God's Word For Every Day

Genesis 21:22-22:14 Lord, You are with us – even when we feel that You are far away from us. We think about what’s going on in our life – and we get it all wrong! We look at what’s happening – and we think that You’ve gone away and left us. When will we learn? – It’s us who’ve gone away and left you! We start thinking, ‘You need to come back to me, Lord.’ You’re saying to us, ‘No! You’ve got it all wrong. It’s you that needs to come back to Me.’ Even in our darkest days, You’ve never gone away and left us. You’ve always been there – all the time. You’ve always been there – for us. Thank You, Lord.

Genesis 18:1-15 Lord, Your love is greater than our sin. You have a great purpose for every one of us – but our sin gets in the way! You want to make us more like Jesus – but there’s so much of self in us! You want to lead us in the pathway of victory – but Satan’s always trying to trip us up! What are we to make of all this? Are we to give up in despair? No! We must not give up – because You, Lord, never give up on us. Your love is greater than our sin. You will fulfil Your great purpose in us. You will make us more like Jesus. You will lead us in the pathway of victory. Our sin shall not triumph over Your love. Satan will be defeated. Your “love has the victory for ever!” (Mission Praise, 86).

Genesis 18:16-33 To You, Lord, be all the glory – You have done so many great things for us. So many blessings – and they all come from You, Lord. Our sins have been forgiven. You’ve come to live in us. Such great blessing – but this is just the beginning! You’re leading us on to eternal life. Lord, when our heads go down, help us to lift up our eyes. Help us to “come and see the shining hope.” Help us to look through heaven’s “open door.” Help us to catch a glimpse of “the mighty multitudes of heaven… singing, ‘Alleluia!’… Love has the victory for ever!” (Mission Praise, 86).

Genesis 17:1-27 Lord, everything seems so hopeless  - when we take our eyes off You! Help us to keep our eyes on You. Fill us with fresh hope. Sometimes, we can be optimists. Often, we’re pessimists. You’re always “the God of hope” ( Romans 15:13 ). You’re always saying to us, “There is hope” ( Jeremiah 31:17 ). Lord, real hope comes from You. It’s more than human optimism. It’s Your gift to us. It’s Your “gift of eternal life” ( Romans 6:23 ). Lord, real hope comes from You. It’s more than just “hoping for the best.” It’s being lifted up by You, Lord – the God who raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 2::24). Thank You, Lord, for the hope that You give to us when we stand upon Your great promises: “I will pour out My Spirit … and everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” ( Acts 2:18 , 21 ). You lift us out of our hopelessness. You give us strength to face the future with confidence – the strength which comes from knowing that You are the God of ...

“And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away” ( Genesis 21:25 , King James Version). As I read this verse, I found myself thinking about God’s Word and God’s Spirit. Through God’s written Word, the Holy Spirit speaks to us His Word of “reproof” and “correction” ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ). In His ministry of reproof, He says to us, “This is not the way you are to go.” In His ministry of correction, He says to us, “This is the way you are to go.” Leading us out of the wrong way and into the right way – this is the Spirit’s ministry of reproof and correction. Jesus speaks of this ministry of the Spirit – He leads us out of “sin” and into “righteousness” ( John 16:8 ). The Holy Spirit calls us to look at ourselves honestly. He shows us that we “have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters” ( Jeremiah 2:13 ). Jesus calls us to “come to Him and drink.” He says to us that, when we believe in Him, “rivers of liv...

Genesis 46:1-34 Lord, we thank You that we do not need to live in fear. Your love is greater than our fear. Where does fear come from? It comes from the devil. Who is he? He's our enemy. He's a determined enemy. He's also a defeated enemy. Lord, we rejoice in Your word of victory: "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" ( 1 Corinthians 15:57 ).

Genesis 15:1-21 Lord, we thank You that You are always with us – even when bad things are happening to us.

