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Daily Devotion May 12th

TUESDAY 12th

The Parable of the Ten Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

The placement of this parable that we are considering today is within the conversation Jesus had with his disciples regarding the end times. In the previous chapter 24, we read in verse 1 that the disciples had drawn the attention of Jesus to the temple buildings. No doubt it was a splendid building, but Jesus makes a startling statement to the disciples that suggested that the temple buildings would be destroyed, with not one stone being left on another. We don’t know how long the gap is between verse 2 and 3, but by now Jesus and the disciples are sitting on the mount of Olives, the disciples had obviously been mulling over what Jesus had said and so they ask him, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ The whole of the remainder of this chapter is the answer that Jesus gave to them, which then leads into the parable before us today.

To summarize what Jesus had said in Matthew 24 is not the purpose of this devotion, but what we do learn is this, in his answer Jesus gives sufficient warning that his second coming would be sudden and at a time least expected. (see 24:42 and 44) This is then confirmed at the end of our parable, 25 verse 13 ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’

Let us remind ourselves today in the midst of the turmoil, trouble and testing that is shaking the world at this moment as a result of the virus, we who are Christians need not fear, God is in control, and these things will happen before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 24:4-8) We need as it were to keep our eye on the ball, be watchful, be ready, for he could come at any moment.

Jesus uses a wedding scene in his parable, ten virgins who were supposed to be ready to go out to meet the bridegroom, we learn that five were wise, five were foolish. What then made the difference between whether they were wise or foolish? It all came down to whether they had oil with them to keep their lamps burning, so that when the bridegroom arrived, they would be ready.

We are told that the bridegroom was delayed, during the delay their lamps had been burning, but for five of the virgins their lamps were running out of oil and they had no spare oil to top their lamps up. They asked the other five to give them some oil, but they had to answer in the negative, for ‘if we give you some of our oil, there will not be enough for us as well.’ So, the foolish five went off to buy some oil, but alas, too late for while they were gone the bridegroom arrived and the wise five went into the feast and the door was shut. On their return the cry was made from the foolish five, ‘let us in’, but it was too late.

The purpose of the parable is to warn us to be ready for when Jesus comes again, by keeping our lamps trimmed and having a fresh supply of oil. If the wick of a lamp wasn’t trimmed regularly, the light would eventually diminish, give off an unpleasant smell and weaken, so keeping our lamps trimmed speaks to me of cutting off from our lives anything that is likely to frustrate our walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many things today that could hinder our walk, or our alertness and our readiness for our Bridegrooms arrival. Lacking oil could be symbolic of several things, it could refer to becoming spiritually dry and barren, through our lack of prayer, fellowship, and the reading of the Word. It could refer to our lack of dependency upon the Holy Spirit, it could simply be our loss of interest and desire for the things of God, even maybe a flirtation with the things of the world! In the parable it led to the five foolish not being ready!

The parable is all about ensuring that we watch our lives in the light of his impending coming, ensuring that we are in continual fellowship and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, being spiritually fed and spiritually alert as we wait for his arrival.

In Luke’s account of the second coming teaching of Jesus, he doesn’t include this parable, but in an earlier chapter he gives a similar warning, Luke 12:35-40 ‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

In bringing this devotion to an end, as you are reading this, are you ready? Is your lamp trimmed and burning bright? Do you have some fresh oil? Are you looking up in readiness for the arrival of our Saviour?

Do you know him personally as your Saviour, if not make yourself ready by allowing him to come into your life as your Lord and Master, come to the cross and repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

A final point, the five foolish virgins could not use the oil that belonged to the five wise virgins. When it comes to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot depend on someone else’s relationship to get us into heaven! Each one of us needs to make a personal decision to trust him as Lord and Saviour.

We will have an old Sunday school classis as our song for today

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Keep me burning

Till the break of day.

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King of kings!

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King!

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Give me joy in my heart, I pray.

