DAY 28 MORNING Read 1 Peter 2:1-12
DANIEL: JESUS IS THE STONE THAT BREAKS EVERY KINGDOM OF
THIS WORLD !
In Daniel 2:44, Daniel says “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever.” Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of this prophecy and the book of Daniel tells dramatic stories of Daniel interpreting dreams and courageously standing up to leaders of worldly kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took captive Israelites of the royal family. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and only Daniel was able to interpret it, and he was rewarded with many gifts, promotion and rulership over the whole province of Babylon. Defying a command to worship a statue. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were thrown into a fiery furnace and their hair was not singed, their tunics not harmed.
Later, Belshazzar brought out of the vessels from the temple at a feast and immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared writing Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin, meaning “your reign has come to an end. After Daniel’s interpretation, Belshazzar was killed that night. Darius is cornered into making a decree that whoever prays to anyone for 30 days except Darius himself should be thrown in the den of lions. Daniel is thrown in to lions’ den because he prays to his god, but he is saved and Darius give glory to God. Daniel prays that the Lord would restore Israelites on the basis of not of God’s righteousness – but his mercies,” reminded of the 70 year prophecies in Jeremiah. Again and again through dream vision and prophecies God is revealed to be in control of history. Hundreds of year later, the book of Daniel shaped the expectation of the Jews that the messiah would deliver them from Roman occupation, and that the messiah who would be the stone that breaks every kingdom of this world. However when Jesus began to fulfil that prophecy, he did it in an entirely unexpected way. Jesus is that stone that breaks every kingdom of this world.
MISSIONARY MONKS: THOMAS A KEMPIS 1320-1471
The “Brethren of the Common Life” or “The New Devotion” was a movement in the Netherlands in the fourteenth century. Out of this awakening, a devotional aid emerged that is perhaps after the Bible the most widely read book in the world. It is attributed to Thomas a Kempis and it is called “The Imitation of Christ”. He wrote[1] “There is no reality in anything except loving God and serving him alone. Our highest wisdom is to seek the kingdom of heaven, rejecting the things of this world. You are only pursuing an empty phantom if you strive for riches that cannot last and pin your hopes on them; if you canvas for honours and acquire distinction; if you obey your natural appetites, and desire things which must bring punishment later; if you hope for a long life and care little for a good life; if you think only of this present life and never give a thought to what comes after it; if you set your heart on things which pass away so quickly, and do not press on towards that place where last enjoy remains.” Thomas A Kempis entered the monastery of Mount St Agnes, of which his brother was the prior. This was a community of Augustinian Canons near Zwolle, in the Netherlands. He entered the monastery at 19 or 20 years of age and remained there for his whole life.[2]
CLICK ON BOLD and you will be directed to Joshua Project website with more information for prayer.
PRAY for “the Arab, Moroccan in Netherlands the nineteenth largest unreached people group in Europe whose language is Arabic, Moroccan and whose primary religion is Islam There are 309,000, 0.3% Christian and 0.5% evangelical. ”[3] In the Netherlands which saw such a significant devotional awakening in the 14th Century, we pray for spiritual awakening for the Moroccan Arabs. They face a strongly secular culture in the Netherlands and the challenging of maintaining their cultural identity, we pray that they would seek the kingdom of heaven and reject the things of this world.
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DAY 28 EVENING Psalm 136-140, Re-read Psalm 139
PSALM 139 SEARCH ME, KNOW ME, LORD… AND MAY I KNOW YOU… THE POWER OF YOUR RESURRECTION AND FELLOWSHIP WITH YOUR SUFFERINGS
Psalm 139:1,2 “ You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 4 lectio Divina steps focussing on Jesus, the Living word:-
HEARING JESUS, THE LIVING WORD“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” It is possible to encounter the living God. Are you willing to be known by God?… to know God so that you might make him known. Do you want to be transformed? If you are going to be changed into the image of the living God….the likeness of God.. and going to line up with what is written in the books that are written in heavenly places about you and your life.. then you need to be prepared to encounter the living God…to get know the Infinite uncreated creator God… who has known you from the very beginning. Are you willing to approach the unapproachable light….to come to him today.. the author of life itself.. Are you prepared to be transparent? Radical transparency leads to radical transformation …it begins .. as we come to his unapproachable light.. as we come willing to be transparent and to be vulnerable to be encountered by him. If there is sin in our hearts.. iniquity in our generations… we cannot hide it from Him.
RECEIVING JESUS THE LIVING THE WORD . “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Here Psalm 139 begins with God knowing us… “You have searched me and you know me..” The (failed) Enlightenment project (as philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre describes it), began with Descartes “I think therefore I am” , rather than “God knows me therefore I am.” “You know me” Lesslie Newbiggin, the hugely influential Anglican missionary statesman of the 20th century said [4] “the idea of a purely objective knowledge is an illusion… but it is a prime and dominant illusion of Western culture.” I yield my thoughts to you.. I yield my desire for knowledge.. come and know me.. know who I am .. and know my ways today.
PRAYING WITH JESUS THE LIVING WORD PSALM 139:1,2 “ You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.[5] Knowing God is a journey of walking in the ways of the Lord. Lord, I want to walk as your disciple Lord Jesus Christ, in my going out and my lying down, in my walk today. As Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Knowing the truth follows on from walking as a disciple of Jesus, and obeying Him. Show me where I have failed to obey aright. Failure to obey is failure to know aright. I share with you my anxieties my fears with you today.. I repent of my sin .. cleanse me.. forgive me.. may I know you more deeply today and may your truth set me free..
WONDERING AT JESUS THE LIVING WORD “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” Early church catechesis, focussed on learning how to follow Jesus as a disciple, becoming conformed into his image involving cruciformity and theosis. Bonhoeffer said[6] “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” I yield my thoughts to you.. as you perceive them from afar. “Bonhoeffer, the great proponent of costly obedient discipleship recognised that at the end of the day, discipleship is not about imitation or even obedience to an external call or norm….it’s about transformation or theosis.”[7]Lord, I wonder at what obedience to you looks like today and how it becomes cruciformity how it becomes theosis…I wonder as I lift my eyes to you Lord Jesus Christ. I yield to you I incline my heart to you Lord Jesus, Show me what it looks like to do your will today. I attend to you Lord Jesus Christ, I wait on you…
PRAYER Search me, know me Lord, and may I know you Lord Jesus Christ, the power of your resurrection and fellowship with your sufferings
[1] Kempis, Thomas A. The Imitation of Christ, Harper Collins, 1974, 38.
[2] Summary Latourette, R.S. A history of Christianity beginnings to 1500 volume 1, Prince Press, 2003,649.
[3] Data provided by Joshua Project https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/13819/NL
[4] Newbiggin, L. Faith in a Changing world, St Paul’s Theological Centre 2012, 72.
[5] Walker, A.G and Parry, R.A, Deep church rising : rediscovering the roots of Christian orthodoxy, Paternoster, 2007, 63.
[6] Bonhoeffer, D. The Cost of Discipleship, SCM Press, 2024.
[7] Gorman, M. Inhabiting the Cruciform God, William B. Eerdmans 2009, 170.
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