Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

2 Timothy 2:24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach and be patient with difficult people. Every Christian is a servant of the Lord, but in this verse Paul is particularly thinking of the responsibilities of church leaders. Clearly, they cannot serve the Lord if they are prone to pick quarrels, but more than that, they need to be kind to everyone. Ki...

2 Timothy 2:20-21 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honourable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. Here, Paul is desc...

2 Timothy 2:15-16 Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behaviour. It’s always a pleasure to see a good worker. They may be an accountant, a cleaner, a lawyer or a shop-worker, but the moment you see them at work, you know they are fully committed to the task. However, it is...

2 Timothy 2:9-10 Because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained. So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. If it were possible to extinguish Christianity through violent persecution, it would have been snuffed out long ago. In the last 2,000 y...

2 Timothy 2:6 Hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labour. Paul was well aware of what a hard job it was to be a Christian leader. When he wrote to the Corinthians, he told them that he was pressed on every side by troubles. He knew what it was to be perplexed and hunted down and to live in constant danger of death (2 Corinthians 2:4-11). He didn’t want Timothy to ha...

2 Timothy 2:5 Athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. I wonder if you remember that agonising moment in the 2022 Commonwealth Games when England’s 4 x 400 women’s relay team was disqualified. It was all the more painful because they seemed to have won the race. They gave a confident and delighted interview straight after their success, only to learn that Jodie Williams and Vict...

2 Timothy 2:3-4 Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. It’s not surprising that the apostle Paul often referred to soldiers in his letters. He had seen plenty of Roman soldiers in his time and had no doubt often reflected on their lives. They provided h...

2 Timothy 2:2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. Every sensible organisation needs to reflect on its succession planning. Leaders come and go and it’s important to think carefully about how potential new leaders are identified, trained and appointed. This...

2 Timothy 1:13 “Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me – a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.” Living the Christian life doesn’t come naturally to any of us. We all need teaching to help us live for Christ. However, there’s a problem with the word [itals]teaching[end itals] – it tends to make us think about classrooms and exams. We might b...

2 Timothy 1:12 I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. Security is a big issue in our society. Billions of pounds are spent each year in an attempt to keep things safe. Nothing could make it clearer that, sadly, we live with a massive level of insecurity. I’ve only once lived in a house which had its own safe....

2 Timothy 1:9 God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. When Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, everything changed. He moved from darkness to light. He experienced the forgiveness of his sins and entered into a new life with God which woul...

2 Timothy 1:8 Never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. This wasn’t the first time that Paul had spoken about the issue of shame. In his letter to the church in Rome, he declared boldly that he was not ashamed of the good news of Christ (Romans 1:16). Paul had been brought up in the strict disciplines of the Jewish faith. He was a Pharisee and had studied under the most respected rabbis of h...

2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. The apostle Paul wanted his young friend Timothy to be the best. There was no question that Timothy was going to have to face enormous challenges. He would be continually confronting opponents to the Christian faith, and he would also have to face up to issues of church organisation and discip...

2 Timothy 1:5-6 “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.” When I was a boy, one of the great pleasures of Saturday afternoons was that I would light a bonfire with...

2 Timothy 1:3 [The apostle Paul wrote:] “Timothy, I thank God for you – the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” Paul’s second letter to his young friend Timothy is deeply moving. Paul knew that he was close to death and was keen to do everything he could to encourage, strengthen and direct Timothy in his ministry. H...

Psalm 98:7-9 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness. When we think about praising God, we naturally think of people joining together in ch...

Psalm 98:1 Sing a new song to the LORD, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his saving power! I love the fact that God’s people through thousands of years have enjoyed singing. The psalmist had a very clear reason for encouraging people to sing: God’s salvation. Throughout his dealings with his people, he had shown them his ability to sa...

Psalm 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. One of the signs that we truly love God is that we start to hate evil, and this is critically important because the many great evils in the world will never come to an end unless people begin hating them. The Transatlantic Slave Trade only stopped when people ident...

2 Corinthians 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. As Paul concludes this tough letter in which he has responded to fierce criticism of his ministry, he ends by blessing the church in Corinth. These beautiful words are repeated millions of times every year as Christians meet together because they are the strongest wor...

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 [The Lord] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The apostle Paul revealed that he had...

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. Paul was under attack from people within the church in Corinth. Some of them thought he was quite timid when he was with them in person but extremely bold in his letters while away from them. It’s n...

2 Corinthians 9:10-11 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. We can likely all think of occasions when we have been really generous and times when other people have been gen...

2 Corinthians 9:7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” Some years ago, I was involved with setting up a new hospice. There was a desperate need to raise funds and, although I had never done such a thing before, I offered to organise a house-to-house collection. I recruited collecto...

2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. The law of the harvest is easy to understand: you reap what you sow. If you are miserly with your giving, you need to expect a deeply disappointing harvest. However, if you give generously, you can be sure of an amazing crop, probably far larger...

2 Corinthians 8:20-21 We are travelling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift. We are careful to be honourable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honourable. Paul had spent some time encouraging people to give money towards a collection that would help the Christians in Judaea who had suffered a severe famine. He knew...