and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go…
TO PONDER
I have told the story about the grace prayer my darling wife prayed over our family dinner the day I found out I was going to plant a church for LifeWay in Western Sydney already but just as a reminder let me share it again…
“God, we thank you for Papa’s (that’s what our boys call me) new job, we pray that he doesn’t mess it up…” Now, that is maybe not a direct quote but it is the essence of what was prayed and so not to interrupt the prayer or the meal I waited until the next day before I questioned the prayer. The response given for the prayer from my supporting wife was “Well you do know you are a rebel, right? And, these are Lutherans…”, again not a direct quote but close enough.
Today’s verse is part of the advice King David gives to his son Solomon as his death was approaching. It can be summed up as “Make sure you do everything God tells you to do, follow all the rules and regulations and don’t mess it up!” Sounds like great, supportive advice from a proud dad…
Kind of reminds me of the grace my wife prayed those four or so years ago, although it sounds harsh and perhaps even judgemental from an overbearing father, I’m sure Solomon heard the advice in context. David is described in the Bible as “a man after God’s own heart”, so you would think the advice would be full of superiority from an expert of all of God’s rules and commands but the context was different. David was a flawed man, he was an adulterer, a murderer, at times mentally ill, he was broken, he was a rebel, but most of all, David understood the grace of God because he was restored and forgiven.
Solomon would have heard the advice through the lens of grace.
After Michelle’s prayer I agreed with everything she prayed but I recognised it through the lens of grace, the focus on God’s grace practiced as a Lutheran and then the rebel part of her explanation… Well Jesus was considered a rebel, his teaching offended the religious people, Martin Luther rebelled against the wrong teaching of the church to the extent of being shunned by the church, but David, Jesus, and Luther all understood and obeyed the truth of grace.
PRAYER: Loving God, I thank you for showing me you grace, your aggressive forgiveness you showed to David and all of your followers help me obey your command of love. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. (NLT)
TO PONDER
It’s no secret amongst the LifeWay team that I struggle with writing these Daily Verse posts (just ask Pastor Mat) because I tend to overthink things. I worry about the theology, the context held within the verse, and then finding the introductory thought to be used in communicating the idea I feel needs to be taken away after reading.
But eventually, often after at least one panicked chat with Pastor Mat, I finally am released from my self-imposed, tunnel-vision, writer’s-block and this is my introductory thought.
Today’s verse is a reminder for us to obey the truth of grace. While Peter is talking about living as “God’s obedient children” (V.14), and that we “must be holy because I (God) am holy” he talks about the reason we are his children and the reason we are holy; GRACE! We are adopted into God’s family because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and our holiness is through the holiness of Jesus.
But then he reminds us once again that the truth of grace is we don’t walk alone, God demonstrates his grace to us and we then demonstrate that grace to others by showing sincere love to each other.
Sometimes we need our church family to help us exit the self-imposed, tunnel-vision we trap ourselves in. Remember pick up the phone, reach out to others when you notice they are struggling, this is the truth of grace.
Obey the truth of grace.
PRAYER: Mighty God, I thank you for showing me your unfathomable grace time and time again, I ask you to help me demonstrate your grace to everyone around me. Amen.
Today's devotion written (struggled) by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
TO PONDER
Will Gidara graduated from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 2001, within ten short years later he became the General Manager of a fine-dining restaurant in Manhattan, New York called Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant that never lived up to it’s potential.
At the age of twenty-six Will began to systematically guide the culture of the struggling restaurant into a restaurant which was named the “Best Restaurant in the World” eleven years later through the ethos of unreasonable hospitality, by “giving people more than they expect”.
Today’s verse is from a letter Paul had primarily written to the leader of a small church plant by the name of Philemon, a convert of Paul’s.The letter is primarily addressing what Paul calls a personal favour he was requesting of this church planter and as a result, the church.
The favour was to welcome back a runaway slave, a slave who had runaway from Philemon but Paul was asking Philemon to not accept him back as a slave but as a brother, a member of his own family.
Paul knew this favour would have a considerable cost to Philemon and offered to pay any financial restitution required but Paul knew Philemon had already demonstrated the ethos of grace, the principal of unreasonable hospitality before.
Philemon understood that God had first shown him grace through unreasonable hospitality when God welcomed Philemon as His family since forever (Ephesians 1:3-6) so obeyed Paul’s request of unreasonable hospitality towards Onesimus a runaway slave.
