Thursday Reading: 2 Timothy 2 8-13
 
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 2 13
13  If we do not believe Him, yet He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Devotion:
“How can there be a God if there is so much suffering in the world?” I bet you have heard that one a few times... Well, the simple answer is that there is suffering in the world because of our sins, but if you tell that to someone who is not yet a believer they may well turn against you because you are telling them that they are sinning against God – their immediate thought will then be that God is set against them and they will not want to believe in such a God... maybe hoping in some way that God will not affect them if they do not believe in Him in the first place... It’s that chicken and egg situation all over again!

We need to remember that Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. We have to place our faith squarely in His hands because He alone is the one that has shown us the mercy and will forgive us of our sins if we confess them to Him. He is the one that has already endured the cross to take on the punishment for our sins – hence we only need to ask Him for forgiveness for them. We may suffer because we do good or evil; that is just the type of world that we live in. You only need to watch the news to find out that people suffer when they try to stand up for good and they suffer when they get caught doing bad – it does seem like a no-win situation! But what so many people do forget is what is going to happen after we die here on earth.

If we continue to uphold Christ as our Saviour in front of all adversity, then we are holding His name above all; He will not forget that and He will stand by our side when we meet Him face to face. If we, however, deny Him, He is going to deny us when it comes time to meet Him face to face. It’s not all about our time on earth – it’s all about what is going to happen for eternity after our time on earth, and that is what we really need to worry about! No matter how much people try to deny God or deny Christ, He is alive and He cannot deny Himself. We will all meet Him face to face one day; there is no getting away from the truth...

Points to Ponder:
Just because you don’t know someone does that make them not exist?

Do you keep in contact with Christ all the time?

Wednesday Reading: John 7 1-13
 
Key Verse: John 7 13
13  However, no one spoke openly of Him, because of the fear of the Jews.

Devotion:
How many times have you been told one thing and then heard another thing from the same person when they don’t think you’re around? We expect friends and honest people to say the same thing when they are with us as when we are not with them – whether those things are about us or not. But many a time we often find that people will act kindly to us whilst we are with them and not so when we are not around. If we are going to be totally honest then we will admit to having done that at some stage too.

Jesus knew what the Jews were saying about Him and He knew where their hearts lay. He also knew what they were going to do to Him. He also knew that the time was not yet right for Him to lay down His life so He told His kinsmen that He would not yet go to the feast of tabernacles. If He had gone with them, then everyone would have known about it and Jesus would have been taken prisoner earlier. Instead He followed on later in secret so that the Jews would not know He was in amongst them. Talk about being a fly on the wall! We can only imagine what sort of things He may have heard; and we can only begin to imagine just how much those things would hurt Him. Think how much you have been hurt by someone saying something horrible behind your back...

There are times when we want God to physically intervene in our lives; times when we just wish He would either change us or our circumstances overnight so that we would be better off. But during those times, are we thinking about our physical selves or our spiritual selves because we may well not be thinking on the same lines as Christ is about us. Jesus’ kinsmen wanted Him to show off His miracles to the Jews so that they could be held in high esteem. There is a big difference between wanting something for our own good and wanting something so that God may be glorified; we are not here to glorify ourselves, but God. We need to remember just who is in charge and who has the power and who should get the glory!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like people talking about you behind you back?
 
Do any of your conversations let God down?

Tuesday Reading: John 1 6-13
 
Key Verse: John 1 12
12  But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,

Devotion:
How many people do you think you know that are committed to following Christ? How many of them do you think would compare with John? John was a man who was not after things of this world; indeed, he left them behind and lived in the desert. He gave his life to serve Christ in a way that puts us all to shame. We still live in our little worlds where we think we are safe and we think we are not being tempted by things around us, but if truth be told, those little worlds of ours that we have set up contain many of the temptations that we don’t want in our lives. We have grown so used to having things around us that we accept them as being part of our lives!

John was looked up to by so many people because of the stance that he had taken. Many people went out to get baptised by him in the stream where he was. Many people thought that he was someone special not because of the way that he dressed (camel skins are hardly the best clothes) and certainly not because of his great church building (he had none). They knew he was special because of the truth that he would talk of; he preached Christ. He did not take any of the praise for himself but made sure that all the glory was given to Christ who was following him.

Christ is our Light that we need to let into our lives; not just let in but to fill our lives. If we are willing and able to let Him fill our lives with the good things, then there is going to be less room for those sins in our lives. Too many of us are allowing the worldly things to fill our lives rather than heavenly things. Because of that we walk in the way of the world and others around us will see us in that light too – no matter how much we think or know of ourselves! When we block Christ from our lives, we are blocking the truth and following the world instead. We need to open our eyes and let in the light; through letting in that light we will learn from it and we will grow in it. When we live in Christ’s Light, we live in a life full of grace and truth, begotten of God.

Points to Ponder:
Name the top 10 things in your life?

How many of them are you willing to let God take?

Monday Reading: Psalm 90:10-17
 
Key Verse: Psalms 90 14
14  Satisfy us early with Your mercy, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
 
Devotion:
The doctors and scientists have made remarkable advances in medicine over the last few decades and wit that has come an extension in the average time that we each gave to live. More people are more able to get closer to living for 100 years instead of the 70 or 80 years given to us by God; but it has been hard work for many people to get that far. No matter how hard we do work, we will continue to find that we have a finite lifespan here on earth just as God has given us.

Because we have a finite lifespan we need to make sure that we do what we can in those short years otherwise we will get to the point where we suddenly find that we have run out of time. To find out what we should be doing is the easy part – we read God’s Word and understand it. He has given us His Word so that we can understand it and that we can know what He would have us to do. Following God’s Word can be the hard part because of the multitude of other things that we allow into our lives. If only we were able to focus on the things in life that He would want us to and to disregard others...

God continues to show us His mercy so that we can be encouraged to follow His Word. He is faithful to show us His mercy so that we can focus on His will in our lives. When we focus on Him we grow in the wisdom that He would want us to have so that we can know the best way to live out our lives. We need to do this as His servant, faithfully and willingly doing His bidding. Doing this will give us more joy in our lives than any earthly works because we will be looking forward to the rewards that we will be getting with our eternal life with Him. Read His Word. Listen to His Word. Absorb His Word. Meditate on His Word. Establish His Word in your life. Through that we will be more able to do His will and enjoy His company throughout our lives on earth.

Points to Ponder:
Which rules do you listen to and which do you ignore?

Are you really listening to God’s rules?