December 9: Habakkuk 2 1-5
Key Verse: Habakkuk 2 4
See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness -
Devotion:
When I read some of the Old Testament books, I can see why some religions stick with Old Testament books only; not from the stance of leaving Jesus out of their religion, but because of the amount of information held within them. The words which the prophets were inspired to write down need to be studied so we can learn why they wrote the words they did. They need to be studied by everyone and not just scribes and priests. God has made sure we all have access to all of the bible so that we can all find the truth.
We will all face temptations at some time or another and some of those seem to come when we are asking God for something else, even asking for help! Satan is not going to let up until he is chained away forever, and we have to remember that; we will still face his temptations and it is God’s Word which is able to strengthen us against those temptations. We need to keep His Word with us and depend on it, reading and discerning the truth so we can know it, remembering it when we do need to. Bringing forward God’s Word when we are faced with troubled times will help us and guide us. It is God’s Word.
If we are willing and able to seek out the truth by reading God’s Word, we will not be disappointed with what we find because what He has given us is sufficient. We may struggle to understand the words when we first read them because they were written by people from a different culture and a different time, but study them we must, because God will give us understanding when we seek it. Sometimes we are in too much of a rush and don’t wait for the answer from God – we simply rush forward without thinking and certainly without taking His word with us! God’s timescales can be demanding sometimes because He is working for the best outcome and not a temporary fix as we seem to look for in most things. When we depend on it, we are showing our faith in God, we are showing Him we do trust Him and we are waiting patiently for Him to answer our prayers according to His time. Walk by faith and not by works and He will bless us mightily!
Points to Ponder:
When you trust someone do you listen to what they say?
Are you listening to what God has to say through His Word?
December 8: Luke 18 9-14
Key Verse: Luke 18 13
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Devotion:
It is so very easy to judge others by the actions they take; we just have to watch someone to fall into that trap! I may not be as verbal and demonstrable as this interaction but we do all judge others. But this parable is not just about judging others, nor is it just about judging yourself, nor is it just about asking for forgiveness, nor is it just about coming forward in the right way... it’s about all of those aspects and more! Judging others is just one aspect of our lives that we have to watch. Trying to keep an eye on what we do ourselves and fixing the problems those issues we have is another. Making sure when we do discover problems that we try to fix them and not just ask to forgive and forget is yet another aspect.
This parable brings so much together that we need to remember it and think about it instead of just taking one meaning away with ourselves. We need to remember, first of all, that we are God’s children and we are under His command. We should not be living according to our own rules but according to God’s rules. We should not be trying to build our lives by our own wisdom but according to God’s wisdom through His Word. When we start to remember just where our position is in relation to God then we will start to move in the right direction with all the other aspects of this parable.
When we remember we have all been created by God we start to remember that we need to look out for each other and not put each other down. When we remember we are all people, we start to think about how we all can fall into the same traps through temptations which take us away from God’s Word. It is our choice. Each one of us makes that choice for ourselves, not for each other. We cannot then judge each other because we are not making those choices for other people. We can encourage others to seek the Truth so they can identify if they have made bad choices. If we are the ones who make the bad choices we should be the ones coming forward with the right attitude to make things right again...
Points to Ponder:
Do you hold grudges?
How often do you think about others?
December 7: Luke 15 17-24
Key Verse: Luke 15 20
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Devotion:
Jesus used parables to tell the stories people needed to know – He did so to make sure the content would reach into people’s hearts as they were able to relate to the story and work out what applies to themselves; look beyond the obvious! Yes, we see the need for righteous thinking from the son’s side, the need for forward planning too, and we also see the love the father has for his sons and the son’s repentance after he realises what he has done wrong. But Christ’s true teaching comes when we start to compare this with how God looks at us; to make it personal!
