November 24: Zechariah 6 9-15
Key Verse: Zechariah 6 13
It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’
Devotion:
It is wonderful to be able to search through both New and Old testaments and find references which agree in all points giving us the encouragement we need to know that Jesus Christ is our Saviour. God spoke to Zechariah about 500 years before Christ was born to make sure people knew the Messiah was coming and how He was the one who would build up the real Temple of God. We are no longer talking about the physical temples that were built such as by Solomon, but an even more impressive Temple – Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
The Jews from Babylon brought offerings to the house of God so that crowns could be made which would be placed on the head of Joshua. This was to be set as a reminder that another would be coming who was even greater than Joshua. This would not only be the Foundation of the temple, but the Founder of it too. Such glory is a terrible burden which cannot be carried by any mortal because no man could bear the weight of glory Christ was to bring. That weight was the cross, a burden from which all other men have died, but one from which Christ would raise Himself! The bringing together of heaven and earth could no man achieve other than one who would be able to mediate between sinful man and Sinless God. Only our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God can ever step up to that mark!
Such memories, such prophecies, such reminders have stood the test of time and proclaimed our Lord would walk on earth as a man and yet would also be the ultimate sacrifice which would pay for all of our sins once and for all. Who could imagine such a thing as God had set in motion, being foretold, being upheld and being relied upon. But all of this would be to no avail if we will not come to accept Christ as our Saviour and King; if we are not willing to have Him rule over us as King. We have no grounds to accept Him as our Saviour unless we are willing to obey the voice of Jehovah God.
Points to Ponder:
How far do you go for others?
What would you say to the One who willingly gave His life for you?
November 23: Matthew 16 13-20
Key Verse: Matthew 16 18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Devotion:
This is one of those statements in our bibles some churches will take to mean that this is where their own particular church started and was built upon Peter rather than on Christ. How wrong we can be by supposing anything could ever be built upon a human other than Christ Himself who is also God. Each of the disciples showed themselves to be men of faith who upheld Christ’s teachings but each of them also had their own issues and problems. Just as they did, we have our own problems we have to fight against, things which will tempt us away from Christ back into the world.
It is Christ Himself who reminds the disciples it is not just anyone’s words here on earth which tell us that Jesus is God but it is the very words from God Himself that reveal such truths. It is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of the truth and guides us through our lives. So long as we are willing to listen to Him and not to be misguided by man own teachings, we will be able to remain in the absolute truth. But, as is the case most of the time, we are led astray by things which sound good or make us feel good at the time. We need to be careful to make sure we do follow God’s Word and keep His Word close to our hearts.
That is why God gave us the bible, so we could know the truth and discern that truth as well. It is no good reading all the books of man and drawing conclusions from them if we are not going to compare them with the truth which God gave us. If the teachings of man will uphold God’s Word, then we can trust them. If they cannot be confirmed with God’s Word then we should not be entertaining them. Christ made sure the disciples would understand evil would not prevail against His Truth; His truth would stand forever and was established through Him, God. Peter was just one of the disciples who would carry that word forward and make sure others knew the truth! But that was not the end of it because Christ knew what still lay ahead for Him to do in order that all believers could receive eternal life...
Points to Ponder:
When was your church building established?
God is The Alpha and The Omega!
November 22: Romans 14 19-23
Key Verse: Romans 14 20
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
Devotion:
Isn’t it amazing how quickly we will give in to things when we are hungry or thirsty? But it is not just those physical extremes which encourage us to give in but all the social extremes in our lives too. When we see someone enjoying themselves without us, we tend to overlook the bad things which may be happening and join in so we can enjoy ourselves too. When we see something that looks like fun, we will not give too much consideration to those around who may be offended by what we are about to do because of the enjoyment we will gain. Our eyes become as those of a blinkered horse who does not see the obstructions to the side or the fact they are obstructing things on either side...
Being aware of the people around you should be a quality you are proud of and not an annoyance you want to ignore. Being aware of our surroundings and catering for the feelings of those around us will work towards peace and love of our neighbours. We should not ignore the small things which may well cause arguments and break down the bridges we are trying to build with those around us. We need those bridges so we can continue to show them just how much God means to us and how much He cares for us.
