Saturday Reading: Leviticus 19 13-16
Key Verse: Leviticus 19 14
14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
Devotion:
God has been God from the beginning and from the beginning His law has been the same and will remain the same forever because God Himself will not change. So when we look at the law, the scriptures, we need to look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament to make sure that we do understand God’s Word to the fullest degree.
I do like these verses in the book of Leviticus because they give us direction and remind us that God is Lord at the same time; reminding us that these laws are written this way because God is God and that we need to remember that at all times. Why would Jesus remind us of these same laws when He taught amongst man unless He also knew just how important they are to remember? God continues to make sure that His Word is heard in the appropriate way for the people at the time that they hear that Word and He continues to try to explain His Word to all who are willing to listen.
I have always had a problem with listening to instruction because I always try to figure out what is best and try to do that rather than follow instruction at times. That has landed me in trouble, not just with man, but with God as well. We do need to remember just who it is that is giving us these instructions. This is God!
So when God starts talking to us, we need to stop and listen. When we read our bibles we need to stop whatever else we are doing so that we can listen to what God wants us to hear. When we sit down to go through God’s Word we should be doing it in a manner that will help us to listen and to remember and not to just do it because we need to read through the bible in a year or whatever other plan we have. If we don’t get it the first time we should go through it again. If we still struggle then we should be asking someone to help us to understand. This is God. This is His Word. We do need to listen!
God wants us to continue living our lives for Him and that means including others in all that we do, not turning our backs on people because we don’t like the look of them, not excluding others because they are different, but including as many people as we can at all times.
Points to Ponder:
Do you actually listen to others?
How well do you listen to God?
Friday Reading: James 2 8-9
Key Verse: James 2 9
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Devotion:
Have you ever sat back and wondered why you chose certain people as your friends and then looked at others and asked “how did I ever get involved with them?” I’m sure that we have all wondered and may have even tried to analyse things but maybe not looked at it from God’s point of view rather than our own worldly view on it. I do find myself looking at some people and thinking that I could be friends with them just because of their pleasant appearance, but when you get to know them a bit better you may find that they are not the same person on the inside as you see on the outside.
God would prefer us to be honest and open with the world so that people will see on the outside the same person that they will find on the inside – but we will always find that difficult to attain to because we have not grown up in that sort of world! We have grown up in a world where the two sides are very different and it is hard to try and figure out people. God does not have that problem because He sees us for what we really are (wouldn’t it be nice to be able to see some people for what they really are and what they really are after before we get into trouble with them?)
God wants us to be able to not look on the inside of others, because that is beyond our means, but to love others for whatever they are; to accept them the way that they are and encourage them to seek God at all times for continual guidance and security. If we reject people just because we don’t like what they do or reject them because of the way they look, then we are rejecting God’s creation based on something that God has not taught us. If God chose us because of the way we looked or the way we acted then we would be in real trouble because none of us are worthy to even come close to God without Christ first forgiving us and separating us from our sin!
I find it very refreshing that our church welcomes everyone no matter what background they come from and that I am able to go out and reach out to many more people than I otherwise would if we were a closed community. God will not turn people away but rather invites them in. We are the ones who turn God away and reject Him instead. Let us accept all of God’s creation and love all that He has done for us.
Points to Ponder:
Are you picky about friends?
Was God picky when He chose you?
Thursday Reading: Luke 20 33-38
Key Verse: Luke 20 38
38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.
Devotion:
The more that the Scribes and Pharisees tried to find out how much Jesus knew the more that they were put to rights by Christ. The more that we try to prove our own ways the more we will find out that God’s ways are far greater than our ways; we need to accept God’s ways and live in His ways rather than trying to continually prove our own ways!
When the men around Jesus queried Him about the law and the things that they figured could be shortcomings, Jesus put them right showing them the truth according to God and not the law according to man’s thoughts. Just as we see this happening we need to always remember that God’s ways are complete and are the only way. God has given us His Word in its entirety so that we will be able to know the truth and not have to continually come up with our own rules to fix holes in the law – that is man’s way of trying to fix something that is not broken!
