Tuesday 8 Jul 2008

Tuesday Reading: Acts 9 36-43
 
Key Verse: Acts 9 36
36  And in Joppa was a certain disciple named Tabitha (which translated is called Dorcas). She was full of good works and kind deeds which she did.
 
Devotion:
I think that this is one miracle that is often overlooked, but I want to have a look at it here because of how it happened. Tabitha was a disciple, or in other words she was a Christian; she believed in Christ and followed His teachings. Not only that though for she was know for her good works and kind deeds; so much so that when she died, they were showing all the things that she had made for others whilst she was being wept over. She had truly touched the hearts of many people around her.
 
Peter was called from the nearby Joppa to come to them because of the importance of that single life in their community. When he heard about Tabitha’s death, he came immediately. When he got there he had everyone leave the room so that he could pray to God with just the two of them. And that is all he did. He prayed and then demonstrated his faith in Christ that He would answer his prayer by telling Tabitha to rise up. Peter knew how important it was to have someone in the community that could hold them together in love and kindness. He knew that there was nobody like Tabitha that would take over and he wanted God to allow her to continue with her ministry for a bit longer.
 
It was not Peter’s words that made Tabitha come back to life but the power of Christ through his spoken words that did it. When we focus on doing things for God we need to remember that when God is behind it, nothing can stop His will. We have to remember that God is all powerful. We have to demonstrate our faith in Him alone by believing that He will do things that will bring glory to His name. As long as we bring our prayers to Him with the knowledge that He will get the glory, we can know that He will answer our prayers without question. Peter may not have had such a good start whilst Christ was alive, but he made up for it with his faith afterwards. It is never too late to show our faith for Christ.
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you wish you could do wonderful things?
 
Who are you actually thinking about when you wish that?

Monday 7 Jul 2008

Monday Reading: 2 Timothy 3 14-17
 
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 3 16
16  All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
 
Devotion:
One way that we can learn how to be a friend to someone is to learn more about them so that you will be able to understand them better and to be able to help them in more ways but more specifically to be able to help them in the right way. Each of us is different and we need different things, so what may please one person may not please another; getting to know them as individuals will help you to understand what they need themselves. If we want to be a friend to Christ, then we have to learn more about Him to find out what sort of things will please Him. You can be assured that what will please man will not always please God!
 
That is why we have our bibles, the scriptures; so that we can learn about Him. The bible is not just a book written to tell us what is right and what is wrong; our bibles are instructions so that we may learn more about God. The more that we learn about Him, the easier it becomes for each of us to be able to do the things that we know will please God. It is the bible that allows us to see that Christ is our Saviour and exactly what we need to do in order that we may be saved from our sins. The world will not teach us this because the world has been corrupted. God’s word, on the other hand, is not. As we read through our bibles, we find out what other people have written down under God’s instruction so that we may know the truth about God through other people’s eyes. God is the one that has given them the inspiration to write these words – how else would they have been able to remember all these things in the details that they have?
 
It’s not just in a few years after Christ was crucified that these words have been written down because the Old Testament books have been written over thousands of years so that we would be able to learn about what God has done from the beginning of time. When we learn things in science, we are finding out about man’s view of what has happened; man’s view does not always match up to what has actually happened because we are still learning about the awesomeness of our God. We need to stand up for our bibles, knowing that they tell us the truth so that we can know the truth about of friend, Jesus Christ.
 
Points to Ponder:
How much do you know about your best friend?
 
How much have you found out about Christ?

Sunday 6 Jul 2008

Sunday Reading: James 2 23
 
Key Verse: James 2 23
23  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
 
Devotion:
This refers back to Genesis 15 6 which states “And he (being Abraham) believed in God. And He (being God) counted it to him (Abraham) for righteousness.” That verse gives us evidence that Abraham first believed in God and that then brought out the righteousness that was shown. In other words, believe in God and through that belief, or because of it, you will do things differently and God will treat you differently. Abraham’s belief and total trust in God was demonstrated aptly by the way that he was willing to sacrifice his own son because God asked him to. He knew that there must be a solid reason why. He trusted that God would still deliver on His promises. His actions did indeed speak louder than any words.
 
