Hi - I'm Rob. I'm married to Gail and we have a handsome, cheeky cocker spaniel called Harley. I am a Christian leader, pastor and preacher. I am a Salvation Army officer leading a congregation in the south of England. I am a leadership and discipleship blogger and daily devotional podcast host.
Read Exodus 2:11-25. How do you speak to God when you pray? Do you speak formally to him? Do you tell him what you think he wants to hear? Or are you honest with him?
Many Christians think they can’t be honest with God. They want to shout at him with…
This week in Battle Drill devotionals, we hear God’s people cry out for help and God’s answer through his covenant, reminding us that God knows the best time to act.
Read Exodus 2:11-25. What do you do when you feel hopeless? Surrounded by worry or c…
If your situation seems hopeless, it is not. God is in control of it all. At just the right time, he will act.
It’s hard to stay on top of the many leadership and productivity articles published each week. To help you become the best leader possible, here are three articles I found helpful this week.
Love God, love others. It is clear from the tributes paid to Joan during her funeral service that she and George took this mission seriously. Liam challenged us all that we should do the same, following in their footsteps. It’s a good challenge! Many of us are engaged in ministry and service to others each week. But God needs all of his Salvation Army to be mobilised.
Read Micah 6:1-8. Many people spend a lifetime pursuing happiness and yet never seem to find it. In one small verse, God sets out the requirements for finding true happiness. We’ve looked at the first two requirements over the last two days. Today, w…
Whatever you are going through at the moment, Jesus is with you. He loves you and he is interceding for you. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on him, whatever storms of life we might face this year and beyond.
Read Micah 6:1-8. Many people spend a lifetime pursuing happiness and yet never seem to find it. In one small verse, God sets out the requirements for finding true happiness. We’ve been looking at the three requirements beginning with the first yeste…
A human relationship withers if we don’t invest in it. The same is true of our relationship with God. What ways might you invest in life with your heavenly Father this year?
Read Micah 6:1-8. Many people spend a lifetime pursuing happiness and yet never seem to find it. In one small verse, God sets out the requirements for finding true happiness. We’re going to look at the three of them over the next three days.
Firstly,…
This sermon reminds us that if we do what is right, if we love mercy, and if we walk humbly with God, then his promise is that we will discover true happiness, real and full satisfaction.
Read Micah 6:1-8. Do you ever think you need to do something in order to earn God’s love? It’s a trap many people fall into, and Salvationists – as part of an activist church – need to be especially wary of it.
When God accused his people of taking h…
Many people spend their lives seeking happiness. This week in Battle Drill Devotionals, we discover God’s surprisingly simple requirement for happiness.
Read Micah 6:1-8. Are you grateful for the people around you, or are you guilty of taking them fo…
Read Matthew 14:22-36. Where is Jesus in all this? He seems to have abandoned me when I needed him the most. Have you ever thought that? The account of the disciples caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee promises that’s not the case.
There must hav…
Read Matthew 14:22-36. When you look around you, what do you see? A creaking health service? Workers striking? A cost of living crisis? War in Ukraine? Failing health? A difficult economic outlook? A shrinking job market? A generation falling behind …
Read Matthew 14:22-36. Have you ever been water skiing? Or surfing? Or ice skating? It takes courage to step on the water, or to catch a wave and let it take you, or to step onto the ice rink. I’ve only ever attempted the latter and fallen flat on my…
Read Matthew 14:22-36. Have you ever thought you’d seen a ghost? I’m not sure I have, although I do remember when we were teenagers at Norwich Citadel Salvation Army frightening ourselves silly with stories of the “ghosts” that wandered around that o…
This week in Battle Drill devotionals, we are focusing on encountering Jesus in the storms of life.
Read Matthew 14:22-36. Some of us have been blown off course over recent years, particularly by the Coronavirus storm of 2020-2021 and its aftermath. …
Read John 10:1-10. “If one door closes, another will open”. Have you ever heard or used that phrase? It suggests that with every end, there’s a new beginning.
Sometimes that is true. Sometimes it isn’t. People have been made redundant or voluntarily …
Read John 10:1-10. Many people mistakenly believe that being a Christian is full of restrictions. That it’s all about following the rules and a long list of “don’ts”.
But that cannot be further from the truth. Jesus said, “I came so they can have rea…
Read John 10:1-10. It’s pantomime season. Some pantos include a genie, a mythical person who grants their master or mistress’s every wish.
Some people mistakenly believe that when Jesus promises “real and eternal life, more and better life than they …
This sermon for Covenant Sunday, an annual event to help us examine the temperature of our relationship with God, encourages us to celebrate and invest in the more and better life beyond our dreams that Jesus wants to give us.
Read John 10:1-10. Are you a worrier? Do you worry so much that if you’re not worrying, you start to worry that you’re not worrying?
Worrying is a scourge. It robs us of any joy there is in the world. How can we rid ourselves of worry? One of the bes…
Jesus said, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10 MSG). This week on Battle Drill devotionals, we explore what that might mean for us today.
Read John 10:1-10. Do you feel your lif…
Read Matthew 3:13-17. Do you know how much God loves you? God created you to love you. Love is the essence of his nature. So he cannot help but love you. He wants to love you. He enjoys you. He takes pleasure in you all the time.
