Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

READ: 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NLT 'It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.' I wonder what you really make of your Christian brothers and sisters. Honestly. Before you tell me, let me suggest that you f...

READ: 2 Corinthians 1:12 NLT 'We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you.' Life isn’t always easy. It certainly wasn’t for Paul, whose ministry often came under viciou...

READ: Proverbs 3:1-2 NLT 'My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying.' What’s your memory like? Time and again I trudge upstairs to get something and haven’t a clue what I’m looking for by the time I get there! Pathetically, I try to find something else useful to do whilst I’m ther...

READ: Proverbs 1:8-9 NLT 'My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honour around your neck.' I would be fascinated to know what you remember your parents teaching you. Their words shape the whole of our lives. I remember my father insisting that we show “instant obedience”. I presum...

READ: Proverbs 1:7 NLT 'Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.' You need to be careful with the book of Proverbs. It’s very easy to read too much of it and get indigestion! It’s a book which needs lots of time for careful reflection. And this is the wisest and most crucial verse of all. True knowledge begins with knowing God personally. It’s...

READ: Genesis 22:2 NLT “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” This is an incredibly tough story to cope with. My wife Sue and I have three children. The thought of offering one of them as a sacrifice is beyond my power to comprehend. I really struggle wit...

READ: Genesis 18:13-14 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” I love laughter. It’s a pleasure to see people really letting rip and having a good laugh. Laughter can be sparked off by any number of things, but it is often spa...

READ: Genesis 17:5-8 NLT 'I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them! I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant...

READ: Genesis: 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Never forget this! God is in the business of blessing people! That’s what he loves to do and that’s what Abram was just about to d...

READ: Genesis 12:1 NLT The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” I wonder what your life looks like at the moment. I would guess that for many of us there are plenty of aspects of our lives that suit us really well. Life isn’t perfect, and we can easily come up with some suggested improvements, but th...

READ: Genesis 11:4-8 NLT Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” God hates arrogance because it is a complete rejection of him. Here the story of the Tower of Babel could be described as an ultimate example of arrogance. The people came together to build a to...

READ: Genesis 6:22-7:1 NLT So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.” The Bible is full of wonderful stories – and this is one of the best! Noah is asked by God to produce an enormous boat and to fill it with his fam...

READ: Genesis 4.8-9 NLT One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him. Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?” This is the world’s first murder. How terrible that so early in this Holy Book, the Bible...

READ: Genesis 3: 11-12 NLT The Lord God asked, “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”  The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden has a very contemporary ring to it. Blaming others is as much a way of life today for many people as it was for Adam long, long ago. He knew he had...

READ: Genesis 2.2-3 NLT 'On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.' The French Revolution turned everything upside down including the arrangement of time. They adopted decimalization in a thoroughgoing way dividing up each day in...

READ: Genesis 1:27 NLT 'So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' People fascinate me. I can happily sit watching people because they are so incredibly different from one another. In size, shape, colour, height, age and ability they are all absolutely unique. However, we have one thing in common – we have all been made in t...

READ: Genesis 1:3-4 NLT 'Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.' It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of light. Without light there is no life. It’s as simple as that. So it is not surprising to discover that on day one of creation God created light. No life could occur until that...

READ: Genesis 1:1-2 NLT 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.' It is important not to rush past these verses. They may be so familiar to us that it would be easy to skip over them. But don’t! These words are foundational for the whole Bible a...

READ: Luke 2:29-32 NLT Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel! Eight days after Jesus’ birth his parents took him to the temple for his circumcision. There is no suggestion that the people of Jerusalem understood...

READ: Luke 2:19 NLT Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. This sentence in Luke is what I would call a piece of considerable understatement. Mary, who was probably a teenager and who almost certainly knew very little about the world, has just given birth to the Messiah. She has certainly been given plenty to think about! Older versions of the Bible translate this ve...

READ: Luke 2:16-18 NLT The shepherds “hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished.” Just imagine if this was happening now. Bethlehem would be swamped with news reporters and film...

READ: Luke 2:8-9 NLT That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. Of all the many surprises in the Christmas story this surely is one of the greatest. We have long since got used to the fact that the birth of Jesus was announced to shepherds, bu...

READ: Luke 2:5-7 NLT 'Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.' In a few brief verses Luke summarizes the birth of Jesus. Brief as they are, Luke offers us more details than any of the other gospel writers. That means that we need to treasure every detail that he gives us, and they are...

READ: Luke 2:1-3 NLT 'At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.' I am delighted that in our highly secular society Christmas still has a very secure place. No one could possibly miss the fac...

READ: Luke 1:76-77 NLT 'And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.' Have you ever lost your voice? I’ve had sore throats at times and found difficulty speaking but only once have I lost my voice completely. It was the most bizarre experience and...