ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
UNITED CHURCH
Daily Devotions
22 April 2024
No one has ever seen God; But if we love one another, God lives in us and His
love is made complete in us. 1 John 4 : 12
Reading:
1 John 4 : 7 – 16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that who ever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3 : 16 and “This is
love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us. ! John 4 : 10. When we
offer others love as imperfect as it may be, God completes it and so the love
shared is much greater. Many have been hurt and hence turn away from
sharing love but we can be healed by Christ’s love working through us.
In our reading today we read that everyone who loves has experienced God’s
love and knows God. We also read that when we confess that Jesus is the Son
of God, God lives in us and we live in Him. The greatest way we can show that
we love God’s Son, Jesus, is by loving and caring for our neighbours. We were
created to have fellowship with each other, not to live in isolation of others.
Paul wrote that if we display all the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but do not share
love with others, all the other gifts are nullified. Furthermore, if we share our
love with others, we are enabled to continue Jesus’ ministry in the world and
will find that we receive greater rewards in return. But to do this we need to
remain connected to the vine. Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in
you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can
you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” John 15 : 4
“Christ has no body on earth but ours. No hands but ours, no feet but ours.
Ours are the eyes which show Christ’s compassion to the world. Ours are the
feet with which He will walk doing good. Ours are the hands with which He
blesses us.” From Teresa Avila.
Prayer:
Lord God, we thank you that you first loved us and gave us the capacity to love
others. Open our eyes that we may see the needs in others and so fill us with
Your love that we can share Your love with them. We pray this in the Name of
Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
23 April 2024
The Lamb … will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water. Revelation
7:17
Reading:
Revelation 7:13-17
Sheep sometimes have a poor image – sheep are often seen as stupid, lost and straying. The Bible uses the image of sheep often, one of the most beautiful being in Psalm 95 “He is our God. We are the sheep belonging to his flock”, as well as Psalm 23 “the Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want”, a powerful psalm of comfort, describing how God, our Shepherd, cares for us. It is interesting to consider what kind of sheep God sees us as, and what kind of care He provides. He does not see us as stupid, useless creature. He wishes to empower and strengthen us for a full life.
In verses 2 & 3, we see that He provides us with green pastures by still waters, in order to restore us. Restore means to rebuild and make whole, to make us strong for life. Even when we are in the dark places of life, He does not lift us out, but rather, He empowers us to walk on by taking away our fear, accompanying us, and providing us with a stout stick to strengthen and protect ourselves. (v4) When people ill-treat and harm us, He does not wipe them out, but rather, He provides us with moments of joy in the face of their abuse (prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, v5). And after our struggles, He honours and heals us with His love, just as a generous loving host of those ancient days would “anoint” with oil the heads of the hot, dusty guest, exhausted from travelling in the desert (v5). His generosity to us is immense, like a cup overflowing (v5). Jesus, the fulfilment of the prophetic Shepherd, our Saviour, said “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). He leads us to living waters (Revelation 7:17). His desire is that we live fulfilled lives, overflowing with joy, regardless of the dark places and people surrounding us.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, my Shepherd and my Friend, I thank You that You provide living
waters to revive me in life’s struggle. I thank You that You walk alongside me through the
dark valleys of life. I thank You that You gave Your life for me, to free me from my sin, so
that I might have a life of abundance and fulfilment. Amen.
24 April 2024
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4 : 32
Reading:
Mark 1:40-45
Asked to define the difference between “pity” and “compassion,” a woman answered : “Pity” feels bad for someone in trouble or in need; “compassion” goes a-visiting, taking a pot of soup or a freshly baked cake.
Compassion leads to personal involvement in another’s situation. Jesus is our prime example. He touched a leper and healed him. He touched an outcast! Compassion made Jesus willing to become involved in a person’s distress. He taught His disciples to do things for others without expecting anything in return. With Christ-like love and compassion and with prayer, we can become aware of what the real problem is that besets someone.
Remember the time when some friends lowered their friend through the roof to where Jesus was. Jesus said, “Friend your sins are forgiven.” The people around them asked why Jesus had not laid His hands on him and healed him. Jesus asked them which was easier, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “get up and walk.” So, Jesus said, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
Yes, Jesus had compassion on the man and knew what he really needed! But the friends also had compassion and brought their friend to Jesus, with several difficulties.
Prayer:
O Lord Jesus, open our eyes that we may see the needs of others; open our ears that we may hear their cries; open our hearts that we may share Your love with them. Show us where love and hope and faith is needed. Direct us as to who we ought to lift to You in prayer and may Your Holy Spirit take our prayers and present them to You. We ask this in Your glorious name.
Amen.
25 April 2024
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,
you did for me. Matthew 25: 40
Reading:
Isaiah35
And the desert shall bloom… One of the joys of television is to be able to see things that are
outside our daily life’s experience. One of these are the marvellous documentaries that
show nature at work. For example, in the desert, pictured as a place where surely no life
could exist, we will be shown a rare thunderstorm, and then the miraculous springing up of
plants and flowers in response to the rain.
But sometimes God needs a human touch to bring life to the desert. In 1911, the Rev John
Flynn travelled far into the vast desert outback in Australia, and there he saw too many
hastily-covered graves and nameless headstones of lonely souls who had died with few to
care. He set his mind to find a solution, and the Flying Doctor service was begun, and
countless lives have been saved since. The desert conditions remain, but through one man’s
determination, that desert ‘bloomed’.
God is relying on us to be ‘springs in the desert’ in places where hope has withered, where
people feel worthless and hopeless, so beaten by life that they cannot lift themselves out of
the monotony of their despair. God needs us to have the Spirit’s vision that sees the arid
desert that can exist in the materially abundant lives of the wealthy; to see the emptiness of
the desert that may hide behind the smiles of the successful, as well as in the grinding
desperate bleakness of poverty.
In this 21 century He is depending on us to use our imaginations, our technology, our
education, our connectedness to find solutions, to reach out to His people, our people, to
bring ‘rain’ to their ‘desert’, to bring His salvation and mercy, so that, like the ancient
prophet, we can together praise God as they rejoice when their desert blooms.
Prayer:
Almighty God, accept, for Thy mercy’s sake, the offering of my heart, the service of
my own hands, that I may be a sharer in the transformation of deserts. In the name of Him
who transforms all life, hear my prayer. Amen.