January 8: Isaiah 45 18-22
Key Verse: Isaiah 45 22
Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
Devotion:
How many times have you tried to figure things out and come to the conclusion that things are far too complicated to understand. I’m not just talking about faith, I’m talking about absolutely anything. Sometimes we look long and hard for a solution, seeking more and more complex designs and ideas only to draw a blank... then along comes someone and states the obvious answer which you did not even think of because it seemed far too simple an idea! Sometimes we just have to look at the obvious to see what the actual answer is!
So many people try to seek enlightenment by doing all manner to quests, through processes and scientific experiments. People try to come up with the most complex solutions by suggesting hidden words in original bible texts or hidden meaning in paintings or maps when most of the time the answer to their question is staring them right in the face. But because the answer is far too obvious for such an important question, they ignore it...
God’s Word may well be difficult to read in some places but that does not mean the places which state the obvious should be ignored simply because they are so obvious! God’s Word is a complete work giving us all we need to know. When it is straight forward, such as in this passage, we need to make sure we do take it in! There is only one God. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He created earth as a living planet not a volcanic lump that had to evolve by itself. He has not given us dark and secret quests to go on, He has outlined salvation as simply as possible for us. All we need to do is to gather our thoughts together and come to the obvious conclusion; that He is our one true God and that Salvation comes through Him alone. He wants all of us to accept this simple truth so we too can have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and God.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always seem to seek the hardest solution?
Are you missing God’s obvious truth?
January 7: Isaiah 42 5-12
Key Verse: Isaiah 42 8
I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
Devotion:
Isaiah was a man whose life was filled with God; he made sure that everything he did was for the glory of God. Because of his absolute dependence on God he was chosen as a prophet by God and continued to be able to pass on God’s Word and wisdom to those who were willing to listen. We may not be anything like Isaiah in our walk with God, but we can still depend on God and can still give Him the glory. This passage is just one of the many places where he writes down what God says; probably as close to what he had been told as possible. How much more encouragement can we get than Gods own words. We don’t have to wait for Jesus to be born to hear God’s Word; our bibles are full of His Word – if only we would read them more...
Many times we do complain about not hearing from God or complain about God not working in our lives; but He does, all the time! Yes, we were born because of a union between our parents, but God is the one who gave us a spirit so we could live our own life. He is the one who has given you the choice. He is the one who created the world around us. He is the one who has always been. That is something difficult to grasp because we live within time itself; we are constrained by time – but He is not.
We need to take note of the things which are happening around us. Not just what we see and hear, but what has gone on before us and what is coming up in front of us. That is one of the reasons why we go to school, so that we can learn about the past, present and future. The bible also teaches us the truth about the past, present and the future; and yet we choose to ignore so much of it because we don’t like being told what to do!
We need to learn and remember what He has done for us. We need to learn all about what He has created for us. We need to learn what is in store for us. We need to learn about His love for us. We need to learn about His willingness to pay for our sins. We need to learn about our Saviour. That is why we have our bibles... Use them...
Points to Ponder:
Do you know roughly when your grandparents were born?
Do you know when Isaiah lived?
January 6: Psalms 46 1-11
Key Verse: Psalms 46 10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Devotion:
Many times we think we are in control and try to time things down to the nearest minute, only to find someone or something breaks the rules and we find ourselves in trouble! I have had a few dreams where everything goes so well up until I get to the point where I come back to get into my car, only to find out it is no longer there! Everything just crashes down in a heap because the end is not what I expected. Well, depending on worldly things will bring just that, disappointment just at the crucial stage!
We must not be discouraged by things which happen in this world because we know God is the one who is ultimately in control. We find we try to do our thing, but God is the one who guides our lives as He knows best rather than how we think we can do it. There is nothing in this world we can have more confidence in than God Himself. No mountain, river, sea or sky is great enough to come up against Him. In our natural history of this planet we have seen mountains explode into volcanic eruptions. We have seen rivers dry up and countries brought to their knees by droughts. And yet God is still there, watching and waiting for people to depend on Him rather than themselves.
