Sunday Reading: 2 Corinthians 4 8-15

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4 15
15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Devotion:
One thing that is so very evident in the New testament is that each of the Apostles went through a lot of persecution, through hardships and through many trials; but throughout the New Testament we read encouraging words, lifting up God, lifting up Christ and promoting such grace and joy and peace that we should wonder what is going on. The answer to that question is simple – The Holy Spirit was there to help them through everything, not just the hard or difficult times but through the joy and celebrations as well.

When we turn to follow Christ we may well find that many of our friends will turn away from us; but they are not really turning away from us, they are turning away from Christ because they are now beginning to see Christ through us. It is that truth and light that they begin to see through us that frightens them away – they would rather stay in the darkness than have to face the truth and light they now see themselves in. We are different because we have already accepted the fact that we are sinners and that we have been forgiven of those sins through bringing them before Christ already. We are no longer afraid of that light showing up our sins because they are already covered by His blood.

Nobody like to be told that they are sinners or that they are living an unclean life; in fact if you tell others that truth without exposing them to the Gospel as well, they will either run off never to be seen again, or they will persecute us in retaliation to the persecution they think they have just received from us.

The world is not ready to be told that it is broken until it is shown that there is someone that can fix it. Nobody wants to be told that there is no hope. Nobody wants to be shown a dead-end without a way out. But if we are willing to open people’s eyes to the fact that Christ is our Saviour and that He is personally seeking the lost, then we are showing them that there is hope at the end of the tunnel. When we show people a route of escape, they will be more willing to accept a challenge to see if they can bare it. God is great and He wants to seek and to save, not seek and destroy…

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel let down?

Are you standing on God’s promises?

Saturday Reading: Joshua 1 5-9

Key Verse: Joshua 5 8
8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Devotion:
When the Lord spoke to Joshua He made it very clear that Joshua would have to make sure that He kept the Word of God, the Law of God, as his guide and rule in his life. God’s reminder to him was that He would always be with Joshua just as He had always been with the children of Israel; God led by example and promises. And now He was asking Joshua to trust in Him entirely and lead his life according to God’s ways and not according to man’s ways.

But it was not just a remark to say that Joshua should stick to the law and do what was right, instead it was a command to say that Joshua would not have to fear anything, would continue to get the required guidance and strength and continue to have God’s unique and fullest support for as long as he was going to allow God to give it to him. Therein lies our problem in that we do not always allow God to work in our lives because we want things to happen according to our own ways instead of God’s ways.

God continues to give us that same promise nowadays, but because of what Christ has already done for us and because Christ has promised that He would leave us the Holy Spirit, we have a more sure command to follow God with. We have the Holy Spirit who is willing to indwell us, to stay with us, to guide us, to strengthen us and to empower us, not through what we can do but through what He can do through us. How amazing is that! God’s promises continue to be fulfilled every day even though we live in an age that seems so far removed from God’s chosen people.

I praise God that He has made this possible for me, just a tiny little speck of a man sitting in a remote corner of the world, reading His Word. And that has got to be the key that binds us all together, that we should keep God’s Word close to us at all times and try to make sure that we follow what He has said to us through that word. How are we ever to do that unless we read it and meditate on it daily?

Points to Ponder:
How often do you call on God?

How often do you read His Word?

Friday Reading: John 5 39

Key Verse: John 5 39
39  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Devotion:
When I first started to hear about God I was told that I had to read my bible and learn various verses and do this and do that, but somehow it just did not connect that I had to love God in any way and neither was it shown me eloquently just how much He loved me first of all. But as I learned more about God and more about His love for me I have grown to love Him more as I have found out just how much He loves me. I have spent several years trying to understand just how important love is and read a statement that floored me today.

We need to learn about love because the love that we share with others is echoed in the love that we share with God. If we do not learn to love God then how are we ever going to learn to love someone else? So the love of God is a huge part of our lives! The way that I have tried to find out about true love is to continue reading about God and His love for us; through that I have learned how I should be loving others and have realised how far short of the mark I have fallen over the years.

God has continued to make sure that we have a ready record of all that He has done for us and all that we have done to Him; this record describes just how much He loves us so that we can take that same word out to others and describe that love to them. It was through God’s precious word that I have learned about the true Christian love that we need to share with each other so that we can learn to love our God in that same way. I praise Him for giving me that special insight into His Word that I can bring to you as well.

Don’t go looking for something that is going to give you a quick fix or some form of self-gratification because all you will get out of it is that quick fix; once that fix has happened you will discover that you are still looking for the truth because it was not there. God’s love is true, enduring, everlasting and as pure as love can be and we need to know about it. Looking into God’s Word will show us that truth so that we can learn to love others through the love He shows us…

Points to Ponder:
Where do you search for love?

How much of God’s Word have you searched?

Thursday Reading: 2 Timothy 4 1-5

Key Verse: 2 Timothy 4 5
5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Devotion:
There are going to be times when all of us lose focus on what we should be doing or on our ultimate goal for Christ. I am afraid that I also fall into this trap now and again, the week of writing this devotion as being one of those times for me. It is so very easy to go with the flow and think that everything is happening because of some hidden meaning or because of some special reason, whereas it may well just be that this is the way that life unfolds and we should accept things the way that they are instead of looking for those hidden meanings. God has a plan for each of us and that plan should be our ultimate goal; we are going to face a lot of things along the way, things that will make us grow in strength and stamina as well as a lot of enjoyable moments that God gives us for encouragement – what we do with those moments must always be according to God’s plan and not according to our own plans.

God will always show us that we are doing something wrong when we do; whether we hear what He says will show us if we are truly listening to Him or not. I am afraid that I have not listened to everything that He has been trying to tell me over the last week but only been listening to what I wanted to hear – thereby causing problems for those people around me. I am sorry, truly sorry.

So why these verses? God has given me a task and that task is to take His Word out to as many people as I can and I have just been running along with the flow this week instead of standing up for our Lord and Saviour like I should have been. Just reading these verses this morning has made me realise that each of us needs to focus on God’s plan, each of us according to the plan He has given us and not according to what we want at that time. Last night something happened that made me realise that God has given me a very privileged position in His ministry; to be able to share the pure love He shares with me with others in all purity. At times I do ‘human’ things and may get into trouble for my ‘human’ ways and that trouble is just another direct or indirect reminder that my God is giving me that I have lost focus on sharing His Word and His Love in His ways and not my ways. We all need to make full use of what God gives us, but also make sure that we do things His way because whatever we actually do do will be seen as how we are actually treating others instead of the ways we think we are doing things…

Points to Ponder:
God’s ways are always the best ways…

God’s ways are always the best ways… (Sometimes we need to be told twice)