A Heart Untroubled

Last night, I just really felt the need to worship.  I messaged a bunch of friends and we got together for a spontaneous session of worship.    I love moments like this, because there is something beautiful in just uniting in worship; no agenda, no planned songs, just a chance to come together and lift our voices, or sit and listen or whatever really. Sometimes, no matter what denomination our church is, there's a set pattern of what Sunday's service will look like - notices, worship, sermon, prayer, final song and off we go to lunch.  Sometimes our own personal devotional time can become an item on our to-do list to be checked off, and we forget that we are in a living and vibrant relationship with the God of now!  (I Am).   We need to recognise that breaking our spiritual relationship down into a to-do list is never going to be satisfying and fruitful (this is not negating discipline, but when we are only going through the motions, it is religion and self effort, which is nev

Sometimes as Christians we can come across a new spiritual opportunity in life and we panic! Have you ever had that experience.  Maybe the first time you're asked to pray out loud, or share your testimony. Maybe have a friend who has a headache, and we know we could pray for them; but we think ' I've never prayed for that before !'  We forget so quickly that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts and he has most definitely done it before.   If we were playing a Christian version of "Never have I ever...'  We might say: Never have I ever seen someone healed; Never have I ever watched the dead rise; Never have I ever seen God work miracles... But the Holy Spirit would be the one saying: Yup,  I've done that; Yeah that was good fun! and 'I have so seen that over and over and over'. From the foundation of the world he Holy Spirit has been creating, breathing life into dead situations or bodies, comforting, empowering, leading, guiding and

Everyone has limited capacity for stuff in your brain.  You can fill that space with whatever you choose, but we cannot expect to live a flourishing Christian life if you keep insisting on filling up the space with junk or rubbish!  It doesn't have to be bad, but it is just that stuff like that serves no purpose anymore! We so often let junk remain in our minds and this taints the things we see around us and impacts our faith.  If you leave a pile of trash around long enough, it will decay, sometimes smell, but maybe the most common side-effect is the fact that it make the environment around it lose value and beauty. In the same way, when we thing on junk, we will stop seeing the beauty and value in all that Jesus has done for us and all that we are in him.   We will begin to see only the negative and it will impact how we act.   In Philippians 4:8 Paul tells us  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever thin

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was recounting a conversation she had had with someone else.   She said the other lady had made a really negative comment and so she had replied "Well I don't live in that space!" meaning I'll trust God instead of your opinion.  I really like that idea. I don't live in that space where the world says "It's flu season".  I don't live in that space where the world says we're in 'Financial crisis!'  I don't live in that space where others say I have to be down, discouraged or floored because of what is going! The bible tells us that we are in the world John 17:11 (KJV) And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. but that we are not of the world: John 17:14 (KJV) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of t

  This week I was lead to think about the passage in Revelation where John is watching the scene in Heaven unfold and he says this Revelation 5:6  Then I saw a young Lamb standing in the middle of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. He appeared to have been slaughtered but was now alive!... The elders and the multitudes are falling down in worship, casting their crowns and singing worship to this Lamb.   Jesus is right in the centre of this. All eyes focussed on him and the response is to worship.   Sometimes we get so focussed on all the stuff - good or bad - that is going on, that we forget to turn our eyes to the Lamb of God, slain for us!   We can get caught up in looking for a healing, or looking for direction, or looking for an answer, and all those things are good, but when we look at the Lamb that was dead and is now and alive, when we recall who he is and his eternal position in the centre of it all, we can get things in the right per

As we're counting down to Christmas, I become more aware of conversations that focus around the stress, the spending, the family trials that come at this time of year.   Christmas, and really any day as a Christian, shouldn't be this way at all!   But if we do the same things we have always done, we are going to get the same results we always get.   If we want to have a different experience, we have to do things differently. So here's my top tips for a peace-filled Christmas 1) Dashing through the snow...Running around being busy is going to bring stress.  It's ok to say 'no'.  Don't over-commit and don't do things from a sense of obligation, because that breeds resentment.  Instead consider your option before you make your decisions and then agree to the things that you want to do.  (Matthew 5:37) 2) T'is the season to be jolly...Give cheerfully, or don't give.  (2 Corinthians 9:7) It's easy to get into a rut of simply giving gifts to people