Scripture Union Encounter With God 7th February 2023
Encounter With God Daily Devotional for 7 February 2023
Scripture Union Encounter With God 7th February 2023
Encounter With God Daily Devotional for 7 February 2023
Read and Digest Today’s Encounter With God Daily Devotional Message for Today.
TODAY’S TOPIC: ENERGISED BY THE WORD
SCRIPTURE: 1 Thessalonians 2:13–20
Lord of life, may your word accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
I’m responsible for our household laundry. Frequently, I have to use a stain remover for blotches of tea, blood or chocolate. The instructions are to spray the stain and let it work. This reminds me of Paul’s description of the Word of God being ‘at work’ in you who believe (v 13). The phrase is used throughout the New Testament to refer to God’s activity among people and it’s from a related Greek noun that we get the English word ‘energy’.
It’s amazing that the words we read in Scripture or hear preached can become ‘the Word of God’ to us, acting with energy and power to transform our lives and open our hearts to his truth. A friend recently described to me how he came to faith, hearing a preacher describe Jesus as like a parachute, saving him from falling. Through those human words, my friend heard and received the Word of God, which transformed his whole perception and life. God’s Word was ‘at work’ in the Thessalonians as well. First, like my friend, they turned to ‘the living and true God’.
Second, they received gifts of faith, love and hope in Christ, which emerged in their work and endurance.
Third, they suffered persecution (v 14). (Paul digresses in verses 14–16 to criticise the Jews for persecuting the Judean churches and so trying to derail God’s plan for salvation; this language doesn’t license anti-Semitism, however – Paul loved his people and longed for them to accept Christ.)
Do you find it challenging that Paul considers the Thessalonians’ suffering to be evidence of God’s word working in them? This is no prosperity gospel. Much of the church, then and now, has discovered that, when God’s activity meets opposition, persecution is often the result.
How has God’s Word transformed your life, through the words of the Bible or other people? Pray that God will be at work through your words to others.
Bible Reading: Exodus 27,28; Matthew 28
Read More Daily Devotional Messages on TVSeries
