Friday 4 Apr 2008

Friday Reading: Psalm 119:73-80
 
Key Verse: Psalms 119 74
74  They who fear You will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in Your Word.
 
Devotion:
Yes, God made us to serve Him, but He has not made us as slaves but as children that He loves and cares for. And as children, we do get into trouble, we do do things wrong and we do go off on a tangent now and again. Through our sin, we have effectively made ourselves unfit to server Him and enjoy Him! If we really do want to serve Him with the respect that He alone deserves, then we have to try to understand what it is that He wants. We can do this by reading His Word and relying on the Holy Spirit to guide us through that word giving us the understanding that we need. When we do follow His will, we will find comforts within His arms that we could not dream of. Those comforts will not only be a joy for ourselves, but for those that see us as well.
 
The tender loving mercies that He shows us are greater than a parents tender loving mercies. There is only a certain amount of things that we can do as humans, but through God, nothing is impossible. We must not look down on our earthly parents and partners for them lacking the ability to do things but rather praise them for trying. When we see the difference in what God can do, we will praise Him! We will also be faced by those that wish to scorn us or to mock us. Let God deal with them as our parents protected us when we were small. He may still allow things to happen so that we can gain strength through experience, but it is all for a purpose. We do not know the extent of God’s knowledge and wisdom in allowing things to come our way – we should not try to understand it either. Accepting God’s will in our lives and praising Him for it will cement your relationship with Him!
 
Don’t be too proud to go back to Him and admit that you did things wrong. That pride can drive a wedge between you that will only server to force you away from Him. Dropping that pride and following His will, will serve to strengthen you in Him and allow you to stand firm for Him!
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you admit your failings to your parents?
 
Do you admit your failings to God?

Thursday 3 Apr 2008

Thursday Reading: Psalm 34:1-3
 
Key Verse: Psalms 34 2
2  My soul shall make its boast in Jehovah; the humble shall hear and be glad.
 
Devotion:
We know who this Psalms was written by and when they wrote it and probably why. But it just sounds so strange when you think about it. David was in the hands of the enemy and had no way out, so he acted like a mad man with such good authority that Abimelech was convince he had turned mad and disregarded him. It is one thing to act the fool in front of friends, but to convince an authority is another thing. For delivering him out of the hands of his enemy, by whatever means, David gives thank to God!
 
When we come up with an extreme idea to get us out of a situation, do we thank God for giving us the idea? When we have a narrow escape, do we thank God? David knew that God was in control and he knew that He was the one that deserved the praise, even in times like this! He also knew that he would be talking about this to others. There was no way that his narrow escapes would be boasted as his own escapes, but nothing would stop him from boasting about how God helped him escape! Anyone who was willing to listen would get the news and a whole lot of God’s Word to back it up!
 
David was not afraid of telling others that he was a Christians and that God was the one in control. He had no problem making sure that others heard about God through everything that happened in his life. How else can we truly give the glory to God other than by telling others what He continues to do for us day after day? He wants us all to lift up our spirits and magnify God in one accord, to allow everyone around us to know that it is God that is in control of our lives and that He alone deserves all the praise and all the glory! The more of us that will tell others of His greatness, the more people will get to hear about Him and the more that He can then work with…
 
Points to Ponder:
How often do you say thanks?
 
How often do you thank God?

Wednesday 2 Apr 2008

Wednesday Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5 16-22
 
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5 18
18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
 
Devotion:
If we were to give one instruction to another Christian it should be “rejoice evermore!” With Christ on our side, we have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. Easy to say, but not so easy to exercise… In Christ we have a peace that we could never explain nor understand fully, yet we know we have it. In Christ we have the perfect comforter, yet we still get ourselves in a pickle. We are told to rejoice evermore, yet we still fall down in the dumps and panic because we think our life is at an end.
 
When the going gets tough we need to be resolute in our stance with Christ. We need to continue in our prayers because we should know that He is always with us and will always hear our prayers. When things get tough, we still need to thank the Lord for all that He allows to come our way because He alone is the one that knows what we need in our lives. We may be sure that we need one thing, but when we don’t get it, we still need to thank Him for giving us what He knows is best for us!
 
