Monday 8 Aug 2011

Monday Reading: Hebrews 13 15



Key Verse: Hebrews 13 15

15  By Him, then, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, confessing His name.



Devotion:

When Christ gave His life for our sin debt on the cross, He did son as a single act that would be a final and permanent payment for all sin that is confessed to Him in person. It is not an act that we should be telling to anyone else but directly to Christ – He is the one that has done the deed of giving His life for what we have done wrong – He alone deserves the praise for what He has done and so deserves our attention to His Awesome name.



It is not just the fact that it is the name Jesus; the name that was told to Joseph. It is not just the fact that He had a miraculous birth; born to a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem. It is not the fact that He did no wrong; being without sin. It is the fact that He is the Son of the Living God that counts above everything else. Being the Son of God He lowered Himself to human form for us so that He could take on our sin debt.



We need to lift up His name, praise His Holy name, tell others about Him and confess that we believe Him. We need to do this to others so that they may know the truth, but most of all we need to do this to Christ Himself so that He knows that we are serious. Yes anyone can say those words that we would say, but we are the ones who will know for ourselves that those words are coming from our hearts. We are the only ones, besides God Himself, who will know just how much we mean those words. That makes our relationship with Him very personal and so full of meaning. 



Points to Ponder:

Say it from the heart!



How often do you tell Christ how much He means to you?


Sunday 7 Aug 2011

Sunday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 1-3




1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.



Devotion:

If someone professes to be a Christian and yet does not have love in their hearts for others then I would find it very difficult to believe that they are sincere in their belief. Christ gave us the commandment that we should love our Neighbours as ourselves and to love our enemies; that love being born from within our hearts and not just a saying of matter of fact that that is done. These three verses are quite explicit in reminding us just what is required because without love we can be the best possible person we can be without actually being anything!



If we do not show the love that we preach about then we are in fact hiding behind a bunch of words that has no meaning in our hearts. Our love for others has got to be as sincere as the love that we have for ourselves. It does not matter who says the words of love, unless those words are rooted in a heartfelt love, they are meaningless. If they are offered by the highest principle in the country but do not come from the heart, then they are still just words. The meaning comes from the heart of the giver or speaker.



We can even go as far as we like physically but without that heartfelt love, it is all meaningless. We could sacrifice all manner of animals or mammals in the hopes that that will please God; all to no avail. We could give up all our earthly riches and make sure that we give to the poor and needy, but without heartfelt love behind that gift it is just another hand-out that will join the rest. Having a heart that is willing to cross the road and help the needy is worth much more than a few pounds a month to keep them off the streets. Love comes from the heart, not from the pocket.



Points to Ponder:

What do you do for others?



Has God given you that desire to help?

Saturday 6 Aug 2011

Saturday Reading: Matthew 19 16-22



Key Verse: Matthew 19 21

21  Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow Me.



Devotion:

One of the hardest things to do as a young child is to give up your favourite toy. As you grow older and (hopefully) wiser, you would think that giving up your favourite thing should be a whole lot easier – but if truth be told we still find it hard. The problem is that our favourite things become so much a part of our lives that we just don’t want to let them go. Whilst it may be easy to let someone else drive your car or let someone else use your mobile phone, the things that begin to matter to us are sometimes not simple physical devices but ways of life.



We get into doing things that we should probably not be doing and with that we begin to squeeze God out of our lives in preference to having to give up on what we now like doing. When Jesus was warning this man about the things in his life that were holding him back, Jesus knew exactly what to aim at. We lose focus on the important things and begin to leave them behind.



Now is the time to bring your life back together, to make your primary focus God Himself and to aim at nothing less. The inverse to this is also true in that we should strive to find the things that will please God and bring them back into our lives. If we compare anything to Christ we should have no problem knowing what is most important. It is not a case of giving things up because you have been told that they are wrong or waiting until someone says that is right. It is a case of wanting to follow God’s will because that is what is in your heart.



Points to Ponder:

What is your heart focused on?



Is God in your heart?


Friday 5 Aug 2011

Friday Reading: Galatians 5 14



Key Verse: Galatians 5 14

14  For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."



Devotion:

I would say that it would be impossible to love your neighbour if you do not have a love for yourself. Finding that love for yourself should not be hard because we all have a basic survival instinct. If we dwell on that survival instinct we can figure out that it is not just self-survival but more of a need to protect yourself and keep you own wellbeing above things around you. That need to make sure that you are OK stems from a love for yourself. Sometimes it is hard to admit that we do have this love for ourselves because we like to think that we would care more for others than ourselves.



God does not want us to bury that love for ourselves but rather to use that love to realise how much we should care for others. It should not just be a case of caring for the beautiful, caring for the kind, caring for your family or even caring for others that care for you; what it should be about is caring for all those people that you come into contact with. That even means for those people that wind you up the wrong way, those that upset you, those that don’t care about you… It does not mean that we have to live our lives according to them or according to their ways. Our ways should be fixed on God’s ways and nobody else’s.



You may think that it would be hard to love some people, but once you get to know the love of Christ then you will find that loving others is a whole lot easier. When you realise just how much Christ loved you even before you got to know Him then you can start to see that someone has got to make that first move to show that they love someone else. It may just be a knowing smile that starts things off but loving someone for who they are instead of who you think they should be will help you to understand why Christ loved you. Don’t turn back.



Points to Ponder:

How would you describe your love for others?



Do you know Christ’s love?


Thursday 4 Aug 2011

Thursday Reading: 1 Corinthians 6 15-17




17  But he being joined to the Lord is one spirit.



Devotion:

Would you use one of your best shirts to clean the bath with? That’s about as clean as I could make s dirty question! But seriously, we would not dream of taking something that is good, clean, valuable or held up in any way and use it for the worst, dirtiest, lowest or most dishonourable jobs that we could find. That would just be wrong! So why then do we take what God has called good, clean, valuable and held up and use it for the worst jobs that we can think of?



Our bodies are members of Christ! When we invite Him into our lives He does not leave us but rather stays with us for eternity – now that is a pretty long time so don’t think that you can bide your time for a season or two and then get away with doing things wrong! When we invite Christ into our lives it is forever. That means that He takes up residence with your soul in this physical body. If you ever want to break your heart by doing something bad, first think of who you are dragging down with yourself!



This is more than a marriage you are getting into. This is more than a simple statement saying that you will be together until one of your dies. This is an act that is going to last through all eternity. What an Awesome God we have! He wants us to stay clean so that we will not drag our filth into His house. He wants us to stay clean so that we do not drag Him into our filth. He has given us the means to be able to resist sin and all that filth – we just need to take on that mantle and live a life that He can live with us!



Points to Ponder:

Do you live a clean life?



How clean is your life compared to Christ’s?