Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 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...

 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...

 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'.

 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'.

 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 ...

 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'.

 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...

 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'.

 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 ...

 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. ...

 Romans 12:2 ESV  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. Conformity has a sense of being moulded. We're like lumps of clay. The world would conform us to its ugly pattern. We are to be transformed, like caterpillars to butterflies. We're to feed upon the word of God and allow it to transform us from sinners to saints. The battle starts in the mind. The world would have us to conform to its way of thinking. God would have us to repent, to change our minds. We're to renew our minds and 'think Gods thoughts after him'. Our prevailing thought should be to consider what God's will is in any particular situation. His will is good, acceptable and perfect. Even if God wills persecution for us for example, we're blessed, because great is our reward in heaven. 'O Lord, please help us to be transformed into Christ's liken...

 Deuteronomy 11:18 ESV “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  Mindfulness is great, as long as we're mindful of good things. People often assume that the Mosaic law is archaic and questionable. Yet in summary it is to love God wholeheartedly and to love others as we love ourselves. We're to be mindful of how we can practically demonstrate love in our lives. To be loving starts with our thoughts and impacts our words and actions. We're not just to pay lip service to being loving, but to be enthusiastic about it. Orthodox Jews take this verse literally. They literally carry verses around with them. I take this verse metaphorically. King David said he hid God's word in his heart so that he might not sin against him. I think that's what Moses had in mind. We're to hide God's word in our heart so that we might live for him. ...

 Isaiah 40:8 ESV  The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Putin and Xi, the Presidents of Russia and China, recently famously discussed about how to become immortal. The Bible makes clear that it is appointed for us once to die, and after that to face the judgement of God. There's no way we can avoid our fate. We're like grass that God will soon cut down. We're like flowers that the Lord will pluck. We are here today and gone tomorrow. The Bible on the other hand will endure for eternity. Not only is it everlasting, but it also tells us how we can attain to eternity. We need to humble ourselves and trust in Christ Jesus for our salvation. If we trust in ourselves, we're hopeless. If we put our faith in the Lord, he will give us eternal life. He will never let us down. 'Father in heaven, we trust in Christ crucified for us to be accepted by you and to gain eternal life, according to your everlasting word. For your glory we pra...

 1 Peter 3:15 ESV  but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,  Christ the Lord is holy. He's not to be treated like a swear word, or a mantra. We're to be ready to defend the faith against those who would attack it. I'd never heard of Charlie Kirk until the other day, when he was martyred. I've never heard him, so I can't even say whether he spoke with gentleness and respect. Nevertheless, there's no justification whatsoever for his murder. Charlie's death warns us that even in the West, we may have to pay the ultimate price for our faith in Jesus. Are we willing to do so? May God enable us to do whatever he calls us to do, even to lay down our lives for him. We don't grieve as those without hope. We are sorrowful, yet ever rejoicing. Our citizenship is in heaven, where our Lord and Saviour awaits. 'D...

 Psalm 27:14 ESV  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Waiting is hard to do, but the psalmist insists that we wait for the Lord. We don't have to wait for him like we're passively waiting for the bus. We are to wait for him like a pure and spotless bride awaits her marriage, with preparation. We're to be strong. Jesus has been 2,000 years and hasn't returned yet. Scoffers mock, yet we're still to wait in expectancy for his return. God doesn't want us discouraged. He wants us to take heart. Jesus has overcome the world and its troubles, and we will too, through faith in him. We're told twice to wait for the Lord. The psalmist knows it's hard to do. We need the reminder, the reinforcement of the command. It's like a parent telling their kid to wait before they cross the busy road. 'Lord our God, we wait for you with longing and expectancy. Please help us to be strong and encouraged, in Christ's name...

 Colossians 3:1 ESV If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  If we belong to Jesus by faith, we are raised with him to newness of life. Therefore we're not to live for stuff which is perishing. Instead, we're to live for our Saviour and Lord. We might think this verse is 'pie in the sky when we die'. Yet it's this world that's passing away with its desires. 'Only one life, will soon be past/only What's done for Christ will last'. We don't need to be so 'heavenly minded that we're of no earthly use'. We can and must do everything we do 'as unto the Lord'. We can wash the dishes to his glory, or put out the rubbish! Christ is on the throne of heaven. One day we will go to be with him. We will even judge angels: we must walk worthily of such a high calling. 'God our Father, may we walk worthily of your Son our Saviour and Lord, in whose name w...

 John 14:1 ESV   “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  To our legalistic minds, simply believing in God and Jesus seems too simple. What do we have to actually do, we wonder? Believing seems too passive. This isn't even some isolated statement from Jesus. Some people asked him what they must be doing to do the works of God. He simply replied, 'to believe in the One whom he has sent (himself)'. God doesn't want us troubled. Disney says to believe in yourself. If we did we would be troubled, because we let ourselves down, never mind God and others. The antidote to troubled hearts isn't to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps as it were. The antidote to troubled hearts is belief in God and Jesus. They'll never fail us. 'Dear Lord, please don't let us be troubled. May we believe in you instead. For the honour of your name we pray, amen'.

 Psalm 23:4 ESV Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. We often gloss over the poetic nature of this verse. As Billy Graham said though, mountaintops might be good for the views, but valleys are where the fruit grows. Note too that death is just a shadow; the substance is eternal life. If God is for us, who can be against us? We don't need to be afraid if he is on our side. Not even death can defeat us if we belong to Jesus. A rod is to correct us, or to beat up our enemies. It might not seem particularly comforting. Yet it keeps us safe on the straight and narrow. The staff can bring us back onto God's way if we're going astray or we've got stuck in some predicament. Even through adversity we can be comforted that God wants what's best for us. Not only so but he will achieve what's best for us. 'Dear Abba Father God, we're so grateful for your care...

