Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Acts 1:9-11 [Jesus] was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” The ascension of Jesus brought His ministry on earth to an end in an amazing way. It is not surprising that the disciples looked intently into the sky to see where He had gone, longing for Him to come back down again. As they stood there, they were told that the day would come when Jesus would return in the same way as He left. The second coming of Jesus should be our confident expectation. It should be constantly in our minds, not as a threat but as the most wonderful promise. When I was a small boy, I must confess I thought of it entirely as a threat. Whenever I couldn’t find my mother in the house, I always assumed that Jesus had returned and I’d been left behind. However, the fact that Jesus will return is presented to us in the New Testament as a cause for encouragement. It’s a reminder that history is in God’s hands and, at the time that He chooses, the curtain will be brought down. The knowledge that Jesus will return one day also encourages us to ensure that we keep our minds focused on serving the Lord. Jesus told a number of parables to stress the importance of keeping alert all the time because we don’t know precisely when He will return. The parable of the ten bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13) is an encouragement to us all to be fully prepared so that we don’t miss the moment. The parable of the servants (Matthew 25:14-30) reminds us that we need to work really hard with whatever resources we’ve been given. Whether or not Jesus returns during our lifetime is not the point. What matters is that we are always ready. Question In what way is your life affected by the fact that Jesus might return today? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that I will always live in readiness for Your return. Amen

Acts 1:8 [Jesus said:] “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” What an amazing day this must have been for the disciples! They were just about to see Jesus disappear before their eyes, and before He did so He gave them their marching orders. They were commissioned to take the good news to the whole world. These days, we know a great deal about the world and can easily communicate across the globe, but for Jesus’ disciples this must have seemed an overwhelming challenge. Where on earth would they start? Jesus wanted His disciples to know that they were all witnesses. They had seen and heard things which needed to be shared. We don’t all have an evangelistic gift, which is often said to have been given to about 10% of Christians, but we are all witnesses. Our means of communication have changed completely since the first century, but our fundamental responsibility is still to bear our personal witness of what we have seen and heard. Jesus asked His disciples to witness in Jerusalem. They needed to start where they were. This is often the greatest challenge. We all need to share our faith with our families, our colleagues and those who see us day by day. He then told them to go to Judaea. Though it wasn’t an easy area – much of it was rocky desert with scattered communities – Jesus wanted them to share their witness there. Because of the intense hatred that existed between the Jews and Samaritans, they were bound to get a hostile welcome in Samaria, but that’s where Jesus told them to go next. Then, as if they hadn’t already been challenged to the limit, He told them to go to the ends of the earth! The challenge must have seemed overwhelming to the disciples. It must have felt like mission impossible, but it wasn’t. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, who would give them the wisdom and strength to obey His command. Question Who might you be able to witness to today? Prayer Lord God thank You that You have given me good news to share. Amen

Acts 1:3-4 During the forty days after [Jesus] suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised.” Luke wrote two books: his gospel and what is often called “The Acts of the Apostles”. The first tells us what happened during Jesus’ earthly ministry and the second describes the birth and growth of the Church. However, before Luke launched into the Church’s story, he wanted his readers to know that there was no doubt about Jesus’ resurrection. He knew that everything hinged on it, so he informed his readers that Jesus met with His disciples on a number of occasions, even sharing meals with them. It was clearly a tumultuous time for the disciples. They had experienced the trauma of Jesus’ appalling death and the exuberant joy of His resurrection and were now contemplating what life would be like after He’d left them. Jesus fully realised this and wanted His disciples to know He’d made perfect provision for their needs. All they had to do was wait, and then within a few days they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit. Mysterious as God’s plans were for them, they could look to the future with confidence. Our situation is not so different from those disciples’. We have the blessing of living in the days of the Spirit, but there is still much about the future that is completely unknown to us. The shocking experience of Covid has made it clear how completely unpredictable the future is. We don’t know might happen here on earth, and we all have many questions about what will happen after we die. However, in common with the disciples, we can face the future with confidence, knowing that God has made perfect provision for us. Question What are your thoughts when you look to the future? Prayer Thank You, loving Lord, that my future is in Your hands. Help me to trust You completely and find peace in Your plans. Amen

Psalm 113:5-7 Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. When you hear that God is enthroned on high, it’s easy to assume that He must therefore be totally disconnected from the harsh realities of our world. The psalmist makes it clear that the reverse is true. Mighty and exalted as He undoubtedly is, God is also intimately concerned about what is happening here in the world, so much so that He not only looks down at what is going on but takes action to rectify the situation. The whole Bible shows a concern for the poor. The law of Moses insisted on the poor being protected and supported, the prophets continually reminded people of their duty to care for the most vulnerable and Jesus went out of His way to reach out to the weak and marginalised. In every society, there are poor people, and yet the majority try to get on with life as if they didn’t exist. God calls us to care for the poor in our world today. The facts are staggering and deeply disturbing. According to the World Bank, 700 million people live in extreme poverty, which they define as living on less than $3 a day. The majority of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by South Asia. However, poverty is present in every society. It is often carefully hidden, but none of us lives far away from people whose lives are distorted and restricted by a lack of money. God is still in the business of lifting the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump and looks to us to make it happen. Question In what ways are you able to help the poor in your community? Prayer Lord God, I thank You that You care for the poor and vulnerable. Help me to find ways to reflect Your love to all those who are marginalised in my community. Amen

Psalm 112:4 Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate and righteous. I will never forget my visit to Ruby. She was dying and knew that her end was very near. It was late in the afternoon when I went to her cottage and daylight was fading, but my overwhelming memory of that visit is of her radiant smile. On paper, the situation seemed so sad and hopeless, but Ruby didn’t see it that way. She knew God as a friend and was looking to the future with genuine excitement because she knew that He could be trusted. For Ruby, the light still shone. Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting many people whose life circumstances looked dark and forbidding, but whose faith in God meant that they simply didn’t see it that way. I think of prisoners, people with disabilities, those who had been thrown out of their communities because of their Christian faith and others who, through no fault of their own, were facing financial ruin. In each of their lives, the light was shining. Humanly speaking, it was unrelieved darkness, but because of their faith in God, a brilliant light shone that nothing could extinguish. This whole psalm is a wonderful description of the person who has centred their life on God. They are generous and kind and are able to live their life with confidence because of their faith. They don’t spend their time fearing bad news because “they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless” (Psalm 112:7-8). The psalmist doesn’t deny the reality of life’s problems and threats. He doesn’t for a moment suggest that there is no darkness in the world. His point is that the godly person is able to see the light shining whatever the circumstances, and who wouldn’t want to be like that? Question In whose life have you seen light shining in the darkness? Prayer Lord God, I thank You that Your light shines even in the darkest of situations. Amen

Psalm 111:1-2 Praise the LORD! I will thank the LORD with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the LORD! All who delight in him should ponder them. It is, of course, possible to praise God anywhere, but there is something incredibly precious about getting together with others to worship Him, and it is wonderful to think of God’s people doing that for thousands of years. Whether it is in a small remote village chapel, a vast cathedral or a tent, the experience of worshipping God with other people is inspiring, encouraging and unifying. The psalmist encourages worshippers to think about what God has done. When we worship God, we need to take time to reflect carefully on what He has done in creation and throughout history. I was interested to learn that verse 2 was placed over the entrance to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where some of the most important scientific discoveries have been made. Researching and pondering are important activities. We need to find space to explore, to see things in new ways and to allow God to open up new truths to us. These Bible notes have been written to help us all to ponder. It’s so easy for us to hurtle into our days without much reflection. We can get into a predictable rhythm of life and become so focused on the tasks in front of us that we have no time to reflect at all. It’s good to set aside a definite time in the day when we can listen to God and reflect on Him. That might be while walking the dog, while travelling to work or in the peace of our homes. It really doesn’t matter where it happens, but we all need to carve out time when we can stand back from life and allow God to speak with us. Pondering is probably the most important thing we can do in the whole day. Question Where do you find the time and space to ponder? Prayer God our Father, I worship You, for You are so great. Help me to find time to worship You and to reflect on all that You have done. Amen