When the Holy Spirit comes to live with us, we need to remember that fact and act like it too! He is the one that will be guiding us (when we listen) and He will be the one that tries to give us a positive direction so that He can be glorified through what we do. When God’s Word tells us that we should not be doing something, we need to stand up and take notice rather than putting it aside because we don’t like what it says this time round! Continue to prove God’s Word by continuing to live it! The more that we do live according to God, the more that we will see what is right; the more that we see what is right, the more that we will be able to rejoice because we can then see just how much He does do for us! Don’t get caught up in things contrary to the Bible because they will drag you down without you knowing it!
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when others are happy to do things your way?
 
Imagine how we can praise God by simply doing His will!

Tuesday 1 Apr 2008

Tuesday Reading: 2 Timothy 1 1-5
 
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1 5
5  taking recollection of the unfeigned faith that is in you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice. And I am persuaded that it is in you also.
 
Devotion:
Showing someone how much you care for them through how you speak to them (or write a letter as is in this case) is something very special. Paul’s letter to Timothy has a wonderful greeting and a sincere blessing. But today I want to look at his last comment in this section of passage where Paul tells Timothy that he would much rather be with him than have to send this letter. How often have you talked to someone over the telephone or written a letter and expressed how much you would rather be there with them than on the other end of the communication? When we know the joy that we will have when we are with that person, it is hard to cover up how much you would rather be there.
 
Paul’s joy would be to be able to be with Timothy so that he can share in his faith. Paul was going through a lot of troubles and, I believe, longed to be away from the Romans just for a short while; to be with someone whose faith was solid. Being able to be away from your troubles and be somewhere where you can recharge your batteries is a requirement in our lives. We often think that it would be nice to get away from it all, but it is only when we do that we realise just how much things around us to pull us down.
 
Paul had some very special memories to call upon so that he could escape from his troubles and bonds. He had obviously learned how great a faith Timothy’s family had and expressly remembers his grandmother and his mother, both being mentioned by name. He knew that Timothy was in a place where his faith could grow because he was with other faithful believers. How he must have longed for places like that when he was faced with unbelieving Romans. We do need to be close to other faithful believers in order to strengthen our faith. But central to our faith must be our Bibles, God’s Word, from which we learn such things.
 
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get away from people to be with Christians?
 
How often do you take to reading God’s Word?

Monday 31 Mar 2008

Monday Reading: Proverbs 31 1-9
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 31 1
1  The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him.
 
Devotion:
When we are first born, it is generally our mothers that are there for us most of all. It is little wonder then that we tend to start listening to our mothers first of all and to take heed of their advice. It is from her that we start to learn and from whom we do learn so much in our early years. But it is also typically our mothers that we learn to get around first too. Unless we are willing to continue listening and learning, it is with regret that we will eventually look back and ask why we did not listen. Our parents are there to teach us throughout life, and it is to them that we should be listening… Is it any wonder that that this is one of the Ten Commandments?
 
This last chapter of Proverbs contains the instruction of a mother to her child. No matter how important we may be, or how important we may think we are, the advice of our parents is always valuable. When we are very small, we listened to our parents as they taught us what was right and wrong and how to avoid danger. We listened to them to find out what was or was not acceptable in society. They were able to fashion us in the right way as we listened. Just like God was able to talk and commune with Adam and Eve until they took things upon themselves, our parents are able to continue teaching us until we stop listening! Once we stop listening to them we start to think that we know better and try to make our own choices.
 
If we have not listened to enough advice, then we are going to make choices that will quite literally break our lives! If we do not take heed of the advice given, we will fall into the traps of those around us that wish to bring us down. We depend so much on the right and upright teachings of our parents in our early years that when we get to be parents ourselves, we need to be prepared to pass on that knowledge to our children in the best possible manner that we can; not just to our own children, but to as many around us that need that advice. That advice must start with God’s Word because it is the most required advice we can ever obtain from others or give to others.
 
Points to Ponder:
How much have you learned from your parents?
 
How much do you listen to God’s teaching?