Friday Reading: Psalms 50 16-17

Key Verse: Psalms 50 16
16  But to the wicked, God says, What is it to you, to declare My Precepts, and to take up My covenant in your mouth?

Devotion:
One thing about doing last minute shopping is that you are close enough to Christmas to be able to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone that you meet but what has saddened me about shopping is the amount of people that are no longer mentioning the word Christmas. That has not stopped me saying it and it has even brought a smile to some people’s faces too. But that has also brought home the thought that so many people may well mention the word Christmas but will not know the truth. Yes they will know about shepherds, wise men, a star and a baby being born in a stable but the true meaning of Christmas is being lost in the crowd.

When I was a youngster I won a commendation in an art competition where we had to depict “lost in a crowd” in some manner. My painting was of a baby crawling through the grass but I fear that if I were to enter that same competition now I would want to draw a single soul lifting up their heartfelt prayers to God in a church with many people in it. How sad it is that so many people will know some of the story of our Saviour Jesus Christ and yet will not get to know Him personally this Christmas. Just maybe we will be able to make a difference. Just maybe we will be able to shed some light.

These words here read in our bibles are about hypocrisy but I am not going to harp on about being a hypocrite but rather give us all a reminder that this is the season to be merry because we can celebrate the truth about Christmas. We can celebrate the truth that our Saviour was born to a virgin over 2000 years ago so that we would be able to be with our Loving God for eternity! We can celebrate that Christ loved us so much that He set everything in motion right from the start. We can celebrate that God continues to bless every one of us who fully trust in His name. What will you do tomorrow?

Points to Ponder:
Show someone you care tomorrow...

Show God you care!

Thursday Reading: Matthew 2 19-23
 
Key Verse: Matthew 2 23
23  And he came and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Devotion:
You would think that taking good advice would be the easiest thing in the world to do; but you try it... Not as easy as you think because you always have doubts and differences of opinions and you always think that you know best because, after all, you are you! But that is where we are wrong and where we so often fall down – pride gets the better of us and we go off on our own merry way down the nearest plug hole! What was it we were talking about yesterday, being the clay and being moulded in the way that Christ wants us to be...

That is one of our problems. We don’t actually listen too carefully to the advice that we do get and when we come to the choices we would rather make our own that take the advice of others! Christ has tried to show us through the best possible example that He could. Time and time again He made sure that His example to us was to follow God first. God made sure that Joseph and Mary also listened and followed and gave us that same example. We have no excuse really...

When we do listen to God we will also see that when we are following in His will we will get constant protection from the things that change around us. He will not just point us in the right direction and expect us to go forward by ourselves, He will be walking by our sides and holding our hands all the way. As a child of God we could not hope for any better comfort than our Father in heaven walking beside us holding our hand! Throughout history God has continued to show us that what He says goes! He has continued to show us that His promises stand firm. We do not have to ever think that we know better when we know that God is leading us because we can be sure that He is leading us all the way!

Points to Ponder:
What makes you feel the safest?

How much do you trust God?

Wednesday Reading: Jeremiah 18 3-4
 
Key Verse: Jeremiah 18 4
4  And the vessel that he made in clay was ruined in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Devotion:
If we are not willing to be conformed to God’s will in our lives then we should expect nothing less than to be cast aside! Wow, doesn’t that sound so harsh when you say it like that? But you know what, that is as truthful as it gets. We are constantly being worked on by God and if we resist or do not start to be formed in the right way then we are going to be the ones that get tossed aside. There is only so much that each of us would try to do with piece of clay before we tossed it aside, some would give up in minutes whilst others would try and try again. Thankfully we have a God that is willing to continue trying right up until that furnace door will be closed.

Jeremiah looked at what the potter was doing and he realise two basic truths from observing him. First that God is the one who has absolute authority – just like the potter has the decision about what happens to each lump of clay, God has the decision about each one of us. Second, the potter will work with each lump in the same manner in that he will add water and strength into each lump so that it may be transformed from a shapeless lump into something of beauty or even something of great use. God will give each one of us more love that we can imagine just so that we have the best possible chance at being formed into exactly what He needs us to be.

Each year we seem to face more and more uphill from people who are not Christians. We continue to pour our hearts out to people and so many of them continue to reject us. But just like the potter will never give up with having another go, we should never give up with taking the Word of God with us. God will give us the strength to work with anyone. God will give us the right people in our lives to accomplish that goal. God will also allow us to see the needs of ourselves and others through observing others too. We are the ones that need to act on what God gives us!

Points to Ponder:
What do you do with things given you?
 
What are you doing with what God gives you?

Tuesday Reading: Romans 9 18-21
 
Key Verse: Romans 9 18
18  Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Devotion:
Ours is not to wonder how we can change God’s will but rather to wonder how we can conform to His will. So often in our lives we jump forward in what we think are great leaps and bounds only to find out that we have leapt towards yet another precipice and not toward the safety that we assume we head toward. We like to think that we are the ones who can control our destiny rather than admitting that God has all the power to do His own will in our lives.

Being a Christian is not always about showing others how hard you are, or how much you can stand up against the evil, or how much we can lift ourselves up in times of adversity. Being a Christian is about listening to what God wants you to know and what He wants you to do. It’s not about what we think He should be telling others to do or about how much He can do in other people’s lives... it’s about what He can do in your relationship with Him. God is the one who is Loving but Just, Forgiving but Sincere, Gentle but Firm, Merciful but Stern. God is the one constant in our lives that has been and will always be. If we are going to try to buck against that one constant then we will find out the hard way that that constant will never change no matter what we do!

God works a very different work in each one of our lives and continues to light up our lives with all manner of blessings. We sometimes may think that He is not doing what we think He should but soon enough we will find out the real reason why He has allowed into our lives the things that He does. It is not for us to question Him every step of the way but rather to question our own steps to find out why we do not walk in the way He wants us to. We need to find out His will and follow that will in order to obtain all that He has laid out for each one of us. He wants to use us and the best way for that to happen is for us to submit to His will in our lives!

Points to Ponder:
Do you always get your own way?

Are you listening to God’s way?