Tuesday Reading: Luke 5 4-6
 
Key Verse: Luke 5 5
5  And answering, Simon said to Him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Yet at Your word I will let down the net.

Devotion:
How many times have you wondered whether you are doing the right thing for God? Or how many times have you asked what you should be doing for God? The disciples had it easy in that they have Jesus walking with them so when He spoke, they knew what it was He wanted. We do not have Him walking by our sides as a human but we do still have Him with us all the time. If we are willing to listen to His will and His word then we will know what it is that He wishes us to do.

Simon and his boat had been fishing all night and they had caught nothing; in fact they had given up and were cleaning their nets when Jesus came to the water’s edge. When Jesus had finished teaching all those who were willing to listen, He turned to Simon and told him to cast his net out to fish one more time. You could almost imagine the surprise from Simon when that request came, but he was willing to listen to The One who had just taught them more about God. They key words that Simon took to heart being “at Your word”. He was willing to listen to Jesus even though he himself had already given up hope.

Too many times in our lives we try to depend on our own strengths to get us through everything that we come across. Too many times we tell ourselves that we can do it when we know it not to be so. Little wonder then that we get despondent when we find out the truth! But the thing we must remember when God is involved is that nothing is impossible. He is our Creator! Whilst scientists still try to come up with more elaborate excuses as to why the earth was formed – never mind the rest of the universe – God continues to watch in despair.  He has given us His Word, His complete Word and yet we try to make up our own truths. We try to take parts of His Word and fill in our own gaps instead of taking Him at His Word right here and right now! Listen to Him because He is always teaching us!

Points to Ponder:
How many text books do you read and believe?

Do you believe God’s Word?

Monday Reading: Acts 20 35
 
Key Verse: Acts 20 35
35  I have shown you all things, that working in this way we ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
 
Devotion:
The best thing about being a Christian (besides God’s wonderful gift) is that Christ continues to give you the strength to be an example to others. It does not matter how weak you think you are, Christ will always be able to give you the strength to do His will. Each of His disciples took note of what Christ had taught them whilst He walked amongst them and they went off to teach others and to share the Gospel with others – they got that example from Christ. No matter where Jesus went He always found time for others, to tell them of the truth and to give them the encouragement that they needed – both adults and children.

It’s not just the telling of the Gospel that we need to do but the physical doing of things for others too. God wants us to make sure that His Word is spread all around the world just as Satan wants it to be stopped. If we tried to go out alone and tell others about it we would very quickly find that things went wrong. If, however, we take Christ with us and depend on Him, He is willing, able and just to give us the strength to make sure that others get to hear what each one of them requires. Just as when we go to hear someone speak we come away with a slightly different view of what was said, The Holy Spirit will give each one of us what we need to understand when we listen to God’s Word.

When we come forward to talk with others or to do things for others we need to make sure that we come openly and without fear knowing that God is on our side. When we come forward to help those who may be too weak to help themselves, we must come forward willingly and humbly knowing that what we do we not only do for them but for God as well because they are also God’s creation. Jesus would always make sure that the disciples (and us) got to know that He wants us to give willingly to all who are in need (like Luke 6 30).

Points to Ponder:
Are you ready to give to others in need?

Are you already receiving from Christ?

Sunday Reading: John 13 12-17
 
Key Verse: John 13 14
14  If then I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Devotion:
Before Jesus sat down to the last super He wanted the disciples to learn and remember a few things; this example was for humility. This is something that seems to be lacking in society nowadays as more and more business people teach others to think of themselves as better than others to gain work, market share, profit and many other things. What this road of action teaches is not respect but greed... people may respect your achievements but they will recognise your greed too. That does not seem to bother those people that do find monetary success through those actions they take.

Christ wanted to teach the disciples that everyone deserves respect from others, not just Him because of the fact that He is Lord but every person that you come across who is not looking for trouble. There are some that come to work against God and to work against you and they are not looking for respect but rather to force themselves upon you; showing them love instead may well help them to recognise what they do.

Christ’s lesson was to show that no matter how great a position one may have in society, there is always room to show love and humility. Christ, as Lord, sat and washed their feet as a servant would. There is no greater than God Himself and yet He chose to wash the disciples’ feet, one of which was going to betray Him later. It is one thing to know this but a totally different thing to carry this out in reality. That is what makes the difference, the doing and not the saying. Christ did this first and then told them why. If we take a leaf from Christ’s pages to do things before we say them then we will not find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having said something that we can no longer do...

Points to Ponder:
Do you say things and not do them?

Are you following Christ’s ways?

Saturday Reading: John 12 24-26
 
Key Verse: John 12 26
26  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant shall be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.

Devotion:
If Jesus had not died we would still be in trouble! Just as there is death in nature so that life may come out of it, we too have to die so that we may obtain eternal life with Christ. Christ explains this here by saying that the only way that He would be glorified is by Him having to first give His life up. This does not mean that we should all go out and give up our lives because Christ also showed us that we have to work in God’s will and that He is the one that has appointed our time to die and not us. Jesus went out and ministered to many people before He came back to lay His life down; He first had to go out and do His Father’s will...

Most seeds will start to germinate as soon as they are put in the ground and that is why Jesus describes His word as being a seed because it stays there under ground until it comes up and flourishes. The wheat seed is different in that it must first die and then it grows; that is why He used this description here to describe His and therefore our own lives. The plant that is produced by a seed is far in excess of the size of the seed and is a marvel to watch.

Each one of us has a marvellous eternal life to look forward to when we believe and trust in Christ. Each one of our lives when we believe God’s word changes and grows into something that is quite different to our lives we had before we knew Christ. But in order to do that growing we have to submit to His will and His word just as a servant will do what his master requires. As God’s servants we will then be used to do wonderful things that He can be proud of, that will glorify Him and that will allow others to see what a glorious Father we have in heaven! He is the one that has supplied the field for us to grow in. He is the one that has supplied the earth and water. We are that seed that must give up our earthly lives and grow up in a new life with Him, much more and much better than before.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like watching flowers spring up in spring and summer?
 
Are you submitting to God’s garden?