Thursday Reading: Ezra 5 2
Key Verse: Ezra 5 2
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
Devotion:
Just because we continue to disobey God or continue to react against Him does not mean that we have changed what God can do in any way. We read about the many kings of Israel and we see how many walked with God and many did not. We see many who rejected God and bowed down to idols instead of to God, breaking even the first commandment that Moses was given on the tablets. But we then see that God, through them, has raised up people who turned the Jews round to face God again.
Sometimes it was a whole generation or two of people that were rejecting God and He needed to wait until they were out of the way until He would use the people again. God is not going to use the unjust to bring up the just because they will get corrupted by the unjust. Instead He changes the environment so that the just will be able to succeed.
We do see both the just and the unjust in the history of man and they are both kept there so that we can learn from both sides. We do not have to give into the ways of the unjust and we do not have to follow the ways of the evil ones. God continues to give us the choice in our lives and He continues to show us what is right so that we can make good choices – if we trust in Him and in His word.
God will always have the right people close to us to be able to help us when we need that help. He has upheld His Word for so many generations and He has made sure that each generation is given the right environment to make the most of what they have for God and for His glory. But that does not stop man running off in the other direction and choosing those evil ways instead of the righteous ways of God. In order for others to have the best environment we should be upholding God’s ways and His Law so that others can be encouraged instead of having to fight against the thorns and the evil ways. Trying to work against God is not going to work! Working with God will ensure an eternal future.
Points to Ponder:
Where do you think you are in God’s plan?
Is your plan working for or against God’s plan?
Wednesday Reading: 2 Samuel 12 18-24
Key Verse: 2 Samuel 12 22
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
Devotion:
Our lot is not to try and guess what God is going to do but to do what we think is right for God at the time; God wants us to live with Him in our minds constantly. When David allowed his personal feelings and his lustful thoughts to rule his mind he got himself into deep trouble very quickly which ended up in great sorrow for him and for Bathsheba. God wants us to remember that He is with us always and that we have to be accountable for all that we do.
We are, after all, a temple for the Holy Spirit so we need to keep Him in mind always. When we allow our own thoughts and worldly ways to rule our minds we are crowding Him out of our lives and allowing the world in instead. The consequences are not likely to be what we have in mind if those ways do not go along with what God has planned in our lives.
But just because things do go wrong in our lives it does not mean that God is going to reject us all together and that we will not have any further place with Him. As long as we are willing to repent from our ways and turn back to God in all honesty and with a humble heart and spirit, then he is going to continue using us in ways that only He can. The more we study just how many things happened on the road to Christ being born, the more we must believe that God is in control, even when we bring chaos and havoc into our lives.
God made sure that David knew in no uncertain terms that he had done things wrong and that he had to pay for his sinful ways. It was not just David that had to suffer but those around him in his family as well. But when God saw that David was willing to show everyone that God was and always will be God, He changed things as only He can do! We need to confess God, not just in our minds and in our hearts but in the way that we live as well. If we confess Him inwardly and show the world a different story, then we are destroying the very Word that we are trying to follow. We must live for God as well as love Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you live for God?
Is He able to use you?
Tuesday Reading: Ruth 4 13-17
Key Verse: Ruth 4 14
14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.
Devotion:
When we study just how much God had planned from the beginning we must only come to one conclusion – that God wanted us to see that no matter what we get up to in our lives, He is in control. We go off on so many tangents it seems a wonder that God is able to have any control, but control He has, despite our differences and our ways.
We can see how God has made so many small things happen in a perfect order so that His Son would be able to be born and live with the right people at the right time just as He had promised it would happen through the saying of the prophets so many years before. God is the one who has this plan for us and He will continue to make sure that history unravels in the perfect order so that he can be glorified and that we shall know for certain that He is God. We look back with all the history and proof that we have and we wonder why people did not believe when they were there with Christ, but then we have all this proof and so many choose to ignore it.