Psalm 108:1-2 My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart! Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. Isn’t it wonderful when you can say you are totally confident about someone? Perhaps it’s your doctor, dentist, plumber or friend. Without hesitation, you can commend them to someone else. You know they will never let anyone down. The reality, of course, is that they are human and, however wonderful they might be, they might become sick, and they might forget. You cannot be 100% certain that they will be reliable. However, our confidence in God is wonderfully different. The psalmist was so confident of God that he burst into song! He knew God would never let anyone down, so he grabbed every instrument in sight and decided to wake up the day with his song. Martin Luther was a man who showed his confidence in God by courageously standing up against the Church authorities of the time. It would have been so much easier to have kept quiet, but the idea of buying indulgences was abhorrent to him. If someone bought an indulgence to support the rebuilding of the St Paul’s Basilica in Rome, it was said that their sins would be forgiven. Luther would have none of it. The God he knew graciously forgave those who came to Him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times.” The apostle Paul often spoke of his total confidence in God. That was why he was willing to take such extreme risks in his ministry. He wrote to the church in Rome: “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the power of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38). If we are to stand strongly for God in a society which largely rejects Him, we too need to have total confidence in Him. The psalmist and Paul would encourage us to have just that. Question Do you have total confidence in God? Prayer Lord God our Father, I thank You that I can be certain of Your love and goodness for time and eternity. Amen

Psalm 107:1-3 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south. This psalm celebrates the people’s return after the exile. This was a massive moment in national life, and the psalmist is clear that it was entirely because of God’s consistent faithfulness. In the psalm, he looks back through different chapters in the life of God’s people and records the fact that, despite repeated human failings, God has not given up on them. Time after time, they had rejected His guidance and gone their own way, but God had not abandoned them. The final verse of the psalm sums up the situation beautifully: “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord” (Psalm 107:43). Our own personal stories are not so very different from this. As we look back through our lives, there will have been times when we have been totally unaware of God’s presence, and others when we have deliberately gone our own way. There have been decisions that we have made that make us wince with embarrassment now. But, through it all, God has been faithful, and now we need to speak out. We need to learn the lessons of our own personal history and use them as a springboard for our worship. The return from exile was not a neat historical event. It was supremely messy and stretched over a long period of time. When the people returned to their homeland, they were not welcomed with open arms, and it took a long time to reconstruct the city of Jerusalem and restore the worship of the temple. That’s our life too. There are no quick and easy solutions to the challenges of life but, through it all, God is faithful, and His love can be entirely relied upon. Through all the messiness of life, we need to make sure we keep our eyes fixed on God and keep singing our songs of worship. Question What is the main reason that you want to praise God today? Prayer Loving Father, thank You that You are always faithful and loving. Help me to keep praising You amid all the twists and turns of life’s journey. Amen

Exodus 34:9 [Moses said:] “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favour with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession.” What an incredible job Moses had! The people had rebelled against God in the most dramatic way. They’d known that Moses had gone up Mount Sinai to meet with God, but they’d become fed up with waiting, so they had constructed a new god of their own who they’d then worshipped with great enthusiasm. To describe Moses as disappointed would be a huge understatement. He must have been gutted, and who would have blamed him if he’d decided to throw in the towel? Who would want to be the leader of such a rude and rebellious people? But Moses hung in there because he knew the nature of his God. In verses 6-7, the Lord revealed Himself as a God of compassion and mercy who is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness, lavishing unfailing love to a thousand generations. Moses’ strength lay in the fact that he knew the nature of his God and was confident that, tough as it would be, he could lead the people so long as he knew that God Himself was travelling with them. I am often struck by the huge challenges that people have to cope with in life. Betrayal, failure, illness, disappointment and death are shared out unequally. Life is totally unpredictable, which means we all need, like Moses, to be clear about the nature of God so that we are equipped to face up to whatever challenges might be thrown at us. I love the confidence of the apostle Paul, who asked the question: “If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:31-32). Paul could so easily have looked at the problems surrounding him and given up, but he, like Moses, kept his eye on the God who was travelling with him, and remained strong. Question What is it about God that gives you strength as you look to the future? Prayer Loving God, I thank You that I can live with confidence because You are always with me, whatever happens. Amen

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” Moses spent 40 days and nights on top of Mount Sinai receiving the instructions which were to be the foundation of the people of Israel’s lives. He was given not only the Ten Commandments but also detailed plans for the building of the tabernacle, which would be the focus of the people’s worship. However, while this was happening, the people were desperately impatient. They became restless and decided to look for some different gods to lead them. Incredibly, Aaron, Moses’ brother and trusted co-leader, took the lead in this and commanded the people to bring him their gold rings so they could be melted down and made into a calf to worship. He then set up an altar for it, and the people worshipped with huge enthusiasm. All of this was too much for God, who tipped Moses off about these horrifying developments. He rushed down the mountain and in his fury smashed the stone tablets that the Lord had given him. This was a truly dramatic incident, and it might feel rather remote from our lives. However, it is a good reminder of how quickly people can change their minds. One moment the people were assuring Moses they would do everything that the Lord commanded them (Exodus 24:3), and the next they were busily making another god. It reminds us of the parable of the sower. Jesus described those who were like the seed that fell on rocky soil. When they heard the message, they immediately received it with joy, but because they hadn’t put down roots, they didn’t last long (Matthew 13:20-21). We need to draw some important conclusions from this. Firstly, we must learn the importance of us putting down deep roots in our faith so that, however great the difficulties, temptations and frustrations of life, we will remain strong in God. It also reminds us that we shouldn’t assume people are firmly rooted in God just because they express strong faith. We need to take responsibility for constantly encouraging our Christian brothers and sisters to dig deeper in their faith and become truly resilient for Him. Question How deep are the roots of your own faith? Prayer Loving God, help me to become stronger in my faith day by day, so that I will be able to strengthen and encourage others in their faith. Amen

Exodus 23:9 You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 400 years, so they had a huge experience of being foreigners. Throughout that time, they knew their true home was elsewhere, and that one day they would enter the land that the Lord had given them. This meant that, of all people, they had reason to be sensitive to the vulnerabilities of the foreigners in their community. Time and again, the law of Moses reminded them of this important responsibility. When I lived in India, I had the huge privilege of living with an Indian family. They generously took me into their home where we shared meals, worship, leisure and a lot of laughs. They couldn’t have been more generous. However, I didn’t speak their language at all at first, and was never fluent. Their customs were very unfamiliar to me and I often felt rather lost. It was only the kindness and consideration of the lovely family which meant that I felt secure and at peace. I certainly learned what it meant to care well for a foreigner! The duty to care for foreigners is one that God places upon all of us, and the challenge is constantly increasing. The number of migrants internationally is now nearly 300 million people – almost double the number from 1990 and three times the number from 1970. This poses a huge challenge to Christians throughout the world, and it is great to see churches involved with many networks to support these people, recognising the colossal challenges that they face. One of the key needs is for them to learn the language of their new host country and to be offered a place to meet with other people from their home country. Such initiatives are an exciting, contemporary way of living in obedience to God’s ancient law. Question In what way are you and your church able to reach out to foreigners in your own community? Prayer Loving Father, help me to show Your love and care for foreigners. Amen

Exodus 23:8 Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth. I had never really thought about bribes until I spent two years living in India. There, we spoke about bribes on a regular basis. Soon after I arrived there, a servant girl was murdered near where we lived. Her body was found at the bottom of a well. I was very alarmed by this, as you can imagine, and was relieved when my Indian host told me that the murderer had been found. I asked what would happen to the murderer and my host explained straightforwardly that nothing would happen because he had bribed the police. I was deeply shocked. Bribery takes place in many countries on a regular basis. In India, it was well known that the only way to get a delivery of full gas canisters was to bribe the delivery driver. Bribery was just a normal part of life, so this led to endless conversations as to how Christians should respond. Some Christians, including my wonderful host, were very clear that they would never bribe anyone. But many others acknowledged that it was an inevitable part of living in a poor society and that they would pay whatever it took to get the goods and services they needed. The people of Israel were clearly very familiar with this whole issue and knew the power of bribes to make even really good people twist the truth. Bribery may not be a big problem in our lives, but we all live with the challenge of making wise, ethical decisions day by day. Whether it’s paying tradesmen in cash to help them avoid paying tax or making inflated insurance claims, we all live with the temptation to bend the truth. God calls us to be truthful and just, whatever the situation and however great the temptation. Question How would you respond if bribes were a regular expectation in our society? Prayer Lord God, help me to act in a way that will honour You, however great the pressures. Amen

