[Thursday's Devotional] Where is your faith?

You are familiar with the story of Jesus in the boat with his disciples, when a terrific storm blew up. His disciples panicked, fearing that they would drown.

"The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"   He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.  In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him." Luke 8:24-25 [NIV]

 

Sometimes when faced with challenges, particularly those outside of our comfort zones, our reaction can be to panic. We feel we cannot cope because we fail to see that we don't have to face it on our own. I am often guilty of feeling I don't need help, that I can do things on my own – after all I know best don't I, and nobody else does it quite as well as me?! Even when I'm in a situation that is scary, I still may think I can get myself through it rather than reaching out to God to help.

In today's story, the disciples panicked, because they did not realize that Jesus had the power to save them. With a simple command, He stilled the raging sea and the disciples were filled with awe at his amazing power – how could this man calm the storm? His power was difficult to comprehend.

Do you have the faith to believe that God can still, today, calm the storms you may be facing? Are you trying to work through a situation on your own, not really believing that God is the answer, that He cares, that he can be the difference? Where is your faith?

Corinne Mason.

Read the Bible in a year:  Psalm 39:1-13, Numbers 29:12-31:24, Luke 8:19-39

 

 

[Wednesday's Devotional] The Gardener

 

Today's passage is the Parable of the Sower, in which Jesus tells the tale of a farmer sowing his seed on various different grounds.

 

"A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil.  It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." Luke 8: 5-8 [NIV]

Is there a message you have heard recently that you were skeptical about? A tale of God at work that you found hard to believe?  I recall many times in my pre-Christian days when others tried tell me about God, but it always fell on hard, stony or thorny ground.  I am sure many people tried to sow God's seed in my life during those years, but it never grew to fruition.  The truth in the words was always destroyed. Then at the right time, when I was very hungry and thirsty for help, my ground was finally ready and the seed sown then grew to fruition, and my faith in God finally grew within me.

Sometimes my soil has become thorny again, and even though I know Gods words are the truth, the seed gets choked out by my worries and doubts.  The goodness of Gods word is not able to develop within me because of my worries, and my focus is back on myself and not on the truths of Gods word.

How is your soil looking today? Is it good and rich, ready for God to plant new seed within you, or is it in need of a touch from the heavenly Gardener to get it back up to scratch?

Corinne Mason.

Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 38:13-22, Numbers 27:12-29:11, Luke 8:1-18

 

[Tuesday's Devotional] Questions

 

"The disciples of John the Baptist soon heard of all that Jesus was doing. When they told John about it he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him " Are you really the Messiah? Or shall we keep on looking for him?"  John 7: 18-19 [NIV]

 

John was confused because the reports he received about Jesus were a little unexpected and incomplete.  John's doubts were natural, and Jesus didn't get frustrated with him or tell him not to be so silly.  Instead, Jesus responded in a way that John would understand, and he explained that he had in fact accomplished the things that the Messiah was supposed to accomplish, as had been foretold.

 

When looking at the works of Jesus, we too can find ourselves questioning and not fully believing.  They are just stories, surely?

 

Just as Jesus handled John's doubts and questions, God can also handle our doubts, and He welcomes our questions.  Do you have questions about Jesus? About who He is, or what He expects of you?

 

Admit them to yourself and to God, and begin looking for answers. Only as you admit your doubts can you begin to resolve them. It's okay to have questions and doubts, but it's not okay to let that get in the way of your journey with God.

 

What questions do you want to ask him today?

 

Corinne Mason

 

Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 8:12-21, Numbers 26:12-27:11, Luke 7:36-50

 

 

 

[Monday's Devotional] A Glimpse of Heaven

 

Our bible readings this week, if you are following the plan, will be taking us through some of the miracles Jesus performed and the parables he told – the ways in which He made a difference and brought God's power to those in need.

 

"Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother."

Luke 7:11-16 [NIV]

 

Can you imagine the excitement, not only from the mother, but also from the crowd who gathered? How totally amazing – the boy was dead and now he was alive again!!  It is a wonderful biblical story, but can it really be true today?

 

I have recently read a book "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper, a Baptist minister. Don was killed in a car crash on January 18^th 1989. However, that was not where his life ended. Another Baptist minister who was passing the scene felt God tell him to go and pray for Don, and so he climbed into the wreckage alongside him, much to the amazement of the police officers at the scene, and he prayed for Don. And as he was being prayed for, Don found himself being taken away from the heaven he had glimpsed, from the inexplicable joy he felt there, and returning to his earthly life. He was dead for 90 minutes, his body totally crushed by the accident. Through the prompting of God, the ministers obedience, and the mercy of God Don was brought back to life. Although his body remained badly damaged, he went on to help many people as he spoke of his experience of heaven, of the joy he felt there, and of how God had helped him come to terms with his disability and subsequent suffering. 

 

God DOES still work miracles. He is still a God who restores life in the most hopeless of situations. He is a God who can bring people back from the dead. How amazing is our God!

 

Corinne Mason

 

Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 38:1-12, Numbers 24:1-26:11, Luke 7:11-35

 

 

[Friday's Devotional] Regulation

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.  Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?   He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."  Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.  But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"

He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Luke 6:1-11 [NIV]

In the UK we rather like regulations.  Other European countries often seem more hesitant in applying, enforcing and adopting new regulations – but in Britain we just love enforcing them, at the earliest opportunity.  Stopping people from doing something seems to be so much fun!  In my view the spirit of the regulation is far more important than blind adoption of "the letter of the law".  If common sense doesn't prevail I often have a problem with the outcome.

Jesus and his disciples didn't see a problem with milling grain to eat the kernels on the Sabbath – nor did they have a problem with healing the sick on the Sabbath. 

We have a responsibility to respect and obey the law, but religious practice and canon law can sometimes limit people to the extent that it prevents them from doing exactly the things God would have us do.

Lord, help us to do the things you would have us do and not be constrained by legalism.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Dave MacLellan

Read the Bible in a year:  Proverbs 8:1-11, Numbers 19:1-21:3, Luke 5:33-6:11