Devotional
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Romans 12:1-8 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” (v.1) Through this inspired verse, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the truest and most proper form of worship is not…
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Matthew 22:34-37 Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (v.37) This one verse is spiritual treasure chest containing many beautiful ‘jewels’ of truth and grace. Some of those ‘jewels’ shimmer with practical beauty and reveal truth to us about the importance of…
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Psalm 73:23-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. (v.25-26) Psalm 73 as a whole expresses the journey of Asaph, the psalmist, from a place of almost losing his faith (v.2)…
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1 Chronicles 16 “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” (v.11) The Israelites had not truly worshipped according to the design God gave them in the wilderness since entering the Promised Land. They had erected the tabernacle (the place of worship) at Shiloh, but steadily the sinfulness and corruption of the…
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Exodus 33:7-23 In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed unhindered, life-giving intimacy with God, connecting to God face to face. This was how God had created us humans to relate to Him – as His beloved children, expressing our love to Him and being loved by Him in deeply personal relational connection. Ever…
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John 13:1-17 and Philippians 2:1-11 “(Jesus) being in very nature God … … made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant …” (Selected phrases of Philippians 2:6-7) In John 13 we see an example of what the apostle Paul described in Philippians 2. Jesus knew that He was the Son of God by His very…
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Matthew 13:55-58 ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? … And they took offence at him. (v.55 and 57) Outside Nazareth, Jesus was less credible and an “underdog” in the eyes of some because He came from Nazareth. (John 1:46) Today’s reading shows us that being the local carpenter’s son (even one known to be a ‘righteous…
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Exodus 3:1 – 4:17 Moses said to the Lord, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight…
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1 Samuel 16:1-13 “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” -1 Samuel 16:7 It should come as no surprise to us that the LORD chose…
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Matthew 2:19-23 “He went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” (v.23) This week we move from considering Jesus as the “King of Refugees” to reflecting on Jesus, “King of the Underdogs”. The Cambridge Dictionary defines an “underdog” as…
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