March 9: Psalms 109 21-31
Key Verse: Psalms 109 21
But you, Sovereign Lord, help me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do in life is to humble yourself before anyone. It takes a surprising amount of courage to step forward and say you got it all wrong. It takes a lot of humiliation to admit to others how you did things wrong. But that is the step which you have to take before you can hope for true forgiveness from others. You need to be willing to come forward and admit to the things you have done wrong as well as to be willing to take any retaliation they may wish to take on the chin. That is often our worst fear, just how much they are going to do to us if we come to them in humbleness. The surprising thing is that much of the time, we will be forgiven, and no retaliation will take place.
We know God will not retaliate. He has promised to forgive us for our sins as long as we are willing to come to him in the right way. We cannot pretend we are humble with Him because He will see right through our pretence. We cannot do all the right actions and hope that is enough, because He is looking inside our hearts. We cannot hope to gain His forgiveness unless we are telling and showing Him we are indeed sorry for what we have done. Only at that stage will we see His wonderful grace and mercy spring into action as He sweeps aside our sins and invites us back into His fold.
Once we know God is able and willing to bless us, then we need not fear just who is going to try and curse us. Once we know we have the strongest on our side, we know we don’t have to worry about anything else. Once we have God’s forgiveness, we know we don’t need any other. Once we are able to humble ourselves before God, humbling ourselves before anyone else is a piece of cake because we know we have already been forgiven!
Points to Ponder:
Do you have to apologise a lot?
Have you truly apologised to God?
March 8: James 2 1-4
Key Verse: James 2 4
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Devotion:
If we are going to profess to be Christians, then we should act Christ-like. This means we must be focusing on the soul and not on the outward appearance of each person we meet. We are all guilty of this at one stage or another, choosing between people just because of the way they are dressed. We are all guilty of giving more attention to people who are dressed in a way we prefer than those who are not. Why else do we get dressed up smartly in order to go for a job interview even when the job will not entail any customer contact?
When we take on that sort of mantel, we are becoming judges of others – or at least that is the way we are acting. Christ alone is able to judge us and not ourselves. We are not even fit to judge ourselves, let alone other people. We can identify where we go wrong, and where other people go wrong, but we are not fit to blame them for doing wrong because of the number of things we do wrong. We may like to think we are always dressed properly and how we give a good impression, but unless that goes right through to our souls, then we are not dressed properly before God. That is where we all fall down.
We need to be able to look at people for what they are and not what we identify them as by simply looking at them. Christ does not give regard to the outward appearance and will not choose one person over another just because they are dressed in a suit! We will choose people over others because of the way we see them acting. Christ will choose people by the way they are thinking or feeling. It is the thought which brings out the action and not the other way around. That does not mean we have the right to judge others because we see them do something wrong – because we have already thought about doing things wrong before we have got that far.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you turn away people because they don’t look right?
What would you do if God turned you away for wearing the wrong clothes?
March 7: James 1 9-11
Key Verse: James 1 10
But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.
Devotion:
If ever anyone thought that there may be a socialist statement in the bible, then this would be it. But what people read into God’s Word instead of trying to understand it merely leads them into difficult situations where they find themselves doubting things where there should be no doubt. This is not about lifting the poor up to the same level as the rich, this is about attitude. Socialism forces similarities upon people whereas Christianity changes the attitude so people from all walks of life do not recognise themselves as being better than others; different, yes, better, no.
We need to pay the same attention to those who have little in life to those who are rich and in important positions within their society. We have to look at things from God’s perspective where He does not have any regard for the person, but total regard for the soul. It is not what we get up to on earth that is going to count for anything in heaven, but what we get up to in our hearts and minds which is going to count with God. We need to have the right attitude and act on that attitude rather than simply saying this is what we should be doing!
We should be willing to give our earthly riches up in preference to Christ’s way. If we put such high esteem towards those earthly riches, then we should be willing to let them be taken away from us so we can learn more about Christ and Christianity. Our life on earth is so short when compared with the life of our souls – so why do we put so much into living here on earth and not caring about the afterlife? We certainly should be caring about how we are going to spend our eternity, be it in heaven or in hell! Don’t let the fickle things in life rule your world when you can do so much more with Christ in your life!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you keep up with fashion?
How much do you keep up with God’s Word?
March 6: Job 23 8-12
Key Verse: Job 23 10
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Devotion:
When Job sits down and thinks things through, his conclusion is quite amazing and a thorough example for us all to look up to and to try and follow. His so-called friends who came to give him advice thought they knew more than Job and told him so! What Job did was to try and work out what had happened and to reconcile God with those happenings. Far too often we turn around and blame someone else when things go wrong in our lives; what we need to remember is that no matter how much we don’t like to think about it, there is evil in this land…
Job has taken what has happened on the chin and realises this is not coming from God. He looks back at the things which have happened in his own life and sees how God has helped him in the past and not dished out evil things to him. How could a God who loves us give us evil things? God does not give out evil to us just because we have done evil things to Him or to our neighbours; no matter how much we pray for evil to happen to evil people, God will not do that!
Instead, Job realises God is looking out for him just as much as He has always done. He realises, partly from listening to those people who came to help him, that God is not the evil one in this world. He knows God is good and knows what God has given him in the past. He knows the evil around him has caused what has happened. He does not understand why God has not protected him fully from the evil as He has in the past, but he is willing to fully trust in God again. We need to fully trust in our God and allow Him to show us where we need to be in our own lives. Asking God for help and guidance should be our daily aim. Listening out for and obeying those instructions should be our daily task. Giving God the glory for everything happening should be our daily goal.
Points to Ponder:
Do you talk your problems through with anyone?
Have you talked things through with God?
March 5: Deuteronomy 2 7-12
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 2 7
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.
Devotion:
With television and radio, we have become aware of the multitude of people who populate this world we live on. We have begun to know about tribes of people deep in jungles or roaming around the deserts. What we often do is to shut ourselves off from the rest of the world and concentrate on things around us; which may or may not be good… Why should we worry about someone on the other side of the world when our neighbour is in need? Conversely, should we be ignoring people on the other side of the world just because they are far away?
When Jehovah God was leading the Israelites across the desert and towards their newly appointed land, He would direct them through other tribes. Here we have a few mentioned where God said that the Israelites should not do anything to them other than buy provisions from them. But note how the descriptions are written. They are not simply said to be people of the land of Moab, but a full description of who they are and a short history lesson too. What we often forget is that God is actually in control of every people around the world, not just us!
We may like to think He looks after us as Christians and all the other people are just fending for themselves, but God is still watching out over them. God continues to be a presence around the world, giving all people the chance to get to know Him. He continues to make sure that plants grow and the weather changes. He continues to show people His power by maintaining the world we live on – everywhere around the world! He continues to take an interest in every person no matter what they get up to. He does that because He is our God and because He loves us all. We need to show Him some respect and a whole lot of love because of the things He continues to do for all of us! Nobody is left out! Pray for people, don’t ignore them!
Points to Ponder:
How many people could you name in your town?
Could you count the number of hairs on your body?