verse for today

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God Doesn’t Always Work The Way We Think

7th July

“God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.”

Acts 19:11-12

There are some things in the Bible, that really do fill us with all sorts of questions. Perhaps today’s verse is one of them. Yet we can rest assured knowing that if it’s in the Bible, then it is truth and we can be encouraged and grow through reading and understanding it, no matter how strange it may seem.

What is evidently clear, above the strangeness of these miracles, is that God has the power to use anything to bring about His will and to heal and deliver the sick and oppressed. Sometimes when we pray, we expect God to work in a certain way according to our thinking and reasoning. But these miracles show us that God is outside of our way of thinking. He is above it. What we do know, is that His miracles are for our sakes and for His glory.

When we read verses such as today’s, we are encouraged that although God doesn’t always work in the way we want or think, He is at work for our best. He knows best. Let us not get discouraged when we don’t always see the answer we may expect, but rather let us trust God that He knows best. He can use anything and anyone for His glory. Trust Him. He knows best!

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Don’t Be Afraid!

6th July

“Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent!”

Acts 18:9b

Fear of man, and fear of the possible consequences that await us, often stop us sharing the Gospel with confidence. We sometimes shy away from challenging immorality, from speaking up at injustices and sharing the message of hope with people who need it, solely because we are afraid of what they might ‘think’ or ‘do’. Yet the words Paul received in a vision from God, whilst in Corinth, stand true for us today: Don’t be afraid.. God is with us.

Yes there are many who do face severe persecution for their boldness to share the message of Jesus, but that doesn’t mean God has left them. Rather it is God in them, that gives them the boldness to speak, in spite of the persecution they may face. Let’s not let fear stop us from standing up and boldly sharing about Jesus. Speak out! Don’t be silent. If we don’t speak, who will?

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The Church Of Berea

5th July

“And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many prominent Greek women and men.”

Acts 17:11-12

What would the church of Jesus Christ look like if all people who listened to the Word of God being preached, took the approach of the Bereans and searched the scriptures, in hunger of the truth? Listening to ‘preaching’ or ‘teaching’ isn’t just an opportunity for us to be fed, like going to a spiritual petrol station. Rather it is so much more than that. It’s an opportunity for us, individually, to allow God’s Word to penetrate our hearts and transform us completely.

As we search the scriptures for a deeper understanding and affirmation of what is being preached, we further allow the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to us and implant the ‘word’ into our hearts. If we just listen to a Sunday service message and don’t prayerfully re-visit what we have learnt, how can we possibly expect our lives to be transformed? We will just end up being attracted to emotion driven sermons, that satisfy our feelings, but do not transform our lives! Look what happened with the Bereans, ‘as a result, many Jews believed, as did many …Greek women and men.’ When we actively are pursuing God, His Word becomes a necessity for our lives. It has the power to save and transform us completely.

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To The Known God

4th July

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve His needs – for He has no needs. He Himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need.”

Acts 17:24-26

As Paul was walking around Athens, he noticed many shrines, temples, idols and altars that deeply disturbed him. He even saw a sign to ‘the unknown god’! Yet he did not dismiss their ‘false worship’ but rather saw in their hearts a desire to worship or at least know the One True God!! Paul went on to share the Gospel with them; to show them that God is more than just an idol, but the creator of the world, who wants to make Himself known to all. ‘His purpose was for the nations to seek after (Him) …..though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and love and exist…’ (v27 – 28).

Friends, we too are faced with the same challenge. Rather than put our hope and trust in idols and false gods, let us lean on the God who created our very breath, who gives purpose to us and who leads us to Himself. He does not try to hide Himself from us, but He wants us to find Him and know Him. As Paul said, it is in Him we live and love and exist. He is not an ‘unknown’ god but the God we can know. He is Emmanuel – God with us.

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Pray For The Persecuted

3rd July

“But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.”

Acts 12:9

Persecution for your faith can come in many different forms and from many different places. We are blessed in the Western church to boldly share and practice our faith in most countries without fear of physical persecution. Yet sadly, across the world, there are many who do not share that privilege. The early church, in the book of Acts, also went through severe persecution, not just from the ‘Gentiles’, the ‘outsiders’, but from those they would call brothers, ‘fellow Jews’!

Peter, as one of the early church leaders, had to bear the brunt of a lot of persecution, as he was often the one boldly standing up for his faith, and preaching the message of Jesus Christ. Yet what is so clear throughout the book of Acts, is that the believers did not pray for Peter’s release, but rather for him.

Often we think that praying for freedom for persecution, or from hard situations is the answer, but when we read of the prayers of the believers, we are challenged to perhaps refocus our prayers. Perhaps we should pray instead, that God may give the persecuted strength to endure, because even in the midst of persecution, something beautiful can be birthed. Take for example, Paul and Silas’ imprisonment in Philippi, in Acts 16. Through their imprisonment and an earthquake, the prison guard and his whole family were saved, baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Today, if you are going through some hardships, persecution, or you know of someone who is, why not try and pray, that God would give them the strength to endure it and birth something beautiful from it. After all, ‘in all things, God works good for His glory’. We might not always see the fruit of our suffering, but we can rest in the knowledge and peace, that God will always get the glory. Don’t give up. Something great is about to be birthed.

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I Will Sing About Your Power

1st and 2nd July

Weekend Edition

“But as for me, I will sing about Your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about Your unfailing love. For You have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. O my Strength, to You I sing praises, for You, O God, are my Refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.”

