Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Romans 15.23-24 NLT 'But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.' Paul’s love for the church in Rome is very clear and he can’t wait to visit them. I love the way...

Romans 15.13 NLT 'I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.' Hope is a slippery word and so we need to be quite clear what Paul means by it. Normally when we use the word ‘hope’ there is a maybe in our voice. That is to say, we are not confident about so...

Romans 15.5-6 NLT 'May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' You don’t need to be a genius to work out why Paul so often speaks about the issue of unity! It is clearly becaus...

Romans 14.1 NLT 'Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.' In every generation there are issues on which Christians have different opinions. You might care to dream of a world in which such tensions don’t exist but, I’m afraid that here on earth, that will never happen. So the question is what to do with those disputes and par...

Romans 13.11-12 NLT 'You know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armour of right living.' In this life everything is limited by time. You might want to have another day to complete your revisio...

Romans 13.1 NLT 'Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.' Our society has a high level of cynicism towards those in authority. There is a widespread suspicion of the motives of those with political power, and the media takes every opportunity to shoot politicians down in flames whenever they...

Romans 12.17-18 NLT 'Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.' The Christian life involves a complete rewiring of the way in which we think and live. It involves a total revolution in our lives because when someone does something evil to us the natural reaction is to retaliate. Everythi...

Romans 12.9-10 NLT 'Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.' Napoleon once said, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love.” It...

Romans 12.7-8 NLT 'If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.' In three of his letters Paul talks about the gifts that God has g...

Romans 12.3 NLT 'Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.' It is vital for all of us to have a true understanding of ourselves. If we go around with an inflated view of our own importance, the whole of life...

Romans 12.2 NLT 'Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.' Every day our thinking is being shaped by our society. Most of the time we are totally unaware that this is happening but there is no way that we can avoid being influ...

Romans 12.1 NLT 'And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.' We use the word worship in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes we use it to refer to a church service and at other times we use it for a part of the service...

Romans 11.33-36 NLT 'Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.'...

Romans 9.2-3 NLT 'My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.' These are amazing words. The apostle Paul was proud of his Jewish heritage, and was absolutely passionate that his Jewish brothers and sisters should share in the wonder of knowing Christ as...

Romans 8.38-39 NLT 'And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that...

Romans 7.24-25 NLT Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. It’s a great privilege when someone shares their inner struggles. It isn’t easy to talk about the battles that go on in our lives, but here Paul let it all pour out! Here this mature Christian leader and brilliant teacher admitt...

Romans 5.1 NLT 'Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.' Everyone will agree that it is desirable to find inner peace. Go along to any book shop and you will find dozens of books that will offer you a quick route to inner tranquility. They will give you a wide range of suggestions from those tha...

Romans 4.20 NLT 'Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.' Paul is absolutely clear that faith is all important for those who want to be put right with God and he uses Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, as the supreme example. He trusted God completely even when life was tough and there was little encouragement....

Romans 3:29-30  'After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.' The apostle Paul was a Jew and was very proud of the fact. In this letter he goes to great lengths to show that Jews have a very important place in the plans of God, but...

Romans 1:20  'For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.' People often ask how God will judge those who have never responded to him. Here Paul makes it clear that everyone has had an opportunity to respond to God,...

Romans 1:17  'This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.' I once heard about a group of rowdy young people who had too much time on their hands and decided that it would be great fun to push a piano down the stairs in the building where they were meeting and see what happened. With great gusto they launched the piano and the res...

Romans 1:16  'I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile.' We are told that the apostle Paul had a particularly unimpressive appearance. According to tradition he was an ugly little chap with heavy eyebrows, bandy legs, a bald head, a hooked nose, bad eyesight and with no great gifts as a speake...

Romans 1.9 NLT 'God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.' Prayer is a blessing in every way. It is the way in which we communicate with God and so it is at the heart of the Christian life. Prayerlessness is the surest path to spiritual weakness and discouragement. By contr...

Romans 1.7 NLT 'I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.' Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is sometimes described as the Gospel according to Paul. It’s not a bad description because in this letter he gives the fullest explanation of his understanding of the Good News of Jesus. Paul never met Jesus during his earthly ministry but his mirac...

Psalm 88.1-3 NLT 'O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near.' This is possibly the saddest of all the psalms. The psalmist cried out to God in a state of total despair. Many of the psalms are referred to as psalms of lament but this one goes even further and is full of ab...