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Keep me singing

Till the break of day.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting,

Give me peace In my heart, I pray.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting.

Keep me resting

Till the break of day.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Give me love in my heart, I pray.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Keep me serving

Till the break of day.

CCLI 788682

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Daily Devotion May 3rd

SUNDAY 3rd – Luke 15:1-10

As we commence another new week, how would you personally review the past six weeks?

I must be honest, that when I started writing the daily devotions starting with the 22nd March, I did not think I would need to be preparing them for such a long period of time. Over this period, we have covered various topics, and gone to many different Scriptures. My prayer is that sometime over this period that the Word and the devotions will have ministered in some way to our Church family. As I’m preparing for this week’s devotions I am hopeful that by the time I am sending them that we may be close to being able to get back to having gathered Church again, where we can be together in fellowship in safety and with hearts that are overflowing with joy.

For Sunday – Tuesday this week we will think of the word ‘celebrate’ and then again on Friday as this week Friday is a Bank Holiday to celebrate or to commemorate V.E. Day

Our Scripture today comprises of two well-known stories or parables that Jesus taught. A parable is described as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning or, as an earthly illustration to bring out a spiritual meaning. Tomorrow we will consider the third parable in this chapter.

In the first parable, a shepherd has lost one of his sheep, in the second a lady has lost one of her coins. That which was lost in both stories was of value to the owner. One sheep out of a hundred may not seem much, but if your living depended upon it then a 1% loss is a loss and should it have been a pregnant ewe then an even bigger loss. One coin out of 10 again may not seem too bad, but it is a 10% loss. One percent or ten percent, it does not matter, something was lost, and the Shepherd went to look for the lost sheep and the woman did all she could to find the missing coin.

At the end of the first story, having found his sheep, the shepherd calls his neighbours and friends saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Likewise, the same with the woman after finding the coin, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

First, let us be honest, I wonder how many farmers call their neighbours to rejoice when they have been out and found a lost sheep? I spent 23 years living on a farm and believe you me sheep are always breaking out and getting lost – but I never ever remember my dad throwing a party after finding a lost sheep! The same with a coin, we have probably all lost a coin, and maybe spent ages searching for it, but I guess you never ran around your neighbours houses shouting out to them ‘rejoice, I lost a coin and have found it.’ But here in the parables they did!

Why? Because the story is emphasising not so much the value of a sheep or of a coin, but of a lost soul. Remember verse 1 says that Jesus was sat with sinners and eating with them, and the Scribes and the Pharisees were grumbling and criticising Jesus for spending time with them. So, Jesus told the parables to explain what he was doing – he was looking for lost souls! This is what it says in verse 7 after the sheep in the story was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’ And in verse 10 after the coin was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

The loss of a sheep is not good news, the loss of the coin was not good news but what is even worse is the loss of a human soul. A sheep can be replaced, a coin can be replaced but not a soul.

The Bible says that ‘All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to our own way.’ (Isaiah 53:6) As lost sheep we were bound for eternity to be lost forever, but the Shepherd came to find us. The Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost. It is ironic that to be able to do this, the Shepherd became a lamb as Isaiah 53:7 says, to be slaughtered on our behalf so that we could come into his fold, under his care as the Good Shepherd.

And just like the coin was precious to the woman who had lost it, so the human soul is precious to God who created it! (Genesis 1:27) And like the woman who did all she could to find the precious coin, so God intended to do all he could to find lost human souls.

And when a ‘lost sheep’, a ‘lost coin’, a lost soul is found there is a great celebration in heaven, there is joy in the presence of the angels.

Again, I have to be honest, when I look back to when I was found on May 18th 1969 after this parable of the lost sheep was the subject of the preacher, there wasn’t a party in the church, nor when we got home as a family, yes the preacher was excited, my parents were excited, I was excited, but there is one thing for sure there was a great celebration in heaven.

