Saturday Reading: 2 John 1 4-6
 
Key Verse: 2 John 1 6
6  And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

Devotion:
It does not follow that if you are a good parent that your children are also going to be good! We may try our best to raise our children up and find that they wander off into things that we can see coming a mile away but that they ignore until it is too late. Is this us not being strict enough? Is this our children being led astray? We like to look at things and place blame where we can but the truth of it is that we do, each one of us, have our own choices to make and we have to live by those choices.

As parents or friends we can help others to see what is coming ahead when they cannot. They may turn round and say that we are meddling in their lives, but if they are ignoring what lies ahead then they do need to be reminded that there is a problem with what they are ignoring. If we turn our backs on them when we can see that they need someone then we are not being a parent or friend to them. Jesus came to earth to save sinners, but is His ministry He continued to remind people just how important love is. He did this to make sure that we did not leave people out of His church! If we do not show our love to others then we are leaving them out of His love for us.

This is not something new because God has tried to show us how important love is right from the beginning. He created man and woman in the beginning so that we would have partners so that we could share our love. Sharing that love with someone should allow you to have love grow within you so that it will begin to overflow into other areas in your life. It’s not a case of leave me alone with my partner but rather that we are cultivating our love so that we have more to share with more people. If you see it any other way then you may well be leaving God out of your life too...

Points to Ponder:
Are you in love?
 
Are you sharing God’s love too?

Friday Reading: Psalm 8:1-2

Key Verse: Psalms 8 2
2  Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength, because of ones vexing You, to cause the enemy and the avenger to cease.

Devotion:
“I’m old enough, I can handle it...” How often have you thought or said that only to find out that you have gone a step too far and found the limits of what you can take? Maybe it was a scary movie that we thought we could handle but when it came down to watching it we spent most of our time with our eyes closed rather than watching. Maybe it was getting up in front of everyone and making a speech but we stumbled before we got through our first sentence. We all have our limits which we do know about but we all do have limits that we don’t know about either.

It is not the limits that we know and hate/love but the unseen limits that I want to focus on today. God is the one who is in control of this planet because He is the one that has created us and it in the first place. We are His handiwork. Nothing can ever make us good enough to take on a position held by God so we should not even think about it. Scientists do some pretty remarkable things but when they overstep their own ideals and take on God’s design work, then they will suddenly find they do fall short of the mark and find out the limits that they do actually have. But let’s not take it out on the scientists but look closer to our own selves.

Each of us is like a child when compared with Christ’s ideas. There is no way we can ever hope to compare ourselves to Him so saying that we are young and inexperienced when compared to His thoughts gives us an idea of the perspective differences. As long as we continue to realise that we are such children and that we do depend on Him, then we will be able to continue growing in His arms. Yes we will get to the stage when we think we are all grown up, but we are still His children... and we still need Him! He wants to continue being our Father and He wants to continue caring for us – so long as we continue to let Him do so!

Points to Ponder:
How grown up do you think you are?
 
Your age is pretty minimal compared to God’s eternity!

Thursday Reading: 2 Corinthians 12 5-10
 
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 12 9
9  And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.

Devotion:
What do you do when you find out that you are in a difficult position? Do you turn round and blame God? Do you turn round and plead with God to get you out of it? Paul writes to the Corinthians and tells them of another way of looking at our problems in life, not as problems but as necessities that have to be dealt with. If something is happening in our lives then we have to look and see who it is coming from to begin with.

We will have to face up to so many things that come our way from Satan that it is going to be easy to blame everything on him and just ask God for help... But, just maybe, God has allowed something into our lives so that we may learn from it rather than just relying on Him to take all our troubles away. It is very easy to sit back and let someone else do the worrying or the work when in truth we do have to take responsibility for things in our lives. God does not want us to be automatons that blindly do everything that is told of us but rather to learn from what we do.

How else are we going to learn what He would have us to do if we are not going to look at each situation as it arrives? When we become over-confident in things we begin to make mistakes and find out our weaknesses; by allowing things into our lives God is teaching us that we do have to stay alert and to strengthen ourselves against what may lay ahead. But always be sure to remember that when the going does get tough, there is going to be One who is standing by our sides, supporting us all the way so that we can fight to get better all the time! We see God’s true power when we are at our lowest because we then open our eyes to what He can actually do!

Points to Ponder:
Do you learn from your mistakes?

Who are you actually learning from?

Wednesday Reading: Genesis 17 1-6
 
Key Verse: Genesis 17 1
1  And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.

Devotion:
We don’t have to look too far to see the many wonders that God has done for us, but it is also refreshing to look back near the beginning and see how God promised things to men a long time ago. Abraham (or Abram as he was then known) was ninety-nine years old before God came to him to make His covenant. Imagine us being told at that age that we would have children... That is our reminder today; nothing is impossible with God!

But it’s not just the fact that God made this covenant with Abraham, it is also the words that He used: “Walk before Me and be perfect.” It was not just a case of God making a promise to Abraham, but that Abraham had to do something as well. God has made us many promises but many of those do have pre-conditions attached to them. God wants us to draw closer to Him so that we can fully appreciate the promises that He makes. If we are going to wander off into the wilderness then we are not going to see those promises because we are wandering away from where things are happening!

If someone says that they are going to throw a party for you you would not run off to the other side of the world because you would never see that party! God wants us to get fully involved in His promises by being part of them. What use are His promises to us if we are not going to be a part of them? Abraham saw God’s promise come to fruition because he eventually kept going. Both Sarah and he himself had doubts and turned to their own means but with no effect. God’s ways are perfect and all we have to do is to listen to His ways!

Points to Ponder:
Do you trust people enough to let them do things for you?
 
Are you trusting God enough to let Him do things for you?