5 Habits - Word #2

January 7th, 2020
by Michael Percy

Welcome to Everyday Devotions. These daily Bible readings and Prayer pathways are designed to help you go deeper with God each day in response to what you are hearing at the Everyday Church services and Life Group gatherings.

Tuesday 7th January

In this week’s Everyday Devotions, we are exploring the power of God’s Word to change our lives. Let’s therefore go back to the beginning of time, to see the means that God has chosen for bringing about all major change in our universe.

Bible Meditation

Genesis 1:1-5

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

John 1:1-3

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Hebrews 1:3a

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

1) Why do you think God chose to create the universe through speaking out his Word alone? What was he trying to teach us about the power of his spoken Word?

2) The Apostle John explains in the New Testament that Jesus is the Word of God. In other words, when God created the world, he spoke it into being through his Son. Why is it significant that, right from the first moment of creation, the Lord reveals himself as God the Father (Genesis 1:1), as God the Son (Genesis 1:3) and as God the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:2)?

3) The writer of Hebrews goes one step further. He tells us that the same Jesus who created the universe through his powerful word now sustains it through his powerful word too. How often to you think about God being the Sustainer, not just Creator, of the universe? In what ways do you think Jesus holds all things together by his word?

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

4) The Apostle Paul tells us here that God saves people in the same way that he created the universe. He uses his followers to proclaim his Word to people and then he cries out over them, “Let there be light!” In this way, he unblinds their minds and hearts so that they can see the truth of the Gospel and be saved. Let’s therefore end out Everyday Devotions today by thanking God for the power of his Word in saving us, and by asking him to help us plant it into the hearts of others.

Prayer Pathway

Prayer for today:
Lord God, thank you for creating the whole universe by the power of your Word. Thank you for sustaining it by the power of your Word every day. Thank you for planting your Word in my heart and for bringing me to faith in your Son. Please help me to plant the seed of the Word of God in the hearts of the nonbelievers I will spend time with today, that they may come to know you too. Amen.

Pray in 2 Corinthians 4:4: Praise Jesus for being the exact image of God, revealed in humanity. We can know exactly what God looks like, dressed in human clothes!

Pray in 2 Corinthians 4:5: Pray that God will help you to proclaim “Jesus Christ as Lord” today. Think of the Christians you will be with across the course of today, and ask God to help you to display to them what it means for Christ to be your Lord. Think of the nonbelievers you will be with. Ask God to help you to tell them the good news that Jesus is Lord. Ask him to help you drop the seed of the Word of God into their hearts.

Pray in 2 Corinthians 4:6: Thank the Lord for speaking “Let there be light!” over your heart when you heard the Gospel. Ask him to speak “Let there be light!” over all those into whose hearts you drop a little of the Word of God today.

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