Monday Reading: Philippians 2 14-16
Key Verse: Philippians 2 14
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Devotion:
Normally I would have put these verses with the previous devotion but instead I wanted to remind all of us that we have to obey God’s Word without complaining. When our parents ask us to clean up our room, we complain. When we are asked to do menial work, we complain. When we have to do the dirty work, we complain. But someone has to do it!
There are some pretty strange programs on TV that talk about the grubbiest jobs on earth; I think I have watched one or two and have been amazed at how the people who are asked to do those jobs get down and do them without complaining – well, at least some people do! When God gives us instructions He expects us to follow those instructions without complaining because when we are complaining we are saying that we are objecting to His Word! God is not going to ask anything of us that He knows we cannot do but instead gives us jobs that He knows we can do.
We may not like some of the jobs that He asks us to do, and we may not like some of the tasks that we should be doing. God wants us to be willing servants and He wants us to continue following His will and following His direction. He is the one who does know what is best for us so we should just be doing it without question! But God also wants us to question things to make sure that we know in our hearts that we are doing His will and that it is righteous.
God will not ask us to do anything unrighteous because that would be like Him asking us to sin – we should know by now that He does not enjoy sin at all. He wants us to turn our backs on sin just as Jesus did throughout His earthly ministry. He wants us to obey Him knowing that what He is asking is best for us. When we do follow God’s Word then we begin to give glory to Him as well as encouraging the people who have taught us that word because they too begin to see the profit of taking the Gospel into all the world – just as He asks us to do that. When we follow God’s ways we are bringing more glory to God than we realise because we lift up other servants who then lift up other servants and so we give a great big collective glory to our Heavenly Father!
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel good when a crowd cheers for you?
Are you joining in and glorifying God?
Sunday Reading: Philippians 2 12-13
Key Verse: Philippians 2 12
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Devotion:
Have you ever asked someone to do something? Of course we have! The good part is when the people we ask actually do what we ask. And even better is when we ask them to do something and then leave them alone and they continue to do what we have asked even though we are no longer around… How I wish sometimes that that would be the case all the time – but then I would have to sort myself out because there are probably many things in my life that I have forgotten to do as well!
When we learn how to do things from others we try to continue doing what we have learned, especially if we do know that it is right and rewarding. When we do get it right then the people around us are happy that we have done what is right, especially if they are the ones who have taught us or have supported us in trying to get it right. God has tried to teach us righteousness from the beginning and He continues to support His ways so that we will know that His ways are righteous. When we do end up doing what He has asked of us we begin to realise that He is happy with what we do for Him. What we may not realise is that we are giving Him the glory because others see that we are obeying Him!
I can imagine how Paul must have felt knowing that the church people at Philippi were continuing to obey God’s commandments and to give God the glory by showing others that they were willing to obey God’s teaching. There is no greater way for us to give God the glory than to obey His Word from beginning to end. Yes it is going to be hard because it is much easier to give in to the temptations around us rather than stick with the righteous ways because they are often harder to keep.
There is no way that Jesus led an easy life. He had to work hard and had to face many difficult times whilst He walked amongst the Jews. He faced up to the Scribes and Pharisees rather than giving in to them like the rest of the Jews. He had to face up to their mocking and abuse as He gave us the truth instead of retelling the lies that they were giving out to the people. God is Just and we need to aim to be just as well. That will make our Lord much happier than sticking to man’s rules…
Points to Ponder:
Whose rules do you follow?
Are you following Christ’s example?
Saturday Reading: Mark 13 8-13
Key Verse: Mark 13 11
11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
Devotion:
I cannot imagine the pain that a new mother must come up against when they are giving birth for the first time. There are many people who will tell us that the pain is made bearable by what is promised ahead or that the pain is forgotten as soon as the child is born, but that fact is that that pain is very real and it does take time! I know men complain about many things and women will not normally complain about child-birth, but we are all different and we all face things in different ways. God has given women that strength and stamina to be able to bear child-birth; and for that I praise God!
In some way what we face as Christians could be looked at in a similar light. What we face is many people that will rise up against us just because we say openly that we believe in Jesus. I may be an adult who teaches children about God, but that does not stop some of those children rising up against me as they try to show me how evolution is the way forward. That really does hurt me to know that they are being taught things which they cannot uphold. When I show them scriptures or pick apart their theories they withdraw very quickly knowing that they do not have the answers but still cling to their theories because a ‘real’ teach has taught them those ‘facts’.
