April 18: John 17 1-5
Key Verse: John 17 3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Devotion:
This is one of the amazing places recorded where Jesus showed Himself to be truly man and God. He prayed here as a man and yet He spoke with the authority of God, one being equal with God. If ever there was something which should stand out as being a prayer that should turn people’s hearts, then this would be it. But to non-Christians, this may well seem like the ramblings of a man who thought too much of himself. But when we get to know God in our personal relationship with Him, we know just what He was saying here!
The more we get to know the bible, the more we are able to be more confident in it as being the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The more we are willing to live our lives aiming towards that truth, the more we will see just how precious our relationship should be with Him. We are not a religion but a group of people each of whom have a very personal relationship with God. Each one of us has the right to air our sins before God so we can gain forgiveness as He has promised He will do. Each one of us has the promise the way to heaven is through Jesus Christ because of what He has done for us.
Jesus knew what lay ahead. He knew what was to be done. He knew the only way to give us salvation was to demonstrate His amazing love for us by giving His own perfect life in payment for our sin debt. This was a debt He did not owe, but one He willingly paid for us. If that is not the basis of a perfect relationship, then what is? Even throughout this, Jesus made sure that everything was working towards the glory of God. Nothing would detract Him from making sure that God came first. Nothing would break His relationship with God until it came time to take on our sins. That was the wedge that temporarily separated Jesus from God. Sin. I praise Him for doing that for me!
Points to Ponder:
How much have your parents done for you over the years?
How much more has God to do for you?
April 17: Psalms 119 161-168
Key Verse: Psalms 119 165
Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
Devotion:
It is a sad fact that we live in a world where telling lies is a common fact of life for so many people. We continue to see world leaders doing things we think are not right because they crave the power their position gives them. We continue to see people in our lives tell lies to try and further their life in some way. But we also continue to see the vexation that such lies causes to one and all. The trouble which is brought on to the person telling the lie when it is found out. The trouble brought on others when that lie is told. The trouble wrought between God and that person…
We need to make sure our hearts are set on God’s Word so we will know His commandments. The bible gives us a way of living that is a secure and just way of living. It gives us a way of living which will not conflict with itself! A lie told will eventually come back on itself and conflict with itself… God’s Word is perfect and cannot! So long as we are willing to give in to God’s ways and not to give in to the ways of the world, we are building up the strength of our relationship with God. Whenever we bring sin into our lives, we are driving a wedge between us and God; a wedge which has to be removed by Him through His forgiveness after we are willing to admit to our sin.
By God’s Word we have so much to gain. Against God’s Word, we are nothing. Allowing one ant into your kitchen may not seem a big thing, but pretty soon thousands upon thousands of ants will be running wild when that one ant goes back and tells of the wonders it has found! Sin is like that in our lives; allow one in and we open the door to so many more. Lies are a prime example of that! They may not seem bad when told one at a time, but before long one will have to lead to another two and those to others, swamping us before too long. Sticking with God’s laws means that we cannot go wrong…
Points to Ponder:
How often do you tell or think a lie?
How long would God’s Word have lasted if there was a single lie in it?
April 16: Hebrews 3 14-19
Key Verse: Hebrews 3 19
So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Devotion:
It is our privilege to be partakers of Christ, that is to say, to be able to live with The Holy Spirit who will guide us in our lives. When we accept God into our lives and ask Him for His forgiveness through what Jesus Christ has done for us, He is faithful and just to stand by us for the rest of our lives until we meet Him in heaven. If He is so faithful toward us, then we should be showing faith in Him by being steadfast to the end. That alone will show the sincerity of our faith. If we are not willing to stick by Him, then did we mean what we said in the beginning?
We can see so many examples of people who have said they believe but have not followed through with things. Take the Children of Israel when they were released from the hands of the Egyptians after the plagues which were set on the locals. They started out on their journey with a fervent belief – can you imagine not believing when you walk between two walls of water crossing the sea? But then their faith dwindled, and they started asking questions when they thought it was time to be delivered!
One thing we have to remember is that when we put our faith in God, we should stick with it through all the trials we will face as well as through the good times. He wants us to be able to go through things in our lives so we will be able to stand up to further trials when they do come. He wants us to be able to stand firm, showing others that we depend on a God who delivers! He wants us to show our faith by standing firm ourselves…
God saw through the hearts of those Israelites who did not believe and did not allow them to enter into the Promised Land. God sees through our hearts and will not allow us to enter into heaven unless we do believe. Stand up for your faith. Stand up for Jesus!
Points to Ponder:
Do your parents see through the pretences that you lay up?
How much more does God see through your ways?
April 15: Lamentations 3 1-26
Key Verse: Lamentations 3 26
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Devotion:
O how we can get depressed and revel in our depressions; how we can get stuck in and really feel sorry for ourselves! And boy do we enjoy it sometimes… I am sure we have all been there at some stage, wondering just how bad things can get and then complaining evermore when they do seem bad. But notice the first three words… “I the man”.
All our worries and all our ailments are brought on our human selves. It is the human part which we complain about, the human part we feel sorry for, the human part which feels like it is going to fall apart at any moment… Our human parts are feeble! The temptations are given into by our human bodies. But what of us? What of the real you and me?
No matter how bad things may seem to get it is through God’s mercy we know that they are not any worse than they are. No matter what we think of the things falling apart around us, we know God’s compassions will never fail. No matter how physical our lives may get, God’s compassion will always be there; His mercies will never fail. No matter how things break down and how rotten things may get, God will always be there as He has done before time began!
It is our duty to wait patiently on God for His mercy and compassion. It is our hope that He will deliver us from our ailments. It is our knowledge He is in control no matter how much we get out of control. Our afflictions will and do work for the good of God – as bad as that may seem. We find strength in coming through our afflictions. We find that even when we seem to break down physically, God will and is always there giving us the strength and hope we need. He humbles us so we can know He is real. He allows things through our lives to prepare us in some way for what lies ahead.
I know there are many spiritual battles we have which overwhelm us, but if tribulation works patience, that patience works experience and through that experience a hope which makes us not ashamed. God gets the glory!
Points to Ponder:
How much have you been through?
How much has God strengthened you?
April 14: Ecclesiastes 3 11-15
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 3 14
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
Devotion:
When you start reading through the book of Ecclesiastes, you may well feel quite depressed after the first chapter or two as Solomon describes how almost everything if folly! When you read through this book you find he describes how he has tried everything in his power to seek some sort of fulfilment; only to find there is nothing to gain from all we can humanly do by ourselves. The key can be found in these verses to what has got to be sought.
God is our creator and He has made everything just the way it needs to be made. He has given us an enquiring mind; in Solomon He made a man who would use his intelligence and wisdom to seek everything to show others there is nothing more than God! All that He has made is embedded in our heart and in our spirits. There is no way we could seek to find every detail, but we know in our hearts that there is eternity and we know in our hearts there is good and bad. We don’t have to be taught these because God has embedded them in us.
The more we study our bibles, the more we will find out just how wonderful and perfect our God is. The more we learn, the more we want to know. But there is no end to our learning because we can never attain the full knowledge of all of the wonders God has laid out before us. The more we do find out, the more we will learn to respect Him and to fear Him. Each bit of knowledge and wisdom shows us just how powerful and wonderful He is.
We try… We suppose… We theorise… We hypothesise… But God knows! He laid out time so that we could exist in our physical form. We cannot imagine life without time, but we know in our hearts that it does exist.
Points to Ponder:
What do you think is man’s greatest discovery?
How does that compare to time?