Consistently choosing to obey God in the small things prepares us to choose his way in the vital decisions of life.

As discontent rises in the coming months, let us be careful not to be like these rabble rousers, only complaining and wanting what we do not have.

Self-denial is essential in the Christian life (Matthew 16:24), but unless it is coupled with following Jesus in the path of love, mercy and service, it will be of no benefit to our character.

Jealousy and suspicion in marriages needs to be acknowledged, brought into the open and brought to resolution.

How easy it is to attach God’s name to our particular cause, to our political party, to our church denomination, and boldly proclaim to the world, ‘God is on our side’.

We humans are often motivated to change only when we see the consequences of our actions.

We who follow Jesus Christ have also been made priests (Revelation 1:6).

Art forms are a powerful vehicle for spreading the knowledge of Christ.

The Israelites in Moses’ time kept God at a distance and, if we are honest with ourselves, we often struggle with this today. Yet the promise remains: Come near to God and he will come near to you.

For some Christians ‘structure’ is a dirty word, being seen in opposition to the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is structure all through the Bible.

Self-sufficiency weakens us, deprives us from support which we might have benefitted from, and widens the gap between our public persona and our private struggles.

The root of the opposition which we face is spiritual, so the weapons with which we counter it are spiritual too: Prayer, Faith, Acknowledgment of our reliance upon God – coupled with effort, strategising and resolution.

The experience of God granting their desires did not draw the people of God any nearer to him.

It is not the Triumph which is the problem, but how we treat it.

Moses is silent, then acts on what he hears from the Lord, and so experiences one of the most remarkable deliverances the world has ever seen (Exodus 14:19-31).

When we respond in faith to God’s prompting, who knows how far the influence of our actions will go?

Whenever God breaks into the world, there is an adverse reaction from the ruling powers.

We human beings like simple moral choices, where one side is clearly Bad, with a capital B, the other is Good, with a capital G, and the Good wins.

Are there witches or people practising magic today, or is it all one big hoax or delusion?

I vaguely remember hearing stories about the Lord from my grandmother. He was the one who helped our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they were in really tough spots.

Exodus 4:24-26:  Those three short verses are the only place in the biblical narrative where Zipporah is recorded as having done anything, but how important was her contribution!

Straightaway he replies, “Here I am”, and that begins a conversation with God which ends up with him choosing to abandon his comfortable lifestyle and to lead the Israelites out of slavery.

Moses learnt that, as Hudson Taylor was fond of saying, God’s work done in God’s way never lacks God’s supply.

How will we react if God calls us to take a step of faith which could have drastic consequences?

There is a slavery that is all the more insidious for being largely hidden and undetected: the slavery of sin.