Help us, Lord, to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

“Those who are left… will be called holy” (Isaiah 4:3). Lord, we hear worldly people speaking of ‘the holy people who need to learn to live in the real world.’ They speak with contempt. When You, Lord, call Your people “holy”, You speak with affection. You look upon us in love. You tell us that …

Lord, help us to be doers of Your Word.

Lord, help us to be doers of Your Word. Hearing Your Word is easier than doing Your Word. We hear what You’re saying to us – but do we do what You’re telling us to do? This is the great question we must always ask ourselves. It’s the great question that You’re always putting to …

The Spirit lifted me.

"The Spirit lifted me" (Ezekiel 3:12,14). The Spirit speaks God's Word to us, and He gives God's power to us. Through God's Word, the Spirit reaches us. Through God's power, the Spirit changes us.

From The Garden To The City

Genesis 2:8 “garden” To those who put their trust in Him, the Lord gives His very precious promises – “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Isaiah 58:11); “They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more” (Jeremiah 31:12). Looking to the Lord as …

Lead me to some soul today.

"Lead me to some soul today. Teach me Lord, just what to say." Help us not to keep Jesus to ourselves. Help us to share Him with others. Help us to tell them what He has done for us. Help us to pray for them – that they will be brought to a living faith …

Set free by Jesus, our Saviour

Jeremiah 34:1-22  –  ‘Freedom for the slaves’ – What a good idea! ‘Everyone agreed’. The slaves were ‘set free’. So far, so good! Then things went wrong – ‘Afterwards they changed their minds and took back the slaves… and enslaved them again’ (8-11). What did God have to say about this? – ‘You have turned …

We Need More Than Other People. We Need Jesus.

"Your wounds are as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?" (Ezekiel 2:13). There's only one answer to this question - the Lord. Other people can help us - if they point away from themselves to the Lord, if they say to us, 'You need more than the help I can give to you. …

Pain And Praise

The Psalmist is calling upon the Lord to be his “help and Saviour.” He is looking to the Lord for an immediate response - “Come quickly to rescue me, O God! Come quickly to help me, O Lord! ... O God, come quickly to me ... O Lord, do not delay” (Psalm 70:1,5). The Psalmist …

Lord, when our hold on You is weak

Lord, when our hold on You is weak, help us to remember that Your hold on us is strong. Often, we get bogged down in our sin. Lift us up by Your grace. Give us strength to rise above our sin - strength to become all that You want us to be.

God’s Great Faithfulness

Genesis 1:23 - “the evening and the morning” The repeated pattern of nature – evening, morning, evening, morning… – speaks to us of God’s great faithfulness. Without the sustaining power of God of perfect faithfulness and constant love, our world would return to chaos – “without form and void” (1:2). Whatever changes may take place …

Lord, there are things that we don’t like to hear about.

Lord, there are things that we don’t like to hear about. We don’t like to hear about sin. We don’t like to hear about death. There are some things that we do like to hear about. We like to hear that “the free  gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What are …

They devoted themselves…

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). "They devoted themselves ... " This is what they did. This is what we are called to do. Let's think about something else - not about what they did, not about what we are called to do. Let's …

Lord, everything seems so hopeless.

Genesis 17:1-27 Lord, everything seems so hopeless  - when we take our eyes off You! Help us to keep our eyes on You. Fill us with fresh hope. Sometimes, we can be optimists. Often, we’re pessimists. You’re always “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). You’re always saying to us, “There is hope” (Jeremiah 31:17). Lord, …

Lord, there is work to be done.

Lord, there is work to be done. It's Your work. Help us all to play our part. We leave it to someone else - and it never gets done. Change us, Lord. Spectators can become workers. Help us not to hang back - on the sidelines. You're calling us to come into the centre of …

Salvation and the assurance of salvation

Genesis 15:1-21 In Genesis 15:2,8, Abraham asks two questions: "what will you give me?" "how can I be certain?" For us, these are the questions of salvation and the assurance of salvation - God has given us His salvation, and we have the assurance that this salvation has been given and received. Where are we …

Let us celebrate the love of God.

