Sunday Reading: John 3 16-17
 
Key Verse: John 3 16
16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Devotion:
I don’t think I will ever get tired of reading or saying out this verse! It was the first verse that I learned at church and it has stuck with me ever since. The priest who taught it to me did try to explain what it meant, but I never quite got the explanation; not until I heard the gospel explained a bit better and learned that my sins were keeping me away from God. That was when that verse began with a whole new meaning to me. I can remember a senior at school giving us a short lesson on just how much love there is in these two verses – that was in a “scripture union” meeting we had (only had about 6 people attending at the time) between lunch time and sports time!

 

These sorts of memories remind me of the importance of continuing in God’s Word and continuing to encourage others. I cannot remember the names of the seniors who were in charge of the scripture union, nor which one gave the lesson, but I can remember it because my bible had different text to theirs. We also used to meet for 10 minute prayer meetings every break time near the cricket pavilion – we had to go there so that we would not get mocked by all the other guys… But that sort of action built up a love for Christ that would not leave me. I may have left Christ out of my life when I left school and went through university, but coming back to His open, patient, loving arms was just as good as the day I was saved.

 

Christ did not come to condemn us. If He had done that, then I would have been in deep deep water when I turned my back on Him and followed my earthly ways. If He was a God that punished us for our sins, I would have probably not survived university – never mind the next 10 years of my life! But I can stand on these verses, knowing that they are true and knowing that God is always with me. I don’t have to be in church, nor do I have to do His work. I do them now because I love Him and I want to. I do them because He showed me such wonderful love in the beginning and again when I was willing to admit that I had gone astray. Our God loves us all and wants us all to believe in Him so that He can look after us as our loving father.

 

Points to Ponder:
What was the first bible verse you learned?
 
How much do you depend on God’s Word?

Saturday Reading: Psalm 7:8-10
 
Key Verse: Psalms 7 8
8  Jehovah shall judge the people; judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity on me.

 

Devotion:
This Psalms shows just how much king David relied on the justness of God’s judgement! At this stage in his life he was able to stand up and know that he was accounted innocent because he knew that God had forgiven him of his sins that he had done beforehand. Now let us not forget that this was before Christ had come to deliver us from our sins so any atonement for sins was done through faith after sacrifice. That may sound a bit odd, but think about it… They had to bring the correct sacrifice before God and then have faith that God would accept their sacrifice for their sins. To me, that sort of faith has got to even scarier than having faith in a God we cannot see!

 

Can you imagine having to do something so that you would be forgiven? Can you imagine the worry that would accompany any such act? Is my gift going to be good enough to cover my sins? That answer would have to come from the heart… If you had given enough through your heart to God, then He would be just and righteous to forgive you for your sins. The poor would never be able to afford a whole clean goat to offer as a sacrifice, but they could always mean just as much with a dove as a person who could afford the goat. The rich would easily be able to afford the goat, but would they take that goat forward with the same passion as a poor person would take their dove?

 

Yes, Christ has paid the price for our sins. But if we are not willing to bring them before Him with the passion and honesty of a poor person who could not afford a perfect sacrifice, then we are no better off that someone who just goes through the motions to be counted. Too many people today just go through the motions so that they can be counted as a “church-goer” or a “peaceful person”. We need to come before Christ with open hearts and open minds so that we can humble ourselves before our God and know that we have nothing that we can hide from Him. We need to recognise just how much He has done for us and act accordingly!

 

Points to Ponder:
When you ask someone to forgive you, do you mean it?
 
Do you come before God and confess all?

Friday Reading: John 21 15-19

 

Key Verse: John 21 17
17  He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

 

Devotion:
Have you ever had your intentions or even your love questioned? Why would someone question your intentions when you think that they should know you better and should know your intentions? Well, the most common reason is simply because you have done something that has put into question your intentions. Christ had the foreknowledge to know what Peter was going to do and questioned Him whilst He had time with Peter. It is often when we have gone that step too far or have not done what we should have done that we then realise what is wrong. In other words, it is too late before we realise something is wrong!

 

If we are truly sorry, then we will act upon those feelings and bring them to mind each time we do something wrong in the future. If we are truly sorry about our sins against God, then we are going to feel that prick in the heart each time we do sin against Him. Ignoring that tiny prick will lead to another sin and another after that. If we continue to ignore them, we may well end up having a huge regret for a combination of sins or we may end up doing something we really regret! Peter would never have dreamt that he would deny Christ once, let alone three times; but we know that he did because our bibles tell us. He even confided in the other disciples because it is them who wrote about it. Such was his remorse that he did not want to end his life in the same way as Jesus because he thought himself not worthy enough.

 

We need to be more vigilant in looking for the signs that we send out. If we start to do something and think “well, it won’t hurt to do it just once” we have already gone as far as Peter and Christ has already had to bring our intentions into question! God knows what is in our hearts, He knows when we are weak and give in, He knows when we make our own excuses…

 

Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things that are out of character?
 
Do you force Christ to question your actions?

Thursday Reading: Psalm 116:1-2
 
Key Verse: Psalms 116 1
1  I love The LORD because He hears my voice and my prayers.

 

Devotion:
So many times in our lives we don’t think of the obvious solutions because we are looking for complex ways of fixing our problems that we think are so complex! So many people search for God in the most complicated ways whereas He has given us the most direct and uncomplicated route we can imagine. God wants us to talk to Him in prayer. Simple! He does not want us to have to jump through hoops so that we can belong to a certain religion, nor does He want us to have to go through elaborate ceremonies before we can get to know Him.

 

This psalmist begins by declaring his love for God because he knows that his God listens! He declares this with the simplicity of stating any given fact because he knows it to be a fact. He does not have faith that God will answer some of the prayers that he has prayed in the past because he already knows it for a fact. That then gives him the knowledge that God is going to answer his prayers that he will lift up to God in the future. His faith is based on a fact! We need to take this psalmists example to heart and live with that same faith because we will see it become a fact in our lives too. God does answer prayers and He answers them so that we can know He is real and know about His absolute love for us.

 

We should not have to wait until we start to feel trapped before we lift up our prayers to Him. We should not have to wait until we feel that we have reached rock bottom, not wait until we have tried everything else… God’s way is simple and should be our first port of call. When we lift Him up as first in our lives we will begin to know that He is watching, listening and answering our prayers. The more that we get to know Him, the more we realise how much He does do for us. The more we find that He does for us, the stronger our faith will be because we see that faith turn into fact each and every time.

 

God is here. He listens. Don’t wait for rock bottom… Call out to Him with absolute faith now because He is the one answering our prayers!

 

Points to Ponder:
How often do you struggle to find the right things in life?

 

How often do you choose to seek God first?