verseoftheday

Mark 6:1-3 NLT Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown.  The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, "Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?" Then they scoffed,  "He's just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us." They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Mark 6:1-3 NLT If you've ever been rejected by the people who are supposed to care for you, you're in good company.  If you're not seen, judged, looked down on, then your story is also Jesus story.  Seems like there's a cultural expectation here too - if Jesus is such an important Rabbi why are his sisters still living here?  (I wonder about the times I haven't been able to see past my expectations or cultural norms and missed the person...). Even thou...

Psalms 145:21 CEB My mouth will proclaim the LORD's praise,  and every living thing will bless God's holy name  forever and always. Psalms 145:21 CEB OK so this is a song, but I wonder how often I proclaim the Lord's praise unless I'm singing in church? Are there other places? What about other ways? Can I proclaim the goodness of God by the way I work, how I meet people, how I respond to things? Can I proclaim praise of the Eternal, of Yahweh by how I treat the planet, how I use the resources I've been blessed with? Words, actions, thoughts, body, mind, spirit... And what is. This picture David has of every living thing praising our God? People, animals, birds, fish, bugs...every living thing? Heaven is gonna be a whole new level - I think that may be what David is looking forward to, something bigger and more than we can see right now, because our God is Someone Bigger... #psalms #songs #psalm145 #invitation  #invitationintoaBiggerStory #praise

The LORD supports all who fall down, straightens up all who are bent low.   Psalms 145:14 CEB Sometimes in a song there's a line or a phrase that jumps out at you, a line that carries something special  The Lord - Yahweh - the self-existant, the Eternal, notices those who fall down, sees those who are bent low, burdened, weighed down, pushed down, held down, and pulls them up, straightens, strengthens, restores.  This is the hope that we hold, that our God sees us in our struggle and suffering, and bends down. Our place in history is different to David's and we see Jesus as a massive part of our God's bending down. The Eternal became human, less than, small, and entered into the story. And it's Jesus who fell down, who was bent low, for us.  And he was restored, renewed, and that is our hope, our story too. The Eternal is for us.  We are Beloved. We are seen. We are known. And one day, all will be made new, every tear acknowledged and held, and we will know...

Psalms 145:4-9 CEB A psalm of praise. Of David. One generation will praise your works to the next one,  proclaiming your mighty acts.  They will talk all about the glorious splendor of your majesty;  I will contemplate your wondrous works. They will speak of the power of your awesome deeds;  I will declare your great accomplishments. They will rave in celebration of your abundant goodness; they will shout joyfully about your righteousness:  "The LORD is merciful and compassionate, very patient,  and full of faithful love.  The LORD is good to everyone and everything;  Gods compassion extends to all his handiwork!" Psalms 145:4-9 CEB This part of David's song has this beautiful intergenerational listening, speaking, declaring, sharing in, the goodness of God. It's loud. And it includes people, creation, everything that God has made, and finishes with the declaration of the attributes of God. Merciful. Compassionate. Patient. Faithful Love. His hear...

Sunday Psalms; A psalm of praise. Of David. I will lift you up high,  my God,  the true king.  I will bless your name forever and always. I will bless you every day.  I will praise your name forever and always. The LORD is great and so worthy of praise! God's greatness can't be grasped.   Psalms 145:1-3 CEB This psalm, this song seems like a big shift from the last 5, where there have been repeated calls to be heard by God. While David might be a king, who gets praise and honour, he places God as The King, worthy of praise and honour. Human greatness can be grasped and measured, but there's a Bigger Story here that David finds himself part of.  And David's response is to praise His Name every day. To not lose sight of Who God Is in his day-to-day. Perhaps that's the invitation for us too. The last few psalms have been about when things are not going well, and this one seems different. When we have success, when things are going Ok, going well, where th...

