2020-05-01
John 20:25 NIV
When the disciples told Thomas, ‘We have seen the Lord!’, Thomas refused to believe them. He said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ When Jesus appeared to the disciples again, this time Thomas was there too. Jesus invited Thomas to touch His scars and see His hands. When Thomas did this, He stopped doubting and exclaimed ‘My Lord and my God!’ (v.28 NIV). Thomas has often been given a bad reputation because of his doubt, but how often do we find ourselves doubting God too? We might believe in the resurrection, but we doubt that God will come through for us in the situation we’ve been praying about for years. We can doubt His love, goodness, grace, faithfulness, and promises. We doubt Him because He does things that we don’t understand. But we’re not going to understand everything in this life. This is where we need to have faith that God’s in control. The Bible says: ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1 NIV). Thomas only believed when he saw Jesus with his own eyes, but Jesus said, ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’ (John 20:29 NIV). We don’t always see God working in our lives, and it can be challenging to have faith in a God we can’t see. But Jesus says that we’re blessed when we keep believing and when we keep trusting. So let’s take all our doubts to Jesus, and ask Him to help us have faith in Who He is and what He’s doing in our lives.
Num 3:1-4:33; Mark 5:31-43; Ps 2; Prov 10:30-32
2020-04-30
Job 2:10 NIV
We’ll all face times of suffering and pain. We’re not immune to these things because we’re Christians. One day we’ll be in a place where ‘”there will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4 NIV). Job was ‘an honest and innocent man’ (Job 1:1 NCV). But a whole chain of bad things happened to him. He lost his animals and servants, all ten of his children died, and his health declined. In all this he continued to trust in God. But ‘Job’s wife said to him, “Why are you trying to stay innocent? Curse God and die!”‘ (v.9 NCV). Job had a choice in this very dark valley. He could fall apart and turn away from God, like his wife was encouraging him to do, or he could draw closer to God and continue to praise and trust Him despite everything he was facing. Job answered his wife, saying: ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ He was aware that life wasn’t always going to be good, and accepted the fact that his had now been filled with trouble. Sometimes it can feel like God’s abandoned us and taken away everything He blessed us with. But even in the darkest valleys, He’s still there and He’s still walking alongside us. Psalm 23 says: ‘Even if I walk through a very dark valley, I will not be afraid, because you are with me’ (Psalm 23:4 NCV). If our lives seem to be filled with trouble and we’re wondering where God is, let’s ask Him to show us that He’s right beside us, encouraging us to keep walking until we see His goodness shining through again.
Num 1-2; Mark 5:21-30; Ps 35; Prov 10:28-29
2020-04-29
John 17:4 NIV
When we’re not sure what God wants us to be doing, or we’re worried about saying no to others, we can end up taking on lots of different things. We start on a task, and then find something else to do which distracts us from the original thing. We say yes to everything we’re asked to do, even if it’s not really something we’re skilled in, or even if it doesn’t fit with what God’s called us to do. It’s really important to remember that we can’t do everything. If we take on too much, we can become overwhelmed and ineffective. Instead, we need to ask God for wisdom to know what we should say yes to. We also need to remember that God doesn’t want us to be trapped by people-pleasing. If we’re always doing what other people want us to do, then we’re putting the demands of others above the call of God. Sometimes it’s worth looking at it from a different perspective. We can ask ourselves, ‘If I say yes to this, am I stopping someone else from fulfilling their purpose?’ We need to consider whether God’s calling someone else to do it. God’s made us all with different skills and purposes, just like our body parts have different functions. The Bible says: ‘God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?’ (1 Corinthians 12:18-19 NIV). We need to be focused on our own calling, rather than becoming distracted by other opportunities. Jesus said: ‘I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.’ And we can glorify God by focusing on the things He’s given us to do too.
