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Genesis 13:1-18 Lord, help us to make good choices. When we’re at the crossroads of life, we can so easily head off in the wrong direction. At the crossroads of life, we need Jesus. He is the Way – the true and living Way ( John 14:6 ). “Without the Way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. Without the life, there is no living.” Help us to choose well. Help us to choose Jesus. Lord, give us this great testimony: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” ( Galatians 2:20 ). Lord, help us to keep on praying this prayer: “May there be less of self and more of Christ in me” ( John 3:30 ).

Genesis 12:1-20 Lord, sometimes, we feel like we’re stuck in a rut. When we feel like this, help us to see that You’ve moved on ahead of us. You’re calling us on – into Your future! Do we need to see exactly where You’re leading us? – No! We don’t! We just need to keep on following You. The future may be unknown to us – but it’s never unknown to You! “Face the sun and the shadows will fall behind you. Look to the One who can put your past behind you. Be the one you were born to be – Don’t you want to be free? … There ‘ll be brighter days ahead” (Garry Brotherston). Lord, let there be no more fear of an unknown future. Help us to look to the Son. Help us to know that, with Him, we can never be stuck in a rut! Help us to move forward with Him and for Him.

Genesis 45:1-28 Lord, You're leading us on to glory. You're taking us to a better place - a place where there will be no more weakness, a place where we will be surrounded by the strength of Your love.

Genesis 44:1-34 So many things are changing, Lord. How are we to live in a changing world? We trust in Your unchanging love. In our changing world, Your love remains the same - unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.  You are also the changing God - the God who changes us. Your love is a changing love. Your love changes us. Help us, in our ever-changing world, to keep on praying for the best kind of change - being changed by You - changed by Your love. Help us to become less self-centred and more Christ-centred.

Our concern is not so much with Abraham. Our chief focus of attention is on “the God of Abraham.” The story of Abraham is both the story of Abraham and the story of God’s grace and power. We see the grace of God, revealed in the promises of God. We see the power of God, revealed in the fulfilment of His promises: “God can do anything; God can do anything; God can do anything but fail; He can save. He can keep. He can cleanse, and He will. God can do anything but fail.” God’s promise to Abraham has three parts: (a) personal – “I will bless you; (b) national – “I will make of you a great nation”; (c) universal – “by you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” As the fulfilment of God’s promise moves forward from Abraham to Israel to Christ, we hear God’s Word speaking to us: “I will bless you” – saved, kept, cleansed. As we receive the blessing of God’s salvation, we discover how faithful God is, in His love towards us. “God can do anything but fail” – God cann

“Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought many devices” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). * Following the glory and majesty of the Creator and His creation in Genesis 1 & 2, the third chapter of Genesis begins with the enemy of God, the enemy of our souls, the devil, Satan (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2). He is “subtle” – sly, cunning, crafty. He is evil.He sows seeds of doubt: “Did God say?” (Genesis 3:1). From his very first words, it is clear that he is the enemy of God. “Did God say? Did God really say?” One can almost hear the wicked, unbelieving tone of voice with which Satan spoke. * When the woman heard the voice of Satan, she ought to have turned away from him. She ought to have said, “Get behind me, Satan. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.” She ought to have said this, but she didn’t. She discussed the matter with the enemy. She had no right to do this. There was one answer she ought to have given to the devil: God has

Genesis 9:20-29     Lord, we need Your strength. Without Your strength, we fall. Without Your strength, we fail. With Your strength, everything changes. You lead us from our defeat into Your victory. Help us, Lord, to trust You. In ourselves, we are weak. In You, we are strong. Where does this strength come from? – It comes from this: Jesus has risen – and He lives in us! “Resurrect in our lives faith, hope, and love, as surely as You raised Jesus Christ from the grave” ( Common Order , Prayer for Easter).

