December 11: Psalms 120 1-7
Key Verse: Psalms 120 2
Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
Devotion:
Isn’t it amazing just how much people tend to lie in our society nowadays? We look at politicians as people who find it hard to tell the truth; we look at lawyers as people who need to find ways to bend the truth... And we think of this as normal living! Telling lies has become part of our culture and children are learning it from the very beginning of life because of the example we are to them. But God made sure this was one which made it into the “top ten”: Exodus 20 16 tells us “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.”
If we are honest with ourselves we will all admit to having told lies in the past, be those huge whoppers or tiny white lies, and have had to live with the consequences of those lies. Again, if we are honest, we will admit to thinking our lies are a direct consequence of the lies others have said or we have said to get us away from some situation. We use them as a tool in everyday life! Oh how God must look upon us with despair as we live our lies!
We may be surrounded by people who tell lies and many who are deceitful too; but that does not mean we have to follow on in the same manner. Whilst we do have a choice as to whether we want to follow a path of lies or follow God’s Commandments, the choice is more along the lines of we can choose to follow a path of safety or a path to destruction!
God is good, but He is a just God. He has quite clearly given us the instructions we should follow. He has very clearly given us the punishment we will face when we break His laws. So, the path of what we should follow should be quite clear – we should follow His laws to avoid the punishment! He is just and will allow us to receive the punishment unless we come to Him and repent! When we do cry out to Him, He will hear us. Unlike us, God cannot lie and hence we must trust everything He has given to us and trust that if we do disobey Him, we have to face up to the consequences!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you tell white lies?
Do you think God would believe your white lies too?
December 10: Psalms 119 1-8
Key Verse: Psalms 119 6
Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.
Devotion:
I often wonder how long it took the writers of the bible to put pen to paper and write down the words God was giving them. Each time I sit down to write a devotion I give my time to God; it is no use putting a time limit on it because it just doesn’t work like that! It could be a quick half hour, or it could be a quick two hours, for both are quick when you are focused on His Word... Yes, I have been late for work in the past because of the amount of reading it has taken me before I understood what God is trying to tell me what to say. The point I am trying to make is that we should not limit our time with God by earthly means; don’t set a time limit for God. Rather allow God to explain what He wants to you and in His time. Being with God is very special and being in His Word is just as special.
“O that my ways were fixed to keep Your Precepts!” What a statement! That is giving God the glory for all He does for us and being humble and knowing we always do fall short of the mark, no matter how hard we try. But try we must. And in order to try, we have to know the limits, we have to know the bounds, and we have to know God’s will in our lives – which comes from His Word. We know He is merciful towards sinners such as us. We know He is faithful and just towards us too.
We need to be careful to avoid sin because it is sin which weakens us in our walk with God. We need to strengthen ourselves by allowing His Word to build us up and encourage us day by day. It is much the same as an exercise regime where we have to keep it up in order to become fit. Once we get used to the exercise, we will find that it is a joy and not a hardship. God has given us the commandments so we can keep them and identify when we go astray. When we can know we are keeping His commandments, we will know we do not have to be ashamed and we walk with Him. It is very easy to allow the world to get to grips with us rather than us to get to grips with God’s Word. Fight the good fight!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do any exercise?
How often do you give quality time to God?
December 9: John 1 6-8
Key Verse: John 1 8
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
Devotion:
Before Jesus came to us in human form, He made sure there would be someone who would be willing to tell people about Him. This could not be someone He knew would deny Him or someone who would promote Himself instead of Jesus. He chose John before His time would come!
John was born as a son of a priest, Zechariah, who was married to Elizabeth who did not seem to be able to conceive at the time and they were both considered to be past child bearing age – but nothing is impossible through God. When the angel came to Zechariah to tell him they would be having a son soon, he doubted and wanted some sort of proof this could happen… he lost his voice as a result of that doubt and would not get it back until John was born and they asked him what his son should be named! Zechariah may have been a priest who worked in the temple, but he faltered when it came to allowing Christ’s light to shine through him!
