Majestic Name, glorious inheritance

Psalm 8.

In the passage, the Psalmist reminds us of the majesty of God in creation, and the glorious inheritance we have through the cross of Jesus.

v2
You have ordained strength to the weak in order to silence the enemy.

v3-5
You have ordained (crowned) glory and honour to man (much more than you ordained to other works of your hands) in order to demonstrate your love (how ‘mindful' you are for us).

v6-8
You have ordained (made to have) dominion in order to show the majesty of your cross (because you have put all things under his feet).

And for Your bloody, wonderful, glorious cross - which defeated Your enemies (including death), demonstrated Your love for us, and caused us to reign as co-heirs with Christ (Eph 1:18-23), we say O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Reflect & Pray

What change has the cross of Jesus made to your life? How might the blessings of this new life in Christ lead you to worship?

Thank you Jesus for your death on the cross, and your glorious resurrection to set us free, amen!

God bless you exceedingly,
Sam.

True life begins with accepting the word

Mark 4:1-20, 26-29. (The Parables of the Sower and Growing Seed). How do you respond to God’s word? Jesus shows that the continuous experience of true life only comes from accepting the word of God. Anything short, at its best, only yields momentary joy. In teaching about the Kingdom of God (v11, 26), Jesus speaks of a farmer who goes to sow seeds and scatters them on all kinds of soils, with the good soil truly yielding life (v1-8, 26). The seed is the word of God (v14), and the soils are how we respond to the word. But there is only one right response. Accept it The parable shows that just as the kind of soil affects the yield, the kind of response affects the experience of the Kingdom of God. It’s like signing up for an online service, say Amazon; there are terms and conditions open to all. You can either ignore it, tiptoe around it, cons...

Accompanied by unfailing love

Ruth 1:1-22. I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas break. Happy New Year! The Book of Ruth has been called the most beautiful short story ever written because of its simple narrative. A narrative that shows how God’s provision for our needs or challenges is often woven into the simple acts of human kindness. Chapter 1 shows the kindness of a daughter-in-law, Ruth, to her mother-in-law, Naomi (v8, 16, 22), and we’ll see God at work through that. But first, the passage sets the context by introducing us to Naomi’s loss… Naomi lost her family… When Naomi (which means pleasant) is first introduced, we are told of her loss. A woman in a foreign land who lost her family (v1-5). She feels bitter, empty and afflicted by the Lord (v21). Why so? …Because Naomi knows Israel’s God to be the Almighty—Sovereign. He can bring famine to ...

God’s mercy: sovereign over all

Jonah 1:1-16. I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas break. Happy New Year! Have you ever had one of those sat-nav moments where no matter how far off course you go, it keeps rerouting and repeating “make a u-turn.” That’s the story of Jonah. God sends him north-east to Nineveh, but Jonah heads west to Joppa instead. And the book shows us something remarkable: God’s response to people on the wrong route isn’t abandonment, but mercy. Like a sat-nav, He keeps rerouting and calling us back to Himself. Jonah takes us on a journey into the nature of God’s mercy. In today’s passage, as we see the striking stubbornness of Jonah toward God, we begin to see the saving sovereignty of God’s mercy. In spite of Jonah’s refusal of God’s directive, God is still in control. He commands and can change all things (Ps 148:5, Jer 32:17). ...

A Devotional Life

Search This Blog