A Heart Untroubled

Well! Here we are at the end of the year.  My last blog of 2018. It seems like life has been a whirlwind over the last 12 months. We've taken mission trips, ministered to over 100 students, preached in multiple churches in various cities, provinces and countries; we've been on the radio, worked with kids, led worship, moved home and country, changed jobs, bought a new car... Our changes have been good for us.  God has been gracious and some of the things coming up in 2019 are going to be quite different, but so exciting!  For others change can cause them to feel little lost or discouraged and wonder what God has next for them. Sometimes, change is of our own making and sometimes it is beyond our control.  The hard thing for us is our emotions can go all over the place, our faith can waiver or our hearts can get all bent out of shape. Growing up by the beach, my dad owned a small boat.   I LOVE being out on the water, and I've never, ever been sea sick.  When you g

So this week at work we were talking about some things that we all take for granted in the Nativity story, but, well to be frank, they aren't really in the bible. Now I don't want to ruin Christmas for anyone, so if you're sensitive about these sorts of things, I suggest you skip the next paragraph and your sacred cows will remain unscathed for this year. I'm not going to write about these things in great details, as well, actually they aren't the point, but the truth is that the donkey, the innkeeper and the stable (most likely) are non-existent in the gospels and the 3 Kings (who weren't kings at all) visiting Jesus as a baby didn't happen until much later.  it's not even noted that the angels were singing, it just says they were praising God.  That's just a few of the things that you're likely to see on Cards, or in Nativity plays or sing in carols!  (We won't even start with whatever i-o, i-o-i-o has got to do with anything! Now a

I've signed up for an advent devotional, and one of the articles reminded me of something the Lord spoke to me several years ago. As I was reading Genesis, I thought it was interesting how it says " And there was evening and morning were the first day" It seemed back to front - surely day (morning) comes first? As considered this I realized that Jewish Shabbat (sabbath) begins at sundown. The sabbath started in the evening, with rest from work! From God's point of view, He made us to rest!  He told us 6 days to work, then rest! Yes we are also created to do good works, but He wants us to rest; specifically to rest in him.   He never slumbers or sleeps - so we can! If we think about evening being first, then each of our days begins with rest, before we go about the busyness of life. In this advent season we are liable to run around like headless chickens; searching for gifts or last minute bits for Christmas lunch, but I challenge you to consider that

I went to the church where I work, an Anglican church, last weekend.  Sunday marked the first in Advent, and as the Vicar spoke, two of his words jumped out at at me. He spoke of advent as a time of 'active anticipation' in many ways. As I considered the words, I remembered the scripture from Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. The word WAIT here, talks about just an expectation; to look for, to hope for.  It's very active. Some times we think of 'waiting' as staying put until something comes or happens, but that's only half of the definition. The online dictionary says that it can also be defined as "to remain in readiness for a purpose".  I really like that.  It makes me think of a runner on the starting block.  They are waiting.. but it's certainly not passive.  Every muscle is ready

I was reading a scripture this week, and as often happens, something jumped out at me, despite the fact I've read this many times before. The verse is in Romans 15:13 and it says Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing , that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. What really spoke to me this week was that joy and peace are directly linked to believing.    The dictionary definition of 'believe' is "to hold something as an opinion; think" Our peace and joy are totally depended on what we think/believe! In Proverbs 23:7, we are told that as a man thinks in his heart so is he!  If you are discouraged or fearful, it will always stem from what you think or believe.  Now you may say that's not true, but it is!   You may not be thinking "I wanna be sick" but you haven't been thinking "I am the healed of the Lord"... I guarantee  that if you consider what you have you been thinking o

