Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Nehemiah 8.10 NLT “This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” When the people heard Ezra reading the Law of Moses they burst out crying. Presumably they did so because they were reflecting on how far they had fallen as a nation. There was a huge gulf between what God had intended and the present reality. Nehemiah and Ezra were as awa...

Nehemiah 8.6 NLT Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days was an amazing achievement. But Nehemiah was quite clear that there was something that was even more important and that was to ensure th...

Nehemiah 6.9 NLT 'They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.' I have read the book of Nehemiah many times over the years but what has struck me with special force this time is his amazing resilience. Almost anyone can lead an organisation when the circumstances are easy and the sun is s...

Nehemiah 5.14 NLT 'For the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes— neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.' I once heard about a military officer who took his men on an arduous training exercise. They were all carrying heavy rucksacks which pushed them to their limits. At one point,...

Nehemiah 5.6-7 NLT When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, “You are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money!” Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem. These verses give us a fascinating insight into Nehemiah’s leadership. First of all, he listened. The rebuil...

Nehemiah 4.16 NLT 'From then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.' There is no question that Nehemiah trusted in God. He was absolutely convinced that God was on his side and that he was going to succeed in reconstructing the walls of Jerusalem. He also knew that he had to work incredibly hard, and to ensure that the city and i...

Nehemiah 3.10 NLT 'Next Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired the wall across from his own house, and next to him was Hattush son of Hashabneiah.' I vividly remember meeting a missionary for the first time. It was at a children’s mission in our local park and with huge excitement we were introduced to a real live missionary. He was everything that I was expecting. He had been serving God in the Amazon...

Nehemiah 3:8 NLT 'Next was Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a goldsmith by trade, who also worked on the wall. Beyond him was Hananiah, a manufacturer of perfumes.' I am so grateful to Nehemiah for the careful way in which he reported the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He gives us loads of fascinating details. He tells us that every kind of person got involved whatever their line of work, from pries...

Nehemiah 2.19-20 NLT But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously. “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” they asked. I replied, “The God of heaven will help us succeed. We, his servants, will start rebuilding this wall.” Everything seemed to have been going so well. Not only did King Artaxerxes give Nehemiah the leave that he re...

Nehemiah 2.8 NLT 'And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.' Nehemiah’s appearance before King Artaxerxes went incredibly well. Not only did the King grant him all the leave that he wanted, but he gave Nehemiah letters to the governors of Trans- Euphrates to ensure his safe travel, together with access to the royal forest for wood to help with the reconstruct...

Nehemiah 2.4-5 NLT The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.” This was a terrifying moment. King Artaxerxes noticed that Nehemiah was looking sad. He could tell that there was something troubling his wine taster b...

Nehemiah 1.11 NLT “O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honouring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favourable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” Nehemiah is on the verge of taking the boldest step of his life. He is going to ask King Artaxerxes, the mighty ruler of Persia, a question which might well land him in a lot...

Nehemiah 1.6-7 NLT 'I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.' My car has gone in for a service today. A few minutes ago, I received a video on my phone from the garage in which I saw a mechanic giving me a guided tour of the undersi...

Nehemiah 1.5-6 NLT “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer!” These words give us a wonderful insight into Nehemiah’s understanding of God. Everything that follows in this book flows out of these few words. Nehemiah’s courageous actions were the result of the way he understood God,...

Nehemiah 1.4 NLT 'When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.' Not surprisingly many people have a special affection for the book of Nehemiah. It offers us an engaging first- hand account of a man of huge courage and faith. Here we meet Nehemiah in Persia which was about 1000 miles away from Jerusalem, his ancestral home. Many years...

Philippians 4.19 NLT 'And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.' Generosity is a beautiful thing. I had the blessing of a very generous aunt. She never married and was a devoted follower of Jesus. She was generous with her time especially to neighbours who were in need. Although she held a very senior ex...

Philippians 4.11-13 NLT 'I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.' Advertising is a major influence in the modern world. Its deliberate intenti...

Philippians 4.8 NLT 'And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.' Never in history have those words been more important than right now. When Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 no-one could have foreseen the way...

Philippians 4.6-7 NLT 'Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.' The most unhelpful thing you can say to a person who is worrying is, “Don’t worry”. I am sure it is often...

Philippians 4.2-3 NLT 'Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News.' There’s nothing new about people falling out with one another! It has been a feature of life from the very beginning as we learn from the story of Cain an...

Philippians 3.17-18 NLT 'Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.' Paul doesn’t pull his punches does he? He tells it like it is! He declares that some people are enemies of...

Philippians 3.12 NLT 'I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.' Perfection is a word that makes most of us shudder because we are so well aware that we fall very far short it. But the danger with that kind of response is that we give up even trying. W...

Philippians 3.8 – 9 NLT 'Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.' Oscar Wilde once defined a cynic as the person “who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”. His observation well describes o...

Philippians 3.1-2 NLT 'Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.' There is something incredibly impressive about people who are joyful when everything is going wrong. Paul’s l...

Philippians 2.22-23 NLT 'But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News. I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here.' Timothy was clearly very important to Paul. Born in Lystra in Galatia (now part of Turkey) he had a Jewish mother and a Greek father. Paul met him on his second m...