St Barnabas Daily Devotions

About St Barnabas Daily Devotions

Daily Devotions written by members of St Barnabas to help us grow in our personal relationships with God by reading God's Word. From February 2025, the Scriptures quoted are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). https://berean.bible Prior to February 2025, the Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Publisher

St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield and Bossley Park

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Mar 2024

Latest episode

9 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

453 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Nov 2026

   2 Kings 13:22-14:7

   2 Kings 13:22-14:7 - Daily Devotion - 10 November 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 22 And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. 23 But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence. 24 When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his place. 25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took back from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that Hazael had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Israel. Chapter 14 1 In the second year of the reign of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz over Israel, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. He did everything as his father Joash had done. 4 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 5 As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king. 6 Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.” 7 Amaziah struck down 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this very day. REFLECTIONS Written by James Davidson I love verse 23: ‘But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them...’ What grace! What compassion! At the start of chapter 13 we were told that King Jehohaz did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of their enemies. But when Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, the LORD listened to him because He saw Israel’s oppression. So LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of their enemies (13:2-5). That is grace! That is compassion! But notice also what God’s grace and compassion caused him to do in the second half of verse 23: ‘He turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ The reason he turned toward them in grace and compassion to save them, despite their evil, was his promise to the patriarchs – His promise that he would be their God and he would bless them, His promise that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 12:3). This foreshadows the grace and compassion that God has showered on us through Christ! All of us, from birth, did evil in God’s eyes. So God’s anger burned justly against us. We lived as slaves to sin, under the sway of Satan, whether we realised it or not. But God saw our oppression. He was moved with compassion. He lavished us with grace by sending a deliver, his very own Son! Through trust in that Son, we are set free from our slavery to sin and transferred from Satan’s clutches into the kingdom of God. And all of this because of that same covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are grafted into Israel through faith in Christ. God is blessing all peoples on earth, even us, by bringing us into his people through trust in his Son. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and compassion to us. Thank you for your faithfulness to your promises. Thank you for sending Jesus to deliver us. Amen. ABOUT THE AUTHOR James is our Honorary Assistant Minister.

2. 

   8 Nov 2026

   2 Kings 13:14-21

   2 Kings 13:14-21 - Daily Devotion - 9 November 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 14 When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” 15 Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows. 16 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So the king put his hand on the bow, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 “Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.” 18 Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them, and Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped. 19 But the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to it. But now you will strike down Aram only three times.” 20 And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring. 21 Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet. REFLECTIONS Written by Stephen Shead I found this passage so strange! But let me see if I can lean into the two weirdest bits. First, what King Jehoash says to the dying prophet Elisha: “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” These are exactly the same words that Elisha himself had cried out when Elijah was about to depart (2 Kings 2:12). The phrase means something like: “You are Israel’s greatest protection, far more than any army.” It shows that they knew the word of God is more powerful than any human force. When faithful Elisha had said it to Elijah, God answered his cry by anointing Elisha himself as Elijah’s replacement. Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God provided another prophetic guardian. But here, the one who says it is the faithless, idol-worshiping Jehoash. It becomes very clear that he won’t become the new Elisha, because he fails the first prophetic test with the arrows. Perhaps this is a sign that God’s patience with Israel is finally running out. The second weirdness is the dead man touching Elisha’s bones. I think this shows the tragedy of Israel’s failure. The ministry of one like Elisha promised to give life to the dead! But Elisha himself is now dead. His bones carry some residual power, like a chicken still running around after its head is chopped off. But even those bones will dissolve into dust. How much greater is Jesus! Jesus, the great prophet and Word of God, died and was buried in a tomb. But God did not allow his body to decay (Acts 2:31); he glorified him as the risen life-giver. We have a mighty prophetic guardian for all who call him Lord – Jesus, the chariots and horsemen of the whole world. He is the one John saw in his vision: the rider called Faithful and True, the King of kings and Lord of lords who will judge the whole world and the Devil himself with justice and truth (Revelation 19:11-21). The Bible warns us not to take God’s patience for granted (Romans 2:4). But for those of us who have answered his call to repent and trust in Christ, it’s such a comfort to know that Jesus lives to defend us in life from the assaults and accusations of the Devil, and to raise us with him in indestructible glory. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stephen is our Senior Minister.

3. 

   6 Nov 2026

   2 Kings 13:1-13

   2 Kings 13:1-13 - Daily Devotion - 7 November 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 1 In the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years. 2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them. 3 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad. 4 Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel. 5 So the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before. 6 Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Samaria. 7 Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And his son Jehoash reigned in his place. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Joash over Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. 11 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them. 12 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with all his accomplishments and his might, including his war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 And Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. REFLECTIONS Written by Stephen Shead The books of Kings have been following the parallel stories of the kings of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Today we return to the north, with the reigns of Jehu’s son and grandson over Israel. Jehu was the one whom God had raised up to end the dynasty of Ahab and Jezebel, who had made Baal-worship the national religion. It seemed like Jehu would be a “good guy”. But instead of turning Israel back to the Lord God, he replaced Baal-worship with older idols. The very first king of the northern king – Jeroboam son of Nebat – had set up two golden calf statues, one at the southern end of the kingdom (in Bethel) and the other at the northern end (in Dan), and got all the people worshiping them instead of the Lord. Jehu, his son and his grandson went back to “the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit” (v 2, 11). The regime change merely swapped one type of godlessness with a different type. In lots of ways, the nations of Israel and Judah under the old covenant were unique, so we need to be careful about comparing modern nations with them. But especially this week with the US midterm elections, it got me thinking about our hopes for political parties and elections. It’s good for Christians to be actively involved in politics, and some governments do more damage than others. But as much as you want things to change, we need to remember that every change of government will be from one sinful regime to another. None of them are Christ’s kingdom. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stephen is our Senior Minister.

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