PRAYER: Forgiving Father, I thank you that while I was still your enemy you demonstrated your love for me, a runaway slave, welcoming me into your family since forever. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
TO PONDER
I remember sitting in church in my early teen years listening to a missionary family talking about the call of God to the mission field, to serving God far afield (Sri Lanka) and the issues associated with cross-cultural ministry, and thinking “Please God, don’t send me!” I used to tell people that God wouldn’t send me to somewhere I didn’t want to go, God, obviously, doesn’t work that way…
In today’s verses we read the response given by Ananias to God when he received the call to go do something he didn’t want to do.
Eugene Peterson translates part of this passage in the Message this way, “Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious.” Obviously, Ananias agreed with me on this point, God would only call me to do something I wanted to do, definitely not something where I would be uncomfortable and especially not where my life would be under threat!
To save you from having to read the ending of this argument, God was serious, eternally serious. God indeed wanted him to go, Ananias did go, and the rest of this story continues today, in your life, and in my life.
The call of Ananias continues to echo throughout history in the life of every follower of Jesus, in every person who reads the words of Paul recorded in the Bible.The echo of the call is my call, its your call, it doesn’t only belong to Ananias or the Pastor but the call to "GO" is given to each of us in the words of Jesus to his disciples, given to us, “Go and make followers of all the nations.” Matthew 28:19 (NLT).
Imagine what would have happened if Ananias didn’t go, and what will happen if you don’t?
PRAYER: Almighty God, I pray today simply that your will be done in my life, whatever and where ever that is. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanks-giving, present your requests to God.
TO PONDER
These words are, to me, a contrast to the previous devotions this week where boldness in various situations is desirable. I have, at times, chosen to back away or try to avoid a situation because of my feelings of inadequacy or because I was just too plain scared, but then I fret because I was such a wuss.
Today’s verse is another way we can share it all with God - prayer, petition, and thanksgiving - they are beautiful, comforting words and should be part of our everyday life. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he made dialogue between God and us possible. We can tell him our worries and ask his help in situations when we don’t know what to do or how to act. We share our joys and give thanks for all his goodness to us, his love, grace, and forgiveness, and yes, we should ask him for the strength to be bold and tell these things to everyone and how they affect us now and our hope into the future.
Prayer: What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry every thing to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry every thing to God in Prayer.
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and waves obey him!”
TO PONDER
Because of its geographical position, the Sea of Galilee was prone to sudden squalls and gusting winds which whipped up the waves to dangerous heights. If ever you have been on a small boat when an unexpected weather change occurred, you may be able to imagine how people may have felt each time they set out, pretty apprehensive I’d say.
The day the disciples set out to cross the lake with Jesus, one of these storms blew up and it seems it was a bit wilder than usual, the disciples worried whilst Jesus slept. Eventually their fear caused them to wake Jesus, he gently chastised them for their lack of faith and then bade the storm to settle and suddenly there was complete calm. For the disciples this was another facet of the man they loved and followed, for us a way to manage the unexpected squalls in our lives.
We spend a lot of time and energy ‘making plans’ from a weekend away to our retirement, and review them until we are convinced that they are foolproof. We don’t consider the unexpected, the squalls of life, and when they happen, our behaviour suddenly becomes a bit chaotic, tossing blame hither and thither, which only adds to the storm. Jesus isn’t asleep as we fearfully flounder, he is just waiting for us to call him. Jesus, who with a few words can calm any storm, is the safe port for us to flee to. Jesus, whose power we too, marvel at. We should have a note above our plans, ‘include Jesus and be sure to make sure he is the one to call on when the squall hits.’
Prayer: Amazing Lord Jesus, I know that you are my safe haven when the storms of life engulf me, but please forgive me, for the times I forget this, I rave about unfairness, and ask “Why me?” and am ashamed by my behaviour. Thank you for your gentle reprimand, “Where is your faith?” that helps me get back on track. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself, or someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
TO PONDER
This is another Bible story that set my childhood imagine busy. I considered Philip a very obedient man, or perhaps, like me, he didn’t want to cause as fuss as I learnt was best when mother took me from ‘a really important daydream’ to do something she wanted done.
God had a task for Philip but first he had to change direction; he must have recognised that the angel was God’s messenger and took the possibly harder and lonely desert road. When the carriage with the important Ethiopian appeared, Philip again obeyed and approached knowing, because the Holy Spirit had told him, that the Ethiopian was reading from the book of Isaiah. I used to think the carriage must have been travelling slowly so to make it easier for the Ethiopian to read and so allowed Philip to catch up and ask what he was reading which gave the Ethiopian the chance to ask the question that led to Philip sharing the good news of Jesus. I recognised that this meeting was no accident and it had to be planned and only God could do that.
