Podcast
Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion
Hosted by Premier · EN
Bring some Spirit-filled peace into your hectic schedule every weekday morning with this new Daily Devotional.
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May 24th - Acts 2:1-4
2d ago00:03:16Tap to summarizeActs 2:1-4 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. Pentecost Sunday marks the birthday of the Church. Jesus had asked His followers to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit – and suddenly He arrived. Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival and was held 50 days after Passover. It was one of three annual pilgrimage festivals so Jerusalem would have been heaving with pilgrims from all over the region. The group of Jesus’ followers was probably gathered in the upper room where they had been in the habit of meeting. One can imagine them meeting quietly and prayerfully as they had done since the time of Jesus’ ascension. Then everything changed as they were overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. A completely new era had begun and it was marked by wind and fire. The violent wind filled the whole house, symbolising the breath of life that the Holy Spirit brings. The tongues of fire, which rested on each of them, spoke of the cleansing and refining work of the Spirit. No one could miss the fact that something dramatic was taking place. As the Holy Spirit came upon them, they spoke in other languages as they worshipped. What an incredible moment. Our experience of the Holy Spirit might be very different, but we should be encouraged that He is the same Spirit who wants to blow His breath of life into us today, as well as refine us with His fire. One thing that the Holy Spirit never does is to leave things the way they are. He is constantly challenging, renewing and purifying us as we worship God together. Question In what ways have you experienced the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit? Prayer God our Father, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit. Help me to welcome Him today, so that I may become more like Jesus. Amen
Transcribe →May 23rd - Acts 1:24-26
3d ago00:03:02Tap to summarizeActs 1:24-26 Then they all prayed, “O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven. After the ascension of Jesus, the eleven disciples needed to find a successor to Judas Iscariot. They identified two candidates whom they considered to be suitable, Barsabbas and Matthias. We don’t know anything about them, but clearly they had spent time with Jesus and were part of the wider circle of His followers. It seems strange that, having committed the decision to God in prayer, they then cast lots. This certainly isn’t a method that I have ever employed, but it was their way of leaving the decision up to God. They played their part in choosing two people who they believed to be appropriately qualified, but then they let God decide. We don’t hear of anyone else casting lots in this way elsewhere in the New Testament and many people assume that the practice belonged firmly to the period before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Once the Spirit had been given, the Church could look to Him to guide all decision-making. That isn’t to say that decision-making is now easy! But we can confidently lean upon the Holy Spirit and seek His guidance in every detail of our lives, without resorting to apparently random measures like casting lots. The rest of Acts gives us an amazing account of how the Holy Spirit guides people. Step by step He led this small, weak and confused group of ordinary people into becoming a large missionary movement, which turned the world upside down. Question In what way are you seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit today? Prayer Loving God, thank You that You have given me Your Holy Spirit to enable me to make good decisions today. Amen
Transcribe →May 22nd - Acts 1:12 -14
4d ago00:03:16Tap to summarizeActs 1:12 -14 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying…They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. The days between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost were filled with prayer. All the disciples knew was that they had to wait and didn’t want to do this alone. We read that they met together in an upper room, which may well have been the same place they had gathered for the last supper. What matters is that they were together and it is interesting to note that the eleven disciples were joined by Jesus’ mother and brothers. We know little about Jesus’ brothers, but John records that, prior to His death, they did not believe in Him (John 7:5). What an amazing time of prayer it must have been! Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on them, but hadn’t said when this would happen. They simply had to wait in expectation, with the confidence of knowing that God had a perfect plan. In one sense prayer is always like this. Although we live in the privileged days of the Spirit, whenever we pray there is much that we do not know. We only partly know God’s plans for our lives, our church and our world. As we pray, we open ourselves afresh to the breath of God’s Spirit and invite Him to meet with us. Prayer is the privilege of every Christian and we will often pray by ourselves. But there is something very important about praying with our Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus said, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). As we pray together the risen Lord Jesus Christ stands with us, strengthening and inspiring us. What could be more exciting than that? Question Why is waiting so important in our Christian lives? Prayer Gracious Lord, teach me more about the importance of expectant prayer, and help me to treasure the opportunities You give me to pray with my Christian brothers and sisters. Amen
Transcribe →May 21st - Titus 3:1-2
