Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16 (NIV) God forbid that we would be ashamed of the good news of Christ crucified on our behalf. Jesus said that if we're ashamed of Him and His words, He'll be ashamed of us upon His return. Eternity hinges upon what we make of the Lord Jesus. The good news is the power of God for our salvation. The first to hear were the Jews, eyewitnesses of Christ's Majesty. The Romans crucified Him, yet even the centurion in charge came to admit He is the Son of God. The Apostle Paul isn't showing favouritism to the Jews. He's simply referring to the fact they were the first to hear the Good News. Thankfully, now, even Gentiles like us can come to faith in the Lord for salvation. The key to unlock the blessing is belief. We don't need to be young, or intelligent, or even moral. We just need to trust in Christ our...

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 (NIV) We might not associate fear with wisdom. We might be tempted to draw parallels with anxiety and worry, which are, quite frankly, pointless emotions. We can't change every potential eventuality, and all but one of them won't come to pass anyway. The only logical fear is that of God, because He is sovereign. If He wants to condemn us as we deserve, He will. That's a scary thought.  I'm sure the knowledge Solomon is referring to isn't simply intellectual knowledge, but relational knowledge of the Holy One. Biblically, fools might have a high IQ, but they reject God, which is foolish. We should do the opposite of despising wisdom and instruction. I know I struggle to take instruction well, especially from certain people! God, grant me the humility and the wisdom to listen to, and to implement godly instruction! In Jesus' name, amen. 'LORD God, we ackn...

 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? Matthew 18:12 (NLT) If I'm brutally honest, as a non shepherd, I would assume that if you have a hundred sheep and lose one, you just thank God you've still got ninety nine! A Good Shepherd however goes after the lost sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate Good Shepherd. I heard an American shepherd once talk about how he'd sit on a rocky outcrop in the Rockies overlooking his sheep scattered on the mountains with his rifle in hand, looking out for coyotes. He wouldn't just thank God for the ninety nine, he would defend the one that was threatened by a coyote. That's what God is like with us. We might feel insignificant, like a lost sheep in the wilderness. The Lord is our Shepherd who doesn't let us stay lost. He comes and finds us in our lostness and brings us home rejoicing. There...

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4:9 (NIV) Jesus doesn't want us to just hear his words and immediately forget them. He wants us to truly take to heart what He has to say, and to obey. He calls us to follow Him. We are to give up our selfish ways and commit ourselves to serve Him and glorify Him in our lives. The danger is that we don't truly listen to what God has to say to us. We mustn't let His word go in one ear and out of the other as it were! We need to take His words to heart and to put them into practice. It's not just those who listen who build their lives on the Rock. It's those who do what the Word has to say who build their lives upon Him. If we fail to implement Christ's words in our lives, we're building our lives on the shifting sands of this world. We need to make sure we're not rocky, weedy or hardened against God's word. We need to be good soil to bear fruit for Him. If we need to clear obstacles, wee...

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14 (NIV) This statement almost seems blasphemous: isn't Jesus Himself the Light of the world? Yes, but if He's the Sun, we're the stars. He's exalted on the throne of heaven. The light the world has to go by these days is followers of Jesus.  We illuminate (or should) what's right and wrong in the world. 'A town built on a hill cannot be hidden'- ultimately, we should reflect Christ and the brightness of His righteousness. He's the Source of all that is 'bright and beautiful', and it's up to us to show something of that to the world. Imagine a weary pilgrim looking for the eternal city. He's not going to complain about light pollution if he finally sees it in the distance. There'll be a spring in his step as he plods on to glory. Light isn't necessarily always positive. Some people prefer the darkness of spiritual ignorance. We don't like our da...

If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:25 (NIV) This verse has been mistakenly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, in reference to the American Civil War. In reality, he was quoting the Lord Jesus. Christ was being accused of driving out demons by the power of the devil. Jesus pointed out the illogical nature of His enemies' argument. A house divided against itself cannot stand. That's why if we claim to follow Him, we should be united with one another, notwithstanding our differences. Of course, there are many Christian denominations. That seems to suggest that Jesus is saying His own Church cannot stand. There are many churches, but only one Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are diverse in our expressions of faith in the Lord, but united in our allegiance to Him. As long as churches are built on Christ and His word, they will stand. If they start to decide they want to be politically correct rather than spiritually correct, they're heading for ...

