Monday Reading: Hebrews 11 4-7

Key Verse: Hebrews 11 6
6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Devotion:
Have you ever thought about why you followed your parents instructions, well that is assuming that you actually did follow some of their instructions! The best explanation that you could come up with is that you respected their judgement in the matter or that you had confidence in what they were telling you was in your best interest. Or another simple way of putting it would be that you had faith in their judgement or in them.

Romans 10 17 tells us that faith comes from hearing and that comes from reading God’s Word. Just as our parents would spend time to tell us about the things we should be doing and then showing us  or leading by example, we too have to listen to God and then to follow His example. That example is recorded for our reading in our bibles where we have time to read and meditate on those examples of many people that have lived before us and have followed God’s ways and tried to live for Him.

Without that knowledge in the beginning we would have no idea how we could please God and we would have no real goal to aim for either. But with God’s Word we do have that hope and as long as we have faith that what God has said is all true, then our faith will be realised instead of just being the belief in something that may happen! As it says in verse 1, faith is the substance of things hoped for – our faith is not a blind hope but the realisation of what we hope for.

Without that faith, that belief in God’s truth, we do not have that realisation of that truth so we have no faith and no hope. And if we do not have that faith or belief in God’s ways then how will we ever be able to please Him? All we will end up doing is aiming to do what we think is best for our own selves because we need to please someone. When we place our faith and trust in Christ then we do find it can be quite easy to please Him because we will want to listen to Him. The more that we do seek His will the more willing we will be to follow those ways that He has given us in His Word. And just like any proud parent like to lift up, praise and reward children that behave, God will lift us up and reward us as appropriate too.

Points to Ponder:
Do you actively Seek God?

Or do you just expect the rewards for nothing?

Sunday Reading: Proverbs 16 7

Key Verse: Proverbs 16 7
7  When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Devotion:
Working with children and young adults gives you an insight into society that you may well not otherwise see and for that I actually thank our Lord. Many tell me I am mad because I have chosen to work with people that others run in the opposite direction from but after God first lead me into youth work I have seen a deeper and deeper need for people to work with young adults and teach them about our ways as Christians.

It is no small thing that we have been given the scriptures (or what we now know as our bibles) so that we can know God’s ways, His rules, His instructions and be shown examples of how we can accomplish this. Christ Himself came to be the ultimate example and though we will never be able to achieve the life that Christ was able to lead, we can aim toward that example. He continues to give us direction and encouragement so that we can try to lead our lives as He directs us.

If we are willing to follow those directions and try to keep His ways then we are going to please Him. Just like parents do actually like it when children listen to them and follow their advice, our Heavenly Father would love us to do the same and follow His advice. He has made sure we have this all in writing so we do not have to guess at everything and continue making mistakes until we find out what is actually right. But that is where we have a problem in that we want to do things our own ways and at our own pace so that we get some of the glory!

Working with young adults has opened my eyes to this type of attention and glory seeking in ways that I had never thought of. It is strange because when I look back on my life I can actually see many times when I was in that same position in seeking attention. I may not have got up to some of the things that young adults get up to nowadays but I can see where they are coming from – the issue is how to reach out to them and allow them to see that they are on a path of destruction and not a path to glory! So living with Christ and for Him will allow us to live in a more peaceful relationship with Him – just as we hope to see with our children and young adults.

Points to Ponder:
Who’s instructions do you follow?

Do others see God’s ways through you?

Saturday Reading: 1 Peter 3 13-17

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3 15
15  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Devotion:
That is a good question to ask yourself and one which I have asked myself a short while back; one that gave me the most comfort that I have enjoyed for a long time… “Who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?” If you qualify that by saying “Who can ever do anything to you if you are resting firmly in Christ’s hands?” The answer is nobody! Nothing can ever separate us from Christ!

We may well come up against all manner of evil and all manner of people who are going to say and do things to you, but all that they can do is destroy what you have here on earth; they can never take anything that Christ has reserved for you away! Do you actually realise just how special that is? Have you thought it through properly?

So our aim has got to be that we sanctify God in our hearts; that we praise Him honestly and with our whole hearts. That is what is due to Him for placing us in the position of absolute safety that He has done – just because we have asked Him into our lives and have acknowledged that we have gone wrong in the past. Our aim must be to continue forward toward all that is good because that will allow us to walk closer to God. We may never be able to continue on in all that is good because of the evil and temptation that surrounds us, but we should at least aim toward that calling. And when people turn round to us and ask us why we believe in something that they cannot figure out, we need to be able to stand firm in God’s Word and proclaim the name of Jesus as being our Lord and our Saviour!

Once we see just how special a place Christ has reserved for us we should not have any issue with working with and for Him. Our conscience should be clear because we must know that He has forgiven us for those sins that we bring to Him. It is the people that put us down that will one day realise just how wrong they have been and that is one place where I don’t want to have to see people heading for. My heart goes out to the youth of today when I see the evil that they are born into and that they have to fight every day. I am so glad that I have Christ as my protector and my guide and I want to hold Him out as my example to others so they too can attain this comfort instead of facing shame like so many do.

Points to Ponder:
Do you shy away from telling others about God?

What would you do if God turned His back on you?

Friday Reading: Mark 1 1-8

Key Verse: Mark 1 5
5  And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

Devotion:
One thing that I have never been very good at is figuring out the emotions of people and to some extent I think I have been lucky with that because it has kept me out of trouble but landed me in some too. So it comes as no real surprise to see that I am not alone with this and that people have always looked to someone greater and with more wisdom to get guidance from. Unfortunately there is only one person that can really help us with our emotions because there is only one person that knows us from the inside out – and that is God. No matter how well we think we know each other or how well we think that other people know us, nobody knows us the same as God does.

So what does this have to do with our passage today? Well, it is just another insight into reading God’s Word for me. I do have problems understanding why some people do or say some things and yet other times I can see as clear as day why they do things; but when it comes down to God’s Word I do get a whole lot of help from God to understand things. The next problem comes in trying to apply those things that I learn into my life because that has got to be our goal, to be able to learn from God’s Word so that we can live our lives being encouraged to do what God would like  us to do.

This passage shows us that John the Baptist knew the difference between having intimate knowledge of the scriptures for teaching others and that intimate knowledge that one has because one has written or inspired those scriptures; that same difference that we may see when we look at how we see others and how God must see us. John was a great preacher. We know this because he had many followers who all came to love God because he taught them all about God. And yet he would be the first to admit that he was not worthy to loosen the buckles of Jesus’ sandals, never mind anything else for Him.

When I see how some people can tell the emotional state of others, I stand in awe. But then I get to think about our Awesome God and realise that even if I lift up anyone because of my lack of understanding, that is nothing compared to how we should be lifting up our omniscient God!

Points to Ponder:
Who do you admire?

How much do you actually admire God?