Daily Devotions

God shows no partiality (Deuteronomy 10:17-18)

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”

The Bible talks a lot about caring for vulnerable groups: orphans, widows, and foreigners. Families were the stabilising unit in the ancient near east. As long as you had a family to care for you, you’d never know want. This is why widows, orphans, and foreigners were so defenceless and exposed-and why God contends for them regularly.

One day, Horton the elephant hears a cry from help coming from a speck of dust. Even though he can’t see anyone on the speck, he decides to help it. As it turns out, the speck of dust is home to the Whos, who live in their city of Whoville. Horton agrees to help protect the Whos and their home, but this gives him nothing but torment from his neighbours, who refuse to believe that anything could survive on the speck. Still, Horton stands by the motto that, "After all, a person is a person, no matter how small.”

There is the kernel of gospel. A person’s a person, no matter how small. Here we find crucial element is God’s scheme of things. It is a basic idea in God’s kingdom. A person’s a person, no matter how small.

Lord, many is the person who has come asking for justice

    and you have generously provided justice in their lives.

We too come asking for your justice

For ourselves when we have we been treated unjustly.

For those who have been treated with injustices.

For those whose countries show no justice.

Lord we need you to roll down your justice for all. Amen

Daily Devotions

In Leviticus 19:15 we read  “Do not pervert justice”; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly. Ultimately, God’s concern is for impartial justice. We’re not to show a preference for the rich or the poor, but rather to judge impartially. In this way, human judgment reflects the unprejudiced judgment of God.

David Prior wrote, “Justice and kindness are essential qualities of the nature of God Himself. They do not come down from heaven wrapped in parcels. They are expressed in and through people who walk humbly with God.” Such humility is the root of true justice.

The three words are deceptively simple, yet their weight is unmistakable: justice, kindness, and humility.

These are not optional extras merely for the enthusiastic 'on-fire-for-God-believer’; they are the essence of what it means to know God.

When we follow Christ, we become part of a new, bigger, Christ-exalting and Scripture-honouring family that has dynamic new values, culture, and ethos. That new family places immense value on justice.

The Hebrew word for Justice, mishpat, is not just about punishment for wrongdoing, putting someone right, or correcting them—it’s about setting things right.

This sort of justice concerns the widow, the orphan, the foreigner—the marginalised and voiceless being heard, seen, and restored. 

God,

You are the source of human dignity,

and it is in your image that we are created.

Pour out on us the spirit of love and compassion.

Enable us to reverence each person,

to reach out to anyone in need,

to value and appreciate those who differ from us,

to share the resources of our nation,

to receive the gifts offered to us

by people from other cultures.

Grant that we may always promote

the justice and acceptance

that ensures lasting peace and racial harmony.

Help us to remember that we are one world and one family. Amen.

Daily Devotions

The topic of justice frequently appears in Scripture. It’s a major theme of the Old Testament, and it’s central to the heart of the gospel. In the Bible, justice is about relationship. It’s about establishing a right relationship with others, but it’s also about having an unbiased relationship with the truth.

Martin Luther King Jnr once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

So often we want an easy route to a justice that meets our own ideals, our own interpretation that is sometimes based on a warped view of what Justice looks like.

A young lady who occasionally walked through the park after work, stopped to have her picture taken by a photographer on this particular day. She was very excited about her picture being taken. As she walked out of the park, she looked at the Polaroid picture in total amazement. She turned and headed back to the cameraman. When she got there she stated, "This is not right! This is not right! You have done me no justice!”

The photographer looked at the picture and looked at her and stated, "Miss, you don’t need justice, what you need is mercy." 

Jesus spoke of justice from another perspective as well: that of people who sought justice through faith and kept asking until they received it. He told his disciples a parable of a widowed woman who pleaded with an unjust judge to grant her justice in her case. Again and again he refused her, and again and again she brought her claim back to him. Finally, he relented just to get her off his caseload (and prevent her from attacking him). Jesus said, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly” (Luke 18:7-8). 