Exodus 23:5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help. These laws make fascinating reading. Here, the people are told that they have a responsibility to other people, whoever they are. If you see the donkey of your enemy struggling, the immediate ungodly response would be to say of the owner: “Serves him right. Just what he deserves.” But God declares that our responsibility is to give practical support to other people, whether they are our close friends or enemies. This law reminds us of the words of Jesus, who went even further. We are not merely to be caring towards our neighbours – we have a responsibility to love them. This command, more than any other, shows that Jesus was turning normal human thinking upside down. Jesus seemed to take it for granted that His followers would have enemies, just as He Himself had throughout His ministry. There is no way of avoiding that, but the person who walks in Jesus’ steps has a completely different way of approaching enemies. The love that we have for our enemies might have no impact on them at all, but there is a possibility that it will bring healing and restoration, so we must keep on loving. However hideous the actions of our enemies, they are loved by God, and we need to model our lives on Him. Following God is never easy. The demands of the Old Testament law were tough, but Jesus made them even tougher. It is crystal clear that we cannot obey any of them in our own strength. We are totally dependent on God’s power to enable us to live in His way. Let’s seek His Holy Spirit’s strength today as we live for Him, and look for creative ways of bringing His love to the people around us, whoever they are. Question In what way are you challenged by Jesus’ command to love your enemies? Prayer Lord God, help me to be loving towards everyone today, whoever they are. Amen

Exodus 23:2-3 When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. And do not slant your testimony in favour of a person just because that person is poor. Telling the truth is absolutely crucial in a healthy society. However uncomfortable and awkward the truth might be, it needs to be proclaimed and followed at all times, or society is in peril. That means we must not bend the truth, even when we are seeking to help vulnerable people. When I first read this verse, I thought it was a misprint. Surely the greatest danger is of bending the truth because a person is powerful and influential. But in saying that we mustn’t slant the truth in favour of a poor person, God is saying that we mustn’t play around with the truth, whoever the person might be and however vulnerable and needy they are. We all seek to tell the truth. We have been brought up to do so, and we know it’s the correct thing to do. But these verses are right in identifying the pressure of the crowd. If we have views that are very different from those around us, we don’t want to stand out and feel stupid. If a particularly unpopular person at work is being unfairly criticised or mocked, it would be much easier to keep quiet than to stand up for them, but truth and justice would demand that we do precisely that. Our conviction that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life is not a generally held view. However, if we are convinced that it is indeed the truth, we need to be willing to share it, however hostile or offensive the reaction. Speaking the truth is our calling as Christians, whatever the audience, subject or reaction. Question In what situations do you find it difficult to speak the truth? Prayer Loving Father, help me to be utterly truthful in everything that I say today. Amen

Exodus 20:13-17 [God said:] “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. You must not covet your neighbour’s house.” These blunt commandments are even more brief in Hebrew, where a better translation would be “No murder. No adultery. No stealing.” God is setting out in quick succession the activities that must be stopped if the community is to thrive. Having respect for human life, marriage, property and truth-telling are foundational to a peaceful and harmonious society, and coveting can only be destructive. On first reading, the trouble with these commandments is that they sound so negative. However, the reason for this is, quite clearly, because God’s desire is the best. He won’t settle for anything less than that, so He is ruthlessly opposed to anything that will spoil life for His much-loved children. The sanctions showed how serious He was. Murder would lead to capital punishment, adultery to stoning and the thief had to make full restitution. As human beings, we never enjoy being told what we can’t do, but it is often a sign of love. My parents spent years telling me the things I shouldn’t do. Their rules were often annoying and frustrating, but there is no doubt that they were a sign of their love for me and my sisters. If they had allowed us to do whatever we wanted, it would have been the clearest sign that they didn’t care. Coveting might well be the most challenging of these five commandments for us. In our society, coveting is continually encouraged. Every advertisement encourages us to want something, but God has a much better plan. He wants us to be content with what we have and to find peace in not continually rushing after more and more of everything. Question Which of these five commandments do you find most challenging and why? Prayer Lord God, I thank You for Your complete love for me. Help me to believe that Your commandments are always an expression of Your love. Amen

Exodus 20:8-10,12 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God…Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Here are the first two positive commandments. The previous three declared that we shouldn’t put any other gods in front of the true God, shouldn’t make idols and shouldn’t blaspheme. Having established those foundational principles, we are given positive guidance on how to build a secure, God-focused society. The first is by ordering our time properly, and the second is through building strong families. Respect for the Sabbath is far more important than merely having a day off each week. That is undoubtedly a wise and healthy thing to do, but the principal reason for respecting the Sabbath is that by doing so we put God in His rightful place. The Sabbath day is dedicated to the Lord. It’s a day when we worship Him together and declare His greatness and power, and through it we are refreshed and strengthened in our faith for the other six days of the week. God has given us plenty of time to do our work, and the seventh day enables us to refocus our lives on God and on the things that matter most. The Jewish celebration of Sabbath is an intensely family occasion, so it isn’t surprising that the next foundational commandment was one concerning parents. Honouring parents is so crucial that God declared that if the people obeyed it, they would live a long and full life. Everything hinges on the family. In days when many families are dispersed and rarely see one another, this is a challenge, but this does nothing to erase the importance of the commandment. It has been wisely observed that God didn’t give ten suggestions but ten commandments. We disobey any of them at our peril. Ordering our time and family life in a godly way are not options but absolute necessities. Question In what ways do your sabbath days help you to refocus on God? Prayer Loving Father, thank You for the gift of the Sabbath and of my family. Help me to treasure them more and more. Amen

Exodus 20:6-7 [God said:] “I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” The word commandment sounds demanding and perhaps even harsh, so we need to be clear that God’s motivation was lavish unfailing love. When I think back to my childhood, I recall that my father had some very clear principles. The most major among them was showing respect to my mother, and if I said or did anything that suggested less, I would know about it quickly! There is absolutely no question that his reaction was based upon love for my mother and also for me, although it could seem and feel quite harsh at the time. In a similar way, God insists that His name must be given absolute respect, and the penalties for showing disrespect would be very severe. Some devout Jews have taken this commandment to mean that we shouldn’t use the word God at all, but I don’t agree with that. What matters is that we use the name of God with ultimate respect. This is difficult in a society which constantly makes jokes about God and frequently uses His name as an expletive. We won’t achieve anything helpful by lecturing the people around us and telling them how offensive we find their language. I believe our best approach is to ensure that we always use the name of God with care and respect. I like to take every opportunity to say to people: “God bless you” in the hope that they might see how much God means to me. However brief the encounter, I have found that it is normally possible to use the greeting, even in a shop or at a petrol station check out! Question In what ways might you be able to help the people around you to see how much God means to you? Prayer Lord God, help me always to speak Your name with love and respect, and to encourage others to do the same. Amen

Exodus 20:2-4 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” The ten commandments are remarkable in many ways, but possibly most amazing is how short they are. Since they were delivered to Moses, governments have laid down tens of millions of laws, but these ten offer us the solid foundation for any society which wants to build its life in a godly and sustainable way. Whichever way you say the word, commandments don’t sound jolly! They sound severe and restrictive, so we need to remind ourselves of those words with which they begin. God reminds His people that He is their saviour and that He led them miraculously out of Egypt. It was because of His love for them that He gave them these laws, which would ensure they would continue to be blessed. Any loving parent will put in place very clear rules and boundaries for their children in order to ensure that they thrive and live safely. God is no different and has given us these foundational rules so that we can enjoy life to the full. The first two commandments demanded that the people should only worship the one true God. There were plenty of other gods on offer in Moses’ time, and the people knew it. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 400 years and would have been familiar with the many gods that were worshipped in that land. The Pharaohs were believed to be the sons of the sun god Rah. Indeed, every part of life was dominated by different gods. They worshipped the River Nile and honoured Apis, the chief god of Memphis, in the form of a sacred bull. They also worshipped Serapis, who defended the land against locusts. On all sides, they were offered gods they could follow, but God demanded exclusive worship. Our society is also full of gods. There are not only innumerable other religions and philosophies but our material possessions, ambitions, careers, hobbies or sports can be just as demanding in calling for our commitment and devotion. However, God alone deserves our worship. We need to build our homes, communities and nations on this foundation principle. If we are to build our lives on the ten commandments, this is where we have to begin. Question In what ways do these first two commandments shape your life? Prayer Lord God, help me to give You the first place in my life. Amen