5d ago00:03:36Tap to summarizeTitus 3:1-2 Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarrelling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has 38 member countries and it regularly runs surveys to discover the level of trust that people have in their government. Overall, it has discovered that about 44% of people have little or no trust in their government. This result is not that surprising. People are endlessly critical of political leaders and deeply cynical about the whole political process. However, I am sure that the situation in Crete when Paul wrote to Titus was a great deal worse. And, to add to that, Cretans were notoriously turbulent and quarrelsome and were inclined to challenge every kind of authority. So Paul’s words would have come as a huge challenge to them. In his letter to the Romans, Paul gave his fundamental reason for encouraging obedience to the government. He believed that their authority came from God and so rebelling against the government was, in fact, a form of rebellion against God Himself. Paul reasoned that the authorities struck fear in people who were doing wrong, not those who were doing right, and so the general public should have no reason to be afraid of them. Indeed, he argued that if the people did what was right then the authorities would honour them. The authorities were God’s servants and were sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do wrong. For all of these reasons Paul was convinced that Christians should live as good, responsible citizens and should pay their taxes willingly (see Romans 13:1-7). These challenging words should cause us to reflect on our own relationship with the authorities in our society. Paul would certainly urge us to live as good citizens and to give thanks for those who give us security and an ordered society. I don’t believe that Paul was suggesting we should simply accept everything the government does. Rather, as good and responsible citizens, we should find ways to encourage and support those who bear such heavy responsibilities. Question In what ways should we show our support for our government? Prayer Father God, I pray for those who govern our country. Grant them Your wisdom and peace, and help me always to serve You well as a citizen. Amen
Transcribe →May 20th - Titus 2:9-10
6d ago00:03:32Tap to summarizeTitus 2:9-10 Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive in every way. The idea of slavery is so appalling that it is hard for us to imagine what it would be like to live in a world where it was normal. However, this was clearly the case in the Roman empire. It was simply an accepted part of everyday life and at no point do we hear about anyone in the Bible attempting to dismantle or even challenge the system of slavery. Paul’s concern was that Christian slaves should live in a way that commended the good news. Most slave masters would have known nothing of the Christian faith and so the best opportunity for them to learn about it would be through their slaves. Good conduct and reliability would convey an important message to the slaves’ masters, and show the attractiveness of the gospel. Paul’s advice is no less relevant today in the world of employment. Most people, and therefore most employers, do not attend church so have little or no idea about the Christian message. Therefore, the most effective way of communicating with them is through the lives of Christians who work with them. In the workplace, there are constant pressures and challenges and the way in which Christians handle them will communicate more than any sermon. When everyone is stressed and tempers get frayed, the patience, grace and peace of a Christian worker can be incredibly powerful. If the workplace is where many people will get their best opportunity to see Christianity in action, we need to give strong support to one another as we go to work. It won’t always be easy to live for Christ in organisations which are often focused on making a profit. But if that is where God has called people to serve Him, church leaders need to make sure that sermons and services equip people to live out their faith at work. And we all need to encourage one another, so that we will live up to the high standards Paul expected of slaves so long ago. Questions In what ways could we do more to encourage people to live out their Christian values at work? Prayer Loving God, help me always to give my best in everything I do, so that other people may be drawn towards You. Amen
Transcribe →May 19th - Titus 2:1
1w ago00:03:31Tap to summarizeTitus 2:1 As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. Paul’s letters are incredibly down to earth. He was very concerned to ensure that everyone understood the basic elements of Christian doctrine. They needed to know who God is and why He sent Jesus into the world to save us from our sins. But he knew that Christian teaching also needed to be turned into action. In this fascinating chapter, Paul guides his young friend Titus in the way in which he should teach and guide the church members. His guidance was coloured by gender and age in a very interesting way. The older men needed to live wisely and carefully, to have sound faith and to be full of love and patience (v2). The older women were told not to slander other people or be heavy drinkers and were encouraged to train the younger women to love their husbands and their children (vv3-4). Young men were also encouraged to live wisely (v6). Alongside all this, Paul urged Titus to be an example “by doing good works of every kind” (v7). Titus had his work cut out! Paul’s teaching challenges us to reflect on what it means to serve God in terms of our age and circumstances. We are, of course, all called to be loving, wise, patient and faithful, but that will demand different things of us depending on our circumstances. Christian leaders need to reflect carefully on the teaching that they give, working out what its implications will be for the range of people in their congregations. Living for Christ will mean very different things for teenagers, parents, middle-aged people, old people, the sick, the employed, the unemployed and the retired. Thoughtful, practical teaching will always need to sit alongside the personal example of the church leader. Paul described Titus as his true son and we may presume that Titus was younger than many of the people in the Cretan churches. But everyone was looking to him, so he needed to ensure that he was walking closely to the Lord and setting a really good example. Question What advice do you think needs to be given to people of your own age? Prayer Lord God, help me to apply my Christian faith to the way in which I live for You today. Amen
Transcribe →May 18th - Titus 1:15
1w ago00:03:47Tap to summarizeTitus 1:15 Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. These words may well feel familiar. They closely echo the words of Jesus when he said that: “a good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45). Paul’s particular challenge in Crete came from those who were insisting that all Christian men should be circumcised. This teaching was proving extremely destructive and was driving whole families away from the church. Paul was convinced that the only reason they were teaching this was to make money. He quoted a Cretan prophet who had said that: “The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals and lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). This sounds incredibly harsh, but clearly Paul was desperate to protect the young church from those who were bent on its destruction. Paul was convinced that what mattered before anything was the purity of people’s hearts. If they got that right then everything that flowed from them would be good. That is something that King David had to learn. He had proved to be a good