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15 (NIV) If we don't watch out, we're easy prey to give in to the devil's schemes. One of his ways to try and get us off the straight and narrow is to deceive us that 'greed is good'. Biblically, godliness with contentment is great joy. There's more to life than stuff is basically what Jesus is saying. Stuff can get stolen, broken, or decay. We are eternal beings, in one form or another. We're more than the clothes we wear or the houses we live in or the food we eat. We're created to be spiritual. Sadly, we've rebelled against such design; thankfully we can be restored to true spirituality. True spirituality is to love Jesus. It's not hard to do. He's altogether lovely- there's no flaw in Him. 'Dear Lord, please help us to love You as we ought, and not to be greedy. For the honour of Your name, ...

 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) We have lots of plans. Some are half baked. Some even get executed. Solomon gives us a reality check though. It's touch and go whether our plans will come to pass. The LORD's purpose on the other hand will assuredly come to pass. We might not see how He's going to bring good out of things like the crucifixion of His sinless Son, but He does. In the purpose of God, He can bring good out of bad. When we're going through bad circumstances, it's hard to accept that. We would do well in those cases to reflect on Christ crucified for us. We should always plan with the caveat 'God willing'. To assume that our plans are set in stone is presumptuous and arrogant. We need to humbly entrust our plans to the LORD and His purpose. 'LORD God Almighty, we're grateful that Your purpose prevails. Thank You too that our plans often don't come to fruition, beca...

 For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:20 ESV Whether people acknowledge Him or not, deep down, everyone knows there's a God. As Solomon put it, God has 'set eternity in our hearts'. Deep down, we know this life isn't all there is. The idea that the beauty of creation is a freak accident is more farfetched than the fact it reflects its Creator. The vastness of the universe is a pale reflection of God's infinite nature. A majestic landscape can take our breath away, but it's an echo of God's glory. There's no excuse. Even if we never hear the gospel of salvation in Christ, we should seek after God. We will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts. 'LORD God, may we wholeheartedly seek after You. Please reveal Yourself to us, in the name of Christ we pray, amen...

 And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! Mark 13:33 (NLT) Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. We need to be ready for that day. We need to make our peace with Him before it's too late. The time before Christ's return is one of tribulation. Jesus tells us to be encouraged because if we're persecuted our reward is great in heaven. He goes as far as to tell us to literally leap for joy if we have the honour of being persecuted for the sake of the Name. If we forget that Christ will soon return, the danger is that we get spiritually lazy and complacent. Maybe we'll fall into sin because we delude ourselves we can get away with it. If we expect a thief at night, we'll be like the kid in Home Alone. We won't let them get away with it. We should have a similar state of readiness for the return of the King of kings. 'Heavenly Father, may we be ready for the return of Your Son. May we live for Him until He does, in ...

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matthew 13:44 (NIV) If we discover the way to heaven, we've found a great treasure. Nowadays, people like to assume that all roads lead to heaven, but if truth claims contradict each other, they can't all be right. The worst sin in Islam is to say that God has a Son. The core of Christianity is that Christ is God's everlasting Son who gave His life for our salvation. The claim that truth is subjective contradicts itself: it is an objective truth claim. Either Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, or He is not. He claims to be the only way to God the Father: He's either lying/deluded or truthful. If we discover Jesus as our treasure, He is worth giving up everything for. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul? God + 0 < everything - God. My joy isn't dependant on c...

