Listening to the Word

1 Samuel 1-2; Psalms 66; 2 Corinthians 7 “’The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts…It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.’” 1 Samuel 2:6, 7, 9, 10 Hannah’s desperate cry to God for a son, who later represented God’s favour and blessing on her life as a wife and mother, took her to places of discovery with God that she would not have experienced otherwise. In the crucible of testing our hearts are examined by the Lord and what is in our heart is exposed. Hannah’s heart exposed faith in God, humility, and a willingness to sacrifice all for the Lord. She experienced God’s gift of a son; but more than that, she experienced the revelation of who God is. In surrender before the Lord, Hannah found God’s strength, mercy, provision, and honour. This is true for bot...

Ruth 3-4; Psalms 64-65; 2 Corinthians 6   “’Who are you?’ he asked. ‘I am your servant Ruth,’ she said. ‘Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer [guardian-redeemer].’” Ruth 3:9 Ruth’s faith-filled request for Boaz to spread the corner of his garment over her could have been rejected. Yet it is this humility and faith-filled plea that God looks for in extending salvation to those who come to him. Some translations use the word “wings” instead of “corner of your garment.” Both words represent protection and refuge. The redeemer, or guardian-redeemer, was the closest relative who could intervene in the case of a widow who was childless. To maintain the family name and lineage the redeemer would marry the widow and acquire her property. In Christ, we have received a guardian-redeemer who has adopted us into his family and brought us under the shelter of his wings. We now belong to him and have been given the name of Jesus Christ. This approach of fai...

Ruth 1-2; Psalms 53, 61; 2 Corinthians 5   “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.” Psalm 61:1-3 “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 Both David and Paul knew the refuge of God’s presence in the midst of their spiritual battles. Where do we turn in the midst of our tests, conflicts, and crucibles? David knew refuge in caves and rocky strongholds in the Judean desert. However, he also knew only the Lord could lead him to the “rock that is higher than I.” Paul was a tentmaker, yet he also realized his eternal home was a building from God, not built by human hands. Paul lived by faith and not by sight. His ‘home’ was in the Lord. Where have we found a refuge, or ‘home’? We were crea...

Judges 19-21; 2 Corinthians 4 “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body…because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.” 2 Corinthians 4:10, 14 Without death there is no resurrection. The resurrection-life of Jesus within us requires us first to die with Christ to our sinful nature. Our false self, or sinful nature, is continually asserting itself through religious performance, self-promotion, self-protection, and fear. This sinful nature was challenged by sacrificial love and defeated by Christ on the cross. It was cruciform love which moved Christ to the cross and it is cruciform love which moves us to deny ourselves (our sinful nature), take up our cross, and follow Jesus. The degree to which we choose to daily live this way, allows us to experience the resurrection life of Jesus flowing in us and through us, through the...

Judges 17-18; Psalms 89; 2 Corinthians 3   “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect on the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17, 18 Paul pointed to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of disciples of Christ as the key to ongoing transformation into the image of Christ. Why? …because it is the Lord Jesus who is the Spirit. These two members of the Godhead function together in unity. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus. The freedom within which leads to the freedom without comes by yielding to and obeying the Holy Spirit. As the presence of Jesus becomes evident in our lives we both reflect and contemplate the glory of the Lord. This ministry of God’s presence within us leads to great joy and freedom in his ministry through us to others. Are we en...

Judges 13-16; 2 Corinthians 2   “If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven – if there was anything to forgive – I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” 2 Corinthians 2:10, 11 Relational conflict, and the case of Paul’s context in writing to Corinth following church discipline, provides an opportunity for Satan to gain a foothold in our lives. Unforgiveness is a common strategy of Satan to put disciples of Christ ‘offside’ with the Lord. There are many schemes of Satan to distract, discredit, and destroy God’s people. Few are as effective as unforgiveness. We can rationalize unforgiveness as being justified for any number of reasons; but we ourselves then become bound by it. To outwit someone, is to use deception to defeat them. As those who have been forgiven by Christ, we are called to forgive others, regardless of the offense. What schemes have the enemy plotte...