Walk With Me - Devotionals

Singing

Reader: Calum Cameron

Date: 20th February 2022

Passage: Psalm 98:1

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And they sang a new song... Revelation 5:9

"I can't sing!" How often people say that when others say, 'let's sing!' But everyone at a rugby or football match seems to sing anyway — even if not all are in tune!

God's people have always been a singing people — the book of Psalms shows us that and as we read in the book of Revelation there will be lots of singing in heaven — spontaneous outbursts of a new song, a song of praise to the great Saviour Jesus. For through him, God has truly done marvellous things for us.

Singing is a wonderful way of expressing our emotions, not just in happy times but in sad times too. Some of the Psalms are laments, sad and pleading from a broken heart, as in Psalm 25:16 - "Turn to me for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distress" Some Psalms are confessions. Psalm 51:4 says "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight".

But mostly we love to sing when our hearts are glad because we look to Jesus and find our mercy, forgiveness and full salvation in him alone. Psalm 27:1 says: " The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?" We can join the crowds in heaven now and sing that great new song.

Lord, thank you for the gift of song. Help me to praise your name often and gladly. Amen.

The Faithfulness Of God

Reader: Miriam Montgomery

Date: 19th February 2022

Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:24

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A person's character is very important; it tells us what someone is really like. Can you trust him/her? Is he a person who always keeps his promises? All of that is very important.

The Apostle Paul tells us that God's character — what God is really like — is the very reason we can trust him to help us in every situation. And we know he has put us there for a purpose "We can trust God because he is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it." (The Message)

Paul was writing to Christians who lived in a city where it was not easy to live a holy and pure Christian life. But that was, and that is, the kind of life God looks for in his followers. Yes, it is hard, but we can depend on God to help us to be godly people in an ungodly world. God expects us to be faithful to him, and he has promised to be faithful to us, utterly dependable, to give us the courage, the strength, the love and the endurance to live and witness for him. John Calvin said: "God is always like himself". That means he is always faithful. 'If he said it, he'll do it'! He will help us - 'Our faithful, unchangeable friend, whose love is as great as his power, and knows neither measure nor end.' J Hart.

Lord, help me to depend on you daily, knowing that you are dependable always. Amen.

God Sent His Son

Reader: Tom Muir

Date: 18th February 2022

Passage: Galatians 4:4

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When the Bible says that 'God sent forth his son', it shows us clearly that this was a unique event — it speaks of a new set of circumstances coming into being. Jesus, the son of God, came 'in the fullness of time' - God's special time.

There are three great parts in the Bible where it says that God sent forth his son and each of them gives an important reason why this happened. In 1 John 4:10 we are told that God sent Jesus to be the means, by his death on the cross, by which God's anger and hatred against us sinners would be 'obliterated from his sight' (J I Packer). And he did this because of his love for us.

In Galatians 4:4 we are told that God sent his son to redeem us because we were slaves to sin and had broken God's law. To redeem us Jesus had to die for us to pay the price for our freedom and to bring us into a family relationship with God.

In 1 John 4:9 we read that God sent his son that we might live through him - the start of a spiritual life that never ends.

From all of this we have to see the uniqueness of God's salvation which is all centred in and achieved through Jesus Christ. We have no salvation, no forgiveness, no eternal life apart from Jesus.

Almighty God we thank you for sending Jesus. Amen.

The Disaster Of Wrong Choices

Reader: Calum Cameron

Date: 17th February 2022

Passage: Jeremiah 2:13

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We read that God was appalled at the choice the people made in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, and his heart bled for them. The reason why God was taken aback by the people's choice in leaving him to 'do their own thing' was that he knew that these wrong choices would lead to spiritual and moral disaster and, in the case of Israel, to national disaster as well.

You see, when we choose to leave God out of our lives, we begin to go wrong in so many ways because the God who created us made us to live his way. If we were to fit the wrong engine into a car, very soon the car would begin to break down and all sorts of things would go wrong. That's how things will go with us if we turn away from God. We may try to live without him, but we will fail to live happily or successfully in the end. Even the best that life without God can offer is like a leaking and empty cistern — useless. The Lord Jesus is the only living water which truly satisfies our deepest needs and helps us to live the way God intended we should.

Dear Lord Jesus, too often I have gone my own way and have forsaken you. Forgive me Lord, I pray, and bring me back to trust in you. Amen.

Choices!

Reader: Miriam Montgomery

Date: 16th February 2022

Passage: Joshua 24:15

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If you are a Starbucks customer you will know the whole range of coffees that you can choose from. We all like to make our own choices, whether it is for coffee or anything else.

In the book of Joshua chapter 24 we read about a time when the Israelites had to make a big decision. They had several choices, and Joshua was worried they would make the wrong choice.

You see, Joshua was now an old man. He had been a good leader for many years and he kept the people worshipping God and keeping to his ways. But Joshua knew he was not going to live for ever, and the Israelites were living among tribes who did not worship God; indeed some of the tribes had really horrible religions and gods and the Israelites were tempted to follow these just as some of their ancestors had done.

So Joshua challenged the people to think seriously about their faith. As for himself and his family, Joshua said they were committed to the Lord and to serving him. So now Joshua challenged the people to choose either to follow the Lord sincerely, or to go after these other false religions.

The people made the right choice. "We will follow and serve the Lord", they said. "He is our God". Can we say this too?

O Lord, there are many wrong choices that tempt me. Help me to follow you only, faithfully and sincerely.

