God's Word For Every Day

John 15:20 , 26 , 16:13–15 , 33 , Rom 12:2 , 2 Tim 3:12 , 1 John 5:4–5 Jesus was ‘persecuted’. We will be ‘persecuted’ - ‘all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted’ ( John 15:20 ; 2 Timothy 3:12 ). We have no guarantee that life will be easy. In all our difficulties, ‘the Spirit of truth’ directs our attention to Jesus our Saviour ( John 15:26 ; 16:13-15 ). Whatever our problems, we draw encouragement from Jesus’ words: ‘In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ ( John 16:33 ). Here, we have realism and faith. The world is trying to squeeze us into its own mould ( Romans 12:2 ). Sometimes, we feel like faith is slipping away. Sometimes, we feel like giving up. What are we to say to all this? ‘Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?’ - This is our faith’ ( 1 John 5:4-5 ).

John 7:37-38  (1) We begin with the context of Jesus' great invitation -    (a) the Feast of Tabernacles;    (b) the teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures. (a) The Feast of Tabernacles   (i) Its historical significance It reminded the people of Israel that they had been wanderers in the desert, dependent on the grace and mercy of God to provide for them in their need.   (ii) Its agricultural significance It was a Harvest Thanksgiving. A priest took a golden pitcher, which held about two pints. He filled it with water from the Pool of Siloam. He carried it through the Water Gate, to the altar of the Temple, where it was poured out as an offering to God. This was a vivid thanksgiving for God's good gift of rain. It was an enacted prayer for rain. It was a memorial of the water which sprang from the rock, while God's people were travelling through the wilderness. It was in this context that Jesus spoke His tremendous words co...

The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God. All Scripture is God-breathed. We experience the Breath of God upon our life when we listen attentively to the God-breathed Scriptures. Paul speaks, in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, of the   relationship between the Breath of God (the Holy Spirit) and the God-breathed Word (the Holy Scriptures) - 'the Holy Scriptures ... are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work'. 1) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to make us wise.     The wisdom which comes from the Spirit and the Word is a special kind of wisdom. It is not the wisdom of this world. It is the wisdom which is bound up with Christ, salvation and faith. Worldly wisdom places great value on intellectual attainment. It emphasizes the importance of getting on in the world. Tru...

In the Old Testament, we read of Israel being brought close to the Lord -  "... Israel, the people close to his heart" (Psalm 148:14). In the New Testament, we read of both Jews and Gentiles being brought close to the Lord -  "He came and preached peace  to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.   18  For through him we both have access  to the Father  by one Spirit" (Ephesians 2:17-18) .  We give thanks to God for what he has done for Israel - but we  do not think only of what he has done for Israel. We look beyond what he has done for Israel - and we give thanks for what he has done for all nations. His love is not only for Israel. It's for people of every nation. As I was thinking about this - God has done great things for Israel, and he has done great things for us, I remembered the words of a song that I haven't heard for years -  " It is no secret what God can do, w hat he's done for others, h e'll do for...

Paul's life was not easy. His life story was not always a glowing success story. He suffered persecution because of his faithfulness to Christ and the Gospel. He spent time in prison because he refused to compromise his commitment to Christ. How was he able to remain faithful to Christ in such difficult circumstances? The answer is quite simple: the Holy Spirit. How did the Holy Spirit work in Paul's life? How does the Holy Spirit work in our lives? The Holy Spirit empowered Paul to be a disciple of Jesus. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be followers of the Lord.

The Rock and the River are still there – even when I can’t see them! We look out towards Dumbarton Rock and the River Clyde. There is, however, a problem! Straight ahead of us, there are some large trees. When the leaves are on the trees, we can’t see anything that’s behind the trees. We can’t see the Rock and the River – but they’re still there! There is another Rock – Jesus Christ, the Rock of our salvation. There is another River – the Holy Spirit, the River of God ’s blessing. When our faith is weak, we must remember this: Jesus is still the Rock of our salvation. When we don’t feel very blessed, we must remember this: the Holy Spirit is still the River of God ’s blessing. Jesus told a story about two builders. One was wise. He built his house on a rock. The other was foolish. He built his house on sand.   How are we to build our lives on Jesus Christ, the Rock of our salvation? We must hear His Word. We must obey His Word (Matthew 7:24). Hearing and obeying – this is th...

We begin with a simple and yet profoundly helpful illustration from James Philip. "The black plastic disc (for those who are more familiar with compact disc, he's speaking about the vinyl record - you can replace 'black plastic disc' with 'compact disc'!) that is put on the gramophone turntable has a voice within it, and when we put it on the pick-up the voice comes out; and every part of the disc contains the voice. You cannot say, "This part is the voice, but this part is only the plastic", for all the playing surface contains the voice. You cannot separate the voice from the disc once the voice has been recorded. This is how it is with the Scriptures. You cannot separate the living Word of God from the written word that contains it. Every verse contains the voice. All you need is a pick-up. Sometimes the needle gets worn and when the record is put on it is no longer clear. A good needle is needed to bring the voice out, and sometimes when faith ...

In Galatians 3:14 , we read about "receiving the promise of the Spirit through faith." What does this mean? It may be helpful to think, first, about what it doesn't mean. We must never think of the Holy Spirit as a reward that is given to us because we have faith - the more faith we have, the more the Holy Spirit is given to us. Where does this kind of thinking come from? It comes from human pride. We make too much of our faith - and we get things the wrong way round. When faith is real, it changes us. This is something that we must always emphasize - but we must make sure that we never give the impression that the Holy Spirit is a reward - God's way of recognizing how well we are doing in the life of faith. When we think that we are being rewarded, the focus is on ourselves - 'Look at what I've achieved. Look at the progress I've made.' We are called to make progress in the life of faith - but we must never forget where this progress comes ...