Exodus 19:5-6 [The Lord said:] “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.” When God spoke these words to Moses it was exactly two months since the people had left Egypt. They were getting used to their new life in the desert and God wanted to establish the basis of their relationship with him. He took Moses up Mount Sinai to give him the foundation principles upon which their new life should be lived, and at the heart of it was the word ‘covenant’. God would care and provide for His people but, at the same time, they needed to understand their own responsibilities before God. These would be expressed not only in the ten commandments, which God would soon give to Moses, but also in a large number of other regulations. The whole Bible is based on the principle of covenant, and that is the invitation which God gives to us today. He promises us His salvation, His guidance and His protection, but He looks to us to be obedient to him. At the heart of this are commands which are the same in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus summed them up in this way: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). A one-way relationship simply doesn’t work. It’s not a relationship in any meaningful sense. Our relationship with our spouse, children, society or any organisation needs to be two-way, so we shouldn’t be surprised that when God makes generous promises to us, He looks to us to take responsibility and to live by His rules. Let’s step into today thanking God for His love for us and making sure we live in a way that passes on His love. Question What will it mean for you to pass on God’s love today? Prayer Lord God, I thank You for Your perfect love for me. Give me your strength and guidance as I seek to share love with those around me today. Amen

Exodus 19:4 [The Lord said:] “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” The eagle is a huge bird with a wingspan of more than two metres. It was an impressive sight for the Israelites as they walked through the desert. It is easy to understand how it was often seen as a symbol of God’s loving provision. In Moses’ final speech before the people entered the Promised Land, he described God in this beautifully tender way: “He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes. Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11). God perfectly understood and provided for the needs of His people. We all know times when we are totally out of our depth. We can’t cope and we need God’s peace and strength. When an eaglet is learning to fly, the mother eagle flies under them with her wings spread out to catch them. She doesn’t actually carry them because they would then never learn to fly, but she gives them total security by being there underneath them. Isn’t that a wonderful picture of how God cares for us? He wants us to grow in strength and to be able to serve Him effectively, but He also knows that we need the security of His continual presence. I wonder what challenges you are facing at the moment. God wants you to give Him the best of your intellect, determination, gifts and strength but, as you do so, you need to keep reminding yourself that you are not alone. His wings will always be beneath you, able to catch you when you fall, giving you continual security. Question In what way does the security that God gives you affect your daily life? Prayer Loving Father, thank You for the complete security that You give me as I live for You today. Amen

Isaiah 53:5-6 He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah was ministering among a people in exile. They were living in Babylon (modern Iraq) far from home and everything seemed hopeless. They longed to be allowed to return to Jerusalem, but as the years passed, that seemed increasingly unlikely. In this bleak situation, Isaiah boldly proclaims that God has not forgotten them and that He will send a servant who will bring them salvation. As we read these words, we see them as a staggeringly powerful prophecy about Jesus, the Messiah. We need to continually gasp with amazement that God was willing to send His own son into our broken world. No other person could have done what Jesus did. He alone could take upon himself the sins of the world. Only because He was the perfect Son of God could He bear the full weight of the brokenness and rebellion of humankind and bring salvation. The miracle of Easter is that it is through the appalling suffering and death of Jesus that we are made whole. God never wanted humankind’s life to be spoilt by sin, but that was our choice. God’s intention was always that we should enjoy our lives to the full and live in close partnership with Him, but sin entered the world. Whatever sin touches, it damages and disfigures, and only by facing up to its full, awful reality could we ever be set free. That is precisely what Jesus did when He died on the cross. He took the full weight of your sin and mine and opened up a new way into the presence of God. As we reflect on Jesus’ death on the cross, let’s do so with a new sense of amazement, gratitude and worship. Question How do you respond to the fact that Jesus was willing to be killed to make you whole? Prayer Loving Father, thank You that You sent Jesus into the world and that He was willing to die the most terrible death out of love for me. Amen

Isaiah 46:4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. I have huge respect for many people, but at the top of my list come carers. I am constantly amazed by the way in which so many people pour out their lives to support others. They give up their own convenience and opportunities in order to give people their love. It is impossible to know the exact number of carers, but in many countries it will be about ten per cent of the population – so I am absolutely sure that this describes many of you. Today’s verse focuses attention on the supreme carer – God Himself. He is the pre-eminent carer because He never sleeps and there is no limit to His wisdom and strength. Amazingly, He is the carer for all of us. Whatever our needs, He is able to reach out to us and give us support, from the time when we are born to the time when we have white hair. The latter is now a fitting description of me, so I find this particularly powerful and encouraging. There may be times in our lives when we are unaware that God is our carer, perhaps because we are overwhelmed with our busy lives and don’t have time to think about Him. God’s people living in exile in Babylon were often totally unaware of Him. They frequently felt that they had been forgotten about and that life was hopeless. Through it all, however, God was nearer to them than their breath. He stood beside them, offering to care for them in every moment. Whether you are feeling happy and confident today or that the bottom has recently fallen out of your world, you need to remember that God cares for you and will not leave your side. Question In what way do you need God to be your supreme carer today? Prayer Thank You Lord that You are constantly nourishing and supporting me, even when I forget about You. Amen

Isaiah 44:8-9 You are my witnesses—is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock—not one! How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame. Isaiah has a great deal to say about idols. He laughs at the sheer stupidity of those who spent their time carving idols out of blocks of wood. Some of the wood would be used for burning in order to keep everyone warm and to bake bread or cook a meal, and another part of the wood was then carefully shaped into an idol to be worshipped. Could anything be more foolish? Isaiah reminds his hearers that they have one true God who is a Rock and who alone is worthy of worship. Worshipping anyone or anything else is a complete waste of time. Our society is full of idols. They are not often carved out of wood, but they are just as real because an idol is anything that is put in the place that is rightfully God’s. A car, house, career, family, sport, hobby or anything at all can be an idol if it becomes the focus of our attention and if we give it priority in our lives. None of these things is bad in themselves, but when they force God out of His number one spot, they become idolatrous and destructive. What matters above anything else is that we give God the first place in our lives and encourage others to do the same. We are witnesses to a God of love who longs to fill everyone with His life, so we need to warn other people that anyone or anything else will be a complete waste of their time. Question What seem to be the most attractive idols to the people that you know? Prayer God, You are my Rock. I worship You because You are worthy of my praise. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit as I put You first in my life and encourage others to do the same. Amen

Isaiah 43:19 I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. In recent years, I have talked to lots of churches about their vision. It’s really important for any organisation to be inspired by a clear and captivating vision for the future. It keeps us going when life is dull and hard work, and it keeps us heading together in a definite direction. However, time and again I have sensed that churches’ visions are for getting back to how things used to be. A church I once worked with had memories of the time when all 1,200 seats would be filled for the evening service. By the time I met them, they had shrunk to a small community of about 50 people at the Sunday services and they longed to put the clock back to the good old days. In many ways this is very understandable, but Isaiah tells us that God doesn’t want to take us backwards. His vision is for us to head on a new journey to a new place. In this chapter, Isaiah speaks about the Exodus. This was a turning point in the life of the people of Israel. After 400 years in Egypt, during which they had lived as slaves, God had set them free by bringing them miraculously through the Red Sea on dry ground. They’d had a supreme experience of God’s salvation. In this passage, however, Isaiah tells them to forget about it. He doesn’t want them to dwell on the past. Wonderful as the Exodus was, God had no intention of doing a repeat performance. He wanted to lead them on an exciting new journey. None of us can be certain what our future will look like – that is in God’s secure hands – but the one thing we can be absolutely sure about is that our future won’t be a repeat of the past. Question In what ways can you see God doing something new in your life? Prayer Loving God, help me to keep my eyes fixed on the new things that You are wanting to do in my life. Amen

Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. If you’ve got the impression that following God will give you the smoothest journey through life, you obviously haven’t read the Bible! From first to last in the Old Testament we discover that following God often involves suffering and rejection. In the New Testament, we meet Jesus, who despite being fully man and fully God saw suffering at its worst, even to the point of death on the cross. As He promised, His disciples were hated just as He had been, and most of them suffered terribly for their faith. In our verse today, God says it how it is. He recognises honestly that His hearers would suffer in all sorts of ways. They would be confronted by deep and threatening waters and even have to face fire, but through it all God would be with them. The threats of life could never break their constant relationship with Him. Paul speaks very similarly in his letter to the Romans. In chapter 8, he concludes: “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). If you don’t know God as your own personal friend, I am sad to say that the future is full of threats and uncertainty. But if you do know God and walk in His ways, you can look to the future with peace and confidence because you know that whatever happens, your loving heavenly Father will be right there beside you. Question Are you looking to the future with peace and confidence? Prayer Loving Heavenly Father, I thank You that You promise to be with me whatever I face in the future. Amen