Abraham was justified before he went up the mountain to offer up his son; it was not because of this action that he was justified. This action was an open demonstration of his faith. An open demonstration of our faith to God may be as simple as going to church even if our friends are skipping a week; some simple act that will show God that He is the one you trust.
 
But the best part of this for me is that Abraham was called a friend of God. What better title could you ever get than being a friend of God? How often do you try to make friends with the most influential people you meet just so that you can go a bit further? How often do you make friends with others just so that you can be seen to be in with the “best” people? We do it all the time because we are easily swayed by little things that people do and recognise. What we miss most of the time is the fact that God does so much around us; He is the one we should be looking up to rather than our friends or the people around us. He is the one we should be aiming to be our best friend because He is the one that will never let us down because He cannot die. Being in a total trust friendship with Christ will allow us to see just how awesome He is and just how much we can trust Him in absolutely everything.
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you look for friends based on popularity?
 
Are you aiming at making God you best friend?

Saturday 5 Jul 2008

Saturday Reading: James 2 14-17
 
Key Verse: James 2 17
17  Even so, if it does not have works, faith is dead, being by itself.
 
Devotion:
One thing that I have learned the hard way is that if you are not prepared to do something rather than just talk about it, it will never get done! In this respect, there is nothing different about something you say you will do and your faith. If you say you are going to do something, then you will have to get up and do it otherwise it will not get done. If you say that you have faith, then you have to exercise that faith otherwise it is nothing.
 
We can say that we believe in God and still not get to heaven. Satan knows that God exists, he does not have to exercise faith; but that does not mean that he is going to heaven. He believes that God exists, but he does not put his faith and trust in God. If we start to act in that manner, then should we expect to get any different treatment than Satan would get. Sounds bad when you put it that way!
 
In the same manner, if we are going to talk about our love for others, we need to exercise that love as well because if we do not show people that we love them, they may well not believe what we are saying. Who can blame them for not believing someone who always says one thing and does another thing? Don’t get me wrong, our faith alone is what saves us for if we believe in God, He is just and willing to forgive us and take us to heaven. But let’s be honest, would you rather have someone in your life that simply told you that they loved you, or someone that told you and showed you that they loved you? I would rather have the latter because that would give me confidence in their words.
 
Actions do indeed speak louder than words in our lives! The greatest example of this has got to be what Christ did for us. He died for our sins while we were yet sinners (Romans 5 8)
 
Points to Ponder:
How often do you do things for others without them having to ask you?
 
How often do you do things for God without Him having to ask you?

Friday 4 Jul 2008

Friday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13 1-3
 
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13 2
2  And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have charity, I am nothing.
 
Devotion:
The one thing that we must never exclude from our lives with Christ is love. No matter how much we do, how much we give away, how much we are recognised, how much we profit, none of it is worth anything unless we have love as the driving force behind it all. I am not talking about the love that one has for another person, excluding others, but the true and meaningful love that we must have to God and to man. We may think of our love for a partner as the be all and end all, but the love that we should have for God and man should transcend that. That may sound odd but think it through with me…
 
The love we have for a partner is something truly special. It is a love that nothing should be able to break apart. It is a love that should last and a love that means so much. Why people today treat it like just another commodity I am not sure… But that love is a bench mark from which we can see what our love for God should be like. God is the one that has loved you right from the beginning of time and will continue to love you throughout eternity. He is the one that has given His Son to die for our sin debt. He is the one that has shown true love. Our love for Him should be as true as our faith in Him; yet that is where many of us do fall short of the mark.
 
Jesus has taught us that we need to show our love to our partners and family first. There is a reason for this. With our partners and family, we have a visible target (excuse the harsh description) whereby we can focus our love and attention and have a response that is as visible too. Our love for God is a love in the invisible and a response that may be invisible to us too; that is why we may get downhearted from time to time. By focusing our love on the visible, we can learn how to focus our love on the invisible and have utter faith that that love first started from His end. We try to think of our love in terms of the visible things in life, when what we should be doing is having the faith to believe and rest upon the love of God that transcends all else. Without love, we are nothing…
 
Points to Ponder:
Does your family know how much you love them?
 
How do you show your love to God?