 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalms 119:11 (NIV) This verse underlines the importance of Scripture memorisation to living well. We might cynically question how knowing the Bible helps. Religious people know the Bible well, even demons do! Why should we memorise Scripture? To earn brownie points with God? To try and disprove it? We should memorise Scripture that we might not sin against God. How does memorising Scripture stop us sinning against God? Sin starts in the mind: if our minds are filled with Scripture, we're less inclined to sin. How did the Lord Jesus Christ combat temptation? With memorised Scripture. How should we combat temptation? With memorised Scripture. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to memorise Scripture so that we might not sin against You. For Your glory, amen'.

 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 (NIV) If we belong to Jesus, that's not just some individualistic thing. We are to be devoted to Him, but not Him alone. We are to be devoted to one another too. If Jesus loved us enough to die for us, we should love one another likewise. He sets the bar far higher than Moses, who simply tells us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Jesus defines our neighbours as whoever we come across in life. Humility is honouring others above ourselves. We know our hearts; we know they're deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We should give other people the benefit of the doubt though. Even the Lord Jesus Christ honoured us above Himself. He didn't consider equality with God something to be clung to, but made Himself nothing for us. He bore our sins in His body on the cross. 'LORD our God, may we follow Your example and be devoted to one another in love; honouring each other ab...

 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. 1 Chronicles 16:24 (NIV) God isn't just some tribal deity of the Jews, or even of Christians. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Therefore, we should declare His glory to all and sundry. Glory is a bit of a religious jargon word that is similar in meaning to fame. If we belong to Jesus, our purpose in life is to make Him famous. Questioners might wonder why we should bother. We should make the LORD famous throughout the earth because of His marvellous deeds, supremely, Christ's death and resurrection on our behalf. Because He died for us. we can be forgiven of all our wrongdoing. Because He defeated death, we can enjoy eternally transformed lives. God's not stingy. Therefore His people shouldn't be either. We've received the good news of eternal life through faith in Christ crucified; we should tell others about it. 'Glorious God, may we declare Your glory to all who wil...

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalms 139:10 (NIV) There's nowhere in all of existence that God isn't. Off the top of my head hell is even described as a place where people bear God's wrath in the presence of the Lamb. Not even hell is the devil's domain. We can't escape from God, so there's no point trying. We can't topple Him off the throne of the highest heaven. We can't hide from Him in the deepest pit of hell. For the psalmist David, and for all who trust in God, the omnipresence (presence everywhere) of God is a great comfort. We could have an audience with King Charles III, and God would be with us. We could be locked up in jail, and He'd still be there. For the people of God, He guides us. He will guide us wherever life takes us and keep hold of us. He's like a parent crossing a busy road with his young child, tightly holding their hand to keep them safe. 'Omnipresent Lord, we're so grateful...

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:7 (ESV) Wisdom is like pride or humility, if we think we have them, we probably don't! What we think of ourselves doesn't matter so much as what God thinks of us. We face death, and after that, the judgement. God is our Judge, which is a fearsome thought. We're to humble ourselves before Him and to seek His mercy for our evil folly. Thankfully, the Fearsome LORD is also the Saviour of those who come to Him in sincere faith. The fear of the LORD may be the beginning of wisdom, but the love of God is the heart of wisdom. He is fearsome, but more profoundly, He's loving. We love because He first loved us. Christ died for evil sinners like me. Therefore we must turn away from evil. Instead, we should turn to Him and to follow Him all the days of our lives, until He calls us home. 'Fearsome LORD, please forgive our foolish evil. may we fear You and be humble, for Your glory, amen'.

 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 (NIV) Hosea was married to an unrighteous woman. Their marriage was a picture of God's relationship with His people. We are unrighteous by nature. God doesn't give up on us. We reap what we sow. So God calls us to sow righteousness and to reap the fruit of unfailing love. We need to be honest with God about our unrighteousness. We need to seek Him and His righteousness to be credited to our bankrupt spiritual accounts. We're not to be self-righteous. Religious people try and earn God's acceptance. Spiritual people realise that we are accepted by seeking after God and His kingdom and His righteousness. We need to get our priorities right and put God before our physical needs. 'LORD, we seek after You. Thank You for Christ's promises that if we seek the gift of Yo...

