Lord, You are not only ‘the Holy One of Israel’. You are ‘the God of the whole
earth’ (Isaiah 54:5). We thank You that the Gospel is for ‘all nations’. The ministry of Christ’s
apostles began in ‘Jerusalem’. We thank You that it did not end there. The Gospel was
to be taken ‘to the ends of the earth’ (Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8). Taking
the Gospel out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth was not easy.
The apostles faced much opposition. We thank You that they stood upon Your promise: ‘No
weapon formed against you shall prosper’ (Isaiah 54:17). When, Lord, we face opposition,
help us to take our stand on Your Word: ‘If God is for us, who can be
against us?’ (Romans 8:31). Even when our words seem to fall on stony
ground, give us the strength that we need to keep on speaking the Word of Your love: ‘With
everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your
Redeemer’ (Isaiah 54:8).
Lord, help us never to think, “We are blessed because we are obedient.” Help us always to say, “We are blessed because You love us and Jesus died for us.” Your love for us, Jesus’ death for us: This is where the blessing comes from – and it’s where our obedience comes from! We think of Your great love for us. We think of Jesus, crucified for us. We say, “Lord, You love me. Help me to love You.” We say, “Jesus, You died for me. Help me to live for You.” This is how Your blessing comes to us – You show us how much You love us, You put Your love into our hearts, the obedience grows stronger – and so does the blessing!
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