You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
TO PONDER
I detect some level of frustration in Jesus’s words to the religious leaders in our verses for today. Chapter 5 of the gospel of John begins with Jesus performing a healing on the Sabbath, the Jewish Holy Day. This initiates a long discussion with the Jewish religious leaders about who Jesus is and his authority to do the things He does, like not keeping all the religious rules. And this discussion takes up the rest of the chapter in John’s gospel.
Understanding the back story may help us understand better what is happening here. During the history of the Israelites from the exodus from Egypt to the time of Jesus, the people had regularly ignored the relationship God had wanted to have with them. And they suffered as a consequence – through the 70-year Babylonian exile and the subsequent Greek and Roman oppression. The religious leaders wanted the people to remain faithful to God so that He would free them from their oppression. But as with all good intentions, their knowledge of the Bible and obeying its rules became an end in itself, leading to their prestige, rather than to a deeper relationship with their God.
So when Jesus turns up, doesn’t grovel before their prestige nor obeys all their rules and regulations, they are so blinded by their distorted version of Judaism that they had developed, that there was no way Jesus could be the promised Messiah.
This raises the question for us: when we do read our bibles, what are we trying to achieve by our reading? If I have to be honest with myself, and with you, some of the reasons I have had for reading my Bible over the years are:
The challenge of reading the whole Bible from beginning to end, tick;
Gaining knowledge so that others can be impressed with my knowledge, tick;
Pastor telling us it is something we should be doing if we call ourselves a Christian, tick;
Searching for Bible passages that support a view I hold so that I can use the passages to refute someone with a different view, tick.
But even when we have the wrong motives, our loving God can still patiently work in our lives and break down our defences. For me, that meant learning that if I approach the Bible as God’s revelation to us, it becomes the means of learning how our Heavenly Family of Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants us to grow in our relationship with them. And it no longer becomes a matter of reading words, but becoming engaged in a conversation with a God right alongside us.
Prayer: Heavenly Family, thank you for revealing to us who you are through your word, as well as through other means. Please helps to always approach your word with the aim of growing to know you personally and your purpose for our lives. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word.
TO PONDER
As a child (from ages 8 to 11) I lived on a farm without electricity and running water. We had a wooden stove, carried water from the tank outside up the steps into the house, used kerosene lamps for light at night and used a thunder box (dunny) about 30 metres from the house. If we needed to go to the toilet at night time it was a matter of taking a hurricane lamp and heading by ourselves out to the thunder box in the dark.
For those familiar with a hurricane lamp, it gives light in all directions, not like a torch which you can direct in a particular direction. So, to see where you were going in the dark, you had to hold the lamp close to the path. Without the lamp, there was no way we would be going outside to the toilet and we would end up having a very uncomfortable night. So, when the psalmist says that God’s word to us enlightens where we walk along the path of life, I can really relate to that. We usually understand this verse in terms of God’s word (Bible) giving us the guidance we need to live each day in a way that is in accordance with God’s will and purpose for us.
But I would like to pick up on the point that without the light that God provides, we won’t start at all on our journey with God, but stay in the comfort and security of where we currently are – just like us kids in our farmhouse all those years ago. The though of following where God is calling us to go and do what He is calling us to do can be scary, just like children (and even adults) are scared to go out into the dark at night. If a parent comes with us with a powerful light, we can feel secure enough to go out in the dark. For us, that parent is our Heavenly Father, and that powerful light is God’s promise to go with us and guide us along the way. We then have the security to go where God is calling us, not being afraid because we are safely in God’s care with His Spirit to guide us.
The other thing I love about the Bible is all the stories about ordinary people being called by God to go with Him, but pulling back because of their fears. And God so tenderly and patiently working with them to overcome their fears and they ending up doing wonderfully powerful things with God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for all the promises you have given us in Your Word, the Bible, that you will always be with us. Thank you for the ways you work in our lives to overcome our fears and take our hand to lead us in doing exciting things with you. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
TO PONDER:
I recently read the simplest definition of faith I have ever heard, triggering an explosion of neurons within my mind as I excitedly, audibly exclaimed “YES!” at an inanimate book.
The explosive revelation I received from this book was “faith is trusting in God!”… It literally blew my mind, yes “literally”, the neurons exploded within my brain as I discovered something so simple, faith IS trusting in God, pure and simple.
In today’s verses Paul is encouraging the church in Philippi not to worry about anything and to pray about everything, simple advice to live in God’s peace!
