verse for today

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No Worries

11th & 12th February

Weekend Edition

““Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.””

John 14:1

Why worry when we know Jesus is in control? Probably because there is a natural switch in our hearts that tells us, when something is starting to get out of our control, we must fight to take back the reins, as if we can magically harness the troublesome situation in our own strength and power. We tend to take God’s place as the driver, author and pilot of our life because we think we can handle things by ourselves.

Yet we can’t. Our problems, compared to our understanding of them, outweigh us, oversize us and overshadow us and cause us to worry and be troubled. Yet when compared to the glory, might and magnitude of God, they pale into insignificance. That is why Jesus tells us to trust in Him, to trust in God. Not just with our problems, the things we can see and know now, but also with the uncertain future that we do not yet know about. We can even trust God with our own salvation knowing, as Jesus said, that He has prepared a room for us in Heaven.

Above all, let’s make sure that our hearts are not troubled with things for the now and future but rather trust in God.

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A Burden Left At The Cross, It A Burden Lost

10th February

“Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.””

Matthew 11:28

A University professor, challenging his philosophy class, asked his students how much the cup of water weighed in his hand. Some students shouted out 50 grams, others 200 grams, until the professor finally shared his reflection on the weight of the water. “Actually the absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how you hold it for.” He continued, “If I hold this cup for a minute, it won’t be a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it all day, it will become so heavy, that I’ll be in considerable pain. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” The same is with our burdens. The longer we hold them and the longer we cling on to them, the heavier they become.

Jesus encourages us to ‘Go to Him’ when we are weary and have heavy things burdening our hearts. He wants us to be free from them. Moreover, He wants to take them from us. The weight of our burden disappears at the finished work of the cross. It is in Jesus that we find rest. But we need to ‘GO TO HIM’ and ‘Give Him Our Burdens!’ Don’t keep holding onto your burdens like the person holding the glass. We don’t have to carry them. Give them to Jesus.

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The Humble King: A Deeper Look

9th February

“Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and He exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray Me!””

John 13:21

Yesterday we looked at the wonderful passage of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. It was a fantastic example of complete and utter humility; The ‘Lord’ and ‘Teacher’ washing the feet of His disciples. Yet if we are to read just a few more verses on, we find the most astounding fact, that reveals more of who Jesus was and His character.

Would it astound you to know that Judas, the disciple that betrayed Jesus, was present at that ‘Last Supper’. Probably not, because He was a disciple after all, right? Well, would it surprise you that Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, yet still humbly washed His feet. Yes, Jesus also washed the feet of the one who would betray Him just a few hours later. Isn’t this just a mind-boggling fact. It is one thing to find out after washing Judas’ feet that he was Jesus’ betrayer, but Jesus knew before Judas actually betrayed Him that he would. If this is so, then Jesus’ washing of the feet takes on an even greater significance and highlights even more so, the loving and gracious character of God in Jesus.

Even to this day, Jesus continues to shower His love on all of humanity, even the ones He knows will betray Him, or not even believe in Him. Jesus even knew that the great Apostle Peter would deny Him too, yet that didn’t stop Him stooping down to wash His feet. This tells us that Jesus’ character never gives up on us. He knows we will make mistakes but yet He still ‘washes our feet’. He knows our actions will deny Him, yet He still chooses to call us His own. Our choice is whether we come back to Him and accept His grace like Peter, or let the regret of our mistakes lead us to death like Judas. Both had the same choice, to simply accept Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

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The Humble King

8th February

“So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.”

John 13:4-5

One often wonders why the practice of washing feet is not seen much in churches anymore? Jesus did say to His disciples after all, ‘since I have washed your feet, you ought to do the same’. What we see Jesus do here in this passage is completely the opposite of what the King of Kings should be doing. He shouldn’t be stooping down to wash the disciples feet. It should be the other way right? It should be the disciples washing their Master’s feet. Yet this action, completely epitomised who Jesus was and what He came to do. Yes He was the King of Kings, but He came and humbled Himself, for our sake, lower than a servant, to take our place. In fact, the feet washing process was only done by a servant when their masters came home so they would not bring the dust of the road and streets into the home. Yet Jesus took on this role to show a greater meaning to His disciples.