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Matthew 5:43-44 (ESV) The law came through Moses, but grace and truth come through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus raises the bar higher than Moses. Moses told us to love our neighbours; Jesus told us to love our enemies. Anyone can love their neighbours, that's no big deal. To love our enemies however is divine. When He was crucified for our sins, Jesus prayed, 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do'. Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He asks the impossible of us. Yet nothing is impossible for Him. When we're persecuted, our good reaction is to try and defend ourselves and to strike back. Jesus calls us to pray for our persecutors. This takes much more strength than to simply lash out. 'Dear Lord, please help us to be defined by love, not just for ou...

For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Isaiah 41:13 (ESV) God doesn't want us to be afraid. He metaphorically holds our hands. Spiritually, He's there for us.  To help someone is humbling. A help is a servant. A helper has to stoop down to get alongside the one they're helping. The Lord isn't so proud as to be unwilling to help us. He's gentle, lowly and happy to help. He's powerful and able to assist in whatever we're going through. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's eternally faithful to help us with the salvation we need. He'll never let us down. 'LORD our God, please hold us by the right hand spiritually. Help us not to be afraid, but to trust in You to come through for us, in the powerful name of Jesus we pray, amen'.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 1 Chronicles 29:11 (ESV) God is great, although it doesn't really need religion to tell us that. We can see echoes of His greatness in the heavens and in the earth. All He had to do was to speak it all into existence. The Lord is omnipotent, He's all powerful. His word has power. He's glorious and worthy of universal worship. The victory is God's. Christ has even defeated our final enemy of death. Nothing can separate us from His love. The Kingdom is God's. It's not ours. He's the One who is exalted as head above all. 'O LORD, You are great, powerful, glorious, victorious, majestic and exalted, and we worship You, for You are worthy of our praise, now and forevermore, amen'.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 (ESV) Life is a spiritual battle. Satan wants to drag us down to hell with him. God wants to deliver us, and has made deliverance possible through Christ crucified; we just have to believe. The deliverance God offers is received by faith. The devil tries to destroy our faith in Jesus, but we need to fight the good fight of the faith. God calls all of His people to enjoy eternal life. It's not just 'pie in the sky when we die'. We can enjoy it right here and now as we trust in Christ. Timothy was appointed as a pastor/elder/Bible teacher by the Apostle Paul. He gave his testimony in front of many witnesses. Paul urged him not to give up, even if he was tempted to do so. 'Father God, please give us the gift of faith and help us to fight spiritually against the spiritual forces of evil. Than...

 1 Samuel 2:2 There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You; there is no rock like our God. ESV Hannah knew that the LORD is the One True God, whether He gave her a son or not. In His grace He answered her prayer with Samuel. She responded with prayer and praise. No one is holy like the LORD. He is set apart in His righteousness. I'm reminded of Isaiah who witnessed the angels declaring that God is thrice holy; the whole earth is full of His glory. Not only is the LORD holy, but He calls us to be holy as well. By His Holy Spirit this is possible. He can transform us from sinners to saints. There is no rock like our God. 'On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand'. Anything and everything else will let us down, but not the Faithful One. 'Sovereign, Faithful God, we worship You for Your beautiful holiness. Please wash us clean in the blood of the Lamb, and sanctify us by Your Spirit inspired word. In Your Son's name we pray, ...

 I heard a shockingly insensitive discussion about the Californian wildfires out in the public by a couple of strangers. They described them as 'cosmic karma' for rich people getting what they deserved. I suspect it's common for poor people to assume that it's wrong to be rich, but is it really? Jesus famously told the rich young man to sell everything and follow Him. Is that necessary for every rich person? I'm not sure it is. Jesus knew that for that particular young man, riches were his barrier to faith.  In fact, Jesus went as far as to say that it's harder for the rich to enter His kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  Surely then it's wrong to be rich? Not necessarily, because Jesus went on in context to say that what's impossible for us is possible for us. By implication, it's possible for rich people to go to heaven. The Bible doesn't simplistically say that being rich is wrong. It doesn't even say that money is...