We can be thankful to our God that we have a place with Him in Heaven and that we know that when we do get to be with Him we will no longer be constrained by earthly limits. He will raise us up and give each of us a new body, one that is no longer corrupt and one that does not require us to be married so that we may continue to have children and live for Him – we will be living with Him for all eternity instead! This is also a picture of the different states of our souls as well because whilst we are here on earth our souls are continually weighed down by the things of earth, the temptations, the troubles, the worries and all manner of other things; but when we get to be with Him we will no longer be weighted down by anything and our souls will be free to live with Him in all love and joy!
I continue to find out that my thoughts are consumed by various things in my life and if I do not stay close to God those things get out of hand pretty quickly and end up either tripping me up or consuming all my time so that I fall short in my living with God. This is the way that the evil one will continue to try and separate us from God and His ways. Instead we need to try to separate our ways from the world’s ways so that we can live for God and not be constrained by man’s and the world’s limits.
Points to Ponder:
Do you see things that make you doubt?
Are you trusting in God for answers?
Wednesday Reading: Hebrews 11 13-16
Key Verse: Hebrews 11 16
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Devotion:
Just about all of the great men of faith in the Old Testament died without getting to know the fulfilment of our Saviour on the cross. They all had faith and depended on that faith to see them through, having faith that what they had been told and shown was the truth and that some day their Messiah should come to earth and lead them. How great a demonstration of faith was displayed by so many; and yet we falter and fail even knowing that Jesus Christ did come to the cross, die and rose again after the 3rd day!
The thing that we must marvel at is the fact that they stood firm in their belief. They took that faith and made it a reality as they stood by and waited patiently. Their sights were set on heaven, described in our bibles as a country or homeland because of its size and attributes. This is the same heaven that we should be seeking, knowing that Christ has gone there to prepare a place for us and that He will come again to take us there – that is what we must believe because Christ has told us that as the truth. We need to exercise faith in believing that that will come to happen and that Christ will continue to be our King.
The men from the Old Testament had been the recipients of the promised land, the land which God gave to them, and yet even with so many seeing the land, the results of the promises and all manner of signs… men still faltered in their belief and wanted more than just something someone else said! If the children of Israel had all exercised faith and believed that God was doing exactly as He said, then they would have found so much more peace, comfort and strength than they did.
God wants us to have this strength, peace and joy because He has made it available for us. God wants to call us His children and wants us to join Him in heaven where He will be able to call us His Sons and Daughters; in other words He is not going to be ashamed of being call our Father if we are going to trust in Him and depend on Him as if He were our father. He is our Father!
Points to Ponder:
How do you look to your father?
How much do you get from your fathers?
Tuesday Reading: Hebrews 4 1-10
Key Verse: Hebrews 4 6
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Devotion:
God has given us the instructions that we need through His Word and has made sure that that same Word has been with us from the beginning ensuring that we all have the same truth to depend on. His request to us is that we do rest in that truth, that we depend on the promises and wait patiently for them to bear fruit. If we think back to the beginning of time we can see that God ordained rest as being an integral part of our lives. He then required that man set aside time to worship Him so that man may be strengthened in his faith and renewed in his belief.
God gave us His Son so that we would not have to pay such a penalty for our sins but even after that He requires that we put aside time to rest in His Word so that we can continue to be strengthened and built up in our faith. Our belief is the core that requires a constant vigil because it is the target for our enemy the Devil who will try to chip away at that faith so that we may falter. Fortunately for us we are safe forever in Christ’s hands once we have put our faith and trust in Him; but that will not stop Satan bringing misery into our lives just because he knows he can sew the seeds of doubt when we grow weary in our walk with Christ.
The rest that God has ordained is to make sure that we spend time with Him and put aside the world. Satan uses the world and everything in it to sew that doubt; as long as we set aside that time to be with God in our thoughts and in our worship, then we will remain focused on God more and grow less focused on the world and all that Satan controls in it.
If we do not set aside time to be strengthened by God then we are giving time to Satan to continue chipping away at our faith that we have carefully built up in God. Those chips may well be small, but once the cracks appear we will then find it harder to ignore those crack and harder to ignore the temptations that the evil one chucks out way each and every day. If we are focused on God instead, He will lift us over each of those hurdles to make sure that we rest in our faith in a very safe place with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Are you finding life difficult?
Have you lost focus on God because of lack of rest?