Monday 30 Mar 2009

Monday Reading: Zechariah 9 9-11
 
Key Verse: Zechariah 9 9
9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes to you. He is righteous and victorious, meek and riding on an ass, even on a colt, the son of an ass.
 
Devotion:
Hindsight is the best sight to have – or at least that is what is seems like after we have been through things and want to know why they have happened the way that they did! But imagine being told about something hundreds of years before it happens; imagine being told about a life-changing event before it even raises its head… Well that is exactly what has happened and what people have been ignoring for many years. The Prophets from the Old Testament foretold of the coming of Jesus; so much so that the Jews believed that that is what would happen.

Unfortunately, when Christ did come to live amongst us, may turned their backs on Him in unbelief because He dared to lower Himself to the same level as a ‘normal person’ rather than coming as the King of Kings. How much they have missed… Christ indeed did come to be amongst us. He was born of a virgin. He lived and learned carpentry. He was a real human being. But He was and is God at the same time. He made sure that all that He did was exactly in line with what the prophets had said ensuring that people did not have anything to doubt Him by… And yet, just as the prophets had told, they rejected Him still…

By far the most important things that were foretold are that Jesus Christ would be the one to separate us from our sin debt and show us the way to heaven. These are also the greatest stumbling blocks for the people who do not believe because it means that they will have to admit to being sinners! For those who were in charge of the religion at the time, it meant that they would have to give in to the authority of Christ instead of ruling over the people. Even though Christ knew this all, He still came forward into Jerusalem, riding on the donkey as foretold, just so that we can get our free pass to heaven and eternal life… if we believe that what has happened is the truth and that our bibles still tell us of what is going to happen. Doesn’t seem so hard when you put it that way…

Points to Ponder:
What does it take for you to believe?

Are you trusting in God’s Word?

Sunday 29 Mar 2009

Sunday Reading: Matthew 20 1-16
 
Key Verse: Matthew 20 16
16  So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.

Devotion:
One of the amazing things that we find out about God and heaven is that He is willing to accept anyone and everyone into heaven if only they would believe. It does not matter how late in life or how early in life we accept that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, we will all get the same ultimate free gift of eternal life in heaven. What we do here on earth is going to change what rewards we do get in heaven, but that gift of being able to join God in heaven is open for all who accept Jesus as Saviour!

Just like the workers in the field, some people may well get upset that some will come to know Christ just before He actually returns or takes us out knowing that they have had to live a life of persecution for being a Christian for so long. But let’s take a second to think about what we are actually getting… Can you compare one day in your life to the whole of your life? Is that one day significant when compared with the (hopefully) many years that you have lived? So if the one day is not very significant, then what are a few decades going to count when we are looking at eternity!

We need to remember just how special a gift we receive through Christ and to remember that that gift is going to last for something called eternity – that in itself is pretty hard to grasp because we live within time and count everything in years, days, hours, minutes, whatever. Eternity means never having to worry about time (rather apt today because here in the UK our clocks went forward 1 hour today so we lost an hours sleep…)

Our gift of eternal life is not going to be diminished in any way. When we get to know Christ we know that we are starting out in a new life with Him and that we are going to enjoy that life. That may seem like just something we Christians say, but I know that it is true – I enjoy being a Christian and I love being comforted every day by my Saviour! You can too…

Points to Ponder:
Do you hold back from bad people?
 
Did Christ hold back from the tax collectors?

Saturday 28 Mar 2009

Saturday Reading: Matthew 19 16-22
 
Key Verse: Matthew 19 17
17  And He said to him, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Devotion:
Being a friend of Jesus is more than just being a good person who is willing to make sure that they do not break any of the commandments. It is very difficult to not break them to start with, but even if you were able to not break most of them, such as those listed here in this passage, there is still Exodus 20 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

When we first think about gods, we think about them as being powerful spirits or beings that are able to influence our world in some way. As we get to know the truth we then begin to realise that there is only one God and that He is all powerful and there is no need for any other gods. What we do not always remember is that definitions of gods we had in the beginning... things that are able to influence our world in some way. Man holds up too many things as gods – starting with money, possessions and the like – and allows them to not only influence his world but also rule his world! Are we not therefore guilty of holding up money and possessions as a god before our God?

