TEXT: ‘There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil’ (Job 1:1 NLT) THOUGHT: Job is one of the most remarkable books in the Bible. There is so much to discover when someone is willing to wade through the dialogue. Try it and see for yourself! Reading it out loud to myself certainly helped me to understand more the depths of despair Job had sunk to, yet he maintained his faith. He certainly is a shining example to the many who let the least thing hinder their relationship with God and attendance at their local church. The book opens with tragedy hitting this godly man. Bad things happen to good people! God is a good God but Satan is a mean devil. Never confuse the two. Unknown to Job, conversations between God and Satan resulted in him suffering in a way perhaps no other person has. Today’s Teaching concentrates on the reasons for this unimaginable trial, his reactions to it and its final outcome. Job’s Family Job had a wife, seven sons and three daughters. There was a strong bond of love between all of them. Whenever the sons...
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TEXT: ‘Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me’ (Micah 7:7) THOUGHT: Waiting for God to answer and bring about a change to a situation can be one of the hardest things to do. Delay can seem like denial but often it is not the case. In the Bible there are a number of scriptures that refer to ‘waiting’ and Today’s Teaching highlights five areas we need to be aware of and focus on. Wait Politely – ‘Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath’ (James 1:19) Waiting can bring out the worst in us. Think about reactions, ours included, of people waiting in a queue, whether at the supermarket, traffic lights or the entrance to a big event. How impatient we can get even over the slightest hesitation by the person ahead of us. Many an obscenity has been shouted at the car in front for taking off slowly after the light has turned green. Having driven in Africa and Italy, the use of horns there to express frustration and anger is widespread! The epistle of James exhorts us to be slow to respond and get angry because, ‘Anger will...
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TEXT: ‘Love suffers long and is kind’ (1 Corinthians 13:4) THOUGHT: Another word for humanity is mankind. If the syllables were reversed how much better it would read – Kindman! How this world needs a good dose of kindness. The Bible also uses the word ‘lovingkindness’, and this is what God displays towards us that helps draw us to Him in the first place. ‘How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings’ (Psalm 36:7). ‘Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies’ (Psalm 103:4). ‘I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm’ (Jonah 4:2). Today’s Teaching focusses on five aspects about kindness that we need to be aware of. It’s an add-on to our faith – ‘But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love’ (2 Peter 1:5-7) We may be better at some of these add-ons than others, but kindness is one area we must keep working on. It’s all too easy to fall back into selfishness and become inconsiderate about...
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TEXT: ‘Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed! God, God of Israel, seated in majesty on the cherubim-throne. You are the one and only God, sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, Maker of heaven, maker of earth’ (2 Kings 19:14-15 MSG) THOUGHT: The biblical account about King Hezekiah gives an interesting perspective on how his prayer life developed. It’s easy to neglect prayer when the going is easy, but when trouble comes we can be left wondering what to do. The Assyrian army, which had overrun Israel, was looking to add Jerusalem to their list of conquests. There are four things I want to highlight about Hezekiah’s reactions and prayer life. In Part 1, we studied how Hezekiah tried to deal with the problem through his own efforts, but the enemy kept coming back for more. Unable to find a solution he turned to someone he believed was in touch with God, Isaiah, who after praying received an answer of deliverance. This gave Hezekiah confidence that God was with him and Part 2 shows how that confidence enabled him to start praying his own prayers. Let God’s...
Learn MoreTEXT: ‘Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed! God, God of Israel, seated in majesty on the cherubim-throne. You are the one and only God, sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, Maker of heaven, maker of earth’ (2 Kings 19:14-15 MSG) THOUGHT: The biblical account about King Hezekiah gives an interesting perspective on how his prayer life developed. It’s easy to neglect prayer when the going is easy, but when trouble comes we can be left wondering what to do. After his coronation, the first thing Hezekiah did was to re-open God’s house and clear out all the rubbish.1 He was a godly king who had a heart for God. Jesus taught, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God’ (Matthew 6:33) and that’s exactly what Hezekiah did. As a result, blessing abounded and divine healings lifted the nation’s spirit.2 The kingdom of Judah enjoyed a time of prosperity, spiritually and economically as Hezekiah did what was good, right and true before the Lord his God. But trouble is never far away, even during the best of times. The Assyrian army, which had overrun Israel, was looking to add...
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TEXT: ‘I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master’ (2 Peter 1:1 MSG) THOUGHT: Simon Peter is one of the twelve apostles we can more readily identify with. At times he put his foot in it, but on other occasions he got it exactly right. Today’s Teaching is a snapshot of his life which will help us to see the “Simon Peter” in all of us and what areas need attention. 1. Realisation – ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ (Luke 5:8) This is our starting point. Unless we see ourselves as a sinner, we will never see the need for a saviour. Simon Peter had been introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew.1 It’s wonderful when family members respond to our invitation to come. After loaning Jesus the use of his boat, Peter heard His teaching and then experienced the miraculous catch of fish.2 Peter’s despair over his...
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