Monday Reading: John 3 14-15
 
Key Verse: John 3 14
14  But even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
 
Devotion:
How often have you tried to find a solution to a problem and have come up with a very elaborate solution only to watch someone else come along and give the simplest and easiest solution that you could not see? Far too often we look for the complex ways out of problems when the solution is actually quite simple and straight forward. We think that because the problem looks insurmountable that the solution must be equally as complex or hard to come by. Christ came into this world to give us the most simple and elegant solution for our problem with sin. He gave us a very easy way out in that we only have to make a single and simple choice – to look and live!

When the children of Israel were in the desert and the fiery serpents were amongst them they were given a very simple choice to make. Look up at the brazen image of the serpent and they would come to no harm. No they were not being told to worship an idol but rather to place their trust in God by doing a simple task. To look up at the serpent would allow them to show God that they were making the choice to trust Him. Yes God already knew the people that would look up but He still gave everybody exactly the same choice to make. He allowed everybody to be able to come to Him in a straight forward manner.

We do not have to look for the most complex methods by which we can approach God, we have a straight forward way of asking Him into our lives by asking Christ to forgive us of our sins. By doing that we are showing God that we are placing our faith and trust in Him. It is not a method or ceremony that we have to perform correctly in order to get ourselves into heaven. It is not through our own doing but simply making the choice to trust in God. You are not giving in to a fantasy but bowing yourself before God, our Creator and our Saviour. There is no other that you should ever be required to bow to in order to get to heaven other than God because everyone and everything was created by Him.

Points to Ponder:
Are you still looking for the complex answer?

Are you ready to let the truth set you free?

Sunday Reading: Isaiah 38 16-19
 
Key Verse: Isaiah 38 18
18  For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot rejoice in You; they who go down into the pit cannot hope for Your truth.

Devotion:
Something else we may overlook time and time again is the simple fact that once you die it is too late to change your mind! Boy what a truth that is... So often we like to put things off thinking that it will be better tomorrow or will be better if we make sure before we do anything, but the truth will not change over time. We can manipulate things around us so that we think that things have changed but the truth that was there in the beginning will still be there in the end! That does not mean that we need rush into everything because we first have to recognise that truth, but as soon as we do recognise that truth we need to act on it. Putting things off is just another way of giving the evil one another chance to spoil what God has given you.

The greatest truth is that God was gracious enough to reach down into the pit that we dug for ourselves and offer us a hand to lift us up out of that pit. Not only that but He then cast all of our sins behind Him so that we no longer have anything that will pull us back into that pit. If we are the ones that then jump back into the pit then we are the ones who have been stupid and we are the ones who are turning from Christ. That hand that He offers will not always be there because there will be a time when we can no longer reach up to grasp that hand – that would be when we die. So if we have not grasped onto His hand before we die, we lose out forever.

We don’t have to act on instinct. We don’t have to act on what others say. We don’t have to act on what everyone else is doing. What we need to act on is God’s Word. That is the truth by which we can find out what Christ offers us and how He alone can save us. It’s is God’s Word that we go to learn about in church and God’s Word that should be being fed to us in church. Anything else will just be roots and ropes that others dangle down to us thinking that they can save us when it is only Christ who can really save us from our pits.

Points to Ponder:
Who do you look to for strength?

Are you holding on to God’s Word?

Saturday Reading: Matthew 4 1-11
 
Key Verse: Matthew 4 11
11  Then the Devil left him. And behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Devotion:
The more that we think we can do the more that we find that we have other things in our lives that prevent us from doing those things. The more that we want to walk with God, the more that we will find that Satan would rather have us trip over our own feet than to be faithful to our God. When Christ was lead by the Holy Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan He went willingly but as we see what happens over the next forty days we find that Christ was always going to rely on God and on God alone.

There are going to be times in our lives when everything is going fine and dandy and we cannot see how anything can go wrong. Then there will also be the times when we see no end to the trouble and strife that we seem to be trapped within. But during every second of every day we can always know that our God is always going to be with us. We do not have to worry that He will fail us when we cannot see any way out. We do not have to worry that He will reject us when we are rejected by others. From the very second that we invite God back into our lives He will no longer reject us nor leave us.

When we are sinking in our dread and fear we can always know that God is our Rock and He will always be there. What we have to do is to place our Faith firmly in His grip and no longer in our own grip because we are the ones who are not strong enough to pull ourselves up – especially if we have been fighting a losing battle for so long. Sometimes God wants us just to be alone for a while so that we can remember our very personal relationship with Him. We may well feel like that time will not end as we continue waiting and waiting for what seems like an eternity, but when He knows that the time is right He will set the wheels in motion so that you life will change and you will realise that He is the one that has been in control all this time already. Trust in God. Don’t let your faith wane. Make this year count as you trust in God alone...

Points to Ponder:
What was last year for you?

Will you let this year be for God?

Friday Reading: Luke 13 23-27

Key Verse: Luke 13 26
26  then you shall begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets.

Devotion:
Just because Christ came and died on the cross does not mean that we are all automatically Christians. Just because we live in a country that would like to call itself Christian does not mean that we are Christians. Being a Christian is all about having a personal relationship with Christ where you have asked Him to forgive you of your sins and actually meant it too! I could quite legally tell people that I have learned about how to design and build aeroplanes but unless I have done something more than just get my degree in aeronautical engineering then I am nothing more than a scholar in the theory; that alone does not make me an engineer.

How frustrating it must have been for Christ some times when He had to answer questions from people who knew all the right answers but did not believe that truth in their hearts. How much more should He have to do than to fulfil the scriptures? If we are willing to learn about Christ then all we need do is to put our faith in Him in order to start that personal relationship with Him.

If we wanted to be in a relationship with someone else then we would have to start out by finding out about each other because by doing that we will, amongst other things, admit our faults to one another. There is nothing worse than finding out that someone has hidden secrets from you from the beginning of your relationship because that shows an amount of distrust or untrustworthiness that nobody would want in a relationship. Why then should we try to hide our sins from Christ before entering into a relationship with Him? You are fooling nobody but yourself because He already knows. Christ wants us to be humble and honest up front. Make this year a year of honesty with Christ!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like the truth?

How truthful are you with Christ?