Monday Reading: Luke 18 10-14
 
Key Verse: Luke 18 14
14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
 
Devotion:
If we listen to the world we find many people teaching others that they must believe in themselves and that they are only as good as they think they are. Well, that has absolutely nothing to do with what Christ was teaching because Christ taught that we need to be humble before God. That does not mean that we must leave it all up to God because He will lead us and show us what we do have to achieve, but we then have to get up and do that! But the important point to make here is that we must depend on God for guidance and not ourselves.

As this parable points out, we need to come before God humbly and not with a proud attitude thinking that we have reached our pinnacle. God wants us to remember that we are His and that we would be nothing if it were not for Him. God wants us to remember that He is the judge and not us. He also wants us to remember that our minds are fickle and we fall into worldly ways as soon as we loosen our grip on Him. Our prayer life is very important in that it will continue to strengthen our grip on God and will continue to allow us to see that we do depend on Him for everything.

It is quite easy to spot the people who hold themselves up before God because they are the ones that will put down others in front of God. Does that sound like a bit of a general statement to you? Well think about the words. If we put down other in front of God then we are saying to God that we put them down no matter what God thinks of them... Is that not lifting ourselves up before God? I know that I have been guilty of that and have had to repent for those times. God is the one who knows the design of this universe and all of the people within it – we are just one of those people! Lift up your honest and humble prayers to God exalting Him and others as we do.

Points to Ponder:
How do you pray?

Do you tell God what to do?

Sunday Reading: Luke 18 1-8
 
Key Verse: Luke 18 1

1  And He also spoke a parable to them to teach it is always right to pray, and not to faint,

 
Devotion:

One of the things that Jesus always taught people was that they ought to pray without ceasing. That is and always will be true for us because God wants us to know that we depend on Him for everything. When we do not pray enough we find that our close relationship to God starts to break down because we leave Him out of things that we do in our lives. Just like in a normal relationship with anyone else, communication is a key factor and one that must be continued. It is not just the basic communication but the quality of that communication that counts a lot as well.

 
If we were just to ask God for all the things that we wanted them I am fairly sure that He would grow weary of us asking things in a selfish manner, but if we are going to ask humbly for things that we do need in our lives then He will answer in ways that we would never dream of. Jesus told the people who were listening that God is the one that is listening to our prayers and that He is the one that will be answering our prayers. So many times have I lifted up my prayers only to find that God is already answering them or has already answered them. But does that mean that we should stop praying? Certainly not because without that communication we are the ones that will break down in our relationship with Him.

 
God is a rock upon which we can stand and upon which we can depend. It is not He that will crack when we stop talking but rather us that will crumble under the weight of the world. We live in a corrupt society where all manner of things go and where we are faced with all sorts of temptations that take us away from God. Those temptations can be the people around us or they can be the environment around us. We need to take everything to God in prayer because that way we will be able to listen to Him when He talks back to us through His Word.

 
Points to Ponder:

How often do you talk to your friends?

 
How often do you talk to God?

[In remembrance of my Mum who always watched over us]
Saturday Reading: Psalms 94 3-11

 

Key Verse: Psalms 94 11

11  The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vain.



Devotion:

There are many things that we see in everyday life that we just know are
wrong and wonder why God does not seem to do anything about them. Then
we wonder at some of the things that some Christians do and we wonder
how they think that can get away with it. We can understand people of
the world acting like the world and not caring about God, but when
Christians do things of the world then we know there are problems ahead.



Most believe that this Psalms was written by King David and was written
as a song to be sung to remind ourselves and others that God is the one
who is in charge. Not just that He made us all but the very fact that He
watches over us all the time. This does not mean that He just watches
over the dedicated Christians and ignores the rest because He watches
over the good and the bad. We do not know what plans He has for the
wicked so we cannot say what should be done to them but we do know that
God is watching. If we are able to convince just one person that God is
God and that He does take note of every single things that happens then
we have been able to allow them to take one step closer to knowing Him.



The Lord knows that we do get things wrong all the time and that we live
in a world where we are surrounded by evil – because He sees it all. He
knows that we do need help and that we cannot survive without Him –
that is why He watches over us all. Non-believers will continue to think
that God is not watching and that they can do anything behind His back.
We know that He watches and still we try and get away with things...
God is Just. He is Holy. He will not let things pass without some sort
of repercussion! But He also provided us with the means to be
forgiven... What an Awesome God we have!



Points to Ponder:

What do you get up to?



Do you always remember He is watching?

Friday Reading: Proverbs 18 24

Key Verse: Proverbs 18 24
24  A man who has friends may be broken up, but there is a Lover who sticks closer than a brother.

Devotion:
Friendship is something that must be treated with respect and is something that is shared between people and not kept alone. Friendship will support and will uphold. Friendship will last. Family ties are things that we grow up with and we respect them and we learn to trust in them at a very early age. Friendships should be something that we can depend on as much as with family ties because that is the way that God wanted us to be towards each other. We are fickle and we break down those ties with the things that we get up to and the deceit that we carry round with us.

If we want to see if someone has been a friend to us then we should only have to look at the way that they have behaved towards us and what they may have done for us. We can pretty well discern just how much a person thinks of us by the way that they treat us and even the way that they talk about us or to us. On that front we do not have to study too long about what God has done for us to find out that He must be our greatest spiritual friend! He is the one that has done so much for us already and He is the one that continues to support us behind the scenes. He is the one that gives us the strength to continue when everything else seems to be breaking down.

A friend is also there to set us right when we do go wrong. When we have someone who is willing to stop us from getting into trouble because they care about us, then we know we have a friend. When we have someone that points out to us those things that we are trying to ignore, we have someone who cares about our long-term spirit and not just the here and now. The Holy Spirit continues to point out to us the things that we do wrong each and every day. We are the ones that choose to ignore Him because we are the ones that are not treating Him like the friend He treats us as. God continues to uphold His end of the friendship and we are the ones who continue to let Him down. But being the Friend that He is, He continues to be there every step of the way!

Points to Ponder:
Who looks after you?

Do you recognise God’s friendship?