BE STILL AND KNOW

Psalm 46:10 

Be still and know that I am God;…

I was lying in bed thinking, as you do, and realised once again that inside each one of us is a hidden depth, an ability to tap into the eternal. It’s God Himself who lives in us in our spirits. It’s God’s own greatness which He has put in us and which inspires us or enables us to do whatever He has called us to do.

No wonder He says “Be still and know that I am God”. He’s calling each one of us to just stop and be still in His presence and let His Spirit minister His peace, His grace, His greatness, whatever we need at any given moment into our souls.

What do you need at this moment? Is it comfort? Is it hope? Maybe it’s been a tough year and you need fresh inspiration for the coming year, fresh vision of what God wants for you? Whatever we need, whether it’s spiritual, physical, mental or social, God has promised to be our Provider, to give us all we need and more. But He does tell us to come to His throne to receive. We have to do the receiving!😊

We’re about to step into our new year so let’s decide to leave any disappointments or mistakes, the old fears behind, where they belong.  Instead let’s enter the new year with gladness because the Lord has brought us safely through yet again by His grace and He has good plans for us next year. Let’s step into it with faith, in expectation of seeing God’s goodness.😊

As you draw close to God, see His arms stretched out to receive you, in whatever state you are in, and in His presence let go of anything that brings you down and let Him pour His love like a waterfall into you once again. Know that He is for you, and He goes before you, that He is working behind the scenes on your behalf turning things round for your good. 

He crowns the year with His goodness, And His paths drip with abundance.(Psalm 65:11(Nkjv). Thankyou for Your promises Lord. We receive them by faith in Jesus’ name. Amen.

GOOD NEWS - HE SUSTAINS YOU

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, And He will sustain you;…

They reckon there are about 7 billion people on planet earth at the moment and the amazing thing is God knows you and me personally. He knows your name, He knows everything about you. He loves you and He cares for you, and about you. What concerns you, concerns Him too.

The past couple of days we’ve looked at casting our cares over on to Him and there’s a promise attached if we do. He says He will sustain us. He will sustain you. That means He will strengthen or support you both spiritually, physically and mentally. 

If we fall, He’s going to pick us up, if we need help He will give it, because He loves us and He has our name written on the palm of His hand. Psalm 139 tells us He’s thinking about us all the time and Jeremiah 29 tells us He only has good plans for us, not to harm us but to do us good.

Listen, you are one in 7 billion but if you’ve made Jesus your Lord and Saviour then you belong to God, you are special to Him and He has accepted you in His Beloved Son (Ephesians 1:6 Nkjv), clothed you in His own righteousness, crowned you with loving kindness and tender mercies. He has anointed you and you’re yoked with an easy yoke to Jesus Himself, and He says everything you put your hand to will succeed.

Now, knowing and believing all that, because you’ve made Jesus your Lord and Saviour, you can continue to cast all your cares onto Him, and go into your day, into the coming year, with great confidence that God will not only sustain you but He will keep on sustaining you until Jesus comes back for you, or you go to be with Him. That has to be Good News.😊

LIGHT AND EASY

Matthew 11:28-30 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. 

Jesus recognised peoples’ propensity to be all worried and weighed down so one day, when He had a large crowd gathered, He told them what to do about it. He said to come to Him because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Light and easy, not weighed down with rules and regulations, that is His desire for us. If it is of Him, He will give us the grace, the anointing and the help to do it or deal with it so it doesn’t weigh us down.

There was a man who said he never worried about things he could do something about, because he could do something about it. And he never worried about things he couldn’t do anything about, because he couldn’t do anything about it! Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it!😊 Are we burdened by things we can’t do anything about and forgetting to throw them over on to the Lord who can?

Jesus said to come to Him and allow Him to give us His rest for our souls and His way of doing things. If we’re all chewed up and in turmoil over situations, whether it’s family or finances, our health or anything else, we do know what to do about it. Jesus told us. He said to come to Him, throw that care and worry on to Him and let Him take the care of it off, trusting Him to sort it.

We may all feel we have a responsibility to worry about situations, and even feel irresponsible if we don’t, but we know worry doesn’t change anything and it’s not God’s way. Sometimes it’s challenging to let go of our way and accept God’s ways. 

I just felt the Lord reminding us again today, when life feels heavy and difficult, let’s remember Jesus’ way is different. It’s coming to Him, receiving His rest knowing we can cast all our cares on to Him and allow Him to teach us His way of doing life with His lightness of Spirit.😊 Amen.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM?

Psalm 55:22 (Nkjv) Cast your burden on the Lord, And He will sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.(shaken)

There’s a true story of a lady who went to the preacher and asked him to pray that the Lord would carry half of her burdens. She said she thought she could probably carry about half of them herself but she couldn’t carry them all, so she wanted God to carry some! The preacher said he couldn’t do that, as it was contrary to scripture as it doesn’t say to carry some ourselves.

That may make us chuckle but aren’t we all a bit like that sometimes? We all have burdens, and a burden is something that weighs us down, it’s a heaviness we feel. They’re things that trouble or bother us. So what are we supposed to do with them?

Our verse tells us - Cast your burden on the Lord. It doesn’t say to ask Him to help us carry our burdens, or to cast some of them, and then struggle along as best we can with the rest. No it says cast them on the Lord. Nowhere does it say to carry any part of them ourselves!

1 Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. How many? All of them! To cast something is to throw it off, which means we’ve not got it any more. Throw it over on the Lord. Let go of it, release it. It’s not something we try to do. It’s a decision we make to obey the Lord. 

Do you ever catch yourself feeling all weighed down with your own, or other people’s worries? What are we not doing? We’re not casting our care!

Can I encourage all of us as we approach a new year, to decide to stop carrying our cares ourselves and do what God has said. Make a quality decision and cast all our cares on to Him and let Him take care of them all. When we do that He will give us a lightness in our spirit, and if we feel the heaviness creeping back in, just remember we’ve cast that care on the Lord and He is dealing with it.😊 Thank you Lord.

WE’VE ALL GOT IT!

Matthew 15:28 “Dear woman.” Jesus said to her, “Your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

We’ve all got it! We all begin our Christian life with the faith God gives each one of us, but we can all be encouraged to know we can exercise our faith muscle and see it grow day by day.😊

God is the same God to all of us and His Holy Spirit is available to all of us to help us increase our faith, and when we do, we’re able to receive more and more of everything God has given us. The good news is we are all on our way in our faith walk, from little faith to great faith.

Just because we may fail once in a while, it doesn’t mean we’re a failure. There are no failures as far as God is concerned because God never sees failures, only learners. I find that so encouraging!

Even when the disciples kept turning away the Canaanite lady who wanted Jesus to heal her demon possessed daughter, she just kept coming and asking for what she wanted. Even when Jesus said He’d come to minister to the Jews first and not to dogs, she didn’t get offended, but hung on in faith till she received what she was believing for. Jesus commended her for her great faith and her daughter was delivered. Faith never gives up!