God has His methods that we do not fully understand. He has chosen the people that He has chosen for a reason. We can look at all the things that happened to Naomi and her daughter in law Ruth and we can wonder how any good thing could come out of it. But God chose this path and these people because they were the ones who knew God in their hearts. God continues to seek people who know Him in their hearts and don’t just talk about Him. God wants us to be in a personal relationship with Him to understand His love to the fullest extent.
When we place our faith and trust in Him then we will be able to see just how much He can do for us and how much He wants to do through us. I look at the people around me and I see those that love God and some that say they do. I see a very big difference in their lives because I see how God rewards those that fully trust in Him with the hearts and not just their words. God is all powerful and can do anything, but He is also Just and will do what is right!
Points to Ponder:
Have you thought what brought you to this point in your life?
Are you walking with God in your heart?
Monday Reading: Matthew 24 4-8
Key Verse: Matthew 24 6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Devotion:
Well, Christmas is getting close now and many people around you may be running round like headless chickens; but there is no getting away from the fact that it will happen in a few days’ time! So now we have that out the way, let’s move on. This is different though, because we know that Christmas is going to happen on the same day that it did last year and nobody will change that any time soon! Yes the actual date of Christmas may well have changed over time as we try to figure out the calendar, but Christmas day is Christmas day and we all know it is 25th December.
But the time that God has chosen for Christ to return is a date that we do not know. We will have plenty of warnings about when they could be because the bible describes the things that will start to happen so that we will know the date is getting closer. But then if we open our eyes and look at the world around us we will see that most of those things are happening right now and all around us!
In other words we are getting closer to the time when Christ is going to come back. That then poses us with a bit of a problem because we know that when that time gets here we are not going to have any more chances! We will have run out of time and we will not have any more left!
But let us not grow weary for all the things that will happen because God does not want us to become despondent just because everyone else around us is cracking up! God has already said that He has gone to prepare a place for us and has promised that He is going to come back and take us home. He has surrounded us by people who love us and can show us a bit more of His love through what they do for us. God continues to want us to be ready and to have made all the right choices before He comes back. Then there will be times when we just will not want to be around because all we will see is death and destruction – we certainly would not want to be caught up in that whilst it goes on. But God has already shown us His love through everything He has done for us; His love goes far beyond what we can do. God’s love knows no bounds, but the time before He has to show us the difficult choices is finite and it will come to an end!
Points to Ponder:
What do you see happening that has been foretold already?
Are you seeing God’s justice starting to be carried out?
Sunday Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2 8-12
Key Verse: 2 Thessalonians 2 10
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Devotion:
I like to think that I can see when something is going wrong or when someone is doing something they should not; but if truth be told I am blind to so many things in life. This is partly because I want to be able to trust people and want to give them every chance I can to do right. But we live in a world where corruption is rife and where divisive ways are a part of life for most people.
God has seen this all before but He continues to give people chances to prove themselves. He has warned us enough times that there is going to come a time when enough is enough and there will not be any more second chances. We have to be ready for that time to make sure that we are not caught up in the world at that time and can follow Christ when it counts. God wants us to not just get to know Him but to believe in Him and trust in Him so that we may be saved from our sin debt that we owe.
Whilst God does know who is going to accept the truth and who is going to reject that same truth, He does not give up and allow many more people to feel rejected than those who actively chose that path – He would not be showing mercy if He allowed those around that person to fall into the same trap just because of peer pressure or bad choices. God has set aside the time when there is not going to be another chance but He will also know that even a single group of people will be split up as some choose to turn to Christ in those last days whilst others will continue to reject Christ even when they see the truth unfolding before their eyes.
Just like Pharaoh had his heart hardened against the truth, man will also have his heart hardened against the truth and will not turn to accept Christ. These will be the ones that have chosen to follow Satan instead of God, those who have simply rejected God’s truth and hence find themselves in Satan’s footsteps even though they did not think of that at the time. God will have to reject those people who have rejected Him at that time; not because he does not love them, but because they have chosen to reject Christ.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do when you see things falling apart?
What will you do when you see God’s truth unfolding?