Imagine the celebration on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were saved! It would have been an ‘all-nighter’, think back to the moment when you were saved, and imagine the party in heaven over your being found. And the angels still like to celebrate, the Shepherd is still looking through the hillside, crags and briars, the woman is still sweeping through the house, the heavenly ‘champagne’ is always ‘on ice’ ready to celebrate.

The challenge today is this, are we willing to become like shepherds to go out and to look for the lost sheep, are we willing to be like the woman and to sweep through our neighbourhoods, looking in the nooks and cranny’s to find the lost souls that need saving. Are we willing to do whatever it takes so that the angels in heaven can celebrate again?

Instead of the usual hymns for today and tomorrow I am using a poem which I had already written myself based on Luke 15. It is in three parts, part 1 and 2 today and 3 tomorrow.

Part 1

A shepherd with a flock of sheep,

Cared for them on the mountain steep,

He led them into pastures new,

And luscious grass they all did chew.

He watched them through the day and night,

He never let them from his sight,

One day he counted them all up,

But alas, he’d lost a little tup.

There should have been a hundred sheep,

His watchful eye on them to keep,

How could one have gone astray,

I’ll look for it without delay.

He left the others in the fold,

And went out in the night so cold,

He searched the valley and the plain,

While getting soaked with all the rain.

But hush, he listened to a sound,

It came as if from rougher ground,

He followed as he heard the bleat,

And saw his tup caught by his feet.

The brambles tangled in his wool,

He’d struggled hard and tried to pull,

But got himself in such a mess,

He’d driven himself to deep distress,

The shepherd caught him with his crook,

And in his arms his tup he took,

He cut the briars all away,

And fixed him up without delay.

Back to the fold they both did go,

And then a party he did throw,

‘Rejoice with me for I am glad,

My sheep are all back in the pad.’

Part 2

A woman living down the street,

She found her necklace incomplete,

Ten coins it really should have had,

One was lost and she was sad.

She turned her cottage upside down,

It must be here it must be found,

She searched the cupboards, swept the floor,

And looked behind each of the doors.

She moved the carpet and the mat,

And even scurried out the cat,

And as she pushed aside a drawer,

The tiny coin her sharp eyes saw.

It must have tumbled through a crack,

But she was thrilled to get it back,

She called her neighbours and her friends,

‘Rejoice my necklace I can mend.’

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Daily Devotion April 29th

WEDNESDAY 29th

Acts 3 and 4 – Rivers of Living Water

The ministries or the work of the Holy Spirit within our lives are many and varied. He not only helps us in spiritual ministries, but he helps us in our everyday living, he enables us to walk in his ways rather than in the ways and the desires of the flesh. (our subject in the devotion on April 2nd)

Within the scope of the Church the Holy Spirit not only empowers us and anoints us, he also equips us. He gives us the grace and the strength in our work and service for the Lord.

There is another area that we come to in today’s reading, and perhaps we overlook this when we look at this portion of Scripture, and it is this; I believe that the Holy Spirit makes us more aware of the needs of those who are around us, he sensitizes us to becoming more compassionate toward the less fortunate or those in need. In a sense it is the Holy Spirit working in our lives to make us more like what Jesus was like – it says in Matthew 9:36 that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’

Jesus was a man who was moved with compassion. Today we are seeing all around us folk who are harassed and helpless, the easiest thing to do is to pass by them, to ignore them and think to ourselves, ‘someone else can see to them.’

In Acts 3, Peter and John were making their way up to the temple at the hour of prayer. On the journey was a man who was less fortunate than they were, a man who was harassed and helpless, a man who spent his day sitting and begging just to try and get by. He had been lamed from birth.

