Sunday Reading: Philippians 2 12-13
 
Key Verse: Philippians 2 13
13  For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Devotion:
When we do find out the correct way of doing things then it is not only good to continue doing things in the correct manner but also prudent for us to do so; after all going back to doing things wrong will not help any of us. The same is with our spiritual lives in that after we have found grace in God’s sight and have come to know His Son we should be turning our backs on our old earthly ways and striding forward in our new path with Christ. What profit is it of us to go back to our old ways other than to fall from God’s grace as we disobey Him?

The hard thing is that we have to continue on in God’s ways even when we think He is not around. There are always times in our lives when we feel that we do not have Him by our sides and that we need someone close; those are the times when we have to stand up in faith. Not because we see Him but because He has told us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. That faith is going to be tested many a time during our lives and we will even question our own faith too; but God’s promise remains.

When we plant a seed in the ground we do not dig down every day to see whether it is germinating but rather keep watering it and cultivating the ground around it until it does come up as a plant. From that time on we have to continue cultivating the earth and caring for it until it has served its purpose. We did nothing to make that seed germinate other than change its environment. If we change our own environment then we will have a better chance at growing up to be a stronger and healthier Christian. We have not germinated ourselves but we can make a big difference in how we do grow up! It is not for us that we do this but rather for God’s good pleasure because He is the one that loves us so!

Points to Ponder:
Do you feel like you are growing?
 
Are you keeping your spiritual life cultivated?

Saturday Reading: Philippians 2 5-11
 
Key Verse: Philippians 2 10
10  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth;

Devotion:
The example that Christ has shown us in what He did whilst He was here on earth is one that we should aspire to. There is no way that we can be perfect but as long as we keep in mind what Christ did and what He went through we will be encouraged to be more like Him. If we keep Him as our example then we have something to aim towards and something we can then relate to for our eternal stay with Him after we die on this earth. No matter which way we look at it we are going to face Him and we need to be prepared for that day. Knowing Him is the only sure way that we can know that we will be happy with that meeting.

Through what He has told us and through what He has shown us it should be blatantly obvious that He is the Son of God, and yet so many people choose to not believe that. They choose not to believe it for many reasons; but if we look deeper into it there is only really one reason and that is that they have not understood the whole truth. If everyone understood the truth then they too would not question Christ’s existence and who He is; who would knowingly want to be on the losing side?

 We can make a difference whilst we are still here. We can let people know that Christ is real. We don’t have to shove the bible down their throats (that may well put them off at first) but we can show them that we have a peace with God that does overcome everything that we face on earth. Yes it is hard to be happy when your world seems to be falling apart, but know that Christ has a plan that we may not understand, but one that is for the better! His plan to come to earth may have looked futile to many but to us who know Him we can see that it was perfect. Be encouraged and stay encouraged that Christ is allowing what is best in all our lives.

Points to Ponder:
How did you find out the truth about God?
 
Do you show others He loves you?

Friday Reading: Romans 14 7-12

Key Verse: Romans 14 11
11  For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

Devotion:
Our business is not to serve ourselves but to live our lives for God. He is the one who has created us and He is the one that we need to acknowledge as our Creator by living our lives for Him. That being said, we do have quite a time trying to do that because of the multitude of distractions that come our way all the time. God has appointed us each a time to be born and a time to die and we must accept both of those. What we do during our life is our choice; the choice as to whether we listen to our Creator or try and figure out our own destination. We do not have a hope of being able to find our own way to heaven because that knowledge is with Christ.

Because we have our own lives to live and our own choices to make we should not try to judge others in the choices they make. Yes we can encourage them to find out the truth by seeking God through Christ, but judging them by our own standards is nothing short of laughable. I mean, we don’t even know which the right way up at times is and yet we try to turn other people’s lives over saying that they are doing things wrong. It is not up to us whether we think someone is doing things the right way because we are not the final authority. Christ is our Judge and will be the one that we face when we die. If we have not lived our lives with Him then He will have to turn us away saying that He does not know us either.

When we are faced with the absolute truth we will have to admit that that is in fact the truth. That is what will happen to every soul on earth; we will have to face the absolute truth and that is Christ. When we do face Him face to face we will have to admit that He is who He is and answer to what we have done or not done... through our own choices... We all do have the chance to choose the truth through Christ, make it count!

Points to Ponder:
What do you do when faced with the truth?
 
What will you do when you face Christ?

Thursday Reading: Hebrews 9 23-28
 
Key Verse: Hebrew 9:27
27  And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgement,

Devotion:
The more that we see how man does corrupt things with his own ways the more that we see that it was really necessary for Christ to come and offer up a perfect sacrifice, one that did not have any corruption behind it and for no deceitful means or ways. If Christ had not done this then we would still be stuck with our burden of sin and we would still have to offer up sacrifices all the time to try and beg for forgiveness. Each sacrifice that man has offered has had some deceit behind it; the more we read the bible the more we find out that this is true. Man is simply living in sin.

If it was so that the sacrifice that Christ offered was not good enough, then He would have had to offer it up every year like man had to. Instead, Christ gave His life up once and once only. Since then God has not required any more sacrifices and does not. Our task now is that we live to die and after that we face the judgement. When we do face that judgement we need to know that our sins have been forgiven of us so that we can die in peace. Christ has promised us that each one of us that believes on His name will have their sins covered by His own blood.

There is no getting away from it that we will die whether we want to or not. What happens immediately after we die is going to be up to us; that is the choice that we have. We have the choice as to whether we wish to believe that Jesus did offer Himself up as our sacrifice. We have the choice as to whether we do believe that He is the Son of God. And if we do believe these things, then He has already promised us that our sins will be forgiven and that we will be shown to God without a blemish. What a perfect sacrifice!

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever tried to give a gift that was not good enough?

Do you realise the enormity of what Christ did for you?