2026 will again be through the Bible chronologically selecting verses which attract my attention or questions or encourage me on the day. I pray it blesses whoever reads . . . My theological background is Salvation Army College and now Church of England. I love all Christian denominations.
Lord Jesus, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Forgive me and help me turn from everything I know is wrong. Thank you for dying on the cross to pay the price and set me free from my sin. Please come into my life, fill me with your Holy Spirit and be with me forever. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.”
” 1Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’ 2 “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst. 4 “I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry. 5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’” Hosea 2:1-5 NKJV
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you ike Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” Hosea 11:8 NKJV
Lord God,
This book gives us a clear picture of how Israel has sinned. Hosea started prophesying to Israel just after Amos started. The same message of judgement and Your desire for them to turn back to You God. But Hosea went about it from a different angle. He likened Israel to an adulterous wife, who is no longer worthy to be compared to a wife because of her behaviour. It is not a little nag of a husband or the retelling of a small tiff but that the relationship is well and truly broken. Later in chapter 5 he likens Israel to a son and speaks of the pain of giving up a son because of his rebellious behaviour. You say Your heart churms Lord.
Throughout, Hosea shows that with You God there is hope and opportunity for a return, even though the situation is extreme. He speaks of Your dilemma of loving the one who does not love in return. Loving where the behaviour is as bad as in Admah (A place by Sodom and Gomorrah).
I need to remind myself that I have done nothing to deserve Your love. I am not worthy of it and can do nothing to earn it, recover it or merit it. Far for it. But Your heart churns for us. And Jesus came as the love that would not let us go. The love that welcomes us back. How can we, I not want to make our relationship with You good, intimate and healthy.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Sunday 7th June 2026 The last verse is quite a challenge to me.
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea; there’s a kindness in His justice which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in His blood.
For the love of God is broader than the measure of our mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple, we would take Him at His word, and our lives would be illumined by the presence of our Lord.
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.
“Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings. 2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said: “O Lord God, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, For he is small!” 3 So the Lord relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” said the Lord. 4 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, the Lord God called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory. 5 Then I said: “O Lord God, cease, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, for he is small!” So the Lord relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. 7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore. 9 The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”” Amos 7:1-9 NKJV
“Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.” Amos 9:4 NKJV
God of eternity,
Amaziah the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam the king of Israel, decrying Amos’s words and saying they could not stand to hear him. No response to the call to repent, (chapter 5) to seek You, God and live. It may have been 20 to 30 years for Amos to be proved right – but he was.
Interesting questions You ask Amos. As punishment which is prefered? Starvation, fire or to be measured against perfection and laid waste? It is a relevant today to those who refuse to hear You. Starve from not eating the bread of life, fire of hell from refusing Jesus or being measured against God’s goodness and found wanting? Trusting in luck or themselves or their good deeds.
Amos is the beginning of the end of the story for Israel. There is nothing to do about it but learn from history. Families divided by power struggles = all suffer. Rebelling against God and selfish desires never make us richer or happier. Not listening to Your chasteing can lead us deeper into trouble. But. There is always a way to return to You God. You are always welcoming to the prodigal and the faithful jealous son (Luke 15:11–32) into Your arms. There is always forgiveness for those who repent (Ephesians 1:7). Your love does not run out or bypass us. We may not feel loveable but we are loved (Jeremiah 31:3). Confirm it to our hearts and our heads Father God.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Saturday 6th June 2026 Worth a repeat this year as it is such wonderful worship, an exchange of love through Jesus.
Overwhelmed by love Deeper than oceans High as the heavens Ever living God Your love has rescued me
All my sin was laid On Your dear son Your precious one All my debt He paid Great is Your love for me
No-one could ever earn Your love Your grace and mercy is free Lord these words are true So is my love for You
“The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment . . . ” Amos 1:1-3 NKJV
“But I will send a fire . . . ” Amos 1:4,7,10,14 and 2:2,5 NKJV
God who speaks,
Amos is given credibility as a prophet. He said you would speak and his listeners noted that there was an earthquake. They would have believed that that was You God getting their attention. Amos says that Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah and Israel are all to be judged. A large circle of all the nations surrounding Israel and lastly Israel, the one in the centre, who should have known better. It is as if they have been weighed in scales and when it got to three sins they teetered in the balance but the forth was just to much and tipped them over into Your judgement God.
And then each one is promised fire that will burn away all their security and life as they know it. But with Israel, You speak of more terrible things to come upon them. It has to be read to be believed. Then, when we think it cannot get any worse, not fire but to be taken into captivity. To lose everything land, security, identity, freedom.
Jesus does not give us room to sin 4 times. The early church sold indulgences but Martin Luther countered it with scripture, that grace could not be sold. We still face judgement for sin and then fire. Jesus warned us (Matthew 18:9). To cut ourselves off from the cause of sin. Not to actually cut of parts of us!. I’d have nothing left! Thank You, we did not get Amos but Jesus who brought not just condemnation but the answer. Not captivity or fire, but the choice of freedom in His Kingdom and a secure future (Galatians 5:1).
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Friday 5th June 2026
Jesus we celebrate Your victory Jesus we revel in Your love Jesus we rejoice You’ve set us free Jesus Your death has brought us life
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free No longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery So we’re rejoicing in God’s victory Our hearts responding to His love
His Spirit in us releases us from fear The way to Him is open, with boldness we draw near And in His presence our problems disappear Our hearts responding to His love