It hurts me to listen to some of the lies that they are taught about Christianity when they are taught by people who do not believe in Christ. If only the schools would allow us more time to be able to bring the truth that we know (the Gospel according to Christ) into schools and teach those same children. They deserve the chance of being able to make their own informed decisions and not to have to go with the theories the teachers want them to hear.
Sometimes we will try to prepare for an argument against a person who believes those theories and when we are faced in discussion we fall flat on our faces because they ask a question we have not studied about. We need to have faith in The Holy Spirit. Christ promised us that He would never leave us and that He would guide and direct us – so long as we are willing to listen to His teaching. We will face compelling arguments by people who have studied their own theories; unless we stop and learn from The Holy Spirit we may well lose our arguments and end up doubting the truth!
Points to Ponder:
What books do you learn from?
Are you listening to God’s Word?
Friday Reading: Titus 2 11-15
Key Verse: Titus 2 13
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Devotion:
No matter what sort of person you are, the Gospel of Christ is for you! That is a plain and simply amazing fact – Jesus Christ has made sure that the Gospel is going to be shown plainly to every single person. It is our choice as to what we are going to do with what He gives us, but we will get to hear the gospel. Whether we get to hear it by someone reading the bible to us, teaching us, talking to us or even through God showing us through His awesome creation, we will get to hear the gospel somehow!
That means that we do not have an excuse when we have to face Him on that day of judgement. We cannot turn round and say “but nobody told me so” because that will just not hold any water! God is just! That means that He will show everyone what they need to see and they will hear what they need to hear. If they ignore those words then they have nobody but themselves to blame. Just because we are not of the chosen tribe of Israel or Judah or whatever does not mean that we have an excuse to go and do what we like to the world!
God wants us to live a life that will reflect His Word. God’s Word teaches us about righteousness and about love and not how to hate people. That means that we should learn about those things and then apply them into our own lives. If we continue to give in to the ways of the world then we are continuing to give in to the ways that Satan wants the world to do and not what God wants from us. We are turning our backs on Christ every time we turn toward the world and all its trimmings.
Our faith is going to be built up as long as we are able to see how much God does for us. If we turn our backs on Him all the time then we are not going to see anything that he does for us – how can we with our backs turned from Him? Christ gave His life for us so that we could turn toward Him and accept the gracious gift of eternal life. Christ continues to show us His mercy by forgiving us for the sinful lives we lead, but when we turn back to those sinful ways we are snubbing Him instead of trusting Him. Don’t turn your back on Christ, turn your back on the world instead!
Points to Ponder:
How do you treat Christ?
Do you realise how much He does for you?
Thursday Reading: 1 John 5 19-20
Key Verse: 1 John 5 20
20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Devotion:
We can surely thank our God that we are born into His kingdom because of what Jesus Christ has done for us and that we have accepted that as the truth. We know that Jesus Christ did come to earth and that He did die for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day to defeat those sins once and for all. We can praise Him for all that he has done and shown us and thank Him for all that is still to come our way!
He is the one that has given us the understanding that we need because we accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour. This is not a catch 22 situation where we have to get one before we can get the other but can’t get the first because we don’t have the second… God has promised us eternal life and understanding if we accept the truth, that Jesus is the Son of God. That is all we have to believe and then we get a fuller understanding of what is going on.
Before we accept Jesus as Lord we have little or no understanding, just as the rest of the world has little or no understanding for the things of God. We don’t have to go to university to find out how we can become Christians – we just believe the Word of God. It is that simple! But before we knew Christ we also thought that it must be impossible for us because we were sinners.
It is a marvellous thing to know Jesus Christ as your Saviour, but it can be daunting to try and tell others of this fact when you first become a Christian – after all, how can you tell them that you believe in something that you cannot see and that you did not believe in in the first place? But when you draw close to Him, He explains things in your heart so that you too can walk boldly forward and tell others that you love Him too! I do like wearing my “I hang out with Jesus” hoodie in the local super store to see how many people read it; I actually got a smile today! But most of all I love teaching the youth about Christ… it’s the adults that scare me!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know Christ?
Do you listen to His instruction daily?
Happy Independence Day to all our American brothers and sisters!