A Heart Untroubled

Sitting here this week, reflecting on the news of our Queen's death, I have been struck by the profound effect she left on people that met her. So many amazing, funny, interesting and moving stories coming out, and while there are always those who can't say anything nice in times like this, my impression is, that those who met Queen Elizabeth II held her in high regard and speak only good things about her. As I was watching some documentaries on her life, I was pondering the question of how others will speak of me when I am gone.  What kind of legacy will I leave behind?  While my reach, may not be as wide as that of the Queen of England, every person that we come into contact will receive something from us. We are here as ambassadors of the King of Kings.  How we behave and treat people will leave people talking about us one way or another. Today I was as I meditating on this, the verse in Colossians 4:5-6 (TPT) came to mind: " Walk in the wisdom of God as you live befor...

I was reading Romans chapter 6-8 today and in church we've been teaching and hearing others teach on living by the Spirit.  I am meditating on this very thing a lot at them moment. We know that the flesh was crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6), and we are new creations, but we are still prone to this battle of flesh v spirit.  Paul the Apostle said how his desire and will often seemed to be in opposition to his actions... So how can we beat the flesh? The truth is that the battle is to be fought in our minds. The flesh was crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus, but as a friend reminded me recently,  we can't beat flesh with flesh!  Will power or desire are not enough to change our behaviour; we have to start from the inside out. Romans' 12:1-2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and Ephesians tells us that we are to be renewed in the Spirit of our minds. Ephesians 4:23 (NLT) Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. W...

I know I've mentioned running a few times recently, but it's a great analogy for spiritual truths.  God speaks to me a great deal through my running and it's good! Recently I was listening to a series of podcasts about how to improve your running.  It was very helpful to me. One of the points was to recognise where you are and start from there.   What does that really look like?  Well, for example, through this 5 day challenge, I realised that my strength is rubbish!  (I tried a strength test and basically I have none🤣🤣🤣) Seriously though, I could recognise that and decide today to join a gym, go 7 days a week and bench press 200lbs a day!  But that's not realistic.  I need to start smart!  So, I might join a gym, but maybe aim for twice a week and start with 2lb weights!    I might decide I need to run further, but to try and do a marathon tomorrow is dumb to the max! The same is true with spiritual things.  Sometimes we re...

Nothing in life has any meaning until you give it meaning .  What does that mean?   Well, if someone says to me 'You should run a marathon; think of what an achievement that would be'. It doesn't mean a thing to me. I have no desire to do that.   However,  when I look at my fitness watch after a 5K (3.10 mile) run, if it says more than 36 minutes, I feel disappointed. Why is that?  Well I give meaning to the time it takes me to run 5k! I want to improve, I want to go a bit faster. I will train harder to meet that goal.  It takes on significance for me. The same is true with spiritual things. If I give meaning to something, it has meaning (sounds simple, right?).  We had a friend who used to say "Until you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll stay that way!".  What he means is, unless you give meaning (importance, significance, value etc) to healing in your life, you will settle for sickness that you can live with.  If...

I've recently discovered a song by Cody Johnson called "Until You Can't".  It's a song about putting stuff off and then not being able to do it because it's too late. Life is short and our days are not guaranteed, I get it. I've been thinking a lot about that sentiment in my own life The song says " Don't wait on tomorrow 'cause tomorrow may not show.   Say your sorries, your I-love-yous, 'cause man you never know " and they are all great sentiments, but there's so much more we shouldn't put off.    We shouldn't put off accepting Christ.  Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), we shouldn't put off encouraging each other (Heb 3:13) and we shouldn't put off planting seeds if we want a harvest. It's easy to become weary in this day and age (I'd even go as far as to say that one of the symptoms of modern society is marked apathy) and we can convince ourselves that doing nothing is ok, procrastinatio...

There's a well-known expression that says 'just go with the flow', isn't there?  It means  be relaxed and accept a situation, rather than trying to alter or control it. There are times in life where naturally speaking, I definitely DON'T want to go with the flow, but I want to think about the spiritual implications this could have.  Have you ever walked away from a conversation, situation or encounter and though 'I know the Holy Spirit was trying to say or do something there' but you didn't follow through ... That's what I mean.   God presents us with multiple intrusions into our daily life - things he has orchestrated and we need to 'go with the spiritual flow' of the Holy Spirit.  One day Jesus was busy heading off with Jairus, to heal his daughter when the women with the issue of blood stopped him on the way. He could have said nothing to that women; he could have scolded her and said 'Can't you see I'm busy!  I'm going to ...

Have you ever heard the expression "The grass is always greener on the other side"?  It is an expression meaning that we look away from our own situation and think that someone has it easier, or something is better somewhere you're not... Well it's not true!  The truth is that the grass is greener where you water it! When we lived in Colorado there was a serious drought and almost zero humidity.. Even the snow was dry! In the summer it was so warm, but you didn't sweat at all... grass looked brown UNLESS you had a sprinkler system! .. The gardens of those who had sprinklers had plush, very green lawns despite the weather. Another example is that I learned French for 7 years, but rarely use it now.  It's there somewhere... sometimes I can recall the seeds that were planted, but in my adult life I don't water (practice, consider, study) them, so they don't grow. What you water in your life grows.   It's not enough to read something once, even from th...