MONDAY 26TH APRIL
Acts 11.1-18
God granted Gentiles repentance unto life

When Peter arrived back in Jerusalem after spending time in the house of a Gentile(Someone who is not of the Jewish race), he found himself in trouble and was criticised for eating with a non-Jew who had not been circumcised.  The Jewish religion was very strict.  Jews were forbidden to share meals with non-Jews.  This is probably why they have been unpopular down through the ages.

Although at first all the Christians were Jews, it didn’t remain like that for very long.  God had seen the harm done by the exclusiveness of the Jews.  Jesus came to show the whole world the mighty love of God. He wanted everyone to understand that God loved them all and wanted them all to be included in His church.

Peter soon explained to the Christian Jews that he had gone into Cornelius’ house and included him into the church because God had told him to.  God was very much (and still is) in control of His church.  After telling Peter to eat with those thought to be unclean, God demonstrated His total acceptance of the non-Jewish people into His church.  Cornelius and his whole household were all filled with the Holy Spirit in exactly the same way as the disciples were on the Day of Pentecost. They spoke in tongues and spoke God’s messages.

Peter said how could he stop what God was doing.  He could see that Jesus was drawing non-Jews into the church by showing them his love and motivating them to repent and have faith in Him. Today we must make sure we never get clicky or exclusive.  Everyone must be welcomed to come toJesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you that you love everyone so very, very much.  You want them all in your church.  Help us to do all we can to share the Good News with as many non-believers as we can until the whole world becomes your friend.  Amen.

 

TUESDAY 27th. APRIL
Psalm 148
People close to God’s heart

In this Psalm of praise, God inspires the whole of creation to praise His wonderful name.  Everyone He has made is exhorted to extol the Lord and give Him praise and glory because He has done such a fantastic job with everything He has made.

God created the universe with one purpose in mind.  Because He is the God of love, He wanted people to love.  That’s why He made us.  The Israelites were the very first people to have the privilege of being the first people to have a close personal relationship with God.

Because they responded to His love, they were granted special privileges.  God gave them power, prosperity, dignity and pre-eminence.  When the Bible says, “He lifted up a horn for them”, this is what it means. In the Old Covenant the Israelites were those who were close to God, but in the New Covenant the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has brought everyone near to God.  Jesus died for all to make it possible for everyone to get close to God and share all the wonderful privileges once only experienced by the Jews.

The closer you get to God the more you love and adore Him and the more you want to praise Him.  The more you praise Him and worship Him, the closer you get to Him and so life gets better and better all the time.

PRAYER: Jesus, we can’t find words good enough to tell you how much we appreciate all that you have done for us.  Thank you for making it possible for us to get close to God.  The closer we get the more we want to praise you and worship you and adore you.  We love you so much.  Amen.

 

WEDNESDAY 28th..APRIL
Revelation 21.1-9
The dwelling place of God is with men 

In the time of the Old Testament it was believed that God dwelt in His Temple at Jerusalem.  God’s people came three times a year to get close to His presence.  However, they were never holy enough to come really close to Him.

Jesus changed all this dramatically. After He died and rose again, He made it possible for all of us to have a very close, intimate, personal relationship with God.  Instead of dwelling in one place, Jerusalem, He dwells in the New Jerusalem, which is made up of all born-again Christians.  It is described as the Bride of Christ.  This describes how very intimate is our relationship with God.   

Through the power of the crucified, risen Lord Jesus we are made very holy; so holy that Jesus takes us for His bride and God makes His dwelling right in our hearts. This close, intimate, personal relationship with God makes such a huge difference to our lives. 

Jesus destroys what brings so much sadness to the people of this world - death.  For us, with whom God dwells, there is no more death.  Jesus gives us eternal life.  He loves us so much that He will never let us go.  He gives us so much satisfaction.  We drink freely from the spring of the water of life.  The Holy Spirit in us just keeps pouring out so much love and looks after us so very well.  

Life is so fantastic because Jesus is married to us and lives in our hearts.

PRAYER: Father, our hearts are overwhelmed with joy and happiness as we meditate on this scripture for today.  It’s so good to be the bride of Jesus and to have such a close, intimate, personal relationship with you.  Help us by the power of your Spirit to live holy lives because you dwell in our hearts, through Jesus our wonderful Bridegroom. Amen.

