Tuesday 10 May 2011

Tuesday Reading: Matthew 6 15-18

Key Verse: Matthew 6 16
16  And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

Devotion:
One of the biggest things that I think people forget about is that God is Just. If God is just then we have no hope whatsoever of asking Him for anything that is unjust; but still we try. If we are not willing to try and be just then how should we expect God to answer us or to entertain any conversation that we should like to have with Him? But it is not all about making sure that you do not break God’s commandments or making sure that everything you do is for God. It is not all about making sure that you do not do anything unjust towards anyone else or even making sure that you are friendly toward everyone, even your enemies... It all has to start with being just with yourself!

Being honest with yourself is where things have got to start. Once you are honest with yourself then you can start to be honest with others. If you are not honest with yourself then the only person you are fooling is yourself because God knows what you are trying to do. A potentially more embarrassing thing though is that other people around you may well see exactly what you are doing as well. You see, by being a fool to yourself you are opening up your foolishness for everyone to see.

Our prayers need to be in line with our aims in life. I don’t say that so that you would be encouraged to pray for things that you desire in life but rather to try and remind us all that our outward appearance is going to fool nobody! If we are going to make a show and dance about our life so that everybody will know about what is going on in our lives then we do nothing toward being honest with God but rather extend our lies towards everyone around us instead. Be honest with yourself because that will allow you to be honest with others and with God – that way your prayers will be more effective! 

Points to Ponder:
Are you honest?

Are you honest with God?

Monday 9 May 2011

Monday Reading: Matthew 6 9-15

Key Verse: Matthew 6 9
9  Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Devotion:
The Lord’s Prayer can be something special you repeat daily as a common prayer or it can be a very personal request from your heart... I cannot honestly remember when I first learned The Lord’s Prayer because I seem to have known it for so long but it was not until I first heard a sermon about the meaning of The Lord’s Prayer not too many years back that I realised just how much meaning there is to it. I can remember my grandmother praying it with us when I was in junior school and it was just something that we felt comfortable saying; but when I got to know God it took on a whole new meaning.

I can remember the first part of that sermon because it has stuck with me for so long. Who is the object of the prayer? “Our Father” And where is He? He “is in Heaven”! What a most wonderful and glorious situation to be in; to be able to make a personal and heart-felt petition to God! Not just any god but our God, our Father, the One True God who is in Heaven! That in itself should be taught over and over again to make sure that everyone who says The Lord’s Prayer remembers just who is the recipient of our prayers and remembers exactly where He is! It is no small matter that our prayers should be lifted up to the very God that created this whole universe.

Can you imagine what you would have to do to be able to get a personal letter through to the Prime Minister or the President of your country just so that they would read it and answer you? And yet what we have is a clear and easy manner in which we can lift up our personal requests to the One who created all of them and all of us! What a glorious honour and privilege it is to be able to talk with our Creator! So next time you start to say The Lord’s Prayer, just remember who you are talking to and make sure that what you ask for is coming from your heart. God continues to listen to every single one of our prayers and He continues to honour His promise to answer our prayers that are brought to Him in true Faith.

Points to Ponder:
Do you pray often?

Do you honour your King in your prayers?

Sunday 8 May 2011

Sunday Reading: Matthew 6 5-8

Key Verse: Matthew 6 6
6  But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

Devotion:
What is a prayer? One of the best dictionary definitions that I have found is “a solemn request for help or an expression of thanksgiving to God.” And that is about as close as we can hope to get from a world that is trying to stand up and say that they do not need God in their lives; but it is strange that they should turn back to God when all else has failed! Prayer is more than just something that you bring to God when all else has failed because it should be our regular conversation with God.

A conversation is not going to be limited to a pre-written script or something that is repeated out loud when it comes to looking its definition up in a dictionary, so why should we treat our prayers like that? A conversation implies that both parties are going to be doing some talking too... If you wanted to strike up a conversation with someone then you would like them to respond when you do say things. That is exactly the attitude that we should be taking with our prayers – we should be starting the conversation and expecting God to be replying imminently. That answer that you expect is a measure of your faith in believing that God will answer your prayers!

