Friday 20 May 2011

Friday Reading: 1 Peter 1 24-25

Key Verse: 1 Peter 1 25
25  but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word preached as gospel to you.

Devotion:
By the time you get to read this I hope that we shall have had some rain because the land around us is drying up pretty quickly. The grass is fading and the plants lacking as the dry weather continues to remain in East Anglia, UK; a reminder that everything in this world is so reliant on God to give and supply the appropriate weather. This is not to say that God is withholding water in an attempt to get us to do something but rather that we see just how much we do rely on God even though we say we don’t. It is not just the things that He gives to us personally but to the country around us too.

Nothing in this world is permanent because it is all under the will of God; and yet God promised us that there would continue to be seasons and that His Word would continue to be taught all round the world. Well, we still see the seasons come and go and we still fight the weather and our lack of power against the weather continues to be shown to us over and over again; yet man refuses to acknowledge that God is here and that He is in charge and not us!

We are about as secure as the grass in a field; we could be cut down at any second by some lunatic with a mower or we could simply wither and die because we fail to get our food from God. We need His daily supply of truth and we need His guidance so that we can walk in the right direction to avoid falling victim to the drought around us. God’s Word, the gospel, is given to us and we need to accept it daily so that we can be nurtured and kept from drying out and being blown away with the rest of the stubble! We do need His daily supply and we need to take it in; without it we are no more than grass in a dry field hoping for something that is not coming along!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you could stand against fire?

Will you make sure you have your protection from God before it’s too late?

Thursday 19 May 2011

Thursday Reading: 1 John 2 15-17

Key Verse: 1 John 2 16
16  because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Devotion:
Our choice is an easy one but it is hard! How can that be? Well it is easy in that it is very simple; we either choose God or the world. But it is difficult in that we are of this world and we seek things from this world for pleasure. Our temptations come in one of three parts: lust of the flesh; lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Jesus was tempted of these three things when faced by Satan in the wilderness. We are tempted in just these three things in our daily walks through the world; and yet we see so many more temptations that we fear it is too difficult to withstand!

In reality we are only ever tempted in these three cases; Each one of which Christ defended against through His Word. We have that Word. We have Christ, The Holy Spirit, God and all things written down... And yet we still think that we will fail and give in! Our failing are often nothing more than us not wanting to give in to the pride of life but rather choosing something that makes us look good instead of looking bad. If we were able to put that behind us and accept that we are sinners and that we have wronged Christ, then we should be able to get on with life in a far more resilient way by continuing to walk with God.

Nothing in this world is going to last for a long time because it will all fade with time and disappear along with the rest of the worlds things. God is the one who will still be standing. God is the everlasting that we will find in the beginning and at the end. God is the constant in this universe and He will continue to make sure that we are able to call on Him and His Word for strength to withstand all that we are able to; and when we fail He will continue to stand in our stead. As long as we are willing to have faith and stand with God, He will continue to show us His faith in us by protecting us when we start to fade and trip. God is our strength when we cannot stand!

Points to Ponder:
What is the rock in your life?

Do you realise just how stable God is?

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Wednesday Reading: Luke 2 36-38

Key Verse: Luke 2 38
37  And she was a widow of eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, serving God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Devotion:
I would be glad to be able to reach the age of eighty four never mind being a widow for most of that time; but Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, had been so and still continued to serve God in the temple. For all that time she had dedicated her life to serving in the temple and praying with fasting day and night. That sort of dedication does not go unnoticed by God and she was one of the first people that Got to meet Christ as a young child; God blessed those who bless Him!

Our lives seem to revolve too much around the world and not enough around God. Yes we are surrounded by the world and we live in the world but that does not mean that we should be slave to the world! We have been told enough times that we cannot serve two masters, that we must choose to serve God or to serve man because the two are mutually exclusive in that we serve one or the other and not both! God continues to watch us and He knows exactly what we get up to but also the choices that we are given along the way. When we finally get to stand before Him, what will your answers be to the questions He asks of you about your service to Him?

Will you be able to tell Him of the times when you gave up your comforts just so that you could do something for Him, or will He have to remind you of the times when He had to give up His comforts for you? God chooses to show us grace and mercy and how are we repaying Him? God chooses to show us His love and yet we return indifference many times. In so many places we are reminded that God is also Good – that means that He does go out of His way for us at times and what do we do for Him in return? Anna chose to give up her own pleasures so that she could glorify God; she gave up her worldly life and chose a life with Christ instead. Not just that but she was willing to sacrifice her pleasures so that she could serve God. It is our reasonable service to off up the sacrifice of praise to Him continually (Romans 12 1-2) and for that He will take notice!

Points to Ponder:
What would you give up for God?

What has God given up for you already?

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Tuesday Reading: Psalms 27 1-4

Key Verse: Psalms 27 2
2  When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came on me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Devotion:
Standing still and trusting someone else to protect you when you think they will not be able to is a very hard thing to do. Just like it is very difficult to rely on someone to catch you when you just “know” that you will fall. Our faith in others is built up over time based on what they have done for us. King David was one who knew that God would protect Him all the time because he had grown up with God’s protection all his life – he was able to face wolves and lions when he was but a shepherd boy and now that he was king, he still placed his life in God’s hands.

Being surrounded by and army was no small thing when they seemed hell bent on making sure that you did not survive the night through. I am bad enough when I have a few people against me; never mind an army... and yet David was able to stand his ground – just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were able to stand their ground again the king, so we should be able to place our faith and trust in God’s most capable hands! And that is a test of our faith in God; not the fact that He will protect us if we drive like a maniac but rather that if we place our souls in His grip when they are faced with danger whilst doing His will, then we are sure that what happens next will be to God’s glory and not our own!

We do have to be sure that we do not seek things that will glorify ourselves rather than God because if we seek our own glory instead of God’s we may as well turn round and tell Him that we don’t care about Him. Why then should He care for us? God continues to make sure that His will and His Word are secure in this world. God wants His Word to be spread to all the corners of the world before He does return. Until such time as that is accomplished, we can be sure that He will continue to protect us as we take His Word to new places and new people. Trust in His promises because they are exactly that; promises!

Points to Ponder:
Do you ask God to get rid of your enemies?

What if those enemies were God’s next converts?

Monday 16 May 2011

Monday Reading: Proverbs 28 1

Key Verse: Proverbs 28 1
1  The wicked flee when no man pursues; but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Devotion:
Have you ever noticed how jumpy people are when they know that they are doing things wrong? Have you ever been scared out of your wits by someone sneaking up on you when you were up to no good? It is just as bad being caught out doing something wrong when you thought that you had given everyone the slip and got away with it! That feeling of the blood draining from your whole body instead of just your face... Still brings shudders to me!

You would think that people would know that they were doing wrong and would back away from it when they got close to being caught – well, most people actually do back away because they do not want to get caught; they run before the people after them start chasing them. It is the fool that continues on and gets caught! But if we are not doing things wrong then we continue to have every right to go about our lives in a purposeful and proper manner. We have no need to hide in the shadows for fear of being caught because we are doing no wrong.

When Adam and Eve heard God approaching after they had eaten from the tree, they hid themselves fearing what God would do to them. Why should we have to go all the way and do something wrong when we have so many examples of how not to do it? Well, there comes our sin nature once again and there goes all plans of getting things right straight out of the window! God knows that we are not perfect and He tries desperately to warn us when we start to go wrong. If we are not willing to listen to Him then we will have to face up to our wrongs. But if we stay clear of those wrongs then we can continue to walk boldly with God instead of hiding from Him!

Points to Ponder:
Where do you hide when things go wrong?

Do you really think you can hide from God?