And it’s not because…
Read Matthew 3:13-17. It sometimes seems that the height of ambition in our society is to acquire as much as we can. To live a comfortable and enjoyable life, surrounded by our possessions and basking in our status.
That is not the life Jesus calls u…
This sermon, as part of our 2nd Sunday Family Worship, reminds us that Jesus arrived to be baptised by John the Baptist and to carry out the work God had chosen for him to do. We are similarly called to do good wherever we find ourselves.
Click on th…
Read Matthew 3:13-17. “If you want something done properly, do it yourself”. Have you ever said that, or heard it said? It’s often said in frustration when someone hasn’t done something in the way you would have done it.
What’s amazing about God’s wo…
Read Matthew 3:13-17. Being identified with God’s mission is dangerous. Jesus was baptised by John to validate and advance God’s work in the world. Some Christians are baptised as a sign of taking on God’s purpose for them. Salvation Army soldiers ar…
This week on Battle Drill devotionals we focus on Jesus’ obedient service to the Father, and how following his example will lead to God’s approval.
Read Matthew 3:13-17. “The name’s Bond. James Bond”. When a superhero bursts on the scene, he or she o…
Salvationists are called to be visible followers of Jesus. We are called to visibly stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Read Luke 15:11-32. Do you have a role model? It might be someone in your life whom you admire – a parent, a teacher, a leader. Or it might be a celebrity – a footballer, a singer, a dancer.
When you read the story of the Lost Son, who do you identif…
Read Philippians 3:12-21. Do you have a to-do list for 2023? Maybe it’s a work one, or maybe it’s fun things that you want to do – holidays, days out and so on.
Many of us have a to-do list, and it seems to be a never-ending one! What we sometimes do…
Read Mark 2:18-22. Do you begin the New Year with excitement and ready to make those changes in your life you’ve been promising yourself for goodness knows how many New Years? Many of us start a New Year with good intentions – me included – but end u…
Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. Here we are at the beginning of the New Year. Many of us are back at work today. Others are preparing to return to school or clearing up the house from the festivities. Are you still struggling to make a New Year resolution…
Welcome to 2023! What’s going to be different this year? Have you made any New Year resolutions? On Battle Drill devotionals, we’re going to consider some this week.
Read Psalm 51:1-19. Do you ever wish you could start again? That your life could be …
Read Romans 8:31-39. So here we are at the end of 2022 and the end of another year of the Battle Drill Devotional. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I look forward to sharing more daily devotionals with you in 2023. As we reach the end of th…
Read Ephesians 3:14-21. Why does Christmas even exist? It’s because God loves you. He loves you so much that he came to earth as a human – the only way you and I could really begin to know him and love him back. When you look at the baby Jesus, lying…
Read Luke 2:8-20. That’s it! It’s over. Christmas Day has come and gone. Even the extra Bank Holiday is over.
Some of you may have cleared up and put your Christmas decorations away. Some may still be enjoying meeting family and friends, eating too m…
Read Matthew 1:18-25. Have there been moments this Christmas when you have felt all alone? Perhaps you have spent Christmas alone, for whatever reason. But we can feel lonely even when surrounded by family and friends.
The good news of Christmas is t…
This week as we continue through the season of Christmas, we examine what it’s all about. Is it just a time of socialising and overindulging in food and drink? Or does it mean something more?
Read Luke 2:8-20. What are you celebrating this Christmas?…
This Christmas Day sermon reminds us that whatever may happen to us in the year to come, we can live with the confidence of God’s presence in our lives.
Click on the link – https://linktr.ee/battlefieldresources – to listen, watch or subscribe to thi…
Read Titus 3:1-11. For many of us, friends and family might be arriving today to spend the Christmas weekend with us. This can sometimes lead to strained relationships!
God calls us to love everyone. That means the unlovely. It includes the difficult…
Read Titus 3:1-11. Do you feel good enough to receive God’s love this Christmas?
The truth is that none of us deserve his love. We have all let him down in various ways. It can leave us feeling hopeless. But we are not without hope! God always shows …
Read Psalm 89:1-52. What’s your favourite carol? Have you sung it yet this Christmas?
I have so many, it’s difficult to pick just one. But this year, I have been struck once again by the words of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear:
For lo! the days are …
When does Christmas start for you? This sermon, given during our annual Carols by Candlelight service, reminds us that for God, Christmas only starts when we choose to take our place in his story. Christmas encourages us to make room in our hearts fo…
Read 1 John 4:7-21. The story of Christmas is that God loves us. We don’t have to make it any more complicated than that. God loves us. Christmas reminds us that God loves us so much, he is willing to wrap himself in human flesh – in the form of a he…
Advent is a time for us to renew our love for God. This week on Battle Drill devotionals we celebrate the One who “came down at Christmas” to take the initiative of loving us first.
Read 1 John 4:7-21. What’s your purpose in life? Jesus says it is to…
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, this sermon reminds us we are invited once again to consider the depth of God’s love for us and to set our hearts on the hope that he has given us from that love.
Click on the link – https://linktr.ee/battlefieldresour…
It is only when God’s love is flowing into me as it should, that I have that love to flow out of me to those around me.