This week has been crazy busy, which seems to be a normal state for me to be in. I love all the things I do, but looking over my calendar, there's not a lot of space in the lead up to Christmas, but the truth is, no how matter how busy I get,  I could always make time in my day or week for something I really waned to do. If someone offered me a million pounds to attend an event, I reckon I could figure out something to get me there! In Matthew 6:33 it says 'seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you" In the preceding verses Jesus was speaking about all the physical needs we have: food, drink clothing.   Then he says when we seek for God's things first, all the other things we need come to our lives as result. In reality,  if we perceive something is valuable we will make room, space or time for it in our lives no matter what! One of the things I consistently see with Christians is that we don't see t

“ You’ll never find choice fruit hanging on a bad, unhealthy tree. And rotten fruit doesn’t hang on a good, healthy tree. Every tree will be revealed by the quality of fruit that it produces. Figs or grapes will never be picked off thorn trees. People are known in this same way. Out of the virtue stored in their hearts, good and upright people will produce good fruit. But out of the evil hidden in their hearts, evil ones will produce what is evil. For the overflow of what has been stored in your heart will be seen by your fruit and will be heard in your words ."  Luke 6:43-45 Today I was thinking about fruit!   Every fruit looks unique and tastes quite different.   Lemons are lovely and tart, while strawberries are sweet. I don't have to be present when seeds are planted to know what kind of seeds they were; I just need to look at the fruit.  If there is an apple, I can guarantee that you planted an apple seed. In the same way we can look at others and see what fruit

Last week we were talking about what happened in the Garden of Eden with the serpent, and I want to continue a little bit with that thought. We all probably know the story in the Garden, but have you ever stopped to think about why the devil came as a snake? Think about it?  If you wanted to force a person to do something wouldn't a lion or an mammoth have been a far better option. As a mammoth, he could have knocked her over and stood with one foot on Eve's chest and demanded that she ate the fruit!  But instead, he came as a serpent and was described as subtle! Why is that?  I believe that Satan is powerless; he has no power, no authority and no strength. His only weapon is deception. In John 8:44 Jesus tells us this. Satan is the father of lies and deception! The bible says " Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith. .. " (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Today, I want to think about one of the greatest challenges to our Christian faith. In Genesis, right at the beginning, I think Satan gives away one of his most used strategies for getting believers to live below what God has for them. God had created everything, including Adam and Eve, and has told Adam "... but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die" (Gen 2:17) Eve is wandering around the place when she comes upon the serpent, and the first words it speaks to her are "YEA, HATH GOD SAID..." Satan calls into questions the Word of the Lord!  Nothing has changed today.   In the parable of the sower, we see that when the Word is sown, "Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown their hearts". What does that mean to us?  Well, when hear God's word, it can be stolen!! When we hear the voice that says "Is that really true?", the plan

I know this is a strange verse to pick today, but I have been thinking a lot about health, fitness and mental health recently; it's so prevalent in the media. I believe that God was fully aware of the problems that would face First World countries in the 21st Century! The Word is timeless and contains everything we need.  2 Peter 1:3 says that we have everything we need for life and godliness too! Health has become the latest buzz-word, but I really believe that most of the time while the answers offered focus on the external while the real issues are inside; not even physical issues for the most part, but in our soul (mind, will and emotions), and there is a spiritual solution to these issues. In Matthew 15, Jesus explains to the disciples that it isn't what goes into their bodies that defiles a person, because what comes from the outside in goes through the digestive process and gets flushed out (no pun intended).   He said what comes out from the inside is what defi

Just a short thought today, but it really spoke to me. In Leviticus there's a scenario where a Jewish woman has a son by an Egyptian man.  The bible doesn't give details of where the father was or the details surrounding the boy's life, but what we do know is that at some point he got into a fight and blasphemed God. I don't know whether it was because he had mixed heritage or for some other reason, but either way Moses didn't know what to do with him. So he put him in ward (a holding cell or prison) Now, Moses could have just made a decision.   I am quite sure that the boy's mother would have been in there like a shot asking him what was going on and what was going to happen to the boy and when she could take him home. The boy's friends may have been in to Moses' office and asked when he could come out to play again. The thing that really spoke to me about this story is that Moses didn't rush into making a plan.  He waited until they kne

I've often said that I am nothing like my parents.  They are both fairly quiet, more on the introverted side of life, while I on the other hand love the lime light and centre stage.  I've never been quiet and I don't know the meaning of the word 'shy'. Then one day, I was with my husband, and I started really laughing about something, and my husband said to me "You laugh just like your mother!" People often comment on how I look like one or other of my parents, even if I can't see a resemblance. I am sure that is true of us all really (not that you look like my parents of course). In Genesis, God says " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.. ." All through the first chapter of Genesis as God creates life on the earth, He creates things that will "produce after their own kind". The truth is that every living thing can only produce after it's own kind .  A tomato can't produce an apple; a pig can'

I'm not a super sci-fi fan, but I've watched a few things of that genre.  Star Trek had a group of aliens that assimilated every culture they met into their own.  Everyone became Borg.   Every time they found people to 'convert', they told them "resistance is futile" on the basis that they believed everyone would eventually conform.   I think it is Captain Jean-Luc Picard who proves this theory wrong.  He resists the Borg, and of course the Enterprise wins! Some times there are battles to fight for sure, but sometimes, what's really needed is to resist the devil and watch him run. In James it says: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. When we feel 'under attack' from the enemy we have two things to do.  Firstly we "submit to God". Submit means to bring yourself under something.  We bring ourselves under God by agreeing with his Word, doing things his way and seeing it all from his persp

2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we walk by faith and not by sight. Sometimes though, it's really hard not to look at the circumstances around us and let them tell us how we should walk. In Mark chapter 8 we read the story of Jesus healing the blind man.   He takes the man out of Bethsaida. Jesus spits on the man's eyes and then asks him if he can see anything. The man responds by saying he sees men like trees.   Jesus puts his hands over the man's eyes, and then the next thing he does is he makes him 'look up'. In Acts 7:55 Stephen is facing a raging mob. They are stirred up by his message, and yet, being filled with the Holy Spirit it says " And he l ooked steadfastly u p to heaven " Even the Psalmist wrote " I will lift mine eyes up to the hills  from whence cometh my help ." (Psalm 121:1) What is the significance of 'looking up'?  Jesus is asking the man to look beyond where he saw 'men like trees'; Stephen is taking hi

I've been involved in a few of conversations from various places over the last few weeks, and I've noticed a common theme: People look at their past experience and use it to colour their perception of their present selves. What do I mean?  Well, we have a tendency to run into a situation and say thinks like "Oh I know I just won't be able to cope", Or we say "I'm not good disciplined. I've never been able to do that". Or "I'm never any good at anything". We base this kind of thing on nothing but the past.   I understand why we do it, but don't realize a) the power and ability we have inside us and b) the power of our words. When we got saved, we became totally new creatures; not just a refurbished model, but totaly reconstructed.  In his second letter to the Corinthians Pauls says this: 2 Corinthians 5:17 (TPT) Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the

I think many of us recognize areas within ourselves which aren't the way we want them to be.   We embark on many schemes; self-discipline, will-power, deliverance or self-help groups to effect change in those areas. We pray for God to change us and beat ourselves up when we fall short (again). The word has something to say about every aspect of our lives and change is no exception. The bible says in Roman 12:2 ".. .be transformed by the renewing of your mind ".   God's way of change is not from the outside, but starts on the inside of us. We often want our character flaws, or what I call 'symptoms' to change, and if they don't we become discouraged.  It's a lot of effort for really ineffective results.  Behavioural change, isn't tackling the root issues, just the result of those issues in our hearts.  The difficulty is that just like a cobweb, getting rid of the web doesn't change a thing; tomorrow the web will be back -instead we nee

