23rd July 2025

Hope For The World

Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our

great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.    

 Titus 2:13

Today's Bible Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5.

PEACE TALKS FALL APART AGAIN. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RISES. CLI MATE CHANGE.

These newspaper headlines selected at random tend to lead us to despair. There just doesn’t seem to be any hope for this world. And yet, according to the Scriptures, the dream of abolishing war is not merely wishful thinking. The idea of prosperity for all is more than a political gimmick. The Bible tells us that the eventual taming of nature is a certainty.

The hope for this world, however, is not to be found in human efforts but in the return of Jesus Christ. He alone can solve the problems that are baffling mankind.

The prophet Isaiah said that someday “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4). This glorious prospect will become a reality when the Lord Jesus Himself returns as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15) to set up His kingdom of peace and righteousness. We are to be “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Because we have this hope, we can be optimistic even in the deepening gloom of this age.

CHRISTIAN! Keep looking up!

Prayer: God of all Hope, Keep me looking up expectantly for the blessed and glorious appearing of my great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

22nd July 2025

Put on Hold

(Hanna) Prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.    

 1 Samuel 1:10

Today's Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-18.

We have all had it happen. You call a company office and are told by the person at the other end of the phone. “Can you hold?” a cheerful voice asks, and before you know it, you are hearing music. Every so often, a taped message assures you that your call will be answered; And You wait and wait. It can be very frustrating.

Sometimes, it seems that God puts us on hold. We pray and pray about a matter of extreme importance, but nothing seems to happen. Nothing!

I am sure that is how Hannah felt. She was asking God for a baby. Childlessness was a curse in her day. To make it worse, her husband’s other wife ridiculed her mercilessly. Hannah wanted desperately to give her husband a child. She prayed out of deep pain and bitterness. Yet year after year, she did not conceive.

How can we reconcile the apparent silence of God to our repeated prayers? Remember that God’s wisdom surpasses our own. What we are asking for might harm us. We cannot see the whole picture. Our timing is not God’s timing.

When God puts you “on hold,” do not grumble. You can entrust your most cherished longings and desires to Him, and then patiently wait for Him to answer.

Prayer: When I call out to You, O Lord, and wait for answers to my prayer, give me the patience that I need and help me sense Your love and care. In Jesus name, I ask. Amen

21st July 2025

Begin With Me

Because your heart was responsive, and you humbled yourself

before God . . . I have heard you, declares the Lord.  

 2 Chronicles 34:27

Today's Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles 34:19-33.

Josiah became a king when he was 8 years old, a seeker at 16, a reformer at 20, and a humble servant of God at age 26. His dramatic spiritual growth and leadership resulted from listening to God’s Word and then obeying what he heard.

While the temple in Jerusalem was being repaired and purified, the long-neglected Book of the Law was found and read aloud to young King Josiah. When he heard it, he humbled himself, tore his robes, and wept in the presence of God (2 Chronicles 34:19,27). Josiah realized the enormous sin of those who had led the nation before him, and he decided that deep and lasting change had to begin with him. His public renewal of the covenant and His commitment to follow the Lord and keep His commands ignited a revival that swept the entire nation (v 31-33).

What is wrong with the nation where you live today? Greed? Violence? Indifference toward God? How long has it been sinking into a moral and spiritual quagmire? Are you feeling too young, or too old, or too powerless to do anything about it?

Josiah—seeker, reformer, servant of God, a 20-something king who wept for his people, and has shown us the way.

Lord, send a revival in the Church, and let it begin in me, and in the land among the spiritually blind and dead, let there be a great spiritual awakening.

Prayer: God of mercy, send a revival in Your Church today, and a spiritual awakening in the land. In the mighty and wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.