Psalm 59:16-17

David amazingly wrote these words when King Saul, in a jealous rage, sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him. He wrote this in the valley. He wrote it when going through pain. Yet his sure foundation was God. It always was. He only ever put his trust in God. He knew that there was no other place where he could find safety than in the presence of Almighty God, in the refuge of His loving arms. Moreover, David daily reminded himself of this fact. Daily, each morning, he would sing about the power of God’s unfailing love. God, was his refuge and strength.

We too can follow the lead of David. When the storm rages around us, even if the storm is from our own doings, let us remember that God our refuge and strength is full of unfailing love. Our world might shake, yet below our feet is an unshakeable foundation than cannot be moved; we just need to stand on it in faith! Let us daily remind ourselves through songs of praise, that God is full of unfailing love, a refuge in times of trouble and firm foundation in whom we find strength and safety. Let those words not just be empty words said out of repetition but rather let us believe with our hearts that God is truly where our help comes from.

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God Gives Wisdom Liberally

30th June

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”

James 1:5-6

What do you do when faced with tough decisions? Do you try to find a solution for yourself or do you get down on your knees and give it to God? Giving our fears, worries and decisions to God is one of life’s hardest challenges. We naturally want to take and feel in control; to be in charge and have it all worked out. Yet that is not God’s best plan for us. He wants us to give our cares to Him, and seek Him in all we do. That is not to say that God will wave a magic wand and everything will be ok. Indeed, sometimes God does want to use us as part of the solution, but it is the Holy Spirit and God’s wisdom that empowers us and leads us, not of our own strength.

James tells us that when we ask for wisdom, our generous God will give it. We must, however, make sure that our faith is in God alone when we ask. There should be no doubt that God will give us wisdom from His generous store-house. We should trust 100% that His wisdom, is above all human wisdom. We should know that His wisdom always leads us to make choices in line and in tune with His will. Let’s put our faith in God alone. Don’t waver but trust Him completely.

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Who Is Like Our God? There Is No-One

29th June

“There is none like You, O Lord: You are great, and Your name is great in might.”

Jeremiah 10:6

Seriously ask yourself this question this morning: who really is like our God? There really is no-one! Nothing created or any other god can come close to our God. In the words of the Hillsong Song ‘What A Beautiful Name’1, ‘He has no rival, He has no equal, now are forever our God reigns, His the Kingdom, His is the Glory, His is the Name above all names’. Friends there is more. He has no opposite, He has no fear, in Him is only victory. He doesn’t know defeat, because He is victorious. He has no sin, because He is perfect. There is none like you, O Lord!!

Jeremiah, establishes this fact by almost mocking the followers of false pagan gods, ‘Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.’2 All other gods are just imitations of the One true God, our God, our Saviour, Healer and all powerful God.

Do you need reminding who it is you serve? Know He is above every problem, situation and need! He is our God. He lives in our hearts. No really is no-one like Him.

2Jeremiah 10:5

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Undeserved Grace OF God

28th June

““We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.””

Acts 15:11

As Paul and Barnabas faithfully traveled around, preaching the word of God wherever they went, they encountered a troublesome theological issue. Some of the Jewish believers thought that the Gentiles (non-Jews), needed to be circumcised, in order to be truly saved, as written in the Jewish Law. Even though Paul and Barnabas disagreed, it was decided that they would go back to Jerusalem to discuss this issue with the other Apostles and disciples.

Peter, the one to whom Jesus chose to reveal His heart, for not just the Jews but for all men, stood up among his brothers and boldly reminded them that God had saved Gentiles too and had even given them the gift of the Holy Spirit. He then said, that all men, are saved, not through their outward works, but through ‘the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus’.

Peter’s bold and courageous words remind us too, that we are saved, not because of anything we have done or deserved, but solely through the grace of Jesus. We have been blessed with the free gift of grace, that has the power to not only forgive our sins but change our lives. No outward work, circumcision or such like, can lead us to salvation. It is only through the grace and mercy of our loving Saviour, Jesus Christ, that we are saved, forgiven, and restored. This is the simple truth of the Gospel, that we all too often need reminding of. Even the great Apostles and disciples needed constant reminders of this too….

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True Spiritual Renewal

27th June

“So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped up to his feet and started walking. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!””

Acts 14:10-11

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He healed many sick people, cast out evil spirits and even raised the dead to life. Yet not all of Jesus’ miracles led people to believe He was God. Paul and Barnabas experienced the same thing in Lystra. Having just healed a man with crippled feet, the people of Lystra, instead of giving praise and honour to the one true God, tried to enthrone Paul and Barnabas, as gods in the flesh. Paul and Barnabas, to their dismay, tore their clothing as a sign of grief and utter shock. They must have thought, ‘these people are missing the point’! Sadly for Paul in particular, things didn’t go well at all, and Paul ended up being stoned, almost to death.

Reading this story, really does remind us, that just seeking the supernatural for evidence alone, really is not enough. Yes, God does support our words and preaching with His miracles (as seen in Acts 14:3), but more than being caught up in an eagerness to see only the miracles, signs and wonders, we should never lose sight of the One who gives them, God Almighty. He should always be the focus. Of course, when God’s word is boldly and powerfully preached, the miraculous does happen, but it is never for human gain, but so that men might experience Heaven on Earth.

While our emotions can be touched or moved by spiritual renewal, miracles, signs or wonders, we must make sure that our faith is built on the truth only; the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord of Heaven and Earth, He lived, died and rose again for us, and stands forever, as our eternal ransom. When you understand this truth, nothing can sway you from it.