I think that the first thing that was triggered in the hearts of the two men was a supernatural compassion for the man. It would have been so easy to just walk by him. But he had a need and they could do something about it. But what they were about to do was something extraordinary. They couldn’t help him out financially , their pockets were empty, but because of the encounter that they had had in the ‘Upper Room’ they had something even more important to offer, something that would end the man’s hopelessness, and mean he would vacate the place where he had been sitting every day and do something that he had never experienced before, to walk and jump and to leap about. They had the Power of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives, they had the ‘faith to believe that something extraordinary could happen’ They had authority to minister ‘in the name of Jesus’ and so they spoke to the man (v6) and took the man by the right hand and ‘immediately his feet and ankles were made strong’ This in itself is amazing, but let’s not miss a major point, the healing was wonderful but through it they introduced the man to Jesus.

Now, I am not suggesting that we should go to every person we see begging in the streets, and begin to do this, what I am suggesting is that when we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit we will know and recognise the sensitivity of the leading of the Holy Spirit to go to those who he wants us to go to. It will not always be necessarily to go to someone in the streets, it can be anywhere, for the helpless and the harassed are found in our neighbourhoods, maybe in our families and maybe even within the community of the Church.

At first, this narrative does not seem to end too well for the disciples, they are arrested and put into custody! But it gives them a great opportunity to share the gospel again(4:7-12) and the verdict given was two-fold, 1) The authorities knew something spectacular had happened (4:13-14) 2) They forbade them from speaking or teaching any more in the name of Jesus. Then they were released.

But immediately the disciples were released from custody they reported back to the Church and they have a prayer meeting about the situation and God releases yet again another spectacular outpouring of the Holy Spirt. V31 ‘And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirt and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.’

Hang on, ‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ I thought that that had happened on the day of Pentecost? How come they were filled again? Well, can I suggest that the disciples who had been filled on the day of Pentecost had also been giving out as they had moved under the power of the Holy Spirit. They had received and they had also been giving, and (hopefully not to sound to disrespectful about spiritual things), they needed topping up again! In John 7:37-38, Jesus cried out ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’, Jesus said that we need to drink so that out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water, ‘this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’ (V39) This tells us, that for the rivers of living water to be flowing out they first need to be flowing in! We continually need to ‘drink’, to know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that he can overflow out through our lives as rivers of living water towards others.

Going back to where we started, as you picture Peter and John speaking to the lame man, allow your mind’s eye to look deeper, first see Peter and John before they make the journey, drinking the living water, they are filled with the Spirit and as they begin to speak to the lame man, in the Name of Jesus, the rivers of living water are flowing out and a need is met and God is glorified.

I am a big tea and coffee drinker, probably drink far too much and guess what, what goes in needs to eventually come out! The more I drink the more . . .!

Paul says in Ephesians 5:18 ‘. . . but be filled with the Spirit . . .’ Scholars tell us that it should read ‘Keep on being filled with the Spirit’ Keep drinking in the water Jesus offers, keep drinking, drinking and drinking, because, you’ve guessed it,  the more you drink the more the rivers of living water will flow!

Rivers of living water,

Rivers that flow from the throne,

Rivers o’erflowing with blessing,

Coming from Jesus alone.

Rivers of living water,

Rivers of life so free,

Flowing from Thee, my Savior,

Send now the rivers through me.

Whoso is thirsty come hither,

Here is abundant supply;

Water transparent as crystal,

Come without money and buy.

Cleanse me, oh, cleanse me, my Savior,

Make me a channel today;

Empty me, fill me and use me,

Teach me to trust and obey.

Then, and then only, Lord Jesus,

Through me the rivers can flow;

Thus and thus only will others

Learn Thy great fulness to know.

Now I surrender to Jesus,

Here I lay all at His feet;

Anything, anywhere only,

Just for His service made meet!

Unknown CCLI 7882682

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Daily Devotion April 25th

SATURDAY 25th

Psalm 34

V18 ‘The LORD is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in Spirit.’

We are many weeks into a period of uncertainty, a period the like of none of us have never been through before on such a large scale. To date (25th) There are 2.7m confirmed cases of Covid-19 world-wide, with 195,920 deaths. In the UK 143,464 cases and there have been 19,506 deaths. Thankfully many have and are recovered or are recovering.

