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Salvation

 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah” Psalm 68:19 ESV Sometimes, if someone is going through a tough time, we might ask them how they're bearing up. This verse gives us the answer. We bear up because God bears us up. In God, we live, and move, and have our being, whether we believe in him our not. There's an even greater truth though. God can be our salvation. We deserve God's condemnation for our rebellion against him. We don't love him as we ought, or love one another as we love ourselves. Yet the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Selah is an ambiguous word. It's not 100% certain what it means. Many take it to mean to pause, maybe an instrumental break from the lyrics of this praise song. Hebrew doesn't have bold, italics or underline, so selah could well be a way of emphasising what has just been said, like an exclamation mark! 'Blessed Lord God, we praise you for bearing us up and saving us. In Chris...
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Providence

 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ” Romans 8:28 ESV Providence is an obscure, old fashioned word. Yet it sums up this verse perfectly. God is working all things together for good. We might struggle to believe this verse. We might think it's too good to be true. Yet because God brought good out of the death of his Son, we can know he can bring good out of anything. We don't deserve good. We deserve condemnation. Yet there's no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. We have been called according to God's purpose to love him. That's the least we can do for him who loved us and gave his beloved Son for us. May we respond in grateful adoration. 'Gracious Father God, thank you for being good even out of bad circumstances. Please do so in our lives, for we ask in the name of our crucified Lord, amen'.
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Bread

 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ” John 6:35 ESV Bread isn't very trendy nowadays. People are often on diets that frown upon carbohydrate rich foods like bread. Nevertheless, Jesus wasn't shy to describe himself as the bread of life. Of course, Jesus wasn't being literal here. He wasn't advocating cannibalism. He wasn't saying we have to literally eat his body and drink his blood. Still, if we belong to Jesus, we should break bread and drink the fruit of the vine in remembrance of him, until he returns. Christ makes a powerful promise here. If we metaphorically eat and drink of him, we will find spiritual satisfaction. Faith is the key that unlocks the door to spiritual satisfaction. Faith isn't passive. Faith moves us to come to Christ for satisfaction, and he'll never let us down. 'Father God, we thank you for the sustenance we find in your Son. May we co...
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Forgive

 “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ” Colossians 3:13 ESV We all test one anothers' patience. We all need to bear with one another. Interestingly, although he bore with his followers, even the Son of God got frustrated with them. The Lord Jesus had legitimate complaints against his people being so slow to follow him. Thankfully, as he was abandoned by them and crucified, he said 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing'. We are to follow his example. Complaining and moaning are similar but different. It's always wrong to moan behind someone's back. Yet to complain to their face can be legitimate. Even if we complain to someone, we should still forgive them. It's okay to tell someone if we disagree with them. We ought to agree to disagree though. 'Gracious God, please forgive us for what you could legitimately complain...
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Stillness

 “ “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”” Psalm 46:10 ESV In the words of another Scripture, as famously sung in Handel's Messiah, 'why do the nations so furiously rage together?' When we watch the news of all the tumult in the world, we can be tempted to get worked up. God commands us to be still. Of course, it's not enough to simply be still, 'like a lemon' as it were! The Psalmist goes on to tell us to know that the Lord is God. He is sovereign over all the chaos in the world. God might not currently be exalted among the nations. Yet he insists that he will be. The main way he does that is through his people proclaiming him, and his Holy Spirit accompanying his proclamation with transformative power. The Lord will be exalted in the earth. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It's better to bow our knees willingly now rather...
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Trust

 “ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Jeremiah 17:7 ESV The Bible doesn't present faith as a leap in the dark. Trusting in the Lord is to step out of the darkness and into the Light. Even if we're a 'reluctant convert' like C.S. Lewis, we can be 'surprised by joy' and blessedness. Like Augustine, we might have our back to the Light. Maybe we're preoccupied by stuff that reflects the Light. 'From the best bliss this world imparts, we turn unfilled to You again'. We need to turn our back on the darkness and come into the Light. As Augustine did, we need to renounce our deeds of darkness and trust in the finished work of Christ. We're to trust in the Lord, not in our own religiosity. Sometimes people have a caricature of God as a cosmic killjoy. Jeremiah recognised the Lord as the Source of all joy and blessedness. When we trust in Jesus we're like an evergreen, fruitful tree by a stream in the wilderness of li...
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Train

 “ Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 ESV Proverbs provide general principles rather than guaranteed rules. It's possible to be a relatively good parent and to have a child not turn out so well. I'm sure Solomon wasn't the worst of dads but his son Rehoboam didn't turn out well. As a general rule though, if we parent well, our kids should turn out alright. All we can do as parents is to point our children in the right direction. Whether they follow our advice or not is up to them.  I think we should parent our children like God parents us. Father God isn't too prescriptive, he doesn't micromanage our lives. What he does is to give us general principles to live by and calls us to follow Jesus. Jesus is the Way to Father God personified. We as parents aren't simply to teach our children to be moral. We're to teach them to follow Christ for eternal life. 'Heavenly Father, please help ...
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Opportunity

 “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10 ESV We all have opportunities. Even if it's just to offer a prayer for someone, that is to do good for them. God has been so good to us, so it's only right that we do good to others in response. The Apostle Paul isn't telling us to do good to the household of faith to the exclusion of others. He's saying basically that 'charity starts at home'. Yet charity (or love) shouldn't end at home.  If we only love and do good to those who love and do good to us, that's not good enough. Even the pagans do that. We're to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. The best thing we can do for anyone is to tell them the good news of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even if we're already in the household of faith, we need reminding. We forget all too easily. 'Good Father God, please help us t...
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Abundance

 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ” John 10:10 ESV The devil wants us to waste our lives. He wants us to fritter them away in pointless and unhelpful pursuits. Jesus came to give us life to the full. Satan wants to steal our souls. He has no authority to do so thankfully. He wants us dead. If the evil one gets his way, we'll end up in everlasting destruction with him. God however wants to give us abundant life. The Lord provides everything we need. Jesus as our Good Shepherd doesn't necessarily give us everything we want. He does give us everything we need though. He empowers us to overcome all that would assail us. 'Gracious God, we're grateful for your shepherding of us through life. Please deliver us from the evil one, for the honour of your name, amen'.
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Peace

 “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9 ESV The Apostle Paul had great integrity. He didn't just talk the talk. He walked the walk. Paul called the Philippian church to do as he said. Yet he wasn't like the religious leaders of Jesus's day. He practiced what he preached. Insofar as the Pharisees preached Moses, Jesus called people to obey them. Yet he knew they didn't put Moses into practice. So he warned people not to do as they did. If we want to know God's peaceful presence, we do well to live godly lives. If we don't practice Christlikeness, we rightfully probably won't feel peaceful. There's peace in lives of integrity. 'God of peace, please give us your peace, even as we seek to live for you. In Christ's name we pray, amen'.
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