Monday Reading: Proverbs 16 32
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 16 32
32  He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city.
 
Devotion:
The more that we continue to live by the sword, the more that we will have to put up with the ways of the sword. Men continue to try to put down violence by using violence and the more that they do the more they have to put up with the consequences of that same violence. Many will argue that we have a right to defend ourselves, and that we do; but do we have the right to violence because of violence? It will be argued that this has got to be the case otherwise the violent will always rule but intelligence will go a whole lot further than any violence.

When we start to get going with some idea or ideal we tend to allow it to rule our lives. We start to defend that ideal more than we should and we uphold the idea more than that which is right. The more that we get caught up in something like that the more likely we are going to end up hurting those nearest and dearest to us because of the idea rather than what is right. Can this be true? Well we can look back at histories great leaders and find that they have had to do exactly that because they got carried away with their anger or their ways rather than upholding their friends. Alexander was a mighty leader who conquered so much, and yet he killed his best friends because he got carried away. We allow our passion for things to go too far and that is when we let down God.

If we are able to conquer our temper instead of trying to conquer the world then we will be much better placed to move forward with God on our side instead of leaping forward by ourselves. God is not going to support us if we are glorifying ourselves over Him because that breaks every commandment in a single stroke. We need to make sure that God comes first in our lives and when we start to do that we find that He gives us the guidance and the strength to withstand our tempers and our passion; He alone can give us the wisdom we need to carry out His work and to glorify Him above all else.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you lose your temper?

How often do you ignore God?

Sunday Reading: Romans 12 1-2
 
Key Verse: Romans 12 2
2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

Devotion:
If you had to go on a long journey and you had two cars, one very beautiful to look at but not good on reliability, or another that was not as good to look at but was comfortable and very reliable... which would you choose for that long journey? If you sit down and think about it there is only one logical choice and that is to go for the reliable one; but far too many times in our lives we take one look and go with the looks instead. After a while we look back and see that we have made the wrong choice and think about how we should have chosen the right car and yet we still persist, we still try to finish what we have started because we don’t want to admit defeat!

Our spiritual lives are exactly like that when we are not strong. We take a look and we go with the first way that we fancy (normally the way that others have said we should go and not what we know God would have us to do) or we follow the way where the money is. And yet when we do see that we have not chosen the righteous path we still go further because we don’t want to look weak or don’t want to admit that we were wrong! It seems so stupid when we look at it from the outside and yet we get so caught up in the ways of the world that we don’t see how it can be wrong!

Our reasonable service to God is to present ourselves as best we can. That means thinking about Him first and following His ways first. That means turning down the ways of the world – even when we don’t want to let go. God is not going to let us fall flat on our faces when we put our faith and trust in Him. He wants us to realise that when we do look to the world we will only find short term gain and long term problems. He wants us to realise that our lives belong in His hands and He in us. Place your faith and trust firmly in God’s grip because He is not letting go!

Points to Ponder:
Are you being blinded by the people around you?
 
Is God having problems trying to talk to you?

Saturday Reading: Hebrews 12 25-29
 
Key Verse: Hebrews 12 29
29  for also, "Our God is a consuming fire."

Devotion:
No matter how much we love someone and they love us we always seem to be able to get to a point where an argument is going to follow. We all have our differences and we all have our ideas; but the thing is that we are all different too. No matter how much we think we are alike, no two people are the same in their thoughts. This tends to cause conflict and it is through that conflict that we often find ourselves doing things that we say to others that should not be done. We often find ourselves in a state where we defend our ideas even though we know them to be wrong. But as long as we are willing to take a step back and think before we get into those situations then we have a chance at getting things right to start with!

No matter how hard we try to get things right in front of God we always seem to make mistakes as well. How we react to those mistakes is very important because if we stand up and cause a scene even though we know we are in the wrong then we are essentially fighting against God! Fighting against The Almighty is not something that we should ever contemplate! God is our Creator and He alone is the one in charge of this universe that we find ourselves in. He is the one that has said that He will create a new heaven and a new earth. He has shown us what is possible throughout history right from the beginning of creation through to the miracles that He performed over and over again.

God loves us more than we can imagine, but that does not detract from the fact that He is Holy and Just. We have to remember that He cannot abide sin and because of that we should not flout it in His face – and how we do... We need to love Him back; which means that we need to obey His commandments, obey His will, follow His word and keep His ways. When we don’t, we face confronting Him and He has to be just and carry out what He has said that He will do when we make waves... God is Love, but He also is a Consuming Fire...

Points to Ponder:
How often do you argue with others?
 
Do you really want to argue with God?

Friday Reading: 1 John 4 7-8

Key Verse: 1 John 4 8
8  The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love.

Devotion:
Our call is not to judge people but we certainly see the true side of some when they come out fighting at times when we do not expect it. And yet at times when we expect them to cause trouble they do not. Is it any wonder then that God has told us not to judge others – we simply do not know enough about others to be any form of judge. God, on the other hand has every right because He is the one that can see inside each one of us and He is the one that can see whether we do love Him or not.

The disciples learned very quickly that every person would show themselves up before too long. There is no way that we can fool everyone into believing that we are doing the right thing when we are not. The more that we try to hide things the more that we will have to hide – eventually what we store up inside of us will spill out in clear view of everyone. When we say that we follow God we had better be sure that we do. God is not going to take that sort of lie sitting down because when we get found out we will be casting a shadow on Christians, God’s children, and not just ourselves.

If we say that we love God then we should be showing that to everyone around us. Christ showed His love to everyone whilst He was here on earth by not turning His back and always showing love and compassion to all. He was the one that showed love and compassion to sinners. We need to be able to follow Him in that line by making sure that we show love and compassion to all those around us and not just to our select friends.

Love is not something that should be hidden under a bush but something that needs to be shared. What good is love if it is not shown to others and shared? About the same good as a light hidden in a cupboard I expect!

Points to Ponder:
Do you hate people?

God may not like the sin but He loves the sinner?