Let’s show God today we have the faith to hang on, to not be shaken off, to not give up, but to believe He will do what He has said He will do in His word and continue keeping on walking by faith and not by sight. And you know what? Before you know it, we’ll discover our faith has increased and we’ve gone from little faith to great faith to the glory of God.😊 Amen.

 

LIGHT FOR THE STEP WE’RE ON

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet, and a light for my path.

I was walking down the stairs with my torch early the other morning and all I could see really was the next step on the stair as the battery was low, but it was just enough to get me safely down.😊

When Jesus came into the world on that first Christmas night, in one way He was the Light of God who would dispel all the darkness of this world for the rest of time and into eternity. In another way He is the Light we all need for each day, for each step we have to walk with Him.

God has this thing where He only seems to give us the light for our next step because He wants us to trust Him one day at a time. He knows we’ll do much better if we don’t go off on our own trying to find our own way and He’s actually safeguarding us from charging ahead into things that might take us down the wrong road!😊

If the path ahead looks dark and we can’t see what’s coming, Jesus says we don’t need to worry about it as God is already in our future. He has it all sorted out and if we’ll keep using His word like a lamp to guide and instruct us, He says it will light up our path as we go. A bit like the wise men, they had the Star to follow, we have the Word of God to follow.

Jesus is called The Light of the World and He will return for those who believe in Him and there will be no more night, no more darkness, and how wonderful that will be. 

But till then, let’s just keep looking to Jesus for the light we need for today and enjoy the step we’re on at the moment.😊

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

We sing ‘Joy To The World’ today because Jesus, the Joy Giver has come into our world, walked among us and brought His joy and peace with Him and the lovely thing is, He didn’t take them away again but left them here for us all to experience.

Across the whole world today people will be celebrating the coming of our Lord Jesus, the Saviour of all mankind, and we join our hearts together with great thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for giving us His Son to rescue and deliver us so we can one day go to live with Him. He says we are highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved.

Our God and His plans are wonderful aren’t they?😊 

I pray you have a HAPPY CHRISTMAS filled with joy and God’s love, wherever in the world you are today. And we thank You and praise You Lord Jesus for coming into our world and being Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

God bless you.xx

WE HAVE GOOD NEWS!

Isaiah 52:7 

How beautiful on the mountains

 are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,

 the good news of peace and salvation, 

the news that the God of Israel reigns!

All down through the ages people have loved good news and we’re still the same today, and what Good News we have!😊

Everyone also loves to be at peace and part of our good news is that Jesus came to bring us peace with His Heavenly Father, to know God is not mad at us or waiting to punish us. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, the only One who could reconcile us to God, who could wash away every sin from our lives, who could remove all our guilt and shame, who could heal broken hearts, minds and bodies. 

Jesus came to earth to do all of that but it all started with His willingness to humble Himself and come into our world as a baby that first Christmas.  

In the midst of all the presents, all the celebrating of family and friends may we take the time to acknowledge our wonderful Saviour, our Prince of Peace, the One who makes it all possible. May we have a Christmas that whispers Jesus through every part of it. 

If things go wrong in the kitchen, or the kids are having a melt down, or if things become strained with family or guests, may we remember why we’re doing it all, and under our breaths just whisper to ourselves ‘Jesus’ and let Him bring His peace into our hearts once again.

It could be easy to hear the Good News and take it for granted because it’s so familiar, but I pray we hear it this Christmas with fresh ears and receive our Prince of Peace, our Saviour, with grateful hearts into our daily lives once again, and celebrate knowing our God still reigns.😊Amen.

IT’S ALWAYS THE RIGHT TIME

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

All the supermarkets have signs listing the times they are open and closed over the Christmas period and I always enjoy the moment when I know the last shop has closed and it’s too late to buy anything so I can relax. Maybe you’re like that too?😊

I wonder if God has a sign in Heaven as well, with a list of His timings. I know it never ceases to amaze me how His timing is always right. He had to wait to send Jesus into the earth as a baby until everything came together at the right moment. He had been prophesied for hundreds of years but God knew the exact point in time to send the Saviour into our world.

In the same way God’s timing is always just right in our lives too. We often think He’s going to be too late, or taking far too long, but God has His reasons and His purposes to be fulfilled, and He’s always working behind the scenes all the time even when we can’t see it. The best thing we can do is to cooperate and not complain or grumble about it. Instead He has told us what He wants from us. He wants our thanksgiving. 

There are times when it’s one of the hardest things to do, isn’t it? Everything in us wants to mutter and grumble but He calls us to give thanks. Why is that? It’s because God knows that thanksgiving releases His blessings like nothing else can and He wants to bless us.

I’m sure there will be lots of happy occasions through the holiday when it will be easy to give thanks, but for those days or times, when we’re struggling for any reason, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us to praise and thank God from our hearts for all His faithful goodness to us. 

We can bless God’s heart this Christmas and thank Him for giving us the best present ever, for Jesus. Just like the Wise Men brought their gifts to Jesus, we can bring our gift of thanksgiving because it’s always the right time for being thankful, every moment of every day.😊

Have a blessed weekend and thank you for reading the Blog.😊

Photo by Howie R on Unsplash

IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING

Psalm 27:12-13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

I was lying in the dark yesterday morning listening to the wind and Storm Pia howling through the trees and round the houses. As the minutes went by, so the sky began to lighten, and sure enough the sun rose on another day, albeit a very stormy one, and I could see the trees struggling against the strength of the wind.

It reminded me of our verse where the Psalmist encourages us to wait patiently for the Lord. Then he says it again - wait patiently for the Lord. It’s like waiting for the sun to rise in the middle of a dark night. We know it will come up again, we just have to wait for it. In the same way, whatever darkness we may be going through God wants us to know if we’ll wait patiently for Him to act, the light will come into our lives again just like the sun always rises. God never leaves us in the dark, He always brings His light.

So be encouraged today, no matter what storms or winds are blowing, or how dark the days are at this moment, God has promised we will see His goodness while we’re here in the land of the living.

Are you living? Of course you are, so you have His promise - you will see His goodness. We can all go out into our day with those words undergirding us, encouraging us to be brave and courageous despite what the enemy is throwing our way. He wont win, because Jesus has given us His victory. But He does require us to wait patiently for Him, He wants us to be brave and courageous. He wants us to believe we will see His goodness this side of heaven.

Are you living? Then you will see His goodness.😊Thank You Lord. Amen.

(Photo by Olga Subach on Unsplash)

HAVE A REINDEER DAY

Hebrews 12:1-2 …And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us., looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…..

I thought I’d share my little herd of reindeers with you today because they have a message for us this Christmas time.

The two little ones are looking up all the time and they remind me we need to be constantly doing the same. We need to be looking up to Jesus, keeping our eyes on Him and remembering He’s interceding for us all the time, pouring His love and blessings on us each day, leading and guiding us, strengthening our faith in God, healing and restoring us. We have so much to thank Him for.

Then there is the big reindeer at the front. He’s just having a rest with his legs all stretched out like you see some dogs do when they’ve been for a long walk and they just flump down for a while. We can learn a lot from animals because they know when they’ve had enough and need to rest. We do too!😊

Christmas is well known for wearing people out with all the preparations of presents or food and it’s not just at Christmas. Life in general can wear us out if we’re not careful, and we need to be like my reindeer and learn to just rest for a while. Jesus said to come to Him and let Him give us His rest, let Him restore our souls.

So this Christmas remember my little reindeers and what they’re showing us. Remember to keep looking up to the One who holds all thing safely in His strong hands, including you and me. And don’t forget to come to Jesus all through the day with a thankful heart and let Him give you His rest, His peace in the busyness or turmoil, and enjoy each day for what it is. Find the joy in it and praise the Lord for His great goodness to each one of us.

Have a reindeer day every day…..keep looking up and remember to rest.😊

WE KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS WONDERFUL!

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given, And the government will be upon His shoulder, And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

No wonder Jesus is called Wonderful. He is a Wonderful Saviour! He forgave all our sins, He gave us the gift of His own righteousness and came to actually live in those who believe in Him. Christ in you the hope of glory. That’s wonderful and there is no bigger miracle!😊

In the days of Moses we saw God demonstrate His miracle working power over nature to bring His purposes about. Pharaoh’s hard heart brought about his own destruction and death of his firstborn.

Fast forward to Jesus’ day and we see God performing so many marvellous miracles through Jesus they couldn’t all be written down, there were so many. But this time they were all miracles of healing, life and restoration. What a contrast! God is showing us we’ve moved from the Old Covenant and His way of dealing with His enemies before the Cross, and the New Covenant, which was about to be brought into place by Jesus’ sacrifice.

Jesus declared His New Covenant at the last supper with His disciples. He has taken us from death and destruction to life and wholeness. His grace is available to us all and included in His grace is His provision of healing, miracles and everything else when we need them. No wonder He is called Wonderful! 

I’m so grateful we live in the days of the New Covenant and that it’s all for us here and now. Jesus paid for it all at the Cross, for us to lay a hold of it all by faith and take it as our own. 

Colossians 1:27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

We can truly thank the Lord we’re no longer under the law of the Old Covenant but set free to live in the wonder of the New Covenant - forgiveness, healing, deliverance from the curse of the law, miracles, an abundant life in Jesus and glory to come. We know Someone who is Wonderful! I hope you too are believing in Him and can say ‘Amen’.😊

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THE WONKY TREE MADE LOVELY

Ephesians 1:4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Have you ever watched a Christmas film where the perfect family all go out together to pick the perfect Christmas tree and they bring it home and it looks amazing? Well our Christmas tree is not like that! It’s artificial and it comes in two parts and unless you balance it just right it has a tendency to lean over and goes all wonky. But by the time it has some tender loving care and it’s tinsel and lights are on it, it looks lovely.😊

We can be a bit like my Christmas tree. We don’t feel perfect and unless we’re balanced right we too have a tendency to get a bit bent out of shape by life as well! But the wonderful thing is God loved us and chose us even before the world was made, regardless of our flaws, and because He has put us in Christ He sees us as holy and with no fault in His eyes. That’s amazing!

Yes, He does have to balance us up if we start to lean over, and He does it through His word and through the Holy Spirit inside us leading and guiding us. He does it by the encouragement we receive from other people, by His great kindness and amazing grace He gives us for each and every day.

This last year we’ve looked at scripture comparing us to palm trees and willow trees etc. But I think at this time of year we could compare ourselves to lovely Christmas trees! 

So next time you look at your Christmas Tree and if you’re feeling a bit out of balance, remember you are one of God’s trees being made into something lovely for His glory. He loved you and chose you. You are His masterpiece and He’s making you all strong and straight and balanced and glorious. You’re being made more like Jesus every day as you follow Him.😊 Thank You Lord.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

MIRACLES FOR TODAY

John 20:30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 

John wrote these words remembering the moment when Thomas was confronted by the risen Lord Jesus when He told him to put his finger in His wounds and to stop doubting but to believe. Jesus began with a miraculous conception and ended with a miraculous resurrection. 

Jesus’ whole ministry was full of miracles. We know Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever so what He was willing to do for someone then, He is willing to do for us now, otherwise He would be showing favouritism to the people in that time and it would be going against His word. The miraculous is as available to us as it was to them. In fact, because Jesus is in us, His miracle power can flow through us who believe too.😊

Knowing that, we can come to the Lord Jesus now, in our day and time, and ask Him to do for us the miracles He did back then. So what miracle are we needing in our lives? Whatever it is, Jesus went to the Cross and shed His blood for us and it’s purely on that basis we come to ask for our miracle. We can’t come based on our need, thinking God owes it to us, or declaring we or someone else deserves it, otherwise it can’t be by grace, we’d be saying we or they have earned it!

Whenever we approach the throne of grace, it’s to receive something we don’t actually deserve, but it is so available to us because God ordained it that way because of Jesus’ shed blood.

Thank God, everything we receive from Him now is by grace through faith, not by our works or anyone else’s efforts. That is good news - we don’t have to earn our miracle!😊

Instead we come humbly before our God but with confidence and boldness because of Jesus and we ask for our miracle based on the strength of what Jesus did for us, based on the power of His blood and only that, then His grace can flow all over us. 

As we begin Christmas week be encouraged, it’s all about Jesus and what He did for us and He still wants to do miracles for us today. Thank You Lord.

GOOD NEWS FRESH TODAY

Luke 2:10 

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” 

He said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.

Isn’t it lovely when we have good news that brings us great joy, or when we have ‘suddenlies’ when something wonderful happens that we weren’t expecting but it fills us with joy? We all love moments like that. Luke talks about great joy for us all, not a feeble little joy!😊

The shepherds experienced one of those ‘suddenly great joy’ moments when the angels brought the good news of the birth of their Messiah, and they certainly weren’t expecting it. Mary had great joy when Jesus was born but her joy wasn’t a suddenly because she’d been expecting Him for nine months. He was an expected promise fulfilled.

We all know there are multiple things in life that try to steal our joy but for the Christian, it is one of the fruit of the Spirit and it grows from the inside out, not from the outside in. Some people want to say, “Well what have I got to be joyful about?” because their circumstances make them miserable and we can all identify with that at times. 

But God has done something so wonderful, so amazing, so joy making, in giving us a Saviour. 

He has given us the ability to go right into God’s presence with confidence because He has forgiven all our sins and made us righteous. He has given us a clean slate, given us His own Holy Spirit so we don’t have to deal with life on our own. He has given us a Redeemer, a Deliverer, a Protector, a Provider. He gave us a Saviour. He gave us Jesus.

That good news of joy is as fresh today as it was on the first Christmas. It is something to celebrate, to be overjoyed about, because it’s not just for this life but for eternity! We may not be able to rejoice in our circumstances, but we are able to rejoice in our God.😊

So no matter what is going on around us, let’s try to remember we still have something glorious to be joyful about. We have Emmanuel - God Himself is with us, and He has given us His joy. Hallelujah! Thank You Lord.😊

YOU CAN BUILD ANYTHING

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

There’s a book called ‘The Lego Ideas Book - You Can Build Anything’.  I really liked that thought - you can build anything! I think God is saying that to us as well. Maybe we need to build our faith, or build our love for others or our patience. 

Perhaps God has put a vision in our heart to do something for Him, then we can know we can build anything - whatever He says, with His help.

The Holy Spirit said we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us because then we are not doing it on our own, or in our own strength. We actually have the dunamis, dynamite, miracle working power of God, the Holy Spirit, living inside us and with Him nothing is too hard and nothing is impossible. The trouble is we tend to forget we have a supernatural God living on the inside!😊

I’ve heard it said, if your dream is doable then it’s not from God because you can do it without Him. But if God has put a dream in your heart and it seems pretty much impossible then you’re probably going in the right direction.

God wants to give us something new to talk about, give us fresh victories, take new ground, instead of talking about past victories or glories, or what we did way back when. No. God is always I AM, faith is always NOW, He is the God who says, “See I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” (Isaiah 43:19). I think that’s exciting, God is not finished with us yet if we’re willing to run with Him. In fact He’s probably saying to us right now, “You can build anything I want you to.” What a thought!!😊

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. 

Lord show us what the things are You have already ordained for us to do with Your strength, Your help and Your anointing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.😊x

JUST LIKE THE STAR

Luke 2:16-17 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.

I was thinking about the shepherds and how, on the night Jesus was born, they seemed to have no bother at all in finding Him lying in a manger even though the town was packed with strangers! And when they did, they went round the whole town telling others all about it. Well, it wasn’t everyday you see a host of angels and have a one on one encounter with the long awaited Messiah!😊

But when the wise men came, maybe two years later, they couldn’t seem to find Him and even asked the King where He was. He was no help and it was the Star that continued to show them the way, not to a palace, but to Joseph’s house, a normal working man’s home. Jesus isn’t always where we think He will be!

Again, God has His own way of doing things, and Jesus isn’t found in religion with its pomp and ceremony but He is found where peoples’ hearts are walking with Him day by day in the middle of all the difficult, messy things we have to deal with. The shepherds had angels, the wise men had a star and God can use us to help someone else find Jesus.

In the end it didn’t matter how they found Him or where, the important thing was they all did find Jesus eventually. That applies to all of us as well. Each one of us needs to find Jesus for ourselves. 

For some the search takes longer than others but every single day we need to be finding Jesus in the middle of all we have to do, in the everyday affairs of life. And just like the Star, we too will be able to lead others to the One who flung the stars into space, to the Prince of Peace, to Jesus the King of Kings. Amen.😊 

                         Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

THE FISH AND THE WORM

Jonah 4: 2…I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.

When we think about Jonah we always think about the big fish, but what about the little worm? He had a part to play as well!  We can discover a lot about God and how He operates from Jonah’s experiences. He had specific plans for Jonah but he chose to rebel against them and go his own way. That decision caused great distress to everybody on board the ship as they lost all their cargo and Jonah found out, going our own way is not the best way, because it hurts those around us!

Throughout the story we discover God will use whatever is needed whether it’s a fish, a plant or even a little worm to do His bidding!😊 They all had a part to play, along with the storm that caused the sailors’ upset, and they were all where they needed to be at the right time. When God has a plan He will accomplish it regardless of who or what He has to use to bring it about and His timing will be spot on. God is in the detail and it helps to remember just who we are dealing with!

He was wanting to save the 120,000 people of Nineveh from being destroyed because of their wickedness, but Jonah didn’t have God’s great mercy and compassion. In fact he thought they deserved to be wiped out! Thankfully, God’s ways are not our ways! 

Very often we can’t understand why God does things, but all we need to know is that His ways are perfect and He knows what He’s doing. Underneath it all we can remember that He’s a God of immense mercy and He’s compassionate to the suffering and even the undeserving, which we all are, and thank God He is.

It was His great love and compassion that sent Jesus into the world on that first Christmas Day because God had a wonderful plan. Jesus didn’t rebel, but went all the way to the Cross to accomplish it for us and although we’re not a big fish or a little worm, we now all have our part to play as well.😊

Thank You Lord for Your plan, for loving us when we didn’t deserve it, for Your grace and mercy, for Jesus Himself, and for Your great salvation. Thank You, thank You, thank You. Amen.

YOU ARE INVITED TO…….

Mark 6:31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

What a busy time of year it is for so many people. Concerts and school plays to attend, parties to arrange, presents to buy, so much to organise and that’s on top of everything else that needs to be done!😊

Jesus could so identify with that because He knew how hectic life can become and our verse says He and His disciples didn’t even have time to stop to eat so He had to withdraw with them for a while to recoup their energies. There’s only so much a person can do before we begin to feel over tired and overloaded and things become much harder to deal with.

I wonder if you are feeling a bit like that? If so, listen to the warning signs in your body and just stop for a moment or two. Take a deep breath and remember Jesus is right there with you, He is still Emmanuel, the God who is with us, and draw on His strength and His peace. 

Sit down, close your eyes and in your mind’s eye ‘see’ the tension and tiredness beginning to flow away out your body and see the power and healing peace of God flowing down from the top of your head all through your body bringing His rest. 

Jesus Himself invites you to do that every now and then through the day just so you can recharge your batteries and start again. Listen to what He says ….

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest…..

His invitation is open to each one of us. He has an empty chair beside Him just waiting for you to go and sit with Him and give Him all the stuff that’s troubling you. Why not take a minute and just accept the invitation, cast your cares on Him and let Him give you His rest for your souls and let Him remind you how very much He loves you.😊

ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED?

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

We’ve had to replace our dish drainer and laundry basket as they’d both cracked badly. The trouble is the replacements are not the same as the old ones and my brain doesn't like having to adjust! The laundry basket won’t fit under the washing machine door and there isn’t enough space for the cups to drain! All so very trivial but for the first couple of days I had to adjust my thinking to use them!🤣

In our verse the Holy Spirit has told us to renew our minds, to make adjustments and change our thinking and it can be one of the hardest things to do! We are so used to thinking one way, or doing things a certain way that our brains baulk at change and very often resist it.

We all know God’s ways and thoughts are not like ours which is why He instructs us to let go our thoughts and come in line with His Word, which tells us His thoughts. If we do, He says we can then know His will for our lives.😊 

Sometimes the Holy Spirit helps us see something in scripture in a new way, a light bulb moment, but our religious tradition, or upbringing, jumps on it and we just let it go. I was talking to a friend from over 50 years ago and I discovered he’d decided not to accept the teaching in scripture about the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. He wasn’t willing to change the way he thought about it because it didn’t fit with his denomination and he had in effect quenched the Holy Spirit. 

I’m sure we all have thoughts where adjustments are needed, thoughts that need changing, and my prayer is that we open our hearts to hear what the Lord wants to say to us, that we don’t quench Him just because it may not be in line with what we’ve thought before. 

We all need ongoing transformation and there’s so much more for us all to learn isn’t there?😊 I pray we can humble ourselves to say ‘whatever Your Word says Lord, I’ll agree with it’. Amen.

 

LIGHT BULBS AND EXTENSION LEADS

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

One of our LED long life light bulbs started to fade away the other day. It didn’t go out suddenly, just dwindled gradually and we had to replace it.

A couple of days ago we looked at how God has put His Light, the Lord Jesus who is the Light of the world, in each of us who belong to Him, and Jesus told us not to hide our light but to let it shine out, not let it dwindle to a flicker, or go out. 

Sometimes when I’m doing a jigsaw I have to have an extension lead to bring a lamp close to me so I have more light to see, and in the same way we are extension leads of Jesus to let His light shine wherever we go. If we extend the light we already have to others, then our light will surely shine brighter and not be like my light bulb that gradually faded away.

Isaiah 58:10 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Maybe things look a bit dark around you and if so Isaiah seems to be saying the same as Jesus. Let the light we have got shine out by helping others, and we’ll find we receive more and more light to break up the darkness around us till it’s as bright as noon! That’s quite a thought.😊

Photo by Unsplash

So as we go into the busyness of another week, let’s ask the Lord to help us all to shine our light so others will glorify our Father in heaven and be the extension lead that brings people closer to Jesus. Amen.😊💡

GREAT JOY!

Jude vs.24-25 

Now all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away 

and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 

All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, 

and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

Photo by Ch P on Unsplash

 On that first Christmas morning God brought his long awaited Son into the world with great joy and glorious ceremony, with a cavalcade of angels singing their hearts out praising God. No other baby born has ever been given that honour. This was the Son of God who had arrived!

It’s a remarkable account and we’re all so familiar with the story, but what is even more amazing is that now God waits to bring us, His many adopted sons and daughters into His heavenly kingdom, right into His presence, because of Jesus and all He has done for us. 

Jesus had to come first or we couldn’t belong to God. He had been prophesied for generations but not many people were expecting or looking for Him. His coming had slipped into the recesses of their minds because it was taking so long, till suddenly He arrived!

As we think about the joy of the Christmas season, let’s encourage one another, Jesus didn’t just come as a baby, He is coming again. Don’t let it slip to the back of our minds but let’s have a great expectancy of His coming again but this time to lift us up and take us right into the presence of His Father. 

Just take a minute to read our verses again, and as they sink in, let’s be so thankful He’s able to keep us from falling away so it happens the way He has planned. What a truly joyful day that will be! Thank You Lord.😊

TREASURE CARRIERS!

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For God who said “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

I expect we all have days when we feel ordinary or average, but God thinks differently. He says you are His masterpiece, made in the likeness of God. If you’ve asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour you have the Holy Spirit of God living on the inside of you so that makes you extraordinary! You are a Light Carrier!

God say He puts His treasure in fragile clay jars, or another translation calls us earthen vessels. Good news, you and I are earthen vessels so we have His treasure inside us waiting to come out at the appointed time. You are also a Treasure Carrier!

I was speaking to a friend and she said she didn’t know she had it in her to help people with legal matters and paperwork, never considered that as her gifting but God has shown her recently He put it in her for such a time as this.😊

Inside you at this moment are treasures God put in you from before you were born, for His glory, for the benefit of others as well as yourself. So we can remember, even on days we think we’re ordinary, that we are actually earthen vessels God has placed the shining light of Jesus in. 

He will show us hidden gifts and talents at the right time. In fact, we will probably be discovering new treasures we didn’t know we had all through our lives so we can look forward with anticipation and see what God has planned even in our nineties! Clint Eastwood, who is 93, is now working on directing his next legal drama film, not limited by age!

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

You and I have great God given potential in us. You are not average, mediocre or ordinary, too old or too young. Be encouraged, you are who God says you are…..

You are His masterpiece - a Light Carrier - a Treasure Carrier!😊  

Have a blessed weekend everybody.x

GOD USES UNGODLY PEOPLE

Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Caesar Augustus was a man who worshipped Apollo and other false gods but He didn’t believe in the God of the Jews, yet God used him. Jesus would have been fourteen years old when Caesar Augustus died in AD14 but he fulfilled the role God had given him. God caused him to call for a census of the people in order to make Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem in time for Jesus to be born, but we don’t hear any more about him in the Christmas narrative. He had served his purpose in God’s master plan.

Sometimes God will move on ungodly people in order for His plans and purposes to unfold, or in order to bless us. All through history God used foreign Kings and Rulers to do His bidding and He may use the most unlikely people to give us the favour we need, or to provide whatever we have been seeking and we may even be tempted to think “God can’t or wouldn’t use that person, he’s an ungodly man or woman!”

We forget God’s ways are not our ways and tend to evaluate things from our limited understanding. Without realising it we can put God in a box of our own making, and want to tell Him how to do things, when and where and who with! But God knows the end from the beginning, even before we got here, so He doesn’t need our advice or helpful hints.😊

Far better to just calm down and let God do what only He can do and allow Him to direct our lives, opening doors of opportunity for us, but allowing Him to also close others because He knows best and wants to protect us, believing He will turn things round for our good in His time.

The bottom line is to trust God and allow Him to do what He wants to do, in the way He wants to do it, and use the people who will do it best for our benefit and just relax in Him.😊

Proverbs 3:5 9 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding.

LIKE A WILLOW TREE

Isaiah 44:3-4 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a river bank.

We have some lovely willow trees near us down by a fishing lake and when the branches break off I like to make willow wreaths of all sizes to decorate them up for Christmas.😊

I was reminded of this verse and how God has made us such wonderful promises, to not only quench our thirst but for our offspring, and for generations to come. Several years ago we had a giant willow tree in our back garden and you could sit under the shade of its branches for a picnic. Willows thrive and no matter how much you cut them back they’ll just keep growing and growing if you let them.

God wants us to believe for that kind of thriving and growing for ourselves and our offspring, even grown up ones, or nephews and nieces, or for any children in our care, that God will indeed pour His Spirit out on them and bless them till they grow strong and tall in Jesus just like willow trees do. 

Sometimes we sadly hear of parents, or those in authority over children, telling them how useless they are, or they’ll never amount to anything, but God wants us to tell them that they will flourish and do well, that they have huge God given potential, to know He has a purpose for them.

Isaiah 54:13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Proverbs11:21 …But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. 

We can be constantly praying these promises over our offspring, or the children in our care, and if they’re not following the Lord at the moment, instead of speaking fear of bad things happening, or negative things over them, let’s declare good things by faith and say, 

“God’s Word declares that the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. They’ll flourish like a willow tree and shall be filled with His Spirit and blessed. They are delivered from every curse, every power of darkness and every evil. In the name of Jesus, I call forth a great, bright and blessed future for my offspring, and for those in my care, to be taught by the Lord, and have great peace! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

INCONCEIVABLE! - IMPOSSIBLE!

Isaiah 7:14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Christmas is a mind stretching season because something happened on the first Christmas that began to change the course of history for all humanity and is still changing peoples’ lives today. The inconceivable happened in a little town in Israel, because God had said it would, hundreds of years before. 

Almighty God took on the form of a human being. He became a baby who grew to be Son of Man, as well as Son of God! That was unheard of, mind boggling and so dramatic! A God man! Immanuel!

When the angel told Mary she would become pregnant without a man it seemed totally inconceivable but she believed him and she conceived the inconceivable! The angel told her what God said, she believed it and then received the impossible in her spirit and in her body. She conceived and received Jesus in her womb by the Holy Spirit and what had seemed to be impossible began to grow inside her. Her expectation grew and grew!

I wonder are we expecting anything from God? Have you had a dream, a longing in your heart, but you can’t see any way it could happen, yet there’s still something inside you telling you to believe, to not let it go? 

Are we ready to receive the impossible? If I was to ask you what seems impossible in your life because you’ve been waiting and waiting and nothing has happened yet, what would you tell me? Waiting for healing, waiting for a spouse, waiting for children to be saved, waiting for ….what?

Whatever it is that’s in our hearts, God is telling us we can expect it if we’re willing to receive it by faith, like Mary, no matter how ‘out there’ it might look, or how impossible it seems. It’s never too late for God.

This Christmas let’s allow our minds to be stretched even further to receive all God has planned for us, no matter how inconceivable or impossible others may say it is, or it looks like. It’s the season of hope, so allow God to get your hopes up and see what He does. 

He is the God of the Inconceivable, the God of the Impossible!😊

ON GUARD DUTY!

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

We all guard what is important to us like putting locks on our doors but sometimes we forget to guard our hearts. It says our heart is the key to how our life will unfold. If our hearts are full of love, joy and peace then those things will flow out into our mouths and actions, into our relationships with others, our jobs, our whole lives. But if our hearts are full of bitterness, resentment or fear then they too will flow out of our mouths into all those same areas. 

Whatever is in our hearts will control our attitudes and find its way into our mouths eventually, both good or bad! But good news! With God’s peace and joy in our hearts they will flow out.😊

So how do we guard our hearts? When our thoughts are right and agree with God’s word then our hearts will be right as well. All our actions begin with a thought and in a way it’s our thoughts we need to guard because what we think will affect the very core of our being.

When we begin to feel down or depressed about something we can usually track it back to a negative thought that popped in our heads and we let it take root. One down thought leads to another and before we know it we’re miserable! 

Instead if we find a negative thought trying to come in but we stand our ground and counter it with the word of God then we are in effect guarding our hearts. We’re on guard to stop anything entering in that would bring us down, or spoil the course of our lives. 

It’s like if a burglar knocked on your door and said “I’ve come to steal your peace and joy, let me in.” You’d say “No way, get out of here. I’m not letting you in!” It’s the same when Satan knocks on the door of our mind with his lies we have to say the same as we would to the burglar.

It will require effort but soldiers don’t laze around when they’re on guard duty. No, they are fully alert, giving their attention to their guard post. It’s their responsibility and they know they can’t neglect their post! We’re the same! We can’t afford to be lazy about guarding our hearts, we have to be alert and resist anything that would try to come in to spoil our peace. 

Holy Spirit help us to guard our hearts and fill us with your joy and peace so that what comes out will be a blessing to ourselves and those around us.😊Amen.

NO ONE LIKE JESUS

2 Samuel 7:22 (Nlt) How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!

Isn’t it great that we get to start the week with the Creator of all things, with Jesus - there’s no one like Him. He’s the one who makes blind men see, makes the lame to walk, who heals all diseases, calms raging storms, does miracles and raises dead men from the grave. He did it yesterday, so He’ll do it today and tomorrow.😊

He’s the One who makes our wrongs come right, the one who holds us tight, the One who heals the broken heart and gives hope to the hopeless. He’s the One who goes before us to make our crooked paths straight. He’s the One who intercedes for us day and night before our Heavenly Father to declare us innocent because He shed His blood for us. What a Saviour we have.😊 Thank You Lord.

Maybe you’re facing a difficult week, or you have to make some big decisions, maybe you feel like you’re barely holding it together and you’re at a low ebb. Well let me encourage you today by telling you God knows every single thing that’s going on in your life. God is not confused or stressed about it because He has the answer to all our problems and He’s not only watching over us to protect us but He is making a way where we think there is none. He’s making the impossible possible and bringing down the strongholds that have had us bound. Thank You Lord.

God does not change and He is still the God who loves us, who forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases.(Psalm 103) He is still the God who daily showers us with benefits,(Psalm 68:19Nkjv) who surrounds us with His favour like a shield(Psalm 5:12Nkjv) and lifts the head of those bowed down.(Psalm 3:3/Psalm 145:14Nkjv) Thank You Lord.

So cheer up. God is still on the throne, we belong to Him, and His love will never end. We can go into our week with Jesus, with confidence, knowing we can trust Him because there is no one greater and there’s no one like Him. 

Our eyes are on You Lord, we expect good things and we praise Your name. Amen.

THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL

Ecclesiastes 3:11 

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 

He has planted eternity in the human heart, 

but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

We woke up to lots of snow today and it is so pretty, just like a Christmas card picture. Yesterday the trees were covered in thick frost which sparkled in the low lying mist, but today they are even more stunning covered in snow. Meanwhile our son’s family in Queensland are experiencing 100% humidity and 32 degree sunshine!

As I write this in the early morning there is an eerie stillness hovering over everything and there aren’t even any bird or cat pawprints yet in the snow. It’s like it has become another world. Sorry photo is dark but it’s early!😊

Very often we don’t stop to enjoy all the Lord has given to us and the wonder and beauty of the seasons. My sister sent a photo of her first primroses which are so early but she wanted me to enjoy them too. A friend in Uganda posted a photo on Facebook to show us how beautiful his city is. He too appreciated the beauty around him.

I know the world is in turmoil, and snow can make travel difficult and we can be so busy with all we have to do, but if you have a few minutes just stop and enjoy the moment, however brief it might be and thank the Lord for the beautiful world He made for us to enjoy.

And while you stop and think, remember He has also planted eternity in your heart. This life is not all there is, He has so much more for us in the ages to come. Even if your present moment is challenging, God has you safe in the palm of His hand and He’s eventually bringing us to Himself and the beauty of what He has prepared for us. 

Thank You Lord for all Your goodness to us and for the wonder of all that is to come because of Jesus. Amen.

THE AMAZING POWER OF BEING THANKFUL

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m learning there is a great power released when we’re thankful to God as it gives Him the glory He is due, it gives place to Him as the source of everything good in our lives. It also releases more grace into our lives and we all want more grace, more favour!😊

Jesus gave thanks to His Heavenly Father when He was given 5 loaves and 2 fish, even though it wasn’t enough in the natural to feed the huge crowd of people. Nevertheless He was thankful and God miraculously multiplied it to be more than enough with leftovers. Being thankful brought increase.

A man came to a Pastor and asked him to pray that he would be set free from a smoking addiction as he’d tried everything and failed. Pastor asked him if he would do as he said. The man agreed and was told to say ‘ThankYou Lord for setting me free from smoking’ every time he thought about a cigarette or lit one up. The man couldn’t understand how that could work as he would still be smoking but he said he’d do it.

Some weeks later after constantly thanking God all through the day for setting him free, despite the fact he was still smoking, it got down in his spirit and he suddenly felt something break off of him and he realised he was totally free of it and hasn’t smoked since! Being thankful brought deliverance.

He had discovered the power of being thankful to God for something even before he could see it because he chose to believe God was working and doing it. We can do the same thing.

We too can thank God for setting us free from whatever has us bound, whether it’s lack of finance, deliverance from weakness or diseases. All day we can say ‘Thank You Lord for setting me free from……’ whatever it is you need, or  ‘Thank You Lord for providing…..’. God’s ways are not our ways!😊

Galatians 5:1 So Christ has truly set us free…. The reason we can do that is because Jesus came to set us free and has done it all already for us on the Cross but we have to believe it and appropriate it by faith. Let me encourage you to remember whom the Son sets free, is free indeed, and that’s you.😊Thank You Lord!

Have a blessed weekend.x

YOU AND YOUR HOUSE

2 Samuel 7:29 …for you Sovereign Lord, have spoken and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever. 

I’m selling a dolls house at the moment as we’d like someone to be able to enjoy playing with it at Christmas time. When I look at it, it makes me think about the  houses where we all live because scripture talks quite a lot about them.

Joshua 24:15 As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord. Me and my house, you and your house. We all have to decide where our allegiance lies. Joshua wisely said as far as his household was concerned  their allegiance lay with giving God first place. May we be able to say that too.😊

Proverbs 3:33 ….but He blesses the home of the righteous. Solomon was a very blessed man and testified to God not only blessing His home mightily but says He will do the same for any righteous person (that’s us because God says He has made us righteous in Jesus hallelujah!)

Exodus 12:23 …and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. We have the blood of Jesus protecting us and I like to remind myself and the enemy, and pray the protection of the blood of Jesus over the outer doors of my house.

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Proverbs 24:3-4 A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense; Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.  

I wonder what we’re building into our house. Is it joy and peace and love? He’s saying if you’re going to build something, and in his case it’s a house, but even other things, don’t do it in your own strength but do it with the Lord’s help, with His insight and wisdom. Whether you’re building a business, or building up children, or building a career, or church ministry, whatever you are ‘building’ ask the Lord to build it for you.

Be encouraged, whatever house we live in, wherever we are in the world, as we give God first place His blessing will flow in and on our home, and on our family too.😊 Thank You Lord.

A SENSE OF EXPECTANCY

John 10:10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

It’s the last day of November and tomorrow we’ll start the count down to Christmas and for the children especially there is an air of expectancy that gets stronger as each day goes by and their excitement grows the closer it comes to Christmas morning.😊

In the same way I believe God wants us to have a sense of expectancy, of knowing there are good things in our futures too. Yes, there will be tests and trials along the way but Jesus came to give us a rich and satisfying life, not a life that just gets by. His Word says His heart is to bless us and make His face shine on us, to heal and restore us.

It’s a two way thing though and God also expects things of us. He’s so pleased when we walk by faith and I’ve learned over the years that just because we may have had a bad report, we still have our faith to believe God can turn any report around for good. That’s what having faith is all about - believing and expecting the impossible because we have an ‘all things are possible’ God! No situation is beyond our miracle working God, so don’t let the enemy kill your joy or steal your peace, or expect bad things. Turn his negative thoughts round and expect the good God has promised.

God also expects us to shine, and not be a dull light bulb. Have you noticed how some energy bulbs are so dull to begin with, then they glow brighter as they warm up? I think we’re a bit like that too. When we wake up in the morning or we’ve had a bad day, we’re not always shining are we?😊 But as we draw on God’s power and strength throughout our day so we reflect His light and we start to shine with thankfulness and gratitude when we think of how good He is to us.

So let’s enter into the spirit of Christmas with a child-like faith, with an air of expectancy of all the good God has in store for us because He has said He will bless us going out and bless us coming in. And even better we can expect to be a blessing to others as well. 

I wonder - what good are we expecting and believing God for? Let’s tell Him and please Him with our faith.😊 Amen.

UNBOUND AND SET FREE

Daniel 3:24-25 But suddenly Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers. “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?” …“Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”

We probably all know the story of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego who were bound and thrown into a furnace. They’d never experienced anything like it before but they’d decided, whether God rescued them or not, they would not bow to the king’s idols but only worship the one true God Jehovah. They’d been kidnapped as teenagers, trained in all the ways of Babylon, and yet they remembered they belonged to God and their allegiance was to Him only.

When we go through fiery trials ourselves, we need to remember that we belong to the God who loves us, the One who reigns supreme, who says all things are possible to him who believes, that nothing is impossible or too hard for Him.

King Nebuchadnezzar saw four men in the furnace and if we could see into our fiery trial we would see the Fourth Man too because we’d see Jesus in the middle of it with us. I’d love to know what they were all talking about together in the fire but I’m sure He was encouraging them.😊 The Lord had come into their situation, loosed them from what had them bound and they were walking free, even in the fire!

Whatever we’re called to go through we can know that Jesus is in it with us, He has already loosed us from whatever has had us bound, and He has set us free to walk out from it. 

Those three men had made up minds when they went into the trial that they would trust God no matter what, and they walked out, not even smelling of smoke, and were even promoted by the king. 

When we go through fiery trials we can be encouraged to know that when we come out, we wont be the same as when we went in, because we too will be stronger and have a greater testimony to the goodness of God. Glory to the Name of Jesus. Amen.

THEY TOUCHED HIM

1 John 1:1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of Life.

They touched Jesus. We often think of Jesus touching and healing people when we read about him touching the leper, or the blind man for instance. Jesus was always touching people.😊

Have you ever asked Jesus to touch you? We probably all have, but I want to turn it around for a moment and imagine ourselves being with Jesus and touching Him. I’m sure the disciples didn’t shake Jesus’ hands in a formal handshake every time they met. I expect they had a hug and as He hugged them, they in turn would have hugged Him back. It would have been instinctive. They would have responded to His hug, His touch.

Now bring it into the present moment. We know God is pouring His love out on us but are we responding? Are we returning the hug, so to speak? Are we reaching out and touching Him by faith, as we receive His love by faith. Just as the lady with the issue of blood reached out and touched Jesus by faith, in our spirit we can see ourselves touching Jesus in the same way.

I believe the Lord is actually touching us all the time, bringing His healing and wholeness into our lives, very often through His Word, but we sometimes don’t recognise it so we miss it. We can be so caught up in our trouble or distress that we don’t realise He is with us, bringing His peace, His healing touch, His comforting hug to know all will be well and not to worry or be afraid.

One day we will all stand before our Lord Jesus and He will give us the biggest loving hug, and we will hug Him back before we fall at His feet and worship Him. So this is just a gentle reminder to not only receive His love and His touch, but also to respond with a thankful heart and reach out and touch Him with our love in return, in our now.😊 Amen.

IT’S UNFAILING, IT’S UNCONDITIONAL AND IT’S OURS

Psalm 42:8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,…

Whatever day we’re reading this we can know it’s a day that the Lord is pouring His love out on us, wherever we are in the world, and it doesn’t change with our moods or our behaviour. It doesn’t change whether life has been easy or if it’s really tough right now. His love is unfailing, it’s unconditional and it’s ours. I can’t think of anything else you can say that about!

In fact we can go out into our world with the thought wrapped round us that God is pouring His love out on us all the time and it won’t fail us. As you go out your front door - ‘God’s love won’t fail me.’ As you get in the car - ‘My God loves me.’ As you go to work or school - ‘God is pouring out His love and favour on me.’ As I sit at home - ‘Thank You Lord Your love will never fail me.’🥰

Psalm 59:16 …. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

The Psalmist liked to sing about God’s love and it might help us to do the same. It reminded him how God is the One he could go to any time of day and night especially when he’d been upset, when he was distressed about life. 

We can all identify with his feelings when life is tough, or when we see and hear things that disturb us, but we can know we have a place of refuge too - it’s the Lord Himself. He actively encourages us to come to His throne, even if we’ve been the cause of our own upset, to receive His mercy and forgiveness, to find peace, or the help we need to deal with everything else, to find the way forward.

But most of all let’s remember throughout our coming week, throughout each day, that the Lord is pouring His unfailing love out on us and we can go to Him any time and His arms will be open and His ears will be listening and He has promised to help us. Amen thank You Lord.

HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER

Colossians 1:17 (Nlt)

for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. 

He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see .…

Everything was created through him and for him. 

He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 

Jesus Christ holds all the atoms of the universe together. When you think of the vastness of space and the complexities of our own planet, we’re given a glimpse of how amazing that is! Even when mankind has released atom bombs they have never shaken the earth from its orbit because Jesus is holding it together. 

What I find so wonderful though, and so reassuring, is that He holds us together as well. Whatever tries to shake our personal world, as we turn to Him, He holds us steady.

Some people give you the impression they think they’re the ones having to hold their lives together by their own efforts but God never intended for us to take on that responsibility because we can’t do it. He gave it to Jesus to hold our world, our lives, together.

If we’ve been trying to do it on our own, let’s invite Him afresh today to take control of every area of our lives, to hold us together, so we know we’ll never need to feel like we’re falling apart at the seams or having a nervous breakdown because He is the One holding us steady.🙂 

God intends for us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might so we can overcome whatever life throws at us and know we can do all things through Christ, who not only strengthens us, but also holds us together.

Our lives are built on the solid rock of Jesus and He will never be shaken and He will make sure we’re not shaken either, even though the world around us will be. So if you’ve been getting distressed maybe it would help to keep reminding yourself throughout the day “Jesus is holding me steady. He won’t let me be shaken.” What a wonderful Saviour we have in Jesus. Thank You Lord.

Psalm 62:2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.

 

OVERWHELMING ODDS TURNED ROUND

Psalm 136:1 O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Before one of Israel’s famous battles (2 Chronicles 20) the King told the worshippers and singers to go out in front of the army to sing God’s praise and thank Him that His mercy, His loving kindness in other words, went on and on forever, no matter what. God fought and won that battle for them, turned it all around and caused their enemies to destroy each other, and Israel had a huge victory. 

The important thing was they obeyed the instruction to magnify their God in the face of what seemed like overwhelming odds against them. There’s a lesson there for all of us. Praise precedes the victory! They magnified their God instead of magnifying their problem. So if we have to deal with what looks like overwhelming situations any time we can do the same thing.

They maybe didn’t feel like praising God because of their fear, but they praised anyway even though those singers were totally vulnerable at the front of the army. Usually you send in the Marines first, but God’s ways are not our ways and His ways work.😊

They knew that their God was good and they declared it. Another verse tells us He does only good (Psalm 119:68) which is why we can trust Him all the time. If we have a muddled idea about God where we think He sometimes does us good, sometimes He does us harm then we can’t trust Him. But scripture is full of the goodness of God and His heart of loving kindness towards us. He wants us to know He is for us all the time, not some of the time and He’ll turn things round for our good when we trust Him.

So let’s join with countless millions down through the centuries and declare with them “God is good and His mercy, His lovingkindness, endures forever.” Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.😊

Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. 

MAKING A GRAND ENTRANCE!

2 Peter 1:3 (Nlt) By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.

I know I’m short sighted and have to wear specs but I think all of us can be a bit spiritually short sighted at times. 

Apostle Peter tells us how to avoid short sightedness or spiritual blindness and there’s a good reason for it. He says if we do what he says we will never fall away(v10) and give us a grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.(v.11)  So if you don’t want to fall away, but you do want a grand entrance, read on.😊

Peter says we’ve been given everything we need for living a godly life by first coming to know Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. But if you’ve ever wondered how to live a godly life, he explains it’s only made possible by responding to, or you could say by acting on, God’s promises and they will produce great results.  

2 Peter 1:5-8 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, … with knowledge, …with self-control, … with patient endurance, … with godliness, … with brotherly affection, … with love for everyone.

We can only do all of that with the help of the Holy Spirit inside us and by believing the promises but he wants us to make every effort! There will be times when we’re given an opportunity to do or say something which we know wouldn’t be godly and we have to choose God’s way. He says if we don’t actively develop in this way we’re being short sighted but if we do we will be productive and useful (v.8) and it will eventually lead us to the grand entrance.(v.11)

So the Holy Spirit is reminding us to tune in to Him more and more throughout our day and allow Him to help us not to be short sighted, but to act on God’s promises, by living godly lives, and produce the character God wants, so we become more like Jesus Himself. 

And if I get to glory ahead of you, I’ll be waiting for you to make your grand entrance.😊 Amen.