Jesus knew what was in this man’s heart and he knew that he would not yet be willing to give everything up – whether he did later or not, I don’t know. Christ knows us from the inside out. He knows when we are holding up earthly treasures instead of holding Him up. He wants us to be willing to hold Him up before any of our earthly pleasures. If we are not willing to do that for Him, then we are not yet ready to hold Him up as our one true God! You may then think that you will never be ready to do that... Well, we all have to start somewhere. We all start out by hearing the word of God. The more we hear (or read) the more we will understand and the more we will grow. The more we grow, the stronger we become and the more likely we will be to be able to hold Him up first. Read, hear and grown in Christ...

Points to Ponder:
Do you have things you do not want to give up?
 
Are you really going to choose them before God?

Friday 27 Mar 2009

Friday Reading: Matthew 14 24-33

Key Verse: Matthew 14 31
31  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt?

Devotion:
How alone do you feel when you are actually away from all your friends and family, by yourself? What do you do when you are alone? Where do you thoughts carry you? We all do feel safe and sound when in the company of our parents or even friends but when we are not with them we may well feel like we are not as safe as we would like to be. This is our natural behaviour and is common to man, not just Christians. But we have a Saviour who is always with us, even when we may think He is not.

The disciples were alone in the boat and being tossed about by the stormy weather. I can’t say that I blame them if they were afraid because I would be (besides being sea-sick as well). Jesus knew just the right time to come to them to strengthen their faith – just as He does to us too. We may feel like He is not with us as we go through rough times and then suddenly we see Him! The disciples were a bit scared at first thinking it might be a ghost walking towards them on the water but were soon told that it was He. Peter was in for a test – he called out to Jesus to call him forward onto the water. He knew that he was not strong enough to go out and walk on the water, but if Jesus called him, he was sure he could do it... and he did for a few paces...

That’s when the fears and doubts began to sink in. We are just like Peter in that we walk forward going towards God’s hands and then we take a look at the world around us and we begin to buckle under the earthly things around us. If we were able to stand firm in our faith we would be able to continue walking on the water – but we give in to earthly things around us and lose focus on God. We need to remain strong in our faith, even when we think we are alone – because we are never alone. God is always with us through The Holy Spirit, so what fear should we ever have... Easier said than done... Be strong in Christ because He continues to give us our daily strength.

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are alone?
 
When was the last time you prayed to Him alone?

Thursday 26 Mar 2009

Thursday Reading: Matthew 13 18-23
 
Key Verse: Matthew 13 23
23  But that sown on the good ground is this: he who hears the Word and understands; who also bears fruit and produces one truly a hundredfold; and one sixty; and one thirty.

Devotion:
Rather than reading the whole of the parable of the sower, I have just read Christ’s explanation of  it to the disciples. Christ was preaching to a lot of people at this time and He knew that not everyone would hear and understand His Word. If He knew that everyone would understand and accept His word as the truth then He would have been able to explain things a whole lot better. Maybe there were some in the crowd that would turn Him in if He preached the ‘wrong things’; whatever the reason, ours is not to doubt the fact but to accept it.

Christ used simple explanations that people could relate to so that they would understand the difference between people that accept the truth and use it and others that reject the truth. We often get carried away with trying to get people to see that God is our God of love and that He is the one behind our lives. If truth be told, it is hard for anyone outside of our beliefs to accept the fact that Christ is who He is. It seems a most extraordinary thing that we place our faith in the unseen and that we get so much comfort from that unseen. Maybe by starting with peoples beliefs is a good starting point after all.

We all know that seeds will produce crops. We all know that they grow out in the fields. We see farmers doing marvellous things by growing so much that we can eat as well. But three things need to be remembered as well. First that the farmer has to sow the seeds in the right place to start with. Second that He has to nurture the field afterwards to ensure good growth. And the third thing is that the ground has to accept the seeds... If the ground rejects the seeds then no matter how hard we try to encourage those crops to grow, they will simply be rejected. Testing the ‘ground’ with a parable may help you to find the right people to witness to...

Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard work witnessing?

Are you sowing in the right places?