Saturday Reading: Romans 1 16-17
 
Key Verse: Romans 1 17
17  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

 

Devotion:
The one thing that we can be certain of about ourselves is that we do get things wrong and that we do do things wrong. No matter how much we try to get it all right, there will always be something that we forget or slip up with. When we try our hardest to live a righteous life we find that we always fall short of the mark; there is always something that we trip up on or give in to. That is when we need to realise that there is no other way to get to heaven other than through Christ Jesus.

 

Right from Adam and Eve (who were surrounded by everything good and righteous) there was one who stepped forward and tempted them. Being ‘human’ they gave in to that temptation and brought sin upon themselves. We, now, are seemingly surrounded by sin all the time and subjected to it through every media possible. So how do we get around that fact that we give in to sin so easily?

 

We need to remember that from the time that Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, God made a promise to send someone whereby we could be made righteous again. That person was our Living God, Christ Jesus. He came to give His life on the cross taking on all the sin of the world so that we could be made righteous in front of God. So the choice is now simple, try to go it alone and see if you can make yourself righteous, or believe in Christ and know that He has done that for you already!

 

The Just shall live by faith. We need to believe that Christ has done what He did so that we can live. Having that faith in that act of love makes us just. It does not make us become “non-sinners” because we are still living in our world surrounded by the same sins and temptations as before. But through Him we can have the strength and encouragement to resist more temptations but the ultimate faith of knowing that when we do die physically, He will present us blameless before God because He has already paid our debt!

 

Points to Ponder:
What do you do when someone else pays your way?
 
How often do you thank Christ for what He has done?

Friday Reading: Habakkuk 2 1-4

 

Key Verse: Habakkuk 2 4
4  Behold, the soul of him is lifted up, and is not upright; but the just shall live by his faith.

 

Devotion:
There are so many things that will cast doubt in our minds, so many things in life that will cast those doubts. Wherever we go and whatever we do, Satan is waiting in the wings trying to throw us a “curve ball” that will stop us from trusting in God. If we bring our prayers and requests before God, we have to wait on those replies. If we do not listen, we will not hear them. If we are not on the look out, we may not see them as they pass us by. Our life with Christ must be a two way life where we do listen out for His will and His ways. There is no doubt that we will have to face hard times and that we will have to face unexpected times, but that should not stop us from listening to God nor from trusting in Him.

 

We do not know the time span within which He will answer our prayers, we do not know how He will answer them, but we can rest assured that He will answer them in the manner that best serves His glory. We can stand on God’s Word because we know it to be true. We must trust His Word because it is so. We do not know when He will return, nor do we know when He will answer our prayers. But what we do have is His promise that He will listen to all of our prayers and He will answer them in due course.

 

If we are willing to come forward as humble children before Him, showing that we are sorry for the sins we have done and to seek His Salvation, He then will bring us in with open arms. He then has promised to answer all of our prayers that are asked in the right manner. Selfish requests may well go un-answered, but honest and open requests will always be answered. We can rest our souls safe in the knowledge that they will be answered. That is our faith; our belief that He is just and will continue to do as He has promised us for as long as it takes. Those who distrust or despise His all-sufficiency will not walk uprightly with Him but that does not mean that we must stop trusting Him.

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you get upset when things work against you?
 
Are you working with God?

Thursday Reading: Acts 16 25-34
 
Key Verse: Acts 16 31
31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your household.

 

Devotion:
The happiness we find in Christ Jesus is more than the sum of all our sufferings. When we truly believe and trust in Christ, we find a happiness that is above everything. This was quite aptly demonstrated with Paul and Silas as they praised God when in prison. What happened afterwards was a direct result of that praise. We may well physically be in the dark depths of whatever trials we may be facing, but we know we have a certain and very prosperous eternal life with Christ to follow. We do not have to wait until we are in those depths before we call out in prayer because our prayers should be constantly going to God through Christ Jesus.

 

The jailor, when faced with God’s power, knew at once that there was a God and wanted to be as safe and happy as Paul and Silas. His question was simple, “how can I be saved”. The answer is equally simple “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”. But the answer also said “and you shall be saved, and your household”. This implies a certain task was still before the jailor. The task of telling his household about his new-found faith in Christ. If he had not told them about Christ, then they would have had to find out some other way and would not have thought much of him for not telling them…

 

When we come to know Christ as our Saviour, the task for us to demonstrate our belief to those close to us falls squarely on our shoulders. If we are not willing to share that belief, then we are hiding the most precious and wonderful thing in our lives from our nearest and dearest. How can we enjoy the wonders of Christ’s love if we are not willing to share those same wonders? Our task is simply to demonstrate our love for Christ as He openly demonstrated His love for us all. Then through His Word, we will be able to share the most wonderful gift with them too…

 

Points to Ponder:
What has been your happiest moment in your life?

 

What has been Christ’s happiest moment in your life?

Wednesday Reading: Hebrews 6 10
 
Key Verse: Hebrews 6 10
10  For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

 

Devotion:
As a Christian, the one thing that we pick up on very quickly is that our God is a just and true God, righteous in all His ways and works. Because of this we can always be sure that anything that He has said in our bibles is a promise that will be carried out. The proof is there where He never went back on His word and always took care of those around Him; especially those who were willing to lift His name above all.

 

Let us not confuse the work of labour here with actual works, working toward salvation. We know that no matter what we do we cannot find salvation without first acknowledging Jesus Christ as our Saviour. The work listed here is the things that we do in order to show our love for Christ; things carried out after we know Him and after He has already forgiven us. This work is a labour of love because we do not have a requirement to do anything but we continue to do work because we know it will please Christ. When we do things for our friends, we most often do them out of love and not because we have to. When we are willing to show others that we love Christ by doing things that will glorify Him, they are certainly not going to go un-noticed – that is His promise to us. There is no way we can loose His love, but we certainly can return it!

 

There is no way that we can every repay Him for what He has done for us by doing works. This is not what He is after. He is after an honest and open heart such as He has first shown us. God is not after a bunch of slaves, but a willing people who simply want to show there love for Him. There is no better people to show that love to than other Christians because that is how we encourage each other and can then be used to encourage other people too. Let us strengthen one another by showing our Christian love for Christ!

 

Points to Ponder:
What sort of things do you like doing?
 
How much is God praised through things you do?