Monday Reading: Psalms 148 1-6
Key Verse: Psalms 148 1
1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Devotion:
You can be sure that there will always be something praising God because we know from His Word that He created angels as immortal beings; they will be praising Him forever because that is their wish. Yes Satan has fallen and does not want to praise God but there are plenty more that do want to continually praise His name. God is the one who created everything and everything then should lift up their praise to Him; quite how the sun and moon should praise God is a bit uncertain to me, but then my mind is limited by this world God created for us.
This world, this universe, this time we live in all hangs together because God made it so when He created it all. There is nothing that God did not create and yet we try to invent things so that we can have an explanation that gives us a mortal reason why we exist; because getting our heads round the fact that God has made our souls immortal is a bit of a stumbling stone for many people. We create our own reasons so that we may not have to bow down before our God. We see our times on earth as being limited and we don’t want to have to live it according to someone else’s rules – or at least that is how many people see it.
What we need to do is to accept the fact that God is God and that He has created things just the way they are. We do not have to fully understand why or how because our minds are not large enough or complex enough to grasp the enormity of those facts. What we do need to do is to accept the truth that God has created us and that we need to treat Him properly as our Creator God. Only then can we begin to understand just how much He loves us.
If every other thing that has been created has the right to praise God continually, then we too should be given that same right because He created us too. But we are the ones who were given a choice and we chose to follow the evil one instead of following God in the beginning. Because of that choice we continue to get things wrong and we continue to make bad choices because we are continually trying to learn what is right. God’s word spells it out for us if we are willing to take time out to read it properly.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you praise others?
How often do you praise God?
Sunday Reading: Mark 11 1-11
Key Verse: Mark 11 10
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
Devotion:
Depending on where is the world you are, this may or may not be Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday; the day when Jesus was thought to have come back into Jerusalem. This was not any ordinary event but one that Jesus did according to the scriptures because that is what God the Father had so ordained. We can never truly know just what was going through Christ’s mind as He organised this final entry but we can be certain that He was doing it for love.
There are some pretty extraordinary things that we will do for love but none more so that what Christ has done for us. We need to recognise what He has done and bring it to remembrance more than just once a year when it gets close to Easter! We need to be constant in our praise for Christ and all that He has done. We need to be honest and dedicated in our praise as well because Christ was certainly dedicated when He took this last journey into Jerusalem. He knew what lay ahead and still He chose to continue on and forward, just for us.
If you sit down and think the events through then you must come to the conclusion that Christ loves us with a love that is way beyond what we may think of as normal. But when we study the events we find out more than this; we find out a determination to make sure that God’s promises came true. We find a God who made things possible that may otherwise have been seen as impossible. We find a just God who knew that this was the only way we could survive.
We have had God’s Word, the Scriptures, our Bibles for quite a long time. They have been studied, consolidated, printed, taught and proclaimed for all of that time as well. That is because God has promised that we shall have access to His Word all the time and He has made that possible. He made it possible for His Son to come and take our place on that cross; we are the guilty ones who have broken His law and we should be there – but Jesus stepped up and took our place. What love!
Points to Ponder:
What is your response to someone loving you?
What is your response to Jesus loving you?
Saturday Reading: Psalms 20 6-7
Key Verse: Psalms 20 7
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Devotion:
God listens to our prayers! That is one amazing thing, not just because there are so many of us asking for things at the same time, but because He is in heaven and actually listens to our prayers. But putting your faith and trust in an unseen God is not something that everyone is willing to do.
Many are going to rather place their trust in things that they can see and that are made to look strong and dependable. We would much rather put our trust in a car that looks like it is built for the job than in a beaten up wreck that looks like it will collapse in a heap before long. We look on the outward appearance of physical things and trust in those things that we imagine are the strongest.
God, on the other hand, is a God that is hidden from most of the world because they refuse to believe that what happens is actually God’s will. They place their trust in things that they know will break if they are treated badly enough; but they will not trust in the unseen no matter how great the unseen has been built up to be. That is like putting your trust in money even when you know that inflation is making it worth less every day.
