Monday Reading: Proverbs 25 21-22
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 25 21
21  If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
 
Devotion:
The wisdom behind each of these three verses speak volumes by themselves, but when linked together give us even more insight into how God would have us lead our lives. First the warning about a righteous person falling into sin... The more we walk with God, the more our lives become more acceptable to Him and the more each sin is going to look bad. A good person turning round and doing something bad looks so much worse than a bad person doing the same thing. One is accepted and the other not. In God's eyes we may all look as bad as each other, but in everyone else's eyes we do not. People will look up at a good person as a sound example in their community and if that person should be found out doing something bad, so many more people will be affected by that event.

 

Too much of a good thing can actually be the thing that lets us down! When we get involved with something good, there always seems to be something tempting in the wings, something to tempt us away from what we are doing and enjoy things just that little bit too much. When we get caught up in things like that, we are the ones that are seeking our own glory rather than aiming at doing things that will glorify God. We should be living for God and attributing everything that we do to His power and glory. After all, He is the one that can do anything and we are the ones given power to do anything when we do it in His name.

 

When we are at the stage when we can no longer control our anger or keep in our outbursts when tempted, we are like a house without walls. Anything and everyone will come in and disturb you when you want to find a bit of peace. Everything will get to you; you then look for trouble because you expect it. Everything becomes a prompt for you to explode. What a long way down this is from a righteous man, but can you now see this path to destruction?

 

Points to Ponder:
What things get you down?
 
How often do you attribute things to God rather than yourself?

Sunday Reading: John 7 37-39
 
Key Verse: John 7 37
37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
 
Devotion:
What better thing to have on a scorching day than a nice cold drink and a bit of shade. (Not that we have a scorching day here in the UK) But have you ever been in a very hot place with little or no water or shade. Some of the deserts get extremely hot, so hot that one cannot possible survive more than a few hours without shelter. And yet there is still life in those deserts. People still make a living knowing how to live and where to find the water and shelter. We are living in a time when we could well describe our society as a desert – far from God's Word, far from any spiritual goodness; yet there are still small patches where Christians do thrive.

 

Christ opened up the invitation again by calling out to anyone who is searching for the truth. He called out saying that the truth can be found through Him. If we want to be able to seek out a meaning for our lives, then we have to seek out that truth. We find that truth through places such as our churches where the truth is being preached. Finding a church where that truth is told is as easy as looking for a church where they use God's Word to teach from. If you are seeking the truth and you are not looking where God's Word is being used, then you will not find what you need.

 

God's Word is complete. We need not require anything else. Indeed He has warned that people should not try to add to it, nor to take away from it – because it is the absolute truth. We like to try and redefine things that we don't like just so that we can fit God's Word into our lives. The truth is that we should be changing our lives and fitting into God's Word. We do that through learning more about Him and striving to be more like Him. He has promised us eternal life. He has given us all the proof that we need. We need to make our minds up about just what we should be looking out for!

 

Points to Ponder:
Do you know anyone who has never told a lie?
 
How often do you search through God's Word?

Saturday Reading: Mark 13 34-37
 
Key Verse: Mark 13 37
37  And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
 
Devotion:
Have you had to baby sit before? Or have you had to look after a house whilst someone goes on leave or holiday? I'm sure that each one of us has at some stage been put in charge of something where the exact end time has not been known. Most of the time we will get on with what we are supposed to and not worry about when it is going to end – knowing that it will end in due course. We have a mental picture in our minds of when it should end and therefore we do not let it worry us.

 

Christ has gone to prepare things for us and is awaiting the perfect time to come back to earth and take us home to be with Him. However, we have no knowledge of when this is going to be. We do not know the end time and therefore we tend to put it out of our minds rather than aim for when we think it is going to be. The disciples were convinced that Christ would return within a short period and went about their work diligently, expecting something soon. They had the right attitude!

 

When you have had to look after someone and you know the people are going to return within a few minutes, you go about making things tidy and cleaning up to try and show that you were diligent in your work. We need to make sure that we have that sort of attitude – that Christ could be returning later on today. Have we done enough? Are we doing what we should be doing? Are we doing enough? We need to be working as if He was about to return. Are we keeping our houses in order?

 

We need to be ready. We need to have everything prepared. We need to make sure that we do not let our lives in Christ go to sleep!

 

Points to Ponder:
How hard are you willing to work for money?
 
How willing are you to work with Christ?

Friday Reading: Ecclesiastes 3 14-15
 
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 3 14
14  I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God does it so that they fear before Him.

 

Devotion:
The more that we advance in science and technology, the more that we think that we know everything... but in reality it is the opposite because the more that we learn, the more that we figure out that there is even more to learn! Everything is as God made it and not as we think it is – we are still learning about everything!

 

We care so much about things, worldly things, in our lives that we don't have time to put aside for God, for spiritual things. Our time is taken up in pursuits of knowledge and earthly riches rather than the truth about God. Not only has the world taken over our time and thoughts, but it encourages us to think against God. We forget just how little we are in comparison to the big picture of God.

 

Everything that God has done is forever. This does not mean that this world is going to last forever – it means that He started a process whereby He created the world and when the time comes He will destroy it... And nothing we do or say is going to change that plan. We cannot tell how long His plan is, nor when things will end. We just have to be ready and waiting for the right time. We cannot change God's plan by trying to destroy the planet before He gets here, nor can we extend our stay by making things perfect in our sight.

 

God has given us everything in front of us so that we can see that He alone has a master plan and that He alone is our designer and creator. He wants us to know this and to acknowledge this so that we can get to know Him and know that we can have a life eternal with Him. We just have to know that He is behind it all and say “yes, I believe”.

 

Points to Ponder:
Who do you look at as the greatest inventory that has lived on earth?
 
How can all the inventors works ever compare to our own DNA that God made?