Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

READ: Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT 'I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.' In recent years I have talked to lots of churches about their vision. It’s really important for any organisation to be inspired by a clear and captivating vision for the future. The vision keeps us going w...

READ: Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. If you’ve got the impression that following God will give you the smoothest journey through life then you obviously haven’t read the Bible! From first to last in...

READ: Isaiah 42:1 NLT Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. I became absolutely fascinated by the law when I was in my teens. I often visited our local magistrates’ and crown courts in Southend and was completely gripped by the whole process. On a few occasions I went up to the Old Bailey in...

READ: Isaiah 40:28-29 NLT Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. It was Samuel Butler the 19th Century author who observed, “Life is one long process of getting tired.” However young and...

READ: Isaiah 40:25-26 NLT “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.” I have never studied astronomy but I find the scale of the universe totally mind boggling....

READ: Isaiah 40:3-5 NLT Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together”. I’m no lover of airports,...

READ: Isaiah 40:1-2 NLT Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. We all make mistakes but some have far greater impact than others. Many mistakes are of minor importance and are soon forgotten about. They leave no trace. But others can change the whole direction of life from that moment. The people of Jer...

READ: Psalm 47:1-2 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. Clapping is extremely eloquent. It uses no words but it conveys very powerful messages. There is all the difference in the world between clapping that is dutiful and polite, and clapping that is enthusiastic and noisy. They convey completely...

READ: Psalm 46:1-2 NLT God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. When disaster strikes it’s often without warning. A death, a car accident, a serious illness or a fall. In those moments of shaking it’s so important to know that we can look to God and know that he is our refuge and stre...

READ: Psalm 42:11 NLT Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Saviour and my God! We all face times of discouragement when nothing seems to be going right. That’s an inevitable part of the ups and downs of life. But sometimes those times of discouragement can dominate all our thinking, and that is clearly how it was for the psalmist. He r...

READ: Psalm 42:1-2 NLT As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Having spent a couple of years in India I am very familiar with the challenges of living with intense heat. One lesson I learnt very swiftly is that you need to carry a drink with you at all times. But, inevitably, you sometimes forget – or...

READ: Psalm 40:1-2 NLT I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. I was born and brought up in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex which is on the Thames Estuary. As a boy I loved exploring the coast which is well known for its generous...

READ: 2 Corinthians 7: 8-9 NLT I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. Early on in my ministry one of the most spiritual and sensitive members of the congregation said to me, “Very little tr...

READ: 2 Corinthians 7:5-7 NLT When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. His presence was a joy, but so was the news he brought of the encouragement he received from you. I was once chatting to two friends...

READ: 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 NLT Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us! It’s possible for our relationship with other people to be incredibly superficial. Our words can often be a way...

READ: 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NLT As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. We are all tempted to take things for granted, but it’s a strange fact that we normally take for granted the mo...

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 NLT For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” If you have ever visited an embassy you will know what a strange experience it is....

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NLT 'So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!' I’m sure you can think of many moments in life when suddenly everything changed. Your...

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT 'While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.' Our society tries to avoid talking about death. Paul could not be more different! For Paul it was an incredibly exciting subject because...

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:16 NLT 'That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.' Have you ever been tempted to give up? Paul talks about this twice in this chapter and concludes that he would never give up. His ministry had certainly been very demanding and there must have been many occasions when it would have been extremely tempting to give up. W...

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NLT 'We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked...

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:5 NLT 'You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.' Whatever you are doing today it’s vital to have a clear objective. Dithering or being unclear about your objective is frustrating, confusing and exhausting. Paul clearly didn’t suffer from this problem! He was absolutely clear...

READ: 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT 'And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.' Nothing stands still for long. If you need proof of that, then have a look at a photo of yourself from ten years ago. We are constantly changing, whether we like it or not! Here Paul speaks about the way in which we change as Christians. If our lives as followers...

READ: 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 NLT 'We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.' Qualifications are important. You can’t deny it. If I catch the train to London I want to be sure that the driver is qualified! If a surgeon operates on me I would be very concerned to kn...

READ: 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 NLT 'God uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.' Smells are powerful aren’t they? I can still remember some of the smells from my childhood. Many of them are associated with...