Theme for December 2024: Hope for today

Hope for today #1

Hope for today #1

  Welcome to the first of our Advent ‘Hope for today’ devotions, a collaboration between Rev Irene Bom and Rev Graham Austin, with visuals by Irma Gevers.   Matthew 6:11...
Hope for today #2

Hope for today #2

  Psalm 118:24 ‘Let us rejoice today and be glad.’   Psalm 118 is quoted quite a bit in the New Testament and one of these times is Palm Sunday...
Hope for today #3

Hope for today #3

  Hebrews 3:13 ‘Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness.’   Surrounding these verses is...
Hope for today #4

Hope for today #4

  Deuteronomy 11:26-28 ‘See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I...
Hope for today #5

Hope for today #5

  Jeremiah 11:7 ‘From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.”’   Yesterday we left the Exodus...
Hope for today #6

Hope for today #6

Genesis 41:9 ‘Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Today I am reminded of my shortcomings.’   Joseph is in prison. Two years earlier he helped someone, also in prison...
Hope for today #7

Hope for today #7

James 4:13 ‘Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”’   In...
Hope for today #8

Hope for today #8

Genesis 24:12 ‘Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.”’   Abraham goes to a lot of trouble...
Hope for today #9

Hope for today #9

Deuteronomy 1:10 ‘The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.’   Growth is a blessing, but it...
Hope for today #10

Hope for today #10

Luke 4:21 ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’   The New Testament writers constantly point to Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. Here we see Jesus...
Hope for today #11

Hope for today #11

2 Chronicles 6:15 ‘You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it – as...
Hope for today #12

Hope for today #12

Acts 26:6 ‘And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today.’   On his way to Rome to...
Hope for today #13

Hope for today #13

Luke 12:28 ‘If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe...
Hope for today #14

Hope for today #14

Luke 23:43 ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’   The thief on the cross turns to Jesus for dignity and comfort and finds himself...
Hope for today #15

Hope for today #15

Luke 2:11 ‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’   I am sure that the shepherd’s night shift...
Hope for today #16

Hope for today #16

Nehemiah 1:11 ‘”Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your...
Hope for today #17

Hope for today #17

Luke 5:26 ‘Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”’   It would be a remarkable sight...
Hope for today #18

Hope for today #18

Exodus 14:13 ‘You will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.’   God’s people are on the move from Egypt and being pursued by their captors. As they...
Hope for today #19

Hope for today #19

Psalm 95:7b ‘Today, if only you would hear his voice.’   This is certainly a Psalm of two halves and today’s verse is the dividing line. Verses 1 to 7b...
Hope for today #20

Hope for today #20

1 Samuel 25:32 ‘David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me”.’   David and his men have...
Hope for today #21

Hope for today #21

Jeremiah 1:10 ‘See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’   This verse marks the...
Hope for today #22

Hope for today #22

Luke 19:9 ‘Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”’   Jesus ‘came to seek and to save...
Hope for today #23

Hope for today #23

Hebrews 13:8 ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’   Jesus, the shepherd of our souls (1 Peter 2:25), is unswerving in his loyalty and steadfast in...
Hope for today #24

Hope for today #24

Isaiah 56:12 ‘Tomorrow will be like today, or even better.’   Reading this verse in context we discover the speaker is shamelessly spreading a lie. The truth is, we cannot...