40 DAYS – Time with God – Day 15

₁One day Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret while the people pushed their way up to him to listen to the word of God. ₂He saw two boats pulled up on the beach; the fishermen had left them and were washing the nets. ₃Jesus got into one of the boats — it belonged to Simon — and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and taught the crowd.

₄When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch.”

₅“Master,” Simon answered, “we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ₆They let them down and caught such a large number of fish that the nets were about to break. ₇So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full of fish that the boats were about to sink. ₈When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!”

₉He and the others with him were all amazed at the large number of fish they had caught. ₁₀The same was true of Simon's partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus said to Simon, “Don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

₁₁They pulled the boats up on the beach, left everything, and followed Jesus.

₁The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the temple past the south side of the altar. ₂The man then took me out of the temple area by way of the north gate and led me round to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate. ₃With his measuring rod the man measured 500 metres downstream to the east and told me to wade through the stream there. The water came only to my ankles. ₄Then he measured another 500 metres, and the water came up to my knees. Another 500 metres further down, the water was up to my waist. ₅He measured 500 metres more, and there the stream was so deep I could not wade through it. It was too deep to cross except by swimming. ₆He said to me, “Mortal man, note all this carefully.”

Then the man took me back to the bank of the river, ₇and when I got there I saw that there were very many trees on each bank. ₈He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water. ₉Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life. ₁₀From the Springs of Engedi all the way to the Springs of Eneglaim, there will be fishermen on the shore of the sea, and they will spread out their nets there to dry. There will be as many different kinds of fish there as there are in the Mediterranean Sea. ₁₁But the water in the marshes and ponds along the shore will not be made fresh. They will remain there as a source of salt. ₁₂On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”