Genesis 7:1-24 Lord, we thank You for Jesus - There is no-one like Him. What a great Saviour He is! He does for us something that we could never – ever – do for ourselves. He forgives our sins – and He forgets them! The forgiveness of all our sins - What a great blessing this is! We read the words, “I will remember their sins no more” – and we think to ourselves, “How wonderful is this?” We think of Jesus. We think of all that He has done for us. He was crucified for us. He has risen for us. Our sins have been forgiven – and forgotten. Can we even begin to understand this? Do we need to understand all of this? We do not understand it all. How can we possibly understand all that You have done for us?    “Jesus Christ, we greet You! … risen from the grave … You have come: not to answer our questions, but to show us Your face” ( Common Order , Prayer for Easter). Thank You, Lord, for Jesus – Your Son, our Saviour. Thank You for His love – Love is shining from His face.

More of these Bible reading notes can be found at  God's Word For Every Day . Genesis 4:6-16. In the story of Cain, we see the development of sin. Jealousy leads to anger, and anger leads to murder. In this story, we see ourselves in the 'mirror' of God's Word. Here, God emphasizes our exceeding sinfulness - 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt' (Jeremiah 17:9). Our sinfulness leads us away from 'the presence of the Lord' to 'the land of wandering (Nod)' (16). This is the work of Satan in our lives - Genesis 4 is an extension of Genesis 3. Even in the land of wandering, the hand of God is upon us. This is the meaning of 'the mark of Cain' - 'so that no one who found him would kill him' (15). Even in our wanderings, God is waiting in mercy for us to make our way back to Him by coming in faith to Jesus Christ our Saviour. Even when 'sin' is a good bit more than 'crouching

Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This is our only starting-point. We begin with the eternal God. Before there was creation, there is God. There is nothing beyond God. He is the Beginning. Genesis 1:2 - “darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of face of the waters.” Before the Spirit of God has done his powerful work in our hearts, we remain in darkness. We can do nothing about this. The light does not come from ourselves. It comes from the Lord. Genesis 1:3 - “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” This is the mighty work of God. Through His amazing grace, He brings us out of His darkness and into His light. Genesis 1:4 - “the light was good” What a wonderful blessing it is when the light of the Lord shines in our hearts.

“In the beginning, God”  – The first four words of the Bible take us back to the point where we can go no further, back to the eternity of God. What do we find when we are taken back – into the heart of the eternal God? We find love. We discover that “God is love.” Creation is love because God is love. Before God made us, He loved us. The love which we find in the opening chapters of Genesis is the love that is proclaimed throughout God’s Word – from Genesis to Revelation. It’s the great love of God for us. It’s the love that never ends. It’s the love that goes on and on. * How do we get to know God the Creator? How do we come to know that His heart is full of love for us? In Genesis 1, three words are repeated over and over again: “And God said”. These words emphasize the creative power of the Word of God. God created through His Word. He proclaims His love to us through Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. He declares His love for us in the Scriptures, the written Word

More of these Bible readings notes can be found at  God's Word For Every Day . Matthew 4:12-17 Having overcome His enemy, Jesus begins His ministry. Satan will be back - Luke ends his account of Jesus' temptations with these ominous words, 'When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left until an opportune time' (4:12). Satan will try again, but - for now - he has failed to stop Jesus setting out on His ministry, a ministry which brings light into the darkness. The light is shining brightly - 'the Kingdom of heaven is near' (17). Jesus' ministry is viewed as a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy (15-16; Isaiah 9:1-2). The prophecy had been given: Death will be overcome, men and women will be delivered from 'the shadow of death'. Now, in Christ, the prophecy has been fulfilled: by His death, Christ has destroyed 'him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil' and He has set 'free' those who live in 'fear of d

Genesis 8:1-22 Lord, we thank You for Jesus – He is the Rock of our salvation. Often, in our journey through life, we’re walking on shifting sand. As we walk along, we discover that it’s more than shifting sand – It’s quicksand! It’s sucking us in – and it’s dragging us down. Is there any hope for us? Is there any solid ground? Yes! There is! Jesus is “the Solid Rock” (“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness … On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”) Lord, we thank You that You’ve not left us to fall down in our own weakness. You’ve given us Jesus, our Saviour – We stand in His strength. When we feel like we’re sinking, help us, Lord, to look to You, to find new strength in You. When we’re almost overwhelmed by the flood of unbelief that seems to be coming at us all the time, help us to come to You and receive Your strength: “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” ( Ephesians 6:10 ).

