September 10: Luke 14 28-35
Key Verse: Luke 14 28
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
Devotion:
There are times when forward planning is essential, and there are times when forward planning cannot be done because a direction is not known, or a goal is not defined. Sometimes we just cannot rely on what we know because we do not know enough to get the job done; you are going to face many times like that in your walk with God. Being sensible in your walk with God is going to make you face new grounds, new ideas and new ways of working – because of that, we have to rely on God for those new instructions all the time.
If we get stuck in our old ways of living, especially after we get to know God, then we may well be ignoring those new instructions and living our old lives instead of living a new life with God. Using the excuse of “that’s the way we have always done it” does not work with God; He wants you to be a disciple on a mission, which means getting out there into new territory, new ground and new ways to spread the gospel message instead of hiding it in your familiar surroundings.
But there are certain things which we do need to plan in our lives, after all, we do live in a world which is very materialistic and which depends on money and goods to continue working. We need to plan for living in this world – but using those plans and ideas to control what you are doing for God does not match up with what He is asking you to do. The disciples were told to go out without caring about how much money they had and not to go out to look for “hotels” or ”motels” in which to stay – God wanted them to connect to the communities they were entering and get the people to come forward to offer places to stay.
Were the disciples prepared? Yes they were! They were prepared by learning as much of the gospel as they needed to go out and tell people about it. See the difference between the worldly preparedness and the heavenly preparedness? God wants us to be prepared for our heavenly duty; He needs us to be full of flavour, salty, prepared in that manner. We need to make an impression so God’s scripture can get into the places where mankind is removing it or leaving it out.
Points to Ponder:
Are you prepared to do Gods will?
Are you prepared to leave worldly ways behind?
September 9: Matthew 5 21-26
Key Verse: Matthew 5 24
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Devotion:
What is your temper like? Do you get angry quickly with people? Are there people who you think demand too much from you who make you angry? The list could probably grow as quickly as we could think of new ways to make us angry! But what you do with those situations will tend to dictate how you live your life; the easier we get angry with things in our lives, the less likely we are to find peace in our lives!
I find it very hard to sit down and read my bible or to pray when I am angry or upset, so keeping a steady overview on things tends to help me get through a whole lot more in my life than before. I know God is still with me, even when I am full of anger, but I am typically too worried about my anger and too focused on it to see anything else going on around me… even losing sight of God when things get too bad!
God wants us to take care of things in our lives as they pop up – that way we are not building on shakin foundations all the time. The more we build our hopes on things which could collapse at any second, the less hope we have in our lives. But the more we build on sure foundations, the more of that hope we see come to reality and the more we can hope in the unseen. No matter how many times we see things written down about God always doing things, it is only when we get to see things for ourselves that many of us will believe.
But fighting against the things which make us angry and upset will take too much of our attention and time for us to continue living with God in our daily lives. When we feel upset or start to get angry, we should be focusing on diffusing the situation by sorting out the problems as they arise. The more we are able to be still and listen to God instead of fighting battles which take all our attention, the more we will be able to do God’s will in our lives. Yes, it is hard at times!
Points to Ponder:
How does your anger affect you?
Do you ask God to help with that anger or those situations?
September 8: Isaiah 50 4-9
Key Verse: Isaiah 50 8
He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!
Devotion:
What does God do for those who listen to Him? Well, we do have many examples in our bibles from many years ago how God has done things for people when they did stop and listen to Him. From those who listened directly, the prophets who heard directly from God, to those who heard second or third hand, the people who listened to the priests – God continues to uphold His scriptures.
Who is the one who gives you the right things to say? It is God – so long as you are listening to Him. The more you listen and obey, the more you get to hear. But, conversely, the more you focus on your own achievements or your own strengths the more you think you know what you are doing and the wider the gap between what God wants and what you are doing becomes. It is so easy to walk off in your own strengths, thinking you know better, even convinced you think you know better; but is what you are doing actually agreeing with the scriptures, or are you now at the stage where you are justifying what you do with words you think should be there?
