October 10: Hebrews 13 15-21
Key Verse: Hebrews 13 17
Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
Devotion:
There are a few things that many who call themselves Christians forget to do. Why do we forget? Because we get too caught up in other worldly desires and distractions that we forget about those things which matter in our lives. As Christians we need to remember to praise God continually and in everything. We need to pray to Him always. We need to rely on Him always. But what many forget is that we do need to do things for Him always.
As we are reminded here, we need to do good and to share always. Not just because we need to promote Christ’s goodness for others to see, but because that is what God wants in our lives. We need to make sure we live our lives according to His will and not according to the world! And one important part of ‘being’ good is that we need to be submissive to those in authority over us. Those people in authority over us are typically the ones who should be looking after our well-being and watching out for our souls. They also have to give account to God for what they do with our lives! What they should not have to do is fight with us continually as we rebel and force our own ways. What we should be doing is making their lives easier so they can get on with the job of looking out for us...
God is the one who can and will make you perfect in every good work – so long as you let Him. We need to submit to His authority and try to make sure we are easier to manage, being willing to do what He wants us to do rather than being led astray by worldly lusts and temptations. We need to focus on what is pleasing in His eyes so He will get the glory. What better way to glorify God than to lead a Godly life!
Points to Ponder:
Do you rebel against authority?
Are you showing rebellion against God through what you do?
October 9: Ephesians 6 5-9
Key Verse: Ephesians 6 7
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,
Devotion:
One of the hardest things to put up with is someone who is working for or with you but refuses to follow any of the rules. Maybe they have personal differences with the people in charge or they continually want things to be run in their own way! There are even programs on television which seem to encourage this sort of behaviour in the interest of business sense! How can it make any sense if it is going against so many people?
This does not just apply to servants and their masters, but in almost every walk in life. There is always someone who is in charge or who takes charge of situations. Working together as a team to fulfil the goals is not only going to get you to the goal quicker, but allow the people to work together and not against each other. It a team sport, we get further when we do work as a team and not by each person trying to prove how good they are by themselves. Working with people in life means we are acting as a team.
But note just how we should be working - “as to the Lord”. God can see right through us and does not accept a bunch of lies that make us look good. He does not accept us working for ourselves as doing something for Him. He wants us to exercise our brotherly love so we will be more aware of the needs of others around us and not focused purely on our own needs. That is just not working as a team!
Our work together has to be genuine. There is no profit in telling others exactly how things should be done if we ourselves are not going to do what we tell others. If we are just giving people what they need to hear but not following through with it, then we are telling them what we say and do are two different things – you're basically telling them not to listen to you! God wants us to work for good and not to teach others to be fools!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to people in authority?
Do you really listen to what God has said?
October 8: Proverbs 26 1
Key Verse: Proverbs 26 1
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honour is not fitting for a fool.
Devotion:
Whilst we may think that rain during harvest is not an uncommon thing here in the UK, places like Israel rarely has rain during the harvest season. Snow in summer is something we do not normally find. With such rarities as examples, bestowing honour to fools should be just as uncommon. Why then do we give honour to fools? The fool described here is the unbeliever and not the village idiot!
Bad people who do not show grace or kindness are often preferred by businessmen because of their lack of feelings for other people; their aim being to get the business done no matter what the cost to others. Why should they be given such positions of honour when they are dissolving society? Why should they be given power to destroy humanity? Solomon had all the money and power to do what he willed, and he did. But, he came to the final conclusion it was folly to follow in that manner – yet so many people still do.
Rain during harvest time is not good for anyone. So much work has happened throughout the year comes to a conclusion during harvest. If that whole year is put to waste because the rain stops the crops from being gathered, ruining them before they are able to be harvested... the work for the whole year becomes folly too. When we put our trust into someone who has no intention of upholding that trust, we have just ordered a huge rain shower for the time we have set aside for our harvest! How can we build anything upon an uncertainty!
God has given us the facts. They are laid out for all to see in His Word. Everyone has free and easy access to His Word. If we want to be able to prosper in our lives, then we have to know what we are bringing on for the harvest time. If we put our trust and faith in God, He will deliver a nice dry season for the harvest. If we put our trust and faith in the world, we may as well order rain and snow for our time of harvest!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like rain when you have an outdoor party?
Would you want God to dash your hopes just when you need Him?
October 7: Matthew 21 18-22
Key Verse: Matthew 21 22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Devotion:
This time of year in the northern hemisphere is the end of the harvest season when the farmers have gathered in their crops and we see just how much food we have which can be stored for the rest of the year. Well, at least it used to be that… Nowadays we have a global economy and many places in the world have access to crops and food grown almost all year round. What a glorious God we have! Where would we be without Him?
Yes, that's what I said. What a glorious God we have. Don't get me wrong, I look up to the farmers because I know just how hard most of them have to work in order to maintain the food supply for the rest of us. I was living next door to a farmer and I would struggle to get up to go to work in the morning when he was already coming in for his first break of the day! He had been up for several hours already working to get things done before my alarm clock would even go off!
But, without God's blessing, the crops would not be there and the food would not be there either. God has promised us the harvest time will continue year after year until this world comes to an end. That is a long long way off, so we know harvest is going to carry on for that long time. We can continue to know God has allowed more food to be grown all round the world so we can continue to survive as He has promised us. It is not His fault we do not all share as a global community!
We have ups and downs in the economy just like we have ups and downs in the harvest times, but we can rely fully on knowing that what we ask for in prayer, we will receive. But note the first verb in this verse. To believe. We need to trust God to be able to deliver. We need to rely on Him. We need to have faith. He has already promised it so. We just have to have faith that promise will come through; just like we have faith in our annual harvests.
Points to Ponder:
Have you ever known a whole harvest to fail all around the world?
How much do you trust God's Word?
October 6: 3 John 1 9-12
Key Verse: 3 John 1 11
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
Devotion:
How often do pride and arrogance get you into trouble? Probably a bit more than you wish to admit to! If we are not careful to control either / both, then we will find we do step on other people’s toes without thinking about it and even get to the stage where we don't care about it. When we get that far, we should not be surprised to find ourselves loosing friends! Diotrephes (the one talked about in this letter) was someone who had a bit too much of an ego and who wanted to control others because of his self-imposed position of pre-eminence!
We are warned about looking up to people like this or to following in their footsteps – though easy it is to do. For when we stop doing good, we are going against God's wishes and causing ourselves to be caught up in evil. But if we should cause others to be caught up through what we are doing, then we are taking on God! We know we would never be able to even think about wining – but we don't think straight when we are full of pride, greed or our ego fills up our lives.
If we ever get to a position of power and start to exercise our personal desires over and above those of the position we have attained, we are working outside of our authority. When that starts to interfere with God, then we are working against Him. He is the one who wants us to be able to spread His word and show His will in our lives. By taking on our “alter-ego” selves, we are preventing others from reaching God and from seeing His ways. We need to reign in our personal desires to be in line with what God would have us do – that way we can be assured He will continue to be behind what we do and we can continue to know we are not challenging His authority!
Points to Ponder:
Would you take on the supreme court just because you thought you were right?
Why do we insist on thinking we are always right before God?