Monday Reading: 2 Samuel 17 14

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 17 14

14  And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

Devotion:

Have you ever had a day in church when you think that the Pastor is picking on you? Well he is probably not picking on you but may even be picking on himself and allowing others to hear what God has been saying back to him so that he can encourage you too. I have stood up a few times and given a lesson about what God is doing in my life and people have commented on how pertinent it was for their own lives. We are not alone in our struggles! We are not alone in our need for advice!

I won’t subject you to reading all those long names in 2 Samuel 17 but needless to say that people are a strange bunch! Many people got behind Ahithophel just because it sounded like a good idea at the time; it did not matter that what he was saying was not actually from the Lord. Far too often we get behind ideas just because we think they sound good and meet our own goals and objectives rather than God’s goals. It is not for us to subject God to our own wants, needs, desires and generally get Him to fit in with us – it is our task to be subject to God and to fall in with His ways.

God alone is the one who is right and just. God alone is the one who will not give in to our whims and our ways. So if we want to follow the right way, then the only real way is God’s way. The only way that you are going to know God’s way is to listen to Him and not to everyone else’s advice; good as it may seem to gain as much advice as you can, if it does not fall in line with God’s ways then it should not be counted as good advice! The people that make up their own ways and get you to follow their corrupt ways will be the ones who come unglued when they stand in front of God; you are the one that will have to face up to following their ways instead of God’s ways – choose right, choose now!

Points to Ponder:

Do you prefer the results of a poll or Godly advice?

Do you think God will overlook your misgivings?

Sunday Reading: Exodus 18 13-19

Key Verse: Exodus 18 17

17  And Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you do is not good.

Devotion:

Advice? Who needs it! Well, I guess we all do at some stage or another, but advice is often quite hard to take because we have our own ways and methods and often don’t like getting tied down to the ways other people do things. But as we know from previous verses from Psalms, advice is good even to the wise people. If we ignored advice then we would not learn new things and we would get into more trouble than is necessary!

Advice from friends and family is hard to take sometimes because we think that we know what we are doing and we think that we know what is best for ourselves; after all, how many people know us better than we know ourselves? Well, God does for one! Quite often God will use those people around us to give us that advice that we need when we are too busy tied up doing our own things. God is not limited to how He can get us to listen – we only have to look back at how He has attracted the attention of many of His followers and prophets to realise that God will always get our attention!

If we want to be wise then we should listen to advice! It does not mean that we have to act on that advice because that advice may not always be the best advice – but listening to it will then allow us to find out whether it is good advice or not. Jethro gave Moses some very sound advice and Moses realise that it was sound – so he acted upon it. That is the same attitude that we should have toward those people around us – listen to the advice and then make sure that you do do what is best for you! Just maybe the advice that does get through to our brain, past that pride and ignorance, will be exactly what God has planned for us! Listen and learn!

Points to Ponder:

Do you ever take advice?

Do you listen to God’s advice?

Saturday Reading: James 5 16

Key Verse: James 5 16

16  Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.

Devotion:

I was about to cut this verse in half and just teach on “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.” Today – which would have been fine... but then I re-read the first part of this verse and realised another point which causes us doubt. Not so much the fact that we think that our prayers are not being answered but rather that we need to straighten ourselves out before we start getting serious with prayer. How can we expect our prayers to be effectual if we are the ones that are casting doubt even before we start praying?

God does not want us to be walking away from Him as we lift up our prayers but rather that we should be seeking Him and walking with Him before we start lifting up our requests to Him. God wants us to take that first step and show that we are willing to change our lives so that He can work in our lives! Why should we expect Him to work in our lives if we are not going to work in His shadow first of all?

I can always look back and see parts in my life when prayers did not seem to be being answered – and most of the time when I can do that I can also look at my walk with Christ and realise that I was not being that sincere with Christ when I started to see that just maybe my prayers were not being answered! Why should we expect God to do all the work and sit back and reap all the rewards even before we lift a finger? Yes God teaches us that we do need to cast our doubts and fear upon His shoulders, but it does not mean that we need to carry them away again! God wants us to straighten up, leave our problems with Him and walk a new way with Him so that we can not only identify the right prayers but can then fully expect that they will be answered!

Points to Ponder:

Do you expect others to do as you say and not as you do?

God always leads by example. Will you?

Friday Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 27-29

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1 27

27  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Devotion:

God has chosen well; we may not think so because our ways are different to God’s ways and our judgements are nothing compared to God’s. Take King David for example – how many of us would have chosen the shepherd boy to be king out of a family of warriors and leaders? God is the one who knows us from the inside out and He alone is the one who does know what is best for us.

God does not always choose the most handsome, most courageous, most advanced, most intelligent people to become leaders of faith; instead He chooses those that He knows will come round to doing His will. If we knew Jonah we would probably not have chosen Him to go to Nineveh to get them to repent – but God knew what was going to be best so that not only would He get His work done but that He would be glorified for many years to come!

When I was chosen to be youth leader at our church I sure would not have picked me! I thought I knew what I was like and I thought I knew what I would be like. Instead God chose me to come forward to teach His children for many years and that is what I now do faithfully – not because I can, but because I now know that it is His will in my life. I know that it is His will that I step forward and say “here I am, take me” when someone needs help to teach youngsters. I do not count myself as an accomplished leader but rather a faithful follower of Christ’s example. It is not my will, but His will... and boy does that make me stretch beyond my pre-conceived limits sometimes!

Points to Ponder:

Are you restricting your growth according to your ideals?

Are you preventing God from working with you?