"wash away your sins". Ananias encouraged Saul of Tarsus to be baptised and declare publicly what had happened to him. You begin by trusting in the secret of your own heart, but what you have done must be evidenced. Not to 'nail your colours to the mast' makes it easier to fall away when temptation, ... Read more
"a fountain opened ... for sin and for uncleanness". This prophecy and promise was given to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This was the chosen people of God that the prophet knew. We now look back to the fulfilment of these words when Jesus died on the cross. His shed ... Read more
"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven". The Holy Spirit did not merely enable Stephen to bravely face the mob that was about to stone him. The indwelling Holy Spirit gave Stephen a vision of heaven. The Holy Spirit will give that same vision to all who look with the eye ... Read more
"a great multitude, which no man could number". The multitude in heaven praising the Lord will be too great to number. 'The Father's house will be filled,' is what Jesus said. I recall preaching on that text to a small congregation in a Greek village many years ago. After the service a lady came to ... Read more
"I have compassion on the multitude". Jesus came not to judge the world but to save it, and as He mingled with men and women compassion for the multitudes was engendered in His heart. Compassion is something the world needs more than sympathy. Sympathy is being sorry for: compassion is the same and doing something ... Read more
"The Lord is my shepherd". Not the testimony of those who do not recognise themselves to be as sheep needing a shepherd. But to those who know themselves to be wandering and to all who find it impossible to return to the fold unaided, it is the blessed description of One Who says, 'I am ... Read more
"a great voice, as of a trumpet". The word 'great' occurs many times in the Book of the Revelation. There is great tribulation, a great sword, a great earthquake, a great star, a great furnace and the great river Euphrates, to mention but a few. In this verse it is the greatness of His voice ... Read more
"Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes". Ezra studied his subject before presenting it. When he found what was demanded of him by the law of the Lord, he did it. Once practising it in his own life he was able ... Read more
"(Ananias) stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, …' ". He was renowned for his hatred and persecution of the followers of Jesus; he supported the stoning of Stephen; he came to Damascus intending to commit disciples to prison. Yet Ananias addressed him, 'Brother Saul'! Ananias walked in the Spirit. He recognised that the vision ... Read more
"You have defied the word of the Lord". Life is littered with people who have taken the wrong turning. This happens in all sorts of ways and in many different departments of life. The Lord told a prophet from Judah that he should not eat or drink in any home in the northern kingdom. He ... Read more
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth". We need to ever remember that Jesus is Lord and Sovereign. Though He controls and influences everything, in this day of grace He builds His kingdom by invitation. It is a gospel invitation given to whoever will come. The all-powerful Lord of glory gives ... Read more
"the fiery darts of the wicked one". The Devil has a quiver full of these dreadful things and he knows the most effective one to use on any given occasion. Here are but a few: malicious lies, distorted truth, resurrecting the past, querying the truth of God's Words, denying the power of the blood of ... Read more
"What are you doing here, Elijah? ". It is clear from this question that the Lord is interested and concerned about us when we have lost confidence and interest in ourselves. It also shows that He is not prepared to allow disaffection among His servants to go unattended. Furthermore, it is a question that opens ... Read more
"Ruth was determined to go". Some change must have taken place in Ruth's heart when, or soon after, she married one of Naomi's sons. It may have been the different way of life, for he was a refugee from Judah and she a Moabitess or it may have been the sincerity and devotion of her ... Read more
"for great is the glory of the Lord". The glory of the Lord is seen in the splendour that surrounds His throne - a glory only seen by mortal eye in vision or dream. Something of that glory shone through the Lord Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. The Apostle John in his Gospel says, ... Read more
"great multitudes came unto him". That attractive power of Jesus has never been lost. Two thousand years after He spoke these words, Jesus is attracting multitudes today. In many different ways and places yet all with the same magnetic drawing power of the Lord in our midst. Risen from the dead yet ever living, His ... Read more
