Every Day with Jesus

What an extraordinary conversation! God speaks with Abram (later Abraham) and tells him that his offspring will be great in number. And yet this elderly man of God has no child – yet. There’s a vision, and a promise that follows a heartfelt entreaty; essentially, Abram questions God about the blessing God wants to bestow, because he has no progeny, a blessing that seems to have been withheld (v3).

In a world that had never experienced it before, a mighty flood was coming. There was wickedness, we are told in Genesis 6, so much so that the Lord made the decision to pour out judgement, but to rescue the righteous. How sad it is to read that only one family could be found who pleased God.

Adam and Eve have been placed in a beautiful garden, where they walk with God, enjoy His fellowship, and each other’s. Sadly, Eve listens to a voice that causes her to doubt the goodness of God (vv1–4), and the first people disobey the Lord, severing their friendship with Him.

Elijah, the man of God, has seen the Lord do amazing things – see 1 Kings 18, where he experiences an incredible victory! But the formidable Queen Jezebel has threatened him, and now he’s running for his life. He’s exhausted; he feels as if he’s a failure. He doesn’t even want to live.

The encounter that Jesus has with the woman at the well is full of surprises. A Jewish man – a rabbi – speaking with a woman who is not a close family member – alone? Scandalous! No wonder the disciples were taken aback when they re-joined Him (v27). The woman is drawing water at a time when the other women wouldn’t be at the well.

If you have ever been around a moaner, you might find it very waring. The capacity to see the negative in any situation would win them an Olympic medal if it was a sport. The apostle is looking for us to do the exact opposite by giving thanks in all circumstances.

If ‘rejoice always’ is a challenge, then praying continually seems impossible. One man who took this seriously was Frank Laubach, a missionary to the Philippine islands in the early part of the twentieth century.

The quest to know God’s will is high on the list of every committed believer in Jesus. It is, of course, a crucial part of our walk with Jesus, though sometimes God is asking us to use our common sense and get on with living! But the sad thing is that some are agonising over what God’s will is and miss the verses that make it absolutely clear what we should be doing, and verses 16 to 18 of 1 Thess...

We linger for our final time on God’s words to Abram. It is clear that it was always God’s intention that Abram’s descendants would be a blessing to other nations. In Isaiah we are told that Israel was to be a light to the nations around (49:6). In the New Testament the gatherings of Christians across the Roman Empire were to bring a little bit of heaven to earth, so the communities would shine ou...

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul describes Abraham as the father of all who believe. Certainly these opening verses demonstrate a man prepared to trust in God. But in case we become intimidated by Bible characters and assume that they are on a wholly different planet, it is worth noting a few things about Abram.

Abraham has no scriptures from the past that would tell him that the voice that called him to go was in any way reliable. We’re not told that he was necessarily seeking a move. Historians suggest that Ur was a reasonably pleasant city in its day.

Introduced at the end of chapter 11, Abram’s move to the land of Canaan is outlined at the start of chapter 12. This is seen as a key turning point in the book of Genesis, and indeed in the whole of Scripture. This extraordinary call is given little detail as to how exactly the conversation came about.

When you are going through a trial it is enormously valuable to talk with someone who has been through what you are going through. This was the basis of the Paraclesis course which Trevor Partridge launched at Waverley Abbey Trust.

You have probably heard the phrase, ‘You can win an argument but lose a friend!’ It is absolutely important that we articulate clearly the truth of the gospel and have wise and thoughtful responses to those who question our faith. But, as anyone who has ever watched or heard Prime Minister’s Question Time, the parroting of angry views to the opposition changes the minds of no one.

The distinction is sometimes made between Jesus being Saviour and Jesus being Lord. We might distinguish between those who’ve asked Jesus to save them from their sins and those who have made Him Lord of their lives. There may well be some truth in such a distinction, but there is also some confusion over what the lordship of Jesus means.

If you love talking about the defence of Christianity over against alternative approaches, then verse 15 is your verse. Many Christian apologists, who give reasons for their hope, point to this verse as justification! Giving reasons for faith is a necessary part of our walk with Christ, but the context is that the believers to whom Peter was writing were suffering for their faith.

Mark gives us a summary of how Jesus invites Simon and Andrew, and later James and John, to be His followers. The account in John’s Gospel suggests that all four had already met with Jesus in Judea when they were followers of John the Baptist, and realised they needed to switch allegiance to Him.

You may recall the BBC sitcom character Victor Meldrew and his frequent mantra, ‘I don’t believe it!’, which depicted his rather grumpy and cynical outlook on life in One Foot in the Grave . In the Christian world, belief has also been misunderstood. For many it represents fanciful ideas that we accept even though there’s no logical reason to do so, even in the Church.

The word ‘repent’ still has unhealthy overtones for many people. It’s a word used sometimes on placards by Christians keen to see people turn back to God, and in some people’s minds it implies feelings of remorse or perhaps even tears.

The Gospel of Mark is known as the fastest moving Gospel. It is believed that Mark leans on the eyewitness testimony of the apostle Peter, and we can certainly see something of Peter’s impetuous personality in the fast pace in which the Gospel is written.

Nehemiah had inspired his people to keep going, they were armed for battle and prayerful in their work as they rebuilt the wall. But the opposition did not die down, indeed it increased, and chapter 6 outlines some of the tactics used.

We re-join the story as Nehemiah begins to rebuild the wall. He had to assess the situation and envision the people to do the work. But he encounters opposition. Earlier in the book Nehemiah has described how Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab had initially opposed the rebuilding work.

We love stories in part because of the dramatic moments, and Nehemiah includes a moment of great suspense at the start of chapter 4. It was four months between his praying and fasting and this moment that comes when Nehemiah was able to ask the king for help.

Nehemiah is clear in what he should do about the broken-down walls back in his people’s home city of Jerusalem. Having spent the time in prayer and fasting we can now read his recorded prayer to God, which includes the way in which he saw the justice of God’s action in His judgment of the people.

The idea of compassion fatigue was coined by a nurse in 1992 to describe the feeling of burnout that comes to those in the caring profession. The idea has been extended to include how people respond to news of unpleasant things that happen around the world.