The day the Spirit hit ‘go’
by Jane Mueller
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Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38).
Read Acts 2:36–42
Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit turned a local message into a global one. Different people, different accents, different dialects, one message: Jesus is alive. The Holy Spirit disassembled arguably the biggest obstacle to global mission – the language barrier – by translating the gospel into the mother tongue of people from every nation under heaven. Pentecost shows that God doesn’t wait for us to work our way toward him; he meets us where we are. He meets us in our own language, our own culture and our own generation.
And, for that reason, maybe the Pentecost account needs a ‘remix’ to remind us that when God speaks fluent ‘human’, he speaks to all generations.
The Pentecost remix: Generation Alpha dialect
Fast-forward 50 days from Passover. Jerusalem’s stacked with pilgrims and passports from every corner – accents everywhere. Then boom: the disciples start spitting truth in every language. Not subtitles – Spirit-titles.
Crowds freeze mid-conversation like, ‘Hold up – how are these Galileans speaking my hometown lingo?’ Peter rolls up and goes, ‘Chill, this isn’t energy-drink mania – the Spirit pressed “go”, that’s all.’ Then he drops the gospel bomb: Jesus is alive. (Peter’s talking about the J-Man – the GOATed teacher who dropped parables like mixtapes, fed 5,000 with leftovers, and told sickness to sit down.) Peter drops the sequel: the main character’s alive, the Holy One’s still running the show. Death got debugged. Forgiveness is legit, and the Spirit’s for the global group chat.
The crowd is in meltdown, like, ‘Bruh, what even is step two? Do we just download forgiveness?’
Peter hits them with the classic mic drop: ‘Μετανοήσατε, καὶ βαπτισθήτω.’
Luther remixed it for his gen: ‘Tut Buße und lasst euch taufen.’
Vintage translators nerfed it to: ‘Repent and be baptised.’
Gen Alpha translation: ‘Change lanes, turn around, get grounded and glowed up.’
The Spirit goes full send – holy fire, zero chill. Heaven’s update drops, tongues are trending, and hope is on repeat. It’s a full-on grace quake – fear collapses, hearts reboot, and mercy shakes the system. Ordinary people walk like miracles because heaven’s already gone live.
That’s Pentecost: God turning human confusion into connection, and chaos into community.
The Spirit speaks our language today – through culture, creativity and even our clumsy words. We don’t need a polished speech or perfect prayers because God works through our real talk, our half-formed thoughts, our casual slang and our misunderstood jargon. He takes our normal, everyday voice – regardless of our generational dialect – and translates our words into living hope.
Holy Spirit, translate my hesitation into faith, my distraction into focus and my words into worship. Let your fire burn bright – in me, in your church and in the world. Amen.
Jane is a former Lutheran school principal and now serves as Governance Leadership Director for Lutheran Education SA, NT & WA. Jane has a keen interest in psychology, enjoys hiking and loves learning about and trying new things.
Ashes don’t get the last word
by Jane Mueller.
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A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Read Ezekiel 36:24–28
Australia knows bushfires. Black Friday in 1939 scorched Victoria, darkening the skies with smoke and killing 71 people. Ash Wednesday in 1983 claimed 75 lives across Victoria and South Australia, levelling whole communities. Black Summer in 2019–20 brought devastation on a scale almost beyond comprehension – millions of hectares burned, and thousands of homes destroyed. Thirty-three people lost their lives to the flames, and hundreds more deaths were later counted among the toll from smoke exposure. Every summer, the memory of bushfire lingers like a scar on our land and our hearts.
Ezekiel also knew devastation. He wrote to exiles who had seen their land razed, their temple destroyed, and their hope reduced to ash. Into that bleakness, God spoke, ‘I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean … I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.’ God promised that destruction would not be the final word. Renewal was coming.
Have you walked in a bushfire-blackened landscape? It looks hopeless. Yet after rain, green shoots push through the ash. Nature holds the secret of resurrection. Likewise, God takes our scorched places – the losses, the grief, the failures – and brings new life. His Spirit writes resilience on our hearts. He plants hope where there was only ruin.
Scars remain, but scars can testify. Just as the landscape bears the memory of fire even as it regenerates, we bear witness to God’s Spirit who brings life from death. Out of ashes comes beauty. Out of devastation comes a new heart.
God of hope, I remember those who grieve losses caused by bushfires – past and present. Bring comfort to the broken-hearted and strength to rebuild. As I go about my day today, show me signs of new growth – a plant sprouting, a flower opening or even weeds pushing through cracks. Let these signs remind me that you bring life where I least expect it. Amen.
