Sunday Reading: John 7 14-18
 
Key Verse: John 7 18
18  He who speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.

Devotion:
There are many people who will go out of their way to make sure that you know exactly what they do, what they get up to and how good they perceive themselves to be. And then there are the people who will quietly get on with things and make sure that the work is done without and fuss and bother. Whatever kind of people you meet you should not be the one who passes judgement on them but rather accepts them for what they are. It is so easy to pass judgement when we are on the outside looking in but not so easy to accept that judgement from others.

God does not want us to puff ourselves up so that we begin to think that we may be better than others – that will very quickly encourage us to judge others without thinking about it. God, instead, wants us to make sure that we humble ourselves before Him and lift up His word and His ways rather than our own. Jesus Christ had every reason to lift Himself up and to judge others but He chose instead to lower Himself to the level of man and live amongst us. He then chose to promote God in all things that He did and said; He made sure that God was the focus of everything that He did rather than Himself.

We need to take a leaf out of that book and to make sure that we glorify God in everything that we do. Not just when we get up and speak about Him, nor when we sit down and pray to Him but rather in everything that we do. When we show others love or affection, we need to show the world that we do that to glorify God and not to lift up our own position. When we are ahead of everyone else we need to allow them to know that we thank God for our position and not that we placed ourselves there. Yes, we may well have won or be in the lead, but it is God who has allowed that in our life. God must surely get that glory before we accept any praise!

Points to Ponder:
Are you succeeding in anything?

Are you making sure that God is getting His praise first?

Saturday Reading: Philippians 4 8
 
Key Verse: Philippians 4 8
8  Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things.

Devotion:
If there is only one thing that you believe then believe the truth! We do know what honesty is and we know what things are true in our hearts so we can pretty much work out what is right; and in those cases when we cannot work out what is right we have our bibles to compare them against. We need to uphold our bibles as the truth so that we do have a solid rock to stand upon. As soon as we start to doubt God’s Word then we start to chip away at our faith... how do you think Satan like to get at us – he starts by chipping away at our core beliefs...

We are surrounded by people who do not believe in God’s Word and many more who say that they do but shun half of the bible because they think that it either does not apply or that it cannot be true. God has given us the complete bible so that we will know the complete truth. He has given us His Word that is as solid as anything we know and must be depended upon at all times. If we do have doubts about something we do need to compare that with our bibles because if it does not agree with God’s Word then it surely does not agree with God!

We could try to live a life that is as moral as we can make it and make sure that we do not give evil for evil. We could make sure that we give everything we own to others and support everyone we can. But unless we are believing and trusting in God’s Word then we do not have a way of getting to heaven. Jesus said that the only way to heaven is through believing in Him. That is recorded in our bibles. We have to believe the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Think about where you are in your life and think about where you are in God’s picture. Depend on the truth because it is the truth. Depend on God because that is what he designed us to do!

Points to Ponder:
Are you a good person?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of the Living God?

Friday Reading: Psalms 121 1-2

Key Verse: Psalms 121 2
2  My help comes from The LORD, who made Heaven and earth.

Devotion:
Who do you turn to when you need help? Do you go to a river when you need water, or to a tree when you need timer or even to an animal in the field when you are hungry? I guess we do that in a round about way but we would normally do things like switch on the tap, go to the DIY shop or to the store. We have certain places that we go to for help in our lives, we have certain people we turn to when things go wrong and then we get in a bit of a mood when things do not go the way we want!

We all need guidance in our lives; no matter how much we may think that we can handle things we will find something that will either drain us or confound us. And then we come to spiritual matters... Where we go to have our spiritual matters sorted is going to drive where our lives go as a whole. If we turn to fortune tellers and astrology then we should not be surprised that they cannot tell us what we know. If we turn to people in our churches then we should not be surprised that they do not know all the answers either. We are all human and each one of us has a different view on life. Each one of us has a different spiritual need in our lives; each one of us may well be focusing on different things that God has done for us. We are all different.

The unique thing about us all is that God made us all. He is the designer and He is the maintainer. If we want to have things sorted out by the professional then we need to go back to the one who is in charge. He may well use different people around us to get us to listen and learn from just as He may well use us to teach others. But what it comes down to is having God in our lives. Not just a casual acquaintance but a regular and central part of our lives, both physical and spiritual! God wants to be in our lives and He has done everything so that that can be possible – we are the ones who have to invite Him in. We are the ones who have to look to Him.

Points to Ponder:
Who helps you?

Do you look to God?

Thursday Reading: Psalms 119 145-147
 
Key Verse: Psalms 119 146
146  I cried to You; save me, and I shall keep Your testimonies.

Devotion:
How many times have you said to someone that you would do something if they did something for you first? And then compare that to the number of times you have done something for someone before they did something for you... And finally try and think of the number of times that you have done something for someone without any regard for whether they would do anything for you or not! When it comes down to it we are quite selfish in our ways and we demand something in return for anything we are willing to give. The same cannot be counted against God.

If we were not selfish then we would be willing to do things for others without even thinking whether they would do anything for us. We would be willing to go out and do things without thinking of the return we may get. The Psalmist’s words here are not him making a deal with God but rather telling God what he has already decided to do. If we look at what God has already done for us then even in our selfish forms we should have no questions about doing many things for God. It is often when we are in distress we call on the name of our Lord and it is most often when we find we have run out of other options that we call Him for help.

But that is where we are going wrong. We need to be calling on His name before we get ourselves into a pickle. We need to call on Him before we get things wrong, before we think we need His help, before we break His law. God is always here for us and He will continue to listen to our every prayer that we lift up to Him. He will continue to answer those prayers in the best possible way for each one of us – that in itself has got to be a difficult task! Our prayers should not be half hearted but wholly dependent on Him. Our prayers need to come from our heart and not just idle talk. Our prayers need to be open and honest before Him. Then we can and should expect Him to answer each and every one in turn. Why then should we hold back on what we can do for Him?

Points to Ponder:
Do you like helping others?

How much do you think you do for God?