Mark 5:42-43 CEB [42] Suddenly the young woman got up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old. They were shocked! [43] He gave them strict orders that no one should know what had happened. Then he told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:42-43 CEB Jesus seemed to be wanting to damp down the crowds, quite the opposite of our modern culture where the number of views/likes/followers is our measure of success. Don't tell anyone.  You've seen the power of resurrection, of death being defeated, and that's enough. For now anyway. What Jesus was interested in is what the person in the middle of the story needed...food. Get this girl some kai, she's 12yrs old, has been unwell for some time, and has now had this amazing experience, she might need something to eat! Jesus had just pulled her back from death & could've supernaturally provided her with all the nutrition that she needed, but he didn't. He invited those who were there to participate with him in...

Friday! Proverbs! [23] More than anything you guard,  protect your mind,  for life flows from it. ... [27] Don't deviate a bit to the right or the left; turn your feet away from evil. Proverbs 4:23, 27 CEB This is the 4th instruction on guarding and protecting our "leb", our mind, our will, our heart, the core of who we are. v24 is about our choice of words v25 is about what we look at, what we let in through our eyes v26 is about the places we choose to go And now v27 is about choice, and about direction. We get to choose.  Yes there's times when we may have been powerless, but you do have power to choose. Those first steps in an unhealthy direction may seem small, harmless, it's where my friends are, my people, it feels good, attractive, easy... Jesus said something about the narrow road being the one that leads to Life. The road that may seem more difficult where we have to watch our step. The road where we might have to work a bit harder to find our people, an...

...and he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, he said to her,  "Talitha koum," which means  "Little girl, get up!" And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed.  Mark 5:40-42 NLT This resurrection is a taster of the resurrection  to come.  Why of all the people who had died in the region where Jesus could've walked to that day, he went to this girl's house and returned her from death? In this chapter Mark has documented Jesus authority over the spirit that had taken control of one person, healed the chronic physical ailment of another, and here, held this girl's hand and brought her back into life.  Jesus wanted his team, especially those 3, Peter, James & John, to learn more about who Jesus is. Jesus was a Rabbi, and more. Jesus was a teacher, and more. Jesus was human just like them, and mor...

He didn't allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and John, James' brother. Mark 5:37 CEB Jesus has been followed by crowds all day. He even got in a boat and crossed the lake and crowds followed him, pressing in. And now Jesus says "no". He's going to Jarius's house, where the report is that his daughter has died. Maybe the crowd knows that or not, but Jesus imposes a boundary here.  Peter, James & John only. The writer of this gospel, Mark, along with the other disciples, is excluded.  Boundaries. Jesus would gap it off into the wilderness to pray. Boundaries. The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus unhappy - Jesus didn't chase him down trying to make him happy. No people pleasing here.  Boundaries. In this case Jesus boundary may have been for Jarius and his family, for Jesus, or for the 3 of his team, for the little girl in the heart of this story, or for all of them in some way. Boundaries are OK, necessary, and just as Jesus put them ...

Psalms 144:11-15 CEB Rescue me and deliver me from the power of strangers, whose mouths speak lies, and whose strong hand is a strong hand of deception,  so that our sons can grow up fully, in their youth, like plants;  so that our daughters can be like pillars carved to decorate a palace;  so that our barns can be full, providing all kinds of food;  so that our flocks can be in the thousands - even tens of thousands - in our fields; so that our cattle can be loaded with calves;  so that there won't be any breach in the walls, no exile,  no outcries in our streets!  The people who have it like this are truly happy! The people whose God is the LORD are truly happy! Psalms 144:11-15 CEB This is David's picture of flourishing, of Life in abundance...where people can thrive, where creation can thrive, where there is justice and safety. Where God is close. Perhaps if we're struggling to write our own song, using David's template here might help: What we wan...

