Tuesday Reading: John 17 17-23
 
Key Verse: John 17 21
21  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

Devotion:
Jesus’ prayers were not selfish; they were not about Himself or for Himself only. He prayed for everyone that was willing to accept the truth – God’s Word. He set Himself apart from the world so that everyone would get to know God’s Word and separated Himself so that He would be able to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice in our stead. Jesus, through choice, chose not to sanctify Himself, nor to lift Himself up but rather for God to do that for Him; by this He chose to be God’s servant.

Jesus lifted each one of us up in prayer: “those also who shall believe on Me through their word”. It was not just the disciples He was lifting up but every one of us who believes on Him through what we have heard and read. There is no way that we can know the truth until we hear it. There is no way we can be sure that anything people tell us is the truth unless it comes from God. We have God’s Word, our bibles, from which we need to learn and then tell others of the wonderful things that Christ has done for us. Through our telling, others may get to know Him too.

His prayer that we may be one body under one head all brought together through one soul was earnest. He wants us to be able to be reunited with Him and God the Father in heaven. He laid down His life for us so that that could come to pass, so that we may believe that He was willing to do anything just for us – because of His love for us. He wanted us to know just how much God loves everyone. The more people argue about Christianity, the more they throw doubts over various issues and the more stumbling blocks they lay down before men. We need to move towards unity and that unity must be based on the truth – God’s Word – and not on our own beliefs or wants. God wants us to be one with Him. He wants us to be one with the truth. God is the truth; His word is the truth.

Points to Ponder:
What do you seek for in life?

Are you lifting up the truth or laying down stumbling blocks?

Monday Reading: Psalm 22:22-26
 
Key Verse: Psalms 22 24
24  For He has not despised nor hated the affliction of the afflicted; and He has not hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.
 
Devotion:
This Psalms is one that we need to remember after Easter time. When we read back over some of the prophetic psalms we can see just how much God was working with people in the days of King David. They had no idea just how important the words would be that are written these many hundreds of years before Christ would come to the cross; and yet when we read them after remembering Christ’s words on the cross we see a picture of just how much Christ had promised and then made sure came to pass!

Jesus has no worries about calling us His brothers and no worries about supporting us in heaven – so long as we get to know Him now before we get there; so long as we fear God. This is not a frightened state but rather a true reverence to God the Father whom we know as our Creator and King. These words were given to man so many years before as proof that what Christ came to do was exactly what God wanted. He will not hold any of our sins against us once He has forgiven them – though we may hold grudges and remember things people have done to us in the past, Christ has promised to forgive and forget.

God wanted us to know that prayers are always answered so He allowed Jesus to pray and for us to know that every prayer was answered. He wants us to know that when we cry out, He listens and answers! He wants us to know that even though we are weak, He will make us strong. Even though we cannot, He will. Even though we hunger, He will satisfy. He wants us to know this all so that we can have hope and that hope can allow us to have faith in a Saviour and Redeemer that listens, answers, satisfies and keeps His promises every day. Time is not a factor for God; it is just one of the things that allow us to show our weaknesses or lack of faith...

Points to Ponder:
What keeps you from trusting people?

Is anything keeping you from trusting God to answer your prayers?

Sunday Reading: John 12 37-43
 
Key Verse: John 12 42
42  Still, however, even out of the rulers, many did believe on Him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess, lest they should be put out of the synagogue;

Devotion:
It certainly does take all types to make up this world, but it only takes one type to ignore God. We can come up with all manner of excuses about how we should not go to church or how we should be doing other things, but when push comes to shove it is a choice about whether we want to do things for ourselves of for God on the day we set aside for Him. We do not have the luxury of being face to face with Christ so that we can believe Him, but would we even if we were there?

Many of the people that heard Christ speaking still chose to not believe in Him because they did not see what they wanted to see or because they were too frightened of other people rather than thinking of God’s wrath. We get so tied up in things we do for man that we forget about the things that we should be doing – we forget about the simple love that Christ would have us show Him and others. What sorts of things have taken you away from worshipping God in your life?

The people around Jesus had seen Him perform miracles and yet they still chose not to believe in Him. They chose not to believe Him because they were either too entrenched in their own lives and religious ways to give them up or they did not want to give up their ways. Both of these were their own choices not to follow Christ. Both would result in the same situation – being eternally separated from Christ. Unless we are willing to let go of the sand castles we build around ourselves and grab hold of the rock that is Jesus, we will continue to be dashed every time a storm comes our way. We do not have to have all the trimmings and we do not have to perform all manner of duties; Christ simply wants us to love God above all. If we do love Him we will do things for and with Him...

Points to Ponder:
What excuses have you used in the past to get out of church?
 
Where is your love focused?

Saturday Reading: John 6 60-65
 
Key Verse: John 6 64
64  But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who is the one betraying Him.

Devotion:
Have you ever been involved with picking teams from a crowd of people? Could you tell from their faces just who would be willing to be on your team? When we are in a gathering like this where teams are being picked we all tend to try and attract the attention of the person who’s team we would like to be on but we don’t really have a choice about which team we actually end up being on. Being a Christian is not like that because we actually do get to make the decision about which team we would like to be on. If we choose to be on Christ’s team, then we have to make sure that we go forward and be on that team rather than just pretend to be on it!

As we are reminded here, God already knows who is going to be on His team and He waits patiently for each one of us to come forward and make that decision to be on the team. Some take a very long time to finally make that decision because they seem to be able to have fun on the other team until they find out that the captain of the other team doesn’t care about them. If we take any notice of Christ’s team at all we will quickly see that He cares very deeply about everyone that is with Him and even those that He knows will one day make the decision to come to His team...

Christ willingly gave His life for us so that we can have eternal life. He willingly gives His body and blood for us so that if we take that step to believe by receiving His body and blood openly, He will save us. This is not to say that we have to receive communion in order to be saved but rather that we receive Him entirely. He gives us our daily bread that we need – His Word. Whether we receive it or ignore it is our choice but we need to realise how important that choice actually is! Take Christ on board every day by continuing in His Word and having faith that He is not only giving it to us but doing to through His love for us.

Points to Ponder:
Are you still playing in the crowd without choosing a team?
 
Is God your captain?