“The Son of God came, not as a proud master who demanded service from others, but as a humble servant who delighted in helping others. In stooping down to do the most menial of jobs (washing His disciples’ feet). Jesus showed them that true leaders serve their followers.”1 Jesus is a leader, who first, wants to serve His followers. He came to show us His love before we could truly love Him. He came to die for us first before we could accept His salvation. And because of His actions, we are saved and commanded to do likewise; to love others first and to lay down our needs for the sake of others. Perhaps it is time to wash your brother’s and sister’s feet.

1Every Man’s Bible Commentary (NLT) pg 1414

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Meeting Jesus Personally

7th February

“But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.”

John 12:37

Today’s key verse, is almost like a red traffic light or a huge wall in the middle of the road. You have to stop. You can’t go around it. It has got our attention because it has just sent a shocking right hook of truth our way. We are K.O’d. Did I really just read that? Is it a grammatical error? Did people still not believe in Jesus, despite His many miraculous signs? Could this be true? Yet the truth is there in black and white: “despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.” Yet should we be so shocked? We are surrounded by a world full of miracles, yet people still don’t believe today.

The truth is that some people can witness the most amazing miracle, yet if their hearts are hardened and their eyes blinded, they will miss the truth. When we pray for our unbelieving friends and families, perhaps our prayers should be that the Holy Spirit open their hearts and eyes to see Jesus and to see the wondrous miracles around us that lead us to Him. Furthermore, that they would encounter Jesus for themselves.

We too are challenged to daily put our trust in Jesus, not just because of the miracles He does, but because of who He is! May be too encounter Jesus for ourselves.

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Living In Christ

6th February

 

“…since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

2 Corinthians 5:14b-15

Jesus’ death and resurrection, was and still is, so significant for our lives. When we commit to serving Jesus, following His ways, and giving Him our lives, we too die and are raised to life again spiritually. We die to our old lifestyles, habits, choices and desires that are contrary to Godly living and are raised to live for Christ in all we do. Moreover, sometimes it is not even a conscious decision that our former desires have faded away. It is part of a regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives, changing our desires for God’s desires. This is not to say we become puppets, but rather daily experiencing goodness and perfection from spending time with a good and perfect Father, eventually leads to His characteristics becoming ours, aided by the wondrous work of the Holy Spirit.

Living in Christ means that we are longer living for ourselves but living for Him. Our dreams are birthed from God’s desires, to see the best in our lives. Our hopes and plans are inter-twinned with God’s purposes for us. Our daily living is in pleasing Him, sharing His goodness with others and bringing Jesus’ light into this dark world. We are beacon’s and ambassadors to show the world the power of Jesus’ finished work on the cross and fullness of His love and grace.

“..Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, Jesus, everything…!”

SONG: Tim Hughes, Everything

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4th & 5th February

Weekend Edition

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19

God will supply all your needs. A bold statement but one echoed by Jesus Himself in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:11) and again in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 7:11). God will provide for us. That’s a promise. And when God makes a promise, He doesn’t lie. His promises are Yes and Amen.

Yet is this verse purely talking about physical possessions? Well, of course in its context yes it is. Paul is addressing the faithfulness of the church in Philippi and the generous support he had received. Yet Paul notes that even though the support came from people, it ultimately came from God. He then leaves an encouragement for us too, his readers, by saying that the ‘same God who supplies my needs and has taken care of me, will also take care of you.’

But here is where it takes on a deeper meaning, perhaps more than just physical needs. Paul comments that God will “supply all” our needs from His own glorious riches. In other words, everything we have, everything Paul was provided with through the hands of the church in Philippi, was indeed God’s. His provision provided Paul’s support; from the throne room of Heaven, to Paul’s hands. Yet there is even more depth in Paul’s words which takes this meaning beyond just physical wealth. Paul says that God will supply our needs, from His glorious riches, “which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” What is that? It is every spiritual blessing. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that we are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united in Christ.” Because of Jesus, we have everything we need spiritually. And these blessings will never run dry. It is from God’s unlimited storehouse, for all His children.

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The 6 Last Days

3rd February

“The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the One who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!””

