Wednesday 5 Nov 2008

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Tuesday 4 Nov 2008

Tuesday Reading: Isaiah 60 1-8
 
Key Verse: Isaiah 60 2
2  For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah shall rise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you.

Devotion:
Here is another passage of prophecies from the book of Isaiah that promises of the spreading of the gospel far beyond the realm of the Jews. It promises of all who call upon the name of our Lord Jehovah will receive His light as well as display His light. For as long as we seek to read and follow the gospel, we will allow others to see God’s light through us. When we seek and follow God, we are seeking to give Him glory for all that He has done, all that He is doing and all that He has promised to do.

If God has given us the chance to show His glory through us, should we not be jumping at the opportunity? Should we not be seeking every opportunity to allow God’s light to shine through us? He has promised to support and guide us when we seek Him. He has promised to bless us when we lift Him up. He has already show us that He will do this by giving up His life on the cross before we even turned to Him. He was willing to make the first move to show us His love – we need to return that love by glorifying Him in everything that we do.

God calls us to rest in His arms so that we will be able to receive full benefit of all that He wants to give us. How can we receive His blessings unless we are willing to come forward and receive His love? As we come to Him and give Him our hardships and our burdens, He will lift them up and give us rest. As we come to Him and receive His promises, we lift Him up and allow others to be encouraged to do the same. We glorify God through coming to Him and receiving His love. We glorify God through coming to Him and lifting Him up just as He lifts us up.

What more glorious a picture than us being able to fly freely back to Him as a dove flies back home through the open window of the coop that has been waiting, always open, to receive it back?

Points to Ponder:
How often do you switch on the lights in the dark?

How often do you let God’s light shine in this dark world?
 

Monday 3 Nov 2008

Monday Reading: Job 19 23-29
 
Key Verse: Job 19 26
26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
 
Devotion:
Job was a man who clearly understood God’s Word. He understood that a Saviour would come, a Redeemer who would deliver his body to heaven no matter what would become of his physical self on earth. If ever there was anyone who may have begun to think otherwise it should have been job at this time – he had lost everything in his life and had faced things that would make normal people give up. His faith in God continued throughout this time. He stood firm on the foundation that is Jesus Christ because He knew that Christ would come one day and would bring Him to heaven.

This is the type of example that we need to hold up when we see things going wrong around us. We need to look back on people like Job and draw strength from their actions. He was able to stand firm through his hardships and God game him rewards beyond those that he had previously had. When we start to see things go wrong around us, we need to stand firm in our faith knowing that God has a reason and that He has a season. We may not know why things happen – just like Job did not know why; but we can stand firm in our faith knowing that He has a season – He has a time within which He will work His wonders so that He will once again get the glory.

When markets collapse and people become bankrupt, others look for someone to blame, someone who they can place the blame on so that they should not be blamed. Well, many a time it is not just down to one or two people but whole communities. Whatever the reason, we are not to seek out people that we can blame but move forward in the knowledge that God is still with us. Don’t allow the plundering of Satan get you down. He may well bring all manner of things our way and be able to take so many things from us, but he will never be able to take God from us and he will never be able to take us from God. Be strong in your faith knowing that God will always be glorified – because He will return as He has promised!

Points to Ponder:
What do you look to when things get rough?

How much do you depend on God for?
 

Sunday 2 Nov 2008

Sunday Reading: Revelation 1 4-8
 
Key Verse: Revelation 1 7
7  Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him will see Him, and all the kindred’s of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Devotion:
John sends out a blessing to the seven churches of Asia (which are mentioned later in vs 11) as directed by God. What follows are prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled, but are nonetheless important for our consumption because of their warnings and truth that are laid down. This last book in our bibles is the one that is both ignored the most and upon which many films have been made. Ironic that many films are made and yet few people consider its truth...

John’s blessing reminds us of the fact that we have God our Father, God the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ the Son of God. It reminds us that Jesus died for our sins. The fact that through His grace and His grace alone is what will prevent us having to pay for our own sin debt is central to this blessing. It is a reminder that there can be no real peace where there is not true grace and that where grace is, truth and peace will follow. We are stained with sin; a stain that cannot be removed other than by the blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the one who shed His blood to cover our sins.

We are reminded that there will be a day when Christ will return with the clouds; a day when every single one will see Him and finally know that He is God. What a great day that will be. But on that day many will not be so happy to see Him because they will be the ones that will suddenly realise that they have been wrong in their choices they have made to ignore God for so long. Even though that may be true and many may be hurt, John says “Even so, Amen” or “even so, let it be so”. Nothing will stop Christ’s return. We may not know the day or the hour, but we know that it will be, one day.

Jesus Christ was, is, and forever will be our God, our King and our Faithful Saviour. Let us therefore gather to Him and show Him how much He means to us because He has already show us how much we mean to Him...

Points to Ponder:
Are you ever caught out by someone arriving without notice?
 
What will you be doing when Christ returns?
 

Saturday 1 Nov 2008

Saturday Reading: Luke 12 54-59
 
Key Verse: Luke 12 57
57  And why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?

Devotion:
Far too many times we look to physical things in our lives and follow them; far too few times do we look at the spiritual things in our lives and let them guide us. Just as we run for cover when we see dark storm clouds coming, we run for cover when we see the physical things happening in our lives. But what is happening to those unseen spiritual troubles or even spiritual gifts? Do we continue to ignore them simply because we cannot see them?

We cannot see a wind approaching unless we see the affects of the wind on the trees around us. We know that that wind is there because of what we see happening in the world around us at the time of the wind. Should we then ignore that wind just because we cannot see it? Of course not. We too run for shelter when we see the strength of the wind in the world around us. Why then do we ignore spiritual things when we can clearly see the changes in the world around us?

In cases like these, we rely on the weather people to tell us when things are going to be good or bad. If we were able to watch the weather and decipher what is happening, then we would be able to warn ourselves too. It does not take a degree to see that rain is on the way when we see it in the distance! Even though we may have to rely on what the weather people will say, we still can make decisions for ourselves... and that is exactly what we need to do because we are at ground level and we are the last eyes that will see what is approaching before it gets to us.

We need to continue to be eager to watch out for spiritual things in our lives just as we are eager to watch out for the weather. We need to keep a constant eye out to make sure that we are not caught up in the storms that may be approaching. Each one of us has to make sure that we understand how the approaching storms will affect us personally because we are the ones at ground level. Now is the time to keep watch. Now is the time to be ready for what is surely coming.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you get caught out for not listening to the weather?
 
How often do you allow yourself into awkward situations because you don’t listen to what God has already warned you about?