Psalms 144:9-10 CEB [9] I will sing a new song to you, God.  I will sing praises to you on a ten-stringed harp,  [10] to you - the one who gives saving help to rulers, and who rescues his servant David from the evil sword. Psalms 144:9-10 CEB In the middle of David's psalm, sandwiched between his expression of his problems and his hope for the future is "I will sing a new song to You, God". Not many of us can write songs, but all of us can express to God our hopes, our fears, our loves, our losses, and our faith in Him. Sandwiched between our problems of today and our hopes for the future is our here-and-now, a today to be lived.  In today, what is the song you want to write to our God? What is going on in you that you want to tell Him, share with Him? David's psalm is an invitation to write our song, our psalm, our few perhaps faltering words, perhaps just one word or two today... Perhaps in the writing, the humming, the singing, a new song will emerge, a glimpse of ...

Sunday Psalms; Of David. Psalms 144:3-8 CEB What are human beings, LORD,  that you know them at all?  What are human beings that you even consider them? Humans are like a puff of air; their days go by like a shadow. LORD,  part your skies and come down!  Touch the mountains so they smoke! Flash lightning and scatter the enemy! Shoot your arrows and defeat them! Stretch out your hand from above! Rescue me and deliver me from deep water, from the power of strangers,  whose mouths speak lies,  and whose strong hand is a strong hand of deception! Psalms 144:3-8 CEB David opens his psalm grateful that God has given him the ability to fight, yet ends this part of the psalm overwhelmed by those who are against him, at the end of his ability to deal with those coming against him. For all our abilities and strengths, there can be times when we might feel the same way, that the world, those with power, those who make decisions that impact us, we are powerless. David ...

Mark 5:35-36 CEB [35] While Jesus was still speaking with her, messengers came from the synagogue leaders' house, saying to Jairus, "Your daughter has died. Why bother the teacher any longer?" [36] But Jesus overheard their report and said to the synagogue leader,  "Don't be afraid;  just keep trusting." Mark 5:35-36 CEB Jarius is right there when the woman who had been suffering for 12 years was healed, so close that when the messengers came Jesus caught enough of their conversation.  For Jesus death was not the barrier it seems for us, it was not a permanent state.  It's so difficult not to see it that way - in Jarius' mind he was never going to see his daughter again...she was lost to death. But Jesus says: "Don't be afraid. Just keep trusting." Jesus says "Just keep trusting me." When we face death, when someone we love and care for is lost to death, one of the most difficult things can be continuing to trust Jesus.  When ...

Mark 5:29, 33-34 CEB Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed. ... [33] The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth.  He responded, "Daughter, your faith has healed you;  go in peace, healed from your disease." Mark 5:29, 33-34 CEB Jesus took the time to listen to her story.  Her story that included 12yrs of suffering, expending all her resources, her story of limitation, her story of faith, and finally, healing and freedom. A taste of what is to come, a taste of what she will have experienced a second time when she met Jesus again, and a taste of what we will fully realise when we meet Jesus; Freedom  Healing Fully Alive #gospelofMark #invitation  #thebestisyettocome #onedayallwillbemadenew 

Mark 5:28-32 CEB She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I'll be healed. Her bleeding stopped immediately,  and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed. At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him.  He turned around in the crowd and said,  "Who touched my clothes?" His disciples said to him, "Don't you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it. Mark 5:28-32 CEB Our tired, broke, almost defeated person here took a step of faith, somehow prompted in a supernatural way to touch Jesus clothes. At a supernatural level Jesus knew something had shifted, yet at a human level, he genuinely didn't seem to know who was part of that shift.  And he wanted to know.  He was interested. Interested in the person who had impacted his spirit. And he looked around carefully for her.  This is Jesus, God and human, carefully looking ...

