Sunday Reading: Romans 11 17-21
Key Verse: Romans 11 18
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Devotion:
Conflict arises at places even when we think that conflict should be a thing of the past; when we have people that should be celebrating success or happiness we also have people that seem to want to bring that success to an end. Then there are the people who think that they should be the ones being at the centre of the success and not the ones who have been working toward that success. Or, another way of looking at it is that life just does not seem to be as fair as what we think it should be.
There always seem to be much debate about things written down many years ago and God’s Word also gets more than its fair share of people who would try to impose their own beliefs or interpretations on what is written down. Though we cannot hope to be able to get inside the mind of the people that actually wrote the words down for us to read, we can compare what they have written with the words that others have written and come to an informed opinion of what God wants us to understand.
There is absolutely no doubt that God chose the Jews to be His people and that He promised that they would always be a nation that should actively seek Him. There is no doubt that they went through many tough times and that they chose to reject Him in many cases as well. We also know that God said that His Word would be taken out to all people around the world and not just the Jews. But just because there are many more Christians in the world now than there are Jews living in Israel, it does not mean that we have now replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people; just because many Jewish leaders have chosen to reject Christ does not mean that everyone has rejected Christ.
As branches get their nutrients from the trunk and that in turn gets the nutrients from the roots, we are looked upon as the branches and the Jewish people as the roots. Whilst we may not consider that we are getting ’nutrients’ from the Jews, we would not be in the position of enjoying a relationship with Christ if it were not for Christ choosing the Jews in the beginning. We do have a lot of history to absorb as to what God has done for us (the human race) through what He has done for the Jews. Let us therefore never think that they owe us anything or that we are the chosen people in their stead!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like to think of yourself as someone special?
Where would we be without God’s Children?
Saturday Reading: Revelation 7 9-12
Key Verse: Revelation 7 9
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Devotion:
There are going to be times when we just cannot see anything good in this world. There will also be times when we fail to see how there will even be enough people to worship God because we don’t see enough love for God in this world. But whatever our thoughts they will never be the same a God’s; He is the one who knows what is going to happen and he is the one who knows just how many people will be before Him in heaven. When John was given insight into the glory of heaven he was also show that there are going to be multitudes of people who have made it there because they have believed in Christ and trusted in Him.
Let us therefore never be down-hearted that we don’t see enough people worshipping God now but let us rather go forward boldly showing off our God to others. Let us tell them of this wonderful truth that they are able to be saved to the uttermost and that they too can join in the most wonderful worship service of all time – before God in heaven!
We are told by some sects and religions that they will be the only people that will make it to heaven; well my bible clearly tells me that there will be so many people from all nations that we shall not be able to count them! The very fact that we will be there shows me that God has been willing and able to forgive people because of what Christ has done on our behalf. It shows me that the love that He has for us goes far beyond what I would expect from anyone. It shows me that even I can make it to heaven because I have accepted Christ as my Saviour!
If you have not accepted Christ as your Saviour then I implore you to do that today so that you will be one of that multitude that John was able to see. Let us not worry that we have done too much against God for Him to even think of forgiving us because Christ’s blood has paid for it all perfectly. Let us not grow weary thinking that we cannot do enough to get there – because Christ’s blood has done it all already. Let us not think that we are not worthy – because Christ died for us first of all!
Points to Ponder:
Are you worried about not getting to heaven?
Do you know how much Christ has already done for you?
Friday Reading: Romans 8 35-39
Key Verse: Romans 8 36
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Devotion:
If anyone has tried to convince you that being a Christian is going to be an easy life then they have lied to you. For as long as we stand up for Christ we are going to have people standing up against us. Just as we have jealous people who stand up against us when something good happens to us or when we are able to do something good, we are going to have jealous people who try to slander us or try to trip us up in some manner just because we look like we have got something good going. In other words, the more we work toward Christ the more we should expect to have people working against us.
But never be afraid of that issue because Christ has already promised us that He is the one standing before God the Father giving an account for us so that we may be with Him eternally. Christ will also make sure that there is no temptation placed before us that He personally knows we cannot deal with. We may well feel like we are at the end of our tether and that we cannot cope with anything more, but Christ knows that we can take what He is allowing into our lives. He knows that as soon as we depend on Him we will be able to achieve so much more. Just maybe He is allowing something into our lives so that we depend on Him just that little bit more than we care to – then we shall be able to see the real power of God!
When God was leading the Children of Israel through the desert He stretched them to the limit to make sure that they had no choice but to depend fully on Him. Through that act He was able to show them just how awesome He really is by giving them water in the desert, food where there was none and keeping them fit and well where so many others had died before.
So when we are faced with people who seem to hate us for no reason, you can bet that there is a very big reason why they have gone down that route – that reason is that we are working toward a life with Christ. We may well find people close to us that seem to work against us instead of with us – just maybe Christ is trying to show us that we need His strength to work for Him and that we cannot cope by ourselves.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are strong enough?
Is God allowing you to see you need help?
Thursday Reading: Romans 8 32-34
Key Verse: Romans 8 34
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Devotion:
Because of the sin that entered into the world when Eve and Adam were tempted by the serpent, we all live under that same condemnation because we are all guilty. No we cannot turn round and say that we have not done anything wrong because we have. There has not been any man born on earth (apart from our Lord Jesus Christ) who has not sinned in some manner; it may have been the “littlest” of sins, but we have all sinned. It does not have to be that we have rejected Christ or that we have lifted up other gods instead of God, it could just be that thought that we had about slapping someone that had just done wrong against us – that thought that harboured a little bit of hate…
But the most marvellous thing about this all is that God’s love for each of us continues to stand just as it always has. Yes we may well make Him “angry” at us for the things that we do against Him and against His people, but that does not stop Him from loving us. Just because we run the other way His love does not stop. After Christ rose from the grave He went to be with God in heaven so that He may be there for us! He is the one who is acting on our behalf as our advocate, as our lawyer; He is putting forward the case to God that He, who knew no sin, took on the sin of all the world just so that we would not have to pay that price – eternal death.
What an awesome God we have in that He is willing to put away all of our sin because the blood of Christ has covered our sins once and for all. All we need do is to acknowledge Him for what He has done and to believe that that is exactly what has happened; that God’s own Son came to pay for our own sins.
It is one thing that Christ should put forward our names just because we have chosen to believe in Him. It is another thing that God has promised to forgive us of those sins when we do trust Christ as our Lord and Saviour. What is so very special is that Christ has chosen to go personally to God the Father and make a personal appearance before God in heaven on our behalf. He has not just written our names down or sent an email or a letter, but personally takes our names forward on our behalf. What love!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know where Christ is now?
Do you know what He is doing for you right now?
Wednesday Reading: 1 John 4 1-6
Key Verse: 1 John 4 3
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Devotion:
I have come here today to give you that direct comparison between what was said thousands of years before Jesus was born as a man to what was said after He had gone back to Heaven. It is the same thing; that there will be people who come to you and try to tell you things that they say come from God. We then have to walk through this minefield and pick out the safe path to walk – and that is going to be that we follow the Word of God. It is the Word that proclaims that Jesus was born as the Son of God and that He died and rose again after 3 days. It is that same Word that has remained constant from the beginning of time and will remain forever. It is that same Word that we need to compare other people’s teachings to.
It is very sad to see that there are people out there who confess to be Christians and yet they do not accept that Jesus Christ came in the flesh as man but that He is God. They will try to water things down by saying that He was a prophet rather than being the Son of God. Anything that does not agree with the Word of God cannot be coming from God. God is not going to change the Word that He has given us from the beginning. If He did that then what should we ever believe? How can we say that we will believe one part of the bible and not believe every other part of the bible? God’s Word is the constant.
That does not mean that men are never going to make mistakes when they quote God’s Word. That does not mean that people are going to always interpret things in the right way or that they will always understand fully what is enclosed in the Word. I make mistakes and I have to admit that I make mistakes when people point it out to me. I try my best to teach others what God is trying to teach me… but what you need to do is to not just take my word for it but to compare what I say with what God has already given you – His Word!
If you are struggling with what other people are telling you then you need to take a step back and get back to what God has given us in the beginning. God gave us the truth in the beginning and He has given us His Spirit to help us discern the truth.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always believe everything?
Are you trusting and believing in God’s Word?