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 (ESV) There's ten commandments, not nine. Because most of us aren't Jewish, most of us are tempted to disregard the Sabbath. Yet at it's heart, this commandment is about taking time to rest. We're not robots. We're not machines. We need to take time to rest. Even God Himself, who doesn't need to rest, rested on the seventh day of creation to set us a blueprint for our times. This commandment isn't burdensome, it's for our good. We're not to get legalistic, Pharisaical and Seventh Day Adventist about the Sabbath. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, which was made for our good. We weren't made to bend over backwards to keep legalistic restrictions. 'Lord our God, we thank You for being our Sabbath rest from striving to earn our acceptance with You. Please help us to take time to rest physically from the labours of the week. For Your honour we pray, amen'.

For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20 (NLT) Taken in isolation, this seems a nice verse. In the context it's rather uncomfortable. Contextually, Jesus is talking about confronting sin. If we're to confront sin, we're to start off one to one. If that doesn't work we're to take along one or two others. If that doesn't work it has to be taken to the whole church. If that doesn't work, it's excommunication. Excommunication sounds like something out of a horror film or a cult or something. Basically though, if someone claims to follow Jesus, they have to live like it. If not, they have to be kicked out of the community of faith. Even excommunication doesn't have to be final. It's more like a marital separation than a divorce. The aim is for restoration: the excommunicated person will hopefully be shamed into repenting and seeking to be restored to fellowship. 'Lord God Almighty, we thank You ...

 At the moment, my regular devotionals are based on the YouVersion verses of the days. I'm a bit late to mention daily reading Bible plans, as many people start them on January 1st, but if you want a recommendation, I would suggest 'Through the Bible in a Year' by ESV.org/Crossway publishers. You don't need to read the ESV Bible translation to follow it, but if you want to follow it online you have to subscribe to the website for free online.  It takes you through the Old Testament, and Psalms and the New Testament twice in a year. So you start in Genesis, Psalms and Matthew and work your way through, returning to Psalm 1 and Matthew 1 at the beginning of July. I have a paper copy of this Bible which enables you to easily trace where you're up to, although it was out of print last time I checked, other similar editions may be available. I like how you're always in the Psalms and the three daily readings. I've used the M'Cheyne reading plan before, but th...

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV) If we belong to Jesus, life won't be easy for us. We'll be persecuted. We'll be tempted to give up. The Apostle Paul urges us not to be shaken. We're to stand firm. As he says in Ephesians six, we're also to clothe ourselves with the armour of God. God doesn't want lukewarm followers. We're to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. We're to be good witnesses for Him. Our entire lives are to be lived for the glory of God. We're to honour Him in everything we do, not just at church for an hour on a Sunday morning. 'Lord our God, please help us to stand firm and not to be shaken by all that would assail us. May we be wholehearted in working for You, knowing that it won't be in vain. For Your honour and praise, amen'.

Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. John 9:37-38 (NIV) The blind man saw. The 'insightful' religious people were spiritually blind. What an irony! Jesus made the blind man to see, not just physically, but spiritually. Who can make the blind to see, except God alone? The Lord Jesus is God become a man. Physical health isn't our greatest need. One day we will die. Spiritual health is most important because we have eternal souls which will reside in heaven or hell for eternity. The blind man saw that Jesus is Lord, and he worshipped Him. That's what we should all do. We don't need to emulate the religious bigwigs. We need to emulate the blind man who is healed. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to worship Your Son and to receive the spiritual insight that He brings. In His name we pray, amen'

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. Acts 8:35 (ESV) When sharing the good news about Jesus, it's best to start where people are at. The Ethiopian eunuch had come to Jerusalem in search of the truth. He'd picked up a copy of Isaiah, but not coming from a Jewish background, he was finding it hard to interpret. In the providence of God, Philip came along, spurred by the Holy Spirit. The Ethiopian was reading about one oppressed and afflicted, but who didn't open His mouth: He was led like a Lamb to the slaughter. Philip was able to explain that Isaiah wasn't referring to Himself, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need to begin with Isaiah. We don't even need to begin with Genesis or the Old Testament. We can start with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will give us the words to say and the opportunity to say them if we belong to Him. If we are followers of Christ, we are also...

