2020-06-06
Proverbs 9:9 NCV
Whether we consider ourselves to be academic or not, it’s important for us to keep learning and keep asking God for wisdom. The Bible says: ‘Teach the wise, and they will become even wiser.’ Sometimes we can come up with excuses for not developing our minds and growing intellectually. But God gave us minds which are capable of learning new things. Learning is very important to God. In fact, in Hosea it says: ‘My people will be destroyed, because they have no knowledge. You have refused to learn, so I will refuse to let you be priests to me’ (4:6 NCV). God isn’t asking us to reach a certain level of academic success; we don’t need to achieve a certain grade in our exams in order to be used by God. But He wants us to be eager to learn rather than wasting a lot of our time on things that don’t help us to grow. The Bible says, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other’ (Proverbs 27:17 NCV). To grow and become sharp, we need people in our lives who sharpen us. We need to think about who we’re spending time with. Are they encouraging us to learn more about God? Are they helping us move forward on our faith journey? We also need to make sure we’re spending time with God. He’s the One who can help us grow in wisdom and understanding. Finally, we need to be reading the Bible. If we read something in our Bible that we don’t understand, we can ask God to give us the wisdom we need to understand it. Let’s just make sure we’re always open to learning more about God and His Word.
Rev 1-4; Mark 14:43-52; Ps 1; Prov 13:1
2020-06-05
Job 11:16 NCV
We also need to develop emotionally. When we don’t get help for our past emotional hurts, we can find ourselves acting out of character. We might treat others like we were treated, and hurt the most important people in our lives. Our relationships might even end up falling apart. Being stuck in the past is not what God wants for us. He has new things He wants to do in and through us. Isaiah 43 says: ‘Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it?’ (vv.18-19 NCV). If we’re still emotionally tied to our past, we’ll struggle to step into the new things ahead of us. Regret, bitterness, resentment, anger, and hurt keep us trapped. But it’s often easier said than done to let go of them and move on. In the Bible, Job faced a lot of trouble and heartache. When he was struggling, one of his friends gave him this advice: ‘You must give your whole heart to [God] and hold out your hands to him for help…You will forget your trouble and remember it only as water gone by’ (Job 11:13-16 NCV). We need to hand everything over to God and ask Him to help us work through these situations and emotions. We can’t simply forget about them or pretend that we’re not bothered by them anymore. That will just make things harder in the long run. Instead, we need to go through the process of dealing with them so we can ultimately find healing and freedom. It’s possible for us to move on and develop emotionally, we just need to be open to the process God wants to take us through.
1 Kings 21-22; Mark 14:27-42; Ps 129; Prov 12:27-28
2020-06-04
Hebrews 5:12 NCV
God loves us just as we are, but He also takes us on a journey of transformation. He wants to help us become more like Jesus and become mature in our faith. He wants to help us develop. Over the next few days, we’re going to be looking at the different areas of our lives that need development. Firstly, we need to develop spiritually. Paul said to the early church: ‘I have a lot more to say…but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up the bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one – baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago!’ (vv.11-13 MSG). Sometimes we can be like those Christians in the early church. We stop listening and stick with what we already know, rather than developing and growing. That might be because we’re too busy, we’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, or we’re just comfortable with how things are. But there’s always more to learn about God. We’ll never know everything about Him. Newborn babies desire milk, but when they grow up they move on to solid foods. We need to move on to more advanced spiritual food too. We can end up only being spiritually fed at church on a Sunday morning. But then we question why our faith isn’t strong, why we’re struggling to deal with temptation, or why we can’t seem to feel God’s presence and guidance in our lives. We need to be continually feeding on God’s Word. Each day we should be reading our Bible’s and spending time with Him.
1 Kings 18:16-20:43; Mark 14:12-26; Ps 124; Prov 12:26
2020-06-03
Galatians 5:13 NIV
Before He went to the cross, the Bible says that Jesus ‘took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him’ (John 13:4-5 NIV). In those days, feet would need to be washed regularly because of the dust and dirt they were walking through. This unpleasant task would have been the job of a servant, but Jesus humbled Himself and took that role in order to show His love to others. Then He said, ‘I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you…Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them’ (vv.15-17 NIV). Jesus wants us to do the same. We might not need to wash feet in order to serve others, but we can serve and show love in other ways, whether that’s at the office, school, a lecture theatre, or at home. We can serve others by helping them out practically, being available to listen when they’re going through a challenging time, or encouraging someone when they’ve done a great job. When we humble ourselves and serve others, we’re showing God’s love to them. The Bible says: ‘Serve one another humbly in love.’ Serving others isn’t always the easy thing to do. We might have other ways we want to spend our time. But we need to follow the example Jesus set if we want to become more like Him. We’re not called to serve others constantly and leave no time for anything else. Jesus often left the crowds and spent time alone with God. But when we see an opportunity to serve someone, let’s take it.
1 Kings 16:1-18:15; Mark 14:1-11; Ps 4; Prov 12:25
2020-06-02
1 Samuel 10:27 NIV
When God calls us to something, not everyone will be happy about it. Saul experienced this: ‘Some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.’ People may come against us because they doubt our abilities or because they’re jealous of what we’re doing. When this happens, what should we do? Saul reacted to the criticism by keeping silent. That’s a really important lesson for us. Sometimes we can become defensive and retaliate with our words. At times it might be right to speak up against people’s opinions in a gentle way, but at other times it will be right for us to keep quiet. It’s not our responsibility to convince others of our calling. By following God’s call, we might not be able to meet the expectations of other people. But we shouldn’t be living to please others. Our calling is from God, in order to advance His kingdom and glorify Him. When we know we’ve heard from God, the criticism of others will affect us less. His presence reassures us, His words direct our steps, and His peace settles the storm within us. We won’t require the praise of others, because His confidence in us will be enough. And if things don’t move as quickly as we’d like once we’ve been called, we need to keep this verse in mind: ‘Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin’ (Zechariah 4:10 NLT). Instead of comparing ourselves with others and putting ourselves down, let’s celebrate each small step of faith we take as we walk into our God-given calling.
1 Kings 14-15; Mark 13:24-37; Ps 121; Prov 12:23-24
2020-06-01
1 Samuel 10:1 NIV
Here’s how Saul became Israel’s first king. He was out in the countryside looking for his father’s lost donkeys when he met the prophet Samuel. ‘Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us…but you stay here for a while, so that I may give you a message from God.” Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over his inheritance?”‘ (1 Samuel 9:27-10:1 NIV). Saul went out looking for donkeys and instead discovered his calling in life. And it can happen like that for us too. God has a habit of calling people who are busy doing other things. James and John were mending their fishing nets, Matthew was collecting taxes, Elisha was farming, and Saul was out looking for his father’s lost donkeys. It was just another day for them. We can spend a lot of time worrying and stressing about what we should be doing with our lives. But sometimes God’s purpose for our lives become apparent when we least expect it. When the call comes, we can struggle to accept it. We doubt whether we’re really the right person. Saul did that too. He had said: ‘But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?’ (1 Samuel 9:21 NIV). Our social status and education levels don’t limit God. Neither does our fear. When He has a plan in mind for us, He’ll let us know and equip us to be able to do it. So if we’re stressing about what our purpose is, let’s stay faithful, keep serving Him, and believe that our time will come.
1 Kings 12-13; Mark 13:12-23; Ps 117; Prov 12:20-22
