Wednesday Reading: John 15 1-8
Key Verse: John 15 1-8
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Devotion:
I wonder if you have ever been successful at growing something. I fear that I seem to be able to kill most plants rather than allow them to thrive in my flat; I certainly did not inherit my parents’ green fingers! I like to think that I should be able to care for plants but my track record tends to show otherwise! But every now and again I do seem to get something to grow well and when that happens it brings me great pleasure.
When I was in junior school I used bean plants in my science experiment to see how plants grow toward the light. I had great fun in trying to grow them in spirals as I turned them a little each day. Now a have to turn my only surviving house plant each week to make sure it does not try and escape out the window as it grows off in the direction of the window. But even though I have been surrounded by so many failures with plants, seeming only to be able to keep the plants that ‘nobody can kill’, I still get great delight when things do go right.
I guess that is along the lines of how God sees some of us. We tend to try and run off in the direction of what we think we should go but God continues to try to turn us so that we grow healthy rather than just toward the light. Sometimes we will not like being turned over and over again just so that we can grow right instead of taking flight! God is constantly trying to make us face the right way so that we grow in an even amount rather than just latching on to the direction we think is right.
When we are compared to being part of the vine it is for us to see that we will face hardships in our life but God will continue to try and turn us in the right direction so that we can glorify Him with all that we do. God’s plan for us is that we do bear fruit; and whilst it may be a hard slog with us having to face being turned every day, we do have a caretaker who cares for us and wants us growing the right way. Just because we can’t get it right it does not mean that God cannot get it right. He knows exactly what we do need and He will continue to try to strengthen us so that we will be strong enough to do His will without folding under the pressure. Allow God to work His good pleasure in your life and find out how good His ways can be!
Points to Ponder:
Do you still want your own way?
Are you fighting God’s ways?
Tuesday Reading: Philippians 4 10-19
Key Verse: Philippians 4 17
17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
Devotion:
If there is one thing that is going to pull us down in life and in health it is being anxious about things. Now there are times that we do need to be careful and watch out for what we have that is ahead of us, but being over anxious will lead to more problems than it will solve. The apostle learned that he would have to go out and trust that God would bring in the support that he needed to continue on in his work for God. As a missionary doing God’s work, he was told by The Lord that he would have to go out and not worry about where the support was going to come from, but rather to trust God for that as he did God’s work.
But we do have to make sure that we are doing what God wills in our lives and not what we want otherwise we are being much like Jonah when he tried to run the other way from God’s work. Just because God has not spoken to us verbally does not mean that we can ignore what God is calling us to do. I guess that I got a bit too caught up in my own situations and lost focus on God’s will in my life recently; and the strain that it put on my life was quite extraordinary! I can imagine what Jonah must have felt like when he had so much happen to him over a few days when he ran the other way.
Again, just because we are not physically running the other way does not mean that we are obeying God’s will! We could go along and do things and make it look like we are obeying God, but unless we are focused on God’s work in our hearts, we may as well be running off in the other direction!
God also wants us to be cheerful about doing His Work. There is nothing I like better that to be able to teach young people about God – whether they think the same about me teaching them is not in question, it is whether I am listening to God in teaching them what he wants them to hear that could be questioned. That is why I spend more and more time in God’s Word nowadays – making sure that I understand just how important it is to give people the Gospel and to show them the hope that I have found through reading His Word. There may be no better gift than God’s Word!
Points to Ponder:
What do you like giving people?
Are you giving them what God wants you to give them?
Monday Reading: Acts 10 30-35
Key Verse: Acts 10 31
31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
Devotion:
Isn’t it amazing that God hears our prayers no matter what state we are in? If we lift up our prayers in belief then he will listen and He has also promised to answer our prayers! Cornelius was learning about God and he lifted up his prayers to the God of the Israelites in the earnest hope that God would hear Him and allow Him to draw near. God answered his prayer by telling him to get in touch with Simon Peter from whom he would be able to learn a lot more about God.
Have you ever been searching for something? Of course you have! But how did you go about looking? If you really wanted to find what you are looking for then your searching would be thorough. If you did not really want to find it then you may well make a half-hearted attempt at searching. That is where we have a problem, because if we go out to look for God in a half-hearted way, we will very quickly find that God knows exactly what we are up to – because He does hear our prayers! But if we open our hearts to Him and seek Him properly, then we will get a proper response from God!