Living By Faith

Reader: Tom Muir

Date: 15th February 2022

Passage: Hebrews 11:1

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Being a Christian in the days when the letter to the Hebrews was written was not easy. The Christians often had to suffer physically and emotionally. For them the world was a hard, unfriendly place and very anti-God. For that reason the writer of the letter tells a lot of stories of people who lived by what he calls faith, and they too lived in difficult circumstances. These stories were told to encourage these struggling Christians, and us, so that we also might live by faith and so prove the reliability and help of God in every time of need.

But what is faith? Faith is really a relationship between God and the Christian. It is the channel through which the saving mercy of Jesus Christ comes to us and puts us into a Father-child relationship with God. So faith becomes our personal trust and confidence in the God who has saved us.

The more we come to learn about God, the more our relationship with him will strengthen and that will help us to cope with all sorts of setbacks and persecutions we may face in this life. God will help us and he will also assure us of the better things he has prepared for us in the life to come. We learn to trust him more and more in this life too.

Our Father in heaven, help me to trust you to provide for my daily needs and to help me to serve you in the way you call me to. Amen.

The Pearl Of Great Value

Reader: Calum Cameron

Date: 14th February 2022

Passage: Matthew 13:45-46

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The merchant knew his pearls and when he saw this pearl of great value, he was willing to sell everything he had (not just his other pearls) and he bought that special one.

Jesus has come to tell us about the kingdom of God (or of heaven). Indeed Jesus is the king, and he tells us truly that compared to finding him, even the best of things in this life are like poor pearls. He is that pearl of great value and we should willingly give up everything to have him as our King. Why?

It is through Jesus that the tyranny of sin and Satan are broken — at the cross. It is in and through Jesus that grace, mercy, repentance and forgiveness are to be found. It is through Jesus that power is given for us to live and witness to God's goodness and love. Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God and to find him and to enter his kingdom is of greater value than anything else.

You enter the Kingdom of God by trusting the Lord Jesus for your salvation and when you do, you come to know you have found the pearl of great value - it's worth giving up everything for!

Dear Lord Jesus, help me to see you as that pearl of infinite value and your kingdom as my home. Amen.

Boasting!

Reader: Miriam Montgomery

Date: 13th February 2022

Passage: Galatians 6:14

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We all like to boast about something! Maybe it is about a bargain we found in the shops or a big fish we caught. Boasting comes naturally to us.

Paul the Apostle liked to boast as well. He had plenty to be proud of but, he tells us, everything paled into insignificance compared with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and what was represented by that. For him the cross of Jesus had huge significance even if people thought he was crazy boasting in such a thing that most people looked on with disgust.

For Paul, and this must be true of us too if we are Christians, the cross represented God's way of salvation for sinners. This did seem foolishness to some but Paul knew that, as a sinner himself, he could not save himself or find pardon and forgiveness unless God forgave him. His sin, and our sin, must be dealt with. And it was — at the cross, where Jesus took the penalty for the sin of all who come to trust in him. Paul found this to be true and he cried in relief "(Jesus) loved me and gave himself for me" Galatians 2: 20. That was why he boasted in the cross. Can we join him in this?

Lord Jesus, may it be far from me to boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christ Has Set Us Free!

Reader: Tom Muir

Date: 12th February 2022

Passage: Galatians 5:1

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Freedom! In the time of Paul, as in any time, freedom was a really precious possession. Its opposite was slavery. Paul was thankful that he had been born free.

But Paul is telling us in the words at the top of the page of an even more precious freedom and also of an even greater slavery. The freedom he speaks about is what the Christian enjoys; the slavery is what binds up a person who tries, even very hard, to please God by his own good deeds.

When a Christian is living a faithful life of obedience to Jesus Christ he/she is free from the condemnation of God's law (because of what Jesus did for our salvation). The Christian is free from the daily grind of trying to please God by our own efforts. And we are free from the devil's taunts about past sins which he brings up again (they are all forgiven); and we are free from worrying about what other people think about us because we are following Christ.

Before we became Christians we may have tried to please God, thinking that our own efforts would be enough, but we failed and just became slaves to rules and regulations. Only Christ sets us free!

Dear God, I praise you that you have given me your son, Jesus Christ, that I might no longer be a slave to my own efforts. Amen.

Responses To The Gospel

Reader: Calum Cameron

Date: 11th February 2022

Passage: Matthew 13:3

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Jesus loved to paint pictures with words and he loved to tell stories. All the pictures he painted, all the stories he told had a very important purpose: they were to teach people about the Gospel and to draw people to believe the Gospel and to follow him. One of these stories was the parable of the sower, his seed and the ground on which it fell. (Matthew 13: 1-23) In this story Jesus compared the seed to the word of the Gospel which is told in churches and books and in conversations.

People receive this Word in different ways, like seed sown by the farmer in Jesus' time. Some seed fell on the path which ran alongside the field; some seed fell on rocky ground at the edge of the field; other seed fell among thorns and thistles, but most seed fell on the fertile ground of the field.

Jesus compared the ground on which the seed fell to the way people respond to the Gospel message. Some people's hearts are hard, and they do not respond at all; others seem to be delighted with the Word but after a while their enthusiasm goes; others believe for a while but get 'turned off' when troubles come; but some believe and bear fruit — they persevere and find great joy in following Jesus.

Where do we fit in to the picture?

Dear Lord, help me to believe and to follow you to the end. Amen.