January 8: Ecclesiastes 5 1-3
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 5 2
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
Devotion:
I wonder if you have been to a church recently when someone got up to pray and they made a bit of a scene about it. Maybe you know someone who likes to stand up in front of everyone and pray out loud all the time. Maybe, God forbid, you know a church where that seems to be their goal in life – to be the one who stands up in front of everyone and prays out loud. One simple rule should be followed, if you heart is not in it, don't do it!
That may sound a bit harsh, but think about it for a minute. If your heart is not in it to pray, then who are you fooling. You are certainly not fooling God because He will see right through you. We need to go to church to worship God and not to make a scene for ourselves or to take centre stage to perform for people – we are there to worship God and give God all the glory. Period!
When you are going to pray, don't just start talking as if you are gossiping with a friend, think about what you are going to say to Him. You are not talking to just anyone! Think about what you want to petition God about, stick to that, make it honest and real! God knows your heart, so jabbering on about anything you see fit is not going to stick with Him! We dream about worldly things, we make pleasantries here on earth. We should not try that with God – He is not just another person! No matter how much we say or what language we try and say it in, if we don't know what we are talking about we should not be saying it! Reducing God to the level of a gossip partner is not really what any of us would want to achieve, so why do it?
Points to Ponder:
First week down... still sticking to things?
How about getting more honest with God?
January 7: Proverbs 28 1
Key Verse: Proverbs 28 1
The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Devotion:
Have you ever noticed how jumpy you get when you know you have done something wrong. You jump when someone walks in the room, you jump when someone knocks on the door... even when it’s got nothing to do with what you have done wrong! It's not just us, that is echoed throughout the bible right from the days of Cain and Able. We even read about how whole armies of men have been frightened by the sound of breaking pots, trumpets and shouting! Fear, when we have done something wrong, can eat at our very hearts...
But fear can also make us bold and brave. You would think that David, when faced with a lion against his sheep, would have been very frightened for the first time. But he stood up and counted on God to be there with Him. He placed his faith wholly in God's hands and was rewarded with bravery and safety. Daniel, when put in the den with lions held fast to his God and required His protection. God did not fail him. If we have enough faith to place our trust in God's hands, he will not fail us.
Fear must be directed where it is due. We need to fear God. Not as we fear a lion, but to give Him the utmost respect because we know He is all powerful and He is all knowing. He is our Creator; what more proof do we need of His power! Take a telescope and try and see how far you can see – how great a God do we have who can speak all that into existence! Having a healthy respect for other things in our lives will allow us to live in safety. Having a healthy respect for God will allow us to live in absolute safety. That does not mean we can tempt God by believing He will save us when we jump off a building. Being righteous does not include tempting others!
We are justified by His blood. We no longer need to fear death because He has taken on that price for us. We can look forward in the knowledge that we will go to a better place when our physical bodies meet their end. We can know that God is real!
Points to Ponder:
Who frightens you the most when you do things wrong?
Do you get frightened when you do things wrong against God?
January 6: Psalms 53 1-6
Key Verse: Psalms 53 6
But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them.
Devotion:
Just what is it going to take to get some people to believe that God is real. They are given indicators each and every day about how great He is through everything in the world around them, and yet they still will not believe. When in that state of non-belief, they do, unfortunately, get into many troubles as well. Their ways are corrupt and can be seen by others, yet they do not see those ways themselves as being corrupt. They have convinced themselves what they are doing is not wrong – or at least that is the outward appearance they give. For inside, they themselves do know they are wrong and it continues to eat at them.
They continue to treat some as if they were not people – you don't have to look too far to see many governments do exactly that nowadays. They do not know the right ways because they refuse to listen to God's ways. How can they know what is right until they call on a righteous one for guidance? They continue to fight themselves. Their own doings are their downfalls – they build themselves up in their own eyes whilst all around see the falsehood of their work. They even continue to see problems which are not problems because they cannot clearly discern what is right and what is wrong.
Because they continue to reject God, He has no choice but to continue to wait patiently for them to change. We are the ones who have to make the first move towards seeking Him. We are the ones who have to believe in God before He can support us. He will continue to show us signs and wonders on this earth so we can see that He is our Creator and our God, but we have to make that first move of belief and trust. God has even given us His Son so we do not have to sacrifice our own lives – what more sign do we need!
Points to Ponder:
Do you find yourself chasing your tail?
How often do you recruit God's help?
January 5: John 5 39-44
Key Verse: John 5 44
How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Devotion:
I am amazed at how often the Jews are held up as an example of people who try to make their own way to heaven. This is not a dig at the Jewish people, rather an eye-opener for anyone who thinks in a similar way. Just because you go to church or have a bible or even read it, does not mean that you will get to heaven. In the same way, just because I read a book about recycling everything, it does not make me green!
To take the example about being green a step further. Just because I separate my paper, glass and plastic from the other rubbish, it does not make me worthy of being called a “recycler”. I have to go that one step further and make sure each of the items I have identified as “recyclable” gets to go to the right place. It would not do me much good by separating everything and then putting all of them out in the same bin for a single lorry to come along and collect them to throw them into the same hole in the ground!
Just because someone reads their bible, it does not mean they believe it; they have a whole lot better chance at understanding God's Word by reading it... There are many scholars who know the bible better than I do, but still some refuse to believe it! Jesus was talking with the Jews and encouraging them to think about what they were reading. At school my brain would not allow me to learn everything parrot-fashion and spill it all out again for a test, I had to try and understand things and apply them before I would remember things – probably why it took me so long to do any learning! But that is what God wants us to do – to read His Word and understand it. To then apply it in our lives in the way it is written and not how we think fit. The truth is there! We just have to read it and understand it and apply it! Getting help from others to discuss and meditate over Gods Word helps us all...
Points to Ponder:
Do you find learning easy?
Do you apply God's Word in your life?
January 4: John 3 18-21
Key Verse: John 3 19
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Devotion:
With great sin comes a great burden. Not a visible burden, but an invisible one and the effects of that burden do show themselves. People who have great sin in their lives are always having to avoid what is right, the light, the law. They have to hide from it continually in case they are caught and exposed. It is little wonder then they create communities for themselves and recruit like-minded people so they can feel like they have safety in numbers. But, truth be told, they are still hiding from righteousness.
Sin may have come into the world through one person, but each of us who have followed on have chosen to follow that path of sin as well. Each one of us have gone down the route of evil. Fortunately for some of us we have found our way back to God through the path which Jesus has laid down for us. Through this path, we are guaranteed entrance into heaven and we no longer have to avoid the light. Our burden has been lifted. Our way of salvation is exposed so others may see how Christ has done it for us.
God's Law is written down so we can know just how far we have gone wrong. It is written so we can identify that we have chosen the path of sin; if it were not written down it would be diluted every day so we could ignore it! It is there for us to recognise where we are in our dark lives. Isn't God's love wonderful; that He could reach down into the darkest depths which we sank into and lift us up back into the light. He reaches down and shows us all where we have gone wrong, but we are the ones who have to choose to grab hold of His hand reaching down. We are the ones who make the choice to have faith in Christ. We are the ones who choose to believe that He can save us. We are the lucky ones... if we grab His hand in faith...
Points to Ponder:
Would you reach out to a helping hand if were caught in a hole?
Have you reached out and caught Christ's hand?