Robin Brookes

Retired Anglican Priest

[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

Living in a world that has lost its reason: https://t.co/zzQzjfBf32

[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Plough Daily Prayer
🖋️Christoph Friedrich
Blumhardt
📖The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
⋖Psalm 9:9–10, NIV⋗
🙏Lord our God, we look to you in our many needs, in the distress of our hearts, in the anguish of the whole world. We beseech you, let light come to your people everywhere on earth to bring them your help and your victory. Remember the wretched, the sick, the poor. Let your living strength come to them so that they can bear their sufferings and hold out joyfully to the end. Remember us all, O Lord our God, for we all need you. We are weak and poor and cannot go forward alone. Your Spirit must help us. May the Savior come to us, and may his grace and his power be born in our hearts. Amen.
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/1hfBWZEa9s
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Words Of Hope Devotion
⫷Freedom in Surrender
🖋️Jessica Heikoop
📖Read: Galatians 5:1-15
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (v. 13)
🟨Surrender. Slave. Servant. These certainly aren’t the first words most people think of when speaking of freedom. But as John Gill has said, “Love makes Christ’s service perfect freedom.” The wonderful truth is that as we surrender to Christ and live our lives in service to him, we experience the freedom for which we were made and to which we were called. This freedom comes because when we are no longer our own but are wholly his, we are rid of the yoke of slavery to sin and to this world. Freedom from sin is freedom indeed. It is freedom to be all we were meant to be.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/BMf2MxtwMs
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶WELS Daily Devotion
⫷Love Is an Action
📖This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
⋖1 John 3:16⋗
🟨What is love? Ask a doctor, and they will tell you love is a result of fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels. Ask a poet, and they will tell you that love is an emotion or a feeling. Ask a philosopher, and they will tell you that love is a construct of your mind. What about you? How would you define love? How you answer the question likely depends on which season of life you are in. A young person may start stammering about sweating palms, a racing heart, and a fluttering feeling in their stomach. A mature person may engage in a sensible discussion about faithfulness, commitment, and responsibility. An older person may wistfully reflect on something that is both comfortable and familiar.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/cDSELmTVic
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Mustard Seed Daily Devotion
⫷The Seed of Faith
𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙
📖“… I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you”
⋖Matthew 17:20b⋗
𝙊𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙
🟨What is the only fruit with seeds on the outside of its skin?
A strawberry!

Most fruits have their seeds on the inside. Only when they are cut open can the seeds of dozens of other fruits be seen.

People can be a lot like those fruits with hidden seeds. God’s Holy Spirit plants the seed of faith deep within our hearts. He reminds us of the importance and power of that small seed of faith that makes such a huge difference in our lives. Jesus told His disciples, “… I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20b).~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/h3ph4cIJTT
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Guideposts Devotion
⫷Breathe New Life into Your Faith
📖All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
⋖2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)⋗
🟨God connects with you through the Bible. Each time you read His Word, you experience the joy of communing with Him as you gain understanding, guidance and wisdom. Warm your heart with His faithful messages of love. Breathe new life into your faith through His timeless Word.~
🙏𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙮
Lord, I am so blessed by Your Word, which transforms me into the best I can be.
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/iIY7kI3mwn
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Right From The Heart
Devotion
⫷Afraid? Fix Your Eyes on Jesus
📖“For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
⋖2 Timothy 1:6-7⋗
🟨Fear is someSthing we all wrestle with – if we are honest

Fear seems to impact us all in some form or fashion. Fear of failure, rejection, not measuring up, death, being alone, suffering… the list could go on. So, what can we do about it? Is there a way to live free from fear? God knew this would be a challenge for us, so throughout His Word, He speaks straight to the heart of the matter.

How can we live strong and courageous in the face of fear?~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤https://t.co/JlFejvYVQc
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Cathedral of Hope Daily
Devotion
🖋️Donald (Luke) Day
𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚
📖Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.
⋖1 Chronicles 29.11⋗
𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚
🟨You can say a lot about something by its surroundings in the environment. A tall and strong Douglas fir tree may flourish for many decades standing alone in an open break in the forest; whereas, the much smaller redbud tree grows best under the protective branches of much taller trees.

