Lent 2024 I've written about the temptations of Jesus before, in a post from 12th March 2019. In the former post, I focused on the three times Jesus was led in the passage, the first was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the desert. The other two were the devil that led Jesus: Jesus …
Tag: Satan
Forgiveness—Psalm 38
Psalms of David What do we know about Psalm 38? It is a quasi-acrostic poem. The 22 verses correspond to one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but the poem itself does not follow the alphabet. This links it to the previous psalm, Psalm 37. which is acrostic.It is a lament. Many Biblical laments …
Prayer, it’s a two way thing — 2 Corinthians 12:7–9
The prayers of Paul This is a series on the prayers of St Paul found in the letters attributed to him in the order he is believed to have written them. Letters to the same place or person will be treated together with the first letter to that destination. "A thorn in the flesh," has …
Continue reading Prayer, it’s a two way thing — 2 Corinthians 12:7–9
Jesus loves to take what’s ruined and beautify it
I have seen a lot recently about how toxic social media is. The irony is this: They were all posted on social media. I am sure that the intention of Mark Zuckerberg's intention when starting Facebook was not to facilitate hate, and people have been removed from that network for hate crimes as they have …
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I will be with him in trouble: Psalm 91
The 4th book of Psalms This is a difficult Psalm to interpret. The problem comes in verses 11 and 12: For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. These words were quoted by Satan to …
No Lord? How can you say that? — Matthew 16:21–23
The surprise of Jesus — part 4 40 blogs of Lent — day 25 It is always bad when you have been planning something and looking forward to it, only for something to happen that either puts your plans on hold. There is always a feeling of disappointment. My wife and I will have been …
Continue reading No Lord? How can you say that? — Matthew 16:21–23
Persecutors, snakes and murderers – Matthew in Advent day 8
It has been building up to this. Jesus has been slowly getting stronger in his condemnation of the teachers and Pharisees. When Jesus called them white washed tombs full of dead men's bones they would have understood it to mean that Jesus was saying that they were not only ritually unclean but the source of …
Continue reading Persecutors, snakes and murderers – Matthew in Advent day 8
Matthew’s Passion: Blood money and the suicide of Satan
Matthew's Passion: Blood money and the suicide of Satan 40 Blogs of Lent: 26 Matthew 27:3-10 Poor Judas. He has been duped by the high priest and his cronies, whatever Judas thought would happen after Jesus was handed over is not clear, but it is clear he wasn't expecting Jesus to be executed. Who can …
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Deliver
Deliver us from evil The Lord's Prayer - Part 16 The Lord's Prayer is finished. Or at least it is with Luke's Gospel, which ends with Lead us not into temptation. Matthew's version goes on to say deliver us from evil, or from the evil one. This is not surprising. Matthew was writing for a …
Redemption Song
U2 got it right: Over the last 4 weeks my Twitter and Facebook feeds have included something shared by well meaning Christian friends that at the Paris Bataclan concert where on 13th November terrorists killed 89 and injured 99 others. They shared that the band playing at the venue, the Eagles Of Death Metal, were playing the …
Making an ass of myself 