Sunday Reading: Psalm 19:7-10
 
Key Verse: Psalms 19 7
7  The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making the simple wise.

 

Devotion:
Have you ever considered just how valuable the bible actually is to us? It may well be the best sold book in the world, but it is certainly not treated like the most valuable book by many people; simply because they do not know the value of what is held within. It is not valuable because of how it is printed or how it is presented, but because it carries God’s Word. It is therefore more important than anything on earth; more important that night or day, air or water.

 

God’s Word is there so that we can learn about who He is. It is there to show us that He is our One True God. It is there to teach us what we do wrong so that we can learn how we break His laws. Once we learn how we break His laws, we then know what we are doing wrong against Him. That gives us grounds to come forward, apologise and ask for His forgiveness. That gives Him the chance to save us from our sins and hence we gain eternal life. That is the light that we should be seeking. That is the light that allows us to see what is in our shadows.

 

When we get to know God, we get to learn just how valuable His Word actually is. That is the time that we need to treat His Word with the respect that we now know it deserves. That is the time when we need to get down and read more about what God has done in others lives so that we can be encouraged ourselves and to then encourage others. There is no way that we can force God’s Word on to others because they will never see its value until they see the truth. That truth is something they have to see in God’s Word, not something that we have to force on them. We, who has sin in our lives, cannot hope to demonstrate a sinless life for others to see, but we sure can demonstrate just how important God’s Word is to us – that alone will bring people in to find out why we hold our bibles with such regard!

 

Points to Ponder:
Was the most expensive book you bought worth every penny?
 
How much do you continue to get out of God’s Word each day?

Saturday Reading: Isaiah 8 19-22
 
Key Verse: Isaiah 8 20
20  To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because no light is in them.

 

Devotion:
When things start to get tough, where do you start looking? We all have ideals and we all say that if things were to get tough we would go and do such and such. But when push comes to shove, we very often break down and run off in another direction. When things get tough, our ideas that we had seem to fade away as if they are full of holes and would never carry water; we run scared to whatever everyone else seems to be clinging to at the time. Where we run to is going to depend largely on our faith – be it faith in God or faith in others.

 

You will find that many people turn to the occult to find answers; out come the tarot cards, the horoscopes, the old wives tales and people start to clutch at straws to try and find an answer to their woes! We find people that have never been to church suddenly start turning up at church to see if they can somehow pacify God by being there… But that is not what God is looking for. God is looking for people that will rely on Him throughout their lives, not just when things are good and not just when things are bad, but throughout everything!

 

We see so many examples in the bible of how people have turned their faith into various circus acts (for want of a better description) when they have wanted to find strength or riches. The warning is the same each time – unless you are willing to put your faith and trust in God alone, then don’t expect Him to support you like you think He should be! Israel went through this so many times that you would have thought that they would have learned things by the time Jesus came to earth… But as so often is the case, we stumble as soon as we hit a minor flaw in the path we tread! Unless the bible supports your path you wish to walk on, it is not of God… Don’t go there!

 

Points to Ponder:
Who is your rock?
 
Do you trust Him fully?

Friday Reading: Luke 11 33-36

 

Key Verse: Luke 11 35
35  Therefore take heed that the light in you is not darkness.

 

Devotion:
Would you think it a bit strange to put a light underneath a chair? Whilst it may look aesthetically pleasing at the time, it is not going to shed much useable light and it may well heat up the chair more than you would like! But still people do do that sort of thing and they call it progress, art or design! It is amazing what people will actually design just so that something is going to look good and not put much thought into the usefulness or safety, until it is too late!

 

We tend to treat our lives much like that as well, putting design in front of usefulness, obedience, charity and simply what is right. We like to look good and many times we also go further than we should in making sure that we do look good at the expense of others. I know that I have been guilty of that in the past and I’m sure that at some stage I will probably make a stupid decision like that in the future… because we open our eyes to the temptations.

 

The danger starts when we start to open our eyes to those things. Much like a small leak in a dam wall, if it is not stopped, it will continue to erode until you have a whacking great hole that will ultimately collapse the whole dam! Not because we wanted to bring down the dam in the beginning, but because we saw no harm in a tiny leak in the beginning. As days went by, we continued to see the leak grow bigger but because it was growing so slowly we did not think there was an issue. As the leak got bigger, we started to think that there could be a problem… but when it got too big, we then knew that there was no way we could fix it! That is when we had to call in the experts to fix it and it cost a whole bunch more than we had!

 

If we make sure that we fix things when we see that there may be issues, we will move forward as stronger Christians. But our strength comes from looking for things that are right and going with them in the beginning!

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you do things just to look good?
 
Everything God does has a purpose!

Thursday Reading: John 9 39-41
 
Key Verse: John 9 41
41  Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you would have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains.

 

Devotion:
This is one of those passages where non-believers may well try to say how the bible contradicts itself. Here we have Jesus saying that He comes to judge the world, and in John 3 17 He says that He does not come to judge the world but to save it. But as soon as you read the context in which the words are said, then it all becomes clear. In John 3 Christ is telling us of the love of God in that His will was to come to save the world by giving us a way out of our sins. Here He expresses how He must allow us to see our sins and to be able to henceforth stay clear of them.

 

If we continue to look at things around us, we will continue to be tempted by those things. Satan is the one that controls the majority simply because people are more willing to give in to those temptations than to find out the truth. We are surrounded by such people all of our lives and must learn to deal with it. Christ expresses this as being made blind so that we no longer see the sinful ways. Yes, they will still be there, but we have the choice to not go there; giving us “selective eyesight” in a similar way as we have “selective hearing” when we don’t want to hear something!

 

But first, we start out by being blind to the gospel. We cannot get to grips with simple verses such as John 3 17 and John 9 39 simply because the plain English does not seem to agree. But when we have a bit of patience and read a few verses around those verses, God (through the Holy Spirit) will allow us to see the truth for what it is. We do not have to be masters of language to figure things out – I certainly did not do too well in my English throughout my schooling; but we can still have that understanding… as long as we are willing to listen.

 

Too many people close off their minds, eyes and ears to everything religious just because they can. It allows them to continue living a life of sin without them feeling bad about what they are doing. Let God guide you too…

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you ever think that your parents contradict themselves?

 

How can God contradict Himself if He cannot lie?