Jane is a former Lutheran school principal and now serves as Governance Leadership Director for Lutheran Education SA, NT & WA. Jane has a keen interest in psychology, enjoys hiking and loves learning about and trying new things.
What do Twenty20 cricket and Ancient Israel have in common?
by Jane Mueller
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But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine’ (Isaiah 43:1).
Read Isaiah 43:1–7
On this day in 2005, Aussies saw something new at the Western Australian Cricket Association ground in Perth: the very first Australian Twenty20 cricket match. Traditionalists scoffed. After all, cricket was a gentleman’s game of patience and strategy, not coloured shirts, roaring crowds and fireworks. Yet the game changed. It was fast, bright and captivating. Twenty20 brought new audiences to an old sport. Reinvention breathed fresh life into cricket.
God’s words through Isaiah also speak of reinvention. Israel had been battered by exile. Its identity was fractured. But God declared, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’ God wasn’t abandoning the covenant – Israel’s story wasn’t over. The God who never lets go was renewing the covenant and reshaping Israel’s story.
We live in a world that thrives on reinvention, but often leaves us exhausted as we constantly update, rebrand and hustle for relevance. The reinvention God offers is different. He doesn’t demand that we remake ourselves to earn his love. Instead, he renames us, claims us and redeems us. Our identity is secure. ‘You are mine.’
Let that sink in.
You are his.
Just as Twenty20 reshaped cricket without erasing its heart, God reshapes our lives without discarding who we are. He takes what is weary, fractured or stuck, and breathes new Spirit-filled energy into it. We are called by name into a story of belonging and purpose.
When fear rises – fear of change, of failure, of the unknown – remember that God has already called you by name. You belong. Your life is not defined by exile or loss, but by the redeeming love of the one who says, ‘You are mine’.
Redeeming God, thank you for calling me by name. When fear rises in me today – whether small or large – guide me to pause and whisper aloud, ‘I am yours. I belong to you.’ Let this confession quiet my fear and steady my steps. Amen.
Jane is a former Lutheran school principal and now serves as Governance Leadership Director for Lutheran Education SA, NT & WA. Jane has a keen interest in psychology, enjoys hiking and loves learning about and trying new things.
When God joined the queue
by Jane Mueller
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Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him (Matthew 3:13).
Read Matthew 3:13–17
John saw him coming and froze. The line at the Jordan was full of ordinary sinners – farmers, labourers, tax collectors – all waiting their turn to be washed clean. And then Jesus joins the queue. No entourage, no special treatment. Just the Son of God, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the very people he came to save.
John can’t take it. ‘You should be baptising me,’ he blurts out. But Jesus insists, ‘Let it be so now.’
Let it be so now.
It’s one of the most quietly disruptive moments in Scripture. The one who has nothing to confess stands among the confessors. The one who created water submits to being washed in it. Holiness doesn’t hover about human mess – it wades right into it.
That’s what grace does. It doesn’t operate at a distance. It moves toward us, joins the queue and stands behind us in all the mess we’d rather hide. The baptism of Jesus is about solidarity. God doesn’t save by staying clean; God saves by stepping in.
If being human has started to feel like a competition or a performance, maybe the invitation is the same: step down into the water. Stand where everyone else stands. Get in line with the people you’ve been comparing yourself to and the ones you’ve tried to impress. Let grace even the playing field.
When Jesus rose from the water, heaven tore open, and the Spirit descended. Maybe that’s what happens when we choose humility over hype, presence over performance and love over comparison. The same sky that opened over the Jordan still opens for moments like these.
In this week’s devotions, we won’t just read about baptism – we’ll see that something’s changed. We’ll get on with living like resurrected people. Every piece of Scripture in the days ahead is a reminder that grace moves, water breaks, God keeps making all things new, and heaven is here, now.
Jesus, you could stay distant, but you don’t. You step into our mess, into our fears and into the queues we stand in. Teach me to do the same – to meet people where they are, not where it’s comfortable – and strip away my need to appear strong or right. Let my life and presence look like your love – close enough to get wet. Amen.
Jane is a former Lutheran school principal and now serves as Governance Leadership Director for Lutheran Education SA, NT & WA. Jane has a keen interest in psychology, enjoys hiking and loves learning about and trying new things.
The voice of the Lord
by Jim Strelan
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The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic (Psalm 29:4).
Read Psalm 29
Don’t you wish that God would speak to you directly, like it seems he did in Old Testament times? Then you would know. Know what his will is. Know what he wants for you. Know how to respond to your present situation. Know what is ahead of you. That would be something.
