The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
TO PONDER
Have you ever had to stare down something truly terrifying? Maybe it wasn’t a giant soldier like Goliath, but maybe it was a situation or predicament you found yourself in. It was unknown, scary and perhaps left you feeling paralysed. This is a natural reaction to something that can hurt us or ‘take us down’. Fight or flight as they say. You are either paralysed by fear, or it mobilises you to take action. David is not frozen in fear when he stares down Goliath, but he is also not rash or haphazard in his reaction. He is confident and sure that he is protected and not alone. How can someone have this reaction? It is only through his experience of God and all that he has done for him. God had saved David in the past from things that could kill him, lions and bears, and he trusts that If God had done it before, then he would do it again. David knew in a real way that he was never truly alone, he didn’t fight Goliath on his own, he had God and all his power with him. That’s true for you and I today too. We don’t walk through life alone, we have the Holy Spirit, Jesus gift to us, who helps us understand God and also trust in his power at work in our lives. So as when you encounter your next Goliath, stand firm in the knowledge that you don’t have to fight it alone!
PRAYER: Jesus, thank you that you entered the earthly experience. Thank you that because of that act I can be assured that you understand what I am going through, because you have experienced this life too. Help me to trust in your power at work in my life. Give me courage and faith, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Elise von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you...So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
TO PONDER
I was nervous when Mathew told me he felt God was calling him into the pastoral ministry. It meant leaving everything I had known, with 2 small children, to embark on an adventure we had never even considered. The feelings of worry, uncertainty and fear came quickly. Where would we live? What would we do for money? Would we make friends? Would we be on our own? However, with a confidence that this was what God was asking of us, we went. And what blessings God gave to us! We were blessed with a community who understood what we were experiencing, because they were too! We never went without, in fact we were blessed beyond measure by people we had never even met. If we had only focused on our fear then we would have missed so many incredible blessings. So, step out in faith and into what God is calling to today! He wants to partner with you on an adventure bigger than your wildest dreams!
PRAYER:Lord Jesus, what an amazing gift that you ask me to partner with you on your amazing adventure. Give me courage to take the first steps with you, even if they are scary. Thank you that I don’t go on the journey alone, but you are always with me, Amen.
Today' s devotion written by Elise von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation... and Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
TO PONDER
Have you ever been asked to do something that sounded crazy or impossible? Thankfully, God has never asked me to do anything as crazy as building a giant ark, but I have faced many situations that I felt totally unprepared and ill-equipped for, and I am sure you have too. So, what do we do in those situations? Well, we have a choice. We can say, “No way man, you got the wrong guy!” or we can do as Noah did and trust that if God is asking us to do it, then He knows we can. This is where our confidence (and I am sure Noah’s confidence) to do all God commands comes from. It is not from within ourselves, but rather in trusting that we never do God’s work on our own, but in partnership with Him!
PRAYER:Lord God, thank you for the gifts and talents you have blessed me with. Help me to use them willingly for your glory. In the times when I feel overwhelmed or unqualified for the job you ate asking me to do, help me to remember that you are with me and you can do all things, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Elise von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
TO PONDER
The faith of Jospeh is pretty incredible! First, he is told a story by the woman he is betrothed to that would make anyone raise their eyebrows. At first, he doesn’t believe her and then he has his own angelic encounter and his whole perspective on the situation changes. He goes from someone who is going to quietly divorce the woman he was to be married to, to someone who sticks by her, and forgoes his husbandly rights. He also follows the command of God and gives the baby the name Jesus.
I sometimes wish that God would intervene in my life in a similar way. That he would make his ways known to me with an angel announcement or clear direction. But it hasn’t been that way for me. Despite this, I do know that God is always speaking to me, through his word, through the Holy Spirit and through those around me that he is using to guide and direct me. I just need to open my eyes and ears to hear the words he is saying to me!
PRAYER:Heavenly Father, thank you that I am not wandering alone in this world. Instead, you have given me your word, your spirit and your church to help guide me and make your ways known and clear to me. Help me to hear and see clearly and to understand where you want me to be and what you want me to do, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Elise von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
TO PONDER
I remember as a kid how much anticipation went ahead of Christmas, the advent of Christmas morning was almost too much to bear, the thought of the presents in separate piles (a separate pile for each of the four kids) would drive my imagination months before.
I realised pretty early that a wishful list of hoped for presents demanded time to make sure what I asked for in the letter to Santa was actually what I really wanted and not something I would regret within a few days.
Today’s verse is part of the prophecy given by Isaiah about the coming Messiah, given about 700 years before the actual virgin birth but God’s advent-ure plan was announced all the way back in Genesis 3:15 in regards to the crucifixion and victorious resurrection of God’s planned Immanuel.
Ephesians 1:3-6 takes God’s advent plan back to even before there was a before, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations” God already had a plan to restore us to himself through Jesus.
Reread the above paragraph, its not a typing mistake, before God created time, from eternity God had his grand advent-ure already planned. Before there was a before God planned to send Jesus so that we would be an us, his family via the virgin birth.
PRAYER: God with us, I thank you that your advent was planned from eternity, from before the creation told of in Genesis, from before the fall of humanity, from before Isaiah’s prophecy, from before the angel’s visit to Mary, from before the birth of our saviour. Your grand advent-ure was a sure thing from before there was a beginning, thought out, planned, expected and accomplished as an act of grace. Thank you, Amen.
