Scripture Union Daily Guide Thursday 20 March 2025 Devotional Message
TOPIC: Losing in Order to Gain
OPENING PRAYER: Dear Lord, I pray that you sanctify my spirit, soul and body as I read your word in Jesus name.
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SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:21-28
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Question(s) For Meditation:
► Q2: Is there any example for me to follow or not to follow?
► Q7: What truth is God revealing to me in this passage?
Daily Guide 20th March 2025(Scripture Union) OUTLINE
Half knowledge is a killer. The disciples now know that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One. The Messiahship of Jesus means suffering and death and then, glorification. A suffering Messiah, however, makes no slightest sense to Peter and his colleagues hence his reaction in Matthew 16:22. He sought desperately to dissuade Jesus from fulfilling His mission much like Satan’s temptation in Matthew 4:8-10. Both received the same harsh response.
Peter, just a moment ago, spoke according to the special revelation from God (Matthew 16:16,17). For as long as we are still in this mortal body, we must constantly depend on God for every word that proceeds from our mouth. Notice the three demands of discipleship in Matthew 16:24-25. Suffering and hardships are never compatible with our human nature. However, God often employs them for our spiritual training and discipline.
Read James 1:2-4,12. We may not need to pray for them but we can allow God to train or discipline us with them as He sees fit. This is the true mark of discipleship as declared by Jesus in these verses. At the end there are rewards (Matthew 15:26-28).
* Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?
Closing Prayer:
Help me, Lord, to consider every other thing worthless, compared with the benefits I derive from giving my life to you.
One Year Bible Reading Guide:
Numbers 29-30, Acts 12.
One Year Bible Reading Guide, Hard Copy Version:
Deuteronomy 28-29
Prayer Bulletin – Thu Mar 20, 2025
PRAYER FOCUS
S.U DEVOTIONALS
“Your word is a lamp to guide me and lamp for my feet”. Psalms 119:105
THANK GOD FOR:
* The wisdom and inspiration upon the writers of our devotionals all over the globe. • All that it takes to bring them out in a complete state.
PRAY AGAINST:
* Indebtedness to SUPB and issue of preferring other devotionals to ours.
Scripture Union is an international, interdenominational, evangelical Christian organization. It was founded in 1867, and works in partnership with individuals and churches across the world. The organization’s stated aim is to use the Bible to inspire children, young people and adults to know God. (Scripture Union Daily Guide 20th March 2025)
