Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :
Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible four passages:
Nicky Gumbel's Bible in one year today:
Bible in one year by Nicky Gumbel:
Silence
1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.
Praise and Thanksgiving
1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3. Sing a song to praise God (you are welcome to use "Father, I adore you" which I have been singing every morning for the past 20 years or your own choice to praise God)
Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.
Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method)
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:
"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."
3. John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)
(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/
"Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
The Word, Time with Abba (Psalm 106:24-31, Isaiah 45:11-48:11; Ephesians 4:1-16; Proverbs 24:3-4)
TWA Bible link: http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/
Today's main passage:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-16
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to him.
My Listening
The topic I received from Jesus today is: We need to die our "self" so that our church can be in unity!
Today's Ephesians uses the word "one" eight times telling us that this kind of oneness according to Ephesians 4:1-6 is what we need for the unity of your church.
But, this kind of "oneness" is beyond our capacity as human beings because we can see in the history of the church is full of painful separations.
We can find in Ephesians 4:1-6 two steps to attain this oneness of our churches:
1. We need to become a prisoner of Jesus Christ to be totally and completely submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
2. If we are willing to become a prisoner of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit will fill us each day and that we can live a life of Christlikeness according to what it teaches us in Ephesians 4:1-6.
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to build up a habit like Mose and Paul to kneel down to pray for the unity of our church and that we are willing to die our "self" so that we may experience God greatly. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.