Month: July 2018

July 2, Reading 1 – Joshua 16, 17

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

There is a recurrent refrain in this list of tribal allotments:– they did not dislodge the Canaanites living in …! Paradise does not remain paradise long when people hostile to God (either inside or outside His people) live there. Read Revelation 21:6-8. The new earth will be paradise!

SJA Notes

* Dearest Lord, You are our light and our salvation – who shall we fear? You are the stronghold of our life, of whom shall we be afraid?

“… Because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons.”

Joshua gives the daughters of Zelophehad their inheritance!

Remember back in Numbers 36 we read,

“This is what the LORD Commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father … And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers.”

Our God keeps His promises.

To Israel He promised the land that Joshua brought them in to.

To us, to all of His people from Adam through till those alive on the final day of this creation – He has promised us an inheritance like no other, better even than the promised land of Joshua’s time.

In 1 Peter 1 we read,

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, …”

An unfading undefiled and imperishable inheritance – That’s the God we have, giving us such a thing!

Further, we are able to fully trust and lean on His promises to us, that He will keep them fully and completely.

* Great God Above,

Thank You for causing new birth in us, a living hope, born again!

Thank You for the inheritance You have promised us – Rock-solid and never-fading.

Lord God, please fix our eyes on You today.

Amen.

July 2, Reading 2 – Isaiah 11, 12

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Central to Isaiah’s prophecies is what God says about the coming Messiah. When Isaiah wrote, David’s descendants still sat upon the throne. No one could envisage an Israel without them. But the Lord had revealed to Isaiah that David’s house would be cut down. God promised, before it happened, that He would keep David’s line going through one descendant, and from that shoot would come the One who was to be the Branch.

SJA Notes

* Heavenly Father, please show us Jesus today.

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

Here is our Saviour King Jesus writ large!

Here is our sure and steady hope, deep and wide, clearly shown!

Here is our story for the nations, those near and dear and those far away!

We read here of Jesus, the true vine, the living and vital shoot from the stump of Jesse (earthly father of King David).

He brings peace, the wolf living with the lamb.

He brings knowledge of God, raising a signal for the nations.

He turns God’s wrath away, He brings comfort and hope.

This is our King, our Lord, our Saviour – This is Jesus!

Let us spend time today and onwards giving thanks to the Lord, calling upon His Name, making known His deeds among the peoples – Let us proclaim that His Name is exalted!

* Mighty God,

Here we read such wonderful words of truth and hope.

Thank You for Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who turns Your wrath away from those found in Him.

We praise You Lord, for You have done gloriously!

Please help us tell this story to the nations, both near and far.

Amen.

July 2, Reading 3 – 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

When you face trials, ask the Lord to send someone who will strengthen and encourage you in your faith. God did not create us to be independent islands unto ourselves.

SJA Notes

* God Above, thank You for the fellowship of believers, the establishment and exhortation given and received, founded in Christ Jesus.

“… To establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions.”

Paul’s love for the church family is so evident in this letter.

We can be very encouraged both to have the same kind of love, and to see the love in those ministering around us.

This is particularly important when we undergo trials and temptations; as individuals and outwards in our various relational groupings, to our church families and beyond.

When we undergo these things Paul tells us that we ought to find joy in God’s family, as we struggle together through this life.

We can all be praying for one another, that our Father in Heaven would establish our hearts blameless in holiness before Him.

* Father God,

Thank You for these words of encouragement and exhortation.

Please help us to be both established and exhorted in our faith.

Please help us Lord each day to cast our struggles and worries, our concerns and fears, to cast them on You.

We cast them at Your feet, knowing that You care for us.

Amen.