Lord my God, you are very great (Psalm 104:1). Let us celebrate the greatness of God. Especially, let us celebrate the greatness of his love. Can we put it into words: how great the love of God is? Can we even imagine how great the love of God is? We try to think of how great …

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: Genesis 22:1-12; Psalm 13 or Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42 Let us look to Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” In Genesis 21:22-34, we see Abraham in his relationship with the world. In Genesis 22:1-14, we see Abraham in his …

Listening to the Lord and speaking to him

Mary sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he said (Luke 10:39). Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11:1). We need both: listening to what the Lord has to say to us and speaking to the Lord, asking him to send his blessing into our hearts and lives.

Let us pray that we will hear more than the words of the preacher. Let us pray that we will hear the Word of the Lord.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3). There have been many times when I have wondered, "What should I say to the people who have come to hear me, preaching God's Word?" When I have asked this question, I have asked another qiestion, …

Help us, Lord, to listen to Your Word… How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviour’s love for me…

Prayers based on the book of Micah Micah 1:1-2:13 We thank You, Lord, that Micah was a fearless preacher of Your Word. His message was not popular: ‘Let the Lord God be a witness against you.’ He was a forthright preacher of Your Word. He knew that the people wouldn’t want to hear what he …

God’s Word is always more important than our words, and Jesus is always more important than we are.

How then can we be saved? (Isaiah 64:5). What must I do to be saved?... Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved (Acts 16:30-31).' We think of our sin, and we ask the question, "How then can we be saved?" Is there a way of salvation for us? Can our sins be forgiven? …

Life with Christ or life without Christ?

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) What a difference there is between wages and a gift! It's the difference between death and life. It's the difference between a life centred on ourselves and a life centred on Christ.  Life …

Perfect love – and absolute faithfulness

Proclaiming Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night (Psalm 92:2) What blessing there is in these few words! Our God is with us in the morning. He is with us at night. He is with us always. He loves us in the morning. He is faithful at night. He says to us, “I …

A new creation in Christ Jesus

"The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down... The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who …

God’s Word is forever.

Jesus speaks about the end-times: "The earth and heaven will disappear." He also speaks about something that will never come to an end: "My words will never disappear" (Matthew 24:35). In all of life's changing circumstances, we must hold on to this great truth: God's Word lasts forever.

A continuing story

Genesis 4:17-26 The story of Cain and Abel is a continuing story. Abel died, yet ‘by faith still speaks, even though he is dead’ (Hebrews 11:4). Cain ‘went out from the presence of the Lord’. He became ‘a restless wanderer’ (14,16). What a contrast there is between these two brothers! For Abel, there was glory …

May we be a shining light.

Exodus 27:20-29:9 The 'lamp' was 'set up to burn continually' (27:20) - 'May we be a shining light...Let the flame burn brighter...' (Songs of Fellowship 389; Mission Praise, 743). A 'royal priesthood', we have been called by God - to let His light shine (1 Peter 2:9). He has called us to serve Him (28:1 …

The Blessing of God, the Grace of God and the Glory of God

Genesis 12:1-4: 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9 God's Blessing - Given,  Accepted And Enjoyed (Genesis 12 & 13) The “land” was given to Abraham by God. It was to be the land of His “blessing” (Genesis 12:1-3).  God’s gift of grace calls forth our response – “Abraham went, as the Lord had spoken to him” …

Lord, we are often tempted.

Genesis 3:1-5 Lord, we are often tempted - tempted to forget all about You. The pull towards self-centred living is so strong.We think that we can go it alone. We think that we don’t need You. We think that we can manage all right without You. Where does this kind of thinking come from? Does it …

You teach us, Lord, “to distinguish good from evil.”

