Tuesday Reading: Philippians 4 8-9
Key Verse: Philippians 4 8
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Devotion:
One thing many of us are guilty of is that we tend to think more about the things that go wrong and less about the things that go right! If things have gone the way that they should or if we have enjoyed ourselves then we go with the flow and continue enjoying them; but when things go wrong we tend to get bogged down in what has gone wrong and we start to lose focus on how we can do things right or how we can still be enjoying our walk with Christ. Yes it is hard! You are not alone!
It is far easier to read something like this and to apply it to other people rather than to think about our own situations and apply it into our own lives – after all that would be like admitting defeat in some way. But admitting things and moving on has got to be part of our lives. When Christ said that we should bring our sins to Him He did not say that we must bring them to Him and continue to be caught up in our guilt for the rest of our lives. Instead He has promised us that He is willing to forgive us of those sins and to separate us from those sins. In other words He wants us to move on from that point, to turn away from them and to move on with Him.
The best way that I know of moving on from a ‘gutter point’ or low point in my life is to spend time alone with God and I do that by reading His Word. The more that I can do that the more encouragement I get and the more I am able to focus on the good things in my life with Him. As this verse quite plainly states, we need to look on the good part and to think more about them. If we are focusing on those good points then we will find that it is much easier to aim for those points and to keep them in our lives. If we are purely focused on what has gone wrong we will be trapped in what has gone wrong and may not be able to see a way out.
The more that we are focused on the world and what is going wrong in it the more we get despondent about how bad things are. We must not ignore that part of life otherwise we will find that we never seem to learn from what goes wrong; but we can live a much better life by trying to achieve God’s will in our lives rather than trying to avoid our mistakes or misgivings. Living with Christ gives us the right focal point and the right aims so that we can focus on what He has to offer rather than what the world has to offer.
Points to Ponder:
What do you focus on most in life?
How much time do you give to Christ?
Monday Reading: Philippians 4 5-7
Key Verse: Philippians 4 5
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Devotion:
Depending on which translation you look at you may find the word ‘moderation’ being translated into different words such as gentleness, kindness, modesty, meekness or humility... but I think you start to get the big picture when you find out how many words can be used. I have had many people try to say how I should be living and how I should be presenting myself, but each time that I have tried to follow other people’s advice I have always found myself wanting. It was only when I started to live my life for Christ that I realised that I could be happy in everything that I did!
No matter how much we try to live a good life we will always find something that we can do better or something that we have failed at. If we focus on those things then we are either going to end up being so depressed because we cannot do anything right or we will end up working ourselves to death and never being content with anything that we do. But if we are willing to live with Christ and work with Him then we will begin to see w whole new outlook on life that we seem to have missed all along.
I have always struggled to keep a close walk with Christ because of the many distractions in my life and the harder I try the more I find it is difficult. It was only when I began to rely on God for guidance and for grace that I began to see that living with Him has to be the only way in life that we can be truly happy. Whilst I know that my attitude to life may have raised a few eyebrows from my friends and family, I also know that I am living the life that brings me the most joy; and with that I am able to allow others around me to see that I have this joy inside me.
The greatest compliment that people can pay me is to tell me that I look happy or that I am smiling because I then know that I am happy in Christ! Whenever people say to me that I look down or worried, those are the times when I know that I have been trying to fix things myself instead of allowing God to guide me along His path. That does not mean that I can sit back and just enjoy life because I seem to have far less spare time than ever before – but I also know that I am making a difference! The key point does have to be that I always look forward to God for advice, that I always rely on Him for protection and that I have always counted on Him for grace and strength. Then I know that I have begun to move in the right direction!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you rely on most of all?
Do you always include God in everything?
Sunday Reading: Philippians 4 1-4
Key Verse: Philippians 4 4
4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Devotion:
I love the way that Paul was able to put such beautiful words to paper that we may be able to read them many years later and still find the same joy that the earl church must have found in them. When he wrote it was with love that he wrote and that love was to be shown to all just as Christ had commanded the disciples – to love one another. Paul made sure that the people who would be reading the letter knew that he cared deeply for them and that they should be able to count on him for anything. There must be an art to being able to write such words without getting yourself into trouble!
That art has got to be that we “stand fast in the Lord” as he describes here; and that may well be a point at which many of us do fail because we tend to see that we may be able to help ourselves instead of fully relying on God and hence we try to do it ourselves. Yes God does want us out there doing the work and living for Him, but that does not mean that we have to come up with everything to get things accomplished otherwise we would not be relying on Him.
