Tuesday Reading: Romans 1 18-25

Key Verse: Romans 1 21
21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Devotion:
One thing I have learned very well over the past few years is that without God we are nothing. Now a lot of people would tend to disagree at this point saying that even people who do not believe in God can be successful in some things and whilst I would agree with that point, I will continue to say that we are nothing. Those people who do not trust I God may well be able to live a life that is superior in earthly terms and ways, but when it comes to the crunch and they have to face God, they are nothing.

God has given us the gospel so that we can know Him and so that we can live our lives in a meaningful manner rather than living it for earthly gain and spiritual death. The more we can gain in an earthly way, the more we will hurt when we fall in front of Christ at that final confrontation. Christ has warned all of us that there will come a day when every knee will bow before God and that we will all have to admit to what we have done because we will be accountable for our actions unless we have trusted in Christ. It is only when we do place our faith and trust in Christ that we are able to be released from that earthly trap.

And as this verse points out, we do not just have to acknowledge that God is real or say that He exists; we also have to believe in Him and that He allowed Christ to come to this earth to pay for our sin debt. Without that faith and trust in Christ Jesus we are still not believers and we will still have to face Christ on that day of judgement. What a day that is going to be when we see all those men and women who have worked so hard to make a name for themselves whilst on earth and have left the true meaning of life out of their lives. Without God, we are nothing!

When man lifts himself up to be in a position of power and wisdom, glorifying himself instead of God, then we see the futility of all that he has managed to do because it will be on that final day when man will realise that he has become nothing but a fool. It will be at that time when man will have to admit that he is nothing more than any other beast because He has separated himself from God for absolutely no gain whatsoever. To be rich, we need God in our lives!

Points to Ponder:
What do you relish most of all in life?

Do you really believe that Christ paid it all for us?

Monday Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4 1-8

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 4 4
4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Devotion:
Job had lived a life that pleased God and nothing that he had done had brought on those things that had happened to him; it was the devil himself that had brought these calamities into his life to tempt him to the uttermost to turn away from God. But it is the single fact that Job did what was right in God’s eyes that I want to remember as we go into these verses today. What we do in our lives is going to make a very big difference to our relationship with God.

Our mouths are like loose cannons just waiting to break everything down so that we fail again, but it is those same mouths that can bring order and joy into other people’s lives as well. But if we want to be able to bring good things into other people’s lives with our mouths then we have to bring those same words into their lives through how we live. It is no good saying one thing and doing another thing because people are more likely to believe what is happening in front of their eyes than what they hear through their ears. When Job was faced with his friends, they went with what they could see had happened in the last few weeks than with how Job had lived his life – that is just human.

The apostle told the people of Thessalonica that they had to live in a manner that showed that they were Christians and not like the other people around them; and that included the whole family rather than just themselves. It is interesting to note that the Jews used the same word for a man’s wife and his own body and that is the word that is used in this context; in other words we have to live together in pure unity just as we live our lives in purity for God. There is no greater statement to your wife than to make sure that she is the only love or desire in your life beside God; oh that people would see that fact nowadays.

Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and in order for us to make sure that we do not break down that relationship with Him, we have to live a life of purity that lifts up God and brings glory to God – that way we are supporting the Holy Spirit as He tries to support, guide and teach us. Our bodies and our families need to live for Christ and other people have got to see that so that we can teach them about the true Gospel story.

Points to Ponder:
What do others see you as?

How does God know you?

Sunday Reading: Job 16 1-5

Key Verse: Job 16 3
3  Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

Devotion:
The book of Job has always been a hard book for me to read because of the depth that each of the men go into and the words used to try and describe what was going on at the time. If they had had tape recorders back in those days, would it have made it any easier for us to understand? I wonder whether we would have thought of it more as an argument and immediately taken sides without going further into the word.

I supposed that is one of the trapping of our modern world, that we have so many things that try to give us a précis instead of explaining things in full or correctly; we always seem to be in a rush to reach some sort of conclusion instead of waiting on God for a correct response. The men that came to help Job did not do a very good job at helping him because each of them had their own ideas of what was going on and their own ideas of who was to blame. They were trying to shorten the grief by apportioning blame in some manner so that everything could get back to normal and everyone could get on with their lives.

Much of our modern existence is still like that in that we look for the quick fixes for things instead of slogging on with God until He shows us the right way that we should be doing things. We want the fix now and we don’t want to wait! Well, sometimes God has given us a long route to travel so that we arrive well prepared for the conclusion rather than getting their early and still not knowing what to do. God has prepared for each of us a life that will teach us what we need to know in order to get the best out of it. If we are not willing to wait on Him and depend on Him then we may well find that we fall short of the mark.

When Job heard what Eliphaz had to say he could not believe what had just come out of his mouth. When we face other Christians, or even non-Christians, that are having troubles or are in need of help, then we have to spend time to understand what they are going through and not jump in and try and fix things by blaming someone to see if that will fix it. We jump in with all guns blazing and shoot anything that moves instead of calmly finding out what the problem is. For that sort of knowledge and wisdom we need to approach God first of all because that is the only source of correct Wisdom.

Points to Ponder:
Do you shoot first and talk later?

Do you ever ask God before you speak?

Saturday Reading: Ephesians 1 15-23

Key Verse: Ephesians 1 17
17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Devotion:
There are so many places in our bibles that show us that God continues to answer our prayers and that prayers are effective! This is just one of the places where Paul shows us that he was continually lifting others up in prayer because he knew that God was going to answer those prayers, not because it was him asking but because God is faithful and just to answer our prayers when we earnestly ask things in Jesus name.

We ask things through the name of Jesus Christ because it is Jesus Himself that has directed us to do that so that He can appeal to God as our advocate. We do this also because it was Jesus who gave so much on the cross for our sakes because He wanted us to know just how much He cares for us.

We are nothing like Christ when it comes down to the knowledge and wisdom that He has and so we should not expect to be able to do all that He can or think in the way that he can. Instead we ask for things through Him so that He can formulate the best possible response for all of our prayers made to Him. Paul was constantly asking for learning for the people that were doing the teaching – whilst that may seem a bit strange to us, it is exactly what is required. All the people that go out to teach others about God through giving them the gospel need our constant prayer so that they can expose God’s writings to others in the best possible light. If someone was to go and try and teach others in a different language they would not get too far because of the lack of understanding from the pupils, but when we rely on God to give us the wisdom and knowledge, nothing is impossible.

Missionaries would go to foreign countries to teach others about God. The first hurdle they had to get over was the language barrier in many cases. From then on it would be getting over the local habits and customs that would often exclude God. Then and only then could they expand on the Gospel content. But it was through their hope and trust in God that they themselves got the strength and wisdom to continue on going. We may feel like we are talking to foreigners at times because people just don’t know about God anymore like they used to. We are desperately needed to get that Word out there for others to see once again!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you read God’s Word?

How often do you read God’s word to others?