Monday Reading: Lamentations 3 21-25
 
Key Verse: Lamentations 3 22
22  It is by Jehovah's kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail.
 
Devotion:
As bad as things may seem to get for each of us, it is because of the mercy of The Lord that they are not worse than they are. God’s mercy will never fail us when we have put our faith and trust in Him; though our own faith and trust will fail over time, His mercy will never change nor fail. Our task set before us is to not be overcome by our grief nor pain but to wait patiently on The Lord.

As I read through the account of Jacob and his brothers waiting patiently for the seven years of famine to end I did wonder whether I would have been able to wait that long. God had given Pharaoh the dream and Jacob had given the interpretation that God had given Him. Even knowing that there was doubt in the people and even in his brothers; how would they know that this famine would only last seven years and not continue on? How would they know that the seeds that they planted on that seventh year would actually grow and not fail like the seven previous year’s crops? God’s promises never fail!

God made sure that they were prepared and had stored up enough food for the seven years of famine. He made sure that the people had to stop and take note about what was happening because many of them had to sell the livestock for food as well as their land. After the seven years of famine came more good times when the people would again be able to sustain themselves, but this time many were giving one fifth of their crop back to Pharaoh because they no longer owned the land they worked.

We need to be willing to give back to God what He has given to us. We need to be willing to depend totally on God to supply what we need to grow. We need to depend on the promises of God because they cannot and will not fail!

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever been disappointed by your life?

Are you still relying on God?

Sunday Reading: John 8 21-24
 
Key Verse: John 8 24
24  Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins.

Devotion:
It is strange how you can tell some people that Christ is God until you are blue in the face and they will still not want to believe you. But it does not seem strange that we are taught about things in school that man has concluded are true even though they cannot prove it to be so. Why then does man try to exclude God from school when he is teaching even more that cannot be proven? The more that you quiz someone about theories such as evolution the more they have to talk about other theories and about what if scenarios to try and prove their own scenario. The more we get asked about God the more we can show people from words written down thousands of years ago.

The Jews that were gathering around Jesus were intent on believing what their peers were telling them rather than what Christ was telling them. Their peers did not have God’s Word to back them up because they were changing God’s Word in order to maintain their own self imposed positions of authority. When they faced the true authority they did what they could to use their own laws to prove themselves right. Jesus was trying to allow them to see their own faults without blaming them outright; what better way to make an enemy than to tell someone they are totally wrong with what they are doing!

Christ chose His words carefully so that the men could understand that He has always existed. God chose His words carefully with Moses to make sure that men could understand He is God. “I AM”. By those very words man should fall at His feet and worship Him; but they chose not to believe because they probably felt that their positions would be undermined if they acknowledged that He IS! Believing in Christ and God and The Holy Spirit is something we need to do in order to release ourselves from this world and to be in Christ’s hands forever more.

Points to Ponder:
What does it take you to believe something?
 
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God?

Saturday Reading: John 10 23-30
 
Key Verse: John 10 27
27  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Devotion:
No matter how many people heard Christ proclaim that He and God are one in the same there were, are and will continue to be those who doubt that fact. Why some doubt the truth we may not know but the fact is that they do. Just as Christ said to the Jews that came around Him at the time of the Feast of Dedication, you do not hear me because you are not mine. He was warning them that He did not yet know them because they refused to believe in Him. If we want to be in the number that Christ will call His Own, then we have to be in that number that believe on Him.

Instead of trying to find out the truth, the Jews around Him were looking for an excuse to be able to stone Him. They did not want to believe the truth so they were looking for an excuse to be able to blot what they did not believe out of their lives. What better excuse than to prove that He broke one of their own laws? It looks so fickle from the outside looking in, here they were trying to prove that Christ was breaking man’s laws when they were already breaking God’s Law! That is exactly what we continue to do; we try to find excuses not to believe so that we can do our own thing instead of bowing to God!

When we do bow down before God by believing in Christ and in Him then we are placing our souls firmly in His Almighty protection. There is no turning back from that protection because Christ has promised to keep us safe for eternity once we enter into His protection. The simple act of believing in Him places us firmly in His protection – permanently. Once we know Him we will never have to worry about being lost again; but that does not mean that we need throw caution to the wind and do anything we desire because that will not please Him!

Points to Ponder:
What excuses do you come up with?
 
Are you ready to live for Christ?

Friday Reading: Matthew 7 21-23

Key Verse: Matthew 7 21
21  Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.

Devotion:
People are not always what or whom they claim to be and that is something that has been true since man’s early existence. We can read about so many people who have described themselves in such a different light to the reality that you may well think they are describing someone totally different. Unfortunately people think that they can treat God in the same manner; they come forward and make themselves look like they are believer or even preachers so that they can gain something from that. That seems to be mans focus; how can I get gain out of my life?

Unless we are honest with God we are not going to get very far in our relationship with Him! How can you do one thing in front of Him and then tell Him something else? He is God and does see everything so how do we think we can get away with anything! Yes we can pull the wool over other people’s eyes quite quickly and easily but we can never do that with God. When we do that with others we are still doing it against God’s people so we are still doing that with God. When we are told to be diligent in our work it is not just the work that we think we are doing in front of God but in all walks of life!

God is a just God and cannot honestly say that we are His friends unless we are His friends. If we continue to conspire against Him in hidden circles then we will never be His friend! But as soon as we admit to being what we are like and come to Him for forgiveness then He will Just and Willing to forgive us of those sins, once and for all! To get to know God we have to be honest with Him!

Points to Ponder:
Are you honest with your best friend?
 
Are you being honest with God?