When Paul says that we should “rejoice in the Lord” it is that we need to not just depend on Him for things but to know that He is able, willing and will supply our needs when we want to do His will; for that reason we should always rejoice that we have a Lord and Saviour who is able! I continue to be amazed at how God is able to bring about change in people’s lives when they are more willing to rely on Him rather than to think that they have the wherewithal to do His will. Whenever I am called to speak or teach it is only that I know that Christ will be by my side that gives me the strength to come forward and do so.
Paul was also quite willing to turn to others and tell them that they could and should be supporting the people around them just as he was trying to support them. He did not come forward to bring riches and supplies but rather to bring them the more essential Gospel message; something that is being left out of society more and more each year by so many. We do have a task to bring God’s Word to others and we should be living up to that task every day. I began writing these daily devotions many years ago after the person that I was receiving devotions from stopped due to other work. I count it a great privilege and a joy to continue writing so you can receive.
Points to Ponder:
Are you enjoying your work?
Are you working for Christ yet?
Saturday Reading: Romans 9 25-29
Key Verse: Romans 9 26
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Devotion:
One of the most amazing things that we find in our bibles is the amount of things that have been written many years before they actually happened, and these are not just things that people wanted to happen but normally the opposite in that they were judgments coming from God upon the people. Rather than picking up on many of the more depressing prophesies I have chosen this one which foretells of the mercy of God toward all men rather than just the Jews.
The Jews were selected as the chosen people of God and He has taught the rest of the world through what has happened with them. If we ignore what has happened then we are going to find out the same hard way that God will make sure that things will happen the way He wants and not according to the will of man. The Jews had seen how much God could do for them and yet they still chose to try to follow other gods in the hopes that they would be more lenient and easier to live by; but God had made the covenant with them and He alone has all power of what will happen.
God’s judgment was that the Gentiles would be the ones that would now get the attention in that they would be focused on and they would get to hear God’s truth so that they could be saved. But God did not turn His back on the Jews because the few that chose to still listen to the truth would come through this and still believe in God. God continued to keep His original promise to the Jews that they would be the chosen people and that they would always be – it’s just that the main focus would now be on saving the rest of the world as well.
When we look back on all that God has promised us from the beginning of time and see just how much of that has already come true, we should be encouraged no end to know that the rest of those promises are going to happen just as the rest have. We should be able to look at them and know deep in our hearts that things will be the way that God has said... but still in our hearts we want things to happen according to our own ways and not to be dictated to us by an unseen God. The pride that man continues to have even after many cycles of being shown that that pride is wrong is just amazing; but we see it happen each and every day.
Points to Ponder:
Do you want things to happen your way?
Or are you going to trust God?
Friday Reading: Isaiah 65 1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 65 1
1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Devotion:
One of the most amazing things that I find is the diversity of people that we meet that are Christians. If we were to look toward the things that we think Christians should do and then look to people that fit into those roles we would actually come up with a different set of people to those that are actually Christians. God has called us all to His high calling and not just those that fit the description of what a Christian should be like. If it were that way then we would surely be able to live right in order to reach heaven. Instead God brings all sorts of different people into His flock.
Some of the vilest people we can think of may turn their lives over to God and beg for His forgiveness. And yet some of the sweetest people we know will reject God because they think that they are good enough without Him in their lives. How sad it will be to see those people being rejected by the very God that they once thought they were good enough to meet! God picked the people of Israel for a reason and He has continued to keep them and to protect them over time. Even when He has had to bring reproof into their lives He has done so with a loving heart.
God continues to call out to all people of this world to make sure that we all get the same chance at attaining eternal life through Jesus Christ. He continues to make us aware of what we do and aware of what it is that He requires from us. We do not have to belong to the Jews or to any other group in order to be able to accept Him as Lord and Saviour. God has opened His love to all men.
As we grow in our relationship with Him we begin to see just how open our God is to our ways because of the vast differences in our lives in comparison to other Christians. We continues to be amazed that He was willing to do all of that for us even while we were doing all those things wrong. He continues to wait patiently as we destroy so much that He has built up for us. We are the ones who think we know best and run off to do our own things. We are the ones who continually demand more from Him without giving more from our hearts. We are the ones who continually do things wrong in His face. We are the ones who are effectively slapping Him in the face daily and yet we expect Him to ignore that all and love us the way that we are!
Points to Ponder:
Do you expect people to accept you the way you are?
Are you willing to allow God to change you?