Saturday Reading: 2 Peter 1 3-7

Key Verse: 2 Peter 1 4

4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Devotion:

It is our faith that joins us with Christ. It is our belief in Him that keeps His close to us at all times… Well, that is how we see it. But in reality God is the One who is walking by our sides at all times. He is the One who continues to make sure that we do have support and that we do have Him with us wherever we are. We continue on in our lives and at the times when we show great faith we feel that He is closest to us because we can turn and see Him. But when we start to falter and when we start to feel weakest, we then lose sight of our precious God because we are probably looking at all the things around us instead of depending on Him.

There will be times in our lives when we do feel weak and overburdened but those are the times when we do need to remember our faith most of all; those are the times when we need to remember the promises that have come before us, the promises that have been shown, tried , tested and proven. Those are the things that should remind us that we have a God that has always been here for us and will always be here, even when we are looking the other way. It is going to be those distractions that featured large and most in our lives before we met Christ that will take on a bigger significance when we feel weak. It is going to be our past lives and our past lust that will work against our faith – so we need something that is going to remind us and strengthen us as we walk with Christ.

So when we do feel at our best with Christ we need to change and few things in our own lives so that we will remember just how much He has already done for us. This letter reminds us of some of those things we need to fasten securely in our lives: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity or love. If we are able to build up those traits when we are strongest, they will stick with us when we get weak and strengthen us so that our faith remains strongest when the world seems to be fighting us most.

Points to Ponder:

Do you feel weak?

Have you allowed God to build you up?

Friday Reading: Exodus 14 10-14

Key Verse: Exodus 14 14

14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Devotion:

There are some weeks when the devotions are really hard to write because of the many distractions and events in our lives. I know that some of you will also find it hard to go through the devotions some days… but we need to remember just who we serve and we need to remember the promises that He has made toward us. If we look back when the children of Israel were first led out of Egypt we can see just how they were feeling too. Yes they had just been witnesses to the 10 plagues that swept over the Egyptians because of Pharaoh’s hardness of his heart, but they now felt that they were alone again because of the distractions surrounding them. Well, distractions is probably a bit of an understatement because they had the might of the Egyptian army bearing down on them and they had no place to go. They were the ones who had walked out of Egypt and they were the ones who seemingly had no place to go. But God reminded them once again of His power and of His promises toward them. God promised them once again that they would not have to fight their own fight but that He would on their behalf.

There are going to be many times in our lives when we are faced with what we think are insurmountable odds and we may well turn our thoughts against God thinking that He will not stand by us or that He will not stand for us. We need to get rid of those thoughts and be reminded of the consistent promises of our Awesome God. He is the one that has promised never to leave us. He is the one who has promised to give what we ask for in His name. He is the one who continues to make sure that those promises are kept and upheld year after year!

When we think we are at our lowest, when we think that life cannot get any worse, when we think that we are facing the enemy; we need to be able to stand firm on God’s promises knowing that He is with us and knowing that He is going to be right in front of us when we face the toughest of circumstances. The only hard part for us is going to be standing firm and giving God control so that He can do what is best for us. That part never comes easy because we always like to think that we are in control!

Points to Ponder:

Are you worried?

Are you really giving your burden to Christ?

Thursday Reading: Proverbs 27 9-10

Key Verse: Proverbs 27 9

9  Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

Devotion:

Isn’t it amazing how a smell can change the whole way that you feel; there are some smells that will bring back fantastic memories or make you feel really great and yet others that may well remind you of times that are not so good. Have you noticed that even those smells that remind you of bad times will not bring you down but give you hope that things have changed and things are better? Smells tend to bring good memories or they tend to lift you up. There is nothing quite like the fresh smell you get on a bright spring morning or the smell of a bunch of flowers.

Those are the same types of feelings that we get from certain close friends in our lives as well. There are some people in our lives that will always make you feel at ease or always make you feel on top of the world. There are others that will always calm you down and some that you just want to be with because you feel so right at home with them always. These are the feelings that God has given us to make our lives so much better than just a plain existence. With God in our lives we have so much more to look forward to as well.

We should always strive to keep those friendships strong and true. We should not do things that will break them down because if we do then we are going to end up hurting ourselves and the other people. But it is not just the fact that we will hurt them that should concern us but the fact that we eat at our souls – deep inside us where our Lord is the one that directs our feelings that we cannot explain in our human terms.

God has planted in us a love that is true and that needs to be exercised. That love comes out when we do smell the sweet savour of good friendships and those that we care about. That is what makes life so good and so worth living – knowing the love that God has given to us and shown us personally as well.

Points to Ponder:

What is your favourite smell?

What do you most like about God?

Wednesday Reading: Psalms 73 1-14

Key Verse: 2Psalm 73:3

3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Devotion:

One of the biggest arguments that many have about religion and belief in God is that the people who seem to be the most successful in life are not the people who we associate with religion or with God. We should never lift these people up instead of God because they are not working for God but for themselves. When we read through these first verses in this Psalms we work out very quickly that the writer is himself tempted to side with the wealthy and prosperous people rather than God’s people.

Instead of falling to that temptation he realises that it is simply God’s will, or the goodness and grace of God that has allowed those people to be able to prosper and do well. We do not know what God has in store for them at a later date because that future is hidden from us at this time. We can know that they will have to face Christ when their time is come and we can know that Christ will judge them according to their own works and not against what we thought should happen.

What we should focus on instead of the prosperity or righteousness of others is where our faith in our God lies instead. Do we believe that God is going to deliver us from our debt that we owe because of our sinful past? Do we believe that God is merciful to forgive us? Do we have faith that God will do what He has promised us? You see, it is not all about what we think of others and what we think they should be doing, but it is about what we have done and what we do with God ourselves. We should be concerned about our own life with God and not others lives; but conversely we should not ignore all that others do and expect them to find things out for themselves. We know God’s Word and we know His truth. We need to take that Word and that Truth with us so that we can allow others to know what is in store for them. If we are not going to tell them, then who will? Just because they look like they are having fun and we are not should not restrict us from allowing them to know God’s grace and the truth. Just because they look like they are better off than us does not mean we should withhold what we know as the truth from them. God loves us all and not just the good ones!

Points to Ponder:

What do you think you deserve?

What does God say you deserve?