Our prayers need to be lifted up to God regularly and with meaning. It is no use saying one thing and meaning another thing because that is just not going to stick it with God. Our prayers need to be lifted up to Him because we mean what we say and not because we want others to hear what we say. Praying out loud so that others can hear you will get you just that – you will get them to hear what you have to say! If you really mean your prayers then you will pray them to God and not care if anyone else would hear you or not. When Christ said that we should pray in secret it was for that very reason; so that we would get away from this other people hearing us thing and make our prayers personal with Him! A prayer is a conversation between you and God... period!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like talking?

What is your conversation like with God?

Saturday 7 May 2011


Saturday Reading: Romans 2 11-13

Key Verse: Romans 2 12
12  For as many as sinned without Law will also perish without Law. And as many as have sinned within Law shall be judged through Law.

Devotion:
One of the so called great things about the ‘cowboy’ days was that people lived by the ‘law of the land’. If people broke the local law then they would be judged by that same local law. They could try to run and hide by going to another place, but they would still be guilty for breaking the law of the land that they were in to begin with. We may not have been born in Israel nor may we actually be Jews, but we are still going to be judged by a Just God!

We do not have to be Jews in order to know that God has given everyone in the world His law so that we can live according to His ways. We don’t have to be in Israel in order to know that God is watching us. God reminds us that His Word will get to every corner of this globe so that every single one of us will get to know the true law – His law. That way we are all going to be judged by that same law and we will all be judged by a Just God who has promised to uphold that law no matter what!

When we put our faith and trust in Christ Jesus we are saying that we believe in Him and believe that He is the Son of God, that He died for our sins and that He rose again to break us free from that death penalty that He imposes on all people that sin. In other words we are saying that we accept His Law! If we are going to agree to His Law then we are going to be bound by that same law in that we accept that the punishment for breaking that law is death. But we also accept that Jesus has defeated that punishment by paying for it with His own life – but we still do have to accept that He has done that and to believe it in our hearts that this is what has happened! God wants us to keep His Law but He also knows that we will break down just as Adam and Eve and will need rescuing just like they needed it. Well Christ has already performed that rescue by throwing out the life-line; we just need to grab hold of it... 

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like you are sinking?

Are you reaching out to Christ?


Friday 6 May 2011

Friday Reading: Romans 2 1-7

Key Verse: Romans 2 1
1  Therefore you are without excuse, O man, everyone who judges; for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things.

Devotion:
How often do you stand up and blame someone for something that they have done wrong? How often do you turn round and tell people how much they are doing wrong just because they have upset you? How often have you thought about what you have done wrong and hurt others? Far too often we do simply turn round and judge others without thinking of the things that we have done wrong. If we were to dwell a while on the things that we have done wrong and think about the pain and anguish that we have inflicted on others, then just maybe we will learn to keep our big mouths shut for a second or two!

It is so easy to pick at what others do wrong but oh so hard to admit to what we do wrong. We can turn round and say how much other people gossip about things that they should not and then turn round in the next breath and say something that we heard on the grape-vine! What are we thinking? Do we think we are that good that we have not done things wrong? Well, let me tell you a secret. I have done many more things wrong in my life and I don’t like saying things wrong about others. Oh I still do it because I too do get carried away in the heat of the moment, but when I see what I have done I am caught out, distraught, silenced and trying to hide from God!

You see, when we lose sight of God or even lose focus on Him, we turn into something rotten because we give in to those temptations that Satan covers our lives with. Once that happens we fall into his ways and turn away from God’s ways; once that has happened we are under the control of a very evil being whether we know it or not. Our hearts and minds then become corrupt with his ways and we then find it harder to swim against that flood to turn back to God’s ways. The only way we are going to keep our heads above water is if we trust God to be our life-saver constantly! Doing that means that we must keep focused on Him always and trust in His ways and not our own corrupt ways.

Points to Ponder:
Who do you blame for things in your life?

Are you willing to accept the blame?