Tuesday Reading: Matthew 23 37-39
 
Key Verse: Matthew 23 37
37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

Devotion:
When the Lord spoke about Jerusalem He did not speak about the buildings, temples or sites but rather about the people. To Him the people made up the city and not the buildings. It was probably to the Sanhedrim that the accusation of killing the prophets was aimed at because they were the one who were controlling the “religion” and not considering God; they were the ones leaving God out of their lives and perusing a religion based on their own ideals. We can see so much of that happening today as well as our leaders get lost in their own ideas and ignore God.

He brought it down to the simplicity of a hen spreading her wings over her chicks to protect them from all around in order to show everyone that they were just ignoring the one commandment that He came to remind them of – to love one another. If we were concerned about our offspring or indeed about all those around us then we too would be showing them how much God means to us so that they too can see the protection that He offers. But, alas, we face a world where Christianity is being stifled, being cut out and being replaced by religions which depend on man doing something to gain his own salvation.

We need God’s love and protection. We have His love because He has already shown us that by giving His own Son for us. We can have His protection if we are willing to recognise that He is God and to draw closer to Him. If we want to be under His wings then we have to listen to Him calling and get under His wings as He lifts them up. We do not want to have Him leave us as He left Jerusalem. When the mother hen is not close by the chicks will get very worried when danger approaches; we need to stick close to our God so that we know His protection.

Points to Ponder:
Do you get worried about God being left out of your life?

Are you actively seeking to stay with God?

Monday Reading: Hebrews 11 1-4
 
Key Verse: Hebrews 11 4
4  By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it he, being dead, yet speaks.
 
Devotion:
Death affects us all in very different ways but there is absolutely no doubt that death will affect us! I’m not talking about your own death because that obviously is a drastic change but the death of someone else; be it a person you know of one that you know of but have not met. When someone dies we look back on their life and what they have done remembering various things and comparing those things with what we have done or what could have happened. When someone dies unexpectedly we often ask why that has happened and look for answers in different ways.

The one thing that we must not forget is that God is the one who is in charge and He will allow people to die at a time chosen by Him. He does this not because He does not care for us but because He does care for us. What could have been a better example to us that Abel’s death? If we had read the words that Abel had offered a good sacrifice by themselves then we may not remember just what a difference the right sacrifice can make. Abel was willing to follow God’s wishes and sacrifice something that God had given him whereas Cain made a sacrifice of what he had made with his own hands.

God wants us to come to Him with the right attitude – He wants us to come to Him and be willing to give up the very things that He gives us in order to please Him. If we are only willing to give Him what we have made then we are withholding our best from Him. There is nothing better that we have than the things that He has given to us. Being willing to give and not expect a return is something else He teaches us but something that we find very difficult to do. He is the one who can give us the strength and the right heart to be able to do His will rather than our own will. Pray to that end.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like giving gifts?

What gifts do you give to God?

Saturday Reading: 1 John 5 13-17
 
Key Verse: 1 John 5 17
17  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not to death.

Devotion:
It is amazing that God has made sure that we do have His Word and that we continue to have His Word. No matter how hard kings and leaders have tried to get rid of God’s Word, it continues to be the best selling literature in the world. God has ensured that we do have access to His Word and that it is there as a constant reminder of everything that He is. It contains so much information that we continue to learn from it every day. It contains only the truth. It reminds us that the only way we can truly be forgiven of our sins is by confessing them to Christ Himself and asking Him to forgive us.

Some people would argue that the Old Testament does not teach us to believe in Jesus but when you read through it you quickly see so many references to Christ that you cannot but accept that God planned this all along and that Jesus is indeed God’s Son. As a reminder here this chapter tells us that we need to lift up our prayers and ask things of God. He has promised to listen to our prayers and to answer them as well! If we do ask things according to His will He will answer them in a manner that befits Him – in other words we can expect the best!

What we cannot pray for is for God to forgive the sins of those that refuse to believe in Christ. We cannot ask God to forgive those that refuse to accept Him as Saviour but we do know that He is willing to forgive us of all of our sins if we do take Him as Saviour. Every one of our sins will be wiped away; they will not count against us. But for those who steadfastly refuse to believe, God has to be just and has to hold them guilty for those sins. There is no other punishment greater than eternal death; just as there is nothing better than eternal life – accept God, accept Christ and believe in what He has done for YOU!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are a good person?
 
Has God forgiven you?

Friday Reading: Genesis 2 16-17

Key Verse: Genesis 2 17
17  but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Devotion:
One sure way to get someone to do something is to challenge them not to do it – that just seems so normal nowadays, but it certainly was not normal in the beginning! Does that not show you just how much we as a people have sunk into a sinful life so we should think that that is normal? Don’t you think that it is sad that we have lowered ourselves to such an extent whereby we just have to have a go to see if it is as bad as people say it is; why can’t we just believe others?

Well, we could try to start to believe others but we will very quickly come to the conclusion that someone is not telling the truth because we will get different stories from each person. Each one of us has grown up to have a slightly different look on life and if we try to follow others then we will get confused as we try to split ourselves in different directions. Adam and Eve faced two choices, one to follow God’s truth and the other to follow the serpent’s words. Unfortunately they chose the wrong option because it was given to them without full disclosure!

If we are going to try and be honest with others then we have to give full disclosure about all that we know and not just the answers we think that they should be given. If we withhold the truth then we are no better than the evil one. There is only one absolute truth and that is the bible. We need to hold fast to that truth and not allow the world and its supporters to sway us from that truth. The only way that we know whether someone is telling us the truth is by comparing it with what God has shown us through His Word. If it does not agree, then it cannot be righteous. This of course means that we need some knowledge of His Word and this means that we need to read His Word daily...

Points to Ponder:
How often do you withhold the truth?
 
Are you keeping in touch with God’s Word?