 Acts 1:8 ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  At first glance, this promise of Holy Spirit power sounds great. Yet the Greek word for witness here is the one from which we get our English word 'martyr'. Jesus wasn't deceiving his people that all would be health, wealth and happiness if we follow him. Jesus is warning us here that we'll be like sheep to the slaughter. Yet even so, we will be given the power to testify of him as our Lord and Saviour. Very soon the likes of Stephen and James would be martyred. If we have the Holy Spirit we have all we need to give for God. We will have the power to endure even death for Jesus' sake. Nothing can separate us from his love. Note how the church is spreading across the globe. We share the good news where we're at (Jerusalem), regionally (Judea), cross culturally (Samaria) and globally...

 Micah 6:8 ESV  He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? God hasn't left us in the dark as to what his will is for us. If we want to know what God wants of us, this verse would be a good place to start. God has revealed what is good. We're required to do justice. We're not simply to talk the talk but to walk the walk. We're not to leave justice to our nations justice systems. God isn't telling us to go vigilante in punishing unjust people. He's calling us to positively do good to those who are unjustly oppressed and marginalised in society. We're to love kindness, especially to the likes of widows/single mothers, orphans/children in need and strangers/migrants. We're to walk humbly with our God. We're not to pat ourselves on the back if we're just and kind. Instead, we can be grateful for God's work in our lives. 'Lord, may we be ...

 Exodus 33:15 ESV And Moses said to the Lord, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here." I love this quote from Moses, the friend of God. The Lord wasn't a means to an end for Moses. God wasn't just a ticket to a land flowing with milk and honey.  The Lord was everything to Moses. Is he everything to us? Or is he just a 'get out of hell free' card?  Would we care if God isn't present in our afterlives? If not, we are heading for hell. Only if we yearn for God's presence will we get to enjoy worshiping him for eternity, as he deserves. God isn't just a divine slot machine to get what we want out of. He is the Source of all that is good. The worst thing he could do for us is to withdraw the goodness of his presence. 'Dear Lord God, thank you for promising never to leave or forsake your people. Please presence yourself amongst us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen'.

 Ezekiel 37:5 ESV Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  Imagine a load of bones of Christians slaughtered by Muslims in Nigeria. It seems pretty hopeless. Yet Jesus blessed the persecuted, because great is our reward in heaven.  Even if we're martyred for the Lord God, hope is not lost. Just as Jesus defeated death, so can we. We just need to trust in him. Imagine a load of Islamists marching in London, and then a load of racists marching in London too. Each faction seems hopeless. Yet God can cause the spiritually dead to come alive.  Nothing is impossible for God. A white supremacist and an Islamist fighter alike can come to faith in the Lord God. If God wants to make us alive spiritually, we can't stop him. 'Heavenly Father, please make us alive in Christ, in whose name we pray, amen'. 

 A friend has a Christian Discord Community, it'ld be good if you joined :)  https://discord.gg/wxARVhkn 

 The (Dis)United Kingdom: My Attempt at a Biblical Take on The State of the Nation Context Firstly, as I often say, Jesus unites people of differing backgrounds. Men and women, old and young, Jews (religious) and Greeks/Gentiles (irreligious).  Jesus unites us under his banner. His banner over us is love. His cross isn't the St. George's cross or the St. Andrew's cross.  The cross of Jesus was a rough, wooden, Roman instrument of torture. Why did Jesus go through that? To save revolutionaries and tax collectors alike. His inner circle included the traitorous Matthew who had been a tax collector for the Roman oppressors; and Simon the Zealot who wanted to kick the Romans out. I could draw parallels with the UK today, but I want to do so through the lens of first century Israel. Matthew and Simon were able to put their political differences aside for the sake of King Jesus, but I'm sure Christians were divided in AD70 when the Jews revolted against Roman rule. By then, Ch...

 James 5:16 ESV  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.  Confession isn't just for Roman Catholics to do to priests. It's for every follower of Jesus to do with one another. Unresolved guilt is bad for our health. Prayer, confession and forgiveness are good for our health. James isn't saying that we'll never get ill. He is saying that we don't need shame to get us physically down. The church of the Lord Jesus is a body. So if one part suffers we should all feel it. Otherwise we might have spiritual leprosy, where we can't feel pain, which is a warning sign that something needs fixing. Every believer in Christ is made righteous through faith in him. If we simply trust him, our prayers will have great power. This isn't about being 'holier than thou': self righteous, proud and arrogant. 'O Lord our God, may we obey you in confess...

 Matthew 7:7 ESV  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  This verse isn't a blank cheque to become a billionaire. In the context, it's about God giving good gifts to his children. It's not wrong to make money; it is wrong to be stingy and to horde wealth. God gives us what we need. He wants us to have more than enough, but not so that we can line our own pockets. Instead, he wants us to be generous. Ultimately, we shouldn't be hankering after stuff. Our primary focus should be to seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness, and he'll provide our needs. Having said the above, God himself is generous. He isn't begrudging to give us what we need. He delights to answer sincere prayer. 'Dear Father God, please help us to boldly ask you for what we need, and please hear our cries, for we come in Jesus' name, amen'

 2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  Christians rightly love this verse. Yet it was originally addressed to ancient Israel. How can we apply it to ourselves? In the immediate context, God was addressing King Solomon of ancient Israel. Israel is literally called by God's name. It means prince of God/wrestler with God. El at the end of Isra-El is a generic name for God in the old testament. Christians are called by God's name too. We are the people of Christ, the One anointed by the Holy Spirit to save us. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This verse is a great promise. Yet note that it is conditional on us humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God's face, and turning from our wicked ways. Either God revives his church, or else Christ will return to judge the world. 'God Most High, ...