Even in old age, Abraham keeps looking forward trusting the LORD, confident that he will save the world through his Son Jesus. Oh may we have the faith of Abraham whatever stage of life we are in.

Death is sad and it's right to grieve and mourn, but it doesn't have the final word. In Jesus we can look forward, like Abraham did, even in death.

Like Abraham we can trust the LORD to provide for us - he hasn't spared his only Son - we can trust him to provide all that we need!

The LORD tests us to grow our trust in him. We need to be like Abraham and stick to the stuff we know to be true, rather than speculating about 'maybes'. God did not withhold his only Son Jesus from us. How he loves us!

Prayer can be hard work - be prepared to wrestle for others in prayer. Be a friend who comforts others. In church, we are part of something bigger than our local church - may we see that and show Jesus off to the watching world.

Let's love people like Jesus did, be devoted to prayer and make sure the way we speak has a 'Jesus' flavour to it!

This is what the life of Jesus looks like in us in our relationships with others. We put on the new 'kit' in Jesus' team and get rid of the old 'kit' that at one time defined us.

We need to think, day by day about Jesus - what he has done for us, where he is now, what he is making us like - so that we learn to depend upon more and more. Our relationship with Jesus impacts every other relationship we have.

It's so important that we stay connected to our head, Jesus Christ, otherwise we will be of no use and ultimately will not have life.

We need to be active in our faith - keeping going, being rooted, not being led into wrong ideas - that's a call for actively being plugged into church life. Thankfulness is part of this - may we have grateful hearts as we lift our eyes with Paul to the cross of Jesus and see all our debt nailed to the cross and paid in full.