A Heart Untroubled

By Sister Grace Remington OCSO As we come to my last post for 2019, I wanted to encourage us as we go into the New Year. At the start of advent, I was in a church service and they displayed this picture (right).  The artist is  Sister Grace Remington OCSO, from  Dubuque, Iowa.    There is a lot in this picture if you take time to look, but I want to touch on one aspect. When I first saw it, I confess I didn't like it, but as I looked I have to say, it's depth grew on me.  It may not be the most detailed or perfect design, but it is actually quite beautiful and speaks of something I want to cover in this last post of the year: hope. The picture is of course Eve and Mary.  Eve entangled by the serpent, clutching the fruit that was the undoing of the perfection of the human soul.   Mary stands next to her, and it is this that really touched my heart. Mary's foot crushes the head of the serpent in the picture, a symbol of the victory Christ brings over the enemy. 

This week at our bible study, we continued in our series on worship , and one of the questions was "What hinders you from fully entering into worship?" We discussed it in small groups and then came back together to feedback. There were a variety of answers, including things like not liking the songs or style of worship in a church setting, being embarrassed in front of others or not feeling like it, but one theme kept recurring, whether for personal moments of worship, or corporately, every single group reported that the biggest hindrance to fully engaging in worship was about being distracted . I want to think about that.  In Luke 10:38-42 (NLT) we read "... Martha welcomed him (Jesus)  into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her

If someone came to you and offered you a cheque for £10 million.   How you felt about that would depend on the character of the person giving you the cheque.   If they were constantly in debt, your first thought might be "Is the cheque going to bounce?"   If the person was a con-artist, you might think it was a scam.  If the person was a bit loopy, you might think it was kind , but was a bit unrealistic. If they were truthful, honest and generous you might begin to be quietly optimistic. If they were all that and affluent and you knew they had the money, you would get excited and thankful, even before the cheque had cleared.  One of the reasons Christian don't get excited about the promises of God (healing, provision, acceptance, deliverance, protection etc) is because we don't really KNOW the character of God!   In Hebrews 11 (17-19 NLT) is says " It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had

All over the world I've meet Christians who seem to act as though what they do Monday to Saturday doesn't really have any affect on life.  They go to a church on Sunday and join in with the worship, listen to the sermon and then go home, and their 'faith' gets put back in a box for the week.  They aren't bad people, but they haven't let the word, transform their faith (faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God). What we do Monday - Saturday matters.  The verse for this week (Mark 11:23) talks about a believer shall HAVE WHATEVER HE SAYS.    We know that we don't take any verse in isolation, but the word teaches that we shall reap what we sow.    The Lords prayer speaks of ' daily bread '.  Luke 9:23 also tells us we are to take up our cross daily .  Our walk with God is a day by day deal (sometimes even minute by minute to be fair).   What we do day to day is significant. We can't go to church one day per week and h

As I was reading in my quiet time this week, this verse jumped out at me. (Don't you think it's amazing how you can read passages over and over, and yet sometimes it's like you've never seen it before?) " Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God's words!  He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen ".  Heb 11:3 (TPT) It jumped out at me, because it is FAITH that empowers us to believe the account of creation! Without faith, we can come to all sorts of other conclusions. This is not just true of creation, but of other things too. Hebrews 4:2 (KJV Strong's) For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Even God's word,  when it's not mixed with faith will result in nothing. Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Faith is the key.  Faith is w

My Father's House (Lusaka) School, Zambia  I'm back after my 2 weeks away on a mission trip to Zambia.  I apologize for the missing blogs, but electricity and internet were intermittent, and our itinerary was full.  We had an amazing trip.  Personally, I overcome a lot of challenges, but God is faithful, and the experience was fantastic. While we were there, we stayed mostly with our friends in Lusaka, but for 3 days we went to a village called Mkushi about 7 hour from the city.   Mkushi has no electricity and no running water.   The place we slept in had no real floor (just the ground) and no toilet (a hole in the ground). When we met the children, we gave them a football. Their smiles lit up their little faces, and they had an immediate impromptu game with John. There were many instances like this during our trip, and it reminded me of when Paul the Apostle wrote: (Philippians 4:11 NKJV) " Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever stat

This week I saw a few posts on Facebook about 'hump day'.  This is a term used to talk about Wednesday when you hit come over the 'hump' of the week and starts speeding towards the weekend.  I also see lots of posts about the drudgery of Mondays. It really hit me today, that these kind of things, though silly, are indicative of a heart level belief, that Mondays are hard and it's a drag as you go back to work or school.  People live for the weekend, and approach the week with a sense of, not exactly dread, but you know what I mean. The trouble is the more we blend these thoughts into our lives, the more likely it is that will find Monday's tiresome etc. The point I want to make is this; how we think about things, is how we talk about them, and eventually it is how they will actually be for us. The bible says that the power of life and death is in the tongue. (Prov 18:21).  What comes out of your mouth has power whether you realize it, or not.  What co

t is interesting how many times in the New Testament we are told to continue in something: Continue in the faith; continue in love; continue in prayer; continue in the word; continue in his goodness and continue in the things you've learned, to name a few. I think it is human nature to quit and give up more often that to persevere, but the Christian life has always been a marathon rather than a sprint, and there are lots of exhortations to keep going, endure and hold on.  Life is full of stuff that shouldn't be here - sickness, loss, death and rubbish things, but the comfort we find in our faith is to hold on, keep praying, keep believing, keep in the Word and God WILL work it all out.  That's not a vain hope, because over and over God proves himself faithful, and even though we live in a fallen world, God is still able to bring his love, his peace and his guidance into our lives. In Matthew 14 we read about Peter walking on the water to Jesus.  He climbs out of the bo

