Revised Common Lectionary

Genesis 12:1-9 This was a major step for Abraham - and for God. Abraham would never be the same again. For him, this was the beginning of a journey. It was more than a journey into a new land. It was a journey into God's blessing. Notice that Abraham was "75 years old" (Genesis 12:4) when he set out on this great journey of faith and blessing. 75 years old - we don't normally expect big changes at this age. Big change - this was what God expected of Abraham. Can we ever say, "It's too late to make a new beginning with God?" No! We must never say this. Whatever age we are, we must be ready to say "Yes" to God, to move forward with Him. Pray that God will give you a new hunger for Himself, for His Word, for prayer. As we get older, are we getting colder or bolder? Do we say, "My best days are behind me? or Do we rise to new challenges?

“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, th...

Genesis 30:25-31:21 Guide us, Lord, by Your light and Your truth ( Psalm 48:14 ; Psalm 43:3 ). Let Your light shine into our darkness. Let Your truth lift us out of the way that leads away from You and into the way that leads to You. Lead us to Jesus - He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" ( John 14:6 ).

Genesis 33:1-20   Lord, You call us to love You - and to love our neighbour. Help us never to think that we can grow in our love for You if we are not also learning to love our neighbour with the love that You give to us. Help us never to forget You. Help us always to rejoice in the love that You have for us - and to let Your love shine out through us to others. May our love for our neighbour never become a substitute for loving You.

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.

“It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). Can any of us speak the Word of God – and bring blessing to others? – “It is not in me.” Our words will never bring blessing to anyone, unless God is in our words. The real power comes from God. The real blessing comes from Him.

Genesis 1:24 - The “beast” Whenever we read, in God’s Word, about “the beast”, we are reminded that we face constant and determined opposition from Satan, the enemy of our souls. Whenever we feel that Satan is getting the upper hand, let us remind him that Jesus is Lord. Genesis 1:25 - “every thing that creeps upon the earth” Creep – Isn’t that such a sinister word? Satan creeps around, doing no good. There is One who does nothing but good – our Lord Jesus Christ. He will never be defeated by Satan. Let us rejoice in this: Jesus gives His victory to us.

Genesis 2:7 “the breath of life” Everything changes when the Lord breathes His breath of life into us. * Until God comes to us in power, our situation is desperate – “I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry” (Ezekiel 37:2). When He breathes life into us, we are changed by the power of His love. We become new men and women in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Genesis 2:19 The naming of the animals What’s in a name? Names are important to the Lord. He calls us “by name” (John 10:3). We are known by our own name. How disappointed we are when someone forgets our name. How wonderful it is that the Lord never forgets our name. There’s something more wonderful than that. He gives us His Name. We are known by the Name – Jesus. His Name means Saviour. Every time, we speak His Name, we are reminded that we have been saved by Him. His Name speaks to us of the forgiveness of our sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the glorious hope of eternal life.

“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 s...

Genesis 47:1-26 Lord, we give all the glory to You. We think of Jesus, crucified for us - and we say, "Thank You, Lord - You have done for us what we could never have done for ourselves." You have brought us out of the darkness of of our sin and into the light of Your salvation - out of sadness and into gladness. Help us never to forget that You have saved us. Help us to live, each day, as Your faithful servants.

Genesis 31:43-32:21 Lord, help us to stand upon Your Word. You have given us a firm foundation for our faith. You have given us Your salvation. When everything around is shaking, we can stand firm because we know that You are our God. You are the God who has saved us through the death of Your Son. You are the God who gives us new power for living - the power of the Holy Spirit. You are the God who will lead us into the glory of Your eternal Kingdom - Your Kingdom of everlasting love, everlasting life and everlasting light.

Genesis 27:41-28:9 Lord, we thank You that we're not left to go it alone. You've given us Your Spirit - the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit who leads us to Jesus, the Spirit who makes us more like Jesus. Thank You, Lord - with Your Spirit, we can go from strength to strength. Help us to walk in Your Spirit.

Genesis 26:1-35 Lord, when our hold on You is weak, help us to remember that Your hold on us is strong. Often, we get bogged down in our sin. Lift us up by Your grace. Give us strength to rise above our sin - strength to become all that You want us to be.