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” John 3:21 (ESV) If we're truthful, we're transparent. We have integrity. We're spiritually bright. If we do good works in spirit and in truth, we won't be arrogant about it. We'll know it's a work of God through us that means we're righteous. As Habakkuk says, 'the righteous shall live by faith' (in Christ crucified). Jesus is the Light of the world. All who are on the side of truth listen to Him. If, like Pilate, we dismissively ask what truth is without stopping to hear the answer, we're hopeless. Jesus is the Truth of God personified. If we want to know what's good, right and true in life, we need to come to Him. He will empower us to do the right things. 'Glorious Lord, please help us to be truthful and bright, even as we trust in You. May we do what You would have us to do, for Your glory, amen'

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47 (ESV) How do we know if Christ has forgiven us? We know Christ has forgiven us if we are filled with love for Him. We should love Jesus extravagantly like the sinful woman who wasn't ashamed of reproach for her devotion to Christ. It needs to be clarified that our love for Jesus doesn't earn His forgiveness. His forgiveness comes first. Our love is a fruit of His forgiveness. Simon the Pharisee didn't think he needed forgiveness so much. Maybe he would admit he wasn't perfect, but he wouldn't like to define himself as a sinner. Yet we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Religious people delude themselves they're good enough for God. Sinners know they're not good enough for God, and seek His forgiveness. God loves people to be honest with Him. 'Gracious God, please forgive us our sins and help us to be ...

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38 (ESV) What must we do to be saved from the condemnation we deserve from God? Peter gives the answer here. We need to repent of our preconceived notions of trying to earn God's acceptance. Water baptism isn't essential for salvation, but baptism in the Holy Spirit is. Holy Spirit baptism isn't a 'second blessing'. We get baptised in the Holy Spirit the moment we trust in the Lord Jesus. Our sins can be forgiven. All the bad things we've ever done, that put the sinless Christ on the cross, can be washed away in His blood. God doesn't want to hold our sins against us. God freely gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. There isn't two tiers of Christians. There isn't the Spirit filled ones and the bog standard ones. 'Lord God, we ...

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10 (ESV) The Apostle Paul wasn't a people pleaser. His priority was God's approval. If that made him enemies, then so be it. The Galatian church was being deceived that they needed to become Jewish to be properly Christian. Jesus wasn't enough, they were being told, circumcision was necessary. Paul was strident in his opposition to such teaching. Paul wasn't a flatterer. He told the Galatians that false teachers are accursed and satanic. He wasn't there to serve the Galatians primarily, but Christ the Lord. Our priority is our relationship with God. If that is right, everything else will fall into place. God should come first, and then we will love people all we ought. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to prioritise Your service, not that of people. May we be faithful to Your gospel, in the name o...

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 (ESV) We're essentially animated clay. We easily become conformed to the world's mould. If we do, we face an eternity in hell. The Apostle Paul urges us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We need God to give us a new perspective. If we are conformed to this world, we're doomed. If we're transformed for the next life, we're safe for eternity. God doesn't spell His will out to us. He gives us principles in Scripture, but He expects us to use our minds to test what His specific will may be. His will is never for us to sin, but always to be defined by love of Him and of other people. Say for example someone's out of work. God's will for them if they're able is that they work. That is good and acceptable and perfect...

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV) There's no point living in the past. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be defined by past sins. God can make our desert souls come alive with the water of life, the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus gifts us with His Holy Spirit, who pours from us to bless others too. Like a wilderness that becomes a meadow, we can bless others. Whatever the past as held, the future can be bright if we trust in the God who holds the future. We might not know the future. Yet we can know the One who holds the future. We don't need to fear what this year might hold, because God will look after us if we belong to Him. Isaiah was writing to a nation that would be taken captive by the Babylonian Empire. Yet even that catastrophic event wasn't the end of the st...