I n the Disney movie "Lion King", the character Rafiki (the baboon), strikes a baffled Simba (the Lion) on the head with a big stick.   The conversation goes as follows: Simba "Ow why did you do that?" Rafiki "It doesn't matter. It's in the past.  The way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it." He goes to hit Simba again, but misses because Simba ducks. Many years ago, long before we went to bible college, my husband and I got involved with a cult.   It of course didn't have a banner outside saying "All Welcome to Join Our Cult."  Rather, it appeared to offer an opportunity to pursue the things of God, which excited our hearts.   As our time in the group continued, it became increasingly obvious that it was not a Godly organization.  It's a LONG story, but the short version is, we recognized it for what it was and we left.  This experience had some painful times with it, but i t taught us a lot, most sign

Edmund Burke famously said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for  good men  to  do nothing."    Those 'good men' do not intentionally go out of their way to make evil triumph, but the problem is that they don't have any intention at all. I've seen in my own journey, that I never desire or plan to let my quiet time slip, or my prayer life dwindle, but I do fail to be intentional and the result is the same. In life, everything tends towards chaos; order does not naturally happen from disorder, but we have become new creatures, and we can be intentional to change this principal in our lives. If we have no goals or intentions our flesh will gratify itself and will lean towards things that are not spiritually life-giving.  I'm not talking about making New Year's Resolutions, I've found that to be as beneficial as a glass hammer, but I am talking about being intentional and deliberate in our walk with God.  I am always mindful,

Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up feeling 'meh'.  I love that word.  It's so descriptive. It sums up those mornings when we feel out of sorts, and often, for no real reason at all. Now I am quite willing to concede that's maybe a 'girl thing', but even you men can understand that some days we just feel like everything is against us!!  Let's take a look at something from the Word. Picture the scene (1 Sam 30:1-6):   David and his men have been away from home.  When they get back it turns out, that in their absence, their enemy has raided the camp and stolen away their wives and children and burned the camp. The men, quite understandably, weep and wail until they literally have nothing left in them to weep with. At this point David himself is distraught over his own two wives, as well as the plight of his people. BUT His men are so distressed that in their grief they begin to speak of stoning David! At this point David has a ch

It's very interesting to me that God introduced himself as 'I AM'.    He could have said I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, or ALWAYS WILL BE, but instead He calls himself I AM. To me this speaks of a God that is very much about the here and now.   While He has taken care of our past, and has secured our future with Him, He is the God of today. In Matthew 6:34, it says: Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof The Passion Translation (TPT) says it like this: Refuse to worry about tomorrow, but deal with each challenge that comes your way, one day at a time.  Tomorrow will take care of itself I have in my lifetime spent goodness knows how many hours worrying about what might be, but God wants us to live in the present, in the moment, to experience all the joy and wonder of being engaged in life today.   We can waste so much of our precious time worrying over might be, that

Have you ever heard a verse from the bible in Church or from your favourite preacher and you have to go and get your bible to check it's in there because you're quite certain you've never seen it! Last Sunday was like that.  I have read the bible from cover to cover multiple times (well I skipped the maps part), but I don't recall this verse at all! The second part of Ecclesiastes 5:20 says " because God answers him i n the joy of his heart ". I am certain I am not the only one who has ever been waiting on an answer from God about something, but this verse says that God answers us in the joy of our heart. Nehemiah 8:10 says " The Joy of the Lord is my Strength " Why does God answer us in joy and why is the Lord's joy our strength?  I think it's all wrapped up Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. In the Old Testament the pr

I have to say that in the 6 weeks since we came back to the UK, it's been hotter than I remember it being in many many years.  I am really enjoying the summer weather, and some walks or runs along the beach, but my parents, who have a beautiful garden, are not so happy with the prolonged period of dry weather, quite unusual for England. Their usually lush garden is looking a little droopy and a lot dry! However, we went for a walk and found this beautiful sight (see pic).  It's vibrant, green and doesn't appear to be struggling under the heatwave!  Why??? Well obviously it's because it's planted by the water!  It isn't aware there is a shortage. Psalm 1:3 says " And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper." It is talking about the person whose delight is in the word!  Because they are plugged into the source of life,