April 22: 2 Corinthians 3 5-6

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 3 5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God

Devotion:
There will always be times when we think we are not up to the job, or when we think we cannot possibly do something. But when those times involve God's work, we are giving up on a promise from God that through Him we can do anything. On the other hand, if we start to think we are able to do more things without God, then we are sorely mistaken too! We should never be bold enough to say we can do any of God's work without Him because it is He who supplies us with everything so we can do His work. Without His guidance, we would not be able to understand His word. Without His guidance, we would not be able to show others His word. Without Him, we are just another human being...

Through His grace we have received so much and in His grace we continue to expand our spiritual selves. We could grow as humans and think we are getting more and more successful, but as soon as we turn our minds to spiritual matters we need His guidance. He has given us His word and we can read it all we like, but without His intervention we simply would not get the best out of it. We could try to follow the commandments as best we could but that would not get us to heaven. It is His grace and redeeming blood which has made it possible and nothing we can do will change that.

He has already paid the ultimate debt, a perfect sacrifice, a sinless man, a lamb without blemish. That sacrifice, Jesus, willingly gave Himself up so we would no longer have to sacrifice ourselves. Nothing we can get together will ever be able to match our perfect Redeemer! Nothing we can do will match His self. But everything we do can be done in His name and in His power. Everything we read can be explained by Him. Everything we say can come from Him... If only we let it!

Points to Ponder:
How much do we depend on ourselves?

How much do you depend on Christ?

April 21: 2 Peter 3 18

Key Verse: 2 Peter 3 18
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Devotion:
We are living in God's age of grace. An age set up by Christ when He willingly gave His life on the cross for our sins. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, we enter into a personal relationship with Him. That relationship is based on a covenant, or promise, that He has already lived up to. We need to carry out our side of the promise by bringing all our sins to Him openly so He can forgive us of those sins. Our relationship is also based on knowledge. We have the knowledge that He has given His life for us, the knowledge His love for us knows no bounds, and the knowledge He has promised never to leave us.

Our personal earthly relationships go through the same things as well. If either side does not have the grace to accept the others faults or enough knowledge about the other, then strain is put into the relationship. We often get intimate before we actually get to know our partners leading to heart-ache when we find out truths about them. We try to bypass the knowledge route and go directly to the pleasure parts. The best place to learn about our partner (or future partner) is with them where they can show us what they are like. That takes time! We will not often find the perfect partner because we will always find things wrong in others, but if we have grace to accept faults, habits and even some personal dislikes, and if we have a willingness to exercise that grace, we can enter into long, lasting and meaningful relationships.

Christ has invited each of us to enter into a relationship with Him. In that relationship, He promises to give us the Holy Spirit as our teacher whilst we learn more about Him. He has promised to forgive us of all of our sins, covering them with His grace which He has already shown through the death, burial and resurrection. Our bibles are the centre of our knowledge where we can study to find out more about Him and what He has already done for us. He is our perfect spiritual partner. Our relationship with Him knows no bounds! And it is forever!

Points to Ponder:
Are you struggling in a relationship with someone?

Have you asked God for advice recently?

April 20: Mark 8 1-8

Key Verse: Mark 8 8
So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.

Devotion:
When you are asked to do something, do you do the bare minimum to get away with doing as little as possible, or do you do 'too much'? Once again we would have to qualify our answers with things like 'well, it would have to depend on who I am doing things for' or 'depends how I feel'... We do continue to change our answers and our willingness to do things for others depending on our circumstances. We find that we are more willing to do work for those who do things for us, or who we like.

But what about those who like you, or respect you, and of whom you know very little about. How about someone who looks up to you and you have no idea who they are?  All it would take would be a short answer or a simple 'no' from you to be able to destroy their view of you. Our views of people do seem to be based on their actions and reactions. So, if we want to be able to maintain a goodly report with others, then we have to make sure we either live up to their expectations, or we show them that we care. We cannot really hope to live up to their expectations, but we can show them we do care. Showing someone we care will go a lot farther than trying to keep up some sort of pretence that we are someone we are not.

Jesus, on the other hand, is someone who cares for us more than we will ever be able to understand. He cares to the extent that He will do things for us with abundance. He cares for us so much that He wants each of us to understand how we don't just get things given to us on a plate. If He had wanted to, He could have fed the people who were following earlier than He had. He could have sustained them on their journey. But He chose to get everyone to the state where they would see just how much He did love them. Showing someone you care is not just going to be about doing things for them at the drop of a hat, but about doing things when they are needed and doing the things which matter and showing love and compassion.

Points to Ponder:
Do you (or did you) always listen to your parents?

How often do you care about what God wants you to do in your life?

April 19: Matthew 8 5-13

Key Verse: Matthew 8 13
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

Devotion:
We are very choosy about who we like to help or who we like to mix with. We like to think we are as good as some people by mixing with them. We like to think we are better than others by not mixing with them. We just have this issue with our built-in attitude wherever we go; and it all basically comes from judging others! We do not have the right to judge others because we are not Christ!

Jesus was not a man who would judge anyone by their looks or their stature. He looked directly into the hearts of others and allowed people around to know what was in their hearts. He made sure His judgement of others was based on fact and not feelings or thought. We tend to make up our minds about all sorts of things just because we have heard something or read something. We then even do go as far as imposing that judgement on others so we can look more knowledgeable or better in some way...

Putting that sort of thing behind you and focusing on God can be difficult, especially when we are surrounded by people who want to do the same thing. We live in a society where social standing counts for too much. Christ, on the other hand, was willing to heal the poor as well as the rich. He was willing to turn the hearts of the poor and the rich. He made no distinction based on earthly measures.

We need to focus on heavenly matters in our lives and make sure that what we are heading for is something which Christ would agree with. What use are we if we are going to continue our earthly ways instead of changing our ways to suit God? How can we ever hope to be an example if we are putting Christ behind us instead of walking with Him proudly by our sides?

Points to Ponder:
Why do you mix with the people that you do?

Have you forgotten Christ was crucified as if a common thief?