Daily Devotion 28 January 2021

Derek Scott2021-01, Devotional
Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.

1 Corinthians 3: 9-14 ‘Working on Good Foundations’

9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.  11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.  12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw – 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.

‘Great Shepherd of Thy People, Hear’
John Newton (1725-1807)
Great Shepherd of thy people, hear,
thy presence now display;
as thou hast given a place for prayer,
so give us hearts to pray.
Within these walls let holy peace
and love and concord dwell;
here give the troubled conscience ease,
the wounded spirit heal.
May we in faith receive thy word,
in faith present our prayers,
and in the presence of our Lord
unbosom all our cares.
The hearing ear, the seeing eye,
the contrite heart, bestow;
and shine upon us from on high,
that we in grace may grow.

There are about a hundred references to ‘foundations’ in the Bible. At the present time at Emmanuel, we are of course very conscious of the new foundations being created in Upperton – you can see in the picture on the right some of the groundworks being undertaken, long before the Main Build began.

Let us rejoice in remembering what a wonderful place God’s house is and what we can look forward to. God has ordained that his people should meet together in company and worship together. It is God who has planned it and arranged it. Our church will cater for all our existing problems of living and worshipping together including or excluding Zoom worship! We will be able to share and to offer spiritual help to all in need.

We will also understand how some of the greatest saints have experienced trials and troubles which cause our personal problems to pale into insignificance. The house of God reminds us of all that. We are grateful and thankful for all who have contributed in the planning of our new foundation ‘Emmanuel’ and we seek, prayerfully, a new beginning on the old foundations.

Prayer:
pray through these words come from another hymn, by Edward Mote (1797-1874).

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.

Reflection and Prayer © 2021 Derek Scott.
All hymn words no longer in copyright.
Image © 2020 Paul Tabraham
A printable version of this Daily Devotional can be downloaded from here
All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356