Tuesday Reading: Romans 10 1-4
 
Key Verse: Romans 10 3
3  For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

Devotion:
Being a Christian is not about how much zeal you have for God but in believing in the truth. Anyone can go to church and anyone can get up in front of a crowd and tell them a story but only those who get to know Christ will be the ones going to heaven. There are religions that will make sure that you do the “right things” according to the rules and continue to say the “right stuff” according to the rules; but just whose rules are they? It is one thing to say that there is a God but an entirely different thing to say that you know your God!

The law was laid down by God so that we could get to know just how much we need a Saviour. The law was set down so that we could know how far short we fall of God’s requirements. The more we know about the law the more we are able to see this fact and hopefully the more we will call on the name of Christ to save us from our sins. Even when man was under the law it was not their actions that granted them forgiveness but rather the fact that they had faith that if they did what God commanded them then they would be forgiven. That faith is what we need to continue to depend on nowadays.

We still have the law that will continue to show us that we do fall short of the mark, but we also have Christ’s actions which themselves will allow us to find forgiveness. But unless we seek that forgiveness and have faith that Christ will forgive us as He has said that He will, then we have nothing more than the man who tries all he can to reach heaven by himself. Unless we submit ourselves to God’s ways we will not ever find forgiveness from Him because we will never accept Him as God until we believe in who He is and what Christ has done for us.

Points to Ponder:
What do you think makes you good?

How do you look in God’s eyes?

Monday Reading: Acts 9 1-9
 
Key Verse: Acts 9 5
5  And he said, Who are you, lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
 
Devotion:
There are times whether we wonder if Christ will forgive us of the things that we have done or thought but when we read stories such as this in our bibles we must know that nothing is beyond Christ’s mercy towards us. Saul was one who plotted against Christians. He went out of his way to make sure that he could do everything in his power to persecute them and to try and bring them down. And yet Christ came before him and gave him a bit of inspiration to stop working against Him and work for Him instead!

There are always things in our lives that we do not wish to give up because we believe that they are what we should be doing or we believe that we need them. But if we ever find out that they are against Christ’s teaching or against His will then we have to put them behind us and move forward with Christ. He alone is the one who has the strength to give us to work against those things in our lives. We cannot hope to put something behind us if we believe it to be good for us in some manner. Christ will be able to persuade us otherwise!

Just like He showed Saul the error of his ways, He is willing to go that extra mile with us to try and convince us of the errors in our lives. He does this so that we can see that He is still willing to forgive us no matter what we do get up to. No matter how bad we think we are, Christ is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and lift us back up into a position where we are able to best serve Him. We have to be willing to let go of the things in our lives that are bringing us down and He will try to show us what is – but He will never force us to do things. He showed Saul in no uncertain terms who He was and what He is capable of so that Saul would see just who is in charge; but Saul was the one who had to follow Christ’s request first. Make your move and live for Christ!

Points to Ponder:
What end are you working towards?

Is Christ receiving the glory for what you do?

Sunday Reading: 1 Samuel 3 4-10
 
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 3 9
9  And Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down; and it shall be, if One calls you, you shall say, Speak, Jehovah, for Your servant hears. And Samuel went to lie down in his place.

Devotion:
When The LORD called out to Samuel, Samuel did not yet know Him and hence did not even think about Him when he answered; instead he ran to Eli because he automatically assumed that it would be Eli who would call him. Samuel was more than ready to do his bidding, even at night time when all were trying to sleep. It is often the case that God will try to get people’s attention and they will not know that it is God but will assume some other thing is happening, something man made or controlled by man.

We should be ready, as ready as Samuel was, at all times to get up and do God’s bidding. It is not a case of we should do nothing and ignore The Lord until we hear Him call otherwise we will be so tied up in our world that we will not actually hear Him. Not because we don’t want to but because we cannot hear Him for all the noise we allow into our lives. When God calls He is not going to blast His words out through your headphones as you listen to music nor will He try and shout at you whilst you are so enthralled with the movie you are watching... God is going to wait until all is still before He tries to speak to you – and if you are not listening you will not hear.

God is not going to compete against the worldly things that you invite into your life. You are the one that has to set time aside for God in your life. You are the one who has to do the listening and not God the shouting! If you are being sidetracked by things in your life then you have to be the one to quell those things before God will be able to get through to you, not because He cannot shout loud enough but because you are the one excluding Him from your life. When we invite Christ back into our lives we should be the one who continually make a place for Him in our lives. We need to ensure that He remains comfortable in our lives so that we can continue to converse with Him daily.

Points to Ponder:
What is central in your life?

How much is God excluded from in your life?

Saturday Reading: Isaiah 58 4-11
 
Key Verse: Isaiah 58 11
11  And The LORD shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

Devotion:
It is sad that we all too often forget a few words in a sentence or rule just so that we can fit that rule into our lives rather than conforming our lives to the rule. Throughout the Old Testament the children of Israel were reminded that on the day of atonement that had to “afflict their souls”; or in other words they had to not only do all the sacrifices and all that God had said they should, but they were to humble themselves before God and acknowledge all that they had done wrong. Without that humbling of the soul the sacrifice was to no affect!

All too often we skip a phrase out of the rules that we have to follow just so that they can be more convenient in our lives. All too often we change things that God has told us just enough to make them fit into our world rather than conforming to God’s laws. Why do we think that we have the right to do anything like this? Just because so many have done exactly that before us does not mean that we can go ahead and do exactly the same! We need to change our ways so that we conform to God’s wishes and not the other way round!

Isaiah wrote things down in a fashion where we can certainly remember what God requires for us. It does not make pleasant reading for many because they do not lead that sort of life; but it should be essential reading for all! God wants us to not just think about ourselves but to remember all those around us. He will remind us in some not so subtle ways that we do need to care for our fellow Christians around us but He also reminds us that we need to reach out a bit further and invite a few more people in. That is when He will show His appreciation, not because we have shown others we can care for others but because we have obeyed His will in our lives.

Points to Ponder:
What do you do for those around you?
 
Are you following God’s wishes or your own desires?