Tuesday Reading: Jeremiah 31 3
 
Key Verse: Jeremiah 31 3
3  Jehovah has appeared to me from afar, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you.

Devotion:
We don’t have to look too deeply in the Old Testament to find places where God reminds us of His everlasting love, something that we do need to be reminded of because of our tendency to forget! When God expresses His love to us He does not say “I love you here and now and may not love you tomorrow if we don’t get on” but simply say “I love you always”. If we were able to take that attitude and apply that to the people around us we would be able to move forward in our lives with a new vigour!

God’s love for us does not start when we drop down on our knees and pray to Him and it certainly will not stop when we do something wrong in front of Him. If any of that was true then we would have a God that changes! We know that He is our Living God “with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning” (James 1 17) so when He tells us that He loves us, we know that He has loved us from the beginning and will do so to the end – not the end of our lives but the end of time! His love is not hidden under a stone but is shown to us openly and totally too. His demonstration for His love to us by giving His life for us is something that we need to take note of and not treat like a piece of history.

When we express our love to others we often attach strings or requirements before we do. God does not. Our love for others may well wane when we are faced by adversity or by wrong behaviour, God’s love does not wane. When we get upset by others we take action against them that brings into question our love for them. When we do things against God He does not turn His back on us; He may well allow us to walk off into the distance but He will always remind us that He is still there and still loves us no matter what we do.

Because God continues to show and express His love for us, we need to hold onto that truth and grasp it with all our strength; allow His love to draw us in and strengthen us and shower us with peace and comfort. His love is nothing to be hidden but is everything to be displayed and shown to others too – because it is a love without question.

Points to Ponder:
How easily do you say “I love you”?

Do you realise just how much God loves you?

Monday Reading: John 21 20-22
 
Key Verse: John 21 22
22  Jesus said to him, If I desire that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.
 
Devotion:
We do all face good and bad times throughout our lives and we try to forget the bad times by putting them behind us whilst remembering the good times – that is just us being optimistic – the truth being we all face good and bad. What we do with those instances defines the way that we are. The disciples would try to think about what Jesus had told them and act accordingly, learning as they took each step; but they still had many questions that would need to be answered before Jesus was taken from them. Well, that is probably the way that they saw it... Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen and He was preparing the way.

Each time we face different situations, it may be God’s way of letting us know that we have a whole lot more to learn about before we continue on in our path. But far too many times in those instances we worry more about what is going on around us than we do on what we should be doing. Jesus was quite explicit in what He said (paraphrasing) “If I want him to live until I come back again, what is it to you? Your simply have to follow Me”. In other words Jesus was telling Peter not to worry about how much the other disciple was not doing for Him, be it back-sliding or working against God, but rather to worry about what he should be doing for God.

When we get caught up in things we tend to forget about what we should be doing and concentrate on all the things that are falling down around us. If we are able to step back and concentrate on what we should be doing for Christ, we will be working to help maintain what Christ is laying in place. If we ignore what we are doing and concentrate on what others should be doing, then we bring ourselves down because we are no longer doing what is profitable for God. If we want to make God proud of what we are doing, then we have to make sure that we concentrate on the task that He has set us to do and not to get bogged down by others mistakes or misgivings.

Points to Ponder:
Do you do what you are told?

Are you listening to God or making your own way?

Sunday Reading: Ezekiel 28 12-19
 
Key Verse: Ezekiel 28 15
15  You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you.

Devotion:
The more we achieve the more we try and the more we get trapped into seeking achievement. Whilst achievements themselves are not bad at all, we do need to remember just who has been our guide behind the achievements that we have been able to reach. There is no way that we can reach out by ourselves and claim anything that God has given us, from our simple lives through to the most complex computers in the world – our brains! It is through Him that we are able to do so much and because of His guidance that we can strive to do better in our lives. Many people have turned from God after their own successes in life and have left Him behind because of their pride. Satan was the first and will certainly not be the last one who gets caught up in themselves.

The prince or king of Tyre was just another one following in Satan’s footsteps as he claimed divine honours because of all that he had achieved. You may turn round and say that you have never done that, but think closely about just who you think has been in control of your destiny... We do lift ourselves up and the more we do, the more we leave God out of our destiny... That is the same as lifting ourselves up to God’s level, or lifting ourselves up to divinity. The more God allows us to have, the more we need to praise Him for what He is allowing into our lives because we certainly do not deserve it with what goes on in our minds!

Each one that leaves God behind or lifts himself up to God’s position will have to face God’s own wrath. God is our creator and He alone deserves the honour and glory for all that we achieve through Him. Let us never forget just how much God does for us. We may achieve so much through Him, but we still have iniquity in our hearts so we still need Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We need to depend on Him and through Him for everything in our lives. Give Him the honour and glory that He deserves for all that He continues to do for each one of us!

Points to Ponder:
Are you proud of what you have achieved?
 
Do you realise just how much God has done for you?

Saturday Reading: 1 Peter 3 8-13
 
Key Verse: 1 Peter 3 8
8  And finally, all be of one mind, having compassion on one another, loving the brothers, tender-hearted, friendly.

Devotion:
There are many times in our lives when we find it hard to think along the same lines as other Christians... what should we be doing then? God gave us this answer when Jesus told us to love our neighbour. He knew that there would be times when Christians would disagree with other Christians, and some being stubborn, would turn to arguments or fights to try and resolve the disputes. What the Lord would have us to do is far from the arguments and fights – He would rather we turned our feeling to love and compassion before we get that far.

We can identify the time before a fight breaks out because that is when we start to get uneasy or let our feeling get the better of us. That is the time to take a step back and think rather than take a step forward and make yourself heard. Breaking out into an argument over something is not going to win friends or influence people whatsoever. Yes we do need to make the truth know, but not at the expense of friendship – in these cases we need to back off and agree to disagree knowing that you will at least have another time to put forward the truth and allow them to make their own minds up.

It’s not about bashing people over the head until they submit to God’s Word, it’s about showing them the good and the benefits of having God’s Word on your side so that they will want to find out more. The Lord is watching over us all the time and when we start to fight with others we are chasing people away from God. If they are Christians already, then we causing heart-ache to both us and God. Our tongues will get us into all sorts of problems if we do allow them to rule our lives. Jesus was one that only spoke when He knew it would benefit us, during times when He would otherwise be drawn into arguments, He would back off and allow people to think before giving them a truthful reply – most people will spot their own mistakes given time to think.

Points to Ponder:
Do you talk before thinking?
 
Do you allow God to speak before running off at the mouth?