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What if making a meal, preparing a guest bedroom, and opening your home is just as spiritual as it is practical? According to Nancy, it is! Open 2 Kings 4 and learn to reflect the hospitable heart of Christ.

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Devoted: Six Women of the Bible Who Said "Yes, Lord!".
Over 6 weeks study: Mary, the mother of Jesus; the Samaritan woman at the well; Sarah; Hannah; the Shunammite woman; and Anna. Each week highlights a different woman, helping you see how God works in seasons of waiting, longing, loss, and joy.

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Though we may never fully comprehend God's sovereignty, we can always trust in His goodness.

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Today’s readings come from Proverbs 23:10-18, Galatians 6, Isaiah 49:8-51:16

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Having problems, trials and difficulties hardly sounds like the best way to create joy – let alone pure joy! So what is James talking about? He’s taking his readers to the heart of the Christian faith, which turns everything upside down.

James is not saying that when we face difficulties it’s a bundle of fun. He is speaking to people who knew what it was to suffer for their faith, and he wants them to know that when we place our difficulties in God’s hands, He produces something incredibly exciting. Something which lasts. Something which takes us closer to the heart of God, and that always produces joy.

I’m not suggesting you should now go out and tell your friends who are suffering at the moment that they need to burst into joyful song and perform cartwheels in celebration. That would be ridiculous and totally insensitive, so don’t do it! But you can encourage them because God is at work, and as they share their tough times with Him, He will bless them and strengthen them and give them that perseverance which we all need in order to live effective and fruitful lives. Joy is the inevitable and amazing result of placing our lives in God’s loving hands.

Question

In what ways have you personally experienced joy in times of difficulty, and how could you pass on that encouragement to other people?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for the good news that You are with me in every difficulty that I face. Thank you for Your gift of joy even in the toughest times. Amen

We can feel worse about ourselves or better about ourselves when we compare ourselves to other people. But God wants us to do what He's asked us to do, to be happy with what He's given us, without comparing it to others.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3UOWu0w

Today’s readings come from Psalm 109:1-20, Galatians 5:7-26, Isaiah 47:1-49:7

Psalm 137:3-4

Our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?

This is an agonising psalm. The people are in exile far from their homes. Sitting by the rivers of Babylon, they were about 1,000 miles from their beloved Jerusalem. In their misery, they couldn’t bring themselves to make music, so they hung up their harps on the branches of poplar trees. However, the local people insisted that they wanted to hear their happy songs. This reminds me of many visits I’ve made around the world where people, especially children, gather round and ask for a song. But the exiles could think of nothing worse. In despair they cried out: “how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”

The pain and awkwardness of living in exile is the experience of every Christian. We are here on earth on a very temporary basis. As the apostle Paul put it: “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). God wants us to enjoy our lives to the full and give ourselves completely to life on this earth, but we must always remember that our true home is elsewhere.

It is very easy to understand the despair and sadness of exiles, but it is possible to sing the Lord’s songs in a hostile environment. Christians have proved for centuries that it can be done. Hard as our circumstances may be at times, there is always much to sing about.

Question

To what extent do you feel like an exile?

Prayer

Loving God, help me to learn what it means to be a citizen of heaven. Amen

1) Could you explain Ezekiel 36:24-25 in regards to the current return of Israel as a fulfillment of prophecy?2) When will God create the new heaven and earth mentioned in Isaiah 65:17, and how will the former things never come to mind?