March 24: 2 Timothy 1 6-7
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1 7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Devotion:
When Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, he wrote it whilst in prison, probably in Rome. But even though he was in prison, he writes words of great encouragement to try and make sure Timothy does not get despondent about his problems, but faces them knowing that he has got God on his side! He encourages Timothy to stir up his gift from God; what gift? God gives each one the gift of eternal life and allows the Holy Spirit to indwell us to guide us. So long as we do listen to that guidance we will do things right. But if we really want to be able to live for God, then we have to make sure we also do things such as reading His Word, going to church and bible studies. By doing these things we are learning more and more about God and will be more prepared for any of the hard times which we may face ahead.
The more we do read about God, the more we will realise that He is not the one who puts fear into our hearts. That fear comes from the things in earth around us, the people who flout the law, the people who work against God. The more we read and learn about God, the more we will realise nothing can or will defeat God because He alone is all-powerful. He alone is able to give us a share of that power when we need it most. He alone is faithful and just to deliver on those promises He makes; it’s a trust thing He wants to build up inside us.
Each one of those promises will show love, the true Christian brotherly love we need to show to others. Each one of those promises will be delivered in the best possible way and the best possible time. If we look back on the promises of God, we will see how each has been done to His perfect timing. It may not have been done to the liking of the person asking for help but has been done in a better way to show that God does know best and His love ensures that what we get from Him is only the best! He will allow us to understand things when we need to and explain those understandings to others so they too will be greatly encouraged by His perfect love.
Points to Ponder:
Do you turn your back on friends and family when they ask for help?
God will never turn His back on anyone who loves Him!
March 23: 1 John 4 7-13
Key Verse: 1 John 4 9
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
Devotion:
Love goes hand in hand with God because it is only through what He has done for us that we know what love is. If He had not created the world, we would not know it. If He had not given us Jesus Christ to die on the cross, we would not be able to join Him in heaven because of our sins. Instead we would still constantly be seeking for the best possible sacrifices to try and appease God. What He gave us was purely out of His love for us; a way by which He would give us the perfect sacrifice so that no other sacrifices would be needed.
We would be perfectly happy if we had all obeyed God in the beginning. We would not have required sacrifices. But we chose to do what we have done and God chose to do what He has done. The difference being, His choice was out of His perfect love for us whereas our choices are out of pride, greed and lust. We chose to do what we have done wrong because we sin. We may have chosen to follow Him now but we first would have been to Him in humility begging forgiveness for the sins that we have done, knowing that He is faithful to forgive!
God has shown us the love He has towards us. That love is an example by which we should aim to love Him and to love one another. We are all God's children because He is our creator. Through His Word and His commandments, we need to take on His examples of love and love Him back, not just as an acquaintance, but as our one true God who we hold above all. We need to follow on with that example of love to those around us, showing them His wonderful love so they too can share in His free gift to us. We need to dwell in Him, which means making Him central to our lives because He wants to dwell with us. He has given us the Holy Spirit so He may dwell in us daily and not just when we are good.
If He is in us daily, we need to show Him respect and follow His Word, His commandments, His will... otherwise we are grieving Him daily.
Points to Ponder:
Do you respect your friends all the time, or only when you are with them?
What do you think about God dwelling within you?
March 22: Galatians 5 22-23
Key Verse: Galatians 5 22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Devotion:
I guess most of us will go through our lives wanting to be popular. I know that I did when I was at school and even after school for quite a while. As a young Christian I still wanted to be popular but was torn between that and seeing the effects of what people gave in to just to be popular. I would see how people broke rules, gave in to temptations, did things which seemed out of character, and generally tried to be the centre of attention. I certainly went through some of those things to try and make myself more popular too. Why do we do it?
