July 26: Matthew 20:20-28
Key Verse: Matthew 20:21
“What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
Devotion:
How many times have you told God what you want? I’m not talking about the things we can ask for, for healing or for comfort... I’m talking about the times when we demand something because we think it is right! I know I have gone above and beyond normal prayers once in a while to tell God what I want, but the real peace comes from waiting on God and listening to what He wants from us in the long term.
We tend to think about the here and now far too often and not the long-term picture which God is looking at. Our span of attention or focus is on the short-term things we can comprehend and think about. I am no good at games such as chess because I cannot think through the logistics of many moves ahead – instead I focus on the short term moves and I most often end up losing because of this!
God always looks at the long-term picture and tries to show us the path we should be taking for the long-term life we have ahead of us. Yes, He is concerned with the short-term because this is where we live; but His focus is on the long-term goal of us making it to Heaven with Him! If we are able to stop and listen to Him more often, we are going to get a life which runs closer to the one He has lined up for us – the issue really is how hard we are willing to listen!
Sometimes we demand things which are not possible – but because God has such love for us, He tries to cater for our needs when it is possible (for Him and not for us I might add!) There is no limit to what God can do – but there are limits to what He is willing to do because of the billions of other people in this world! We can’t ask Him to exterminate a country just because we don’t like it! Those are potentially His children too – even if we do not get the chance to witness to them.
Points to Ponder:
Do you demand things from God?
Will you consider His will in your life today?
July 25: Psalm 145:1-7
Key Verse: Psalm 145:4
One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
Devotion:
The psalmist writes of just a few of the reasons to worship and praise God – the more we get to know God and the more we live with Him in our lives, the more we can join in with the praise and worship because we will see the reasons too! And it should not just be on the days where something goes right, but every day of our lives because every day is another day gifted to us by God!
I don’t think we will ever get to understand just how much God does – even when we get to Heaven and see all the glory which awaits us. His acts will continue to amaze us and to surprise us – even when we expect them! No matter how many times we say He answers our prayers, we still get excited (or at least I do) when we have a prayer answered... because we cannot comprehend why a God would care for us!
The verse I have focussed on here is the passing of the knowledge of and about God from one generation to another. Back in the early days of the Israelites, they would tell their stories over and over again to their children so they would know of the things God has done for them. Nowadays we tend to rely on things like the internet to pass on that knowledge – gone are the days of writing things down so it seems!
It is important we pass on our love of God to the people around us, whether they be our friends and families or others just willing to stop and talk. The more we praise and worship our God, the greater our zeal becomes, and the more others will be intrigued by this love we have for our God. The more people are intrigued, the more willing they will be to stop and listen – this is when we can pass on the love we have to others!
Points to Ponder:
Do others see your love for God through what you say?
Do others see your love for God through what you do?
July 24: Psalm 27:13-14
Key Verse: Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Devotion:
No matter how much someone tells you, the way you will expand your faith is through answered prayers. This may sound like a chicken and egg situation where we have to have faith to pray and we pray so we can see our faith come to fruition! But, like most things in life, you have to have a starting point somewhere!
I can remember learning to swim as a small child. I started off in the paddling pool and slowly graduated to the big pool – but where I could stand. My friends had learned before me and they would run and jump into the deep end... it looked like they were having more fun than me jumping into the shallow end! So I had to take the final step and be brave enough to do my first jump into the deep end... The rest is history!
The same can be said about our prayer life... when we start off with our prayers, we probably don’t ask for too much and we don’t expect much of an answer. Our level of faith at this stage is quite shallow. When we see our prayers get answered, it is like realising we can swim – even though the water is shallow enough to stand up in. We pray for things we know we can probably do ourselves, or we can rely on someone else to do. But, as we see those prayers answered, we go a bit deeper until we start asking for things we know are not possible through our own doing.
This is when our faith grows – when we see God answering those difficult, improbable or impossible things! Our faith is exercised by us asking in the first place. The more we get used to asking God, the more we realise He answers and the greater our reliance on our faith is... until we get to that stage when we expect God to answer all our prayers. That is when others see great faith in us and are encouraged to do the same!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you pray?
How often do you expect God to answer?
July 23: Psalm 27:1-3
Key Verse: Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?
Devotion:
How much do you actually trust God? I know when things go wrong we all turn to God and beg Him for mercy or peace, but how much of that is out of desperation and how much is that out of faith and trust in Him? I admit I have faltered when things have not gone my way. I admit I have got things wrong and thought more of myself at times when I should have been thinking more of God... But I’m human...
We can see many places in our bibles where King David has trusted God when all else was failing. We can also see times when he trusted his own decisions instead of God’s will. I guess that makes him human too!
Here we have a reminder of how much David trusted God. You can deduct from this he was probably thinking back on what God had done for him when he called out for help. This is what we should be doing as well – looking back over our lives and seeing the times when God had a hand in things and they went according to a greater plan than our own plan!
I can look back at times in my life, many of those in the past three years, where God had made it possible for things to happen when everyone around was saying it was impossible. I can also remember pleading with God on those occasions to do things because nobody else could. I know from my own experience God answers prayers and His love for us all is shown time and time again.
Points to Ponder:
How often do you ask God for help?
How many of those times did you trust God to help?