Friday Reading: Lamentations 3 18-23

Key Verse: Lamentations 3 23
23  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Devotion:
How tired are you at the end of the day? I know that I sometimes just feel like laying down and sleeping immediately after stopping work – and I work from home! As schools have started up again we have had quite a few that were simply too tired for much after the first day or two, but as the first week ended the energy levels are back up again. Is this how your life is with Christ, or do you have regular exercise with Him?

Exercise is a good thing for the body – sadly I seem to be lacking on that front at the moment. But just as we do exercise to keep our body’s active and working we need to exercise our minds to keep them active and exercise our faith to keep that where it should be. Sometimes there is nothing better than a full day of exercise to rejuvenate you and sometimes we need that in our spiritual lives too. God is the author of everything and He knows when we do need a bit of exercise for our souls. We are not going to be a star for Christ unless we are able to handle the work that He has planned for us and we will not be able to handle that work unless we are prepared for it.

Each day as we lie down to sleep we need to remember that the next day is the start of a fresh day; a day when the Lord will give to us again His boundless love and mercy. Each day will continue to be a new day and each day we can face the day by depending on God again. He is our Hope. He is our Strength. He is faithful to do that each and every day no matter what state we end the day in and no matter how badly we think we may fail – His mercy is there without fail. We know that within our souls and we know that we can depend on it. We know that Christ is our King and our Lord. That in itself should give us the comfort we need when we go to sleep to wake in strength ready for His new day.

Points to Ponder:
Are you growing weary?

Are you drawing on God’s Strength?

Thursday Reading: Psalms 77 2-10
 
Key Verse: Psalms 77 9
9  Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah.

Devotion:
There are always times when we think we have been forgotten and in those times when we turn to God we may even find that we think that God has forgotten us too. I suppose that it could be similar in feeling like the one that you love does not love you back or is ignoring you. I wonder how many of us would admit to that? It’s not something that we would like to admit to because we would make ourselves look weak and look like we do not have faith enough to keep going. Well, if it is the truth then the truth needs to be shown and we should come out and admit to our feelings.

God does not want us to feel isolated or unloved. His love for us knows no bounds and is never ending, so how could He not love us? God’s love is not in question and our faith is probably not either – but what is in question is our Zeal for God! It is no use trying to hide our true feelings from God because He does know us from the inside out. If we try to hide our feelings from Him then we are only deceiving ourselves because He already knows. The more that we try to hide feelings, the more that we will feel down and rejected because we are building up those feeling within us. So if you are feeling like God has forgotten you, take that to Him and ask Him why you are feeling like that...

This Psalms should stand as a reminder to us that we have our own faults and weaknesses. God does not have faults and nor does He have weaknesses. If things are not going according to plan then is does not mean that God does not love us but simply that we are showing our own weaknesses. God wants us to be strong and to be able to depend on Him and if one of the stages to get that far consists on us finding out the hard way that we do always need to depend on Him, then that is the way that He will teach us. His ways are perfect and will make the most of our lives as long as we do continue to depend on Christ always. Does He love you? Yes! He just wants you to realise that by yourself without Him having to remind you always...

Points to Ponder:
How strong are you?

Are you still depending on God?

Wednesday Reading: 1 Timothy 4 1-5
 
Key Verse: 1 Timothy 4 4
4  For every creation of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.

Devotion:
For the apostle to write such words must have meant that there were already people saying that they must be vegetarians or refusing various things just because it was part of their religion. We know that the Jews refuse to eat pork because that is what the Old Testament teaches them but as we move forward in time and hopefully forward with our living then we should be embracing the things of God and not rejecting them. The more that we find out what Christ has done for us and the more that we find that He is the one that is doing this for our sakes then the more we should be thinking about doing things for Him as well.

We like to think that when we are friends with someone that we would be willing to do things for them. When we are in love we want to do even more for them; but somehow we fall short in our walk with Christ. Too many people treat Christ as someone we should not have in our circle of friends but rather at arm’s length, but still close enough to grab on to when things go wrong. Well, that is just not right because we should be making sure that Christ IS in the centre of our lives and that He is involved in everything that we do!

When we do understand God more we will be more willing to do things His way and to include Him in our lives. He has created this world so that we can be part of His life, so why not make Him part of ours? We only have to look around us to find out the amazing things that He has done for us and the amazing promises that He continues to uphold for us. Then we look back on our lives and wonder why we cannot keep up our end of the bargain? Why? Because we lack faith and commitment. If we commit our lives to Christ then we will find that our faith grows in leaps and bounds and nothing will hold us back from a wonderful and fulfilling life with Christ!

Points to Ponder:
Are you committed?
 
Are you waiting for God or working for God?

Tuesday Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 18
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 1 18
18  For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God.

Devotion:
We are often reminded that we should take up our own cross to show others and Christ that we are willing to do His will and follow on in His ways but this verse does not talk about that cross but rather the cross that Christ was crucified on. Both crosses would seem foolish to those who do not yet know Christ because they see them as a burden or a hardship that was not necessary. For anyone who does not know the circumstances of almost any situation they will see many things in life in a similar light and they will miss out on a whole lot more.

We can walk by something every day and not realise the treasure that lies within simply because we have chosen not to look. We could spend all our time looking into everything and finding a treasure now and again but turning up a whole lot more unwanted clutter. Or, we could choose to follow a guide book that knows of the treasures and that way we can see each of the treasures without having to spend all that other time looking for things that are not there. People who refuse to follow the bible are going to spend a whole lot of time and money trying to look for things that are not real or are false. The Lord does not want us to waste our time and money but rather to use it for the right things in life.

Teaching people about Christ and what He has done by going to that cross may well not agree with many people. We do not like to be reminded that we are bad or that someone else has given their life for us – both those things can make us feel bad. We would rather be reminded of the good and happy things in life so that we can be made happy without having to do anything. Well, life is just not like that. We do have to be reminded of the bad things in life so that we can compare them with those good things. We do need to be reminded of the bad things we do so that we will be encouraged to do good rather than repeat those bad things. The more we know of the treasures of God the more we can find strength through Him!

Points to Ponder:
What are you seeking in life?

Have you found God’s treasures?