Author: nickjones2011
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Why doesn’t God heal me? (Jeremiah 11-13; 2 Corinthians 12)
When my mum was dying with cancer in her 40’s some people promised that if we had enough faith God would heal her. I’ve experienced people suggesting similar things about my son. How do you respond? Maybe you’re longing that the Lord would heal you and wondering is it that you lack faith? 2 Corinthians…
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The danger of false teachers (Jer 8-10; 2 Cor 11)
No one has a bad word to say about him, he is such a nice man, and he always says lovely heart warming things from the pulpit. The problem is, he is preaching a different Jesus, but it’s such a lovely message, it’s hard to spot. It seems so inclusive, and it’s so heart warming…
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God in a box (Jer 5-7; Psalm 75; 2 Cor 10)
God will accept me, I’ve been baptised, I go to church and I take Communion. God will accept me, I go to a church that takes the Bible really seriously. God will accept me, I read my Bible and say my prayers every day. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of the people…
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Waiting…(Jeremiah 1-4; Psalm 130; 2 Cor 9)
What are you like at waiting? It can be hard, especially in an instant culture like ours. And yet, there can be something good about waiting, building expectation. Do you remember going to develop a film?! For the benefit of younger readers, in the olden days, cameras were not digital! We would take our little…
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Riches to rags (Zephaniah 1-3; Psalm 74; 2 Cor 8)
I remember visiting a rubbish dump that people lived on. It was in Brazil, and perhaps what struck me most was the contrast between riches and poverty. Within 10 minutes there was an air conditioned shopping centre full of luxury and comfort and yet here were people with nothing but rubbish to live off. Can…
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A cry for justice (Habakkuk 1-3; 2 Corinthians 7)
How long o LORD? How long must this injustice continue? Why don’t you do something? If you have ever asked questions like these, you are not alone. Not only do you find such questions in the Psalms, and in Revelation, but also in the prophets. It’s a question on the lips of Habakkuk. Things were…
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Sorrowful yet rejoicing (2 Chr 34-35; 2 Cor 6)
How can you be sorrowful yet rejoicing? Surely you are one or the other? Yet the apostle Paul tells us that his experience is that he is continually sorrowful and yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10). This is a wonderfully realistic way to live. He is neither annoyingly positive, nor depressingly negative. He says, life…
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Weak bodies and eternal glory (2 Kings 22-23; Psalm 73; 2 Cor 5)
Camping can be fun, but you would not want to live in a tent all year round! In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul compares our bodies to being like a tent, they are flimsy and won’t last forever. My son has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and this makes this truth so much more real to us, since…
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An eternal weight of glory (Nahum 1-3; Psalm 149; 2 Cor 4)
“Note well what it is that will make all the miseries of this world easy to endure; it is that we should transfer our thoughts to the eternity of the kingdom of heaven. If we look around us, a moment can seem a long time, but when we lift our hearts heavenwards, a thousand years…
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Keeping going by beholding glory (2 Kings 21; 2 Chr 33; Ps 71; 2 Cor 3)
What’s the secret to keeping going? When the trials keep coming, when there’s another hospital appointment, another crisis, another challenge? We saw at the beginning of 2 Corinthians that Paul faced severe trials, and these led him to depend more on God (1:9). He’s about to reveal further trials that he faced (4:8-9), but here…
Light and Momentary Troubles 