Psalms 143:7-8 CEB Answer me, LORD - and quickly!  My breath is fading. Don't hide your face from me or I'll be like those going down to the pit! Tell me all about your faithful love come morning time,  because I trust you.  Show me the way I should go,  because I offer my life up to you.   Psalms 143:7-8 CEB Panic, anxiety, worry...you can feel it in David's song... And then he kind of flicks a switch (not that David would know what that means!), and asks God to remind him of something, and reminds himself of things he holds as true: Tell me about your faithful love. Remind me that I am beloved, that I do matter, that You see the worth in me. I trust You. Give me some direction, the next step, help me take a step, because I have already committed my life to You. When we feel panicked, anxious, overwhelmed, just like David was, we may find that following his steps will help us too; Remind ourselves that we are Beloved. Remind ourselves of what is True. Take...

Sunday Psalms; A psalm of David. Psalms 143:1-2 CEB Listen to my prayer, LORD!  Because of your faithfulness,  hear my requests for mercy!  Because of your righteousness,  answer me! Please don't bring your servant to judgment, because no living thing is righteous before you. Psalms 143:1-2 CEB David is not relying on his own goodness, his own righteousness, his own faithfulness, or even his own idea of mercy. But God's. David knows he cannot stand before God, request, let alone demand, anything from God. Yet he does.  What is it that joins these ideas together and allows David the freedom to talk to God like this? It's found in the middle of his song to God in v8 [8] Tell me all about your faithful love come morning time, because I trust you. David knows that God is Love. That he is loved. And that changes everything. When we know that we're beloved because we exist, because as Paul shares in Ephesians 1 that we were known in God's imagination from before time,...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 4:23, 25 CEB [23] More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it.  ... [25] Focus your eyes straight ahead;  keep your gaze on what is in front of you.   Proverbs 4:23, 25 CEB These ideas at the end of Ch4 seem connected to guarding our mind (our "leb", heart, mind, will, the centre of who we are).  V24 is about avoiding lies and being careful with our words, and V25 is kind of the opposite to what we avoid, to focus on what is in front. I wonder what the writer of Proverbs would make of our world where there is so much clamouring for our attention, wanting to take our focus, distract us. Somedays it seems we're fighting to retain any kind of focus...and that's what this Proverb invites us to do...retain our focus. Two ways that this Proverb encourages us in...the first is about what is in front of us, not getting lost in the "if only" or the "what if", but staying in the here and now, staying whe...

Mark 5:27-29 CEB Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes.  She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I'll be healed. Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.   Mark 5:27-29 CEB 12 years of illness. 12 years of hope, and no change. 12 years of making money somehow to give to doctors for nothing to change. 12 years of waiting. 12 years of being "unclean". 12 years of limitation.  And in a moment, she knew that her illness was healed. Everything changed in a moment. In that moment, perhaps for the first time in her adult life, she felt fully alive. Whether we experience anything like this in this life, whether our illnesses and weaknesses and limitations are miraculously healed or not, one day we will meet Jesus just as this person did, and we will experience what she did, the fully aliveness of all we were made to be. She got a taster, because while she...

Mark 5:27-28 CEB Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I'll be healed.  Mark 5:27-28 CEB We don't know this person's thought process, but likely, with the illness she had, she was "unclean", unable to go into a temple and meet a Rabbi, unable to pay for access, and ashamed of the state and place she was in. And thought "if I can just get close enough to touch his clothes that will be enough and no one will know". Where did this idea that touching Jesus clothes would be enough to heal her come from?  The thing is that she heard about Jesus, and then stepped towards him. No matter where we are, the things we are carrying, the illness, the loss, the worry, the shame, step towards Jesus. A step of hope. A step of faith. Come as you are. Step towards Jesus. We're invited to do just what this woman did 2000 years ago, and step towards Jesus...today....

