Dave's Diary

As the new year has begun, I thought I’d let you in on my plan for this Blog in 2026.

This year at our home church, Walmer Methodist, the over-arching focus of our sermons will be that often-forgotten instruction tucked away in Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Here Jesus taught us:

¹⁸ … “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

While most Christians reading that Commission focus on the calls to “Go!”, or to “Make Disciples”, or to “Baptize”, we often forget the instruction to, “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”

In some ways, perhaps we also forget that this is what Jesus expects of us as His existing disciples too; i.e. to obey all the commands He has given us.

That’s why our 2026 Annual Bible Reading Plan at Walmer Methodist will focus on the commands Jesus gave us. Each day the prescribed reading will highlight an instruction Jesus gave us or an example He set us. Our aim each day will be to discern exactly what Jesus was commanding us and how we can respond to it faithfully.

In the daily devotions here on the Blog, I will focus on four aspects of devotional discipleship throughout the coming year, on the basis of Jesus’ words in Mark 12:30, ‘And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

• Devotion to Spirituality: Loving God with all our heart, in pursuit of deep, relational intimacy;
• Devotion to Study: Loving God with all our mind, in pursuit of knowing Him and His will more fully;
• Devotion to Submission: Loving God with all our soul, in pursuit of a more complete surrender to His will;
• Devotion to Service: Loving God with all our strength, in pursuit of a more compete obedience to His will.

Each day I will post the daily reading on the Blog (as usual), invite you to:

• read it prayerfully and worshipfully, in order to
• contemplate its meaning as a “command of Jesus”,
• meditate on its application to your own life, and then
• pray for the grace to obey it more fully.

To allow us to get as many people on board as possible, the Annual Bible Reading Plan will only start on the first Monday of February, So, for the next four weeks of January we’ll take a week for each of the above four focus areas of devotion, and try to set the tone for a great year of Devotional Discipleship!

I do hope you’ll join me for the journey. And why not invite a friend along for the ride. Just encourage them to visit the Home Page and to subscribe to the daily posts like you did.