When John was born and Zechariah had named him, Zechariah began to praise God like he had not done before; he knew the light had to shine through and nothing was going to stop that! Pretty soon people all over the land were talking about John and wondering what was so important about him – they would soon find out.
John did not have a great big mansion to live in, even though God had chosen him. John lived and worked out in the wilderness where he could work freely and tell people about the Messiah who was coming. If he had been given a mansion and lived in the city, he may not have lasted too long as the government would have put a stop to that, one way or another!
John was chosen by God, named by God and given a task by God. John made sure he dedicated his life to fulfilling that task; and I’m sure Zechariah made sure he was taught all he needed to know. But John was only a man. He was not Christ. He was just obedient in making sure other knew about Christ before He arrived!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like telling people about something good which is about to happen?
Are you telling people about Christ?
December 8: John 13 36-38
Key Verse: John 13 38
Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Devotion:
How many times have you heard a friend say they would do something for you and never carried it out? Worse still, how many times have you promised a friend you would do something and never done it?
In today's society, people seem to promise things all the time and then forget about doing them. No, I am not talking about politicians... they seem to be in a world of their own, promising things one minute and then saying something totally different to the next person... I am talking about people who you would normally think as being upright and honest people.
You can go through the Bible from cover to cover and see how every single thing Christ said was true, had already happened, was happening or would happen. You can read up about things you never knew about and find out they have happened. You can read about the things which are going to happen and know that they will happen... Because God cannot lie. He always does what He says He will do.
We, on the other hand, seem to be a bit more 'flexible' with the truth. We may tell someone that we are going to do something and find out we simply cannot carry that out. You may think it is ok to go back and say we cannot do it (well, that is better than pretending you did it, or just ignoring it) but what we should be doing is making sure we only say things we can live up to.
Peter was sure He would never deny the Lord, but when push came to shove and he was faced with mortal danger – his knees buckled and he gave in... We don't always have to be faced with mortal danger for our knees to buckle – often it is just that we do not want to 'look bad'! When we say something, we should do it!
Points to Ponder:
How many promises do you ignore each week?
How many promises do you make to God and don't follow up on?
December 7: John 1 1-5
Key Verse: John 1 5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Devotion:
The more we study the gospels, the more we recognise the ways the apostles expressed themselves and the ways in which they allow us to experience God’s love for us. The “Word” here is used to signify Christ; the fact He was with God and is God and was always there, right from the beginning of everything. It is because of Christ we can identify our own lives as being part of God’s creation and the object of His generous and never-ending love!
Not only was Christ there in the beginning, but He was part of the creation of the world. Without God, Christ and the Holy Spirit being there together in the beginning, nothing we recognise as being our world would have been created! Because of what was to come, or what has happened in our past, life was possible. Not only life as humans, but an eternal life which we could inherit from Christ; and this all stems from Christ being there in the beginning demonstrating His love, and later being able to express His love for us. The light shined brightly in the beginning!
We are coming up to the time of year when we like to celebrate the birth of Jesus showing the miracles which happened and how prophesies were fulfilled in a wonderful human setting. This was the setting through which we would be able to see just how much God cares for us and how He was going to supply us with a way through which we would be able to be with Him in heaven for eternity! The light shined brightly once again!
Jesus did not have to be born to become real, He chose to be born so the world would be able to understand Him and see just what we mean to Him. In one of the oldest scriptures we have (the book of Job) Job knows Christ as the Word and living God, not the plain written word but as someone special, someone who was there in the beginning and always with Him. Job did have enough go wrong in his life that would make any of us doubt, but he remained resolute in knowing Christ was there. No matter where we look, we can see that light shining brightly! Share it!
Points to Ponder:
Have you thought about how much Christ has done for you?
Do you now know He was with you in the beginning?