Daily Bread: April–June 2018

By Jennie Pollock, Gethin Russell Jones, Mark Ellis and 4 more

Daily Bread is the Bible reading guide that aims to help you hear from God as you read the Bible. If you've ever asked the question, 'What possible relevance can this verse have for me today?' or 'What difference does this passage make to my life?' then read on...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scripture Union
• Release date: Jan 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781785065880

Jennie Pollock

Jennie Pollock is a writer and editor. She is the author of If Only: Finding joyful contentment in the face of lack and longing. Her website is jenniepollock.com

Book preview

What is Daily Bread?

Daily Bread is the Bible reading guide that aims to help you hear from God as you read the Bible. If you’ve ever asked the question, ‘What possible relevance can this verse have for me today?’ or ‘What difference does this passage make to my life?’ then read on…

Why read the Bible?

Reading the Bible is about developing a relationship with God, through dependence on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to engage with the Bible and to face God’s challenge in the here and now. He will always point us to Jesus Christ, the heart of God’s Word to us, the one who shows us who God is.

Why read Daily Bread ?

Everyone needs a little help when reading the Bible. Sometimes the poetry and prose, history and revelation, or parables and proverbs need some explanation. Daily Bread provides real inspiration each time you read it. Our writers are from all kinds of backgrounds with all kinds of perspectives. We’re sure you’ll be challenged, encouraged, surprised and inspired as God uses the notes to speak into your life.

How to use Daily Bread

Way in

This page introduces both the notes and the writer. It sets the scene and tells you what you need to know to get into each series.

A day’s note

The notes for each day include five key elements: Prepare, Read (the Bible passage for the day), Explore, Respond and Bible in a year. These are intended to provide a helpful way of meeting God in his Word.

Prepare yourself to meet with God and pray that the Holy Spirit will help you to understand and respond to what you read.

Read the Bible passage, taking time to absorb and simply enjoy it. A verse or two from the Bible text is usually included on each page, but it’s important to read the whole passage.

Explore the meaning of the passage, listening for what God may be saying to you. Before you read the comment, ask yourself: what’s the main point of this passage? What is God showing me about himself or about my life? Is there a promise or a command, a warning or example to take special notice of?

Respond to what God has shown you in the passage in worship and pray for yourself and others. Decide how to share your discoveries with others.

Bible in a year

If your aim is to know God and his Word more deeply, why not follow this plan to read the whole Bible in one year?

Editorial

Get God’s

Word

In January we issued a Bible reading challenge. If you faithfully read the passage and the note, you were challenged to go further and also read the ‘Bible in a year’ passages listed at the bottom of each page. How is that going?!

I’d like now to add another challenge: memorisation. It’s something we still do with children at SU holiday clubs and camps, and in some church Sunday schools up and down the country. But it’s a little out of fashion amongst adults. Yet the Bible is full of calls to get God’s Word firmly lodged in our heads (eg Colossians 3:16). And it’s really worth it: we are promised strength and fruitfulness as we mould our minds and hearts around God’s truth (Psalm 1:2). Here’s some encouragement from Charles Swindoll:

‘I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorising Scripture ... No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified’ (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, p61).

God’s intention for us in the Christian life is that we change and grow to become increasingly like Christ year by year. It’s primarily through God’s Word that the Spirit achieves that in us. The Bible is an open door to knowing Christ and his love more each day. Many of us find the daily discipline hard, but here’s the challenge: let’s not be like the ‘fool’ of Proverbs, or the grumbling Israelites of Numbers, or the wilfully disobedient Judeans of Jeremiah, or the chaotic Corinthians. Be like a tree, planted by streams of water, resilient out of season, and fruitful in it (Psalm 1:3).

Photo of Angus Moyes

Editor

Angus Moyes

SU article

SU serving

continental Europe

Greece

Most of the media have stopped writing much about the refugee crisis in Greece and one might think that everything is back to normal. But this is not the case. There are still large numbers of refugees coming to Greece and even more who are stuck there, awaiting permission to travel on to join their families in other European countries or to start a normal life in a safe place. The Greek government is not in a position to take care of them properly. NGOs (Christian and secular) and churches try to respond to the most essential needs. Scripture Union Greece has been called by God to serve children, young people and families in this special situation. But it is not easy for them as the financial crisis and the steeply rising taxes in Greece have affected their donors.

Sokratis Anastassiadis, the director of SU Greece, says: ‘We are challenged in a double way. On the one hand we see the spiritual and social need of the refugees and we want to help them. On the other hand our resources are very limited and we are struggling ourselves. But together with other agencies and churches we do as much as we can. We invite refugee families to come to our campsite for a kind of holiday. We are providing food, showers and a peaceful environment to relax a bit. Parents receive some training in hygiene and practical skills, children and young people can play with our volunteers and have fun with songs and Bible stories. Christian doctors and dentists look after their physical needs for free while we try to share the love of God with them.’

One result of the ministry is that on their camps for children and young people around 20 per cent are from refugee families, many hearing the good news of Jesus for the first time.

Spain

Another example of SU ministry in Europe is Scripture Union Spain. SU Spain is very small and financially not well equipped owing to the small number of evangelical Christians. For many years they have focused on the development and publishing of Bible reading materials. But recently they took a courageous decision. They felt the call to reach out to children and share the love of God with the young generation directly. A young staff worker, Melani, is now offering programmes for children and youth on the streets of Tarragona, in the free space between big apartment blocks. Melani and a team of volunteers bring hope and light to the city. On some days more than a hundred children plus parents take part in the programme.

Melani´s aim is to excite volunteers from other cities in Spain for this kind of mission and to train them so that they can start the same programme where they are.

Croatia

Training young leaders how to serve a world in need is one of SU´s strong aims around the world. In Croatia, SU is offering a special eight-week course for young leaders between 18 and 26: Leadership Lab International (www.leadershiplabinternational.org). Experimental learning, mentoring and intercultural experiences are the key elements of a leadership experience that helps young people to understand what kind of leaders they are and how they can use their skills for the kingdom of God.

One participant wrote after the training: ‘Before coming to my first LLI training I felt discouraged. I had some negative past experiences working as a teacher, but as I was participating in LLI, God was revealing to me that I could be a good leader. God put great people in my life, mentors, who shared their stories, and from that it made me think about my life and career and I realised that I wanted to try again and I didn’t want to give up. It inspired in me a desire to think again about working with kids and with youth.’

Kosova

Our newest European movement is SU Kosova. This is a country with a Muslim majority and a very small Christian community. Kosova has the youngest population in Europe. The average age is 26 (while the average age in Great Britain is 40!) but the economic prospect for the young generation is far from encouraging. Most church members are first-generation Christians, and SU tries to offer training on how to lead a Christian family and bring up children in a godly way. They are also reaching out to young people directly through sports ministry. The latest project is the translation of the Guardians of Ancora app that has been developed by SU England and Wales.

Europe is very diverse, and so is SU Europe. But we are united with all Christians around the world by our common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and our commitment to share his love with the next generation and to serve a world in need.

Writer

Monika Kuschmierz

Europe Regional Director

Sunday 1 April

Resurrection

day!

Prepare

In what ways does the resurrection of Jesus give you confidence?

Read Matthew 28 Explore

Have you noticed that when angels appear in Scripture, very often their first words are ‘Do not be afraid’? The guards faint with terror and the women probably stand open-mouthed and riveted to the spot. Then they hear the most amazing