 

THURSDAY 29th.APRIL
Revelation 3.1-13
What the Spirit says to the churches 

In this passage of Revelation, God is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of His churches.  Let’s read and examine what He says and apply it to our own church and to our own lives as members of our church. 

The church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive while really it was dead.  We are an alive church only when Jesus is alive in our hearts.  Let’s each of us make sure that we have died to self and let Jesus take over our lives to bring us to life!  It’s so easy to pretend to be an alive Christian.  The Holy Spirit sees right into our hearts.  He knows when we are pretending. 

Jesus is thrilled when He sees members of the church who remain holy.  He assures these overcomers that He will look after them.  Their names will never be blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life (God’s record of all who will share eternal life with Him).  Jesus makes sure that they will have eternal salvation. 

It doesn’t matter how weak we are.  Victory in the church does not depend on our own strength but on our trust in God’s power.  God assures the weak who trust Him that He will look after them in the time of trial.

When God sees how well we are going, He comes to encourage us. He knows how the forces of the world, the flesh and the devil want to rob us of our crowns.  He promises us who are overcomers that we will be pillars in His church and His name will be engraved in us and the name of the city of God.  This makes us absolutely and utterly sure that we will have a place with Him in Heaven. 

PRAYER: Dear Father God, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to show us how well we are going. Keep us alive and keep us pure and holy.  Make us overcomers, however weak we may be, so trusting in your power.  We can hold on to all you have given us knowing that our names are in your book and we will be yours for ever, through Jesus our wonderful Saviour.  Amen.

 

FRIDAY 30th.APRIL
Acts 12.1-17a
The mighty power of Believers’ prayer 

Jesus taught us to keep praying and never give up and as long as we keep on trusting Him without doubting, He will give us whatever we ask for in prayer (see Luke 11.9-13, Mark 11.22-25).  In the wonderful passage of Scripture before us today, we see Jesus keeping His promise.  The believers’ prayers are miraculously answered. 

The infant church was suffering a huge setback.  One of their leaders, James, had been beheaded and now Peter was in prison.  This inspired all who gathered in John Mark’s house to get on their knees and get into earnest prayer.  Soon the earnest prayer was heard by God and He came to Peter’s rescue. 

It wasn’t long before Peter was out of prison knocking on the door of the house.  When the servant girl came back to the disciples and told them that Peter was at the door, they couldn’t believe it, but Peter kept on knocking until he was let in.  Then they all saw that Jesus had answered their prayers. 

Isn’t it extraordinary that Jesus had gone beyond His promise.  He promised in Mark 11.23 that He would answer believing prayer.  Now He answered their prayer even when they doubted.  Never let doubts stop you praying.  Just keep on knocking on God’s door, keep on persevering and you will most certainly get your answers.

PRAYER: Father, you are such a wonderful God who loves to look after His children so much. Keep us praying, particularly when things go wrong.  We know when we persevere and keep on knocking, that you will open the door for us and answer all our prayers, through Jesus our loving Saviour.  Amen.

 

SATURDAY 1st. MAY
John 13.31-35
Love one another as I have loved you 

Jesus was being badly let down by one of His friends.  Judas was off to betray Him.  Did Jesus get all upset and complain to the disciples about what a bad choice He had made and what a terrible person Judas was?  No, no way.  Instead, the moment He was being hurt by Judas’ betrayal He shouts, “Now I am being glorified”.

If only we could react to people who betray and hurt us like this.  The wonderful truth is that we can. Yes, we can love the people who hurt us and let us down.  We can stop their terrible behaviour from hurting us and destroying us.  We can be glorified when people come against us and criticise us! 

 How can we do this?  It seems the wrong way to react!  We can because Jesus told us to do this.  His new command is for us to love others as He loves them.  He loved Judas when he was betraying Him, Peter when he was denying him, the High Priest and Jewish Council when they were condemning Him unjustly, and Pilate and the Roman soldiers when they were crucifying Him.  He loved all those people who were hurting Him so much.  So Jesus calls us to love all who hurt us.  When we obey Him, He makes it easier for us because He gives us the incredible power to love.  This power He released for us when He died on the cross and rose again.