We are the ones who will continue to cause wars to ravage the earth because of our constant bickering between nations. We are the ones who seek out and destroy our neighbours because we don’t like what they have done. We are the ones who take control of other people and force them to do things our way... But, for each of us, there will still come a time when we have to face our God and explain what we have done. He alone is the one that can bring peace to lands that have been at war for centuries; He alone is the one who can stop nations from destroying others. We, on the other hand, are the ones who think we can do it without knowing the full consequences of what we do until it is too late. Let us take a step back in our lives and allow our God to show us in due time what we should be doing for Him. Let us give Him the time that He deserves...
Points to Ponder:
Are you a control freak?
Will you let God take control of your life?
January 5: Psalms 95 1-9
Key Verse: Psalms 95 3
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
Devotion:
If you were to visit the Queen or some other dignitary, you would be expected to behave in a prescribed manner. If you were to visit a royal person from a foreign land, you would be expected to behave in the manner expected from them and not how you think things should be done. Why then should we think we can come before our Great God and behave how we think we should? Well, we seem to do whatever we want every day of our lives and we know that God is with us!
When we come before God, we need to remember just how much He has done for us and how much He does for us; that way we will come humbly with thanksgiving. No matter how we perceive things we need to remember He alone is our God and He is our Creator. He is not just a god who we pray to, He is the Great God. Why should we want for anything more than God gives to us? He directs the paths that are before us and protects us along the way. We still live within a world that is governed by people, so we still have to work with people; we continue to work to gain money so that we can survive... But God is the one who has made all this possible in the first place!
Why should the seas obey the pull of the moon? Why should the sky hold water and rain? Why should plants grow from the dirt? Our Awesome God is the one who had made it so. God is the God of everything and we need to remember that. There is so much we can learn about how and why things exist, as long as we remember just who created us! There is so much for us to do and experiment with, as long as we remember who allows us to exist! There is so much we can learn about what will happen in the future, so long as we remember who is in charge of our futures!
Our God indeed is a Great God and one to be praised with our whole beings! Let us remember that and praise Him for all that He is. Let us not be persuaded by worldly things but allow His Majesty to shine through each one of us!
Points to Ponder:
What would you do if you met the Queen?
How will you react when you meet Jesus?
January 4: 1 Samuel 17 40-47
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 17 47
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.
Devotion:
This continues to be one of the bible stories many like to teach young children and many will tell of the bravery of David for going up before Goliath and even tell you about how he won because God was on his side. But how many have been reminded of the few words in verse 47 “for the battle IS The LORD’s”?
When we are told that God will give us perfect peace, we need to remember those few words because without them, how can we gain comfort when all around us seems to be against us? How are we supposed to have faith in the unseen when everything we see around us is working against us? When we try to do things, we find there are all manner of obstacles in our way to prevent us from doing that. When we try to do good things, we find bad things keep tripping us up. No matter how hard we try, we always seem to lose! Well, just maybe, in those cases we are trying to depend on ourselves and not on God. The battle is His and not ours to win. In fact, He has already won; it’s just that Satan will not give up!
We have a Saviour who has been watching over us and trying to get us to listen for many years. He continues to do things for us and around us so we will realise just how awesome a God He actually is. He continues to guide anyone who will listen. He continues to encourage those who are willing to depend on Him and He will continue to keep everyone who puts their faith and trust in Him. David was a young man who did that; he placed his life in God’s hands knowing he was safe. He knew God had shown him He was with him over the years of being a shepherd, so he continued to have faith in God. He knew God would get the glory and he made sure everyone knew that what was about to happen was his God was fighting for him. If we are willing to show others that the strength and courage we have is because God is on our side, then how can we ever fail?
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever said “my dad’s bigger than your dad”?
God IS bigger than everything!