Feasting on God's Word (One Year Bible)

Luke 1:1-38 Lord, we need Your Word and Your Spirit. Your Word shows us how we are to live. Your Spirit gives us strength – for living Your way. May “the Word of Christ dwell in us richly” (Colossians 3:16) – prompting us to walk with You in the way of faith. May we “be filled with Your Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) – empowering us to walk with You in the way of obedience. Luke 1:39-80 When, Lord, You touch our lives with Your love, everything changes. Nothing remains the same. Every part of life is changed by Your love. We have been saved by Your love. May our life be shaped by Your love. Luke 2:1-20 We thank You, Lord, that Jesus has “come to us.” He has been born as “one of us.” We thank You that He was “led out to die on Calvary.” He has “cleansed our souls from sin.” We thank You that He has “risen from death to set us free.” He has “poured Your love and goodness in.” May “Your power break through into our lives.” Help us, Lord to “live for You” (Patrick Ap...

2 Corinthians 1:1-2:11 Lord, You “comfort us in all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). You turn our times of trouble into times of great blessing. When bad things are happening to us, You keep on loving us. You don’t leave us on our own when the going gets tough. You’re with us in the good times – and You’re with us in the bad times. How do we know that You love us? – Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). Thank You, Lord, for Your love. It’s the only love that keeps on going when we feel like giving up. It’s the love that keeps us going, the love that assures us that You have not forgotten us. Your promise is still true: “I will never leave you. I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5). 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:18 “In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). “Thanks be to God, who, in Christ, always leads us in triumph” (2 Corinthians 2:14). We thank You, Lord, for Your words of encouragement. where would we be without Your Word...

2 Timothy 1:1-2:7 Lord, we’re not to keep Your Word to ourselves. You’ve given us the “Gospel.” Help us to share it with “faithful” people who will “pass it on to others” (2 Timothy 1:11,13 & 2:2). 2 Timothy 2:8-3:9 Help us, Lord, to “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead” (2 Timothy 2:8). Jesus is the living Lord.  Help us never to forget this. When we’re tempted to forget Him, help us to remember why He died. “He died that we might be forgiven. He died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by His precious blood.”When we’re tempted to forget Him, help us to remember that He’s alive today – and He lives in us. Help us to say, in our hearts, “I must decrease. Christ in me must increase” (John 3:30). 2 Timothy 3:10-4:22 We thank You, Lord, for “the Holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Help us to “preach the Word” in the power of “the Holy Spirit” (2 Timothy 4...

“An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). We thank You, our Father, that You have sent Your Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. We thank You that the new life in the Spirit is just the beginning. You are preparing us for the greater ‘glory that will be revealed in us’(Romans 8:18). We thank You that the Holy Spirit is ‘the guarantee of our inheritance’ – He is the starter which whets our appetite for the main course! With Him in our hearts, we long for more. We long for Your glorious future. We’re not staggering along on a dead-end street. We’re walking tall. We’re travelling with You, Lord. You’re leading us on to Your glory. May we always be led by Your Spirit. May we keep on growing in Your Spirit. 1 Peter 1:1-25 What kind of people are we to be? You’re calling us to be holy. You’re calling us to be loving. It’s not holiness without love. It’s not love without holiness. It’s holiness. It’s ...

Mark 1:1-20 Lord, we thank You that Your Son, Jesus, has triumphed over Your enemy, Satan. To us, Satan can seem so strong. Help us to remember that Jesus is stronger than Satan. With Jesus as our Saviour, we shall triumph over Satan, our enemy. Mark 1:21-2:12 Lord, help us never to think that prayer time is wasted time. Jesus prayed. Jesus received Your blessing. Jesus brought Your blessing to others. Help us to be like Jesus – praying, receiving Your blessing, bringing Your blessing to others. Mark 2:13-3:12 Lord, there are some changes that are good changes – but not all change is good change. We live in an ever-changing world. We look at some of the changes. We wonder, “Where are these changes coming from?” Is it because so many people have stopped listening to what Your Word is saying to them? What about good change, Lord? Where does good change come from? It comes from You, Lord. Real change, true and lasting change, comes to us when we put our trust in You...

1 John 1:1-2:17 We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, “Jesus Christ” died “for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). This is Good News. It’s great news! It’s the best news we could ever hear – and it comes from You. What love You have for us. Help us not to keep this love to ourselves. Help us to share the Good News – “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 1 John 2:18-3:18 We thank You, Lord, for Your gift of “eternal life” (1 John 2:24-25). Our enjoyment of eternal life has already begun – “We are God’s children now.” Our full enjoyment of eternal life is still to come – “It does not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). Here-and-now, help us to experience Christ’s victory: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Help us to look beyond the here-and-now, to look ahead to our full enjoyment of Christ’s victory – “When He appears, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). 1 John 3:19-4:21 “God is gr...