You teach us, Lord, “to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). Show us the wrong way so that we can avoid it. Show us the right way so that we can choose it. Often, Lord, we know what is right but we don’t do what’s right. We need the power that comes from You. Without the …

God’s answer to our question

Acts 2:37-38 The question is our question. The answer must always be God’s answer. We ask the question. We cannot give the answer. In ourselves, there is no answer. We are “far off” (Acts 2:39). We know about our sin, but we cannot give to ourselves the forgiveness of sin. We know about the emptiness …

Lord, You’re calling us to be Your servants.

Lord, You’re calling us to be Your servants. We’re not to keep Your blessing to ourselves. We’re to share Your blessing with others. Help us to rejoice in Jesus, our Saviour. Help us to speak of Him – and live for Him.

A way back to God

‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stubborn and would not listen to My Word’ (Jeremiah 19:15). Lord, You're warning Your people. You're calling us back from the way of sin and disobedience. You're calling us to return to …

Lord, give us the strength to share, with others, the Word You have given to us.

‘He has spoken to us in the Name of the Lord our God’ (Jeremiah 26:16). We thank You, Lord, that Jeremiah was Your true servant. We need people like him today. He was faithful. He was unashamed of You. He was unafraid to speak up for You. We see this same faithfulness in Christ’s apostles: …

What will it mean to live a life that is becoming both more holy and more loving?

Jesus calls us to be both holy and loving. What will it mean to live a life that is becoming both more holy and more loving? It begins with being reached by the love of God and changed by the love of God. We cannot make ourselves more holy. We cannot make ourselves more loving. …

Lord, there are bad things happening to us, things that we wish weren’t happening.

Lord, there are bad things happening to us, things that we wish weren't happening. Sometimes, all of this gets us down. We wonder, "Who really cares about us? Is there anybody out there - anybody who's really interested?" We thank You, Lord, that there is an answer to our question. It's not an answer that …

The story of Samson is a story of divine grace, triumphing over human sin.

In the story of Jephthah (Judges 11-12), we learn that we need wisdom as well as sincerity. We need to have knowledge of God’s will as well as a desire to do His will. Samson was to “dedicated to God from his birth” (Judges 13:5). His early life is described in terms of God’s blessing …

Our Refuge And Our Rock

God is our “Refuge” (Psalm 142:5). In His “mercy”, He leads us in His way. He protects us and rescues us from our enemies (Psalm 143:8-9). The Lord, “the One in whom we take refuge”, is described by the Psalmist as “my Rock... My merciful One, my Fortress, my Stronghold, my Saviour, my Shield” (Psalm …

The Lamb Of God Who Takes Away The Sin Of The World

As the story of Christ’s becoming one of us - His birth - moves on towards the story of His dying in our place - His crucifixion, the story of His baptism is a significant step forward. Jesus identifies with us. He stands in the place of the sinner. John the Baptist said to Jesus, …

God has done great things for us.

Joshua 19:1-21:19; John 2:1-25; Psalm 54:1-7 What God did for His people, Israel, was very great. There is a striking contrast between their slavery in Egypt and their abundance in the promised land. God had multiplied His blessing upon them, just as Jesus did when He turned water into wine (John 2:1-11). If the blessing is to be …

The prodigal son becomes the returning son.

So often, we have been like ‘the prodigal son’(Luke 15:11-24). We have walked away from our Father’s House. We have wandered off into ‘the far country’. We feel that we are far from God, yet still He draws near to us. The Lord is at work in our hearts. He is bringing us ‘to our …

From Judgment to Salvation

In Ezekiel 26, we find an awesome Word of judgment, spoken against the city of Tyre. The Word, spoken by God through His prophet, is uncompromising - “Tyre, you famous city, you have been destroyed” (Ezekiel 26:17). The effect of Tyre’s fall is described: “Your defeat will make the people, who live by the coast, …

Judas’ tragedy, Peter’s restoration

We already know about Judas - what He was planning to do. Of the other eleven disciples, Peter wasn't the only one who failed the Lord - "All the other disciples said the same thing as Peter" (Mark 14:31), and, like Peter, they let the Lord down. They kept well out of the way, making …

We thank You, Lord, for Jesus. He died on the Cross for us.

We thank You, Lord, for Jesus. He died on the Cross for us. Through His death, Satan is defeated. Through His death, we are saved. Thank You, Lord, for this mighty victory over Satan. Thank You for this great salvation for us.

What do You think of us, Lord?

'He's a great guy.' We like it when people say this kind of thing about us. It makes us feel good about ourselves. What do You think of us, Lord? Yours is the one opinion that really matters. What does it mean to be truly 'great'? Do we want to be called 'great'? or Do …

Knowing You, Lord, is more important than knowing a lot about this, that and the other subject.

Knowing You, Lord, is more important than knowing a lot about this, that and the other subject. Where does the best education from? It comes from You. You teach us about the things that really matter. you teach us about eternal things. You teach us what life is really all about. You are “the God of …

“In the beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1).

"In the beginning, God" (Genesis 1:1). Here, we are taken back to eternity, back to the eternal God. There is nothing beyond this. There is nothing beyond Him. "God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). He is the Lord of heaven and earth. The mention of heaven and earth in the Bible's opening …

More Than A Morning Prayer

Psalm 5 “Morning by morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation” (v. 3). These are the words which have led to Psalm 5 being described as “a morning prayer.” It should, however, be noted that this is the only mention of “morning” …

Less trying to get our own way

Lord, may there be less trying to get our own way - and more walking in Your way.

Christ calls us to commit our whole life to Him

“Whoever acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8). (1) The call to make a commitment of ourselves to Christ:  This means more than paying lip-service to Christ. Choosing Him means choosing to live a life which shares His priorities. It is to be …

Were we there when they crucified our Lord?

Good Friday: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25 (or Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9); John 18:1-19:42 Were we there when they crucified our Lord? – Yes. He died for our sins. In this remarkable prophecy, we see Jesus Christ, crucified for us - ‘the Lord has laid all our sins on Him’ - and risen from the …

We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is “pure gold.”

We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is "pure gold." There's nothing better than Jesus. There's no-one better than Him. He's the very best. What Jesus has done for us - this is "pure gold." He died for us. He was raised to life for us. This is Good News. It's the best news …

It Won’t Be Easy!

""All that will live godly will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Jeremiah is put in a foul dungeon for being faithful to God's Word. There are times when all respectability is shorn from men and the bitter hatred of their hearts is revealed. None are so bitter as those who are stung by God's Word …

There is a wise way of living – and there is a foolish way.

There is a wise way of living – and there is a foolish way. We’re always being pulled away from the wise way. We’re always being dragged into the way of foolishness. Sometimes, Lord, we don’t need much persuasion to turn away from following You. Our hearts are already drifting away from You – before …

Lord, You call us to be filled with Your Spirit.

Lord, You call us to “be filled with Your Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) – the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of love. You are the holy God, the loving God – our holy Father, our loving Father. May there be, in us, the family likeness. Help us to become more like You – more holy, more …

When we speak about God

When we speak about God, our words take us so far - and no farther. There comes a point where our words about God must become words, spoken to Him - "You, Lord, are greater than all our words about You."

Who will you serve – God or the gods?

The great decision is always the same. Who will you serve - God or the gods? God’s Word is clear - “Never  worship other gods. Instead, worship the Lord your God” (2 Kings 17:38-39). Our response is not always so clear - “The people of Israel had refused to listen and made up their own …

God’s Word does not return to him empty.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,  so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will …

Out of small beginnings

1 Samuel "The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ 11 And the Lord said to Samuel: ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle ... 19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew …

In true ministry, there is both the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

In true ministry, there is both the Word of God and the Spirit of God. God’s Word is spoken to us in the power of the Spirit, so that we might speak His Word in the power of the Spirit (Ezekiel 2:1-4). Ezekiel is described as “a watchman over the people of Israel.” He was …