Wednesday Reading: Proverbs 30 7-9
Key Verse: Proverbs 30 8
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Devotion:
Agur prayed this prayer with faith knowing that he was making a request to a God that was listening and would answer. Just as we are taught to pray in the style of the Lord’s Prayer, Agur was picking the words carefully and with deep meaning. We are taught to ask for strength to not be tempted by temptations so that we can live a life closer to God’s will – that same thought is shown here in this prayer.
We should be able to ask God to give us strength to face up to temptation such that we will not be tempted to give in to them. To this extent Agur was asking God to remove him from the temptations that come with being very rich or very poor. If we were very rich we may well be tempted to do things that are not becoming of us or that we do not require. On the other hand being very poor may well tempt us into doing something dishonest that we would not otherwise get involved with.
He also asks to not be tempted into being vain or to telling lies, both very dangerous to our souls because they are the root of many a temptation that we will be faced with. We should be content with what we require rather than wanting what we do not need or being in want of things because we do not have. The Lord is the only one who does know exactly what we require rather than what we desire or think we need and if we are going to want for anything more or less we are falling short of God’s plan for us.
The food that he asks for here is not the physical food that we eat to stay alive but much more than that, being the spiritual food that we require to walk our walk with God. We need more than physical food because all that physical food can support is physical life, but spiritual food will give us strength we need to face up to the adversities we will face in our walk with God. God is omnipotent and omniscient, if we think of Him as anything less, then we are holding his name and position in vain.
Points to Ponder:
What do you give in to?
Will you ask God for strength to overcome that?
Tuesday Reading: 2 Timothy 2 8-13
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 2 13
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Devotion:
Paul fought daily to ensure that people heard the truth; that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again on the third day. Despite all the suffering he went through, Paul continued to make sure the truth was told, even when it meant that he was in put in prison for daring to tell people of his Messiah! How we fail in comparison to him even though we do not have to fear death or prison in most places in the world – we still fall very short of what Paul was doing every day.
Because he remembered just what Christ went through, Paul did not count his suffering as anything in comparison. Paul knew that Christ had foretold of His own suffering and that He had been willing to go to that cross even though He knew what was coming. Paul’s attitude was therefore that he should not have to worry about anything that could be done to him; instead he praised God for the sufferings that he went through knowing that it would lead to God’s glory. He knew he was safe because of the promise Christ had made that all who believe would be saved. So why should he worry about what the world could do to him.
Christ knew who would come to Him and He knew who would not. Because of those that He knew would come to Him, He continued toward that cross without faltering. He knew that his own life meant nothing in comparison to what Christ was giving him in return; so dying for Christ’s sake could be nothing other than a fulfilling of the promises of God. When we look at it that way then we should not fear what the world can do either.
What we should fear is what has been promised if we dare not to believe in the truth. Christ has made sure that the truth is being told around the world so that every one of us has the chance of hearing that truth and of accepting it. If we make the choice of discarding that truth for a lie instead, then we have just made our choice to not believe the promises of God. What we will find out is that His promise to deny us will still stand. Even if we do not believe the truth, Christ cannot and will not discard the truth…
Points to Ponder:
Does the truth become a lie if you cannot see it?
God believes His own Word, should we not too?
Monday Reading: Mark 14 66-72
Key Verse: Mark 14 72
72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
Devotion:
When Christ was facing the enemy and being treated harshly, the disciples were not exactly giving Him much support. Peter was keeping his distance and acting as if he did not know Christ at all. The more that Peter was challenged, the more he withdrew from the role of disciple and the greater the separation from Christ. When we face dangers because of our beliefs, what are we going to do?
Sadly the most likely outcome is that we will cave in just as Peter was doing here because we start to go into some sort of survival mode where we stop thinking of others and start thinking of ourselves instead. Peter’s thoughts went from being a disciple who said he would follow Jesus to being an ordinary human who was in danger; the result was that he turned away from Christ and tried to survive by himself.
