Bring some Spirit-filled peace into your hectic schedule every weekday morning with this new Daily Devotional. Start your day with God Renew your spirit Refocus your faith
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March 22nd - Mark 9:42
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Mark 9:42 In saying this, Jesus may be talking about children, but it’s quite likely that he is talking about new Christians. His concern is to protect the vulnerable, and he has some very challenging things to say. He is fiercely angry at the thought of anyone deliberately tripping someone up in their faith. Whether they are young, disabled, poor, illiterate or simply new to the faith, it is totally unacceptable for anyone to take advantage of them. I am delighted that we live in days when …
March 21st - Mark 9:37
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Mark 9:37 I often think that the most crucial ministry in any church is in the hands of the welcomers, those wonderful people who stand at the door of the church and welcome people as they arrive. This verse helps us to understand the importance of welcoming. When we welcome people what we are actually doing is welcoming the Lord himself, and if we are welcoming him then God the Father is also being welcomed. Jesus used the illustration of a little child for a very clear reason. At the time, …
March 20th - Mark 9:28-29
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Mark 9:28-29 The transfiguration of Jesus was an incredible experience, but it didn’t last long. Jesus and his disciples needed to go back down the mountain and, sure enough, they were pitch-forked into the middle of a dispute. A man had come to the disciples with his son, who suffered from epilepsy. He had asked them to heal the boy, but they had failed miserably. Jesus was in despair and said: “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy …
March 19th - Mark 9:5-6
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Mark 9:5-6 Peter, James and John had just had the most incredible experience. They had been with Jesus as he was transfigured in front of them. We are told that this happened on a high mountain. This is often thought to be Mount Tabor in southern Galilee, although it may well have taken place on the constantly snowy Mount Hermon, which was not far from Caesarea Philippi, where they had just spent time together. Mount Hermon is the highest peak in the area and rises to nearly 3,000 metres. The …
March 18th - Mark 8:36-37
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Mark 8:36-37 Our cynical, materialistic society was well summed up by Oscar Wilde as knowing “the price of everything and the value of nothing”. Like many one liners, it’s a bit harsh but he was making an important point. It’s very easy for our money mad society to overlook the most important things because of its obsession with the temporary things that have a price tag. Jesus pours scorn on this way of thinking. Forget owning a really large house or becoming the exclusive owner of every …
March 17th - Mark 8:34-35
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Mark 8:34-35 Jesus’ breath taking honesty is very striking. Day by day, we are constantly being encouraged to sign up to organisations which can improve our health, wealth or general well-being. Their marketing is slick, highly polished and calculated to get us to sign up to their products or services. They help us to dream of a happier and more successful life and cram in every attractive and glossy image to lure us into signing up. But Jesus took a completely different approach. He spoke …
March 16th - Mark 8:33
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Mark 8:33 I have a soft spot for Peter. When Jesus informed his disciples that he was going to suffer at the hands of the Jewish authorities and be killed, Peter did what any friend would do. He told Jesus off for saying such terrible things. He loved Jesus and hated the thought of him going through such suffering. But Jesus would have none of it. “Get away from me, Satan!” was as complete a reprimand as he could have uttered. He then explained that the problem was Peter’s thinking: he was …
March 15th - Mark 8:27,29
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Mark 8:27,29 As you look back through your life, I suspect that you will be able to spot turning points quite easily. At the time, the day was just like any other but, with hindsight, you realise nothing was quite the same afterwards. Jesus’ visit to Caesarea Philippi with his disciples was undoubtedly a major turning point in his ministry. Up until this moment, Jesus had been preaching and healing with the rumble of threats from the teachers of the law in the background. But from this moment …
March 14th - Proverbs 29:25
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Proverbs 29:25 The posh word for fearing other people is ‘anthropophobia’, and it can happen for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps other people are threatening us. The psalmists often spoke of the people who were out to get them. They seemed to be surrounded by people who were trying to trip them up and make their lives a misery. But fearing other people may simply be based on our fear of what they might think of us. It’s very easy for our lives to be controlled by our desire to please other …
March 13th - Proverbs 29:20
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Proverbs 29:20 The writer of Proverbs has a lot to say about fools. They live a dangerous and destructive life, and he does everything he can to encourage his readers to avoid foolishness and to live a life of wisdom. So when he declares that there is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking, he is clearly describing the most terrible disaster. And that’s because words are so powerful. For sure they can be powerful to build, but they can also be devastatingly …
March 12th - Proverbs 29:11
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Proverbs 29:11 I love the down-to-earth realism of the Bible. It meets us where we are and engages in the sharp reality of our lives. Here the writer seems to assume that we all get angry from time to time - that’s probably a very wise assumption. No doubt we all have very different anger thresholds. Some people very rarely get angry, and others can get steamed up about the most minor issues. Wherever you are on the scale, we all need to know what to do with our anger. The writer of Proverbs, …
March 11th - Proverbs 28:27
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Proverbs 28:27 The writer of Proverbs often refers to poverty. In his society there were no welfare state provisions and so poverty was an ever-present and terrible threat. If one’s family were unable to give support, then a person could become totally destitute. Begging would be the only option. It’s not surprising that many proverbs speak of the vital importance of giving to the poor and, in chapter 19, the writer speaks of the spiritual significance of such giving. He writes: “If you help …
March 10th - Proverbs 28:26
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Proverbs 28:26 The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about fools. Time and again the writer notes how stupid, ignorant and destructive they are. Many of his observations would be incredibly funny if they weren’t so serious and sad. In Proverbs 26 he wrote: “A proverb in the mouth of a fool is as useless as a paralysed leg and is like a thorny branch brandished by a drunk”. Another says: “An employer who hires a fool is like an archer who shoots at random” (Proverbs 26:7; 9-10). His …
March 9th - Revelation 21:3-4
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Revelation 21:3-4 Here John gives us a wonderful vision of heaven. If our present world is characterised by the gap between God and humankind, heaven is the place where no such gap exists. God will live with his people, in an intimacy that we cannot fully experience here on earth. As a consequence, it will be a place where death, sorrow, crying and pain will be no more. All of those four words have to do with separation and, when we are in the presence of God, there will be no separation. …
