Thursday Reading: John 14 25-27

Key Verse: John 14 26
26  But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.

Devotion:
Have you ever had a personal tutor that has been able to spend time with you giving you one on one teaching? For those lazy people amongst us we have probably had to have a personal tutor because we have not paid attention in class like we should have been doing – and yes I am guilty. But when we do have that one on one teaching we find that things start to become clear quite quickly and we fall back into line, even enjoying the learning experience. Now if we were to sit up and listen in the first place, when we got our personal tutor we would revel in the experience because we would soak up the knowledge like a sponge!

Sadly we do not find enough people willing to go down that route but that does not stop God from giving us the Holy Spirit when we trust in Jesus Christ. Just because we don’t take notice of Him does not mean that He is not there. Just because many people do not believe that God exists, does not make Him not exist. God is real. God exists. God loves you. We need to wake up to these simple facts and see what is going on around us.

The Holy Spirit is described as being an advocate and a comforter as well; showing us that even though we may well be guilty He is willing to stand up for us. I have not yet had to go to court for any reason but I have had people stand in my stead for things like car accidents where someone has had to stand up and declare my innocence in the matter. I fear that having to stand up and do that sort of thing for myself would upset me knowing that someone else would be getting the blame – even if they are guilty. And that is the attitude that Christ has for our guilt. He knows we are the guilty party but He is willing to stand up in our stead as long as we believe and trust in Him from our hearts. That sort of comfort can only bring us peace. That sort of peace can withstand all that this world can throw at us as long as we trust in Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to your teachers?

Are you listening to God?

Wednesday Reading: John 14 15-21

Key Verse: John 14 18
18  I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

Devotion:
What great comfort the disciples must have had whilst Jesus walked this earth with them; to know that they were with their Messiah and that He was in control of so much must have been amazing. But it certainly did not stop there because Jesus Himself promised that He would leave us with the Holy Spirit so that we would never be alone again – at least those that believe in Him. We have this all written down in our bibles so that we can know these truths but before we can have the Holy Spirit live in us we do have to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you bought a new car would you immediately drive it down the dirtiest, bumpiest, muddiest road that you could find? Probably not, unless you happened to live at the end of that road! God cannot abide sin and for the Holy Spirit to be able to indwell us we have to be cleaned first. No amount of cleaning ourselves can ever make us clean enough for the Holy Spirit to come into us; but when we are cleaned thoroughly by Christ then we find that God is willing to be in us. Why does Jesus remind us that we need to keep His commandments? Because we have the Holy Spirit within and when we sin we are pulling that sin into ourselves and crowding Him out! 

When Jesus knew the time was coming close He made sure that the disciples knew that He would not leave them fatherless; he would not leave them alone, comfortless or without hope. It would be but a few days that they would be without Him in person but that was time enough to reflect upon their lives with Christ and to await His resurrection. When we believe in Christ He makes sure that we are never alone because the Holy Spirit is with us from that point onward. I thank my God daily for His provision for my spiritual life because through what He has already done for me I see His eternal and amazing love for me, a sinner, saved by grace.

Points to Ponder:
Do you ever feel alone?

Are you crowding the Holy Spirit out of your life?

Tuesday Reading: Matthew 12 1-8

Key Verse: Matthew 12 8
8  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Devotion:
Sometimes we get so caught up in our rules that we lose sight of the truth. This was certainly true of the Pharisees when Christ came to earth as a human and this is just one of the many places in His Word where we find the Pharisees trying to uphold the laws in their own mind rather than upholding God’s Laws. Does that sound a bit strange that we should have our own rules that we say come from God that are different to God’s Laws? Well we certainly do not have the understanding of God’s Word that we need to have in order to fully carry out God’s will in our lives. He has given us His Word so that we can study it and begin to understand what He wants in our lives. We still do have our freedom of choice but we have to exercise that with caution because we are the ones who are most likely to bend the truth!

When Christ reminded the Pharisee that even the priests did do some things on the Sabbath day it was not a brash word saying that it is ok to do anything at any time but a reminder that we do have to live, the eat and to drink. If that means that we have to do some work on the Sabbath in order to be able to survive then God will understand that. He knows that we do have to do certain things but He wants to hear from our hearts that we do still keep His as Lord of all.

Our commitment to God must be from our hearts but it must also be truthful and it must uphold His Law. If we work to dull down God’s seriousness or to apply our own rules instead of God’s, then we work against our Lord. We need to make sure that we keep God as God and not to promote man or his own imaginations in God’s stead. We have our bibles so that we can know the truth; trying to bend the truth by using those very words is just not going to happen in God’s eyes... God is God and man is man!

Points to Ponder:
Do you stick to the rules?

Do you follow God with your heart?

Monday Reading: Mark 12 28-34

Key Verse: Mark 12 30
30  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment.

Devotion:
How dedicated are you toward your goal? We may well ask ourselves and others this question throughout our lives to question people as to whether they are sincere in their work, life or beliefs. Our walk with Christ is no different from any other real goal that we should be aiming for insomuch as we should aim for our goal with vigour and not just as a fad. Being in a relationship with Christ is a commitment that we should never shy away from even when faced with adversity.

First we must recognise that there is only one God and that even though we see Him as three parts, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, we must also recognise Him as a single God. That is beyond our comprehension to explain that fully so we need to have faith in Christ’s words in order to move forward with Him. Christ reminds us, as He did the scribe here, that there is only one God and that we need to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That in itself is a very high calling because we like to reserve such love for a single person – when we find such love we wish never to let it go or to lose it. That degree of love should be fully and wholly applied to our God!

Loving those around us should always come second and not first because our love for God should be above all. That is a lesson that I found hard to take but one that I never regretted once I had taken that step. Our relationships with others may falter or may never come to anything, but our relationship with Christ is above all. As long as we are willing to focus our love on Christ then He is willing to guide us, direct us and keep us with all His love and power. Focus on God. Love Him with all your heart and soul and He will keep you!

Points to Ponder:
What love do you have?

How much love do you have for Christ?