Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Colossians 2:14-15 'Christ cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.' The cross stood right at the centre of the apostle Paul’s understanding of the good news. Put simply, if you want to understand Jesus, you have to see him...

Colossians 2:8-9 'Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.' The apostle Paul didn’t believe in beating around the bush! He was so convinced that Christ was the complete answer to the human predicament...

Colossians 1:22-23 'You are holy and blameless as you stand before Christ without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.' What Christ has done for us is absolutely amazing. Failed and sinful as we are, he has totally forgiven our sins and made us right with God. He has made i...

Colossians 1:15 'Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.' Most people have kind things to say about Jesus. They like the fact that he welcomed every kind of person; they admire the fact that he was willing to stand up to the religious rulers of his time; they enjoy the fact that he told compelling, down-to-earth sto...

Colossians 1:13-14 'God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.' The apostle Paul was absolutely clear that when someone becomes a Christian, their whole life changes completely. We move to a new country! The kingdom of darkness is now behind us and we have entered the kingdom of light with Jes...

Colossians 1:11-12 'We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.' Life can often be incredibly tough. Paul often spoke of the challenges which he had faced personally which included rejection, betrayal, shipwrecks, imprisonment, beatings and much else besides....

Colossians 1:9 'We have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.' I recently heard someone saying that the situation they were facing was so desperate that all they could do was pray about it. They made it sound as if their situation was so hopeless that they were willing to...

Colossians 1:6 'This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.' Following Christ always involves radical change. James and John had to leave their boats and their fishing nets to follow Jesus. Zacchaeus, the tax co...

Colossians 1:4-5 'We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.' Having hope is incredibly important. The famous Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, wrote: “To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness.” Above the entrance to Dante’s hell was the inscription: “Leave...

Colossians 1:3-4 'We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people.' We have no reason to believe that Paul and Timothy had ever visited the church in Colossae. It was a relatively minor town in what we now know as Turkey, and there is no reference in the book of Acts to the...

Colossians 1:2 Paul and Timothy wrote: “We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.” Colossae was not a particularly important town, overshadowed by its rich and much more illustrious neighbours, Laodicea and Hierapolis. We don’t have any reason to think that Paul ever visited the church...

Psalm 119:1-2 'Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts.' This is the beginning of what is by far the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible. It is made up of 22 sections, each one of which begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of those sections is made up o...

Psalm 118:5-6 'In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?' The Duke of Wellington said: “The only thing I am afraid of is fear.” He had good reason to say this. Doctors tell us that fear can have a huge effect on our lives. It can lead to accelerated ageing and even premature death. Fear...

Psalm 117 'Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!' So reads the whole of Psalm 117. It’s the shortest psalm but it has an enormous message which embraces the whole of the Bible. That is to say, every single person needs to join in praising God. Praising him isn’t...

Psalm 115:1 'Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.' It is said that William Wilberforce marked the passing of the bill to abolish the slave trade by meditating on this psalm. However great our human successes, it is always our first duty to worship God and to praise him for his greatness and provision. The reason for that is sim...

Exodus 34:9 Moses said, “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favour with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession.” What an incredible job Moses had! The people had rebelled against God in the most dramatic way. They knew that Moses had gone up Mount Sinai to meet with G...

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” Moses spent 40 days and nights on top of Mount Sinai receiving the instructions which were to be the foundation of life for th...

Exodus 23:9 'You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.' The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 400 years, and so they had a huge experience of being foreigners. Throughout that time, they knew that their true home was elsewhere and that one day they would enter the land that the Lord had given them...

Exodus 23:8 'Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.' I had never really thought about bribes until I spent two years living in India. There we spoke about bribes on a regular basis because bribery was a normal part of life. Soon after I arrived, a servant girl was murdered near where we lived. Her body was...

Exodus 23:5 'If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.' These laws make fascinating reading. Here the people are told that they have a responsibility to other people, whoever they are. If you see the donkey of your enemy struggling, the immediate ungodly response would be to say of the owner: “Serves him right. Just wh...

Exodus 23:2-3 'When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. And do not slant your testimony in favour of a person just because that person is poor.' Telling the truth is absolutely crucial in a healthy society. However uncomfortable and awkward the truth might be, it needs to be proclaimed and followed at all times, or society is in peril. That means...

Exodus 20:13-17 God said, “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. You must not covet your neighbour’s house.” These blunt commandments are even more brief in Hebrew, where a better translation would be: “No murder. No adultery. No stealing.” In quick succession, God sets out the activities that must be stopped if...

Exodus 20:8-10, 12 'Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God... Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.' Here are the first two positive commandments. The first three declared that we...

Exodus 20:6-7 God said: “I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” The word commandment sounds demanding and perhaps even harsh, and so we need to be clear that God’s motivation was lavish, unfailing love. When I think back to my ch...

Exodus 20:2-4 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” The Ten Commandments are remarkable in many ways but possibly the most amazing fact is that they are so short. Since they were deliv...