Probably all teenagers have been warned that a bad environment will mean trouble for them. The presence of people or things around us has great influence on how we live. Do you regularly sit down, look around yourself and ask how your surroundings influence your lifestyle and well-being? That's a good checkup for one's life.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/Dsn85PU0Nq
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Dr. David Jeremiah
❝Turning Point❞
⫷Real Victory
📖Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
⋖1 John 5:14-15⋗
🟨Ruth Paxson met with a missionary who confessed her defeated attitude. She no longer found joy in her Bible or a passion for souls in her heart. Hers was a joyless, peaceless, powerless life. She left in the same state, but Paxson felt the Lord was working and prayed for her using 1 John 5:14-15. Overnight the woman confessed to a hurt that had robbed her of her victory. Her joy was back.

Paxon wrote, “Real victory is a glorious and marvelous change in the innermost recesses of the spirit which transforms the inner disposition and attitude as well as the outward deed and act.” ~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/BRjQuUPBqf
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Joyce Meyer
❝Daily Devotional❞
⫷Get Off the Treadmill
📖But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God). Thus David congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does.
⋖Romans 4:5-6 (AMPC)⋗
🟨If you spend years on the performance treadmill of the world, it is hard to get off. When you are addicted to feeling good about yourself only when you perform well, you are in for a life of misery. It is a cycle of trying and failing, trying harder and failing again, and feeling guilty and rejected.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/7kOglBCjc7
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Fr. Don Talafous
❝Daily Reflection❞
🟨What can illness teach? Patience. Or, at least it can if we’re open to learning from such an experience. A young man who had surgery for a cancerous brain tumor says that after his first surgery (with his scalp partly shaved) he went to the college library; a few friends greeted him warmly, but: “Most of my acquaintances in the room quickly turned and hid behind their computers acting as if they hadn't even seen me. Hiding was a reaction I received a lot over the year (of treatment), but I have to say that I was initially quite shocked by this.”~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/gj5S2mfE6l
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Pastor Stuart Briscoe
❝Telling the Truth❞
⫷Rights and wrongs
📖Just as farm workers who plow fields and thresh the grain expect a share of the harvest, Christian workers should be paid by those they serve… Yet we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than put an obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ.
⋖1 Corinthians 9:10⋗
🟨The more civilized a country becomes, the more civil its people tend to be. The more a culture acknowledges the significance of the individual, the more its people recognize the need to treat other people well. But because human beings have a great capacity for behaving badly, they do not always treat each other civilly. So the government steps in and begins to legislate behavior, predicated on real or perceived human and civil rights. Then individuals and businesses take great care not to transgress the law, because failure to observe such legislation can lead to severe penalties.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/6Rtx98S6XK
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Henri Nouwen
❝Daily Meditation❞
⫷Create Space in Your Innermost Self
🟨Today I imagined my inner self as a place crowded with pins and needles. How could I receive anyone in my prayer when there is no place for them to be free and relaxed? When I am still so full of preoccupations, jealousies, angry feelings, anyone who enters will get hurt. I had a very vivid realization that I must create some free space in my innermost self so that I may indeed invite others to enter and be healed. To pray for others means to offer others a hospitable place where I can really listen to their needs and pains. Compassion, therefore, calls for a self-scrutiny that can lead to inner gentleness.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/2F20qgI2jB
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Pastor John Hagee
❝Daily Devotional❞
📖Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.
⋖Psalm 126:5⋗
🟨Peter Hulme left his village for the university, going on to become a famous architect. After gaining great wealth, he lost it all because of alcoholism.

He returned to his village with his wife and only child, a daughter on whom he doted. Their new neighbor owned a large, vicious dog. Although the townspeople had asked the man to restrain the dangerous dog, he arrogantly refused.

As Hulme returned home one day, he heard his daughter’s frantic screams. He raced to find her in the jaws of the neighbor’s dog. He managed to tear her from the dog’s teeth, but she died in his arms.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/PiQqvJL37Y
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Daily Grace Devotion
⫷A saintly role model
🖋️Kirsi Stjerna
🟨Want to set the world on fire? Catherine would tell you to be who God meant you to be, at all cost.

Catherine (Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa) was one of the more luminous female mystics in Christian history. Spiritual mothers like Catherine of Siena call for attention and engagement because she addresses questions of spirituality and vocation.

A saint’s life always includes aspects and events of extraordinary nature. Catherine’s spirituality and theological focus make her a mother of faith for the lesser saints and sinners, “ordinary” Christians. She inspires boldness and authenticity in faith. She models daring compassion and prophetic voice in a world in need of healing and truth-telling. She exemplifies the spiritual fruits of sustaining friendships, partaking in the Eucharist, and radical acts of kindness.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/Qj1ORaHkRl
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶World Challenge
Daily Devotion
⫷The Many Attributes of God
🖋️Gary Wilkerson
🟨How do we most often view God? Everyone struggles with having a slightly one-sided view of God. We tend to assume that he most often shows one certain trait. That trait tends to be based on how we were taught to view God overall. What if, though, an infinite God reflects all of his traits fully at all times? ~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/pJLuDkZVua
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Upper Room Daily Devotion
⫷Perseverance
🖋️Judy Thomas (Maryland, USA)🇺🇸
📖Jesus cried, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! . . . How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”
⋖Matthew 23:37 (CEB)⋗
🟨As a young Christian, I committed myself to making the world better first through nursing, then child advocacy, and finally through ordained ministry. Now at the end of my eighth decade, I feel sad that I might die without seeing more of what I had envisioned as the reign of God. I still see injustice all around me. The COVID pandemic revealed global inequities; democracy is threatened around the world; war or threat of war is often present; common civility seems to be in decline.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/GYCZOlcig4
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Living Truth Devotion 🇨🇦
⫷ “Becoming Obedient to Death”
📖“...being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
⋖Philippians 2:7-8⋗
🟨The first stanza of the “Christ hymn” in Philippians 2:6-7 talks about Jesus’s pre-earthly existence—that Jesus, who was inwardly and outwardly divine, emptied Himself and took the nature or form of a servant. The second stanza in Philippians 2:7-8 continues by looking into Jesus’s earthly existence.

Philippians 2:7 tells us, “...being made in human likeness.” The Greek word homoioma translated “likeness” emphasizes a likeness of similarity, while at the same time, difference. We could interpret the verse to mean that Jesus bore the resemblance of humanity. He came in the likeness of humanity. He became a human, but not merely a human being, because Jesus never ceased to be God. ~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/KPeFk7cRx2
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Our Daily Bread
⫷Pray and Watch
🖋️Marvin Williams
📖Pray in the Spirit on all occasions . . . and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
⋖Ephesians 6:18⋗
🟨When fighting spiritual battles, believers in Jesus should take prayer seriously. One woman found out how dangerous it can be, however, to practise it unwisely. When she prayed, she closed her eyes. But while driving one day and praying (with her eyes shut!), she failed to stop at a stop sign, flew through a junction and went offroad into a homeowner’s garden. She then tried unsuccessfully to back off the lawn. Though not injured, she was given a police citation for reckless driving and property damage. This prayer warrior missed a key part of Ephesians 6:18: be alert.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/OjEsZhObJr
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[Robin Brookes @rkbc1947]

🟡Monday 29th April 2024
🔶Forward Day by Day
📖You have noted my lamentation; put my tears in your bottle; are they not recorded in your book?
⋖Psalm 56:8⋗
🟨We all have periods of lamentation, times when we feel deep sorrow and sadness. The impact of lament, especially after a serious loss, may result in tears, sometimes at unexpected times and inconvenient places. Despite what some in our culture suggest, tears of grief are evidence not of weakness but of healing. It is essential to find healthy ways of expressing the feelings associated with deep sadness and crying helps us do that.~
𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: ➤ https://t.co/2e2RcowV7v
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