Heavenly father
give us grace to die to the things of this world so that we might live in Your song
and thank you that when we are faithless in this, Jesus is still faithful.

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring^[a] of David, according to my Good News, ⁹ in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But…

Heavenly father
give us grace to depart from all unrighteousness (including empty chatter) so that we may be prepared for every good work today.

¹⁵ Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth. ¹⁶ But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness, ¹⁷ and those words will consume…

Heavenly father
give us grace to turn away from our destructive desires, to call on you, and to fill our lives with righteousness, faith, love and peace.

²² Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 

Heavenly father
* give us grace to be patient and gentle with whom we disagree; and
* give us teachable spirits.

²³ But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife. ²⁴ The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, ²⁵ in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance…

Heavenly father
give us grace to discern when healthy love of self turns to something unhealthy, arrogant and abusive
give us grace in our families to be respectful, thankful and affectionate

¹ But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come.
² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,  blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ without natural affection

Heavenly father
give us grace to be forgiving, truthful, self controlled, gentle, loving what is good, faithful and humble, loving you as our God, allowing your power to work in us.

² Men will be .unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, 
⁴ traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 
⁵ holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power.
Turn away from these, also

Heavenly father
give us grace to not take advantage of the vulnerabilities of others
give us grace to always search after the truth in our learning
protect us from our minds becoming corrupted.

⁶ For some of these are people who creep into houses and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to learn from the faith, patience, love and steadfastness of others;
give us grace to hope that you will deliver us out of all our adversities; and
deliver us from being deceived and deceiving.

¹⁰ But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, 
¹¹ persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.
I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all. 

…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to truly love our close friends.

1 The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today 

2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers. 

3 For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as you walk in truth. 4 I…

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give…

3 Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and…

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money…

The community of believers was of one mind and one heart. None of them claimed anything as their own; rather, everything was held in common. Acts 4:32

The book of Acts is all about the early community of Jesus’ followers that formed after Jesus’ ascension. Communities of followers of the Way—as they’re called—start to form and what we find in Acts 4 are descriptions of what started to happen in these communities. Another way to say it is that this is what it looked like when people began to experience transformation. 

The first thing it says is that the people are of…

Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
ACTS 10:34–36
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: ‘Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles should hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the…

‘About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.’ ACTS 16:25–26
 

Pray: Father, I don’t claim to understand the link between worship and freedom, but I thank you for Paul’s prison doors opening.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians was addressed to new believers…

“people who are turning the whole world upside down” (see Acts 17:6)

An essential aspect of Franciscan spirituality is what Richard Rohr calls “the integration of the negative.” Rather than insisting that God values perfection or an idealized morality, Francis of Assisi intuited, through the example of Jesus’ life and death, that God could be found in all things, even those our religion and culture urge us to reject. 

I suppose there is no more counterintuitive spiritual idea than the possibility that God might actually…

But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-01-17-elijah-part-3-our-voice-r25

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[…

We ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.
—Colossians 1:9–10 

Our goal consists in doing the will of God, but first we have to remove our attachment to our own will so that we can recognize the difference between the two. Throughout history, many people who did horrible things were convinced that they were doing God’s will. That’s why we have to find an instrument to distinguish between God and us. Paul calls this gift the discernment…

We meet together….

so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.’ Colossians 1:10

We’re part of the church when we’re gathered on Sunday and equally so when we’re scattered on Monday. They’re two sides of the same whole-life-discipleship coin. Our gathered times should equip us for our scattered times, whilst our scattered times should inform our gathered times.

There’s a clear warning in Hebrews 10:25 not to lose the habit of meeting together, and we see a clear…

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead…

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. …

‘For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him’ (Colossians 1:16).

Sam Brown, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity writes ….

When I was 17, I heard something on a podcast I’m still thinking about today.  

How do you account for the essential meaninglessness of professional sport?  

In the time since I first heard that question,…

‘…so that he might come to have first place in everything.’  COLOSSIANS 1:18

Since NASA first began releasing them in 2022, the pictures coming back from the James Webb space telescope have been breathtaking, showing the sheer scale and beauty of our universe. To be useful, though, the images have to be razor-sharp. So, to ensure no opportunity is ever lost, there is a constant process of recalibration going on, involving tiny adjustments to the precision-engineered lenses and instruments.

As Christians, it’s easy to lose our focus, to allow the world around us, with its…

‘It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.’  COLOSSIANS 1:28

I’ve got a five-year-old who’s currently football mad. He’s making lists of the most important pieces of kit to buy, asking, ‘Is this good food for footballers?’ before every meal, reading football encyclopaedias (yes, they do exist!), and training every morning before school with his mates. He’s making sure that his time alone in the garden kicking his ball (AKA destroying my plants) and his time playing on a team are helping to…

‘I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments.’   COLOSSIANS 2:4

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul expresses a deep pastoral concern: that believers should not be misled by teachings that sound great but are ultimately false. ‘I am saying this,’ he writes, ‘so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments’. It’s a timely warning. Then, as now, Christians face a barrage of persuasive voices – some subtle, some less so – that can distort the truth of the gospel.

Paul’s letters are full of truth about Jesus and…

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and…

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Jim Finley describes how God knows each of us intimately because we are “hidden with Christ in God”: 

When God created you, God did not have to think up who you might be. God … eternally knows who you eternally are and are called to be from before the origins of the universe. 

Who God the [Creator] eternally contemplates you to be in Christ the Word is who you are before you were ever born…. There was never a point prior to which God did not eternally know you in Christ the Word through whom all…