Today I was thinking about the overall intelligence level of humanity, and you gotta admit that we can be kind of dumb! Of course there are varying degrees of stupid, but what I mean is that we are just not as smart as we like to think. Really think about how many times you have found yourself in the same position over and over again.  We just don't seem to learn. As I was reading this verse, I thought of how true that is regarding the fact that we seem to believe that God doesn't know who we are. We think somehow we have fooled him, and that can be the only reason why he would possibly have anything to do with us.  We think him shocked when we make a mess of things or disappointed when the mask comes off and we reveal who we are.  The truth is God knows EXACTLY who you are and what you're like!  He made you! This passage in Hebrews says that there's nothing hidden from God.  While some might cringe at that statement, I think it is actually one of great freedo

Tomorrow I am speaking at St John's Church, and unlike other places I preach, they run from a liturgy and give me the scripture passage to preach on, rather than a theme or leaving the choice to me. This time my theme is a passage from Jeremiah.  It's not the one on the picture, but as I was preparing for the service, I read through Jeremiah, and it's really quite discouraging for about the first 29 chapters (There are some odd snippets of hope, but not a lot). Two things caught my attention. First, is the constant reference to the idolatry of the people.  In this day and age, we probably think about idolatry as bowing down to funny statues, but it's really about putting something in the place of, or above God.   In today's society, we still have idols, they just look a little different; iPhones, Laptops, TVs, Hobbies to name but a few.     In Jeremiah's day,  the problem was that God was there, but they turned to something else instead.  Sound famili

As the weather changed this week (and then changed back for the weekend, yay)  I was thinking about the fact that for everything there is as a season, and what's really important is we know what season we are in and act accordingly.    For example, when we were living in Canada, it got down to -40 where we were. On one occasion it was about -20C. We worked in a row of buildings and kind of diagonally opposite us was a fast food place.  I wanted to pop out to the fast food place and grab some chips and a hot chocolate.   It was literally 100 yards across the car park. I didn't bother to grab my coat or gloves. When I got back my face and hands were so cold they were burning.  It was stupid, but in that instance, no real harm done, but I learned my lesson.  When it's cold, act accordingly!! The same is true in life.  We need to know which seasons we are in.   In the book of Ecclesiastes we see in chapter 3 that for everything there is a season.   In the second half o

As I was reading the bible this week, this verse from  Psalms 94:19  ministered to me.  It say "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." (KJV) Some other versions read 'anxiety' instead of 'thoughts' as the word use there actually means 'disquieting thoughts'. Have you ever had days when your thoughts all seem troubling?  Maybe not a big serious problems, but all the little stuff that gets you down.  I have had days when everything seems to be stressy or difficult, and my thoughts just go over and over these things.  The good news is that we don't have to live in that place, The Psalmist says that the Lord's comfort brought him joy.  To me that's encouraging. The Lord gave consolation (comfort) in the first place, but that comfort also brought with it joy.  God's comfort isn't simply a 'there, there, there' moment.  It brings real relief for our situations, regardless of what is

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NLT) Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields,  and the cattle barns are empty,  yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. Some days when we look at where we are we can wonder what on earth is going on.  Some days we can get so focussed on yourself and your situation that we selfishly forget the goodness of God. I like this passage from Habakkuk.  It takes an honest look at the circumstances:  nothing is going right, there's not going to be a harvest, there's no cattle it's all wrong. The future looks rough! BUT then Habakkuk says YET .... YET is defined as meaning 'nevertheless or in spite of'.  Habakkuk summarized the situation BUT then he switc

In Genesis 2, we find Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the bible says that they were both naked and they were not ashamed.    That word ‘ashamed’ also implies disappointment.   Adam and Eve had no expectations: of each other, of God, or of anyone else!   They were completely free to be themselves and walk and talk with God without disappointment or shame. These days though, we often feel disappointment.     Disappointment is the sadness or displeasure caused by the non-fulfilment of your hopes, dreams or expectations. Today we have expectations that we set on ourselves, on God and on others, and we are constantly disappointed when things don’t happen the way we think they should. How do we deal with disappointment?    We have to change our expectations.    Firstly, we have to liberate others and ourselves from our perceptions and standards.   The only person we can put expectations on is God. We need to learn to use only word-based expectations; God wi

Today we had our first Ladies Conference at Hill Park Baptist Church in Fareham.  I got to minister with my good friends Leigh & Hazel and we had an amazing time.  As I have been preparing for the conference and thinking about what I wanted to share, I was thinking about the popular concept of ME Time..   I totally get the idea, that we all need to take time out to be alone, do things that refresh and revitalize us, but the longer I live, the more I realize that what I really need is JESUS & ME Time!  The thing that fills me most completely and sets me up ready for the day and activity ahead is spending time with Jesus. Just him and me. My favourite Psalm is 91. I love it!   I've just got the first 4 verses here but the whole chapter is great, but the first bit says: When you sit enthroned under the shadow of Shaddai,  you are hidden in the strength of God Most High.  He’s the hope that holds me and the Stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great c

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As a first year bible college student we read through the bible as a requirement of the course, and since that time, I have continued to read through the bible that way, but sometimes as I read something I think "I am sure that wasn't in there before!"  At some moments as we read the Word, there are portions that have been there all along, but the Holy Spirit brings to our attention when he wants to show us something, and it never hit us before... Today was like that. As I was reading, I was struck with the verse in 2 Corinthians 9:11 (The Passion Translation - TPT) "You will be abundantly enriched in every way as you give generously on every occasion, for when we take your gifts to those in need, it causes many to give thanks to God. " The bible speaks about being a cheerful giver, and I long ago realized that God cannot be out-given and so I give from a thankful heart because of what he has done for me!  I give because I know I can trust God with