Devotions – Still Learning

Whilst scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning I came across The UCB Word for Today from United Christian Broadcasters. After reading the one for today, which I thought was very good, I read through some of the previous archive ones and a number of them caught my attention.

I have provided some links below to fifteen of those that I particularly liked. I have also included the opening words of each one too.

Learning the hard way (1) – Samson had incredible potential, but he threw it all away. Why?

Start exercising – As you move into your forties, fifties, and sixties, you’ll tend to become more sedentary.

Everything we need – Peter writes, ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life’ (v. 3 NIV)

Get your approval from God – It’s always nice to be appreciated for the work you do, and when that doesn’t happen, it can affect your sense of self-worth.

Recall God’s loving kindness to you – The story’s told of a little boy who was asked, ‘Do you say your prayers every night?’ He replied, ‘No, some nights I don’t need anything!’

Don’t look back – Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, angels of the Lord rescued Lot and his family.

Soak your mind in God’s Word – Are you discouraged because you keep committing the same sins over and over again?

Don’t give in to despair – When difficulties come to us in life and in our relationships, as they inevitably will, it’s easy to succumb to the ‘dominoes of despair’.

God will forgive and restore you – Have you ever heard of the Great Boston Molasses Flood?

The need for rest and renewal – When you’re physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained, you become vulnerable.

The need for repentance – There’s a difference between confessing your sin and repenting of it.

Retrain your mind – The thought patterns you establish put you on autopilot.

Where is God when it hurts – If you could ask God one question and be guaranteed an answer, what would you ask?

The most important thing – Here are two enemies that threaten your spiritual life:

Keep learning – It’s been said that we forget more than 80 per cent of what we learn in school and college.

One of the nice features of The UCB Word for Today, on their website, is that there is also an audio version of each one, in addition to the written version. Like most online devotions you can sign up and have them emailed to you directly if you wish. Although these devotions are relatively short I’m sure you will agree they contain some excellent encouragement for our walk with Christ.

Daily Prayer 2, written by Nick Fawcett, is a book which provides a resource for anyone seeking a deeper walk with God.

Each day’s devotion follows the same format: read, ponder, ask yourself, pray, remember and close.

The first section, read, consists of the bible reading for the day. Ponder contains some thoughts and reflections from the author on the theme for the day. Then follows ask yourself, which normally has two or three questions for the reader to answer in relation to the theme. Next is the pray section which contains a prayer to help us respond to what we have read so far. Remember is a bible verse and the devotion finishes with close which is the closing prayer.

In addition to providing 365 daily devotions, there is also a supplement section which focuses on certain seasons of the Christian year e.g. Holy Week and Easter, which fall on different dates each year. There is also a devotion written for 29th February too!

I especially like the supplement section of the book, as it means that the reader can use this resource in whatever year they wish and still have relevant seasonal readings too.

One of the most striking features in this book in my opinion is the richness of the pray section. The author has a gift of writing some powerful and meaningful prayers which are very helpful. I find that he seems to be able to “hit the nail on the head” with his prayers.

If you are looking for a devotional book then this is one that I would recommend.