Christian Perspective on Climate Change and Creation Care

Here are the Battle Drill Daily Devotionals for the coming week. The accompanying video and audio podcast episodes will be published each day.

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When Creation Groans, Hear God’s Call to Care

Sunday 12 October 2025

As we celebrate the harvest season, you don’t need me to tell you that the world aches. Floods rise. Fields fail. Heat breaks records. When creation groans, can you hear it?

“For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”. (Romans 8:22)

Paul says the whole earth longs to be set free from change and decay. That sound is not noise. It is a call.

The Bible tells us why the ache is there. Sin bent God’s good world. The ground felt the curse with us. Since then, we have ruled the earth, yet at times we have used it hard. We have taken more than we needed. We have pushed the cost on to the poor and the next generation.

But Romans 8 is full of hope. The God who raised Jesus will make all things new. Until that day, we live as signs of that future. We recycle. We waste less. We plant and restore. We heat and we travel with care. We pray for those hit first by storms and drought. We serve at the food bank, and we choose fair produce when we can. These small acts say, “This is God’s world, and love is in charge”.

You may feel small next to a groaning planet. But don’t lose heart. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. Christ leads us in hope. When creation groans, the church can sing, it can serve, and it can stand fast.

Thought Starter: Where will you make one change this week that shows you heard creation’s groan and God’s call?

Prayer: Creator God, I hear the earth’s cry. Forgive my part in its hurt. Teach me to care, to serve, and to hope in Christ until you make all things new. Amen.

Rule, Not Wreck: A Christian Perspective on Climate Change

Monday 13 October 2025

Here is a clear Christian perspective on climate change: God made us rulers so creation might thrive.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish… the birds… the livestock… and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’” (Genesis 1:26)

When rule turns into wreck, people suffer and God’s world bears scars. We confess that we have often taken more than we needed and passed the cost to the poor and on to the next generation.

In Christ we find a better way. Jesus is Lord of creation. His kingdom heals. To follow him is to choose care over greed, service over gain. In The Salvation Army we can heat wisely, we can share food that lasts, we can reduce waste at events, and we can choose suppliers who treat workers well. We can support those hit by weather shocks and speak up for policies that protect land, sea, and air. At home, it can look like less meat, less plastic, fewer short trips by car, and more prayer for those living on the edge.

Small acts add up when done in love. God’s Spirit turns simple choices into signs of the Kingdom. We rule best when we remember whose world this is.

Thought Starter: Which daily choice - food, travel, energy, waste - will you place under Christ’s rule today?

Prayer: Creator and Redeemer, I place my habits in your hands. Lead me to rule with care and to seek my neighbour’s good. Make my life a sign of your Kingdom. Amen.

Don’t Miss the Gift of a Bountiful Harvest

Tuesday 14 October 2025

What do you see when you look around at this season? Golden fields, ripe fruit, autumn’s colours? Or do you rush past, forgetting the Giver behind the gift?

“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance”. (Psalm 65:11).

The harvest is bountiful because God is good. He is the one who sends rain, ripens fruit, and fills our tables. And his blessings extend beyond crops - they reach into our homes, our families, and even the unseen corners of our lives.

But abundance can be dangerous. We can mistake gifts for entitlements. We can forget that it is God who sustains us. Harvest is God’s gentle reminder: remember me, give thanks, and trust me.

So don’t miss it. This season is more than full barns and stacked shelves. It is an invitation to gratitude. It is a call to share what you have with those who long for a taste of God’s goodness.

The harvest is bountiful, and so is the love of God.

Thought Starter: Where have you overlooked God’s generosity, and how might you turn those blind spots into praise?

Prayer: Father, open my eyes to the harvest around me. Help me live with a thankful heart and a generous hand. Amen.

Harvest Time Calls Us to Praise

Wednesday 15 October 2025

Harvest time is more than full barns and heavy orchards. It is a season that calls us to remember the goodness of God.

“Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him”. (Psalm 95:1–2).

The psalmist does not begin with crops or grain. He begins with worship. Harvest time is not only about what fills our hands but what fills our hearts. The God who gives us fruit and bread also gives us love, mercy, and grace.

