Introduction

The first thing I love about the ascension is that Jesus has returned to his Father. That means his work is done, accepted in heaven, and sealed for us here on earth. … now, the Lord Jesus Christ is in session. Seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It’s the Father’s stamp of approval on all that his Son has done for us in dying and rising.

King David introduces himself through the careful placement of some psalms that connect him, his kingly office and his life with our lives as readers and with the expectation of the ultimate King and Son of God.

We have an all-sufficient salvation because we have an all-sufficient Saviour. He brings us in. He keeps us in, and he carries us to the end.

The following devotional by Clive Bowsher is for Friends of Union. To learn more about becoming a Friend of Union, visit www.uniontheology.org/friends-of-union

Whether our darkness comes from relational breakdown, grief, loneliness, health challenges, the guilt of sins committed, the shame of sins experienced, global trends or deep personal struggle, we must know that our God is a God of hope.

Friends, it’s not incidental to God that he is a kind and loving Father. That’s not a role he’s stepped into or an act that he tries to pull off while inwardly just being transcendent and disinterested in you.When you pray the Lord’s Prayer and call him “Our Father” or “Abba, Father,” you’re not asking him to pretend for a moment he’s less like God and more like Jesus than he actually is. You’re putting your finger on the very essence of God.

Most of us are not good at prayer. Why is prayer often so difficult—even for the mature believer? In this session, Michael Reeves gets to the heart of our problem with prayer.

To “abide,” then, is not some special spiritual technique, but instead the posture of trust in Jesus, resting in his love (15:9), lived out in glad obedience to him (15:10). It’s joy-full (15:11). And every branch united to him in two-way friendship is guaranteed fruit that will stand the test of time.

Jesus goes out of his way to meet this woman. But why? Perhaps it was not because she was righteous or that she was worthy, but simply that she was: thirsty. Thirsty for more than what she could haul home with her own feeble hands. A thirst that was deeper than Jacob’s well could ever go, deep down in the parched places of her heart.

We must remember that all of us, no matter how long we have been Christians, may become fools. Satan will try to cast a spell over us. We may know the gospel in our heads and actually live on the basis of works, and thus, as Luther said, we must relearn the gospel daily. Let’s calm our hearts with the promise of God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus, with the grace that is so freely and lovingly granted to us.