This psalm is a song of praise. It’s a call to worship a God who is powerful and majestic. Interestingly, this psalm presents the voice of God as being heard in the lightning, thunder and wind. See the power of those things, see what they can do, and hear God. And worship him. We have no excuse for not acknowledging God. Romans 1:20 tells us that ‘God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen’. Look around you, and there’s something wrong if you can’t see God.
The trouble is that the power of nature, while awe-inspiring, is also destructive. So, if you want to fully grasp the nature of God, what we see around us leaves us confused. There are cyclones and roaring fires, floods and tsunamis. Powerful, yes, but leaving us a little in fear of this powerful, majestic God.
Hebrews 1:1,2 tells us: ‘In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son.’ You want God to speak to you? Listen to Jesus. He is the Word of God in human form. His voice is God’s voice. And it’s majestic and powerful. Hear him say, ‘Come.’ Hear him say, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Hear him say, ‘This is my body/blood for you.’ Hear him say, ‘I am with you always.’ Hear the many, many promises he makes. Hear him and trust his word. It’s the voice of God. When the Transfiguration happened, a voice from the cloud repeated the words Jesus heard at his baptism: ‘This is my Son whom I love; with him I am pleased.’ And added are the words: ‘Listen to him!’ (Matthew 17:5).
God speaks. And his speaking leads us to worship.
Lord, open my ears and heart so that I can hear you speaking. Amen.
Jim lives on Brisbane’s northside with his wife, Ruth. He enjoys reading and listening to music, is a proud Brisbane Lions member and loves his children and grandchildren. Jim is passionate about the gospel and the freedom it brings.
Lord of all
by Jim Strelan
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For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (Romans 10:12,13).
Read Romans 10:11–17
Consider how major this was for the writer to the Romans to say. No difference, in a society where there was every difference. Some were called, chosen, and some not. Some were recipients of God’s covenant, some not. For a Jew and a Gentile to share food was a no-no. Don’t even let the shadow of a Gentile pass over you if you are a Jew, lest you be contaminated. Gentiles were excluded from the temple. Assisting an injured or dying Gentile was a mistake because it just added to the possibility of Gentiles surviving. No difference? You must be joking. Just consider what the Early Church had to deal with as it came to terms with a statement like this.
Over time, Christians have had to work through similar issues. What do we do about slavery? How do we deal with attitudes that separate people because of the colour of their skin? How do we view people whom we almost consider to be of another faith, even though they consider themselves Christians? What role do women have in the life of the church?
What do these words say? First of all, ‘the same Lord is Lord of all’. Of all. Not just those who meet the criteria. All – whether they recognise it or not. Jesus came to draw all to himself. To show them the way to the Father. He crosses boundaries and is scorned and rejected because of it. He frequently goes into Gentile territory; he eats and drinks with ‘sinners’; he elevates women to a status previously denied them. He is Lord of all.
Secondly, he ‘richly blesses all who call on him, for ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’. I often say that when we get to heaven, there will be a lot of surprises. And, of course, the biggest surprise is that we’re there! We don’t need to make calling on the name of the Lord more complicated than it is. The thief on the cross called on the name of the Lord. The father, who said he believed but needed help with his unbelief, called on the name of the Lord. Many who brought their sick to Jesus only asked for help – that’s all. They called on the name of the Lord, and they received healing. God blesses all who call on him.
This is such a different approach to the status quo of the time. Perhaps our starting point when we try to come to terms with issues of our time is just this: there is no difference; Jesus is Lord of all. I wonder what impact that might have.
Lord of all, thank you for crossing all the boundaries. That ‘crossing’ also means I am a recipient of your blessing. As you are gracious, please help me to be the same. In your name, Amen.
Jim lives on Brisbane’s northside with his wife, Ruth. He enjoys reading and listening to music, is a proud Brisbane Lions member and loves his children and grandchildren. Jim is passionate about the gospel and the freedom it brings.
Knowing God
by Jim Strelan
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If you knew me, you would know my Father also (John 8:19b).
Read John 8:12–20
How do you know God? How do you know God’s nature, what he is like? The Old Testament testimony to the nature of God tells us that he is Creator, that he is powerful, that he wants a relationship with his people, that he is ‘slow to anger, abounding in love’ (Psalm 103:8b), that he is a deliverer, a rock and fortress, that he has our names carved on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16a) and many other wonderful attributes. But it also shows God as righteous, a punisher, almost a warring God who demands allegiance, a God who is sometimes more hidden than revealed. So, how do we know God? How do we know what he is like?
The best way to know God is to know Jesus. Jesus says that if you know him, then you know the Father. Jesus shows us the Father’s heart. If the God of the Old Testament is sometimes a bit puzzling for you, then look at Jesus. In John 14:9,10, when Philip asks Jesus to show his followers the Father, Jesus says: ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?’