It is easy to see the visible gifts - the food on the table, the roof over our heads, the strength in our bodies. But this season invites us to notice the unseen blessings too. His unfailing love that steadies us when life shakes. His faithfulness that holds us through dark nights. His guidance when we stand at the crossroads.

So today, let harvest time remind you to pause. To say, “Thank you, Lord” for both the gifts you can hold and the ones you can only feel. Gratitude shapes us into people of joy.

Thought Starter: What unseen blessing of God do you most need to give thanks for this harvest time?

Prayer: Lord, you crown my life with both seen and unseen gifts. Teach me to give thanks with my whole heart and to live each day in gratitude. Amen.

A Harvest of Tears and Joy

Thursday 16 October 2025

Harvest is more than crops in a field. It is a picture of God’s faithfulness through every season - joyful or painful.

“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest”. (Psalm 126:5–6).

Maybe you know what it feels like to sow in tears. To pray for someone who doesn’t change. To work hard for good and see little fruit. To give when your own heart feels empty. In those moments, the soil feels hard and the future looks bleak.

But this psalm promises that no tear sown in faith is wasted. God gathers them, waters the soil with them, and in time brings forth joy. The celebration of harvest and gratitude calls us to trust this truth. Every seed sown in obedience - whether through prayer, service, or generosity - will one day grow into a harvest of blessing.

So today, hold on. Ask God for the strength to keep planting. Trust that his timing is perfect. The harvest is coming, and it will be filled with joy.

Thought Starter: What seed of faith do you need to keep sowing today, even with tears?

Prayer: Lord, I give you my tears and my toil. Turn them into a harvest of joy and teach me to trust your faithfulness. Amen.

God’s Hand in Every Harvest

Friday 17 October 2025

It’s easy to believe our effort makes the harvest. But step back and ask - who sends the rain, who warms the soil, and who gives life to the seed?

“Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us”. (Psalm 67:6).

The psalmist reminds us that the harvest of blessings is not proof of our skill but proof of God’s goodness. Yes, the farmer toils, but it is God who gives the increase. Yes, we labour, but every good thing - every answered prayer, every healed hurt, every new day - is a gift from our Father in heaven.

This truth calls us to humility and gratitude. It also calls us to generosity. If God’s blessings are gifts, then they are not ours to cling to. They are ours to share. At our harvest festival, when we pile food on the platform or bring tins for the food parcels, we declare: what God has given us, we will pass on.

So, let’s look again at the harvest around us. Where do you see God’s hand at work in your life today? And how can you let someone else taste the blessing he has given you?

Thought Starter: Do you see the good in your life as earned - or as God’s gift?

Prayer: Father, forgive me when I take credit for your blessings. Open my eyes to see your hand in every harvest. Amen.

Don’t Grow Weary - The Harvest Will Come

Saturday 18 October 2025

Have you ever felt worn out from doing good? You keep giving, you keep serving, you keep praying, but nothing seems to change. Paul knew that feeling, which is why he wrote one of the great spiritual growth verses:

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up”. (Galatians 6:9).

A farmer doesn’t plant seed in the morning and reap a crop by nightfall. There are weeks of waiting, of watering, of working while nothing seems to happen. Spiritual growth is the same. You may not see instant results. But unseen, God is at work.

In The Salvation Army, I’ve seen it again and again. That food parcel delivered in Jesus’ name, that listening ear in the community café, that prayer whispered over a hurting neighbour - they don’t always show fruit straight away. But in God’s timing, seeds grow. Lives change. Blessings bloom.

So, if you’re tired today, don’t quit. Keep sowing kindness. Keep praying in faith. Keep choosing love. Your harvest is coming - not by your strength, but by God’s promise.

Thought Starter: Where in your life do you need to keep sowing, even when you can’t yet see the harvest?

Prayer: Lord, give me strength to keep doing good. Help me trust your timing for the harvest you have promised. Amen.

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Unless otherwise shown, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. All song extracts used by permission. CCL Licence No. 135015.