Mark 5:26-27 CEB She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better.  In fact, she had gotten worse. Because she had heard about Jesus,  she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes.  Mark 5:26-27 CEB "Because she had heard about Jesus..." For her to hear about Jesus someone had to tell her.  I wonder who that was?  One of the doctors she tried? A family member? A friend? There's someone else behind this story who told her about Jesus. In your story, in my story there's someone who told us about Jesus.  I wonder in behind someone who I know,  when they say "because I heard about Jesus" will be my name somewhere? #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #invitation 

Psalms 142:3-4, 6-7a CEB When my spirit is weak inside me,  you still know my way. But they've hidden a trap for me in the path I'm taking. Look right beside me: See?  No one pays attention to me.  There's no escape for me.  No one cares about my life.   Pay close attention to my shouting,  because I've been brought down so low! Deliver me from my oppressors because they're stronger than me. Get me out of this prison... Psalms 142:3-4, 6-7a CEB David shares his heart with us - I doubt he would've imagined people reading his words, hearing his heart several thousand years later...but here we are - he says he is; Weak. Trapped Unheard  Sad Powerless If that has ever been, or currently is your experience, then you have an ally in David.  He knows. And he's making a ruckus about it, about injustice, about what's not right. It's easy to misinterpret the ruckus, the noise people make about injustice, when they feel weak, trapped, voiceless, sad or ...

Sunday Psalms; A maskil of David when he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry out loud for help from the LORD.  I beg out loud for mercy from the LORD. I pour out my concerns before God;  I announce my distress to him.   Psalms 142:1-2 CEB David's circumstances changed his writing. This prayer starts with David at the centre of everything - because he is living in a cave, hiding. There are times in life when our circumstances overwhelm our ability to manage them, if we could perhaps we'd be hiding out in a cave too. Ever felt like that? The invitation in this prayer of David's is to let God know what's going on.  David wrote this prayer down somewhere, so try  writing your prayers too, keep it real. In his cave, David repeats the "out loud" expression - he wants God to hear him.  This prayer is a gift, because we all want to be heard, to know that we have a voice, and that our voice matters. Even when isolated in this cave, stuck, overwhelmed, David's voic...

Mark 5:25-26 CEV In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain.  She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse. Mark 5:25-26 CEV Broke. Unwell. 12 years. At the end of her resources. Perhaps you know what that is like.  In the crowd, in our community, in our church, there will be those who are broke, unwell, at the end of their resources, and perhaps like this woman, hiding it well. We hide behind "I'm fine", "everything happens for a reason" (see Kate Bowler who's book has this title: Everything happens for a reason, and other lies I have loved). We hide in the crowd, fit in, until we can't any more.  Jarius sounds like a caring Dad too, no doubt tried everything he knew to help his daughter.  And then both these people went to find Jesus.  With Jesus there's never "why didn't you come s...

Friday! Proverbs! Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly,  and don't let your lips talk deviously. Proverbs 4:24 CSB Just don't. If only it was that easy! We have ideas like "white lies" that don't "harm" anyone. We have things that we want, or don't want to happen that makes being deceitful so easy. And then there's shame.  And fear. And comparison. And a culture that more and more appears to be shaped by appearance, by curating what others see, by curating ourselves. If our premise is that Proverbs is not a weapon to beat ourselves or others up with, but an invitation, what is this Proverb inviting us into? Perhaps it's about what is under our words, our heart that needs the look at, the considering, the heart that sprouts the words & the thoughts. Perhaps there's an invitation to look at the influences on our hearts and minds, the people, the places we spend time and invest in, the things, the ideas that we let in. What is this...

Mark 5:25-26 CEV In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain.  She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse. Mark 5:25-26 CEV Do you ever wonder how Mark (or the other Gospel writers) captured people's stories? Did they talk to them afterwards? Did Jesus tell them later? However they found out these 2 stories of Jarius, the keeper of the Temple, and this person who is only known by her limitation, are just two people in the crowd. How many others were there in that crowd with their own stories of grief, loss, disability, illness? When I meet anyone am I meeting a Jarius? Am I meeting a fellow sufferer? When I look at any group of people, at work, where we study, at church, in our sports and recreation activities, people who may have a happy shiny outside, what stories are they holding and carrying? Jarius had position, power,...