Friday Reading: Romans 2 1-4

Key Verse: Romans 2 4
4  Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Devotion:
Once you figure out what laws are good to follow, you then have to make your mind up about how to follow them because following laws is not just a case of doing what the law says... If we were to just try and do what the law says we would very quickly find out that we both find it impossible to keep the law and impossible to discern the spirit of the law. Following the law must not just be an act, nor a duty, but a mindset.

If we try to uphold the law against others we will very quickly find out that we are hated for upholding the law. When we try to figure out why we should be hated for doing that we will begin to realise that we are in fact breaking those same laws, probably without realising it. It is very hard to push against the corruption of the law because there seem to be so much corruption that surrounds us. It is very hard to work for the law when we are surrounded by so much corruption too because we will find that we are fighting against so many people around us.

What we need to do is to make the law a part of our lives and to continue to ask God for the wisdom to walk within that law. It is not going to be an easy task because we will find it hard not to judge everything or everyone according to our own ideals; that is because that is the way that we have lived for so long and that is the way of the world. When Paul wrote this letter he knew how easy it was to go with the flow and to make your own mind up about the law – he was one that upheld the laws that worked against God for so long. We are not all going to have Christ confront us and ask why we work against Him – we have our bibles to guide us in the right direction. We do need to familiarise ourselves with God’s Word so that He can guide us better in walking within His law.

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you uphold the law quite well?
 
How many commandments do you break a week?

Thursday Reading: Romans 1 16-17
 
Key Verse: Romans 1 17
17  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Devotion:
It is very interesting to be able to read through the various books that Paul wrote and to see the difference between his attitude and those around him. He was a man that started out by persecuting the Christians for going against the law as laid down by the Sanhedrin; and yet God used him in a mighty way to reach so many people all around the Mediterranean.  The Jews are God’s chosen people, a people that the prophets had always foretold would reject the salvation of Christ just when they should be reaching out to Him the most. The Romans were the ruling force at the time of these writings and even the Jews had to live in subjection to them; yet the Romans also looked to the Jews and did many things to try and please them. If a kingdom as powerful as that would look up to a small nation such as the Jews, they must have known that there was something special about their God!

But it is amazing how the power of the moment or the laws that seem good to man can override the fear of the unseen. No matter how big an unseen fear is, a visible fear will weigh in more than it... and that is because we give in to things seen rather than to things unseen. That is just the way people are because they put things out of their minds that they cannot immediately see because they do not want others to think that they believe something that cannot be seen!

The Jews upheld their own laws more than the truth that Jesus tried to give them. The gentiles looked up to Roman law more than Christ’s teachings. Each country was establishing their own power-cells from where they could manage their own laws and follow their own wills rather than looking to Jesus Christ as Teacher and Judge. We all have to face Him at some stage; I want Him to be on my side rather than fight against Him... Keeping your faith may be hard at times, but it will always be worth it!

Points to Ponder:
What laws do you follow?

Are you rejecting Christ because of those laws?

Wednesday Reading: Psalm 135:5-7
 
Key Verse: Psalms 135 5
5  For I know that Jehovah is great, and our LORD is above all gods.

Devotion:
It is a wonderful thing to see a person who holds God up in His rightful position and this is seen by both Christian and non-Christian alike. There are many that will uphold a Christian whether they are Christian or not; why do they recognise us so? As true Christians we uphold Gods laws and all people respect those that uphold the law. Many of our laws in the modern world have their roots in Christianity and so many people can relate to that part of us; but when they see that we do more than just uphold the law then they see a strength within us that they do not recognise.

We have God on our side and we know that He is not just our Creator but our keeper too. We know that there are false gods that are worshipped all around us but we also know that they do not have any power. When we lift up our God people recognise something different within us because we have knowledge about something greater than they can comprehend. Granted, there will always be those that rebel because they think we should not know more than them; but the fact is that they are scared by what we know and they don’t.

The more that I see the wonders of this earth and even the universe that we live in, the more that I know that God is keeping order where chaos should reign. It seems that all scientific proof recognises that we should be moving towards chaos and that because of a number of extraordinary events we in fact see great things everywhere we look. I certainly do not believe that we exist because of a long line of mutations... but that is what scientists would have us believe. I believe that God has created us and that He continues to support our life and will continue up until His appointed time – that gives me the inner peace that we have an awesome God who really cares for us! He allows us to see just how much He cares through what He does for us each day, through the weather, the seasons, animal life, plant life and even the wonderful celestial views we have out in deep space... How can all of that be an accident?

Points to Ponder:
Can you explain why the big bang theory worked?
 
Are you trusting God to continue making the world turn?

Tuesday Reading: Psalm 115:1-8
 
Key Verse: Psalms 115 3
3  But our God is in Heaven; He has done whatever He has pleased.

Devotion:
There are many times in our lives when people may well ask us “where is your God” because of the things that happen around us such as earthquakes, storms, floods and even diseases. I know where my God is and I know that He is real... the options they have are limited by their own imaginations.

There are still so many people who prefer to make statues and worship before them than to seek out God; somehow they feel that if they are able to see something before them that their god will be able to hear them. I would rather have faith in my unseen God than to bow down to something that I have made with my own hands.

Idols do not have to be statues but they could be other people, money or even an idea that someone has come up with. Our bibles tell us that they will be many pretenders that will come after Christ to try and persuade us to do other things and to follow other ways. Our bibles tell us that we need to remain firm in our faith that God continues to listen to us to and watch over us. Faith is believing in this even though we cannot see it.

Heathen gods are senseless things because they speak, see, hear or do our bidding unless we do it ourselves. God is the only one who can and does listen and continues to answer our prayers; He has a track record like no other whereby we can be sure that He alone is real. Yes we will continue to see bad things happen in the world all around us because we live in a dangerous world where far too many people think they can control the things of God because of their idols that they believe in. There is nothing that our God cannot do because He is our Creator; He made everything in the first place! Step back and let God have His will.

Points to Ponder:
Are there things that you fervently trust in?

Are you keeping them from God?