Thursday 2 Dec 2009

Thursday Reading: Galatians 3 10-12
 
Key Verse: Galatians 3 11
11  But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, "The just shall live by faith."

Devotion:
If anyone tries to learn all the rules that God gave to Moses and then tries their uttermost to live by those rules they will very quickly find out that it is impossible for us to do exactly that. No matter how hard we try we will always fall short through one way or another and would then have to follow the rules on sacrificing something to God in order to pay for the things we did wrong. But that is where we then find that God had the perfect plan all along and that we no longer have need to make our own sacrifices before God because of what Christ has done for us.

If we do try to follow those laws and ignore Christ, then we are forever going to be guilty of breaking those laws and we will always be playing catch-up as we try to beg forgiveness for those sins that we do. What Christ did was to offer Himself up as that sacrifice before we did the sins that we do. He did this so that we would not have to try and find a perfect sacrifice and He did this for every single one of us. If we were able to live a perfect life as Adam and Eve did before their first sin, then we too would be able to commune with God. However, the moment we fall from those rules in thought or deed, we are guilty. Having Christ pay for that guilt before we commit it is something entirely special!

The one thing that will guarantee us forgiveness is faith. That means we have to believe that that is exactly what Christ has done for us and that He is willing and able to forgive us of those sins. Simple faith. Believe in what Christ has done for you and you will receive the gift that He has offered to you. There is no catch. There are no other conditions. The law is there to make us recognise the fact that we do fall very short of the mark and that we do need Christ and His forgiveness. That is why He made it all possible in the first place.

Points to Ponder:
Do you know someone who has already bought your Christmas present?

How else can Christ display His love for us?

Wednesday 2 Dec 2009

Wednesday Reading: Numbers 14 1-4
 
Key Verse: Numbers 14 4
4  And they said to one another, Let us make a leader, and let us return to Egypt.

Devotion:
How quickly we give up and want our own ways... The children of Israel had continued long enough in their books! They were now ready to give up and go back into their slavery... So many times we are exactly like that in our lives; we try to go forward with Christ and when things do not go our way we look at all the bad things and build ourselves up into a state where we cannot see a way forward – we then want to give up on our walk and return into the doldrums that we once occupied!

Christ came to earth to pay for our sins and He did that by going down a path that none of us would like to tread; indeed we cannot imagine what He went through in the last few hours. But the fact is that He did it. He went through with it. God does not promise that our lives are going to be without fault and without temptation; what He promises is that He will not tempt us and He will not distress us. Don’t forget that we do still walk amongst a land full of people who refuse to do God’s will. We walk in a land where people are following the temptations of Satan and getting into all manner of problems. If we are walking alongside them then should we not expect to be affected by those same things that happen to them?

The children of Israel were walking through land occupied by people who worshipped their own gods or did no worship at all. Unless we are steadfastly walking with Christ and remain in His grip, we will have to face similar issues to those around us too. We will not like to see the poverty and general degradation of society as we walk through it but walking through it we are. If we are able to hold our heads up high and show those around us that we have a Saviour whom we trust and believe in, then just maybe we will convince one of those souls to turn to God as well. Don’t give up just because the way is getting tough; dig in and walk harder!

Points to Ponder:
Do you find your life tough?
 
Are you depending on Christ?

Tuesday 1 Dec 2009

Tuesday Reading: Exodus 23 1-2
 
Key Verse: Exodus 23 2
2  You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shall you speak in a cause in order to follow many in order to wrest judgment.

Devotion:
When Moses was given the commandments to give to the people some may well have thought that God had given them too many rules to follow but the more that you read through the rules the more that you realise that our lives in the western world used to be based on those rules. I say used to be because society seems to want to get rid of all the sane laws that uphold righteous living and bring in some pretty insane laws that work against righteous living! The more that we see how society is changing things the more I think these verses raise their meaning.

Many people have given up on what is right and wrong and simply go with the flow, go with the majority, trying to keep the majority happy rather than working that which is right. Then there is the minorities which get their own ways as well, even if it is not right. People seem to be more concerned with pleasing the politicians than they are in pleasing God. God is the one who laid down the law so that we would have a standard to aim for. God is the one who has given us the right way to live. We are the ones who insist on bending every conceivable rule until nothing looks the same anymore.

It is these same laws that must make us recognise that we are the ones doing things wrong. It is these same laws that Christ wants us to know so that we do recognise that we are working against His will. Yes He knows that we will work against His will and He knows just how far we will go, but that does not make it right just because everyone is doing it the same way. If the whole world turned to something wrong it would still not make it right. God’s laws are infallible! We need to take them and aim to live by them, even when we do find it difficult, even when we do find that nobody else seems to care – we need to care, because they are God’s laws.

Points to Ponder:
How many times have you been persuaded to do something wrong?

God will never try to persuade you to do wrong!

Monday 30 Nov 2009

Monday Reading: 2 Corinthians 11 1-3
 
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 11 3
3  But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ.
 
Devotion:
I’m sure that nobody likes people who boast continually, or some even a small amount but there may well be a time in your life when you do have to lift yourself up just to show someone the truth. There is nothing wrong in comparing the truth with lies if it is the lies you are trying to expose, but lifting yourself up for your own sake is nothing but folly. If there is going to be any lifting up then we need to make sure that God gets the glory and not us for we are nothing without Him.

The apostle was faced with the church in Corinth that was picking up on some false teachings and were going with those false teachings. It was then that he had to stand up and compare himself and what he had been doing and saying with those that were lifting themselves and their false gods up. He did not do this because he wanted to lift himself up in any way but to draw attention to the fact that he was a man of God and that he was more knowledgeable than they were in these matters. He did this so that they would see the errors in their judgement and turn around, away from the false teachings and back towards Christ.

We now all have access to bibles through which we too can gain much of the knowledge and wisdom that was part of their lives back then. We have The Holy Spirit to guide us through our bibles, but unless we are willing to read them we are not going to gain much wisdom. In fact, without reading them, we too may well be persuaded away from the truth and be side-tracked by lies just as the church of Corinth was. We need God’s Word to keep us focused on the truth. We need it to remind us of the fact that we are children of God and that we live under the grace of Christ; following any other doctrine is pure folly.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like braggers?

When was the last time you bragged about God?

Sunday 29 Nov 2009

Sunday Reading: Philippians 4 10-13
 
Key Verse: Philippians 4 12
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. In everything and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Devotion:
We are torn between how much we should do for ourselves, how much we should depend on God for and even how much we should allow or expect others to do for us. This is not something that we are going to make disappear overnight either because that is the way that we are made up. We do get a lot of joy and comfort from how much other people do for us, especially when they do it without being asked; but how much do we think about all that God does for us?

We spend most of our time being concerned about others feelings and about how we can best manage our own but do not spend enough time thinking about God’s expectations of us and how we can best manage those in our lives. Too many times we go ahead and do thing according to our wishes and then try and fit them into God’s ways so that we can please Him. Have we not got it backwards? Should we not be doing things for God and then finding out how they fit into our lives?

We can do anything for Christ when we are following His will because He will make sure that we can. When we ask Him for strength to do His will in our lives we get it! When we ask Him for strength to do our own will in our lives we don’t always seem to get it. Just maybe we are then going against His will, or maybe we have forgotten which way we should be aiming! We do need to depend on God because the more that we do the more we will be able to recognise His ways and the more we will be able to do for Him rather than for ourselves. It’s not so much a case of “what can I do for God” but rather “what can I do with God”. He wants to be active in our lives but we are the ones who have to allow Him in to be active.

Points to Ponder:
Who do you depend on in your life?
 
Are you allowing God to do things with you?