Today's devotion written by Dany Brock, LifeWay Westside
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
TO PONDER
To appear to be more intelligent than I am, I want to talk about the Copenhagen Interpretation of Schrodinger’s cat. First, we should begin with Schrödinger’s zombie cat, the thought experiment of a cat locked in a box with deadly poison, which will eventually spill out into the box thus killing the cat.
Werner Heisenberg, a fellow German countryman of Erwin Schrödinger, came up with an explanation of Schrödinger’s zombie cat and quantum physics, his interpretation was until someone opened the box the cat was both alive and dead at the same time, the observation by an individual was the catalyst.
In other words the state of the cat in the Copenhagen Interpretation is undecided until it is observed or perhaps not.
In today’s verses we see the certain fulfillment of a few of God’s promised advents; the promised “voice of one crying in the wilderness” Isaiah 40:3-4, the confirmation of “God with us” Isaiah 7:14 via a voice from heaven, salvation would be through a person, and this just off the top of my head but the fulfillment of God’s promises, unlike the Copenhagen Interpretation of a zombie cat, were not dependant on observation by an individual.
The promised advent was a definite as soon as God planned it, the impossible was possible, the plan was sure as soon as the promised advent was made.
PRAYER: Saviour Jesus, I give thanks that your planned advent was decided before the world was created to restore relationship with you, the almighty God, and your creation, you did it all and none of it was dependant on me. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:.
TO PONDER
Have you ever seen your family tree, the list of your ancestors going back for generations?
I’m not sure if its still there but there was a coal mining memorial display in a park somewhere in Wisemans Ferry that we visited well over 30 years ago where the Brock family was listed as a coal mining family who immigrated from Wales many, many years before.
I remember being told with my grandfather and my father working in some of the last coal mines to close down in the Newcastle region, the Brock family had worked in Coal Mines for at least 6 generations. Being part of the Brock family meant the plan was once you left school you would get a job down the mines, in fact when I left school I applied but due to the production of coal being cut back the son of a more senior guy than my dad got hired instead of me. The coal mining Brock legacy ended with my generation.
Today’s verse is the start of one of those passages of the Bible known as “beget” list, most of us skip over the begets or give them a cursory scan through but they are there to remind us that the impossible plan of advent-ure was conceived from the beginning.
Paul tells us in Ephesian 1:3-6, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ.” (MSG)
That means before God even created time he had an advent plan to include us in the begets, before Abraham he planned us to be included.
PRAYER: Faithful God, thanks for your advent plan for me, even before time existed, you had conceived the plan for me to be part of your family. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.
Then David gave Solomon the plans for the Temple and its surroundings, including the entry room, the storerooms, the upstairs rooms, the inner rooms, and the inner sanctuary—which was the place of atonement. David also gave Solomon all the plans he had in mind for the courtyards of the Lord’s Temple, the outside rooms, the treasuries, and the rooms for the gifts dedicated to the Lord.
TO PONDER
Sometimes the impossible advent-ure God is conceiving within our hearts already belongs to someone else…
Cross-cultural psychologists categorize cultures into two main types; individualistic culture and collectivist culture. Individualistic cultures stress the needs of the individual over the common good, whereas collectivist cultures emphasize the needs of the whole ahead of the needs of the individual.
I am sure most of us can guess where Australia falls in these dual cultural paradigms and its not collectivists. The COVID-19 toilet paper panic was a clear, if not an amusing, symptom of our individualistic culture in action.
In yesterday’s daily verses we read how King David lamented the fact that he couldn’t accomplish a dream of building the temple that was conceived in his heart and we briefly touched on the thought that David didn’t dwell in the lament but rather realised the unfulfilled conceived advent-ure was not about him. In today’s verses we read how David handed over the conceived advent-ure he had carried and owned for many years to someone else, his son Solomon.
If you continue reading down to verse 21 we see how David reminded Solomon that he would need other people to take ownership of the collective advent-ure in order to see it fulfilled. God’s conceived advent-ures are loaned to us for the good of the whole whether they begin with us or others.
PRAYER: Mighty God, I thank you that we all have a role to play in your impossible advent-ure, as your word says some will sow and others will reap but we all get to participate in achieving your plan. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside
King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’
TO PONDER
Everybody has a role to play but sometimes it may not be the role we hoped for…
King David was anointed king while he was still a teenager looking after his families flocks and it would be many, many years before he actually sat on the throne but he did rule as king for 40 years.
The life of David is quite literally a thing of legend and God himself even called David “a man after my own heart”, yet he still wasn’t able to accomplish everything he had wanted to accomplish.
Today’s verses are from King David’s final speech as king as he hands over the throne to his son Solomon, as he laments not being able to finish the advent-ure that was conceived in his heart many years before, to build the temple.
While these verses contain some regret the rest of speech celebrates that God’s plan conceived in his heart would be completed by the new generation. David celebrates that he was able to have the plans drawn up ready for someone else to fulfil their role in the advent-ure that was conceived in his heart.
PRAYER: Mighty God, I thank you that we all have a role to play in your impossible advent-ure, as your word says some will sow and others will reap but we all get to participate in achieving your plan. Amen.
Today's devotion written by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside