ENCOUNTERS
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Daily Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Yesterday, Psalm 116 showed us how precious our lives are to God. That theme continues to develop in 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 as the apostle Paul writes about the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.” (v.3-4) God cares deeply nd lovingly about
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Daily Reading: Psalm 116 Psalm 116 is a wonderful Psalm, written as a Psalm of praise to God for hearing the Psalmist’s cry for deliverance and saving him from “the chords of death” and “the anguish of the grave” at a time when he felt that he was about to die. His response is to
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Daily Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-37 As I read the story of the Shunammite woman’s son this morning, it brings to mind the importance of persistent and prevailing prayer. The account has the feel of spiritual warfare to me. The young boy was brought into this world as a gift from God to a very kind
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Daily Reading: 1 King 17:17-24 Throughout the coming week, we’ll be reading Biblical accounts of the LORD’s power to raise the dead back to physical life. These accounts should, come as no surprise at all. After all, this is the same LORD who breathed life into Adam in the first place, having created him from
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Daily Reading: Galatians 2:11-21 In the event Paul writes about in Galatians 2, Peter had fallen prey to the fear of men and their criticism. At this time there were those strongly Jewish Christians (as all the original Christians had been) who firmly believed that to be a Christian one first had to obey the
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Daily Reading: Matthew 12:1-14 In the ten commandments, the LORD blessed His people with the gift of Sabbath rest. Knowing our propensity to anxiety, worry and fear for tomorrow, He went one step further and commanded the blessing of rest by commanding us not to work on one day of the week, the Sabbath. By
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Daily Reading: Psalm 19 How do you come to formulate your beliefs about God? Do you base your beliefs on your personal experience of God? Is the church tradition you grew up with formative for you? Is it a matter of rational deduction from what you observe in the created world around you? Perhaps, you
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Daily Reading: Exodus 4:1-17 As our reading begins, Moses has just been called by the LORD to return to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of slavery. The interaction that follows between Moses and the LORD (in today’s reading from Exodus 4) shows us clearly how our insecurities and our comfort
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Daily Reading: 1 Kings 18 This week our focus shifts from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan “Town” to His encounter with the “Theologians” in John 9 – on the occasion of Jesus healing a man born blind. The theologians in question are the local Pharisees on the one hand, and the man born blind on
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Daily Reading: Acts 8:1-25 Once the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the apostles and the early disciples of Jesus, a remarkable change of heart was evidenced. Whereas once these Jewish disciples had shared the general animosity of Jews towards Samaritans and had wanted to call down the fire of judgment on them, now
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