September 4: Psalms 31 19-24

Key Verse: Psalms 31 24
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Devotion:
Wouldn't it be great to have something in our lives which we could never have too much of. Something that would not make us sick or hyper-active when we had too much! Well, there is something, but it is not immediately apparent to all. God's grace and goodness...

For those of us who are willing to believe on Him as our One True God, we can accept His goodness. A Goodness which shows no end, has no end and will never corrupt us.  God's goodness is so perfect we never need fear of having too much. But in this sinful world we live in, there is always a way of spoiling a good thing! We may well start to take God's goodness for granted and expect it when we no longer show Him our love. We may get too proud of having His goodness and make it look like we are better than we are – those most simple of mistakes can lead to our downfall because we don't look where we are going.

But thank goodness God's grace also knows no end. For without His grace we would never get to know His goodness to begin with. If we were not willing to admit to our mistakes, we would never see His grace exercise to the extent where His goodness is showered upon us. If we are not willing to acknowledge Him as our God, then we will not get to know His goodness other than seeing it being given to others. It is through His never-ending grace we too can get to know His goodness. But once again we have to not let pride get in our way!

If we ever find ourselves cut off from God, it is going to be because of our haste, greed and pride that we are cutting ourselves off and not He who cuts us off. His grace is sufficient. His goodness covers all. His strength knows no end. All we need do is draw on His strength to give strength to our hearts to walk closer to Him and He will continue to be close to us.

Points to Ponder:
Can you think of anything you would like to have all the time?

How much do you really depend on God?

September 3: Proverbs 25 16

Key Verse: Proverbs 25 16
If you find honey, eat just enough— too much of it, and you will vomit.

Devotion:
I'm sure one thing we all face is eating too much food at some stage or another. Too much of a good thing can actually end up being bad for you, never mind the excess weight we may find being added around our waists. Our most common mistake is to eat too much of those things which are the sweetest tasting – too much sugar, chocolate and other sweets in general. There are so many physical reasons why we should not eat too much of those things, never mind the spiritual weakness we are giving in to.

Once we start to accept the excesses into our lives, we continue to break down our resistance to over-consuming in these areas. Once we give in, we find consuming too much far too easy and often end up feeling bloated or even ill from eating excessive quantities of those foods. Our bodies are simply not built to handle excessive quantities of these foodstuffs – yet we still give in because of the taste.

Imagine now, if you will, something we do not eat, but do instead. Imagine we find something which is very good to do once or twice, but because we have no longer got a will to resist those temptations, we give in to the physical as well. Suddenly we find our physical beings are being put in danger because of our weakness against those temptations. Once we found they were good, but now we find they may even be damaging our health. We have let the pleasures of our senses overcome us to the extent where what used to be pleasurable may no longer be so.

Greed and lust are two things we will always find in our way when we face up to the pleasures of our senses. We always want more than we can or should have; and that always leads to some downfall from our side! Learning to live within our needs instead of our wants is a very important part of learning to be more like Christ...

Points to Ponder:
What do you always give in to?

Have you tried asking Christ for help in avoiding your weakest temptations?

September 2: Isaiah 56 9-12

Key Verse: Isaiah 56 11
They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.

Devotion:
There were times in the days of the prophets (much like there are now) where faithful men of God would warn of the judgements of God which were looming in the wings waiting to come in. But this passage goes a bit further and warns of the lack of readiness of the nation to defend itself from anything evil, wicked or against God. If we are to be ready to face anything the devil can throw at us, then we have to be already walking with God. We need to be able to find strength and protection within His arms whilst we walk by His side.

But in order to do that, we have to have a few things in our lives... Obviously, we need to have God in our lives. Not just on Sundays when we can fall asleep in church, but always. We need to be in constant touch with Him. We need to have His word in our lives to be able to teach us and guide us. We need to have The Holy Spirit within us to give us support and explain things to us. But even then, we still do need someone who is willing to look over us and give us guidance when we stray.

Just like sheep grazing in the fields, we continue to walk towards what we think is the best grazing. We think we know best because we can see what we see – how can our eyes lie? What we cannot see are the dangers which are hidden from our eyes. Pretty obvious! If we cannot see it, we don't think of the danger as being there. Yet as long as we have another looking over us, giving us extra guidance and teaching us more than we know, then we will never see those dangers. Having faithful and just leaders, pastors and teachers is part of that life which we need to make sure we are prepared for all circumstances.

Points to Ponder:
How many of your teachers do you see as faithful and just?

How often do you look to you church leaders for guidance?

September 1: 1 Corinthians 3 9-11

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9 11
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Devotion:
No matter how much anybody proclaims they are the head of the church, the fact remains that Christ is – and He alone. No matter how many people tell you they are responsible for doing so much in God's church, when it comes down to it, Christ is – and He alone. You see, we get these grand ideas we are more important than we are, or that we are in some way special. Well, we are special, very special, we are all part of God's Church. It is His church and not ours. It is He who started the church – we only have the choice as to how much we are involved; whether we want to be an active part in helping to build it up or to have no part in it at all.

We are a team. We are one glorious team with Christ as the captain, leader, founder, owner – everything! Unless we are going to act as being part of that team, then we are not going to get very far in our team building exercises! It is by His grace alone we belong to this team and we need to make sure we work with the team and not against it. He is the one who has laid the foundation, the cornerstone, upon which we simply help to build the team. If we want to continue building upon that cornerstone, then we have to be careful about how we build on it. We need to make sure what we do is in line with the rest of the building otherwise things could start to crumble very quickly.

We have the perfect foundation. If we do not continue to work as He would want us to work, then we are building a substandard product upon a perfect foundation. No matter how much we contribute, if we are not doing so in the right manner, then we may as well be building our little house on sand... It's going to crumble before we have finished. This is why it is so important to follow God's advice, read the bible and learn how He want us to contribute to His work!

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever tried building a house of cards on a wobbly table?

Why should we try to build with any materials other than those God has given us?