Written by: Tara Devlin - Tearfund Scotland Youth & Student Co-ordinator
John 3 v 9-15
Nicodemus asked, “How can this happen?”
Jesus said, “You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don’t
understand these things? I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and
we tell about what we have seen, but you don’t accept what we tell you.
I have told you about things here on earth, and you do not believe me. So you
will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven. The only one who has
ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven—the Son of
Man.
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also
be lifted up. So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.”
Notes
Nicodemus, as a Jewish teacher of the Bible, knew the Old Testament thoroughly – but
he didn’t understand what it said about the Messiah.
Where I grew up there were a lot of people who could quote chunks of scripture, and use them to argue a point, but who seemed to be lacking a relationship with Jesus.
Knowledge is not salvation. Of course it is important for us to know the Bible,
to study it and maybe to memorise verses that will help us, but in doing all
of that we need to understand the God whom the Bible reveals, and to grasp
the offer of a relationship that is extended to us.
The Bible is not a text book for academic study. It is a letter of love from
the Creator of the world, who wants us to know him, and be restored to a loving
relationship with him, through Jesus.
If you’ve never read the Bible as a love letter and an offer of eternal friendship, can I urge you to look again.
Or maybe, like me, you’re very familiar with one version of the Bible, and can quote the bits that you’ve underlined until they’ve lost some of their meaning for you. Why not go and get a different translation and as you read it, ask God to reveal even more of himself to you through his word.
Prayer
Father God, thank you for your word. Help me not to view the reading of it
as an academic exercise, but rather as a way to know you and love you more.
Amen
John 3 v 16-21
“God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that
whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send
his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through
him. People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do
not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in
God’s one and only Son. They are judged by this fact: The Light has come
into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they
were doing evil things. All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the
light, because it will show all the evil things they do. But those who follow
the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done
through God.”
Notes
As you read this, Christmas will seem like a distant memory. But as I write,
it is December 22nd, and so the words that strike me from this passage are
those about “The Light”.
I love the picture the Bible gives us of Jesus as the Light of the World. I think it is an image that is so full of hope. But we also know how true it is that there are those who love the darkness, as it hides the wrong that they do.
When we look around us, and watch the news, it is all too clear that we live in a world of darkness, and sometimes that can feel overwhelming. But if we are to be people of The Light, then we have to shine that light of Jesus, even into the darkest places. We can bring the light that exposes wrongdoing, and that brings justice and hope to people who need it most.
Are there dark areas or situations that you know of, where Jesus would want you to shine his light? How can you do that?
Why not take some time now to pray for those people and places, and for how you might be used there to bring light and hope.
Prayer
Lord God, thank you that you sent Jesus to be the Light of the World. Help
me to shine his light into the dark places, so that others may come to know
him and the hope that he brings.
Amen
Notes
John’s disciples are a bit put out that some people are going to this
other chap to be baptised. They saw people beginning to be more attracted to
Jesus than they were to John, who they were following.
But this didn’t bother John one bit. Because he knew that this was his God-given mission – to point people to Jesus.
John shows great humility here, as he says “He must become greater, and I must become less important.”
Sometimes I think we can forget that it is also our God-given mission to point people to Christ. We should be wary of becoming so caught up in our own lives or ministries or achievements that we forget for whose glory we’re doing it.
If I really look at my life honestly, how much of it points to Christ?
Are there aspects of my life and the attitudes I have that are being challenged here?
What about in our churches? Are there times where we haven’t seen the Kingdom of God at work because we’ve been so busy being jealous of someone else’s ministry?
Are there situations currently where you are being challenged to step back or let go, so that God’s kingdom may flourish?
Why don’t we spend a few moments asking God to show us how we can use our lives to point to Christ and his kingdom and asking for forgiveness for the times when we’ve obstructed that happening.
Prayer
Lord, let me learn from the example of John the Baptist what it is to be humble
and point people to you. Let my life glorify you in all that I do and say.
Amen
John 3 v 31-36
“The One who comes from above is greater than all. The one who is from
the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One
who comes from heaven is greater than all. He tells what he has seen and heard,
but no one accepts what he says. Whoever accepts what he says has proven that
God is true. The One whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God gives
him the Spirit fully. The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything.
Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the
Son will never have life. God’s anger stays on them.”
Notes
What are the most important choices and decisions we can ever make? What to
study? Getting married? Buying a house? Having children? What job to do?
Jesus came to earth from the Father in heaven, and when he spoke, it was of what he knew and they were the very words of God.
So in life, our most important choice is this: do you believe what Jesus said? Do you believe he is the Son of God?
