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Heart

 Ezekiel 36:26 ESV And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  Spiritually, our hearts are naturally made of stone. By default, we're spiritually dead. We need God to do a spiritual heart transplant upon us. God is able to put his Holy Spirit within us. Where once we were dead men walking, when we trust in Jesus we can enjoy eternal life from when we first believe. Not even physical death can separate us from his love. Note that we can't do anything for ourselves spiritually. Someone with a heart of stone can't rip it out himself and replace it with a heart of flesh. We need God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Ezekiel was looking forward to the new covenant age that we're in now. By faith in Jesus we can prove the truth of this verse. He has died and risen for us and poured out his Spirit. 'Sovereign Lord, please make us alive in you. May w...
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Rest

 Hebrews 4:9-10 ESV  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. You'd have thought God's commandments to us to rest would be the easiest for us to keep. In reality, it is one of the most broken, neglected, and misunderstood of his commandments.  Hebrews reveals that the Sabbath is a picture of Christ, in whom we can rest from trying to earn God's acceptance. We're accepted in Christ. So when we trust in him we enter into a Sabbath rest. The religious people of Jesus's day were so big on the Sabbath that they overemphasised it. Jesus clarified that the Sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath. Since his resurrection on the first day of the week, it has always been the church's practice to meet on Sundays/the Lord's Day. The principle of resting one day in seven is an important one because we're not machines. Even God rests! He doesn...
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Truth

 John 14:6 ESV Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  Jesus is the Way. He's not a way. He's the only way to an eternity with God the Father. Only through faith in him can we be adopted into God's family. Jesus is the Truth personified. Roman Governor Pilate asked him what truth is, and didn't even stick around for the answer. Instead, he condemned Jesus to death. Jesus is the life. In him we live and move and have our being. Without him we can do nothing.  The only way to have eternal life with God is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way we can avoid the condemnation we deserve.  'Heavenly Father, thank you for adopting us into your family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we ever follow him, until you call us home. In his name, amen'.
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Wisdom

 James 3:13 ESV  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  It's not enough to say that we're wise. It's not even enough to think that we're wise. We need to be wise. Maybe we think we can just be fools for Christ. Yet we need to be wise for salvation. We don't need to be worldly-wise but godly-wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. How do we know someone fears the Lord? Because of their good conduct. The love of God is the heart of wisdom. How do we know someone loves God? Because they're humbled by his compassion, and ever live to glorify him. 'Loving Abba, Father God, please give us the wisdom we need to navigate this life and to make it home to you. In Christ's name we pray, amen'.
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Access

 Ephesians 2:18 ESV  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  It doesn't matter who we are. We can all have access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can come to him as we are, but he doesn't leave us as we were. Maybe we were Jewish when we came to Jesus. Maybe we were religious. Maybe we had been trusting in our religiosity for access to God- now we must shed our baggage and trust in Christ alone. Perhaps we were Gentiles when we came to Jesus. Perhaps we were irreligious. Perhaps we didn't believe in God at all- we need to realise our need of access to him through Jesus. Even to this day, there's division between Jews and Gentiles. Antisemitism is at pandemic proportions. More widely, religious and irreligious people often despise each other- Christ can break the barriers down. 'O Lord, we're grateful that the cross of Christ breaks down barriers, not just with you, but with one another. May we not reconstruct them. In his name ...
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Believe!

 Mark 9:23 ESV And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”  The father of the severely ill boy was almost hopeless. Yet he had a glimmer of hope in Jesus to deliver his son. Jesus challenged his unbelief. Jesus was gentle with the doubtful man, but he didn't excuse his doubt. Nowadays it seems like doubt is trendy. Yet Jesus challenges such unbelief. The man responded honestly to Jesus. He said 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief'. He didn't pretend he 'had it all together' spiritually. If we're familiar with the gospels, we might take it for granted that Jesus healed the boy. Yet this was a humanly incurable condition. Jesus is able and willing to deliver us from whatever assails us.  'Lord, we believe in you, but please help us with our unbelief. We ask for the honour of your name, amen'.
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Faithfulness

 Luke 16:10 ESV One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.  In the context, Jesus seems to be talking about a dishonest man. In the story of the shrewd manager, this man seems to be fiddling the books to line his own pocket. Yet Jesus commends him! The best interpretation I've heard of the parable of the shrewd manager is that he was on commission, that he forfeited to 'buy' favour with customers which he could 'cash in' later on down the line. His job was on the line. He wasn't strong enough to become a labourer, or humble enough to beg. It seems that Jesus is echoing sentiments common in the world. 'Be true to yourself' seems to be the message. If we're not faithful in looking after ourselves, we're not being good stewards of the wisdom God has given us. We are not number one. We're not just to 'look out for number one'. JOY is about putting Jes...
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Humility

 Philippians 2:5 ESV Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  God calls us to humility. Yet in doing so he isn't calling us to something he isn't. It almost sounds blasphemous, but God is humble! God isn't proud. Proud is thinking too highly of yourself. As the Most High God, he cannot think too highly of himself. Humility is putting others first. The Son of God is the ultimate example. Humanly speaking he didn't look forward to the cross. Yet he humbly died in obedience to Father God. If the Son submits to the Father, though they are equal, of course we should humbly submit to God. Who are we to question any of his ways? He is worthy of our humble obedience. 'Gracious God, may we be Christlike and humble, for the honour of your name, amen'.
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Discipleship

 Matthew 28:19 ESV Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  Not the order in which this verse comes. First, disciples are to be made of all the nations, and then they are to be baptised in the name of the triune God. Jesus isn't advocating infant baptism here or anywhere else in Scripture.. Disciples are students or apprentices of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to learn from him as our Teacher and Lord. There will be representatives of every ethnic group in his Kingdom in the end. The word 'trinity' never appears in the Bible, but the trinity does appear. Here he is in one of his clearest appearances. God isn't just some distant, one dimensional force way out there in the universe. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As such he is love personified. He always has been and always will be One God in three persons united in love. 'Loving Lord God, we're grateful that we can learn ...
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Unity

 Galatians 3:28 ESV  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  In the ancient world, as nowadays really, there was a great division between Jews and Gentiles. Jews tended to be religious; Gentiles tend to be irreligious. Christ Jesus can bridge the divide. Likewise, there's always been division between rich and poor. There was slavery in the ancient Roman Empire. Yet Paul insisted that believing slaves are equal with free Christians. 'Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus', someone once famously claimed. Yet Biblically we are equal in Christ. There's no hierarchy in the kingdom of God. Christ unites us all in him. Old and young, left and right wing, British, African and Asian are all united in his love. It doesn't matter what language we speak, as long as we know that Christ died for us. 'Everlasting Father, we want to thank you for the equality we enjoy in your kingdom. ...
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