Death has come suddenly, almost with either very little or no warning. Yes, we all know that we will die one day, but out of these present figures so many will have died unexpectedly, that is one of the reasons why the authorities have put in place many procedures to try to halt the spread and to eventually, hopefully wipe it out.

The Bible tells us that death has come as a result of the entrance of sin into the world. Death is no respecter of persons, it comes to all, and not always when we are old in age, sadly it calls from every age group. Any death is a sad time, any funeral service is a place where we would rather not attend. One of the saddest I’ve attended was when a previous school friend of our daughter died of Meningitis. She was just 11 years old, we had moved away, but for our daughter we travelled the 275 miles back to Great Cornard, Suffolk to enable her to join with all the other class-mates at the funeral, it was such a heart-breaking time. After the funeral I had a conversation with the vicar who I knew from our time living there, and he confided with me with some news that only he and his wife knew at the time, of which they were not disclosing yet owing to the events of the day. That same morning before he had had to officiate at the funeral, their own daughter just a few years old had been diagnosed with cancer, sadly just a year or two later, their daughter had also died. At the other end of the extreme I went to a funeral around the same time of an aunt of mine, she was 101.

We don’t like to talk about death, but we need to constantly remind ourselves as believers that we have as we considered on Tuesday, a Shepherd who is with us. But there is something else that we are reminded about in our Scripture today, the Shepherd also comes near to the broken hearted. Picture this: as the Shepherd is going through the valley of the shadow of death with a dying soul, transporting them into his eternal presence and home, he is at the very same time drawing close to the bereaved to minister to their broken-heartedness. What a wonderful Shepherd we have.

We can know a broken heart in many ways, it can come through a relationship breakdown, it can be as a result of devastating news but more commonly as already mentioned, we know broken-heartedness at the loss of a loved one when death has come and taken them. And many are experiencing this at this moment, the whole world over. There are many broken-hearted people in this world today. Death is awful in that it brings separation, as a loved one is taken, but perhaps it is made even the more difficult today in that we are constantly being reminded that such is the risk of contamination, that loved ones are sadly being left to die alone. Couples who may have been together for many years, unable to embrace, hold hands and to be a comfort to each other because of the potential and dangerous risk of getting the virus.

We can take many steps to help in this period, we can pray, we can ensure we follow the guidelines, we can ring, encourage etc. but we can also be the means through which the healing of the broken heart can take place as we allow God to use us to minister his grace to any that we know who may be hurting. Not just as a result of the virus, but any that are going through a period of loss. Elaine and I lost three of our parents in a month, three funerals in the space of 27 days, and we thank God that while we were grieving there were many in our Church family who were praying for us, getting in touch with us and just being there for us, but above all we thank God that our Shepherd was with us helping to heal our broken-heartedness.

In the New Testament, we read of the moment when Jesus arrived at the grave of Lazarus, even though he knew what he was about to do, he connected with the broken-heartedness of the two sisters and he wept. We must and should never be afraid of tears, again the Scripture says that when one rejoices, we rejoice with them, when one suffers, we suffer with them. We need to learn the art of connecting and caring! The need to enter what another person is going through, to be able to give them succour and support.

In Isaiah 61:1-2 we read ‘The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour.’

In Luke 4, Jesus stood up in the temple and took the Scroll of the prophet Isaiah and when he found these verses, he read them out concluding at the end, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

Yes, Jesus came to be the Saviour, he came to seek and to save the lost, he came to reconcile and to redeem, he came to give abundant and eternal life. But, among so many other things as well he came to bind up, or to heal the broken hearted.

The Psalm for today, is a reasonably well-known Psalm, meditate upon it, but if at this moment are down-hearted or broken-hearted allow the Saviour to lift you up, allow him to replace your sorrow with joy.

Psalm 147:3 ‘He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.’

