Daily Devotions

03 March 2025

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ---- Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10: 9 + 13

READING: John 20 : 24 – 29

In our reading today we read about the well-known story about Thomas’ disbelief and doubting when the other disciples told him about Jesus’ appearance in the upper room. Jesus then appeared for a second time to the disciples, this time when Thomas was present. After Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe,” Thomas reacts with awe and humility, “ My Lord and my God!” Jesus then said that Thomas had believed because he had physically seen Jesus, but those who believe without seeing Jesus would also be blessed. The Apostle Peter said, “ Though you have not seen Him (Jesus), you love Him; and even though you did not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an expressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith.”1 Peter 1 : 8 – 9.

After our acceptance of Jesus’ invitation, we become aware of Jesus and experience a desire to know Him better. This should lead us to search for a greater knowledge of Him, through fellowship with other believers, through the study of the Scriptures and through prayer and worship of Jesus individually and in community. He will reveal Himself more and more to us. Through this greater awareness of the presence of Jesus, our lives should be changed. As Christian believers, others should be able to see the change in our lives, which should reflect Jesus’ love. Without love shared we and others will not experience how wide, and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge. Ephesians 3 : 18b. Let us then ask God for a loving spirit that is kind and generous in its judgements, warm in its appreciation and genuine in its expression.

PRAYER

We pray Lord Jesus that You will reveal Yourself more and more to us. We pray that the eyes of our hearts may be open to Your revelation and that we may know the hope to which You call us. May our lives reflect Your love and glory so that others may also come to know You. We pray this in Your glorious name. Amen

04 March 2025

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28: 20

READING: Ezekiel 1:1 – 2:1

Ezekiel has a vision of God that is described in chapter 1 in great detail, describing images that seemed like fire, like brilliant light, like a radiant rainbow. To Ezekiel it was the “appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:28). He later received a commission to go as a prophet to the people. (2:1).

The background to these verses is that Ezekiel had been one of the exiles who had been carried into Babylon. He was a priest now without a Temple, so without a reason for his life. His emotion was one of abandonment, meaninglessness and emptiness.

His vision of the glory of God embodied many of the images that were part of the interior of the Temple, including images from the Ark of the Covenant, believed at that time to be the dwelling place of God on earth. But these images were moving and alive.

From this vision, Ezekiel realised that God had not abandoned him nor his people, but was present everywhere in his world, and wishing to communicate with him.

What a revelation for Ezekiel! He was not abandoned but surrounded and in touch with a living God!

God is eternal, He has not changed since Ezekiel’s day. He is still surrounding us with His glory, if only we look for it. And He is still wishing to be in communion with us if only we let Him in.

We are once again reminded of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem which so well describes the determination of God to surround us with His glorious presence:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

The poem continues, to describe the dark misery of modern life, but then, how, just like Ezekiel, we find in that darkness,

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And God is there for us, comforting, protecting and bringing His light into our lives:

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

PRAYER

Lord God, we thank You that even when we feel alone and abandoned, we know in our hearts that You are there. Help us to look out for Your glory as we press on with our lives, in the light of Your presence. Amen.

05 March 2025

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4: 4

READING: Luke 4: 1-13

This week sees the start of Lent. The Gospel readings for Lent in the lectionary start with one of the accounts of Jesus in the wilderness. These stories echo the time when the young nation of Israel wandered in the desert, with Jesus reliving and, in some way, redeeming that experience.

Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. The number forty links Jesus’ time in the wilderness to the Israelites’ journey, each day for Jesus symbolising a year for Israel (see Deuteronomy 8:2).

The wilderness was often viewed in the Bible as a place inhabited by wild animals and demons. Since the Holy Spirit led Jesus there, a spiritual confrontation seems inevitable. We briefly look here at Jesus’ responses to the devil.

‘One does not live by bread alone.’ (Luke 4:4) Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 here, but in the Luke version he omits the next part: “...but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”, which Matthew includes.

‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ (Luke 4:8) Jesus’ second response to the devil quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, connecting to the Exodus story. In the preceding verse, Moses reminds Israel not to forget that God freed them from slavery in Egypt.

‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ (Luke 4:12) In his final response, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, referring to the time when Israel tested God at Massah and Meribah, where water flowed from a stone (Exodus 17:1-7).

In this wilderness scene, Jesus reenacts Israel’s temptations, but he overcomes where his ancestors failed. We give thanks to God that through Christ’s death and resurrection, we too can overcome temptation and live a life of redemption.

We all need many kinds of nourishment beyond just food – things that sustain our hearts, minds and spirits. Lent offers an invitation to explore these deeper sources of nourishment and reflect on what truly feeds us.

PRAYER

Give to us, O Christ, a heart with yearnings deeper than the world understands and a peace that only those who surrender to you can find. I pray that this Lenten season will make me so much more aware of how much I need your nourishment and healing to sustain my life. Amen

06 March 2025

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

Isaiah 55: 6

READING: “Some people lean against fence posts when their bodies ache from toil. Some people lean on oak trees, seeking cool shade on hot, humid days. Some lean on each other when their hearts can’t stand alone. How long it takes to lean upon You, God of shelter and of strength; but the day of truth always comes when I finally yield to You, God, knowing You are a steady stronghold, a refuge when times are tough.” (Extracts from ‘Leaning 0n God’ by Joyce Rupp)

Jesus learned all His life to lean on the One He came to know in His solitude when spent time with His Father God. One of the most intense leaning moments of Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed in anguish for strength for the final hours of His journey to the cross. On the cross we hear His cry of anguish, “My God, why have You forsaken me?”

As we enter this time of Lent let us meditate on Psalm 62 : 5 – 7, where the Psalmist speaks of God as his hope, his rock of salvation, his fortress, his honour and his refuge. In Psalm 59 : 16, “ I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” Let us also consider the many times God has given us strength and guidance and graced us with His love in our walk with Him.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father we praise and worship You. You are our Almighty God, who through Your love for us, has called us to be Your hands and feet, Your eyes and ears and Your Lips to share Your love with the world. We lean upon You and give You, our thanks. Amen.