Don’t worry and trust God, so simple, and it comes with a promise of God’s peace, so simple yet so difficult.
Why is something that is so simple so difficult, so hard to do? I can’t answer that for you but I can for myself and the main reason would be that I would have to give up control, give up control over everything, give up control over the things I can’t control anyway. Prayer hands those things over to God.
So, instead of handing those things over to my imagination, allowing it to create the worst things that can happen, I give the worry to God.
PRAYER: Father God, forgive me for not trusting you, for trying to control those things that are beyond my control. In the words of the father in Mark 9, “help my unbelief”. In Jesus name, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
TO PONDER:
Some 30 years ago, I got to go backstage at an AC/DC concert in Los Angeles, I got to meet the band and talk to them, even though I was not really a fan conversation was difficult due to their rock-superstar status and my being freshly graduated, from a Christian Bible College, young person. I’d like to say that I was cool, calm and collected but I was not (one day I’ll tell the story of having pizza with Tiffany, the 80’s pop star).
In yesterday’s post I talked about the Lord’s Prayer, today’s verses, not being a template on how to pray to get our prayers answered and how its not a magical formula. The Lord’s Prayer is a starting point on how to pray, how to speak to the creator of everything, the original superstar.
I understand when people tell me they don’t know how to pray, what to say, and how to say it. If I was overcome and a tad flustered trying to a talk to one of the worlds Greatest Rock Bands, who really were down to earth “regular” guys, how do I even approach God who is so much beyond me, so far beyond my measly understanding?
While the Lord’s Prayer is not a magical formula, or even a template on getting God to listen, the Lord’s Prayer can be used as a starting point, a springboard into talking to God. We can start praying it word for for word and add to it, adding our own words to each sentence, telling God what it means to us to be his child, adding our own specific needs to “our daily bread”, etc..
When you are unsure of what to say, how to say it, or how to ask the Master of the Universe for something start repeating the Lord’s Prayer to God and launch into your own prayer.
PRAYER:Almighty God, I thank you for taking an interest in me while you are so much higher than me, so far above, yet you still walk with me daily, you listen to my prayers and talk with me as a loving Father. Amen.
Todays devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
TO PONDER:
When I was a kid I was a champion swimmer. My mean parents (the same ones I talked about yesterday who wouldn’t buy me a Swiss Army Knife) would drag me out to train every morning before the crack of dawn for 2 hours before school. If you were wanting to prove you were the best or to be a winner, 2nd place is still a loser. Getting faster was always the goal to strive for.
I have heard today’s verses used against saying the Lord’s Prayer weekly in church and then using the same prayer as a template on the “right way to pray to get answers to your prayers”.
That is not what Jesus was saying when he was preaching the Sermon on the Mount, in my opinion, that is the opposite to what He was saying.
The whole section of the sermon here is about not competing, not trying to prove yourself. It's about happily taking 2ndplace, and relaxing in God’s grace.
Prayer is not a competition, not a magical formula to get what we want if we say the right words in the right order, it's not a destination to graduate to.
Prayer is between you and God, a real conversation between a loving Father and child. We as God’s children do not have to prove our worthiness to Him before we can pray (Jesus has already done that). Prayer is coming to our loving father, sitting on his lap and talking to him.
PRAYER: Loving Father, I thank you for loving me even before I loved you, for calling me into a loving relationship with you where I don’t have to compete for your love and attention, where I can simply come as I am and pray. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
TO PONDER:
I remember when I was about 8 years old or so, one of my friends had a Swiss Army Knife, the one with a knife, scissors, can opener, corkscrew, a nail file, a little saw, a “pig sticker”, 2 screw drivers, tweezers, and a toothpick…
I wanted one so much! I wanted one so when I got lost in the bush I could survive, I could even “stick a pig” and have something to eat but alas I never was able to get a Swiss Army Knife because I had mean parents (Mum reads this, she even writes some of the Daily Verse posts) and I never was lucky enough to get lost in the bush either…
In today’s verse we read James encouraging us (the church) to confess our sins to each other so we can be prayed for and pray for each other because our prayers are powerful and effective.
If we take the time to read the preceding verses we would see the crux of the verse is not as much about confessing our sins to each other but rather about the power of prayer.
James tells us that if someone is in trouble pray, if anyone is sick pray, if anyone sins, again, prayer. He does also say if anyone is happy “sing songs of praise” which is still praying but to music!
