Wednesday Reading: Jeremiah 9 23-26
Key Verse: Jeremiah 9 24
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Devotion:
When we finally come to the understanding that our lives on earth are actually quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things, we should be able to grasp the importance of God and of the Gospel; but only if we have been introduced to it in the beginning. No matter how rich we can get whilst we are alive, we take none of that with us when we die. No matter how much sorrow and strife we put up with in our lives, none of that follows us after death. No matter how much we can learn of the great orators, philosophers, poets and other people we look up to, none of that matter after we cannot read anymore.
Why then do we have this compulsion to gain the greatest glory whilst we live on earth and try to promote ourselves above others; I speak here as a human and not from personal gain. Daily I try to put aside my compulsion to glorify myself and try instead to give God the glory because it is He who deserves it all. No amount of riches or poverty will be able to change the place where I will end up after my earthly body dies. It is my choices I make whilst here on earth that will dictate where I will be, but it is not my money or lack of it.
God continues to give us our earthly wisdom as well as opening up our spiritual selves to what He has in store for us. If we continue to refuse to accept His spiritual teaching then we are going to find that we will be lacking when we do have to finally face Him face to face. The more we focus on the earthly treasures the more we will become depressed finding that it is actually all in vain; so why focus on it to start with? Well, because we don’t know any better to start with!
That is why God gives us some very special people in our lives who encourage us to continue seeking Him no matter what else happens in our lives. I have given up the quest to see how much I can earn in earthly terms and have focused on what I can give back to the people around me who are seeking God’s wisdom like I do. I continue to learn and as I learn I continue to teach knowing that what I am teaching could save someone else’s soul from eternal death. God exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness on the earth – let us seek that too.
Points to Ponder:
What do you focus on in life?
Have you compared your attitude to Christ’s attitude lately?
Tuesday Reading: Hebrews 10 26-31
Key Verse: Hebrews 10 29
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Devotion:
When we see the evil that is done in the world today we cry out for justice to be carried out, especially when it is done against our own countrymen or worse still against other Christians! But what about all the people who are breaking God’s laws every day? What about crying out justice for them? It is the grace and mercy that Christ has shown us that builds up within ourselves until we are able to offer grace and mercy to those people around us that hurt us; without it we would be constantly at war with everyone.
But before we can call for justice we have to make sure that the people have heard about the law and know what will happen when they continue to ignore that law. God has made sure that His Word has been written down in forms that will be able to be distributed to all men, giving every single person the chance at accepting that law for what it is. He is making sure that we take it out to those people who do not get to read about it. He is making sure that nobody has any excuse not to know of God!
When we see those people around us sinning and seemingly not worrying about the fact we can be sure that God is working deep in their souls. God will make sure that every person knows inside their hearts that He is God. If they then continue to choose to ignore Him and to break His laws then they have nobody but themselves to blame. God is Just and will make sure that justice is served. These people may look like they are not afraid of God, but they know in their hearts that God is real and that they are breaking the law – remind them!
When we break our parents rules we fear what they may do to us when they find out; but they are just our parents… Imagine what our all-powerful God can do to us when He finds out what we have done wrong… Now remind yourself that He is an all-seeing God that already knows! We need to bring our sins before Him right now and we need to make sure that we leave them behind on the altar otherwise we face His wrath fairly and squarely!
Points to Ponder:
Do you carry on with sin in your life?
Even in front of God?
Monday Reading: Proverbs 8 32-36
Key Verse: Proverbs 8 36
36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
Devotion:
The way to stay clean and stay out of trouble is to listen to the people in charge and to obey the rules. God has set us rules and a whole way of living and invites us to have a personal relationship with Him to ensure that we can live the best lives we can with Him. If we want to be wise then we have to listen to the rules and live by them and not turn our noses up at those rules or even turn our backs on God. Those who listen to God’s Word in all its forms will be the ones who are blessed through His grace and mercy.
Listening to God’s Word is not just about reading and doing but reading, absorbing those words, keeping them in your hearts, remembering them always and obeying them with your way of living. We do need to make sure that we take in that word regularly as well; daily devotions are not called DAILY devotions for nothing. Keeping in touch with God must be constant and on-going. Meditating on God’s Word should be your way of life and not an afterthought or something you have to do.
