Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Exodus 16:4 NLT Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.” Israel has surrendered the food security it enjoyed under slavery in Egypt for the huge uncertainty of the desert. Regular life rhythm...

2 Corinthians 9:10 NLT 'For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.' Last year, my wife, Jayne, and I were invited to attend a London-based church event. We knew little about it, but arrived to discover a sea of young people engaging together in explori...

2 Peter 1:3 NLT 'By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvellous glory and excellence.' It is remarkable that surrounded as we are by instant access to a wealth of resources, the Bible as God’s word remains the source of life. While scripture can prove d...

John 6:34-35 NLT “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” One morning I passed a new bakery in Portsmouth. I stepped inside and, chatting with the young owners, discovered their story. Originally from Poland, they’d arrived in England with little more than...

Acts 2:14 NLT Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.” A band of disheartened and frightened disciples, who had just seen Jesus ascend into heaven and had gathered in part out of obedience and part out of fear of what might happen to them is, in a moment, t...

Acts 1:14 NLT 'They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.' On Ascension Day you are invited to join thousands of others prepare for a Novena of prayer with Premier. Novena is from the Latin for ‘nine’ and describes those days when the disciples, together with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and around 120 be...

Acts 1:8 NLT 'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' Like a compass needle locates due north, so prayer directs our gaze towards God and positions us for effective mission. While prayer consists of a number of distinct forms, from co...

Acts 1:3 NLT 'During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.' Thursday 21 May 2020 is Ascension Day. It will conclude Jesus’ ministry on earth. Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus will return to the side of his Father in heaven. For J...

Acts 1:6 NLT So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” How many times have you, believing you understood scripture, formed an opinion about what you and others might do in obedience to God? And how often have such judgements proved false, meaning you did not discover God in the way or place you anticipated?...

Matthew 5:3 NLT 'God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.' Blessing is most easily associated with happiness. Some of the translations of the scripture replace the word “Blessed” for “Happy” in the opening statements of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Governments have also, in recent years, become obsessed with seeking to understand the determ...

Psalm 34:8-9 NLT 'Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.' I enjoy cooking, working with taste, texture and colour for both plate and palate. My mother likes to remind me of the grey mince pies I made as a child; grey because I failed to wash my hands when turning to baki...

Jeremiah 17:8 NLT 'They are like trees planted along a river-bank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.' As a new Christian I read a lot of Christian literature. One of the books that impacted me most was, Green Leaf in Drought, by Isobel Kuhn. Based upo...

Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT 'Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.' One of the benefits of ageing is the recognition that life can be taken far too seriously. As a younger...

Ephesians 1:3 NLT 'All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.' It has taken me too many years to unravel what being united to Jesus is really all about. An enthusiast by nature, and always one who seeks to secure approval through service, I try too hard to please God when, in fac...

2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. On a childhood holiday, I once found a lobster pot washed up on the beach. I launched it into the waves and watched until the tide carried it out of sight. Later my dad told me that the coastguard heli...

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.' ‘Sacrifice’ is not a word we encounter much in our society. If heard at all it is usually presented in ways that draw attention to me: “I sacrificed to p...

Matthew 6:12-15 NLT '…forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.' It is difficult to grasp the scale of God’s forgiveness. Jesus points out that we...

Psalm 51:1-2 NLT 'Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.' Who doesn’t love a hot bath? After a day working in the Oratory garden, I look forward to the prospect of sinking into a hot bubble bath. Most people carry secrets, often guilty ones, from their past. These...

Matthew 9:13 NLT Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mercy lays the foundation for both forgiveness and acceptance. Mercy means I am delivered from the consequences of any action someone who has authority over me might t...

Galatians 6:10 NLT 'Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.' Jayne and I have noticed that on social media groups set up across our community, the majority of the messages have an edge directed towards others, known or unknown. An easy opportunity to record criticisms containing personal frustrations with behaviours t...

Acts 27:13-14 NLT 'When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete. But the weather changed abruptly...and blew us out to sea.' Robert Burns the poet gave us the well-worn phrase: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” No matter how carefully and responsibly we prepare, our lives r...

Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT 'So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.' My dad was distinctly unexcited about my choice to enter Christian ministry on leaving Oxford. One piece of advice from him I still remember from that time is: “Remember...

Hebrews 11:14-16a NLT 'Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.' The writer to the Hebrews illustrates the positive character of hope by listing all those biblical characters who journeyed with God, yet ne...

Colossians 4:5 NLT 'Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.' Over the centuries, the Church has attempted to obey the great commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) in a variety of ways. There is an inbuilt resistance to the gospel throughout society in all cultures for our adversary, the devil, seeks to distract humanity from Go...

Psalm 44:17-18 NLT 'All this has happened though we have not forgotten you. We have not violated your covenant. Our hearts have not deserted you. We have not strayed from your path.' Scripture makes it clear, the rain falls on both “the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Our human framework for fairness is a million miles away from how God perceives the creation. There is only one righ...