Genesis 14:1-24 Lord, what are we to do when we can’t find any peace of mind? Where are we to look? Are we to look inside of ourselves? Is that where we’ll find peace? Is there an inner peace – if we look deep enough, we’ll find it? Jesus says something very different. He says, “My peace I give to you” ( John 14:27 ). Peace is His gift to us. It’s not something that’s already there in our hearts – if we look deep enough we’ll find it. It’s something that has to be given to us. We have to receive it from Jesus. Inner peace, peace of mind – All of this seems to be so much about ourselves: if you look deep enough, you’ll find it! What does all this have to do with You, Lord? – Nothing at all! It’s all to do with ourselves. It’s all about self-discovery. Lord, teach us Your way of peace. Show us that real peace is peace with You. Show us that this peace comes to us “through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” ( Romans 5:1 ). We can’t escape from our sin. It follows us...

Genesis 13:1-18 Lord, help us to make good choices. When we’re at the crossroads of life, we can so easily head off in the wrong direction. At the crossroads of life, we need Jesus. He is the Way – the true and living Way ( John 14:6 ). “Without the Way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. Without the life, there is no living.” Help us to choose well. Help us to choose Jesus. Lord, give us this great testimony: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” ( Galatians 2:20 ). Lord, help us to keep on praying this prayer: “May there be less of self and more of Christ in me” ( John 3:30 ).

Genesis 30:25-31:21 Guide us, Lord, by Your light and Your truth ( Psalm 48:14 ; Psalm 43:3 ). Let Your light shine into our darkness. Let Your truth lift us out of the way that leads away from You and into the way that leads to You. Lead us to Jesus - He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" ( John 14:6 ).

Genesis 12:1-20 Lord, sometimes, we feel like we’re stuck in a rut. When we feel like this, help us to see that You’ve moved on ahead of us. You’re calling us on – into Your future! Do we need to see exactly where You’re leading us? – No! We don’t! We just need to keep on following You. The future may be unknown to us – but it’s never unknown to You! “Face the sun and the shadows will fall behind you. Look to the One who can put your past behind ou. Be the one you were born to be – Don’t you want to be free? … There'll be brighter days ahead” (Garry Brotherston). Lord, let there be no more fear of an unknown future. Help us to look to the Son. Help us to know that, with Him, we can never be stuck in a rut! Help us to move forward with Him and for Him.

“Created in the image of God” ( Genesis 1:26-27 ) - “God saw everything that He had created… it was very good” ( Genesis 1:31 ). At the end of Genesis 1, things couldn’t get any better. It looked so promising. The future looked bright with hope. It was bright with the light of God’s love. Everything looked so good. Could things get any better than this? Sometimes when we feel like this, there can be trouble just around the next corner! That’s what we have in Genesis 3. It begins with the question, “Did God say?” ( Genesis 3:1 ). This is asking for trouble – big trouble! Before long, questioning becomes contradiction – “the serpent said to the woman, ‘You shall not surely die” ( Genesis 3:4 ). God says one thing. The serpent (Satan – see Revelation 12:9 ) says something else. He says the exact opposite! From that moment, there was conflict – but there was also the promise of victory. In Genesis 3:15 , there’s a great prophecy. It points forward to the death of Jesus Christ...

Genesis 22:15-23:20 Lord, help us to remember that You are the everlasting God. We are so changeable. Your love for us is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. Our feelings take us here, there and everywhere. Your love brings us back to the place where our love for You grows strong. How does our love for You grow strong? Is this something that we do for ourselves? – No! It’s something that You do for us. You show us how much You love for us. You take us to the Cross of Christ. You show us that Your love for us remains strong even when our love for You has become very weak. This is the way in which our love for You grows strong. We are strengthened by a stronger love, a love that never becomes weak, a love that is always strong - everlasting love. These are things we must never forget – Lord, help us to remember that You are the everlasting God. Help us to remember that Your love is everlasting love.