The people around us who seek after the ways of the world will always find time for vain amusements and will say that they do not have time for the things of God. The less we keep in touch with God the more likely we are to fall into that same category as we do less with Him each day. Our daily walk with God keeps us in tune with Him and allows us to draw on His strength continually. I have always like the saying “seven days without God makes you weak” and it is only after you realise just how weak you do become after a week without prayers and our daily bread from God.
When we leave God out of our lives we are hurting Him as well as ourselves; the sad part being that when we start to grow weak we start trying to find excuses to not get stuck into our daily bread and daily walk with God. It is that stage that the evil one wants to get us to by allowing all manner of distractions and temptations into our lives that start the downward spiral that we get trapped into. Satan knows that he cannot compete against a daily walk with God so he tries everything to stop that from happening. Don’t let him get the upper hand; keep that privilege for God alone.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you really draw close to God?
What else do you do besides reading this devotion?
Sunday Reading: John 8 21-24
Key Verse: John 8 24
24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Devotion:
Can you remember a time when you were told that you could not go where others were going? Maybe it was when you were younger and all your friends were allowed to go to the shop but you were not allowed to because you had been naughty! I can remember a few things like that but I’m pretty sure that I have put many more such things behind me and moved on. Unfortunately there will be a time when that journey will be the final journey and you will have to put up with that final answer!
I am thankful that I was surrounded by people who were willing to show me the truth about God and Christ and allowed me to come to Jesus. I am even more thankful that His grace was sufficient to cover all of my sin and that He has forgiven me! But as I sit at home and think of all the young children who are growing up and not getting that opportunity that I had, I want to change society so that they take more notice of the pending final journey that we shall all have to face one day. It is easy to say that it’s not going to happen today so I can put it off until tomorrow, but Jesus wants us to do things today – to make a difference here and now, not put it off for another day.
When the people around Jesus challenged Him about their faith He turned it back on them by showing them that they were doing things in unbelief. Even though they may have been doing the right stuff they were still doing it in unbelief and it is that unbelief that is the one sin that Christ cannot and will not forgive. If we persist in our unbelief then we have to pay the price for that unbelief – we will not be able to join Him in paradise!
The law does show us that we have to pay for our sins. We need to believe that law. But that in itself is not enough because if we do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day, then we are following that law in unbelief! Christ clearly states here that we will be required to die for our sins because they will not be covered through no other fault than our own unbelief. Christ came to show us the right choices to make and to complete what God had ordained from the beginning. We need to believe that in our hearts to gain His eternal freedom.
Points to Ponder:
Do you still feel left out?
Are you trusting Christ fully?
Saturday Reading: Job 33 14-18
Key Verse: Job 33 15
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Devotion:
God speaks to us in many ways and one of those ways is through His Word, our bibles. There was probably not any scriptures written down at this stage in history that Job or his so called friends could call on but that did not mean that they had nothing to call upon from God! God continues to encourage and guide us through the same ways as Elihu describes here.
God has built in our consciences to guide us even before we know Him. Our conscience tells us what is right and what is wrong and we expand on that every time we learn new things. Unfortunately for us we also tend to learn bad habits which corrupt our thoughts and lead us astray. We should always remember that he is the one who cared for us from the beginning and through our great history of care that He has shown us we learn more about Him.
God also speaks to us through His ministers that He has encouraged to take His Word out to others. Each one of us has been given the task of taking the gospel out to others but for some God has encouraged them to study His Word deeper so that they may bring a deeper understanding to others as they seek it. God raises us up to take care of others, not just physically but also spiritually. Elihu at least understood these facts even though his words were of little comfort to Job who had lost everything.
Job instead remembered all of what God had done for him and all that he had done in giving God the glory in his life; all that must have encouraged him to know deep in his own heart that God was going to make sure that he got through this as well. God is the one who designed the good into us in the beginning, giving us our consciences to guide us toward that good and away from evil. But when we close our hearts to our consciences and to the various other ways that God tried to talk to us, we hanker after sinful ways instead. We indulge ourselves in the sins because we stop listening to God and ignore our consciences, God’s providences and His ministers. Let us remember that God instilled the sense of good into our hearts for a reason, so that we can get to know Him better. We now have the scriptures written down so that we can recall all of our history with God; let us take those providences to build up our consciences bolstered by lessons from our ministers and glorify God for all that He has done in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to your conscience?
Do you keep God’s Word in your heart?