Jam 3-5; Mark 5:11-20; Ps 94:12-23; Prov 10:27
2020-04-28
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
The things we focus on will help shape our attitude. If we look at the positives, we’ll be more likely to have a positive and thankful attitude. If we’re aware of the positives but choose to remember all the negative things, then we’re more likely to have a negative attitude. Some of us can end up missing the good things in life because we’re focusing on what’s wrong. It’s true that there will always be negative things in our lives. Maybe it’s a bad relationship, rejection, frustration at work, or a health issue. These things can make it really hard to be positive. They can feel overwhelming and end up being all we can see. But the Bible tells us to ‘rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.’ How can we do this when we’re facing difficult things? We need to keep focused on the good things in our lives. These are the things God has blessed us with. He gives us good gifts: ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above’ (James 1:17 NIV). We can also keep our eyes focused on God Himself. He never changes, He never leaves us, He never stops loving us. These are incredible things that we can always be thankful for, no matter how bad our circumstances are. This doesn’t mean we have to pretend to be happy when we’re hurting. God wants us to be real, and He wants to comfort us when we’re struggling. The Bible tells us that there is ‘a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance’ (Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV). But whatever season we find ourselves in, we can always be joyful and grateful because of everything God has done for us.
Jam 1-2; Mark 5:1-10; Ps 94:1-11; Prov 10:24-26
2020-04-27
Matthew 6:5 MSG
God loves it when we come to Him in prayer. It’s an opportunity for us to share our concerns, listen to His voice, and connect with Him on a deeper level. But sometimes we pray for all the wrong reasons. Let’s take a look at some: 1) Misdirected prayers. If we’re annoyed at someone we can communicate our frustrations through our prayers. We might pray out loud about the person who has annoyed us, in the hope that they realise just how much they’ve hurt or upset us. 2) Performance prayers. We can find ourselves praying in order to show other people how holy we are. We reel off long, wordy prayers which make us look and feel superior to others. But the Bible says: ‘When you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production.’ 3) Judgmental prayers. In these prayers we judge others and think that we know better than God. Maybe someone’s prayer hasn’t be answered, and we ask God to change the person because we think they’re the problem. This is us judging others and trying to figure things out on God’s behalf. 4) Faithless prayers. Sometimes we can be tempted to think that we need to pray with a big group of people if we want God to answer us. But with God, what matters is the faith we have when we pray, not the number of people. So how can we pray the right way? Matthew 6 gives us some insights: ‘When you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private’ (v.6 NLT). We need to be coming to God with humility and expectancy. And we need to make sure we’re coming to God with the right motive – to spend time with Him.
Dan 11-12; Mark 4:26-41; Ps 144:9-15; Prov 10:22-23
2020-04-26
Mark 11:25 NIV
When someone hurts us, our natural response is to either hurt them back or hope they will suffer for what they’ve done. But as children of God who have been forgiven and saved, we know this is the wrong response. Forgiving someone doesn’t come naturally or easily; it requires supernatural grace on our part. And we get that through prayer. Jesus said, ‘When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’ When we remember how God has shown grace toward us, we realise that we need to show that same grace to those who have hurt us. Sometimes we can feel that we have a right to hold on to unforgiveness, or that if we forgive people we’re letting them get away with what they did to us. But actually if we don’t forgive people, we’re keeping ourselves tied to the hurt and the person who caused it. Bitterness and unforgiveness actually hurt us more in the long run. And the people who have hurt us will be judged by God. He calls us to forgive people, just as He has forgiven us. Jesus told a story about a servant who couldn’t pay his debt. He begged his master to take the debt away, and he did. But then someone owed that servant money, and he refused to take their debt away (you can read this story in Matthew 18). The servant had been shown kindness and grace, but refused to show the same kindness and grace to the person who owed him money. And the same is true when we don’t forgive people. So, before we go to God, let’s make sure we’ve shown the same grace to those who have hurt us as He’s shown to us.
Matt 5:8; Ps 24:3-6; 2 Pet 3:3-14; Ps 51:10