Psalm 106:6-7 Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the LORD’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. I strongly recommend that you read through this psalm and the previous one because they are twins. In Psalm 105, we hear about all the amazing things that God did to guide and strengthen His people from the earliest days until their entry into the Promised Land. Now in Psalm 106, the psalmist takes another tour through the history of God’s people and concludes that, humanly speaking, it was a complete disaster. Just as God was consistently faithful and loving, His people were repeatedly faithless and disobedient. But the psalmist didn’t simply point the finger at people in the past. He recognised that his own generation was also guilty of disobeying God and forgetting to walk in His ways. As we look back through human history, there is much that we can learn. Every page of history contains accounts of bad decisions and stupid failures and, if we are honest, we aren’t so very different. Our lives fall well short of perfection and we need to own up and find out how we can live them in a richer, fuller and more obedient way. The point of looking back is that we can learn. We don’t have to repeat the past. Instead, we can set off on a new journey inspired by its lessons. The most consistent fault of God’s people in this psalm was the sin of forgetting. I’m sure that we will all own up to the sin of forgetting. A lot of the time, it doesn’t matter that much. We may forget someone’s name or whether they take milk in their tea. Such things are minor. Forgetting God is another matter. Time and again, we read that the people of Israel forgot how God had blessed them. They carried on with their lives as if God didn’t exist. We need to do everything we can to remember who God is and what He has done. We need to ensure that we maintain a rhythm of worship and prayer so that we can’t possibly forget our great God. Question What do you do to ensure that you don’t forget what God has done in your life? Prayer Loving God, thank You that You never forget me. Help me to make sure that I never forget You. Amen

Psalm 105:1-2 Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. In this beautiful psalm, the writer rooted his praise in how God had acted in history. He looked back to how God had led Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and finally Moses. Through the years, God had been consistently faithful to His people, and they had every reason to rejoice. The psalm was written for a very specific moment in Israel’s history when David brought the ark to the place of meeting in Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 16:7, we are told that David gave Asaph and his fellow Levites this psalm as a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. It wasn’t a general song of worship but one which specifically charted how God had been at work among His people. We need to remember our history. A birthday is a brilliant moment for looking back, and every church would be wise to have a specific annual moment to reflect on its history. It’s very easy to forget the story of faith of a church community unless it is regularly repeated. We need to listen to the people who were part of the church ten, 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. Almost certainly, there will have been times of encouragement and despair, success and failure, growth and decline, but through it all God has been faithful and we need to celebrate together. If your church has only been planted in the last few years, listen to the stories of faith from those who founded the church and the ways in which God led them. Our remembering should never be a selfish activity to make us feel good about life, but should always lead us to action. As we recall the history of what God has done, we are challenged to go forward with the mission on which He has sent us. That will always involve proclamation. We will want to proclaim God’s faithfulness within our churches in order to encourage one another, and then to everyone else we meet in order to help them to see how great God is. Question In what ways does your own church celebrate the history of what God has done? Prayer Loving God, I praise You for your faithfulness. Help me never to forget the amazing things that You have done. Amen

Psalm 104:24-25 O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small. Many of the psalmists use the wonder of creation as a springboard for their worship. This particular psalm does so by reminding us of the six days of creation. The poetic language is beautiful. Take, for example, day one, when God made light. He writes: “You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants” (Psalm 104:2-4). As he looks through the days of creation, it becomes clear that God didn’t create the world and then disappear but continues to be actively involved. It is good for us to spend time reflecting on creation because as we do so, we are bound to gasp in wonder. Sir Isaac Newton, the famous scientist, said: “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.” Our bodies are thought to be made up of about 100 trillion cells. We all have about 100 billion neurons, which fire off between five and 50 messages each second. I could go on, but however you happen to be feeling today, let me assure you that you are simply amazing. If you look at a flower, you will need to gasp some more. The intricate detail of each petal and leaf is amazing, to say nothing of the miracle of growth. Wherever you look, creation screams at us that God is a great God and worthy of all our praise. Many of us were taught from an early age to pray with our eyes shut to save us from distractions, but I would strongly encourage you to pray with your eyes open from time to time. Look at the people around you and the world that God has made and give thanks to him for the wonder of His creation. As we do so, let us gasp in wonder. Thomas Carlyle said that “wonder is the basis of worship”, and I think he was right. Question When did you last gasp at creation and why? Pray Creator God, I worship You. Forgive me for those times when I have taken Your amazing world for granted. Teach me afresh how to enjoy the wonder of Your creation. Amen

Psalm 103:2-4 Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. This psalm begins with King David talking to himself! He called to mind how his life had been wonderfully blessed by God and concluded that his whole being needed to be involved in giving thanks for God’s generosity to him. In the words of the famous hymn ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’, he had been ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven. Surely he had his adultery with Bathsheba in mind as he wrote this psalm. He had foolishly strayed from God’s way, and one disaster followed another until he repented and received God’s healing and forgiveness. As he reflected on how God had dealt with him, he not only praised the Lord but also urged the whole world to join him! In the final verse of the psalm, he proclaimed: “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom” (Psalm 103:22). It's important that we talk to ourselves! I know it’s often seen as the first sign of madness, but I much prefer the observation that it’s actually the first sign of gladness! It’s good to remind ourselves of the ways in which the Lord has blessed our lives. We may not have known the dramatic ups and downs of King David’s life, but we have all had moments of success and failure, of blessing and disobedience, of fulfilment and loss, and through it all God has been faithful. We need to ensure we are continually giving thanks to God for all that He has done in our lives and taking the opportunity to encourage others to do the same. Question As you look back through your life, what are the main reasons why you want to praise God? Prayer Lord God, I thank You that You have been so generous to me. Help me to make praise increasingly central to my life. Amen

Psalm 101:1-2 I will sing of your love and justice, LORD. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life—when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. Here, David reflects on his responsibility as king to care for the whole of society and to ensure that justice prevails. The final verse of the psalm gives us a powerful picture of his daily work “to ferret out the wicked and free the city of the Lord from their grip” (Psalm 101:8). It was no easy task, and he knew it would be impossible if he wasn’t practising justice and integrity at home. Whenever we are told that a politician’s private life is their own personal matter and of no consequence to their public duties, we know that they are talking nonsense! King David was far from perfect, but he was clear that it was vital for him to live a consistent life. Living a consistent life is not easy! It’s no wonder that when David proclaims his intention to be careful in living a blameless life, he asks the question: “when will you come to help me?” He knew he couldn’t do this by himself. He needed God’s inspiration and strength to live a consistent life. I don’t know what your life looks like. You will have tensions, blessings and challenges that are very different from my own, but I do know that only God can enable you to live a life of consistent integrity. These thoughts should spur us to pray for all those who live in the public eye. I believe we have a special responsibility to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who bear public responsibilities and whose lives are always under the spotlight. Let’s pray they will know God’s daily renewing strength so that there is no gap between their home and public lives. Question How can you ensure that you live for God both at home and beyond? Prayer Loving Father, thank You that You are present in every part of my life, and that You give me the strength to live for You, whatever the circumstances and pressures. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. As Paul brought this letter to an end, he gave them this wonderful greeting. I love these words and, over the years, when I have sent a card to someone, I have very often quoted this verse. What greater blessing could you seek for another person than that they would know the Lord’s peace at all times and in every situation? Peace needs to be carefully understood. Alexander Maclaren, the famous Victorian preacher, got to the heart of the issue when he wrote: “Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.” It is precisely when we live in close partnership with God that we discover what real peace is, and that it is able to withstand any challenge. At the heart of a hurricane, there is complete stillness and quiet. While destruction swirls around, at the eye of the storm there is peace. Miraculously, that is what God is able to give us as we place our trust in him. As Jesus said to His fearful disciples just before His death: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift that the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). Peace is God’s gift to us when we place ourselves completely in His hands. While we are still struggling and trying to make peace, we will never find it. It is only as we recognise that God is the source of peace that we will discover it for ourselves. Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, put it well when he observed: “You will never find peace and happiness until you are ready to commit yourself to something worth dying for.” Question What has been your experience of God’s peace? Prayer Lord Jesus, I thank You that You are the source of true peace and that You love to share Your peace with all those who put their trust in You. Fill me, and those around me, with Your peace today. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:11-13 We hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. There were people in the church in Thessalonica who thought they were so spiritual that they should spend their days waiting for the return of Jesus and not going to work. Because they didn’t work, they became a burden on the other believers who they thought of as less spiritual. Worse than that, instead of being busy workers, they became busybodies. They spent their time interfering in other people’s lives and causing grief. As CH Spurgeon, the Victorian preacher, said: “Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle.” Paul responded to these lazy people by pointing to his own example. He had worked hard day and night in order not to be a burden to others. He was convinced that everyone should work hard and never grow tired of doing good. The problem that Paul faced in Thessalonica isn’t one that I’ve encountered, but his teaching does help us to reflect on the issue of work. Work is often spoken of as if it is a great evil which needs to be avoided. The good times are weekends and holidays, and the objective is to get to retirement as quickly as we can. However, God looks to us to be busy and to use the gifts and abilities that He has given us to bless other people. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 takes us to the heart of Paul’s teaching about the resurrection. Having praised God for the victory that He has won over sin and death, he challenged his readers to work hard for God. He wrote: “Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Life changes for all of us but whoever we are and however old we are, God calls us to be busy workers for Him – and never busybodies. Question What is the work that God has called you to do? Prayer Loving God, thank You for the work that You have asked me to do. Help me to do it with enthusiasm and determination. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honoured wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. As Paul brings this letter to a close, we see into his heart. He asks the Thessalonians to pray for him. He could go into some detail about his specific needs, but he doesn’t. He immediately invites prayer that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly. A literal translation of the Greek would be “that the word of the Lord may run”. Because Paul so often used athletic imagery, he was almost certainly trying to convey his desire that the good news should be spread quickly and effectively. He longed for the message to be respected and accepted by as many people as possible. That’s what had happened when he’d visited Thessalonica, and he was eager that it should happen in the same way in the much tougher context of Corinth, from which he was writing this letter. I believe that we need to be praying today with a new urgency “that the word of the Lord may run”. It’s all too easy for us to accept our multi-religious society and to lose our passion for sharing the good news of Jesus. We are called to show grace and generosity to people of other religions. It is good that we get to know them, befriend them and embrace opportunities for working alongside them. However, we are also called out of our love for them to be faithful to our Lord who came to die on a cross that they might experience His forgiveness and new life. When we pray for one another, we should keep the focus on the spreading of the good news. Let’s pray that we will all become more urgent in our evangelism and increasingly eager to see word of the Lord run throughout our society. Question What do you find the biggest challenges to sharing your faith with others? Prayer Lord God, I ask You to give me a renewed determination to share Your good news with those I meet each day. Amen