Genesis 2:13 “the river that flows through the whole land” God is not only concerned with our personal blessing. He wants His blessing to reach out to many people in every land: “Fill this land with the Father’s glory … Flow, river, flow … Flood the nations with grace and mercy” (from the hymn, “Shine, Jesus, Shine” by Graham Kendrick). Genesis 2:14 “Hiddekel … Ashshur … Perat” The names are unfamiliar to us. Think of the places that are familiar to you. Pray that the river of God’s blessing will flow freely in these places, bringing people to know the Saviour and leading them on to “a closer walk with God.” Genesis 2:15 “dressing and keeping the garden” Coming into the “garden” of God’s blessing is just the beginning. We must keep on walking with God in the “garden” of His blessing – “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him” (Colossians 2:6).

Genesis 25:19-34 Lord, give us Your wisdom. Help us to see that walking in Your way is better than getting our own way. When we are being drawn away from Your way, bring us back again - back to the way of obedience, back to the way of blessing.

Genesis 11:1-9 Lord, help us not to get too big for our boots. Sometimes, we get down in the dumps. When this happens, we need to get lifted up - by You! Sometimes, we have a very different problem. We get too big for our boots – and we need to be brought back down to earth! Brought down with a bump: How often this has happened to us – and it was just what we needed! Bringing us down – We thank You, Lord, that this is only the beginning of Your work in us. You never bring us down – to leave us there. You bring us down to build us up again! Building us up – That’s what You do for us. We’re broken down – and You put us together again! Lord, this is so encouraging. When we forget You, You never forget us. When we feel like giving up, You say to us, “I haven’t finished with you yet. I’ll never be finished with You: What I have planned for you is nothing less than this - eternal life.”

Genesis 3:1-7 The tragedy of Adam and Eve: their fall into sin. We compare this with the triumph of Jesus - His victory over Satan. What made the difference?- standing on the Word of God. Adam and Eve believed the lie of the devil. Jesus took His stand on the Word of God. What about us? Do we stand? or Do we fall? Will we listen to Satan? or Will we listen to God? We cannot be facing in two directions at the same time. We must make our choice. Will our life be self-centred? or Will it be God-centred? God is calling us out of the old life (the Adam life). He’s calling us into the new life (the Jesus life). When we choose to walk with Jesus, He walks with us.

Genesis 42:1-38 Sometimes, Lord, we wonder what it's all about! When we feel like this, help us to know that You love us. Help us to see that You are working in us - to teach us to love You.

Genesis 1:13 - “the third day” We read these words, and our thoughts move forward to the mighty miracle of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead – “on the third day God raised Him from the dead.”

Genesis 11:10-32 Sometimes, Lord, the things that happen to us don’t seem to make sense – to us! We try to tell the story of our life. We try to make sense of it all. We try – but we fail. Why? – We don’t know the full story. Sometimes, we feel like we’re living on Dead End Street! You say to us, “You’re missing the point! You don’t need to understand what it’s all about. You can leave that to Me.” Help us, Lord, to know that we’re not alone – trying to make sense of our life. Help us to know that You’re with us. Help us to think of Jesus. He is “God with us” ( Matthew 1:23 ).  When everything seems to be so confusing, help us to remember that Jesus understands us. He knows what we’re like – and He hasn’t stopped loving us. He never will! He loves us – and He’s praying for us: ”We praise You, our glorious Lord and Saviour, and are for ever glad that now there is in heaven One who understands and intercedes for us” ( Common Order , Prayer for Ascension).