Thursday Reading: Acts 20 31-36
Key Verse: Acts 20 35
35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Devotion:
When we come into the church of Christ we take on a new life with Him. That life should no longer be a life dedicated to the things of the world but rather one dedicated to the things of Christ. Paul would go to many places taking the gospel of Christ with Him and teaching others that truth; by doing this he was turning his back on the ways of the world, the ways of the religious leaders and the ways of others so that he could focus on God and what Christ had done for all of us. The Holy Spirit taught him, empowered him and gave him both courage and strength to go forward with the gospel and to server others.
One thing I struggle with is watching people say that they are working for God when they are clearly focused on doing things for themselves. Yes we do have a lot of work that we have to do in our churches and we have to do work outside of church as well, but that does not mean that we have to leave Christ out of it! Just because we say the words does not mean that we are doing it with the right attitude either.
When Christ said the words “It is more blessed to give than to receive” it was not to say that we should give away our entire possessions but rather that we realise that supporting others is a big part of our mission. If we are clearly focused on ourselves and bettering ourselves, then others will see us as selfish. If we give everything away and then complain that we have nothing then we are being selfish. God is not necessarily calling us to give everything away but rather to make the best possible use of what He allows us to have so that others will see that we continue to glorify Him!
Paul was on the road with the Holy Spirit. He had turned his back on the ways that he used to embrace because God showed him that they were wrong. Paul was big enough to admit that he had done wrong and now was working to glorify God in everything and uphold Christ as the Son of God before everyone. We need to look at our attitudes and look at our reasons for doing what we do; then we need to compare them with what Christ is actually asking of us and not what we want Him to ask of us. It is not our job to predict what God wants but to listen, to actually listen to what God wants in our lives.
Points to Ponder:
Do you like supporting others?
Are you listening to God’s requests?
Wednesday Reading: Jude 1 17-23
Key Verse: Jude 1 18
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Devotion:
When we follow the desires and ways of the world we will find that we separate ourselves from God pretty quickly. The world is following the evil one whether they know it or not because anything that separates ourselves from God pulls us toward Satan. When we face these desires we are very tempted because we are shown results (even though they may be lies) that seems to prove the ways of the world; and unless we prove those ways wrong we tend to believe them because they are easy to follow at first. But God wants us to have faith in His ways. Faith because we do not see the results at first. Faith because they are not advertised and pushed in our faces. Faith because we don’t know that they will keep us.
But when we do exercise that faith we find out that God is the one who is continuing to look after us in so many ways. God continues to uphold His ways instead of the ways of the world and wants us to realise that what He has told us in the past is still going to come in the future. Just because the world says that it is not going to happen does not make God a liar! God cannot lie. It is the world that spins the web of deceit and builds up a good story that seems plausible to us so that we will turn our backs on God.
There are going to be more and more people who will make up stories, philosophies and many other strange ideas that will go against God’s Word. We have to be very wary of such people because they may be able to trap us into their own ways before we realise it. We are hanging on in faith, in the unseen. When they come along and say that they have seen it can be very easy just to go along with what they think just because it makes things seem easier.
God wants us to live our lives with Him so that we can take what He has taught us and apply it into other people’s lives. We have to be able to adapt to the world around us because people are all different. We will be able to offer some people a helping hand and that will mean more than anything to them. Yet, with others we may well have to lay it on the line and show them just how bad a position they are in before they will stop and listen. Let God be your guide and let Him shown you what other people need to hear.
Points to Ponder:
Do you spread the gospel?
Do you trip and fall often?
Tuesday Reading: Psalms 18 30-32
Key Verse: Psalms 18 31
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
Devotion:
If you wear glasses you will find out that having dirty glasses does not help you to see that clearly! If we try to look through a window that has got something smeared all over it we will find that it can be difficult to see anything on the other side. Just because we cannot see clearly does not mean that what we are trying to look at is not perfect or correct. God’s ways are perfect and just because we cannot see that they are perfect because of the way that we look at them through our sinful lives does not mean that there are mistakes in anything God does do!
As long as we are willing to trust in God and believe that His ways are perfect then we should not have any problem with His ways. Yes we may find it hard to accept His ways at times because we see (or fail to see) so much other stuff and we try to make up our own minds on what we see instead of having faith.
