Use these for group work, or to assist your personal reflection.
- In this passage, what does the ‘darkness’ and the ‘thick clouds’ suggest to you, and what might it mean today?
- Is it possible to see the church as something admired by the nations of the world? Why do we doubt the church, the Body of Christ so much today?
- Why should the wealth of the nations be ‘brought to you’? What should the church do with the wealth of the nations if it had it?
Use the programme which can be found on the link ‘discipleship challenges’. The ‘worksheet’ will help you follow through anything you feel is right to take up. The following notes are for your interest and consideration.
Personal comment:
There are times when I need to stop thinking, writing, reading and doing all the things which the Lord has for me to do in a day. At such times, I need to take in something of the glory of God by which I am enabled to do what I do and be the person that I am. Each of us has to stop from time to time and just receive of God and we will all do this in different ways. As for me, when this happens, I like to turn to a great passage of scripture and let it feed my soul. This is one such great passage of scripture.
Ideas for discipleship programme
- Give thanks to God for the amazing work done by many Christian organisations and people for the good of people and the good of the world. Much of it is never known, never trumpeted or broadcast. It is nevertheless vital to the world as God’s glorious work, seen by some, and not others.
- Read through some other versions of this text, and read them carefully to spot the differences. You may not be able to know why they are different, but if you accept that each has been honestly translated, what do they each reveal about this text?
As this day unfolds, Lord God, Your love unfolds like an opening flower; revealing ever more depths of colour, hue and saturation. May we not benefit from a mere snapshot of Your faithful loving-kindness, but from a high-definition movie of Your magnificent grace! Through Jesus Christ we pray, AMEN
