Saturday Reading: Matthew 6 9-15
 
Key Verse: Matthew 6 14
14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

 

Devotion:
It is amazing that Christ Himself would give us such a simple prayer to pray to Him. But what is so much more amazing is just how much is within this simple prayer. Today, I want to focus on the one word of “forgive”. Just how does that happen? How do we forgive someone? How do we gain forgiveness?

 

If you do something wrong against someone that you did not mean to do, then the first thing that probably pops into your head is to say sorry. When we walk down a crowded street and accidentally knock into someone, I would like to think that both parties would probably turn round and say sorry – more often than not it is because both parties were either chatting to someone else and not looking or one appear out of nowhere by stepping out of a shop without looking. Our response is to apologise so that we may gain forgiveness.

 

How many times a day do you do something that would probably upset God and not even think about apologising to Him? How many times do we ask for forgiveness but not apologise for what we have done first... If we truly want God to forgive us then we should be willing to admit to our fault before asking for forgiveness. It's not as if we don't know what we are doing wrong to start with... We know when things are wrong. We know because we may well not feel close to God. We know because we may not be doing God's will. We know in our hearts because we should be in our right relationship with Him to start with. That is the time to stand up and admit to what we are doing wrong so that we can get back into that relationship with Him.

 

Christ has already paid the price for our sins, but if we are not willing to admit to them, ho is He suppose to be able to forgive us of those sins. Sin is the only thing that will keep us away from God. Being too proud to admit to sin is a “double wammy”!

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you apologise to people when you do wrong to them?
 
Do you apologise to God?

Friday Reading: Ephesians 4 7

 

Key Verse: Ephesians 4 7
7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

 

Devotion:
Each one of us will probably have to face a discouraging time in our lives. Those are the times when we feel most vulnerable, most lost and most alone. Those are the times when we seem to be furthest away from Christ. Those are the time when we have been lax in our relationship with Him. Just like in a relationship with anyone in your life, if you are not willing to put in 100%, then don't expect to come out with 100% from them. If you ignore your partner, they may well ignore you; but they will be willing to do what they can to try and spark some interest back into the relationship first. If you ignore Christ, then you are going to feel split up from Him. He will continue to do what He can to encourage you to come back to a right relationship with Him. When He is done with the encouraging, He may well have to allow a few unpleasant things back into your life to wake you up!

 

But the thing that is special, is that His love for us will never end. If we try hard enough, we will be able to break up almost any relationship here on earth – not that we would normally want to! Humans have limits beyond which we give up... God is without limits as He continues to do what He can to make sure that each of us has the right to a full and proper relationship with Him. He wants us to be in relationships on earth too, but full and proper relationships which take time and effort to maintain.

 

God's grace is sufficient to cover all of our indiscretions, no matter how bad they are.  But He does expect us to be able to depend on Him for strength to avoid those indiscretions after we have come to know Him. Our relationship with Him should give us the strength to continue growing in that relationship so that others are going to be encouraged by what we do. Seeing someone totally in love is special. Seeing someone in a full relationship with Christ is special and encouraging too.

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you get discouraged?
 
How often do you depend on God's grace?

Thursday Reading: Ephesians 4 1-6
 
Key Verse: Ephesians 4 6
6  one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

 

Devotion:
It really is so easy to become a Christian, but unless you focus on God, it is not as easy to continue living as a Christian... Each one of us continues to face things every day that will (as we feel) force us to do things that we don't want to do. We feel like we get trapped into doing things and then we give in. It does not take too long before we are caught up in something we don't want to do, or we are are giving in to those around us just to keep the peace. Why? Because we have probably lost focus on Christ in our lives!

 

We have to work against our pride first of all to stop ourselves from giving in to those temptations. It is not the temptations that we normally have to watch out for, but our pride that will not let us give in to simply saying no. We are faced with situations that stop us from doing what is right simply because we don't want to have to say that we are wrong or face up to someone asking us why we are not doing something – our pride keeps us away... When we are provoked, we need to step back and say no, not plunder in with words before we think!

 

It is by lowliness (not loneliness) humility, not just for the second but continuing in meekness that we are able to say no when it counts. By taking a step back from a potential argument and saying that we don't want to get involved. We need to step back from people trying to offend us. We need to be willing to forgive and not hold grudges. If we would not be willing to forgive ourselves for things we do, how do we expect anyone else to forgive us for those things we do. Turn the situation on yourself and ask how you would rather it be resolved if it were someone else doing it to you...

 

We are all God's creation. We only have one God. It is about time that we started acting like it and not fighting over things we are not meant to control..

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you get provoked easily?

 

How often do you think you provoke others?

Wednesday Reading: Deuteronomy 22 1-4
 
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 22 4
4  You shall not see your brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift it up again.

 

Devotion:
One of the best ways of showing people who do not believe in Christ that we are committed Christians is to show them brotherly love. Sticking to the rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” will be the best example of Christianity that they will be able to reflect upon since they do not want to hear about the gospel. If we would stick to that rule ourselves, we would be able to avert many a difficult situation that we find ourselves in.

 

Christianity teach us to be neighbourly and to be ready to do or show good to all men. That means that we should be ready to show those that work against us that we are willing to help them when they need it. Why? Not so that we might get help from them when we need it, but to show that this is what God has taught us and even shown us it absolute terms through Christ! We do tend to turn a blind eye or ear when it does not suit us, or when we are faced with someone who has wronged us – but just like the “good guy” in the movies, we need to stick out our hand and offer help to everyone that is in need.

 

If Christ had picked His friends and rejected those who did not believe, we would all be in a whole lot of trouble. Instead, Christ has given each and every one f us the same chance to be able to gain eternal life with Him. He laid down His life for us all, friends and enemies alike. Every time He met people He gave them the chance at attaining eternal life. He chose the most unlikely people to give the truth to, people that those around Him did not think deserved it. We are the ones that need to sort out our feelings so that we can offer our help to all that need it and to help anyone who would reach out for that help. Don't not do it just because nobody is watching...

 

Points to Ponder:
How often do you turn you back on someone?
 
How many times do you turn your back on the One that died for you?