But God is God! There is only one God and it is our Lord Jehovah and there is none other besides Him. There is no other god that is like Him because all other gods have been made by man to fulfil a need or a desire. Man likes to call all sorts of things god because he then has control on what those gods can do. All the idols of gold, silver, wood and stone are all created by man and not by God Himself. Because they are all created it is not proper to lift them up as gods because they are created like everything else. And the best part of this is that He is our God, our Rock our Hope and our Salvation!
If we are willing to trust in Him and place our hope in Him then we will see the glorious strength, stamina and grace and mercy that He bestows upon us. Yes we can become fit through training. Yes we can become intelligent through learning. Yes we can accomplish so much in our lives; but never forget that it is God who is allowing those things into our lives so that we can expand and grown as He nurtures each of us. David saw the power of God time and time again as he tripped up and fell so many times. God continued to be there for David as he got up, fell down, jumped overboard, came back crawling and even ran away. God is the constant. God is the rock. God is perfect and remains the same as He has always been. Trust in Him!
Points to Ponder:
When do you see most clearly?
Do you rely on God’s guidance then as well?
Monday Reading: Psalms 18 4-9
Key Verse: Psalms 18 5
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
Devotion:
When we are faced with the many people around us which seem to be against us, or the danger of what is ahead of us, we get very afraid and lose sight of what is possible. Fear is something that will break us down and destroy us before we even go into our battle. David realises just how much fear can bear upon us and break down our fortitude before we have even been touched by our enemies. David was surrounded by men who were no longer following God and all he could see by himself was death and destruction – enough to melt even the hardest of hearts.
But even in this state he remembers what God can do and what He has done in the past. Maybe even because of this terrible state was he able to see the strength of God shining through everything else. It was now that he could see what happens to his prayers as he lifts them up to God. The picture he painted here in this Psalms should give us the courage to lift up our prayers even in our darkest hours.
The picture painted is that even his little prayers, the prayers of just one soul seeking God, were lifted up into heaven by some means and reached God’s own ears. God was able to hear his prayers perfectly as if he was standing there speaking in person. And when our prayers reach up to God He starts to react to our prayers; but because God is not limited by time, those answers may come before we know it or we may have to wait some time. What is not in question here is the power of God.
David describes God’s power in terms that he could understand. The power of an earthquake. Nobody is able to stop an earthquake or to lessen the shockwaves sent out by that quake. Nobody can prevent one from happening in their town or city. Similarly with the power of fire or even a volcano; nobody can prevent the damage from happening. Yes we can do various measures in order to lessen the effect on us personally, but preventing a natural disaster is not something we can do. We may prefer to see it as if God were able to shorten the distance between heaven and earth so that He could reach out with His hands and touch us. But because God is all powerful we need to remember that He is the one who does control all of this already!
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever felt out of control?
Did you see how God was still in control?
Sunday Reading: Psalms 18 1-3
Key Verse: Psalms 18 3
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
Devotion:
These are the words written by David as he realised that God continued to deliver him from the hands of Saul; Saul being king and able to seemingly do most things was able to get close to David but never to kill him because of God’s protection. Because of David’s past and now his present situation he starts off this Psalms with the words “I will love Thee” because he knows that it is purely God’s strength that protection that has kept him alive thus far. He probably looks back on his life at this stage and sees a continuous stream of events where God has protected him in many walks of his life.
When we look back on our lives we too should be able to see many events where we can wonder how we got through the events or the stresses and strains of our own lives. People who refuse to believe in a God will attribute those instances to coincidence or to luck or even fate, but when we look on David’s life we cannot attribute that all to random events in history and chance. God is a God who knows what is going on and is totally in control; whilst we may well break events and cause chaos as we run along, God continues to straighten things out and bring us shouting and kicking into the right place at the right time.
David’s response to this is not to blame God for everything that has gone wrong but to lift up God’s name in praise for all that David sees that God has done for him. David sees everything quite clearly as he probably recounts all of his prayers and matches them up with the things that God has done in his life; for this he praises his God, the God of Israel.
When we begin to realise how much God does in our own lives we can match up our prayers with the answers that God places in our lives. Those answered prayers are what we need to remember so that we too can be strengthened, encouraged and respond much like David, in praise! He also realises that as he continues to lift up his prayers to God, those same prayers are being heard by God and will be answered in ways just as the previous prayers. David knows he has done things wrong in the past but he also knows God continues to answer prayers to those who ask earnestly.
Points to Ponder:
Do you know your past?
Do you know God has always been there too?