Genesis 10:1-32 Lord, Your love makes us feel very special. There are plenty of times when we’re down in the dumps – and we need some encouragement from You. When we feel like this, help us to remember that Your love makes us very special: “I’m special because God loves me.” How do we know that You love us? – You gave Your Son, Jesus, to be our Saviour. What are we to say when we think of Jesus – crucified for us? “Thank You Jesus, thank You Lord, for loving me so much.” We look at ourselves – and we know that we’re nothing special. We look at Jesus. We think of His love for us – and something happens. We begin to feel that we are very special – to You! “Help me feel Your love right now, to know deep in my heart that I’m Your special friend” (Graham Kendrick).

Genesis 5:1-17 From the story of Cain - taking God for granted (the opposite of grace), approaching God proudly (the opposite of faith), rebelling against God (the opposite of obedience) - , we come to a list of names and numbers. In this first part of the chapter, there is nothing of any note. Perhaps, this is the significant feature of this long list of names. There is nothing considered to be worthy of special note, except the length of their lives. What a sad reflection on the value of a life when all that can be said is this: He lived, and he died! What we must remember is this: the quantity of our years is less important than the quality of our living. How long we live is less important than how well we live. We have been ‘created...in the likeness of God’(1), yet so often we miss out on this spiritual dimension. We have been ‘blessed’ by God (2) - ‘Count your blessings’. Genesis 5:18-32 In this second part of the list, two names get a special mention - E...

Don't blame me! It's not my fault!  These words take us back a long way - back to the Garden of Eden, back to the beginning of sin (Genesis 3). It's not just a story from a long, long time ago. It's our story. It's the story of every one of us. We don't confess our sin. We make excuses for ourselves. What does God say about this? He says, 'Really? - Do you really think it's not your fault? Do you really think you're not to blame?' Let's go back to Genesis 3. What do we find there? We find sin - and, before that, we find temptation. What's the connection between temptation and sin? Temptation gives us a choice to make. Temptation came from "the serpent" (in Revelation 12:9, we learn that "the ancient serpent" is, also, known by the names, "the devil" and "Satan.) When did temptation become sin? It became sin when Adam and Eve chose to do what the serpent suggested they should do. The temptation came fr...

Genesis 16:1-16 Lord, living for You isn’t easy – Satan makes sure of that! We try to escape his evil clutches – but he’s always there, and he’s up to no good! Satan is such a determined enemy. Help us to remind him that he’s a defeated enemy. We’re often tempted – and we feel so weak. Help us to tell Satan that Jesus is Lord – and we belong to Jesus! Satan wins some battles with us. He gives us a hard time. Often, he gets the better of us. Help us to remind him that the final triumph belongs to Jesus. Beyond our present conflict, there is His final triumph; “This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song” (from “Stand up, stand up for Jesus”).

“Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought many devices” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). * Following the glory and majesty of the Creator and His creation in Genesis 1 & 2, the third chapter of Genesis begins with the enemy of God, the enemy of our souls, the devil, Satan (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2). He is “subtle” – sly, cunning, crafty. He is evil.He sows seeds of doubt: “Did God say?” (Genesis 3:1). From his very first words, it is clear that he is the enemy of God. “Did God say? Did God really say?” One can almost hear the wicked, unbelieving tone of voice with which Satan spoke. * When the woman heard the voice of Satan, she ought to have turned away from him. She ought to have said, “Get behind me, Satan. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.” She ought to have said this, but she didn’t. She discussed the matter with the enemy. She had no right to do this. There was one answer she ought to have given to the devil: God has s...

Genesis 1:1-3 Lord, help us to get our priorities right – Your priorities. May our lives be more centred on You – less centred on ourselves. Help us to listen for Your Word – not to jump straight in with our own words. Help us to open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit. May He move among us – in power, in love, in holiness, in victory. Transform our life, O Lord – May we live as a new creation in Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ). May we know the great blessing of knowing that Jesus, our Saviour, is always “God with us” ( Matthew 1:23 ). Genesis 1:4-13                                    Lord, when You speak to us, help us to say, ‘Your will be done’ ( Matthew 6:10 ). ‘Let it be to me according to Your Word’ ( Luke 1:38 ) – This was Mary’s prayer. May it also be our prayer. By ourselves, we are helpless an...