PRAYER: Jesus, we want to obey you more than anything else.  Help us to love all those who come against us and hurt us in any way.  Give us the power to love them in the same way as you love us when we sin against you. Then you will be glorified and more people will be inspired to love you. Amen.

 

SUNDAY 2ND MAY
Message from Father Tom 

The night before Jesus died to pay the price for our sins He gave us all a NEW COMMANDMENT.  He told us He wanted us to love each other in exactly the same way that He loves us.   The old commandment was that we had to love each other as much as we love ourselves.   Jesus wants us to love each other MORE than we love ourselves.

Jesus loved us so very very much that He gave his life for us.   He was never concerned for Himself. He did not worry that He had nowhere to lay his head. When He was suffering he showed no hint of self pity.  He promptly forgave all those who were causing His suffering, Promises the dying thief a place in heaven and comforted His mother and John .  Jesus loves by putting everyone else before Himself. 

Its hard to love in the same way that Jesus loves because by instinct we are all very concerned about ourselves. The good news is that Jesus gave us the power to love. He released this power for us when He died on the cross and rose again from the dead. He waited till He was making this power available before He gave us the new commandment.   The power to love, what I call the incredible power to love, is so much stronger than our instincts and natural tendencies In the second reading, from the Book Of Revelation, God reminds us that He has come to Make His dwelling with us.   When Jesus died for us He cleansed us from all sin.  He made us worthy for God to be our own personal friend. God’s closeness gives us the ongoing power to keep on loving others more than ourselves.  Because Jesus dwells in us and we dwell in Him we never lose the incredible power to love.  This is what we experience in Holy Communion  if we receive it with the fullness of faith.

The Jews were exclusive with the people they loved.  They only loved Jews. They were forbidden to even have a meal with a non-Jew.    In our first reading we see how God spoke to Peter and told him that He had made all people clean.  Peter was enabled to love the Roman, Cornelius and bring him into the family of the Church.  God wants us to love people from all races  and classes.  He never wants us to be exclusive! 

Next Sunday we will honour our mothers on Mothers’ Day.   We thank them for all the selfless love they gave us when the bore us, gave birth to us and looked after us.  Let’s do all we can to show them how much we appreciate all the love they have given us.

 

MONDAY 26TH APRIL
Acts 11.1-18
God granted Gentiles repentance unto life

When Peter arrived back in Jerusalem after spending time in the house of a Gentile(Someone who is not of the Jewish race), he found himself in trouble and was criticised for eating with a non-Jew who had not been circumcised.  The Jewish religion was very strict.  Jews were forbidden to share meals with non-Jews.  This is probably why they have been unpopular down through the ages.

Although at first all the Christians were Jews, it didn’t remain like that for very long.  God had seen the harm done by the exclusiveness of the Jews.  Jesus came to show the whole world the mighty love of God. He wanted everyone to understand that God loved them all and wanted them all to be included in His church.

Peter soon explained to the Christian Jews that he had gone into Cornelius’ house and included him into the church because God had told him to.  God was very much (and still is) in control of His church.  After telling Peter to eat with those thought to be unclean, God demonstrated His total acceptance of the non-Jewish people into His church.  Cornelius and his whole household were all filled with the Holy Spirit in exactly the same way as the disciples were on the Day of Pentecost. They spoke in tongues and spoke God’s messages.

Peter said how could he stop what God was doing.  He could see that Jesus was drawing non-Jews into the church by showing them his love and motivating them to repent and have faith in Him. Today we must make sure we never get clicky or exclusive.  Everyone must be welcomed to come toJesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you that you love everyone so very, very much.  You want them all in your church.  Help us to do all we can to share the Good News with as many non-believers as we can until the whole world becomes your friend.  Amen.

 

TUESDAY 27th. APRIL
Psalm 148
People close to God’s heart

In this Psalm of praise, God inspires the whole of creation to praise His wonderful name.  Everyone He has made is exhorted to extol the Lord and give Him praise and glory because He has done such a fantastic job with everything He has made.

God created the universe with one purpose in mind.  Because He is the God of love, He wanted people to love.  That’s why He made us.  The Israelites were the very first people to have the privilege of being the first people to have a close personal relationship with God.