Eternal life isn’t going to come from a magic potion or face cream, or from being frozen or preserved or any other scheme that mankind has come up with!!
Eternal life will only come through the answer you give to one question, “Who is Jesus Christ?”
So what is your answer? Maybe you know already and can answer in a heartbeat. But maybe you’re not so sure. Maybe you’ve never really considered this question before. If not, then surely it’s worth taking the time to find out who Jesus is, what he said and did.
More than anything else in life, what you decide about Jesus is the most important choice you’ll ever make. Why not ask God to help you understand more about Jesus as you read the Bible.
Prayer
Dear God – I want to know who Jesus really is. As I read the Bible, show
me the truth that I need to understand. Amen
Psalm 54 v 1-2
God, save me because of who you are.
By your strength show that I am innocent.
Hear my prayer, God; listen to what I say.
Notes
I love reading the Psalms. They’re so real. There’s no hiding behind
religious words or pretending that things are OK when they’re not. Some
of the Psalms are incredibly raw and honest. Sometimes I think we need more
of that in our prayer meetings - heart-felt, no-messing, this-is-how-it-is
prayers!
This Psalm is a real cry to God for help. It acknowledges his power and might and a need for him to intervene. There’s no dressing it up in flowery language. It says it plain and simple – I’m in trouble! I need your help!
Sometimes I think we only go to God when we’re in a mess! Or is that just me?! I wait until I’m in a complete pickle, and have tried everything I can to sort myself out, and then when I can go no further I finally cry to God – HELP!!!
While God is always there, and will indeed hear my prayer, there are times when I know I wouldn’t have got in such a state if I’d brought the situation before God in the first place. Are there situations in your life right now that you know you should pray about, but you’re trying to deal with them on your own?
Take some time now to ask God to guide you through them.
Or if you’re already in a spot of bother then this would be a good time to do some of that heart-felt, no-messing, this-is-how-it-is praying!
Prayer
Write your own brief Psalm, being honest and open with God about what’s
going on in your life right now. Acknowledge his might and power. Ask him to
help.
Notes
There are many ways we could think about these verses and apply them to our
own lives for our own purposes. But for me there are some verses that I read
in the Bible (of which these are a few) that immediately make me think of
the persecuted church.
For most of us reading these words, they won’t ever literally be true.
Cruel men won’t turn against us and want to kill us.
But for about 200 million of our brothers and sisters around the world, they are very real words indeed. They face persecution and even death every day because they are Christians, and live in a place where belief in the one true God is not tolerated. For them, these words in Psalm 54 will be a real prayer.
Every time I think about their experience, it drives me to pray for them. If you’ve never thought about the persecuted church before, or prayed for them, can I challenge you today to find out about a country in the world where to be a follower of Jesus is a dangerous existence. Then pray for that place, and for the believers there, that God will support them and uphold them.
If you are praying with others this week, you may want to encourage them to do the same. We need to stand with our brothers and sisters, wherever they are, and lift their situation to our God.
Prayer
Father God, I pray for my fellow believers who are facing persecution around
the world. Lord I ask that you would strengthen and protect them as they
face many trials and difficulties. Help me not to forget them, but to remember
them regularly in prayer. Amen
Psalm 54 v 6-7
I will offer a sacrifice as a special gift to you.
I will thank you, LORD, because you are good.
You have saved me from all my troubles, and I have seen my enemies defeated.
Notes
A few years ago, I heard about the idea of a “Thankfulness Journal”.
The idea was that you had a notebook and every day, or whenever something happened
you were grateful for, you wrote it in your journal. I started to keep such
a notebook, and filled it with a whole range of things, from answered prayers
to an unexpected phone call from an old friend, from the glory of creation
to something that day that had made me laugh.
The more I wrote, the more I found I had to be thankful for. In fact there
were some days where I mentally stored things up through the day until I could
write them all down at night!
And on the days that were horrible, when everything had gone wrong and I seemed
to have nothing spring to mind to be thankful for, I knew I could always be
grateful for the roof over my head and the food in my stomach.
We have so many blessings in our lives, so much to be thankful to God for, and yet we spend most of our prayer life asking for things rather than saying thank you for things. Why not start jotting down the things you have to be thankful for, and then turn them into a prayer of praise. And you never know, you might just be tempted to keep on being thankful every day!
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the many blessings in my life. You have given me so much
and I want to acknowledge that now.
Thank you for…… Amen
The views expressed by the writers of our daily e-mails are not necessarily those of Church Army or word-on-the-web but of the individual writers.
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes