Category: Devotionals
These are devotional readings, composed by Grace at Wellington to aid in your reading of scripture and the application of it into your lives.
- Isaiah 11:10-16: Signal for the Nations
Jesus’ birth is not just a story of presents and angels singing in the sky, it is the arrival of the Messiah, God’s signal…
- Isaiah 11:1-9: The Righteous Shoot
While Christmas typically takes us to the wonderful passages of Isaiah 7 and 9, the coming Messiah was prophesied throughout Isaiah and the whole…
- Ezra 6:19-22: New Exodus, New Passover
The returned exiles had finally restored and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, and in March 516 BC celebrated its completion. In April, they celebrated…
- Ezra 6:16-18: Celebrating God’s Goodness
Today we do not have a physical temple at a central location, but God’s temple is his church. Wherever his church meets to worship…
- Ezra 6:1-15: Completed at the King’s Command
Just the same today, God can move the hearts of bureaucrats and leaders to complete his will. While that may mean opposition decreed for…
- Ezra 5: God’s Presence Despite Opposition
Opposition is an ongoing reality. We have been warned. But Jesus is with us. We have been encouraged. The eyes of God watch over…
- Ezra 4:6-24: Ongoing Opposition
The point of this passage is that the devil is always opposing God’s work. Whether it was in the days of Cain and Abel,…
- Ezra 4:1-5: Opposition and Discouragement
We see Satan’s opposition and discouragement agenda play out with the returnees from exile to Judah. While things had started mostly well, with the…
- Ezra 3:6-13: Building God’s House
The returnees from exile were also starting something new, rebuilding what had been destroyed and ruined. For them, it was a time of excitement…
- Ezra 3:1-6: Prioritising Worship
For the Israelites who returned to the ruins of the Promised Land, you might think that rebuilding homes, building businesses, planting crops, and repairing…
- Ezra 2: God Keeps His Promises
Ezra 2 is all about God keeping his promises. Yes, it is a long list of names. But they were the faces that went…
- Ezra 1: God is still in control
Things had gone terribly wrong for God’s People in the Old Testament. They had lost their independence, been taken into exile, the temple destroyed.…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18: Final Blessings
Paul’s letter closes with an encouragement of final blessings to the Thessalonian congregation. To prove that his letter, containing many blessings and also some…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15: The Blessing of Work
Sadly some in the Thessalonian church were not pulling their weight, and relying on others for their welfare. Paul had strong words for those…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5: Pray with Confidence
Paul’s letter encourages the Thessalonian church to pray with confidence. Despite Paul’s exciting life, and the ups and downs the Thessalonians faced, Paul was…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: Comforted and Established
God’s goodness to us is the outpouring of his covenant love, his love which saves us. It is a love which is always shown…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15: Secure Salvation
In the face of a terrible coming evil, and the restrained foretaste of it already lashing their lives even then, it could be tempting…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: Strong Delusion, Stronger Saviour
Reading of a great apostasy immediately preceding Christ’s return can place us in the same mental place as feeling outmatched by trouble or temptation.…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8: Lawlessness Brought To Heel
Paul’s teaching on the Man of Lawlessness, otherwise known as the Antichrist, is exactly the type of teaching where this error can occur. But…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5: Man of Lawlessness
While time will reveal who Paul was speaking about, we are left with plenty that explains the Antichrist’s purposes. And while we might disagree…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3: You Haven’t Been Left Behind
The Thessalonian church were worried that they had been left behind in a sense as well. Except it was a far greater concern than…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12: Sharing in Christ’s Glory
Jesus’ return will be the final victory and glorification of Jesus by everyone, everywhere. Nobody will be able to deny Jesus that victorious moment,…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9: The Terrible Reality of Hell
We cannot shy away from what the Bible teaches, even when it makes us uneasy. Hell is a terrible reality. The eternal punishment of…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8: God’s Righteous Judgement
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8 “Judge not!” may be the most popular incomplete and incorrect quotation of Scripture by modern Westerners today. Our culture does…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4: Growing in Faith and Love
What then would Paul consider a successful church? Thankfully we have an answer in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian Church. Paul’s idea of…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28: Holiness by Grace
Paul’s previous sentences encouraged the Thessalonian Christians in their responsibilities toward God, by living to please God and not quench the work of the…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22: Responsibilities towards God
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 Parents spend a lot of time explaining how children should behave, especially towards other people. Towards their friends and classmates.…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15: Covenantal Community of Love and Care
After encouraging the Thessalonian congregation to love and support their leaders, Paul turned to the way in which individuals in the congregation, and the…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13: Love Your Leaders
After encouraging us to look forward to Christ’s return with the knowledge that we are no longer under God’s wrath, Paul’s letter to the…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11: Better Days Coming
God calls us to vigilance and discipline against the sinful temptations in the world, as we await Christ’s return. We are to build each…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8: Children of the Light
We too are children of the light. Being children of the light means being delivered from God’s judgement, and having the sure hope of…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4: Thief in the Night
From encouraging the Thessalonians to take heart that, whether dead or alive, Christians would rise from the dead or the earth to join Christ…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: Hope Even in Grief
In this passage, Paul certainly does address the end times – specifically the return of Christ. But he does so with a purpose in…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12: Loving One Another
Because showing love for one another is a vitally important part of being a Christian. For each other, as fellow adopted brothers and sisters…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: Called to Holiness
The Thessalonian church, like ours today, was called to God’s standard of holiness. As people come to faith in Christ, or grow up in…
- Luke 23:44-49: Good News for a Dark Day
Three miracles, three pictures of how that terrible Friday is Good Friday for us. Darkness showing Jesus’ suffering God’s judgement in our place. A…
- 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13: Pastoral Prayer for Progress
In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, we come across another of Paul’s powerful prayers. It reveals Paul’s view on the power of God,…
- 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10: Growing in Faith and Love
While we long for, and pray for, God to grow our churches and make new converts and disciples, the truth is that biblical faithfulness…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5: Showing You Care
Paul’s ministry did not preach a Christianity where trusting in Jesus solves all your problems, but where trusting in Jesus solves your biggest problem…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16: Not Ordinary Words
The word of God was proclaimed by men. It was written by men too, inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:15-16). It did…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:9-12: Eyes on the Goal
In verses seven and eight, Paul described himself as being like a spiritual mother to the Thessalonian church, taking care of them, and showing…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8: Traits of Effective Ministry
Previously in this letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul had emphasised how word of their imitation of him had reached his ears and…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10: Imitators
What was important about that affliction was not so much the presence of it, but how they reacted. They did not grumble and complain…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5: Paul’s Reason for Thanksgiving
Paul’s life certainly had its ups and downs, but Paul also recognised the need to give thanks for the good things God gave. One…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:1 – The Only Source of Grace and Peace
The letter to Thessalonica was a letter that was primarily from Paul, but also written on behalf of his fellow labourers in the Gospel,…
Explore by series
- 1 Samuel 57
- 1 Thessalonians 18
- 2 Samuel 32
- 2 Thessalonians 13
- Baptism 1
- Being Alert 6
- Book 1 43
- Book 2 1
- Book 3 1
- Christmas 6
- Christmas 2
- Easter 1
- Easter 2
- Ecclesiastes 1
- Encouragement 1
- Ephesians 1
- Exodus 69
- Ezra 18
- Haggai 4
- Hebrews 4
- John 16 1
- Judges 36
- Luke 2
- Malachi 8
- Matthew 1
- Matthew – The Kingdom 9
- Nehemiah 18
- Portuguese 1
- Proverbs 3
- Psalm 23 14
- Psalms 1
- Psalms 44
- Romans 3
- Ruth 5
- Thematic 2
- Wisdom 1