Because they responded to His love, they were granted special privileges.  God gave them power, prosperity, dignity and pre-eminence.  When the Bible says, “He lifted up a horn for them”, this is what it means. In the Old Covenant the Israelites were those who were close to God, but in the New Covenant the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has brought everyone near to God.  Jesus died for all to make it possible for everyone to get close to God and share all the wonderful privileges once only experienced by the Jews.

The closer you get to God the more you love and adore Him and the more you want to praise Him.  The more you praise Him and worship Him, the closer you get to Him and so life gets better and better all the time.

PRAYER: Jesus, we can’t find words good enough to tell you how much we appreciate all that you have done for us.  Thank you for making it possible for us to get close to God.  The closer we get the more we want to praise you and worship you and adore you.  We love you so much.  Amen.

 

WEDNESDAY 28th..APRIL
Revelation 21.1-9
The dwelling place of God is with men 

In the time of the Old Testament it was believed that God dwelt in His Temple at Jerusalem.  God’s people came three times a year to get close to His presence.  However, they were never holy enough to come really close to Him.

Jesus changed all this dramatically. After He died and rose again, He made it possible for all of us to have a very close, intimate, personal relationship with God.  Instead of dwelling in one place, Jerusalem, He dwells in the New Jerusalem, which is made up of all born-again Christians.  It is described as the Bride of Christ.  This describes how very intimate is our relationship with God.   

Through the power of the crucified, risen Lord Jesus we are made very holy; so holy that Jesus takes us for His bride and God makes His dwelling right in our hearts. This close, intimate, personal relationship with God makes such a huge difference to our lives. 

Jesus destroys what brings so much sadness to the people of this world - death.  For us, with whom God dwells, there is no more death.  Jesus gives us eternal life.  He loves us so much that He will never let us go.  He gives us so much satisfaction.  We drink freely from the spring of the water of life.  The Holy Spirit in us just keeps pouring out so much love and looks after us so very well.  

Life is so fantastic because Jesus is married to us and lives in our hearts.

PRAYER: Father, our hearts are overwhelmed with joy and happiness as we meditate on this scripture for today.  It’s so good to be the bride of Jesus and to have such a close, intimate, personal relationship with you.  Help us by the power of your Spirit to live holy lives because you dwell in our hearts, through Jesus our wonderful Bridegroom. Amen.

 

THURSDAY 29th.APRIL
Revelation 3.1-13
What the Spirit says to the churches 

In this passage of Revelation, God is revealing the strengths and weaknesses of His churches.  Let’s read and examine what He says and apply it to our own church and to our own lives as members of our church. 

The church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive while really it was dead.  We are an alive church only when Jesus is alive in our hearts.  Let’s each of us make sure that we have died to self and let Jesus take over our lives to bring us to life!  It’s so easy to pretend to be an alive Christian.  The Holy Spirit sees right into our hearts.  He knows when we are pretending. 

Jesus is thrilled when He sees members of the church who remain holy.  He assures these overcomers that He will look after them.  Their names will never be blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life (God’s record of all who will share eternal life with Him).  Jesus makes sure that they will have eternal salvation. 

It doesn’t matter how weak we are.  Victory in the church does not depend on our own strength but on our trust in God’s power.  God assures the weak who trust Him that He will look after them in the time of trial.

When God sees how well we are going, He comes to encourage us. He knows how the forces of the world, the flesh and the devil want to rob us of our crowns.  He promises us who are overcomers that we will be pillars in His church and His name will be engraved in us and the name of the city of God.  This makes us absolutely and utterly sure that we will have a place with Him in Heaven. 

PRAYER: Dear Father God, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to show us how well we are going. Keep us alive and keep us pure and holy.  Make us overcomers, however weak we may be, so trusting in your power.  We can hold on to all you have given us knowing that our names are in your book and we will be yours for ever, through Jesus our wonderful Saviour.  Amen.

 

FRIDAY 30th.APRIL
Acts 12.1-17a
The mighty power of Believers’ prayer 

Jesus taught us to keep praying and never give up and as long as we keep on trusting Him without doubting, He will give us whatever we ask for in prayer (see Luke 11.9-13, Mark 11.22-25).  In the wonderful passage of Scripture before us today, we see Jesus keeping His promise.  The believers’ prayers are miraculously answered. 

The infant church was suffering a huge setback.  One of their leaders, James, had been beheaded and now Peter was in prison.  This inspired all who gathered in John Mark’s house to get on their knees and get into earnest prayer.  Soon the earnest prayer was heard by God and He came to Peter’s rescue. 