John 12:12-13

Interestingly, from John chapter 12 until the end of the book, the writers focus is on Jesus’ last 6 days before His crucifixion and His resurrection and ascension. It is an interesting fact, because it is almost half of the Gospel of John. This tells us that John obviously wanted his readers to fully understand Jesus’ last days, His last words and last miracles as a matter of utter importance.

He starts with mentioning the Passover, which we now know was when Jesus was crucified. This is an important fact, as it shows us why so many were in town (Jerusalem). Another reason why there was a lot of people in the crowds was because “many…. had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and….were telling others about it” (John 12:17). Jesus, as we know from the other gospels came into the city riding on a donkey; a direct fulfilment of scripture. The crowds were full of jubilation for Jesus, so much so they were venerating Him as the ‘King of Israel’, the ‘One who comes in the Name of the Lord!’ Yet these very same people, 5 or 6 days later, were the ones shouting ‘Crucify Him’ to Pilate when he asked the crowds what to do to with Jesus.

This presents us with a clear and provoking challenge. There is no doubt that Jesus’ miracles are amazing, wonderful and attract us to the person of Jesus. Yet unless you encounter Jesus for yourself, like Mary and Martha, whose lives were completely changed by being with Jesus, you will just be like a crowd goer, attracted by the waves of wonder, but soon drown in the sea of disbelief when the storm comes. Don’t be a person who gets caught up in the crowds but be a follower of Jesus because you have personally been changed by Him. Let your foundation be Jesus Himself.

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Lazarus’ Miracle Greater Than We Think

2nd February

“When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see Him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of Him that many believed in Jesus.”

John 12:9-11

In John chapters 11 and 12, the writer twice comments on the fact that many people started following Jesus because of the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection. Was this simply because they were attracted to Jesus’ miraculous power? Perhaps. But maybe a more reasonable argument would be because they simply witnessed an incredible miracle, that could only have been performed by someone of divine nature. Yet, seemingly so, the Pharisees completely missed the point of this great miracle, as if blinded by their selfish concerns of how many people are following Jesus and not them. Not only did they choose to not believe and not follow Jesus, but they wanted to destroy the evidence of Jesus’ great miracle, Lazarus.

We too are surrounded by people making excuses and trying to disprove the existence of God, and the evidence that we so clearly see all around us. Some argue following Jesus is just escapism, giving hope to a hopeless world. Some argue that Christianity is a made up religion, that tries to appeal to the weak and the helpless. Yet we are gifted with a clear and undeniable defence of God’s existence. Creation. His Word, the Bible. His tangible presence. His miracles NOW. His voice. The difference is, you have to open your eyes to see it. Many people came wanting to see the resurrected Lazarus, and those people believed. The Pharisees saw, yet chose not to believe, because in fact, their eyes were still shut. Today’s challenge is to truly open your eyes and see the resurrected King and the evidence of His works. May the Holy Spirit ‘open the eyes of your heart, so that your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you’1!!!

1Ephesians 1:18 paraphrased

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The Resurrector Of Life

1st February

“Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, Come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””

John 11:43-44

Wouldn’t you have loved to be there when Jesus shouted these words to the brother of Mary and Martha, Lazarus. The man Jesus dearly loved had been dead for 4 days. Yet when he heard the words of Jesus, he arose from ‘death’ and walked out of the tomb as if he had merely awoken from sleep. Can you imagine the sight of that? In front of your eyes, a man, being raised from the dead, simply by the words and authority of Jesus Christ?! No life support machine, no medicine, no long prayers or rituals. Just the 3 words, ‘Lazarus, come out!’, spoken by the Creator of life. Surely seeing that would lead you to put your trust in Jesus.

Today, that very same power lives in all of us. We have access and authority to speak life to death, because Jesus lives in us. When we pray in the Name of Jesus, the very same power that rose Lazarus from the dead, will flow through us, because it lives in us. That power is Jesus Christ. Yet we do not only have this power so that we can pray for others, but also so that we too might be changed and healed. Jesus’ power does not just flow out of us, but in us and through us; so we might change to be the change. Let the Jesus of the Bible, be as real for you as it was for those who witnessed this marvellous miracle.