Be Still and Know

Matthew 6.13 NLT 'Don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.' When we prayed for our sins to be forgiven and for us to forgive others we were looking to the past. Now the Lord’s Prayer looks to the future. Once again t...

Matthew 6.12 NLT 'Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.' The Lord’s Prayer has its feet firmly planted on the ground! It talks about our everyday life and here it faces up to the horrible but undeniable fact that ...

Matthew 6.11 NLT 'Give us today the food we need.' Have you ever wondered why we ask God for food on a daily basis? Why not ask him to supply us for a week or even a month? It’s a perfectly sensible question and the answer is clearly that God...

Matthew 6.10 NLT 'May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.' The Lord’s Prayer, in common with the whole of Jesus’ ministry, is focused on the Kingdom of God. So we need to have a very clear idea what...

Matthew 6.9 NLT 'Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.' The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful model prayer and has been central to Christian worship from the earliest days. In the previous verse Jesus told his disciples...

Matthew 6.7-8 NLT 'When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before yo...

Matthew 6.6 NLT 'But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.' Jesus was reacting against the people who made a great show of...

Matthew 6.3-4 NLT 'When you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.' Is there anything worse than hypocrisy? ...

Psalm 68.28 NLT 'Summon your might, O God. Display your power, O God, as you have in the past.' There’s a Russian proverb which says, “Dwell in the past and you’ll lose an eye. Forget the past and you’ll lose both eyes.” That’s a wise saying ...

Psalm 66.1-2 NLT 'Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! Sing about the glory of his name! Tell the world how glorious he is.' When we think about worship we will naturally focus on the church community with which we meet regularly. That...

Psalm 65.9 NLT 'You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so.' These days less than two percent of the populati...

Psalm 63.1 NLT 'O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.' This psalm was almost certainly penned by King David after he had...

Psalm 62.10 NLT 'If your wealth increases, don’t make it the centre of your life.' It’s interesting how often the issue of wealth comes up in the Bible. Psalm 112 gives an attractive picture of the person who follows the Lord. Such a person t...

Psalm 62.1-2 NLT 'I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will neve be shaken.' What’s the biggest challenge that you have faced in life? It may have been an illn...

Acts 17.32-34 NLT When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” That ended Paul’s discussion with them, but some joined him and became believ...