So, what do we learn about God by looking at Jesus? He wants to be a part of our lives, so much so that he comes as a baby born in ordinary circumstances. He is willing to suffer scorn because of the kind of company he keeps, because he wants ‘sinners’ to come to him. His will is for healing and restoration rather than sickness and brokenness. He is prepared to suffer, be put on trial and experience the shame of the cross for us. The presence of Jesus is all around us in the Spirit whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name. We don’t need to be anxious about our dying because Jesus has prepared a place for us in his Father’s mansion and waits for us to come home.
The devotion from a few days ago says the same thing, and we can’t hear it enough. Look to Jesus. See how he is and who he is. And you will know God.
Thank you, God, for showing yourself in the person of Jesus. I see him, and I see you. Thank you. Amen.
Jim lives on Brisbane’s northside with his wife, Ruth. He enjoys reading and listening to music, is a proud Brisbane Lions member and loves his children and grandchildren. Jim is passionate about the gospel and the freedom it brings.
One Lord
by Jim Strelan
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On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name (Zechariah 14:9b).
Read Zechariah 14:6–11
This is a difficult passage. And it’s the kind of passage that some Christians use to justify every action of Israel in the current Middle East tragedy. Texts like this confirm their belief that Jerusalem will stand whatever is thrown against it. It must stand. And everyone will acknowledge God as the one and only ruler of all. The ‘day of the Lord’ will come, so Israel and her actions must be justified at all costs!
We are still in the post-Christmas period when we celebrate the birth of the Saviour, God’s chosen one, who came into the world to draw all people to God. His birth is a ‘day of the Lord’. As Jesus began his ministry – and throughout his ministry – he was rejected by many and welcomed by many. Some wanted him to be king, but Jesus rejected their notion of kingship. Instead, ‘he became obedient to death – even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2:8b). And then God raised him and gave him a seat of honour and gave him ‘a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow’ (Philippians 2:9,10).
Jerusalem was considered the ‘holy city’ – holy because it was where the temple was, and the temple is the dwelling place of God. But Jesus reminds us that a building made of stones can crumble – in fact, it did. But God dwells not in the confinement of a building, but with his people, wherever they are. In various places, Jesus refers to himself as the temple of God. Where Jesus is, there is his calling to come, to follow, and his promise is to be with us always.
The ‘day of the Lord’ is God’s day. He’s in charge. Whatever that means, whenever it refers to, the issue for you and me is this: Is there one Lord for you? Is there one name above all other names? And are others welcome to know that one Lord, one name?
Dear Jesus, help me to hold fast to the things I know and not be misled by what I don’t. I acknowledge you as Lord of all and my Lord. Amen.
Jim lives on Brisbane’s northside with his wife, Ruth. He enjoys reading and listening to music, is a proud Brisbane Lions member and loves his children and grandchildren. Jim is passionate about the gospel and the freedom it brings.
Absence of Darkness Epiphany (6th January) Read: Revelation 22:1-6 “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 22:5 (NIV)
Every picture I have ever seen of angels shows them shining brightly, lighting a dark place. In the Bible God uses them as His messengers telling the news from Him to people on earth. They can’t be seen by people unless God chooses to reveal them (Numbers 22:31, 2 Kings 6:17, Luke 2:13). However, there are times when angels take on a bodily form and appear to people. In the story of Jesus’ birth, we have many angels appearing to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. And there are many other times throughout the Old and the New Testaments where God reveals His plan for us humans.
With the angels come the radiance of God. The light of God. This light emanates from His glory. In Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, we are given another perspective of heaven. There will be no night, which means no darkness. Darkness has always been associated with evil and death – when Jesus died “…darkness covered the whole land” (Luke 23:44) and God also says that “He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” (1 Corinthians 4:5b) A human trait is to hide things whether physically or spiritually or emotionally and keep others in the dark. When Jesus comes back there will be nothing hidden and everything will be brought into God’s glorious light where all will be exposed and forgiven for those who repent. I am not sure what a world without any darkness, physically and spiritually will be like. I doubt we will even need dark glasses to block out the brightness.
We will want to be in His glory and live in His presence for eternity. As you enter this new year do not be frightened of when Jesus will return, rather be excited for all darkness to be overcome by God’s glory. There are so many still living in darkness so while there is time, work for God and bring more to His marvelous light. Shine out God’s glory for all to see!
Prayer: Most Holy God, angels shine out your glory and tell of your plans. Thank you for shining your light into my heart and life. Help me to live in this glory and tell others of your love. Amen