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. Whether we are conscious of it or not, our thoughts about the future have a huge impact on how we live today. That’s probably most easily seen when we are worried about something – perhaps a visit to the dentist, a meeting with our boss, or a tense issue in the family which needs to be resolved. In this letter, Paul was particularly concerned that the Thessalonian church should have a clear understanding of the future that God had in store for them. He was quite clear that the return of Jesus was at the heart of this, but he was alarmed that some people had decided this was a reason to give up their jobs. Paul knew that the believers needed to keep committed to their regular employment alongside a confidence that the Lord might return at any time. Paul wanted his readers to look to the future with hope because the best was yet to be. It’s really important that we handle the word hope carefully. Most of the time, there is a maybe in our voice when we use the word. We hope it will be sunny tomorrow or that the train will run on time. We would be delighted if these things happened, but we’ve lived long enough to know that they might not work out like that. However, there is no maybe in the hope of the New Testament. We are talking about certainties. Because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and know that our relationship with Him is eternal, we look death in the face with peace and confidence. The biggest lie materialism tells us is that this life is all that there is. It’s very easy for us to fall for that lie and to become sucked into the world’s way of thinking. The hope we have in Christ lasts for time and eternity, and Paul wants that knowledge to transform the way in which we live our daily lives. Question What impact does your eternal security have on your daily life? Prayer Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of eternal life. I pray that the way in which I live today will reflect the fact that I have a totally secure future. Amen

2 Thessalonians 1:11 We keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. It is often, and rightly, pointed out that the Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint. Keeping something up isn’t too difficult if you are doing it for just a short while, but keeping going as a Christian for years on end is a different matter. Living for Christ consistently in the face of all the ups and downs of life is not easy. How do you keep up your faith when you are in pain or you have financial problems or family disputes or your work is difficult? Paul’s answer is that God enables us to keep going. He gives us the power to do all those good things that He has called us to do, so we must not think of the Christian life as being a heroic solo effort. Although we might feel alone at times, God is beside us and we are never without Christian brothers and sisters, even if they may be far away. The problem with our strength is that one day we may feel able to face every challenge, and the next we might be feeling limp and useless. It’s important that we keep our eyes fixed on God, who is entirely different. He never gets tired or has an off day. Isaiah wrote: “He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). As we pray for one another, let’s specifically pray that our Christian brothers and sisters will know that God is continually strengthening them as they live for Him. Question In what specific way do you need spiritual strength at the moment? Prayer Lord God, I need Your strength today. Please come to me in the power of Your Holy Spirit and make me strong for You. Amen

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering. From this bold introduction to Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, you might have thought that they were perfect, but they weren’t! As the letter progresses, he addresses a number of issues. They had got confused about the timing of the Lord’s return and many of them had become lazy, using the excuse that there was no point in getting a job if the Lord might come back at any moment. They were far from perfect, but there was still much to celebrate, and Paul did so with confidence. Their faith was deepening, their love for one another was growing and the way in which they were standing up to persecution was impressive. It's so easy for us to focus on the failings of other people. Because churches are made up of sinners, we shouldn’t be surprised that there is often misunderstanding, tension and difficulty among Christians. Sad as that is, it is an inevitable part of living in a broken world. We must be careful not to focus our attention on the negatives. We need to encourage one another and so, amid the disappointments, we should look carefully for those things that we can praise and celebrate in one another. Paul was clearly convinced that encouragement was the right approach. I think the most stunning illustration of this is found in his opening words to the church in Corinth. In his first letter he reveals such a long list of their failures that it might feel as if they got absolutely nothing right. Their worship was chaotic; they were divided; they totally misunderstood and mishandled spiritual gifts; and to cap it all they had a case of incest in the church which they hadn’t addressed. It was a very gloomy situation, but Paul began the letter by saying: “I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you” (1 Corinthians 1:4). What a wonderful attitude! When we are feeling glum and depressed about the failures of our fellow Christians, we would do well to remember Paul’s example. Question In what ways would you praise the members of your church? Prayer Lord God, thank You for the blessing of belonging to Your Church. Help me to celebrate the qualities of my Christian brothers and sisters and to forgive their shortcomings. Amen

Proverbs 16:32 Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city. It’s good for us to ask the question: “What matters most in life?” Time and again, the book of Proverbs helps us to think this through. Many people would assume that it is good to have control of people and even whole communities. Some would want to be a powerful politician or the head of a major company. To be in charge of a whole city might seem like an amazing and very desirable achievement, but the writer observes that it is far more important to have patience and self-control than to have great power and influence. He is talking about what the New Testament describes as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Bible never suggests that it is wrong to have wealth or power. If either have come your way, you should give thanks to God for them. What matters is that we put them in their proper place. They are nowhere near as important as living for God with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control which He gives to all those who walk in His ways. Money and power come and go. They are temporary. But the fruit of the Spirit is of a completely different nature, being as eternal and indestructible as God Himself. As ever, the focus of the book of Proverbs is on helping the reader to live life to the full. The writer’s many severe words of warning are always with the intention of helping the reader to avoid pitfalls and disaster. He sees living for God as the most exciting and desirable way of life which brings blessing to us and all those around us. Choosing God’s way is often not the easiest path, but it’s always the best. Question Be honest. What matters most to you in your life? Prayer Thank You Lord that You love us so much that You share the unvarnished truth with us. Help us to seek the fruit of Your Holy Spirit before anything else. Amen

Proverbs 13:11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. Work is often spoken about negatively. It is seen as something that gets in the way of the really exciting things of life. It needs to be avoided, and if that can’t be achieved, one should aim to retire as early as possible. This thinking is in complete contrast with Proverbs, where work is seen as something inherently good. It is worklessness and laziness which are to be avoided at all costs. It is interesting that the writer of Proverbs refers to get-rich-quick schemes. This all sounds very modern, but throughout history people have wanted to find short cuts to wealth. There’s nothing new about laziness! God wants us to work hard because it not only provides for our needs and the needs of other people but also enables us to bless others with the gifts that God has given us. We have all been given the ability to enhance the lives of people around us, and God looks to us to work hard at doing so. The apostle Paul wrote: “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9). Over the years, I have been particularly blessed by the way I have seen retired people working hard for God. At a time when they had no pressure upon them to earn money, they wanted to make sure they were still being productive for God. I have been inspired by their example. Working hard is good at any time of life, but it needs to be added that working too hard is never what God intends. Overwork causes tension and pressure that is never God’s desire. Whatever our age, we need to find a balance between the work that God calls us to do and times of leisure and refreshment which allow us to continue to serve Him with confidence and enthusiasm. Question How well are you balancing your work and leisure? Prayer Loving God, thank You for the blessing of work. I pray Your blessing on those who struggle to find work, or who find their work difficult. Amen