God may not answer our prayers in the way we think they should be answered because he actually knows what is better for us than we do; so instead, God is going to answer our prayers in a way in which we may not even have thought of but a manner in which God will get the glory and we will get the help we need. God answers prayers to fulfil a need not a want; just because we may want various things in our lives does not mean that we are going to get things answered in the way we want.
I want sweets because I have a sweet tooth. I know they are not good for me so I try not to take too many. I don’t ask God for sweets because that would not be right! I know this seems like a silly example to show, but we do have some pretty silly requests that we make to God at times. We need to think about how we talk to God because He is listening always!
Points to Ponder:
What do you ask God for?
What does God give you?
Sunday Reading: Hebrews 6 9-10
Key Verse: Hebrews 6 10
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Devotion:
If we live under any misapprehension that we are any better than others because we receive gifts from God then we are sadly mistaken; the only way we are better than any other is because we have been shown grace and are forgiven and hence are without guilt. But it is not through any doing of ourselves but a gift from God and Him alone. With salvation we do receive so many gifts which we tend to take for granted; gifts such as love and faith. So let us not keep quiet about what we do receive with salvation so that others will be able to see just how special a gift God has given us.
But have you noticed how utterly reliable Christ is in His giving gifts to us along with our salvation? Have you noticed that His grace is free for all who are willing to believe in Him and place their trust in Him? Have you noticed that no matter had bad we were before we came to know Christ we all receive enough to make us a pure as snow?
No matter how hard we try to work for our salvation it is going to count as nothing. But just one ounce of belief and trust in Christ and we have complete and utter salvation. You may then start to doubt whether you should do anything right and doubt that what you can do will make any difference – that is where these verses should ring the bells for you loud and clear.
God does take notice of everything that we do get up to and when we take on the mantle of ministering to the saints, then we are taking on the mantle of ministering to Christ’s people. Just as God has warned us that whatever we do to His creation we in effect do to Him, He also wants us to remember that whatever we do for others, we also do for Him.
We need to make sure that we do encourage each other, build each other up, share our burdens, help with needy and not just rescue the perishing. If we just help those that are in dire need then we are no different from any other non-believer. But when we take on the job of ministering to the other saints, we begin to realise how much we are doing for God as well as for those we help. God wants us to love our neighbours – and that includes His people too.
Points to Ponder:
How do you decide who needs help?
Would you get help if God limited His help?
Saturday Reading: Matthew 25 35-40
Key Verse: Matthew 25 40
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Devotion:
The one thing that we can be very sure of is that we are going to be accountable for the things that we have done. God is just and will uphold the righteous, but with that also comes the judgement of the unjust people – a side of God that we try to ignore sometimes because it does not suit us to think of it. We must never forget that God is Holy which means that He cannot abide sin and will not allow sin into His house. That does not mean that we will never make it there because we are already covered by what Christ has done for us.
But when we choose to go forward in our own deceitful ways, ignoring or rejecting God and His ways, then we shall have to be prepared to face up to the consequences for what we have done. It is only if we come to Christ with a humble and repentant heart asking for forgiveness that He will forgive us; and at that point He will separate us from that sin so that we may enter in.
Then there are many who would like to believe that because they cannot see God, God is not watching them. How can God be Just and Holy if He is not going to keep up those attributes – and that means being Just and Holy always, even when we think He is not here. God may be a silent presence, but He is present. But God is not seeking people to prove themselves worthy to Him by being as good as they can toward Him.
Just because God is everywhere and is all powerful, does not mean that He does not want us to do things for Him; and neither does it mean that there is nothing we can do for Him. Instead we need to take a fresh look at this and think a bit outside the box. God does want us to praise Him and worship Him in everything that we do. It may not be that we sing His praises before a congregation. It may not be that we teach others constantly from His Word; it may simply be that He would like us to help someone in need to allow them to see that God is everywhere and that He reaches out to everyone in so many different ways. When we reach out to others, we also reach out to God because we are all His to begin with.
Points to Ponder:
What have you done for God lately?
What have you done for others lately?