Read Your Bible, Find Your Saviour.

Let us pray for God's blessing - not only for ourselves but for others. Let us pray, "Lord, bless me and make me a blessing to the people that I meet." May we bring to others "the pleasing aroma of Christ ... the aroma that bringd life" (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).  

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord ... when he (Moses) came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35  they saw that his face was radiant" (Exodus 34:29, 34-35). Moses didn't realize that his face was shining - but the people saw that his face was shining! There's an important lesson for spiritual leaders here. Moses was too aware of his own shortcomings to realize how much blessing was coming out from him to the people. We should never think, "How much I've been blessed" without also thinking, "How much I've sinned." It's by the grace of God, that the blessing comes to us. It's by the grace of God that the blessing comes out from us and reaches out to others. We must never forget what Paul said about himself and his calling: "Although I am less than the least of all the ...

In Ezekiel 38:23, we read about God's purpose in history - "I will show My greatness and My holiness. I will reveal Myself to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord." It is important that we see the divine dimension in the events which take place here on earth. There are political events, but politics isn't everything. There's more than politics. There's the work of God. He is working out His plan, "I will pour out My Spirit on the nation of Israel" (Ezekiel 39:29). True blessing comes when God pours out His Spirit. This is something for which we must always - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In Ezekiel 40-43, we have a description of the temple. We can measure the physical dimensions of the temple, but there is something that we cannot measure: "I saw the glory of the Lord fill the temple" (Ezekiel 43:5). This is the spiritual dimension. This is the presence of the Spirit of the  Lord. We look beyond the ...

Exodus 2:23-25 The Exodus is more than a departure. It's a deliverance. It's more than a protest against Egypt. It's an answer to prayer. It's more than a social revolution. It's a spiritual revelation of God's love. Exodus 3:1-22 Moses may have been content to remain in the background. God was calling him to step into the foreground - for God’s people. This is more than the story of Moses. It’s the story of Israel. It points forward to God’s purpose for all nations. When we read the Old Testament story, we find that God is saying to us, ‘This is just the beginning. There is more than this.’ From Exodus to the Gospels, to Acts, to the book of Revelation: We’re not at the final triumph yet. Like those who have come before us - Moses, the Psalmist, the prophets, Jesus, Peter, Paul, we must face conflict. There will be glimpses of glory, but the full glory is still to come. In Exodus, we see God’s people on a journey. It’s a journey with Go...

Genesis 21:1-34 There are two very different kinds of laughter in the story of Sarah. there is the laughing in Genesis 18:13-15. This is the laughter of unbelief, laughing at the Lord, with the proud attitude that God's Word cannot be taken seriously. There is the laughter of faith, the laughter which rejoices in the Lord - "God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about me will laugh with me" (Genesis 21:6). This is the rejoicing of Sarah at the birth of Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael are not forgotten - God's sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). The final section - Genesis 21:22-34 - sees Abraham acting more nobly than he did in Genesis 21. It ends with Abraham worshipping the Lord, the everlasting God (Genesis 21:33).

In Exodus 20, we read "the Ten Commandments", and, straightaway, we may be on our guard against legalism. In Exodus 20:5, we read words that make us feel that we, sinners, can't possibly come into the presence of the God of perfect holiness: " I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me." As we read such words, we may wonder, "Is this all that God has to say to us?" As we read on to Exodus 20:6, we read something else, something that we could easily miss: " showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments." How wonderful it is that, in the heart of the Law, there is this word of love! Is it still demanding of us something that is beyond us - loving God and keeping His commandments? Yes! That's what the Law says to us - but, still, there is this glimpse of God's love, which leads our thoughts beyon...