God is our heavenly Father who is constantly looking out for us and loves us. He is the one who has given us the opportunities and He is the one who has given us the inheritance too. We are like to the sons and we are the ones who have the choice as to how we deal with our inheritance. We have been given the gift already because Jesus has already paid for our sin debt on the cross. We now have the choice as to whether we want to accept that gift and its true wealth or squander it through wrong living. The son in the parable certainly cause a riot when he went off and wasted the gift on just about everything that he could – something we tend to do when we do not know the true wealth of Christ’s gift to us.
When we begin to understand just how much of a wonderful gift Christ has given to us through paying for our sin debt, we then begin to see just how much we have done wrong in our lives and why He had to go and do that in the first place. Imagine knowing you have to live your whole life just so you can pay for someone else’s life... That is exactly what Christ did for us. Jesus is waiting patiently for us to come back and admit to our sins and ask forgiveness; but also to turn away from them. When we do, He will be faithful and loving like the father in the parable and come to us wherever we are because then He will know we are sincere about our lives with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Are you surprised by how much people do forgive when you apologise?
Are you confessing your sins?
December 6: Matthew 3 1-6
Key Verse: Matthew 3 6
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Devotion:
When some people describe John as being in the middle of the desert, it draws a picture of a man in the middle of nowhere with nothing around him but sand and sun. But in order for John to be able to attract so many people, I’m sure there must have been things nearby otherwise how would anyone have heard of him to start with. I doubt he was in a built-up area because he was depending on God for everything – but his semi-isolation did not stop him from preaching the Word of God and letting people know about the coming of Christ. He continuously preached how people should repent of their sins... how many churches do not get around to teaching us that nowadays but would rather concentrate on God’s love and mercy.
We always need to remember we do need to confess our sins to God. Christ came to give us a way whereby we would be sure our sins are forgiven, but that does not mean that will happen without us confessing our sins in the first place. Right from the beginning God has required that we do confess our sins to Him in one way or another. The offering of sacrifices was how it started but man soon enough corrupted that by rewriting the rules of sacrifices to suit himself. One rule man cannot ever rewrite is that our sins have been covered by Christ’s sacrifice of His own life on the cross; but in order for them to be forgiven, we have to first admit to them!
John made sure people understood just what repentance meant too. It was not the act of saying sorry, being forgiven and then going on in life in your normal manner. Repentance means we come forward knowing that what we have done wrong is wrong and that by admitting to it we are saying that we are now going to do our best to not go there again. Repentance is a life-changing action, not a simple sorry. John made sure his whole life was dedicated to making sure people knew that so when they confessed to Christ, they would rest in Him and His ways.
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you say you are sorry?
Have you repented to Christ?
December 5: Hebrews 6 11-20
Key Verse: Hebrews 6 18
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
Devotion:
Have you ever thought about the degrees of hope we have? There are the times when we hope for something, but we are absolutely sure we will get it, but we still hope. Then there are the times when we are almost sure we will not get it, but we still hope for it, just in case... Our hope in each of those circumstances is at a different level. In these verses we are reminded that our hope in Jesus Christ is surer than in anything else; and yet so many choose to treat it as a hope which is without warrant, a hope that they will never get to see.
When we are sure of something, we go out and do things working towards our hope. The work serves not only to strengthen our hope, but also to work towards a better future when our hope is realised. The more we hang around and think about whether our hope is valid or not, the more we will get discouraged and the more we work against our hope. With these thoughts in mind, we need to make sure all we do works towards our hope in Jesus Christ. He is the one who has based our hope on the immutable. He is the one who has based our Hope on Himself, knowing that He cannot lie and knowing He will forever be. If our hope is based on such a sure thing, then why do we question it?
If we are patient and consistent in our hope towards Christ, we will see our hope in Him grow in strength quicker than we can imagine. If we continue on in the same eagerness, we will be sure of a just reward in heaven. We are the ones who give in to things and think our hope may wither at times; Christ already knows He has based it on 100% reliability. Christ has already endured for us so we may obtain our hope. Let us go forward and endure things in our lives knowing our hope is based on nothing less than absolute surety!
Points to Ponder:
Are there things you are hoping for?
How much are you depending on Christ’s surety?