leader in so many ways, but when he saw Bathsheba and longed to sleep with her his moral compass suddenly deserted him. The problem with sins is that they don’t come singly. His adultery with Bathsheba led to a string of lies and eventually to the murder of her husband. Bad went to much worse, but that’s the nature of sin. After Nathan’s confrontation with him, David discovered that the only way back to God was by seeking His forgiveness. He needed a purity which only God could give him. In Psalm 51 he cried out: “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2). The result was that he got his joy back and was able to serve God with a clear conscience. There is nothing in life that is more important than maintaining a pure heart and every single day we need to seek God’s forgiveness, renewal and strength. Question In what ways do you need to seek God’s forgiveness today? Prayer Lord God, thank You that You understand me completely and are able to purify me. Here and now, I confess my sins to You and seek Your forgiveness. Amen
Transcribe →May 17th - Titus 1:5-6
1w ago00:03:27Tap to summarizeTitus 1:5-6 I left you on the island of Crete so you could complete our work there and appoint elders in each town as I instructed you. An elder must live a blameless life. Crete had many cities. Homer, the Greek poet, described the island as “Crete of the hundred cities.” The apostle Paul was clearly concerned that each community of Christian believers should have leadership and he trusted his friend Titus to get on with the job of appointing elders. He described these elders in many ways but, above all, it was the quality of their life that mattered. They needed to be blameless. That doesn’t mean that he was looking for perfection but, clearly, he was keen that they should live exemplary lives. This would set a high standard for the churches as they encountered continual challenges. A key part of this was the way in which the elder looked after his own family. How could an elder possibly lead God’s household if he couldn’t take care of his own? When we appoint leaders, it is easy to be unduly impressed by their qualifications. Academic degrees are definitely important but they cannot take the place of character. Someone with a string of degrees and good communication skills would not make a good Christian leader if they were arrogant, uncaring or ill-disciplined. Different church streams have a wide range of ways of making appointments, but they all need our prayers and support as they try to find appropriate people. Paul made it clear at the beginning of all his letters that he was appointed by God. Being a Christian leader wasn’t his own bright idea but God’s. Here, he was clearly urging Titus to make appointments on the same basis. Titus needed to seek out those whom God had already called and to set them aside for the awesome privilege of leading the church. Nothing has changed – that is still our responsibility today. Question What do you think are the most important character traits for a Christian leader? Prayer Loving God, thank You for those who are responsible for selecting Christian leaders. Please fill them with Your Holy Spirit and enable them to make decisions that will build Your Church. Amen
Transcribe →May 16th - Titus 1:2
1w ago00:03:16Tap to summarizeTitus 1:2 This truth gives [those God has chosen] confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. We inevitably spend much of our life focused on the here and now. We need to eat, drink, work and sleep, and often there won’t be much time to do anything else. But we all need to make sure we find time to stand back from this busyness and look at our lives on a bigger scale. I’ve just been watching a rugby match. It was full of interesting incidents, but in order to understand what was going on and the significance of it, one needs to reflect on the match as a whole. So too with our earthly lives. We need to stand back and realise that our present experiences need to be seen as part of the great canvas of eternity. Rick Warren, the American author and founder of Saddleback Church, has written about the importance of looking at life from an eternal perspective. He wrote: “When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesn’t matter as much anymore.” Having an eternal perspective also gives us a great confidence as we look to the future. Everything in this world is so obviously temporary. Possessions, fame and even our human relationships come and go. None of them is built for eternity, apart from our relationship with God. That doesn’t mean our present experiences are trivial and unimportant – far from it – but they need to be enjoyed and understood from an eternal perspective. When we look at life that way, it actually gives greater significance and importance to our everyday experiences. Question In what ways do you find it helpful to look at life from the perspective of eternity? Prayer Lord God, I thank You that my future is in Your eternal hands. Amen
Transcribe →May 15th - Titus 1:1
2w ago00:03:05Tap to summarizeTitus 1:1 This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was born into a strongly Jewish family and also had the privilege of being a Roman citizen. It is quite likely that his family was wealthy and that he would have been waited on by slaves from birth. He himself certainly wasn’t a slave within his society, but when it came to his relationship with God, slavery was precisely the right description. God was in command of his life. I wonder how you describe yourself. In our society, people like to be in control of their lives, but Christian faith deliberately involves handing over the controls to God. The reason for this is simply that He understands us perfectly and is far better able to direct our lives. Slave of God is therefore a title of honour and pride. Paul’s other description of himself is as an apostle of Jesus Christ. For Paul, the defining moment of his life occurred on the road to Damascus. On that journey, he was confronted by the risen Lord Jesus, and he was convinced that he had been commissioned by Jesus himself to spread the good news among non-Jews. Paul hadn’t had the privilege of knowing Jesus during His earthly ministry, but he was sure that he had become one of His apostles, sent out to spread the gospel. Paul was always concerned to emphasise that his ministry wasn’t his idea. It was God’s. It was God who had called him, and God who would equip him for his vital ministry. Whatever we are doing today, it’s important for us all to remind ourselves that we are called by God and therefore perfectly equipped to do whatever He calls us to do. Question How would you respond to being described as the ‘Slave of God’? Prayer Loving God, thank You for calling me to serve You today. Thank You that You promise to strengthen me for everything that You ask me to do. Amen
Transcribe →