Genesis 1:4-13                                    Lord, when You speak to us, help us to say, ‘Your will be done’ ( Matthew 6:10 ). ‘Let it be to me according to Your Word’ ( Luke 1:38 ) - This was Mary’s prayer. May it also be our prayer. By ourselves, we are helpless and hopeless - Without Your help, we have no hope of doing Your will and pleasing You. We need Your Holy Spirit - May the Spirit’s ‘living water’ flow in us ( John 7:37-39 ). Thank You, Lord, for the gift of Your Holy Spirit - He gives us the power to ‘walk in the light’ ( 1 John 1:7 ) with You. Lead us in the way of fruitfulness - the way of “love, joy, peace ..." ( Galatians 5:22-23 ) .

Genesis 1:1-2:3 Before the creation, there is the Creator. * He is the chief focus of attention in the Bible’s first chapter. Wherever we look in Genesis 1, we see the word, God. This is about Him. Genesis 1 speaks about us. It tells us where we have come from. We have come from God. He is our Creator. Take away God, and our life has no meaning, no purpose, no direction. * Move on from the Bible’s first chapter. Read the rest of Genesis, the rest of the Old Testament,the rest of the Bible. What do you find? The Bible is a Book about God. It’s not only a Book about God. It’s a Book that has been given to us by God. It’s His Word. * What about our faith and our life? Our faith comes to us from God. Our life has been given to us by God. We are to put our faith in God. We are to live our life for God. * “God said, Let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The light of God’s love and holiness. “He created us in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). Cre...

Genesis 14:1-24 Lord, what are we to do when we can’t find any peace of mind? Where are we to look? Are we to look inside of ourselves? Is that where we’ll find peace? Is there an inner peace – if we look deep enough, we’ll find it? Jesus says something very different. He says, “My peace I give to you” ( John 14:27 ). Peace is His gift to us. It’s not something that’s already there in our hearts – if we look deep enough we’ll find it. It’s something that has to be given to us. We have to receive it from Jesus. Inner peace, peace of mind – All of this seems to be so much about ourselves: if you look deep enough, you’ll find it! What does all this have to do with You, Lord? – Nothing at all! It’s all to do with ourselves. It’s all about self-discovery. Lord, teach us Your way of peace. Show us that real peace is peace with You. Show us that this peace comes to us “through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” ( Romans 5:1 ). We can’t escape from our sin. It follows us...

Genesis 29:1-30 Lord, Your way is the best way. We, often, wander off on our own. We forget that we are called to follow You, to walk in Your footsteps. Again and again, we need to be reminded that Your way is the best way. Help us to see that Your way is a wonderful way - even when it turns out to be very different from what we had expected.

Genesis 49:28-50:26 Lord, when hard times come our way, help us to remember that "Your steadfast love never ceases" (Lamentations 3:22). When bad things are happening to us, help us to keep on remembering that You are still the good God. Who are we to say that You are no longer with us – just because we’re going through a hard time? You’re with us in our bad days as well as our good days. You’ve promised to be with us every step of the way. Who are we to suggest that You’ve gone away and left us to go it alone? Help us to trust Your promises – and not to get dragged away from You by our feelings which can go up and down like a yoyo. Sometimes, we’re up. Sometimes, we’re down. With You, there are no ups and down – You’re always the faithful God. You’re always near to us – even when we feel that You’re far away from us. We’ve wandered far away from You – but You’re always near to us. Thank You, Lord, that You are always with us.

Genesis 21:1-21 Lord, what You have done for us – we could never have done for ourselves! It’s so amazing what You have done for us. We were making plans for ourselves - but our plans didn’t include You! You came to us. You said to us, “I have a wonderful plan for your life.” We look at the plans we had for ourselves, we look at the plan You have for us – and we say, ‘Your way is so much better than our own way.’ Your way is the way of blessing. It’s the way of giving glory to You. Lord, where would be – if You had not come to us, if You had not led us into Your way, if You had not brought us into Your blessing? You did not wait for us to start looking for You – You came looking for us. You did not wait for us to start saying, ‘Bless us, Lord’ – You came to us with Your blessing. You did not wait for us to lift ourselves up – You lifted us up. Thank You, Lord.