Week 12 Wednesday
Exodus 30 pictures Christ's ongoing intercession for us, Psalm 55 moves from despair to trust, and Acts 4 shows the early church praying boldly under pressure.
Exodus 30
📖 What are we reading?: Instructions for the altar of incense, and the ransom the Israelites were to pay towards the atoning sacrifices.
✞ What does this passage say about God? The burning of incense, morning and evening, pictures the intercessory work of Christ on our behalf.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Christ has now paid our ransom in full, and we enter God's presence by faith alone.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Exodus, meaning "departure", was written by Moses around 1400 BC. It tells the thrilling story of Israel's miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt - a picture of Christ setting us free from the prison of sin.
Psalm 55
📖 What are we reading?: David longs to escape this earth and fly away like a bird, but finds a turnaround by the end of the psalm.
✞ What does this passage say about God? Verses 16-17 show us why David's despair gives way to hope - he calls to God, and God hears him.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? May verse 22 be one that we know by heart, casting our cares on the Lord, who will sustain us.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: The Psalms is a collection of 150 poems and songs, written by David and others, expressing the full range of human emotion in response to God and to life.
Acts 4:1-31
📖 What are we reading?: Peter and John are arrested and stand before the Sanhedrin, before the believers gather to pray for boldness.
✞ What does this passage say about God? He fills His people afresh with the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer, so that they speak His word boldly.
🛐 How does this passage teach us to live? Like Peter and John, we cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard. When threatened, our first response should be prayer, not fear.
Looking for some extra info?
➡️ The bigger picture: Luke's second book outlines the ministry of the early church - though it could just as well be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, as He guides and grows Jesus' small movement into something that changes the world.
A Prayer for the Day
🙏 Lord, thank You that Jesus intercedes for us and has paid our ransom in full. When despair presses in, turn our hearts to hope, and when we face opposition, fill us afresh with Your Spirit and boldness. Amen.
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