It wasn’t long before Peter was out of prison knocking on the door of the house.  When the servant girl came back to the disciples and told them that Peter was at the door, they couldn’t believe it, but Peter kept on knocking until he was let in.  Then they all saw that Jesus had answered their prayers. 

Isn’t it extraordinary that Jesus had gone beyond His promise.  He promised in Mark 11.23 that He would answer believing prayer.  Now He answered their prayer even when they doubted.  Never let doubts stop you praying.  Just keep on knocking on God’s door, keep on persevering and you will most certainly get your answers.

PRAYER: Father, you are such a wonderful God who loves to look after His children so much. Keep us praying, particularly when things go wrong.  We know when we persevere and keep on knocking, that you will open the door for us and answer all our prayers, through Jesus our loving Saviour.  Amen.

 

SATURDAY 1st. MAY
John 13.31-35
Love one another as I have loved you 

Jesus was being badly let down by one of His friends.  Judas was off to betray Him.  Did Jesus get all upset and complain to the disciples about what a bad choice He had made and what a terrible person Judas was?  No, no way.  Instead, the moment He was being hurt by Judas’ betrayal He shouts, “Now I am being glorified”.

If only we could react to people who betray and hurt us like this.  The wonderful truth is that we can. Yes, we can love the people who hurt us and let us down.  We can stop their terrible behaviour from hurting us and destroying us.  We can be glorified when people come against us and criticise us! 

 How can we do this?  It seems the wrong way to react!  We can because Jesus told us to do this.  His new command is for us to love others as He loves them.  He loved Judas when he was betraying Him, Peter when he was denying him, the High Priest and Jewish Council when they were condemning Him unjustly, and Pilate and the Roman soldiers when they were crucifying Him.  He loved all those people who were hurting Him so much.  So Jesus calls us to love all who hurt us.  When we obey Him, He makes it easier for us because He gives us the incredible power to love.  This power He released for us when He died on the cross and rose again.

PRAYER: Jesus, we want to obey you more than anything else.  Help us to love all those who come against us and hurt us in any way.  Give us the power to love them in the same way as you love us when we sin against you. Then you will be glorified and more people will be inspired to love you. Amen.

 

SUNDAY 2ND MAY
Message from Father Tom 

The night before Jesus died to pay the price for our sins He gave us all a NEW COMMANDMENT.  He told us He wanted us to love each other in exactly the same way that He loves us.   The old commandment was that we had to love each other as much as we love ourselves.   Jesus wants us to love each other MORE than we love ourselves.

Jesus loved us so very very much that He gave his life for us.   He was never concerned for Himself. He did not worry that He had nowhere to lay his head. When He was suffering he showed no hint of self pity.  He promptly forgave all those who were causing His suffering, Promises the dying thief a place in heaven and comforted His mother and John .  Jesus loves by putting everyone else before Himself. 

Its hard to love in the same way that Jesus loves because by instinct we are all very concerned about ourselves. The good news is that Jesus gave us the power to love. He released this power for us when He died on the cross and rose again from the dead. He waited till He was making this power available before He gave us the new commandment.   The power to love, what I call the incredible power to love, is so much stronger than our instincts and natural tendencies In the second reading, from the Book Of Revelation, God reminds us that He has come to Make His dwelling with us.   When Jesus died for us He cleansed us from all sin.  He made us worthy for God to be our own personal friend. God’s closeness gives us the ongoing power to keep on loving others more than ourselves.  Because Jesus dwells in us and we dwell in Him we never lose the incredible power to love.  This is what we experience in Holy Communion  if we receive it with the fullness of faith.

The Jews were exclusive with the people they loved.  They only loved Jews. They were forbidden to even have a meal with a non-Jew.    In our first reading we see how God spoke to Peter and told him that He had made all people clean.  Peter was enabled to love the Roman, Cornelius and bring him into the family of the Church.  God wants us to love people from all races  and classes.  He never wants us to be exclusive! 

Next Sunday we will honour our mothers on Mothers’ Day.   We thank them for all the selfless love they gave us when the bore us, gave birth to us and looked after us.  Let’s do all we can to show them how much we appreciate all the love they have given us.