Wednesday Reading: James 5 7-11
 
Key Verse: James 5 11
11  Behold, we count blessed those who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy.

Devotion:
Have you ever wondered whether some of your bad habits come about because you are not patient enough to wait for others? Or maybe you land yourself into trouble on regular occurrences because of your impatience... Not being patient enough to wait for what is right is actually seen by some as a sign of strength; but they are only deluding themselves because they are working against the truth.

Patience is something that we all seem to see in others and not in ourselves; but there must be a strong line drawn between patience and laziness because they are totally different. Knowing what is right and waiting for that is one thing; knowing what is right and waiting for yourself is something totally different! Patience is the ability to wait for someone else rather than yourself – something that we do find hard at times, especially when times are tough.

We have been given God’s Word as a complete truth for us to believe and to depend upon. God gave us all of the words so that we may know the truth about Him and also be told of what is going to happen in the future. What do you think would have happened to us if we had known the exact dates of events before they happened? Do you think that you would continue to do what is right in God’s eyes all the time, or do you think you would relax a bit and then do what is right just before it happens? If we had been told the dates when Christ would be taken and when Satan would be cast into the pit, we would probably do things our own way up until it got close to the date... Do you think God would really be pleased about that? Do you think we would be showing Him we are genuine?

Christ wants us to know that He is going to return but He wants us to show our love for Him by being patient for His return and depending on Him day by day, always. He wants us to be genuine believers just as He is our Genuine Living God!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are patient?
 
Do you wait on God’s Word?

Tuesday Reading: 1 Corinthians 10 6-13
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 10 13
13  No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it.

Devotion:
The more we give in to things in our lives, the more we are likely to give into them in the future. The more we do something without thinking, the more habitual it becomes. We continue to sink into a state where we habitually give in to our carnal desires; and the more we do, the stronger those desires get. We need to stop them before they get to the stage where they are our lives! This is why we do have God’s Word; so that we can know what is wrong.

So many stories can be read from the Old Testament about the evil that people did. Each book highlights many facts about the times that the people rejected God and the time that they followed Him. The books of Kings and Chronicles will tell of the kings that followed God and those that rejected Him. When the people were ruled over by evil kings that rejected God, they would fall into evil or hard times. The prophets write about these times and recount the evil that was going on. Each time God would send warnings through the prophets to warn the people and kings to turn from their evil ways and to follow God’s ways; each time He would get rejected because it was the kings making the choices for themselves rather than for God. The harder they tried to stand by themselves, the harder they would fall...

Each one of these times is given to us as an example so that we will not have to go through the same things. All we need do is to read about them and find out how bad things can get when we go it alone. We need to take into our hearts what was done wrong and to turn our backs on that which is wrong; we need to turn and face Christ because He alone is our Redeemer! He wants us to come to Him and depend on Him so that He can show us His never-ending love. He will not allow us to get deeper than we can handle when we do get things wrong, but He will encourage us to get things right!

Points to Ponder:
Do you have many bad habits?

Do you not fear what may happen to you?

Monday Reading: Psalm 106:13-22
 
Key Verse: Psalms 106 13
13  They hurried and forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel;
 
Devotion:
How many times have you been in a position where someone has told you to be patient? When we have to wait for things we start to get into a position where we no longer like to wait but want to hurry things on instead. When we start to push and shove and get our own way, the things that were planned may well start to fall apart as we get our own way instead. That is exactly the lesson that we need to learn from God taking the Children of Israel through the desert. We have to have patience concerning God’s Word!

We do live in a world that is governed by time and we expect things to go according to our plan! God is the one who is in charge of time and He alone is the one that knows what is best for us and the exact time that it will be best for us too. There are going to be times when we feel like things are moving too slowly but that is when God is trying to teach us something. We must not act rashly and start demanding things of God in these cases because He is the one that is in control. It does not mean that we should just sit back and do nothing either because it may well be that He wants us to realise just how much we do depend on Him. We do need to remind ourselves of that fact by continuing to ask of Him but not to expect things to be done in our own time but in His time.

When things slow down, our lusts seem to take over and we give in to them far too easily. Our desires then stem from our lusts rather than from our needs; undue desire becomes sin. No matter how much we want to make things happen in our own time, there are some things that need to happen in God’s time so that He can get the glory and not us. If we are willing to have faith in Him and trust Him to answer our prayers, He will show us just how much He does love us through helping us at the right time. Every day we are learning things by obeying Him. Every day He sorts things out. Each day is a new day for us to show Him we do depend on Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you get impatient?

Are you showing God you depend on Him?

Sunday Reading: Romans 4 1-3, Romans 4 23-25
 
Key Verse: Romans 4 3
3  For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."

Devotion:
It may seem to many that the Old Testament is a book that was written for the people that lived before Christ and that the New Testament was written for those of us afterward. But, in truth, the whole bible was written for all. They may not have had the New Testament back in the days of Abraham, but they certainly had the same truth that we have nowadays; it’s just that we now have hindsight because we have the knowledge of what Christ did for us on the cross to look back on too. God has not changed the law from being one way before Christ and another way after Christ; we are the ones who seem to want to read something new into God’s Word.

God has always required faith in Him. Adam and Eve were required to have faith in following what God had said. They may well have been able to walk with Him in the Garden of Eden, but when it came to their time alone, they had to believe what God had told them and trust in that. Yet they, like us, chose to take a different path at that time! Abraham was not justified because of all the work that he did; he was justified by the fact that he believed in God. Each one of the great rulers and prophets have shown us that we have to believe in God before He will consider us. That does not mean that He does not love us before we believe, far from it. Why else would He have sent His Son to die for a sinful world if He did not first love us?

Our bibles are here for us to learn the truth and to know that God is real and that through our belief in Him, we will be justified. Our bibles are here so that we can know the law and learn that we have made mistakes. Through those mistakes we can learn about how much God loves us. When we know that we can see just how He is on control of everything and that gives us the wherewithal to believe in Him. With that belief comes trust and with that our faith in Him is built up. That is when we can see how precious a gift Christ gave to us on the cross and that will strengthen our faith even more. We are justified through our faith, through our belief, just as everyone before us. God does not change!

Points to Ponder:
What does it take for you to believe in something?
 
What will it take for God’s Word to sink in?