Saturday Reading: 3 John 1 9-12
 
Key Verse: 3 John 1 11
11  Beloved, do not imitate the bad, but the good. He who does good is from God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
 
Devotion:
One thing that will surely get us into trouble is out pride and arrogance. If we are not careful to control both, then we will find that we do step on other peoples toes without thinking about it and even get to the stage where we don't care about it. When we get that far, we should not be surprised to find ourselves loosing friends! Diotrephes was someone who had a bit too much of an ego and who wanted to control others because of his self-imposed position of pre-eminence!

 

We are warned about looking up to people like this or to following in their footsteps – though easy it is to do. For when we stop doing good, we are going against God's wishes and causing ourselves to be caught up in evil. But if we should cause others to be caught up through what we are doing, then we are taking on God! We know we would never be able to even think about wining – but we don't think straight when we are full of pride / ambition / egotistical.

 

If we ever get to a position of power and start to exercise our personal ambitions over and above those of the position we have attained, we are working outside of our authority. When that starts to interfere with God, then we are working against Him. He is the one that wants us to be able to spread His word and show His will in our lives. By taking on our “alter-ego” selves, we are preventing others from reaching God and from seeing His ways. We need to reign in our personal ambitions to be in line with what God would have us do – that way we can be assured that He will continue to be behind what we do do and we can continue to know that we are not challenging His authority!

 

Points to Ponder:
Would you take on the supreme court just because you though you were right?
 
Why do we insist on thinking we are always right before God?

Friday Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3 1-5
 
Key Verse: 2 Thessalonian 3:1
1  Finally, my brothers, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it also is with you.

 

Devotion:
The one thing that we can guarantee in life (besides death) is that we will find support in God when we pray. No matter where we are in the world or who we are with, we can always lift up our voices to God so that He will hear and answer us. One of our problems is that we expect an immediate answer to every prayer and some of our prayers are a bit off the wall. We are not guaranteed to get the answer we like is we are going to pray for frivolous things, but when we pray that His Word will go with us so that others may hear, we are guaranteed an answer.

 

Having to stand up in front of a bunch of people and give them God's Word may seem like a bit of a daunting task; I learned that from my school days. But being able to stand up there with someone by your side allows you to be more confident and to be able to get on with the job in hand. Praying for such aide will guarantee you a companion by your side and allow you to say the right thing to the right person. It does not have to be standing up in front of the whole school, it may just be a private chat with a friend – ask God to be there with you so that you can help them!

 

We also face so many temptations in life which we just cannot seem to avoid and too many of which we cannot withstand. Praying for help to stand up against those temptations will help you to do exactly that. Those temptations will probably lead you into doing things that you should not. Things that you know are wrong, but because of the heat of the moment, your judgement was impaired and you gave in... Having a friend by your side will help you to avoid those moments. Being alone in a tempting situation means that you do need a friend by your side. The best friend you can ask for in those circumstances is God, because He will be able to help you avoid getting into trouble.

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you know someone who needs to know Christ?
 
How about asking God to help you introduce Him to them?

Thursday Reading: Matthew 9 35-38
 
Key Verse: Matthew 9 38
38  Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out labourers into His harvest.
 
Devotion:
Jesus was a “man on a mission” whilst He was down on earth. He continued to visit all manner of people, not just the rich or those who lived in big cities, but those that lived in small villages too. Everyone needs to be able to hear the gospel no matter what position they have in society. We sometimes think that the lower people are that the more likely they are to look to Christ for help – the truth may well be far from that. The more we are caught up in life, the less we think about God. The less we think about Him, the less time we are going to set aside for Him.

 

We need to set aside time each and every day to make sure that we do commune with Him. He wants us to learn from His word and to be able to depend on Him. The only way that we are going to be able to do that is by spending more time with Him. To be able to spend more meaningful time with Him, we have to be able to have access to people who can help us to learn His Word. There are simply not enough people out there who have dedicated their lives to helping others into God's Word. This is what we have to pray for – more people who can spend that time teaching others and exposing them to the truth.

 

Just like a farmer having many fields full of crops and no labourers to come and help harvest them, our world has so many people in it and not enough people that have the dedication to go out and tell someone about Jesus. Going out into a field to harvest the wheat with a single scythe when you have access to a combined harvester is not going to get you much of your crop in. People who have spent time in dedicated instruction so that they can bring that instruction to others are few and far between. We may not be able to teach them anything, but we can sure pray that we get access to them! Praying about it will show that you really do mean it!

 

Points to Ponder:
Who do you go to for instruction?

 

How many people can you really call on day or night to help with God's instruction?

Wednesday Reading: Mark 10 46-52
 
Key Verse: Mark 10 52
52  And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
 
Devotion:
Do people say that you are stubborn, or the opposite? Do people say that you stick at things or give up after a short while? One thing we have to learn about being a Christian, is sticking around, doing the same thing over and over again until we have done enough! How do we know when we have done enough – take a leaf out of Bartimeus' book...

 

Bartimeus was sitting by the side of the highway begging, just like he had probably done for some time, day after day. When he heard that Jesus was coming by, he called out to Jesus to have mercy on him. When he started doing that, people all around him started telling him to shut up. They were probably thinking that they would save Jesus the embarrassment of having to deal with a blind beggar! But after being told to keep quiet, he called out even more. He knew who Jesus was and begged that his eyes could be opened so that he could see again.

 

God has given each of us the ability to be able to earn our keep with all that he has given us including our sight. Bartimeus wanted to get back to doing something instead of being forced to sit around begging. He knew that Christ could heal him and he had faith that He would do exactly that. But he had the wherewithal to stick at his shouting even when everyone around him was against him! He even made a point at shouting even more!

 

Christ's words “your faith has healed you” showed all of us that as long as we are willing to continue with our faith, even in the sight of adversity, God is willing to continue doing extraordinary things for us. We have to be willing to continue in our faith, always!

 

Points to Ponder:
How long do you stick at something?
 
How long do you stick with your prayers?