WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: God is with you where you are now, but often we don’t realise it; we think God is far off. Sit in silence looking around you. Thank God that he is in the room, that he sees your physical surroundings as well as your heart. God is in the ordinary. Quiet beginnings Healing someone’s mother-in-law from a fever doesn’t sound world-shaking! Surely something more sensational would have been better to launch Jesus’ ministry onto centre stage. If we were in charge of God’s redemption project in the world we might do it differently. Jesus did miracles at home and told demons to keep quiet about his identity. This strange way of doing ministry shows us more of what Jesus came to do. Modelling the kingdom He didn’t come only to announce the kingdom of God, or to die in our place, he came to model the kingdom of God! Through his daily life Jesus shows us what being human could be like: an unbroken relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit that brings the realities of God’s kingdom into a broken world to see it restored. It created a stir. The whole town came to see this ordinary deliverance but for the disciples it was the start of their training. James, John, Simon and Andrew began to see what their lives could be. Respond: What ordinary, mundane challenges do you face today? As Philippians 4:6,7 teaches, present your requests to God with thanksgiving, and allow his peace to come, removing the fever of fear, anxiety and doubt. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-01-20