A Heart Untroubled

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