What kind of people are we to be? What kind of life are we to live? Lord, You're calling us to live a life of "love" (Proverbs 17:9). How, Lord, do we learn what love is? - We learn from You. You show us what love is - "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son ... " (John 3:16). In Jesus, we see perfect love - "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The Holy Spirit fills our lives with Your love - "The fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22). Help us, Lord, to live a Godly, Christlike, Spirit-filled life - a life of love.

1 Samuel 1:1-28 We come to You, Lord, with sadness. You give us gladness. How does this gladness come to us? It comes to us when we stand upon Your Word, when we believe Your promises. Our life is not controlled by our feelings – the feelings that drag us down, the feelings that pull us away from You. Your promises lift us out of these feelings. They lift us into Your presence. They assure us of Your love. They lead us into Your blessing. Thank You, Lord, for Your promises and Your presence, Your love and Your blessing. 1 Samuel 2:1-36 Lord, there are two ways of living. There’s the way of holiness and joy, the way of living in the strength of Your Spirit. There’s the way of living to please ourselves, living without the joy that comes from You, living in the weakness of the flesh. Help us, Lord, to keep on choosing Your way, and not to persist in going our own way and doing our own thing. 1 Samuel 3:1-4:22 “Here I am, Lord … I have heard You calling in...

Exodus 1:1-2:10 Lord, what are we to do when we’re going through a hard time? Hard times can be the breaking of us – or the making of us. We can blame You – or we can trust You. Help us to trust You – to know that You are near, even when it feels like You are far away. Exodus 2:11-3:22 We thank You, Lord, that You have blessed us. We have come to You with our sin – and You have forgiven us. We thank You, Lord, that You call us to bring Your blessing to others. We have received Your blessing. Help us to share it with others. Exodus 4:1-31 Often, Lord, we fail You – and we wonder why You bother with us. We thank You, Lord,that You never fail us. When we let You down, You lift us up. Help us, Lord, not to be shaped by our failure. Help us to be transformed by Your love and power. Help us to respond to Your call to “attempt great things for You and expect great things from You” (William Carey). Exodus 5:1-6:13 Lord, what are we to do when we face determined opposi...

Deuteronomy 1:1-46 Lord, You call us with Your challenge. You call us to make our choice. We are to put the past behind us. We are to press on into the future – with You and for You. We hesitate – and we end up doing nothing. Help us, Lord, to turn from our self-centred ways. Help us to walk with You in Your way – the way of faith, the way of obedience. Deuteronomy 2:1-37 We thank You, Lord, that You are greater than all our problems. As we look back on the way You’ve led us, help us to say, “Grace brought me safe this far.” As we look to You to lead us into the future, help us to say, “Grace will lead me home.” Thank You, Lord for Your “amazing grace.” Deuteronomy 3:1-29 Sometimes, Lord, Your blessing seems to be “so near and yet so far.” Help us, Lord, as we seek Your blessing, to remember that it is never our own achievement. It is always Your gift to us. We do not achieve victory in our own strength. You give to us Your victory. When, Lord, we feel like we a...

Numbers 1:1-54 Living for You, Lord, is not easy. we face determined opposition from Satan. He keeps coming back at us, again and again. We thank You, Lord, that we do not stand against him in our own strength. We stand in Your strength, in the victory of our risen Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Numbers 2:1-34 Lord, we thank You for Your Word. You have spoken to us. You are still speaking to us. It’s Your Word that leads us on into Your future. Help us to listen to what You are saying to us, to build our lives on Your Word, to let Your Word flow out from us, to bring blessing to many. Numbers 3:1-51 Before we began to serve You, Lord, You were calling us to be Your servants. Before we can serve You, we must be saved by You. We’re saved to serve. Help us, Lord, to receive Your salvation and to give ourselves in Your service. Your salvation always comes first – never our service! Your salvation never stands on its own – it lead...

Leviticus 1:1-2:16 We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). In His death for us, we see Your love for us. Help us to come to the Cross of Christ. Help us to worship You in the beauty of holiness. Help us to celebrate Your love in the spirit of thanksgiving. Leviticus 3:1-4:35 We thank You, Lord, that “we have peace with You through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). We thank You that “Jesus is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). This peace is not something that comes from within ourselves. It comes to us from outside of ourselves. It comes from above. It comes to us from You. It’s given to us. It’s Your gift. We cannot give this gift to ourselves. We can only receive it by faith – faith in Jesus, our Saviour. Leviticus 5:1-6:30 We thank You, Lord, that Your salvation is greater than our sin. We look at Christ’s sacrifice – He gave Himself in death for us. We are glad that He is our Saviour. He has ...