Tuesday Reading: Proverbs 25 28
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 25 28
28  He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a broken down city without a wall.

Devotion:
As we go through our lives we tend to meet all sorts of people and we form opinions about those people; as to whether those opinions are valid or not is not up for discussion now because we do not have the right to judge others. What I am after is your thoughts on your own self and examples that others have shown you. What do we do when we are faced with examples that others show us? Do we think “well that sounds ok” and go off and try what they are doing or do we think “that is not what God has taught so I will not go there”? If truth be told we do tend to go out and try things because they sound good at the time...

Therein lays our downfall because we do tend to give in to the temptations that others dangle in front of us. It is hard to fight against such temptations as come our way, but fight is what we need to do. Fighting by ourselves just goes to prove that we are weak and that we do give in before the fight is over. But if we are willing to allow God to fight with us or for us then we will quickly find out that He will give us the strength to carry us through. We all like to think that we are strong willed and that we can stand up to things but in truth we are not.

Consider the words used here. We are like a city that is ramshackle and without any city wall... Anyone and everyone can walk in and out of our lives and we do not have the power to stop anyone; everyone seems to have a convincing argument as to why they should be allowed to do what they want and we give in. We need to trust in God’s judgement and not our own. We need to rely on God for sound choices and not on our own rather strange choices. We do need to submit more to Him to allow Him to guide us in the way that He has planned for us. If we allow our affections and passions to rule our lives then we are asking for everyone and anyone to walk all over us. We need God’s guidance and His strength in our daily walk so that He may protect us from all of our own shortcomings!

Points to Ponder:
Do you consider yourself strong?

Is God by your side?

Monday Reading: Proverbs 24 12
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 24 12
12  If you say, Behold, we did not know; does not He who searches the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a man according to his works.
 
Devotion:
I wonder how many times I used the excuse “I didn’t know” when I was young! I’m sure my Dad could probably list quite a few times when I would give an excuse that would just not cut it; come to think of it my teachers could probably list a few more too! When we find ourselves at a loss for an explanation as to why we have just done something we look for any excuse to be able to bypass the blame, not so much to pass it on to someone else but just so that we would not feel the full extent of the punishment that is due to us. If truth be told we would have considered what would happen to us just before we dismissed it and thought that we would not get caught out, that being just before we actually did get caught out.

That sort of excuse will never work with God. When we have to face Him it’s not a case of we can turn round and say “I didn’t know” but rather a case of God being able to tell us everything that we did or did not do and being able to say why! We cannot hide anything from our God and we should never try to; trying to hide things from Him is like trying to say that video evidence against us has somehow been made up. God is our Creator and our Keeper. He is the one that knows what is going on in our hearts even when we try to hide that truth from ourselves – and there are times when we pretend that we do not know to ourselves... not quite sure how we can justify that but we do!

When God sees that we are willing to do His will and that we are willing to submit to His authority, then He is more willing to allow us to do His work; the work for which we will be getting rewards. If we run a business we are not going to hire the person who looks like they will always try and get out of doing the work, we will be looking for the person who is willing to do a honest day’s work. When we do hire them we will monitor them to see if they do put in an honest day’s work or whether they will try to pull the wool over our eyes. God wants honest workers to show others the truth...

Points to Ponder:
Do you work honestly?

Are your shortcomings letting God down?

Sunday Reading: Proverbs 11 16
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 16
16  A gracious woman keeps honour, and the strong keep riches.

Devotion:
When you read through the bible as it is recorded and translated via King James back in the early years you may well be forgiven for thinking that there was a clear divide between men and women and that women only had a place by their husband’s side. That was the design of the early church and relationships and we can actually learn a whole lot from those examples without being tied down by the sexism. What we do have to remember is that the church is referred to as the bride in our bibles, so drawing parallels between women and the church must surely follow.

When referring to a gracious woman, the proverb is talking about a woman who has the grace of God in her heart and who is virtuous. What better bride could you have than one who knows God, upholds God’s word and who is dedicated to one man in her life? The same has to be said about men as well because they too need to be in control of their own selves so that they will too be a wonderful gift to their spouses. But make sure that you remember that God has to be in the centre of that relationship to start with – otherwise things will go nowhere fast!

Then we come to the ‘manly’ side of the verse; being a strong man who is more than capable of looking after all that he has been given and has gained through good and honest work. If we looked at the wealth from a human perspective then we would have trouble keeping our wealth and serving God at the same time, but equally if we are blessed with wealth, then using it for God’s glory must be on our plan! Where else can we obtain strength that will last and stay firm other than through God and through His Word? We need to make sure that we all do our part in relationships and not just leave it to the other side to do the organising, earning or whatever. We need to work together as a team and make sure that we stay as a team which s a whole lot stronger than an individual. With God as our coach and Christ as our Captain, what can ever go wrong?

Points to Ponder:
Are you a team player?

Are you on God’s team?

Saturday Reading: Proverbs 10 25
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 10 25
25  As the storm passes, so the wicked is no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

Devotion:
A storm can be a thing of great destruction or it can be seen as a thing of cleansing. Similarly is a firm in a forest seen, something of great destruction or something of a new birth. It is not the way that we look at things but rather what there is actually there to begin with. If we see a storm pass over a place where none of the buildings are build to withstand storms then all we will see is destruction afterwards. But if we see that same storm pass over a place that is built to withstand storms then we may well see a much cleaner place afterwards as the storm washes away all the dirt that has built up since the last storm.

The storm is not going to last forever either. It will come pretty quickly and will stay for what may seem like an age but will then pass by and leave behind things that have been. A storm will ravage anything that is not tied down, anything that has not got a sure foundation to which it is anchored will be pulled up, but it will pass by leaving those things that are secure without damage. A storms size cannot always be seen by just looking at it from one side. So many times we look at storms with utter dread because we cannot see past them. We see one side and think that it will last forever, or we see the small side and think it will just be a few minutes.

We are going to face storms in our lives and when or if we do see them approaching we may well be filled with dread. We may well see them for something they are not. We may not even be prepared for them and they may catch us unawares. Storms are there and they will pass. We must not fool ourselves into believing that we will never be hit by a storm otherwise we will never be prepared. Grounding ourselves firmly in Christ will see us through many of the storms that life will throw at us. Being secure in the knowledge that Christ is a Rock that will never be moved by anything will prepare us for many things that we cannot imagine. But it is that Rock that will save us and that Rock alone...

Points to Ponder:
Do you think life is harsh?

Are you secured to Christ?