"hope to the end". In his letter to believers scattered throughout Asia, Peter is exhorting them not to lose heart. In effect, he is telling them to fix their eyes on the end of the race. Glory awaits the child of God at the end of the way. And should it be that in the ... Read more
"they rose up in the twilight". They were four lepers living in no-man's land between the Syrian army and the besieged inhabitants of Samaria. For them daylight was fading in more ways than one. Yet they realised they faced a choice - stay where they were and starve or go to the Syrian camp and ... Read more
"a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume". How do we express our love for the Lord? This woman had a reputation that caused embarrassment to others but not to Jesus. What the disciples considered a waste was valued by Jesus because he knew the depth of love that was behind the ... Read more
"the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus". God the Father has highly exalted His Son, Jesus. It must have been glorious when in that conference of the God-head before the world began, He agreed to go on that great undertaking of salvation. It was glorious at His actual Incarnation when the heavenly ... Read more
"So is everyone who is born of the Spirit". Jesus used the wind to illustrate to Nicodemus the ministry the Holy Spirit would have in his life when he was born again. The wind blows where it will - you cannot predict the course it will take. You can hear the wind, but cannot see ... Read more
"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit brings joy - it is a fruit of the Spirit. The disciples were filled with the joy of the Spirit because they had obeyed God's voice and faithfully proclaimed His Word. It was not the joy of ease and acceptance ... Read more
"Go your way". We are not told where Bartimaeus went after Jesus had healed him. Whatever he did, it was his own thing - Jesus called it, 'your way'. The Lord did not want Bartimaeus to live the life of someone else. He would mix with people who would marvel at his experience, but he ... Read more
"his sleep went from him". Darius had been tricked into issuing an edict that Daniel could not observe. It marked the end of Daniel's presidency. Darius was made to place his seal on the mouth of the lion's den into which Daniel had been thrown. Not surprising his sleep went from him! Yet God was ... Read more
"the prize for which God has called me". The prize before the eyes of the disciple of Jesus is the high calling of God in Christ. God sent His Son to be the Saviour of the World. He died for our sins. He will justify the ungodly who repent and when justified by faith there ... Read more
"How can these things be? ". We all have things we cannot understand. The surprising thing about Nicodemus was that as a spiritual leader among the people he did not understand the need for a new birth about which Jesus was telling him. We commend him for his honest and enquiring questions and have little ... Read more
"and great grace was upon them all". Grace is favour freely given. The Lord Jesus has never failed to meet the believer's every need for grace and help. This verse in the Book of the Acts describes the goodness of the Lord in covering the believers with grace as the Church was launched forward on ... Read more
"and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever". The Shepherd Psalm describes a relationship that will never end. In no way will the Lord help and protect you for a time, and then leave you to get on without Him. To reach the house of the Lord is to attain the ... Read more
"the wells of Salvation". Isaiah pictured it, the Gospel writers describe it and the Book of Acts gives us instances of sinners drawing from them. Many have been doing so ever since. The prophet described those drawing water from these wells as doing so with joy. And what joy can equal that experienced when the ... Read more
"How many loaves do you have? ". With this question, Jesus turns the whole perspective on the situation around. Instead of looking at what they hadn't got, as the disciples were doing, Jesus looks at what they have got. Jesus hadn't actually asked the disciples to provide the bread. He'd simply shared his concern for ... Read more
"Ill-gotten treasures are of no value". It is not what value your treasure is on the open market, but how you acquired it. This may be something that only you and God know. Because of the importance attached to how we acquire what we have, the proverb goes on to say that righteousness delivers from ... Read more
"Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient". No! Neither is two hundred thousand pennyworth, nor all the bread from all the bakeries in the land enough, if mankind is to be truly fed! For, man shall not live by bread alone. But give these people Jesus and all their needs will soon be met. ... Read more
"and I will bless you". The Lord promised Abram that if he would leave his country, his people and his father's household and go to the land of which the Lord would show him, the Lord would bless Him. Abram obeyed and became the father of all who exercise this faith and obedience. The Israelites ... Read more