Lord God of justice,

you know no favourites and show no partiality;

but you have given us assurance

that the prayers of the lowly pierce the clouds,

their petitions reach the heavens.

Look upon us who come before you

as did the penitent tax collector,

and grant that we may open ourselves with confidence in your mercy,

and be justified by your grace.

We ask this through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Daily Devotions

 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; John 11:25

Risen Lord, giver of life, I search this day for your living presence. Surprise me with the joy of knowing afresh power of your Easter Rising. May the stone be rolled away from my dark caves of my life and sepulchre of my heart fill with your radiance divine. Amen 

The tomb was closed, 

death’s lot now sealed

As their dear kinsman’s

Life ends his span.

‘Neath mourning hood.

What now, how could

Such tearful doubts 

Refresh their drought.

Where, where was he

Where could he be

The one true light

Who’d put things right.

But now too late

No need to wait;

For death has spoken

 Life is broken.

“Roll back the stone

Let truth be known.

Come forth, Come out

Come here stand stout.”

And there they found 

Their Kinsman bound.

“Loose him, free him

Slack limb from limb.”

So there he’s stands

And free his hands

Defying death

With Ev’ry breath.

So truth is found

And Life is crowned

In Christ alone

Life, Life is known.

Daily Devotions

 

Symbols of Resurrection of Jesus - The Easter Lily

Artwork and Verse by Rev’d Paul Collings

Lord, as you blossomed like the Lily and provided dew to refresh the earth, so revive the garden of my heart that I may see the beauty of your rising and live for ever in your presence. Amen (Based upon Hosea 14:5 )

In the beauty of the lilies, 

so the battle hymn relates,

That the risen Christ brings glory

Resurrected life to take.

How He died to make us holy, 

That he lives to set us free

By this glorious Easter Morning

Renewing life, he intercedes.

As the pure white of the lily

Blooms, its grandeur here to share,

So may life in all its fulness

Its own beauty in us bear.

Lord, you say “My peace be with you,

Trouble not your weary hearts.

Remain here, keep on praying,

Wait ‘til Spirit’s power imparts.”

For the coming of your Spirit

Pentecostal fire, new start

For the words to speak, to utter

Through each other’s tongues impart.

Lord we ask now for your blessing

For your gift of power we ask

For a purity of living

Make us ready for the task.

Daily Devotions

Liturgy Rev’d Norman Wallwork

Artwork and Verse Rev’d Paul Collings

Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to Saul of Tarsus

The one who became Apostle to the nations

Risen Lord, though we have fled from you a hundred times and caused pain to those who love you – lead us into the city where we will find you and open our eyes to the glory of your presence.

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

“How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know Christ and the power shown by his resurrection: now I long to share his sufferings, even to die as he died, so that I may perhaps attain as he did, the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:11

1 Another road of heart break see

A man intent on bringing hell

Into the lives of Jesus folk.

This Saul of Tarsus, who can tell

What’s in his heart, what moves him so

With cruel vindictive hate to crow.

2 Intent on hate he stumbles falls

And light so forceful to him calls

 Yet in his blindness, hears quite clear.

‘Why me, you persecute, why jeer

With voice outspoken, why you sneer

And want me silenced - do you fear.”

3 “Who are you, Lord,” Saul questions why

“The one you torture Jesus Christ.

Go to the town, get up arise

And there await, the reason why.

You will be told what you should do

Rise up I tell you, walk, now go.”

4 The men with Saul amazed guide him

To city street and three days dim,

No sight of eye nor light of day

Brings him relief or sunshine’s ray.

Yet in that darkness comes new sight

Far brighter than the brightest light.

5 Lord in my darkness, may I see

The blessing of your royal decree

Of dying, death and resurrection 

Of Easter glory’s sweet reflection.

Lord, when I fall help me to know

And show the way that I should go.