Prayer is the Swiss Army Knife for our Christian life, anything that happens, whether good, bad, or even ugly we pull out the Swiss Army Knife of prayer and use it to survive.
PRAYER: Almighty God, I thank you for prayer, the Swiss Army Knife for life, that I can talk to you about everything, knowing that because of Jesus my prayers are powerful and effective. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay WestSide
But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! (MSG)
TO PONDER:
The book of Jude hardly rates as a “book”, with only 25 verses (there were no verse numbers in the original text) in Jude, there was debate in the authorship of Jude, and then Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, a non-canonical book (not part of our modern Bible), and then there is the question of when it was written.
The Book of Jude was written as a defence of the “holy faith”, a defence of the teachings of Jesus (by his own brother?) recorded in the Gospels and the other Epistles. Jude was taking a stand against the bad teachings, and their resulting divisions that were slipping into the new church.
In today’s verses Jude’s advice is not to do an apologetics course with a focus on doctrinal studies to prepare them to be able to argue their personal stance on proto-gnosticism and the resurrection of the dead (fun times).
But, instead Jude encourages his readers to pray in the Holy Spirit (led by God) keeping love and grace at the centre, rather than forming gated communities of polarising arguments, with arms open and outstretched in welcome.
In other words, prayer is a defence against tribalism and a walled, fortified church.
PRAYER: Loving God, I thank you for your unboundless love and grace you continue to show me a sinner, I ask you to help protect my heart from the judgement and anger I can use against those who seem to disagree with my theories I have created of you. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
TO PONDER
I have met people who will pray all day on a regular basis, those same people would take trips to “IHOPKC” (International House of Prayer Kansas City, Missouri) to spend a week at a conference on prayer and be excited about signing up on the 24 hour prayer roster and they would sign up for more than the 1 hour time slot.
I had been invited on several occasions to join them and would always be busy at those times, really, I was busy...
Today’s verse is encouraging the Ephesian church to pray “on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” and to “be alert” in their praying for the church (remember church is not a place/building we go to but who we are as a community). On all occasions sounds like a lot, especially when I’m busy and life is good. I will of course agree to pray for someone when they are going through something, when they have an occasion they need God's intervention and most of the time I will at least say a quick prayer soon after I had been informed of their need.
But when the “occasion” is something personal to me, something I am going through, a family member, or a close personal friend my prayers become desperate, frequent, passionate, as I long for the church to pray with me. I can’t but help feel convicted by today’s verse when Paul admonishes us/me (the church) to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” especially when reading the verse in the context of spiritual warfare, which is what Paul was writing about.
“The Lord’s people” are my family and deserve more than just a tossed out prayer.
PRAYER: Almighty God, I ask for your forgiveness for the times when I don’t love my neighbour as myself, when I don’t pray for my spiritual family’s needs and requests as fervently as if they were my own. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
TO PONDER
A few weeks ago an old friend unexpectedly sent me a Facebook Messenger message and when I opened the message it was an audio-file, a punk song, with lyrics like “there is no God!”, “Christianity is a dead religion”, “if Jesus is like this, I don’t want him!”, the song was crying out in anger and frustration at God and His church.
So I answered the song with a question, “Did you do that, you did it all, you wrote the song, you did the singing, the instruments, the recording???”
He answered “Yes, this morning”. Then I told him how blown-away I was with his talent and how I wanted more. In fact, I wanted a whole album of the same, I even suggested a name for the album “Psalms”.
Today’s verses speak to us about our prayer life with God, about the times we try to pray and no words can be found, the times we are unsure how to talk to God, or the times where we are not sure if we believe God even answers prayers. The life moments where we can only aim our anger towards the heavens, shouting our frustrations at the seemingly absent God.
Paul reminds us that God’s Spirit, God Himself, is standing with us, in our anger, in the frustration, in the pilgrimage of pain.
My friend didn’t respond for a few hours after our brief exchange about his song and the reasons why he composed it but when he did the reply was another audio-file, another song but this time it was a song of contrition, of repentance, of thankfulness, a renewed discovery of God’s unfathomable grace because the Spirit was with him in his anger and frustration.
PRAYER: Holy Spirit, Mighty God, I thank you that your grace is boundless, that when I am at my worst, when I don’t know what to say, what to ask for, or even how to ask, you are there with me, crying out beside me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside