instead of to God! If we watch our lives carefully we may well be able to spot the desperate measures that others will take when they know they are losing the fight. Sometimes it is a scowl that would shatter a gargoyle, sometimes it is a string of obscenities; whatever it is, we know we have God on our side and we know we have already won the battle – we just have to make sure we keep depending on God!
Points to Ponder:
Are your temptations getting tough to ignore?
How much do you depend on God’s Word?
Saturday Reading: Psalms 27 1-3
Key Verse: Psalms 27 3
1 A Psalms of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Devotion:
King David was a firm believer in God as his protection and salvation. He knew that through the experiences of his life, both before he was king and afterward too. When he was young he knew that God was the one giving him strength and courage to be the best shepherd he could be. When he was a chased by Saul he knew that he had a protector who would ensure that he was able to be crowned king one day. When he was king he called on God for support continually. When he strayed from the righteous path and sinned against God, he turned back and God was there. David knew God!
Each one of us does not have to go through all that Job or David went through just so that we can know God too; instead we can stand on the promises of God and trust that He will continue to tell us the same truths as He always has, standing up for us and giving us a perfect foundation to build upon.
God strengthens all those who call upon His name. Not just when we get into trouble but as soon as we need it. It may seem like He does not answer because we expect things to happen as soon as we think of it, but God is the one who knows what we need rather than what we want. He will always do what we need in our lives to ensure that we can glorify and worship Him. If we go off and start something to get what we can out of it, then we should not expect much support from God. He supports us totally when we do His will in our lives.
David knew that when he walked close to God, nothing and nobody had any chance of being able to do anything against him. When he has people gnawing at his ankles he knew that God was going to uphold His own ways and that meant that he would come out on top. When he had people surrounding him and trapping him, he knew that God would lift him out of the turmoil. But he also learned the hard way that God would only do this when he did hold God dear to his heart. As soon as he turned his back on God he found that he had to face up to all that the world could do to him!
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect people to help if you don’t ask?
Do you expect God to help when you don’t ask Him?
Friday Reading: Romans 12 3-8
Key Verse: Romans 12 8
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Devotion:
Few may be given the gift of prophecy but ever one of us can encourage others! That being said, some people just don’t seem like they want to be encouraged… The disciples were given very special gifts for a very special role in bringing the gospel to as many people as they could in the years that followed Christ’s death, burial and resurrection; and they used their gifts to great effect.
You see, each of us is given gifts that we need to use. God has given us those gifts for a reason and that is that we can give glory to Him. At this stage you may well be saying something like “But I don’t have any gifts” which is where I say that you do because God has given us all the gift of exhortation. Just because someone is great at doing a specific task for the church or good at doing many things for God does not mean that there are people encouraging them along the way; but we can step forward and give them encouragement.
Working for God is certainly not always easy work for many reasons; Satan is going to be trying to trip us up every step of the way be it through direct intervention or even through the people around us. He will try to discourage us by making things go wrong; take what he did to Job as an example. But as long as there is one person who will take a step forward and say something encouraging, we will have hope. That encouragement has to be a multi way thing in that you cannot expect everyone to encourage you without you encouraging others as well. If we see something happening which we think is good then we should be saying something instead of just accepting it as good.
But just saying lots of good things to others will not always cut it. By over-stating things we may wear people down instead of encouraging them. A few words chosen carefully and with compassion will go much further and a raft of words! Those people in charge should choose their words carefully too – just because they are in charge does not give them the right to put down others! And when people are willing to help out, that help should be accepted gratefully and encouragement given to build up the helpers rather than chase them away. Exhorting others is a gift we can all do, but we need to think before we speak otherwise we may destroy instead of encouraging others!
Points to Ponder:
Do you try to encourage others?
Do you have a habit of putting your foot in it?
Thursday Reading: 1 Timothy 6 6-10
Key Verse: 1 Timothy 6 8
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
Devotion:
What really is your goal for being a Christian? Is it to become a great preacher so that you can teach others about God? Is it to be a Sunday School teacher so you can teach children about God? Is it to be a bouncy youth leader so that you can do “God things” with the youth? What really is your goal?
When I first started with youth work my goal was certainly not to be a great youth leader but rather to be there for the youth so that they can ask me about God; I was scared of them back then! That may sound like a defeatist attitude to some who want to shout all about God and make sure that everyone knows about it; but that is not the gift that God has given me! When I tried to be a great youth leader everything seemed to fall apart. When I tried to be a great preacher, things did not go as planned. God has His ways of steering you in the right direction!
I really do love youth work and I really do love the youth that I work with – the adults are the ones that scare me! To me, being a youth worker is laying your life down for the youth so that they can come to you. Don’t get me wrong, I do preach and I do teach, but I also give them a choice which I try to portray as honestly as I can. I don’t always get it right (much like my grammar and spelling) but I know that I am trying to do what I believe God wants me to do.
One thing I do let my youth know is that I am always available for them… We live in a world where men are not allowed to do so many things because of a select few that have wrought havoc before us and my goal is to bring back honesty and compassion into our broken societies. None of this makes money and none of it really costs money; it’s about the time and love that need to be put back into our world because people are tearing into the fabric of society by stripping away everything else for themselves, leaving behind a trail of destruction caused by dishonesty and greed. If I can get one person to trust me then I know I have moved forward; I can then tell them about how honest and loving my God has always been to me!
To me, being a Christian is about being as compassionate as I can toward others, showing them what Jesus is like and allowing them to know how great life can be when you accept what God has in store for you!
Points to Ponder:
Are you seeking payment?
Do you pay God?