Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Matthew 26.26 NLT As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” The Old Testament prophets frequently communicated their message by actions. They are often called acted parables. Through their actions they powerfully proclaimed their message in a way that was both clear and un...

Matthew 26.7 NLT 'While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.' Things were hotting up. Jesus had launched a tirade against the religious leaders and they, in turn, were now absolutely committed to seeing him put to death. We learn that they had a secret meeting at the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas, in order to plan ho...

Matthew 22.37-40 NLT Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” The battle of words between Jesus and the Jewish leaders had got to fever p...

Matthew 21.12-13 NLT Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” The joyful celebration of Palm Sunday is followed b...

Matthew 21.8-9 NLT Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel w...

Matthew 20.32-34 NLT 'When Jesus heard the blind men, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.' Jesus has just informed his disciples that he is on the way to Jerusalem, where he will be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. You would unde...

Matthew 20.26-28 NLT Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Parents always want the best for their children. So we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and as...

Matthew 20.1-2 NLT “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables make us sit up. In their very different ways they are deeply challenging and surprising and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice....

Matthew 19.23-24 NLT Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and so they were confused by th...

Matthew 19.14 NLT Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” In these devotionals, I often only select one verse and rarely more than three. However, whenever possible, I would always encourage you to have your Bible open so that you can see the setting of the chosen verses. We are probably all very familiar w...

Matthew 18.21-22 NLT Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” When Peter asked his question, he thought he was being incredibly generous. Tradition told him that you should be ready to forgive another person three times, and then you could unleash your full fury on...

Matthew 18.19-20 NLT Jesus said, “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” The Church is not just a gathering of people who respect Jesus, like a Jesus appreciation society where people meet to say how much he means to them. It is infin...

Matthew 18.17 NLT Jesus said, “If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.” On the face of it this might sound rather harsh, but Jesus has just given the best possible advice for how to handle the situation where someone has done you wrong. First, speak to them on...

Matthew 18.15 NLT Jesus said, “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offence. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.” Ever since the Garden of Eden, people have fallen out with one another. It’s very sad but it has always happened, and still does. It is an inevitable part of living in a world of sin. The question is: what you do...

Matthew 18.12 NLT “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety- nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” I suspect that few of us have had any experience of being shepherds, however many of us will have memories of lost pets. I recall the time when our cat Tabitha went missing for days on end. We walked the s...

Matthew 18.6 NLT Jesus said,“ If you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” If your picture of Jesus is of “gentle Jesus meek and mild” you need to listen carefully to this verse. However, you look at it this is very strong language, and it certainly isn’t...

Matthew 18.3-4 NLT Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” These words would have sounded very different to the disciples from how they sound to us these days. Happily children have a very important...

Matthew 17.20 NLT “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Having just had the mountain top experience of the Transfiguration the disciples go back down to earth with a bump. A father brought his very ill son to the disciples and they were completely unable to...

Matthew 17.4 NLT Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials— one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” The transfiguration of Jesus was clearly an amazing moment. Jesus had taken three of his disciples up to a high mountain and suddenly he was totally transformed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazz...

Matthew 16.21 NLT 'From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.' The events leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection are so familiar...

Matthew 16.18 NLT 'Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.' Peter is a fascinating character. We know little about most of the disciples, but that’s not true of Peter who we get to know extremely well. Time and again he is the one who speaks first and on many occasions he gets things seriou...

Matthew 16.15-16 NLT Then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Caesarea Philippi is located at the base of Mount Hermon in Northern Israel and, for centuries, had been associated with the worship of various gods. At first it had been a centre for the worship of Baal, but in the time of Jesus it was associated with the...

Matthew 15.35-36 NLT 'So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.' This was the second time that Jesus had fed a huge number of people. On the first occasion more than 5,000 were fed, and on this day more than 4,000 received...

Matthew 15.7-9 NLT Jesus said, ”You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” If you talk to non-Christians about their criticisms of the church, time and again they will point to hypocrisy as being the most off-pu...

Proverbs 21.23 NLT 'Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.' Speaking is such a huge part of our daily lives that we need all the wisdom we can find to guide us. The book of Proverbs comes back to the subject time and again precisely because it is so important. We need to be constantly learning how to use our tongues more effectively, and part of that is to le...