He gives beauty for ashes

Strength for fear

Gladness for mourning

Peace for despair

When sorrow seems to surround you

When suffering hangs heavy o’er your head

Know that tomorrow brings

Wholeness and healing

God knows your need

Just believe what He said

He gives beauty for ashes

Strength for fear

Gladness for mourning

Peace for despair

When what you’ve done keeps you from moving on

When fear wants to make itself at home in your heart

Know that forgiveness brings

Wholeness and healing

God knows your need

Just believe what He said

I once was lost but God has found me

Though I was bound I’ve been set free

I’ve been made righteous in His sight

A display of His splendor all can see

CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion April 24th

FRIDAY 24th

Psalm 123

This isn’t a very long Psalm and perhaps you are wondering why I have chosen it, it’s not because it is one of my favourites, but as I was going through the Psalms for this week the first verse caught my attention. ‘To you I lift my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!’

It then gives an illustration in verse 2 of the eyes of the servant looking towards their master, and the eyes of the maidservant towards their mistress. This gives us a picture of our dependency toward God.

We depend on many things in our lives, especially in modern living with the technological era in which we live – we depend on our electric supply (and gas and water), we depend on our fridges, freezers, micro-waves, kettles, washing machines, our cars or public transport, and today we seem to be unable to cope without a particular device called a mobile phone or laptop computer. Imagine how different our day would be by trying to manage without each of these things I have mentioned.

Over the last months we have become even more aware of so much that we have taken for granted, everyday things we do, activities we do etc  like shopping, meeting with family or friends, going out in the car, maybe the gym, or even popping out for a meal with others.

Things which we have built our lives around and of we have become dependent upon. Suddenly we have been stripped of these things and have had to re-manage how we live and organise our lives. There are many ways in which we can react, we could become angry, we could become rebellious, we could be resourceful etc. but one thing we can all be is pro-active. We can be determined to make the most out of a difficult situation. But there is something else that we who are believers can do, it is that we can take stock. We can take the situation and the time it gives us to re-evaluate our lives and in particular our relationship with God. As we think of all the things in this life that we have become so dependant upon how many of them have become an hinderance to us in our walk with and our dependency upon the Lord Jesus Christ without our realising it?

Let’s go back to the first verse, ‘To you I lift my eyes.’ Our eyes are incredible organs, they are very delicate and yet extremely powerful, it is with our eyes we have vison, through our eyes we see everything around us, it is through our eyes we can focus on things that are close or far away. Sight is precious. Every day, we who have our sight are looking, watching, and as a result are absorbing, taking in and learning. Every day we are seeing and as a result feeding our minds which in turn feeds our desires. There is a challenge here, as to how much of our time is spent using our eyes to watch, read, see things that are not really of any value, more so of any spiritual value?

Some modern smart phones give you a weekly report on your screen time, whether you have spent more screen time or less screen time in a week compared to the previous week. I wonder what the weekly report would be on how much time we have given to the Word of God and the things of God? It’s a challenge to me.

 ‘To you I Lift my eyes’ speaks of our dependency toward God, the other familiar Psalm 121, says ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’ We need to remember that these words are not just for the difficult and tough times, they are applicable for every moment of our lives. We need his help regardless of what our circumstances are because in this modern age, there is so much than can distract us and cause us to lose our dependency upon him.

There is one well known New Testament Scripture that talks of where our eyes should be looking, and with this scripture I will conclude this devotion, it’s in Hebrews 12:1-2 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.’

I lift my eyes

to the quiet hills

in the press of a busy day;

as green hills stand

in a dusty land

so God is my strength and stay.

I lift my eyes

to the quiet hills

to a calm that is mine to share;

secure and still

in the Father’s will

and kept by the Father’s care.

I lift my eyes

to the quiet hills

with a prayer as I turn to sleep;

by day, by night,

through the dark and light

my Shepherd will guard his sheep.

I lift my eyes

to the quiet hills

and my heart to the Father’s throne;

in all my ways

to the end of days

the Lord will preserve his own.

 Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926) CCLI 788682