We cannot encourage each other by arguing with one another; it is much better to deny yourself something than to know that it is about to offend someone. If we are giving in to fleshly lusts in this manner, be it food and drink or any other minor want, we are saying to God those are more important than His will in our lives. Nothing is more likely to destroy a soul than to cause offence through giving in to your own personal lusts; that will be seen as a wilful offence by others. If we are in doubt over whether something will cause offense, then we should not go there until we know that it will not cause offense. We need to make sure doing God’s will comes first because His will is the perfect direction for us to be going in…
Points to Ponder:
How aware are you of other people’s feelings?
How high a regard does God’s will get in your life?
November 21: Proverbs 21 3-4
Key Verse: Proverbs 21 3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Devotion:
We have been reminded over the last few days about what we need to be doing in our lives, about the Christian duties we have towards each other. Let us never forget just how important these duties are, not just the thoughts of them, but the doing of them. Let us not forget that we are the ones who have to put aside the earthly ways which surround us. We need to remember just how important these things are because of the high regard God has for them. Too many times Christians rest in Christ’s promise that He will save us if we believe in Him; and He will because He has promised us so! But that does not stop the fact we will all face up to what we have done here whilst in His care...
Doing the right thing is more important than the sacrifices we pay because of the sacrifice Christ paid for us. You may well be asking “what sacrifices do I pay?” If we are following God’s Word, then we are bringing the sacrifices of a broken or contrite heart, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, the sacrifices of our time, our belongings, our hearts... If we are not willing to do our Christian duties with honour and humiliation before God, then are our sacrifices not hollow sacrifices? But are we willing to bring the sacrifice of our treasures to God?
It is the small things in life which will bring us down. It is those same small things that are showing God we do not truly fear Him because we are willing to allow them into our lives on a regular basis. The simple act of elevating ourselves above others is proclaiming our own self-righteousness above the station God has given us. Yes, we do have levels and structures in our society that are there for a reason – what could a teacher do is they were not able to tell the class to be quiet for the lesson? But our pride and greed cause us to lift ourselves in ways that go far and beyond social structure. Our own lack of moral judgement allows us to go with the people around us instead of lifting God and His ways up. Remembering just how important our actions are will help us to remember just how important God is.
Points to Ponder:
Are you really any better than anyone else?
What are you lifting up above God?
November 20: Ephesians 5 6-11
Key Verse: Ephesians 5 9
(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)
Devotion:
The worst lie you can tell is one you will get away with! We go through life having to face seemingly insignificant lies so many of which we do not know the truth and we are taken in by them. The more we face those lies, the more we are led astray from the path of truth. What starts off as a “small lie” in the beginning may well grow into something we finally question because it has wandered so far from the truth; but far too many times we get pulled in and do not see the wood from the trees. Far too often we excuse such things as the frailties of human life and we expect that God will take no notice of them as we don’t. Don’t be fooled – God does see everything!
When we look at our little lies that we live with, we see them through our temporal eyes (earthly views) instead of through our spiritual eyes. By our earthly standards they do not seem to be much, they may even be of such insignificance we do not regard them as issues at all. But just how far are they going to take us away from God’s Word? We need to take a step back from our lives and have a look into them to see just what we do allow into our lives. When we do that, we may well see what our parents warned us against...
We have all been there – we have all been tempted and given in to temptations at some stage. What we do after the fact is what will establish us in our next few steps in our lives. If we are willing to ignore what has just happened and continue to go with the flow, we face certain defeat. If we reject what has happened and go against the flow, we face the wrath of our peers because they will still want to go with the flow. But that is the point; it is not about achieving the short-term goal but the eternal goal. If we are not going to stand up for what is righteous and godly, then should we expect God to stand up for us? We must do our best to try and prove that which is acceptable to God. Don’t be side-tracked by seemingly insignificant things...
Points to Ponder:
What temptation do you give in to most?
How many things do you bring before God?
PS: Sorry devotionals did not go out for a few days – error in my scripts on the server!