Bible Study and Prayers of the Day- 2nd June 2020
Prayers:
Be to us at all times, O Lord, our unending joy, our eternal bliss and our enduring comfort. Be to us light in the darkness, strength in temptation and refreshment in the desert. Being penitent for our sins may we never be separated from you and longing for your face may we behold you in heaven. Amen.
Margery Kempe (c.1373-c.1438)
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God of unimaginable love, we give you thanks and praise.
For the love that welcomes the unlovely,
for the love that pardons the unworthy,
for the love that knows no limit,
we give you thanks and praise.
In the love that inspires our worship,
in the love of which we would learn more,
in the love we share in our caring,
we give you thanks and praise.
As your love in us serves our neighbour,
as your love tells its story through us,
as your love calls us your people,
we give you thanks and praise. Amen.
Jonathan Hustler, Secretary, British Methodist Conference
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Bible Reflection : God With Us In Difficult Times
King David was not only one of the pivotal figures of the Old Testament, but he was also the ancestor of Jesus himself . (Born of David’s line- Luke3:23-31). From Shepherd boy to King, from fighting lions to defending his people from their enemies, David lived a life full of adventurous “roller coaster rides”, triumphing one minute and then running for his life the next. In Psalm 18, we find King David in “song writing mode” reflecting upon his past life, its up’s and its down’s, the good and the bad, his successes and his failures, and how through it all God was with him; How God was faithful, merciful, and trustworthy even on those occasions when David was none of those things. God never changes. His faithfulness endures forever(psalm 100 5),
He is with us too, even in these days of “lockdown”. With David, King and Psalmist we therefore lift our voices to exalt Almighty God in this Psalm of Praise.
Blessings
Colin
Psalm 18
Royal Thanksgiving for Victory
To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
Out of the brightness before him
there broke through his clouds
hailstones and coals of fire.
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice.
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
He reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a broad place;
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his ordinances were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
with the pure you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
For you deliver a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
By you I can crush a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect;
the promise of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God except the Lord?
And who is a rock besides our God?—
the God who girded me with strength,
and made my way safe.
He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand has supported me;
your help has made me great.
You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
and did not turn back until they were consumed.
I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
For you girded me with strength for the battle;
you made my assailants sink under me.
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
You delivered me from strife with the peoples;
you made me head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
Foreigners lost heart,
and came trembling out of their strongholds.
The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation,
the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me;
who delivered me from my enemies;
indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;
you delivered me from the violent.
For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing praises to your name.
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his descendants for ever.
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Bible Reflection - Peace and Hope In Difficult Times - Romans 5:1-5
Peace and Hope
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Footnotes:
a.Romans 5:1 Many manuscripts let us
b.Romans 5:2 Or let us
c.Romans 5:3 Or let us
‘... and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.’ (v.5)
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Background
In this short passage – which occurs midway through the first section of the letter to the Romans (1–8) – Paul describes the peace that comes in Jesus and the way in which God works through suffering.
The peace that comes in Jesus rests upon the believer’s justification by faith, a theme Paul has unpacked in the previous two chapters (3:21–4:25). The peace God gives is the peace of reconciled parties, the peace that brings together those who have previously been at enmity (cf 5:10-11). While God has always been ‘for us’, the cross has made possible reconciliation between God and humanity. This peace also gives Christians confidence in coming to God in prayer and for fellowship (verse 2).
Since salvation is a gift, Christians boast not in good works or what they have done but rather "boast in the hope of sharing the glory of God" (v. 2b). They look forward to experiencing the fullness of life in God.
Christians boast not just in hope, however, but also in ‘suffering’, knowing that through suffering God can do amazing work – producing endurance, character and hope (verse 3-4). Like other early Christians, Paul knew that Christian life would involve suffering, but encouraged those who followed Jesus to trust that the Spirit was working in them even in difficult circumstances.
In the final verse of this passage, Paul reminders readers of the gift of the Holy Spirit (verse 5). The hope that emerges at the end of suffering does not disappoint because it is accompanied by the love of God given to us by the Holy Spirit. This could be either our love for God or God’s love for us, but the reference to God’s love for us that comes shortly after this passage (5:8) makes the second interpretation more likely. This is the love that warms the heart, the love that assures us that we belong to God no matter in what situation we find ourselves.
To Ponder:
How do you see the relationship between ‘justification by faith’ and ‘peace with God’?
In what ways have you experienced the love of God in times of suffering or difficulty?
Bible notes on Romans author
Dr Ed Mackenzie
Dr Ed Mackenzie is the Lecturer in Biblical Theology and Mission at Cliff College, and previously worked as a Discipleship Development Officer for the Methodist Church. He lives in Derbyshire with his wife Ali and their two sons.
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May God bless us all this week
You are in my prayers.
Colin