God is certainly not bound by anything like inflation because He is the creator of everything and not just the good parts. We have our bibles which give us an accurate historical record of what God has done for us in the past. We have a record of the promises that He has made for our future. All we need do is to have faith that that is exactly what will come to pass because God has always made things happen.
God continues to build up a record of all that has happened so that we can have more and more proof that He is God and that nobody else can do anything about that. Just because we can see the splendour of some church buildings and religious ceremonies does not make them real and dependable – that comes from watching as things that should happen do happen over time. Once we have a track record built up we can then begin to depend on that source of information. God’s Word is our ultimate truth.
Points to Ponder:
How many promises do you keep?
How many of God’s promises do you count on?
Friday Reading: Proverbs 10 2-6
Key Verse: Proverbs 10 3
3 The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
Devotion:
Over the past few weeks I have done quite a bit of walking for one reason or another and today I was thinking a lot about the values we place on our ways of living in this modern age as opposed to the way that people used to live a hundred years ago. Back then people would probably not think twice about having to walk a few miles to go to church or to visit a friend in need. Nowadays we make excuses when we have to walk around the block! Being able to walk and enjoy the scenery, get exercise, and work outdoors makes you realise just what a wonderful place God has created for us.
God knows that we do require certain things to survive, but He knows that we need more than just work and money in order to survive. He wants to be able to feed our souls rather than just put money in our pockets for food and luxuries because the food and luxuries will not last forever, unlike our souls.
God wants us to be diligent with all that He provides for us making sure that we remember where our blessing come from and that what He supplies is worth far more than the worldly wealth we may build up. I like the way that Solomon puts it here saying that God will not allow our souls to famish, but the worldly substance will be nothing in the end. God has also given each of us a place where we can plant His seeds and nurture them to grow so that He will be able to gain the harvest; but He needs us to be willing workers in that field so that we get the most out of it.
Just like a proud parent who will watch over us as we grow in strength and wisdom, God continues to teach us so that we can grow in His strength and with His wisdom so that we can be effective for Him. He continues to encourage us by making sure that we are fed and enjoy all that He gives us, not in worldly ways but in spiritual ways.
Points to Ponder:
What do you count as the best wealth?
How is your spiritual bank account?
Thursday Reading: Jude 1 9
Key Verse: Jude 1 9
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Devotion:
When things do go pear shaped and everything builds up against us, we often turn round and start blaming others. Even when we get it right and they are to blame, it does not give us the right to put them down just because we think we are right and they are wrong. Yes we can tell others they are wrong and we can dish out punishment when it is due, but when it comes to sin against God, it is not up to us to apportion blame and dish out punishment. Jesus Christ is the one who laid down His Own life for that sin and not us; so He alone has the right to apportion punishment for that sin – not us!
Sin is by definition evil done against God. When we think it is done against us (such as murder) we often forget that it is actually against God because we are His creation. Therefore it must be according to God that they receive their punishment. Our early laws took that into account and juries were set up to do things according to God’s ways. But man continues to pervert the course of justice and we continue to bend the rules until they are of little or no effect; but we are to blame for that.
Because of what Christ has done for us, we are no longer under the strict law defined by God and presented to Moses for the Children of Israel. Instead we have His laws to show us that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Those same laws that were presented to man to show man that he is not capable of being righteous on his own are the same laws that we use to see that we are not righteous either.
But we no longer have to sacrifice as they did otherwise that would make what Christ did for us of no affect! Instead we need to accept what Christ did as a perfect sacrifice and believe that He did that for us. By accepting that in faith and trusting God to keep to His promise, we can live a separate life from that sinful life by accepting Christ as our Saviour. It is not our lot to apportion blame and punishment when the sin is against God. Allow God to do what is perfectly right and just instead.
Points to Ponder:
Would you always be impartial?
Do you know that God is always impartial?