James 5:13-15 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the…
James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Why such a strong dividing line? Because the world will draw you away from God. You can’t please the world and…
James 3:7-8 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James spends some time here talking about our tongues. If you think you are perfect…
James 2:17-18 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Faith? Or works? What makes the difference? We all know this…
Ez 33:7 So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. God made Ezekiel a watchman over the house of Israel. What does that mean? A watchman is responsible. A watchman has a vital…
Heb 13:4 Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Marriage is important to God. He takes it very seriously. Jesus spoke so seriously about marriage, that when he was done – his disciples said, essentially, “Wow – that’s…
Ezek 28:15-16 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian…
Heb 12:10-11 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by…
Psalm 124:1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side- let Israel now say It did Israel good to read this Psalm and ask themselves the question – what if it had been that The Lord was not on our side? As they looked at their history – without the Lord…
Prov 27:21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. A man is tested by his praise? What does this mean? When you want to check how pure silver or gold are – you have to test them. For silver a crucible, and for…
Heb 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you…
Ps 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” The Psalmist was glad – he rejoiced when those he was with said – let’s go and worship in the house of The Lord. It’s not just that he was glad that he was going to…
Heb 9:27-28 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. In the Old Covenant, with…
Heb 9:13-14 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead…
Ez 13:2-3 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish a prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! Foolish prophets…
Ezek 11:18 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, When someone’s heart it hard against God, it’s like stone. It seems immovable and unchangeable. You can wonder, how will…
Ps 119:162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. This is a great phrase. The excitement that the Author feels when He reads God’s word is quite infectious. That feeling you get, when you find something amazing and valuable – that’s how he rejoices at the word of God. Reading the…
Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them…
Ezek 1:5-6 And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. This vision that Ezekiel had has been a source of fascination for many people over the years. I…
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The metaphor that the writer is using is that of the sword. The most familiar sword…
Heb 3:12-13 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Look after each other. Every…
Heb 2:1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Be on your guard! When you don’t keep watch, weeds grow in the garden. Place close and careful attention to the word of God. When you read the word, when someone preaches the…
Lam 5:19-21 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old— And that’s how…
Lam 2:24-26 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. In the middle of all the turmoil, Jeremiah knew…
Lam 1:1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. Jeremiah wanted Israel time and again that judgement was coming. But there was no sense of…
Hab 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? This book is different to many of the other prophets. He’s not preaching to Israel or warning them of judgement. Actually, Habakuk is crying out to God. He sees…
Titus 1:12-14 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. This is…
2 Tim 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved…
2 Tim 3:12-13 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Persecution should never come as a surprise. It’s actually our natural state. What’s a surprise is that we are not persecuted…
2 Tim 2:3-4 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. It’s a hard one this… but it should make us question how we spend our time and what our focus is in life. What is…
2 Tim 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, There are times it’s tempting to be ashamed of the gospel, because the alternative would be suffering. There’s moments where we are asked about…
1 Tim 6:11-12 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Men of…
Jer 44:16-17 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers,…
1 Tim 4:13-14 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. This is personal advice that Paul is giving to Timothy, but it’s extremely useful…
Ps 119:57 The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. It’s not a phrase we use very often, my portion. And, although it sounds very nice we can miss the meaning. This word portion means…. well just what it sounds like. It’s a word that means a portion of something. It’s a…
1 Tim 2:4-7 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For…
1 Tim 1:6-7 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. What is Paul referring to here? People were getting themselves very taken up with endless genealogies and…
2 Thess 3:13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. Doing good is not the easy route. It’s hard. This life is a marathon, not a sprint and the great commission isn’t over until… well, the end. There are times when it gets hard – there’s times when lethargy and apathy…
Ps 119:34-35 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. What a wonderful prayer this is. It’s a great thing to pray before reading the word of God. “Lord, give me understanding”. The bible…
2 Thess 1:6-7 Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels Let’s just take a moment to consider this. When dealing with suffering…