I see it today as a lesson for us, we don’t know God’s plans, or if we feel something is from God we're not always brave enough to follow his prompting. We can easily find reasons enough not to follow through, forgetting God is walking with us and knows our feeble excuses. One of the most used one is, ‘What if a Bible verse is quoted and I don’t know it?” Philip knew the eunuch was reading from Isaiah but didn’t talk about that, instead he spoke of the good news of Jesus that Isaiah was pointing to.
We should listen carefully when people ask questions about God’s word, we might not be able to cite the chapter and verses being quoted or find another one to provide a suitable response, but there might be a clue that gives us opportunity to speak of the work of God in our lives, or to recall other stories of God that illustrates our explanation. When we find ourselves being asked questions about our faith, we can be sure God wants us to speak to that person or situation. He has set the stage, He has cast you in that moment as his lead actor. He will send us the prompts and be beside us, we just need to recognise and trust God’s call and be brave and courageous and step out in faith.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I know that you want me to help spread your word so that the whole world learns about your love and saving grace. You send people into my life that I might tell them the good news of Jesus. Forgive me when I don’t recognise this, or, when I fear getting it wrong or think myself inadequate for the task. Remind me that you are on the journey beside me. Please give me the strength to speak and act boldly and answer questions when asked. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
So I say to you, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
TO PONDER
As a little girl, I used to wonder why Jesus said these things, it seemed common sense. When we knocked, if people were home they opened the door; if something was lost we search until it was found and if I was sent to the lady who grew seedlings or the one who made my hair ribbons to ask for ribbons or seedlings I was given them. Money was exchanged and I used to wonder why Jesus didn’t mention that.
That’s God’s gracious gift to us, he doesn’t ask for payment when, in prayer we seek his help. We are not long past Easter when he gave us the greatest gifts of all, his dearly loved son, Jesus, who died on the cross that we can have forgiveness of sins and a close relationship with God and look toward eternal life with him, and also his Holy Spirit who helps us to understand God’s Word.
Can all this really be at no cost? Well it may be at no cost to you and me but it cost Jesus his life. A life he willingly laid down so that we could receive all these wonderful gifts. All we are told to do is ask. He invites us to persist in prayer seeking his help for what we need, help with what troubles us, and what direction to take with big decisions. He invites us to be bold and persistent; as was the man in the story Jesus told before the verses above. We are invited to seek out his Word persistently so that we always have the examples of how to live in the fullness of life he has set before us in Jesus. He will respond to our prayers, not always as we might wish, sometimes we may not even perceive an answer at all, but this wonderful God of creation just wants us to be BOLD when we ask for these things and trust he has it in hand.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am always in awe of who you are and the intricacies and perfect detail of your creation and at times I think “Can I really bother God with this?’ I thank you for your assurance that I can come to you in prayer and you will hear my petition and act. It is very humbling that, as great as you are, you will listen to me, even when I come boldly and persistently. Please strengthen my faith and trust so I can gain the strength to act as you ask. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was accordance with Jewish burial custom.
TO PONDER
When I realised I had to speak out against the culture in my workplace, I knew God was with me. So, whatever the outcome, he would be there; it would be o-kay. And it was! None of the fears that had initially held me back came about. I was not sacked in, fact when my contract was finished it was renewed so I could work on the task force to get the institution ready for accreditation which in turn meant improvement in all areas.
Today we meet two men, who by their actions, boldly said “We believe this man was God’s son. He is deserving of an honorable burial according to Jewish custom.” Joseph, a believer fearful of the Jews and Nicodemus who has moved from questioner to believer, their belief has given them trusting confidence. They did what they believed was correct with boldness, and God protected them as they carried out this act of love and respect.
There might be a time when you have to face a situation that requires you to consider your position and consequences if you act, remember God is always with us and gives us his protection when we speak out against injustice or other behaviours that are not the way Jesus Has taught us. It doesn't mean it won't be tough, but he will be with you.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I need your strength each and every day so that I have the boldness to speak against issues that are not helping but diminishing people. Forgive me when I worry about my inadequacies before I realise you are always there no matter what the result of my boldness may be, you are far greater than any earthly issue. Amen
Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle