A Heart Untroubled

I was reading a very familiar account from the bible today, the story of the feeding of the 5000.   If you don't know it... a crowd of people (5000 men plus women and children) followed Jesus to listen to him preach.  After a while Jesus says to his disciples that the people need to eat because otherwise they will faint on the way home.  The disciples say they don't have anything, but a little kid offers his lunch- five loaves and 2 fishes, but what's that among so many people? However, Jesus doesn't scoff at the offering.  Instead he takes it in hand and (this is the bit that spoke to me) and let's read what he does... Mark 6:41 (KJV) And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven , and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. He looked up!  He took his eyes off of the stuff and looked up to heaven.  That phrase 'to look up' is from...

Have you ever noticed how hungry children can be (especially teenagers)? Children are growing of course,  and in order to do that in a normal, healthy way, we have to feed them.  We are like that spiritually too.  I've noticed that the nature of fallen man feeds on negativity!  The more negative stuff we feed on, the more we seem to gravitate to it and look for that until we can no longer see the goodness of God.   Negativity breeds fear, sorrow, and anxiety by the bucket load!  But Jesus didn't save us so we could live in that! Matthew 4:4 (TPT) says: He answered, “The Scriptures say:  Bread alone will not satisfy,  but true life is found in every word,  which constantly goes forth from God’s mouth.” Our Spirit is fed by what God speaks.   Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).  We will feed either the Spirit of the flesh.  There's no two ways about it; you will be sowing to one or the ...

This week I was reading this passage from John.  Jesus is talking in the temple to the Jews when he says: Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s seed. But you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I am telling what I have seen with My Father, and you are doing what you have seen with your father.”  John 8:36-38 (MEV)   The phrase". ..because My word has no place in you."  Really jumped out at me.    I looked that up in a variety of tranaslations: ... because you do not welcome My voice into your lives. (The Voice) ... because my message does not find a home within your hearts. (LB) ... because My word has no place to grow in you and it makes no change in your heart . (AMP) It is very clear that they were looking to kill Jesus because of the word.  John said " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "  John 1:1 (KJV) While we may not physi...

How many times have you sat at a traffic light and waited for the light to go change only to find someone beeping you because you missed the fact that it was green? I run into many Christians (not literally) who spiritually sit at that traffic light waiting for it to go green, regardless of what colour it's showing.  I was reading my bible one day when I saw this verse: Acts 16:7 (MEV) When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. What was interesting to me what that they seem to have made a plan to go somewhere, but then the Spirit did not allow them. Most of us believe we have to pray before we move and wait for God's green light before we do anything.  But it seems to me that Paul made a plan and moved forward trusting that God would stop him if necessary.   I feel like too often we want everything confirmed by 27 witnesses, shaking of the ground and writing on the wall before we do anything; we live our lives sittin...

Ecclesiastes 9:11  " ... It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time . " I don't believe in coincidences.  I don't believe whatever will be will be, but I do believe in divine-incidences; God ordained moments that we could not create by our own will or effort.  It is my understanding that there is no Hebrew word for coincidence, but there are two words in the bible I want to look at today; the Hebrew word QARAH and the Greek word KAIROS.' In the verse above, that world CHANCE doesn't really refer to 'luck' but simply means 'an occurrence or happening', but the next phrase ' in the right place at the right time'  is QARAH.  It's isn't just a lucky break that you happened to be somewhere but implies a God-ordained moment in time. QARAH literally means 'right happening'.  It was first used when the servant was sent out to find a suitable wife for Abraham's son, Isaac.   The servant heads ...

I do love Peter in the Bible.  He's such a character.  He is passionate, headstrong, jealous, and he messed up quite spectacularly too. Despite all that he was mightily used by God even with all his flaws.    We can learn so much from him so today I want to consider one thing about him. On the day Jesus was crucified, he was sent to the High Priest.  Peter was following from a distance and ended up hanging about outside. He's met by a variety of people who recognise him and ask him "Aren't you one of the followers of Jesus?" Three times Peter denies that he is, and the cock crows just has Jesus had prophesied.  Peter wasn't even really getting persecuted at that point, he was just linked with Jesus, but it was enough to scare him into basically swearing aggressively that he wasn't a follower of Jesus! T errified of a servant girl (one of the people that challenged him) and what might happen to him if people knew that he was a follower of Jesus, he buckled,...