Agape Devotions

You can use today to catch up on your previous readings.

 TEXT TO REFLECT ON “With what shall I come before the Lord,     and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,     with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,     with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,     the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good;     and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,      and to walk humbly with your God?  MICAH 6:6-8 REFLECT God’s indictment against Israel through the prophet Micah was that the rich, the rulers, and the priests had exploited, bullied, and oppressed their own people, particularly the poor. The rich and powerful were so oppressive that they had robbed the people of their land, and taken whatever possessions the poor had. The question in this passage was, what would appease God in Hi...

Read: Micah 4-5 No devotional today (Sunday)

Read: Micah 1-3 Verses chosen for reflection Micah 3:1-3     [1] And I said:     Hear, you heads of Jacob         and rulers of the house of Israel!     Is it not for you to know justice ?—     [2]     you who hate the good and love the evil,     who tear the skin from off my people         and their flesh from off their bones,      [3] who eat the flesh of my people,         and flay their skin from off them,     and break their bones in pieces         and chop them up like meat in a pot,         like flesh in a cauldron. Reflect The prophet Micah was called to preach against the evils that Judah was doing. One of the evils concerned the leaders' complete disregard for justice. Instead of administering justice on behalf of those abused; these leaders were carrying out acts of injustice against the p...

READ : Jonah 1-4 REFLECT : Jonah was intentionally running away from God.  Now, can he really run away from God? No. But he’s trying to. He was hoping to escape from the Lord. Other translations say that he was fleeing from God’s presence. Jonah had received a call from God to go to Nineveh and proclaim God’s judgment, and Jonah said no. He didn’t even say no out loud; he just said no with his actions. RELATE : I wonder if you can relate to that. Has God ever asked you to do something, ever reminded you of a commandment in the Bible, and you say no with your actions?  You resist. You pretend you didn’t hear Him. You flat out ignore Him. God says, “Pray for him.” And you say, “No way.”  God says, “Serve her.” And you say, “Not going to do it.”  God says, “Welcome them into your church” And you say, “Sorry, nope.”  Jonah very intentionally ran away from God, heading in the complete opposite direction that he was supposed to be going. Chapter 1 doesn’t reveal the r...

READ : Obadiah Verses chosen for meditation: Obadiah 1 1  The vision of Obadiah.   Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord,     and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!” REFLECT Obadiah is the shortest book in the OT, with high attention on Edom. Why is Edom, where Obadiah seems to be very angry with, a concern to us? To understand this, we trace the history between Israel and Edom. The animosity between the two nations runs deep, beginning from the fight between Isaac’s two sons, Esau and Jacob even when they were in Rebekah's womb. We know of how Esau flippantly sold his birthright to Jacob, and how Jacob cheated Esau of their father’s blessing. The two eventually drifted and their growing families formed two neighbouring nations: Edom (from Esau’s descendants) and Israel (from Jacob’s descendants). Their conflict continued ...

 There is no devotional today, as it is a catch-up day. 

Read Amos 8 - 9 Verses chosen for meditation: Amos 8: 11, 12 ESV: 11 "Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. Reflect Take some time to reflect on the following verses in relation to the Word: 1. Matthew 4: 4 2. Joshua 1: 8 3. Psalm 118: 9, 11 4. Jeremiah 15: 16 5. Luke 1: 38 6. Isaiah 55: 1, 2 7. Isaiah 55: 11 How do you feel about the Word? How important is the Word to you? How available is the Word to you? Relate The passage shows God's anger towards his people. They had turned a blind eye to the suffering and plight of others for 'more important' things - things that served their interests, including things such as praying, preaching and teaching.  The book of Amos reminds us that these...

  TEXT TO REFLECT ON Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,     and Israel will surely go into exile,     away from their native land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” 14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Amos 7:10-15 REFLECT Amos was not a prophet. Nor did he come from a line of prophets. Rather, he was a shepherd and a farmer who tended sycamor...

Read Amos 5-6 No devotional today (Sunday)

Read: Amos 3-4 Verses chosen for reflection Amos 4:4-5 “Come to Bethel, and transgress;     to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning,     your tithes every three days; 5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,     and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;     for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord God. Reflect:  God's judgement upon Israel included their corrupted and hypocritical worship practices. As Israel did not want to worship at the southern kingdom of Judah, they set up other worship centres in Bethel and Gilgal. However, these worship centres were not approved by God. They were not set up in obedience.  They were set up because the people of Israel wanted to worship as they please and even as a form of rivalry against Judah. Worship in these centres, even if they tithe every three days, were not pleasing to God. For these acts of worship only soug...

READ : Amos 1-2 REFLECT : The time frame of this prophecy was approximately 762 BC. This was forty years before the northern nation called Israel was going to be overthrown and wiped out by the Assyrian Empire. This was a time of prosperity and wealth for the northern nation. Under the reign of Jeroboam II, the nation had established its borders and regained power that it had not seen since the reign of Solomon. The reign of Jeroboam II was a reign of peace and prosperity for the northern kingdom. Nations that usually were a threat, such as Egypt, Babylon, Syria, and Assyria, were in a period of relative weakness, which offered security to Israel. This security enabled them to enjoy a period of great prosperity. The first verse of the book tells us that Amos was the prophet, but he was not an ordinary prophet. Rather, he was a livestock breeder who lived in the town of Tekoa, which was ten miles south of Jerusalem. This offered Amos a unique perspective. First, he was not from Israel, ...

You can use today to catch up on your readings or view this video to prepare for the book of Amos: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/amos/

  Read  Joel 3 Verses for devotion: 1  “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2  I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,  3  and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. 9  Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war;  stir up the mighty men.  Let all the men of war draw near;  let them come up. 10  Beat your plowshares into swords,  and your pruning hooks into spears;  let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” 13   Put in the sickle,  for the harvest is ripe.  Go in, tread,  for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their e...