Saturday Reading: 1 Corinthians 11 31-32

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 11 31
31  For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

Devotion:
How many times have you been caught out doing something that you should not be doing? How many times have you had to be told by someone else that you are doing something that you should not be doing? Well, when we go through school we seem to be faced with people telling us that we are wrong just about all the time... What do you do when someone tells you that you are doing things wrong? Do you simply ignore them thinking that you know best, or do you take notice of what they have said and try not to do it again? If we are honest we will probably admit that what we do is something in between the two – we like to continue doing what we do but we do take notice of what has been said...

We don’t really have any excuse where we can say that we did not know that what we do is wrong because we all have God’s Word that tells us in no uncertain terms what is wrong! So what is stopping us from going off the rails and doing what we like? Well, nothing really. Yes we do have the threat of being caught, the embarrassment of others finding out and then the punishment that we have to endure after we are caught; but that in itself is what will happen when we are caught and is not stopping us. What should be stopping us is our own judgement of the situation and the knowledge that we will be caught and then have to face all that that entails.

Most countries seem to have done away with capital punishment and with that people do not have the fear of death hanging over them when they do things wrong; or at least that is how they see it! But God has promised us that we do face death if we do sin and we know that He does not say something without meaning it! Well, we are also lucky in that Christ has volunteered to take on our death penalty if we are willing to trust Him to do exactly that. But just to make sure that we do take notice we do find ourselves having to face all manner of things when we do break the laws of the land. All these should remind us of the fact that we do face death if we choose to continue ignoring God in our lives!

Points to Ponder:
How much do you do wrong?

Do you admit it to Christ?

Friday Reading: James 5 12-16

Key Verse: James 5 12
12  But before all things, my brothers, do not swear; neither by the heaven nor by the earth, nor any other oath. But let your yes be yes, and your no, no, lest you fall into condemnation.

Devotion:
Do you find it hard to say no? Are you one of those people who just cannot seem to say no to anyone? Well, I count you as one of the lucky ones because I believe that you already have a head start in the love you have for others. But you may well find that you have a problem when you have said yes only to find out that you cannot possible handle what you have said yes to! Making sure that you are able to tell the truth is about thinking ahead and ensuring that you say no when you cannot uphold a ‘yes’ and then saying yes to some of those cases that you know you can but just don’t want to!

God does not want us to have to swear on our parents lives or swear on anything to make sure that people believe us. He wants us to be able to tell the truth up front and then people can know that when we do say something we actually mean what we have said! Now for some of us that have a memory like a sieve, thinking ahead is a problem unless we have reminders; write things down and even have things to remind us along the way... but that does not get round the fact that we still have to mean what we say!

God has never let us down and He never will! How can we know this – because He has not done so in any stage in history; that is quite unlike anything or anyone else and hence we can know that what God says, He does! This means that our prayers will be heard and will be answered because that is what God has promised, and what God has promised, we have seen that He will deliver time and time again! We may be able to get people to say yes when they mean no by tricking them into doing something – but that trick will never work with God because He is Just! No matter how much we plead with Him to give us something that is not right, we can expect never to receive it! God knows how to say yes and how to say no, and what He says... goes!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like saying yes or no?

Do you know how many times God has said yes?

Thursday Reading: Luke 6 27-28

Key Verse: Luke 6 28
28  bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you.

Devotion:
Boy this is one thing that we all struggle with but it is something that we need to address before we can continue in our earnest prayers with God. How can we be asking one thing from Him and living something different in our lives? How can we be asking Him to look after us when we are living our lives with hatred for others? “But how can I love someone who hates me?” is a typical response that we may raise when confronted with these verses. The answer is with God’s love. If we do not have God’s love then we cannot ever hope to love those people who make it hard for us to love them. We cannot hope to be able to love our enemies if we do not have God in our lives!

If we exclude God from our lives then we will find that we do have a great ability to brew up hatred within our lives because without God’s love within us all we have a very crumbly thing we like to call love. It will only be after you know the love of God that you can figure out the true love that you can have for other people. Whilst we may well still find it hard to extend that love towards those that hate us, we will begin to understand how it is possible! Were we not God’s enemies when we did not know Him? And yet He was willing to show His absolute love for each one of us!

One of the best things that you can do is to start praying for your enemies and I am not talking about praying to God that they will get out of your life but rather the opposite. Try asking God to show you how you can make a difference in their lives so that they may see you as a friend instead of an enemy. Why not ask God to allow you to know His love so that you can share that love with all other people and not just those few that you care about. Whilst it is very easy to pray for those people that you love in your life, praying for those other people will be something that will change the way you look at them and may even change your heart toward them too. With God, nothing is impossible!

Points to Ponder:
Who do you pray for most in your life?

Do you seek God’s help in your love for others?

Wednesday Reading: 2 Chronicles 7 13-15

Key Verse: 2 Chronicles 7 14
14  if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Devotion:
What would you do if you knew the answer to other people’s problems when those people were not your friends? Would you keep that answer to yourself because those people were not acting properly, or would you be willing to give them the answer so that they could straighten out their lives? God is just and has tried to make sure over and over again that we know the rules: if we want to continue on in our wicked ways then we have to put up with the wrath of God.

We can look at our Old Testaments as history books about what happened before Christ came to live on earth or we can look at them as the evidence of what God has being trying to tell us from the beginning of time! God has given us the 10 commandments for a reason and not just as something else we can put on a poster and hang on the wall. God has been trying to get us to the point where we trust Him and rely on Him for everything in our lives.

The world will continue to be faced by disasters both from natural means and by manmade scenarios. If we are going to wait until we are faced with those scenarios before we turn to God then do you not think that they will come at us thick and fast so that we do turn to Him? Just because a disaster is manmade does not mean that it is not God trying to reach us through the garbage that we have surrounded ourselves with. Instead of hiding in that garbage we should be freeing ourselves from it and taking our prayers to Him constantly with an honest and open heart; knowing that our God is Just and has promised to answer our prayers!

Points to Ponder:
What do you surround yourself with?

How close is God to your life?