Well, I guess the main reasons are jealousy and pride. Yep, those two again. Jealousy of others having all the fun and having all the people gathered around them and some sort of pride that would make us want to show off to others to make them think more of us in some way. Both self-centred. Both to do with “me” rather than anything else. We will always fight a battle between our earthly desires and what Christ would have us to do. Our earthly desires come from that sin nature inside of us. Those earthly desires drive us towards thinking that we need to be the centre of attention, thinking that in order to have a full life, we have to have everyone around us.
Satan knows our weaknesses and he will continue to play on them every day. He knows we have pride and a desire to be popular. He knows those desires are easily provoked and that we will give in to temptations just as Eve did at the beginning of time. This is why we need to depend on God’s Word for enlightenment. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance. We need to depend on God for everything rather than thinking we have control over anything. As soon as we start to think that, we give in to the feelings that provoke our sin nature.
Instead, read these two verses today and think about their words, about how we should be if only we would follow Christ.
Points to Ponder:
How many times do you forgive friends?
Christ will continue to forgive as long as you repent.
March 21: 1 Thessalonians 4 9-12
Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 4 12
that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
Devotion:
Sometimes when we take a step back and look at how we are treating others, we find we are actually doing things for ourselves, for our own comfort, for our own gain. Having compassion for others is something that should come naturally to the Christian, and yet we are often too caught up in things to look upon those who need it most. We are often too busy doing things which we think we ought to and not looking at the situation in hand and looking for those who need immediate help.
As Christians, we are taught to love God and to love our neighbours. We are taught that we need to show brotherly love to our neighbours. And so we do. We start to take a keen interest in those around us and then we start to get a bit more enthusiastic... more and more... and then we end up being more of an annoyance to them than we should because we have overloaded them with attention. Brotherly love is about showing compassion, showing that you care, but allowing that person to continue living for themselves. If we really want them to be able to survive, then we should teach them how to survive, and not how to depend on us.
We need to make sure we do it with our own hands so they can see that it is us who are helping them, encouraging them, but we also need to show them just who is the wisdom behind this all. We need to show them that Christ is our guide, that the Holy Spirit can be their guide and that we are doing all thing to the glory of God and not for them or ourselves. Diligent Christian work is far removed from earthly work. We are working to Gods laws and not to our own. We are working for the good of God and not for our own gain. When we are able to show others that sort of brotherly love, then we are encouraging them to seek God as well. What would be the point if they were able to live a full life, but without God?
Points to Ponder:
How much do you show your friends that you care?
How much do you show God you care for everyone?
March 20: Proverbs 20 14
Key Verse: Proverbs 20 14
“It is good for nothing,” cries the buyer; But when he has gone his way, then he boasts.
Devotion:
When was the last time you went hunting for a bargain? How long did you wander around until you found what you were looking for? Or maybe you knew what you wanted and just wanted the price to come down. Did you have to haggle over the price? How long did you think about it for? We have probably all been in this type of situation at one time or another, and every time we try to get the best deal we can by complaining about it until we have what we want, then go off and boast about how cheap we got it for!
We all like to think we are shrewd when it comes to business deals. We all like to think we are good at obtaining what we need. But how many times do you get carried away with what you don't need. How many times do you give a thought to the other person at the other end of the bargain? How often do you really think about what the item means to you or what it meant to the other person? How often do you think about the real material worth of the item or what it cost the other person to make? Many times we do feel as if we are paying way too much for some things, but other things have been given to us at incredible prices because the people making the items are just not getting paid the real worth of the items.
We could come up with all sorts of excuses about how it is the other person who is doing wrong and how we are innocent, but if we know the truth, then we do have a choice. Christ tried to show people how to not be selfish when He was here on earth. He tried to show us how we do get carried away by our selfish desires, yet we continue in our efforts without much thought for others. Selfishness has been around for a long time and will continue to be with us for as long as we are living on earth... We do need to think about others when we are trying to get the best for ourselves. We also need to be fair about the dealings we have with others when we are doing the selling. If we are not fair about out dealings, then how do we expect others to be fair to us?
Points to Ponder:
Do you treat friends and strangers differently?
How honest are you with your dealings with God?