A Heart Untroubled

Last week I spoke about taking a break, a 'selah' moment frequently in your day to mediate and be intentional about thinking about God.  Today I want to think about working! The author of Hebrews tells us that we need to work , but contrary to the way many Christians live, it's not about DOING  stuff; instead the instructions reads like this: Hebrews 4:11 (KJV) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest , lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. LABOUR: to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest: — do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study. Endeavour, do diligence, be diligent, give diligence, be forward, labour, study; to hasten, make haste, to exert one's self, endeavour, give diligence This is a call to put energy and effort into something; but it's not about working in the way we often think. In Hebrews 6:1 the writer says ". ..not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead wor

I was thinking today just how busy life can be.   There is so much we can fill our time with. not bad stuff, but just stuff.  There are iPads, phones, computers, Facebook, Youtube TV, Sky, shopping, the gym, visiting friends, gardening, decorating, music and so   much more stuff that we can fill out lives with every day.  That is a 21st century problem. In the Psalms the word SELAH appears multiple times.  While the origin of this word isn't certain there are some theories about what it means. One common theory is that it is a musical term meant to denote a PAUSE in the song. I really like that idea.  Often it comes after a really deep thought like Psalm 68:18 " Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with his benefits.  The Lord God of our Salvation !  SELAH " I can see why it would be really good for us to stop there for just a moment and reflect on the magnitude of that verse. I asked a friend of mine who is from Nazareth, what the word SELAH meant to her,

I was thinking today about different people from the bible who had a personal encounter with Jesus and what that looked like. Jesus met a woman at a well one day.  He asked her for a drink and when she commented on his request, he said if she knew who he was she would have asked him for the water he had.  The conversation progresses and he tells her things he could not have known in the natural. She drops her stuff and runs off to the village telling everyone about 'the man who told me everything I ever did. He's the Messiah!" (John 4:29) This woman had an encounter with God! What about Zacchaeus?  He was up a tree.  Jesus came along and told him to come down and have dinner with him.   Jesus doesn't appear to rebuke him, but part way through the evening, Zacchaeus declares he's going to give back the money he's taken dishonestly. There are so many people in the Word that had encounters with God, and we don't know all their stories in great detai

So last night we were watching a movie called "God, where are you?"  It was a very edifying and uplifting movie for me, and right at the end two of the characters are talking and one says "You are a blessed man," and the other replies "I am a grateful man" I was just thinking that when we perceive (become aware or conscious of) our blessings, we cannot help but be grateful . When we focus on our self importance or self ability then we become critical and selfish in our outlook. Sometimes we need to be intentional about being thankful, as it's definitely naturally easier to focus on what we lack or don't like, than it is to be thankful. Gratitude is all about where our focus is.  In Romans 1:21 we are told that people that knew God, didn't "glorify Him as God, and neither were they thankful". People didn't give God credit for who He was or give Him thanks for what He had done, and so the end result was God letting them