Peter very quickly realised his mistake when everything that Jesus had said would happen came to pass. When that cockerel crowed out he knew exactly what he had done in denying Jesus those three times. But still Christ continued to love him as He had done so before. Peter realised that God’s love goes far beyond what we think of and far beyond our emotional ways and states. Note that Peter did not take a few days to think about what he had done but rather knew immediately that he was at fault. Peter wanted to repent in his heart; something I’m sure God could see as well.
God wants us to know that when we do realise that we are sinners, He will be waiting patiently for us to repent from those sins. God wants us to know that we are sinners so that we can come back to Him. He wants to forgive us, but before He can do that we do have to realise that we are indeed sinners. Peter had to learn the hard way by seeing himself deny Christ three times before he realised where he was spiritually. We do not have to go through all of that in order to find peace with God.
Points to Ponder:
Do you stand up for yourself?
Do you stand up for God?
Sunday Reading: Luke 22 31-34
Key Verse: Luke 22 32
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Devotion:
It may seem amazing to us that Jesus prayed for the disciples knowing what they would do to Him but when we read reminders like this we too can be strengthened into knowing just how much God loves us. Even though we too may be sinners and we too may be on the wrong track from time to time, God is the one who loved us first and continues to try to help us every step of the way. We may not understand His ways or His will at times, but we can know for certain that what we face is for our benefit and so we need to remain strong in His ways.
Christ knew what Simon Peter would face and He knew what was in his heart and yet knowing that, He still loved him without limit. If you knew that someone was about to break your heart or that they were about to crush your life, would you still love them without limit? We always impose limits on everything in our lives and we always set limits so that we can say when we want to stop – but Christ went past any limits that we would set because of His true love toward us.
I, like many, want to be able to think that I know what love is all about nowadays because of all that I have been through and what I face in my future. But I know that my love still seems to have limits and still will be brought into question by others. But then I know in my heart that I have learned a whole lot about love by facing many situations in my life. I know that I have had the best Teacher in the universe and that is Christ my Lord. I know that He has allowed many things in my life so that I would learn to love people without question and without limit. I also know that some will not understand the love that I offer because it is alien to this world. I trust in God.
Peter faced many temptations and a whole lot of persecution; I count myself lucky that I do not have to face half of what he had to. Peter did cave in in the beginning and he did deny Christ, but after he realised what he had done he turned his life around and made sure that he did not deny Christ again. God wants us to be confident enough to stand up for Him no matter what we face. He does not give us a promise that we will not face persecution but the opposite, that we will face it daily just because we dare to follow Him.
Points to Ponder:
Who do you draw strength from?
Are you seeking Christ’s strength?
Saturday Reading: Matthew 23 1-12
Key Verse: Matthew 23 3
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Devotion:
I like to think that I do the right thing when called, but I know that I still do many things wrong and when I do those things wrong I feel bad. That is the conscience that God has given each one of us calling out to try to convince us that we do need to follow God and not the world. When we bury ourselves in the world and all the trimmings of this world, then we tend to give in to those trimmings instead of listening to our God-given consciences.
God continues to try to guide us in our lives as we live in this world. He continues to try to show us that there is a right way of doing things and that that way is by following Him. Now we have a choice as to how we do these things and it is that choice that will make a huge difference to those who watch us. Yes, we are being watched every day by the people around us and we have a duty to God to do what He has taught us otherwise we are breaking down all that He is trying to build up in us.
The Scribes and the Pharisees were great at speaking about God, great at telling people how they should live and great at speaking against the world; but they were not that good at following their own advice. It is great to talk about God and spread the Word, but unless we are going to live that Word then we are living a hollow life, one that is certainly not giving glory to our God!
God does not want us to judge others but rather to look inside of our own lives to see if we are really listening to what He has put inside of us. God searches deep inside of our hearts and knows us from the inside out. He is the one that knows whether we are doing stuff just because we have to or whether we are doing stuff because we love Him. He does not want soldiers that listen and do what has to be done but rather an army of willing people, willing to follow Him, willing to uphold His name and willing to do His will.
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing?
Do you act on God’s Word?