Proverbs 12:15-16 Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others. A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted. The language of Proverbs is very black and white. The writer refers to wise people and does everything he can think of to illustrate how wonderful it is to live in this way. It’s a life of happiness, prosperity and peace and is marked by humility, grace and generosity. It stands in complete contrast to the fool, whose way of life is miserable, poor and full of conflict. We all lurch between these two extremes. We can see the huge blessings of being wise but have to admit that we are still capable of foolishness at times. The value of Proverbs is that it gives us some clear practical pointers on how to live wisely. These verses give us two pieces of valuable advice. Firstly, we must listen to others with care because this allows us to be blessed by their experience and wisdom. I am delighted that mentoring has become so popular in recent years, and I find it an enriching part of my own life both as a mentor and mentee. However confident you may be about a course of action, you need to check your thinking with others. Secondly, we need to stay calm when we are insulted, which is incredibly tough. If someone is rude to us, the instinct is to hit back immediately for self-preservation, but it is wiser to keep calm and respond in a measured way when we have had time to think things through. A quick-tempered outburst is bound to make things worse. I’m so glad that we can read this wise advice through the perspective of the New Testament, knowing that God has given us His Holy Spirit to strengthen us and give us His wisdom amid the rough and tumble of life. Question In what way do you need the Holy Spirit to help you to be wise in your relationships with others? Prayer Lord God, pour out Your Holy Spirit upon me so that I will become increasingly wise and gracious each day. Amen

Mark 16:6-7 The angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.” Long ago, an old man told me about an experience he’d had as a teenager during the first world war. Many of the young men from his village had gone off to fight in France. Some families received the terrible news that their sons had been killed, but one family heard that their son was “missing believed killed”. Everyone encouraged them to believe their boy would be found, but as weeks turned to months, all hope was lost. Then, much later, at the end of the war, my friend was cycling into his village and saw that a huge crowd had gathered. Such a thing was unheard of in that sleepy community. In the centre of the crowd was the mother of the missing soldier. She was dancing and shouting “he’s alive” as she held above her a telegram informing her that her son had been taken prisoner and would soon be returning home. Just imagine the joy of that mother and the celebrations that followed, then multiply it by 1,000 to understand some small part of the amazement of the women who found the empty tomb on Easter morning. They had actually witnessed Jesus being killed. They knew that the Romans were professional killers. They had no doubt that Jesus was dead, but the angel told them to completely change their thinking. Jesus had conquered death and was alive. This staggering news changed everything. The world would never be the same again. My greatest fear when we talk about the resurrection is that we can get used to it. Many of us have heard about it since we were children, but we need to allow it to shock us and amaze us as if we were hearing about it for the first time. Our hope for the future is totally founded upon the fact that Jesus rose from death. As John Stott wrote: “Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of the resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.” As Christians, we are a resurrection people. And that should fill us with joy, peace and hope not just at Easter but every day. Question How has the resurrection of Jesus impacted your life? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I praise You because You are the same yesterday, today and forever. Amen

Mark 16:1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. As soon as the Sabbath came to an end, these three women started their preparations for anointing the body of Jesus. The Sabbath ends about 40 minutes after sunset, as soon as three stars are seen in the sky. That was probably between 5:30 and 6:00pm. They knew that they wouldn’t have time to do the anointing – that would need to wait till the Sunday morning – but they had enough time to go out to the market to purchase the spices they needed. The women’s minds must have been in absolute turmoil. Jesus, their master and friend, had been taken away from them in the most violent and disturbing manner. The disciples all seemed to have gone into hiding, but the women knew what needed to be done and were determined to do it. They were incredibly courageous – the Romans would have been unhappy to see them giving attention to Jesus’ body, but they knew they could and should. Like the woman who anointed Jesus in Bethany only a few days before, they did what they could. The following morning, these women would be the first to witness the empty tomb. They had the front seats for the resurrection. It would have astonished any Jewish observer that women should have the key role. There was a Jewish saying that ran: “Happy is he whose children are male, and alas for him whose children are female,” and in the Jewish morning service, one of the prayers was: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a woman.” They prayed this after similarly thanking God that they were not heathens or slaves. Clearly, with the death and resurrection of Jesus, a completely new chapter had opened up. Question What impresses you about the willingness of the women to anoint the body of Jesus? Prayer Loving Father, help me to be willing to serve You, however difficult it might be. Amen

Mark 15:37-39 Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!” I am very struck by the fact that just before Jesus breathed His last breath, He let out a loud cry. This is the last thing that you would have expected of a man dying on the cross. It would have been hard for Jesus to breathe at all, but He gave a shout of triumph. His work of salvation was finished. He had won the final victory over sin and death. The tearing of the curtain of the Temple confirmed that a new era had opened up. In the past, only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, but now, through the death of Christ on the cross, a new way was opened up for anyone who would turn to Him. The old barriers and restrictions was torn down as Jesus opened wide His arms to the world. Everyone was now warmly welcomed. The fact that the first person to comment on the death of Jesus was not a Jew is hugely significant and very surprising. Who would have thought that the Roman soldier responsible for overseeing His death would identify exactly who Jesus was? It was as if he were speaking on behalf of the world. Jesus Himself was indeed a Jew, but He came to bring life to all who would accept him, then and now. Question What is your reaction to the crucifixion of Jesus? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I praise You for dying for me so that my sins can be forgiven. Thank You for loving me completely and offering me the gift of eternal life. Amen

Mark 14:22-24 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.” There are many different ways to convey a message. The most obvious is to use words, but there are times when they are not enough. In the Old Testament, we often see the prophets acting out their message. One such dramatic moment was when Ahijah tore his robe into twelve pieces and gave ten of them to Jeroboam to demonstrate that ten of the tribes would make him king (1 Kings 11:29-32). Jeremiah also used dramatic actions to emphasise his messages. He fastened a yoke to his neck with leather straps to show how the Babylonians would conquer the land (Jeremiah 27:2). Nobody could have misunderstood his message. In our reading today, Jesus shared a special meal with His disciples. Using the powerful imagery of the broken bread and the wine, Jesus told His bemused disciples that these symbols spoke of His own body and blood. Jesus had already clearly told them that He was going to die, but now He demonstrated it through sharing a simple meal with them. I wonder what the disciples made of that meal. At the time, it must have been very confusing. Alarmingly, it began with Jesus telling them that one of them was going to betray Him. They knew that there was an increasing tide of opposition to Jesus’ ministry and must have been nervous. In the midst of it all, they met Jesus their friend, their master and their Lord. When we celebrate Communion, we are in a very different place from the disciples. We know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that on the third day He rose again and is still alive and in heaven. But just as the disciples shared that last supper with the Lord in an atmosphere of tension, so too we meet with the living Jesus in a world in which there is still much brokenness, violence and sin. Jesus meets with us where we are, just as He met with His disciples long ago in that Upper Room. Question What does the service of Communion mean to you? Prayer Lord Jesus, thank You that You meet with me day by day in the midst of the challenges and opportunities of life. Amen

Mark 14:8-9 [Jesus said:] “She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” Jesus said this after a woman had anointed him in Bethany. It was clearly an amazing moment. It was quite usual for a house guest to be greeted by being given a few drops of perfume, but the woman deliberately broke open the whole perfume bottle. The onlookers immediately responded to the apparent waste of money. The perfume was made from nard which came from far off India and was, therefore, extremely expensive – the equivalent of one year’s wages. Jesus vigorously defended the woman’s actions. The people who suggested that the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor weren’t wrong, but they missed the point. This woman was preparing Jesus’ body for burial, and nothing could be more important than that. Jesus’ death on the cross was going to bring salvation to the world, so her action was of the first importance. I am particularly struck by the fact that Jesus commended the woman for doing [itals]what she could[end itals]. That’s the challenge we all face. God may not call on you and me to lead countries or armies or change history through great social reforms, but He does ask us to do what we can. Perhaps He is calling us to encourage the elderly people next door, or write a note of encouragement to a colleague, or pay a debt on behalf of a family member. Our action may hardly be noticed, but that’s not the point. We will have done what we could. In his letters, the apostle Paul constantly encouraged his readers to keep doing God’s will. He knew that life was full of challenges and distractions, but he commanded them: “Be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Question What will you be able to do for God today? Prayer Loving Father, thank You for the opportunity of serving You today. Amen