God does not say everything will go our own way or that we will get all we want; His words are closer to us getting what we need, and not what we need to make us happy, but what we need to fulfil His Word and obey His commands. He alone is our judge and He is also our great defender. When we think things are going to get too tough for us to continue – we need to rest in Him and obey Him, knowing we will come our the other end being able to bring glory to our God!
God is always going to be close to us; but if we continue facing the other direction, we will not get to see too much of Him! When we turn round and face Him directly, we will be able to see Him and gain the encouragement we need to get to the next step of our journey with Him. All the results from our own actions will wear out like rags which continue to be used – but when we allow God to replenish those rags daily, we continue to have all we need!
Points to Ponder:
How good do you think you are at your work?
Are you listening to God to find out how best to do your work?
September 7: Romans 8 31-34
Key Verse: Romans 8 34
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Devotion:
God is the one who gave up His own Son to freely lay His own life down for us at the cross. Jesus gave it all up for us, the ones who God aimed this all at. God is the one who can justify all He has done by telling us how much He loves us and cares for us. Jesus then came along and demonstrated that love by doing all He did for us and called to God to leave another behind when He went back to heaven so we are never left alone.
Jesus fulfilled the word of love God gave us and made sure we would not have to fend for ourselves when He was taken back to heaven. Even though He sits in the very best place possible in heaven, at God’s right hand, He still thinks about us and lifts up a prayer for us to His heavenly father. What love!
Who can be against us if God the Father has done all this for us? Who is mad enough to think they cane come up against God and do anything to us? Well, there is one, the evil one. He would try his best to get us to trip up, stop thinking about God and to take a side with him; but he has already lost the war! Jesus won the war by paying for our sin debts, but as long as the evil one can generate a bit of doubt or sympathy for his own cause, we are the ones who are silly enough to stop and listen to it!
We don’t have to listen to anything Satan does in our lives other than to take as a warning and stay clear of. If we continue to draw closer to God, the devil will continue to run off in the opposite direction where he can seek out people who are not close to God. Call in your friends. Call in your enemies. Tell everyone where they can find the truth and allow God to look after them in the best possible ways! God started this off, Jesus followed through, and The Holy Spirit continues to stand with us and strengthen us for the journey all the way to heaven.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look out for the people you love?
What do you have in place for them?
September 6: John 16 25-28
Key Verse: John 16 26
In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
Devotion:
At times, Jesus did have a few issues with getting the disciples to understand what He was saying – this was a difficult concept to get their heads around. They had been taught the Messiah would come to the nation and had probably assumed He would make Himself known to the priests, scribes, kings and other important people; but that was not Jesus’ way of doing things. Jesus chose a route whereby the right people would be chosen to receive the word and they would write it all down diligently for others to know that same truth. But that would mean teaching them slowly.
It may still be hard for us to understand God’s Word at times, but the more we keep at it, the more we will be able to get our heads round it – just as the disciples are showing here. The more they listened and tried to understand, the more Jesus would give them and the more they would comprehend. But not also that Jesus is not saying He is going to do all the work for us – He is not going to zap it all into our heads without us having to lift a finger to anything. He wants us to step up, to step forward and to make the effort of trying to learn, understand and even to praise God.
We are the ones who have to step up and pray. We may well be able to pray in Jesus’ name, but we still have to pray. Jesus is not going to do it all for us. Opening your bible and reading is the first step of getting to know Christ. If you are able to read this, then share it with someone because it may be the first they get to know about Jesus and about God. Unless we are willing to step up and get to work, the work is not going to be done. We can do all the talking and discussing we like, but until we step forward and do something, nothing gets done.
A relationship always has more than one side otherwise it is not a relationship. The closer the bond between the people in the relationship, the better the relationship; but each side has to do something to maintain the relationship. God continues to work at His relationship with you by giving you all you need; but, unless you are willing to receive what He gives and to use it, it is meaningless.
Points to Ponder:
Do you work at you own relationships?
What is your relationship like with Christ?