Mark 12:29-31 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” The Jewish teachers of the law were famous for two things. Firstly, they took hold of the 613 laws that were given to Moses and added layer upon layer of other regulations, but they also enjoyed being able to reduce the whole law to a short sentence. That’s what Jesus does here. He took the vast weight of the Jewish law and summed it up with the command to love God and one’s neighbour. He was the first person to bring together these two instructions into a single command. The words that Jesus used would have been very familiar to any Jew. They were known as the Shema and they opened every act of Jewish worship - and still do today. Jews are constantly reminded of them. On every doorpost in a Jewish home, there is a small cylindrical box called a Mezuzah. Inside the box, there is a tiny copy of the Shema. It was also contained in the phylacteries which devout Jews wore as they prayed. These were little leather boxes, and you will still often see them being worn by Jews at the Western Wall (otherwise known as the Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem. We can so easily make life complicated, but Jesus continually calls us back to the simplicity of his message. Love is the key. We can never go wrong if we love him and live in obedience to his loving commands. St Augustine summed this up well with the famous saying: “Love God and do as you like.” Often when we think about laws, we think about the negative ones – the long list of things that we shouldn’t do – but God’s fundamental law is entirely positive. When we love him and show love to our neighbour, the thought of hurting them in any way disappears. Our whole interest is to encourage and strengthen them in just the same way as God constantly seeks to build us up and make us stronger. Question What will it mean for you to love God today with all your heart, mind, soul and strength? Prayer Loving God, I thank you for your perfect love for me. Help me to learn more each day about how I can pass that love on to others. Amen

Mark 11:16-17 [Jesus] stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” The Temple in Jerusalem was an impressive building and occupied a vast 30-acre site in the heart of the city. The temple area was divided into distinct parts and the commercial activity all took place in the extensive Court of the Gentiles, the wall of which was covered in notices indicating that the penalty for any non-Jew entering further was death. The Court of the Gentiles trading area was often extremely busy. It is said that on one occasion a trader offered 3,000 sheep for sale on a single day! The priests were also involved in the trading, and the high priest seems to have owned shops in the area. If you have ever been to what we now call The Old City of Jerusalem or any other middle eastern bazaar, you will have a good idea of what it was like. It was noisy and hectic as traders went about their business. This was all too much for Jesus, who was furious at this abuse of the temple and energetically drove out the traders. The temple was, of course, principally the focus of worship for Jews, but the Court of the Gentiles was there to show that non-Jews were welcome. Jesus observed that it was to be a house of prayer for all nations, so seeing it dominated by noisy traders was deeply offensive. I’m sure we all share Jesus’ sense of outrage at the abuse of the temple, but the same thing can happen in our own day. It is perfectly possible for churches to become distracted by secondary matters. They may become so focused on their buildings, music, social engagement or fellowship that prayer gets crowded out. All of those things are good, but they should never be our priority. Question Is prayer the priority of your church? Prayer Lord God, help me to always make prayer the priority of my life. Amen

Mark 11:9-10 “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem shows us his extraordinary courage. He could easily have slipped quietly into the city, but in deliberately entering the city on a donkey, he was making a powerful statement. He was declaring for all to see that he was indeed the Messiah, the one who had come to save his people. Their praises show that they were entirely clear what was happening. Some may even have recalled that this was exactly what Zechariah had prophesied: “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey – riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9). The people were delighted to welcome their Messiah, but there were clearly very different ideas of what such a person would do. Jesus wasn’t offering himself as the one who would kick out the occupying Roman forces, and that was probably the kind of liberation that most people were looking for. The thought that their Messiah was going to face crucifixion within a week wasn’t in their minds at all. Not even Jesus’ closest disciples had understood how the week would unfold. As we celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, it is good for us to remember that he is the one who sets us free, but not always in the way that we expect or want. We may want him to be the powerful authority figure who comes on an impressive war horse to sort out the problems of our lives and of our world, but he comes on a donkey and gently shows us how we need to forgive, love and support the people around us. Jesus’ ways are not our ways but, like the people of long ago, we need to welcome him with enthusiasm and joy because he is coming to us in the name of the Lord. Question What kind of Messiah are people looking for these days? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I praise you. You are the one who has come to give me peace and salvation. I welcome you into my life today. Amen

Mark 11:1 As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. Jesus lived most of his life in the Galilee region, which was about a four-day journey north of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he paid many visits to Jerusalem and had some good friends in the area. His particular friends were Mary, Martha and Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, just outside the city. In one of his visits there, he had clearly prepared the ground for his final triumphal entry into Jerusalem, so he was able to send two of his disciples on ahead to get hold of a donkey with the instruction that if the owner asked why they were taking it, they were to say that the master needed it and would return it soon. Jesus had prepared the way for this decisive journey to Jerusalem, and that was an important principle for the disciples to remember in the years to come. When they went on their missionary journeys around the world, they needed to know that the Lord had gone ahead of them. His Spirit had prepared the way. As they headed out in search of the donkey, the disciples simply had to have faith in their master. Sure enough, it worked out exactly as Jesus had promised. Whenever we set off to do God’s work, it is just the same. As we go forward in obedience to him, we will find that he has prepared the way. At the moment, I’m working with a church on a new venture and we are facing lots of questions about how it will work out. I need to keep reminding myself of this fundamental truth that Jesus has already prepared the way. It's significant that Jesus sent two disciples on this mission. He had done the same in chapter six, sending out his twelve disciples two by two. This is an important and encouraging reminder that the Lord does not send us out on a solitary journey but on one in which we have a relationship of support and shared faith. Question In what ways have you seen the Lord going ahead of you to prepare the way? Prayer Lord God, help me to trust you and to listen carefully to you as I live for you each day. Amen

Mark 10:51-53 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked [Bartimaeus]. “My Rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!” Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. On the face of it, Jesus’ question would seem entirely unnecessary. Surely it was obvious what a blind man would want Jesus, the famous healer, to do, so why did he ask it? In doing so, he gave the man dignity. Jesus didn’t barge into his life and do what he considered what would be best for him. Instead, he listened to Bartimaeus. The blind man declared his desire to be able to see again, and Jesus, recognising the man’s faith, healed him. Jesus never barges into our lives. He asks us what we want him to do for us. Yes, we all need forgiveness, but he will only give it to us when we are serious about our request. Many people want to hang on to their sins. Sin has become such a part of life that they can’t imagine being separated from their bitterness, selfishness, anger, sexual sin or whatever it happens to be. The offer of forgiveness from Jesus is real and definite, but he won’t give it as a sticking plaster to place over our ongoing sin. He forgives us only when we repent and declare our willingness to live in a new way. The decision lies entirely with us. God longs to be our guide, but once again, that is never imposed on us. We can get guidance from so many different sources. The internet, friends, the media, newspapers and books are fertile ground for guidance. It is only as we surrender to God and tell him that we want him to guide us that he is able to lead us in his way. He may well use material that we have gained from other sources, but he is the one who shows us the way to go, if only we are open to his voice. Bartimaeus’ life was transformed because that’s what he asked for. James, in his letter, observed that many of the people he was addressing hadn’t received the blessings of God for one simple reason: they hadn’t asked. Let’s not make the same mistake. Question What are you going to ask God for today? Prayer Thank you, loving God, that you love to bless me. Help me to always be ready to welcome you into every part of my life. Amen

Mark 10:43-45 [Jesus said:] “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” I find this one of the most embarrassing passages in the whole Bible. James and John were in what is often referred to as the inner circle of disciples. They had even been with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. However, it was them who came to make this foolish request. They had worked out that Jesus had huge authority, so they asked him to provide them with the very best seats when he launched his kingdom (Mark 10:37). They thought they would get in there first and bag the seats on his right and his left. Jesus gently responded that they didn’t know what they were asking and then slowly and carefully explained that the kingdom of God was not about power, influence and the best seats but about powerlessness, service and taking the worst seats. Indeed, Jesus himself came as the ultimate servant and had no authority to hand out special seats in heaven (Mark 10:40). We can all easily understand where the disciples were coming from. Everybody likes to be served, but Jesus wants to turn our thinking upside down and show us that service is the way to perfect freedom. This will involve us in a continual process of challenging our natural self-centredness. Mother Teresa expressed this well when she wrote: “Love is a one-way street. It always moves away from self in the direction of the other. Love is the ultimate gift of ourselves to others. When we stop giving we stop loving, when we stop loving we stop growing, and unless we grow we will never attain personal fulfilment; we will never open out to receive the life of God. It is through love we encounter God.” Our society will always tell us that what we really want is to be served and to be given the best seats, but Jesus loves us so much that he offers us a better way: a life of service. Question Why is being a servant so important and so blessed? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, you have shown us what it means to be a servant. Help me to be willing to pour out my life for you in loving service. Amen