A Heart Untroubled

I am currently reading through Judges.  I was struck earlier in the week by some things about Gideon.   If you haven't read it in a while, Gideon and his people are being oppressed (because they've turned away from serving God). God visits Gideon while he's in hiding and tells him he will lead the people in victory.   In chapter 7 we find that the enemy is gathered against the Israelites.  Gideon has already sent home most of his army.  He's left with just 300 men, so God would be sure to get all the glory for the win.  The Midianites and their allies are camped nearby; there's so many of them, they look like grasshoppers, spread across the valley. In the middle of the night, God wakes Gideon and tells him to take himself down to the enemy camp and listen to what is being said. (I particularly like the fact that God kindly tells him if he feels afraid to take his servant with him).  Gideon gets himself down to the valley and overhears a conversation between two men.

During lockdown I have found it hard to think about purpose.  What is the purpose of your life if you are isolated in your home?  What is the purpose of your life if you have you have been retired or made redundant? What if you can't do all the things that you usually do? Today John (my husband) reminded me that God is far more interested in our own transformation than he is about us arriving at a destination.  I think that I often focus on where I am going, how I am going to get there, but I never stop and think about what condition I will arrive in.    What I mean by that is, when we get to our final day on this earth, will I look back and see that I never changed?  That would be very sad, because God calls us to be transformed, to become more like him every day; to grow in wisdom and in our faith.   If a man grew to be 40 years old and still thought like a child, acted like a child, and reasoned like a child, we would think it wrong, but as Christian's we often do not look f

You may or may not know, but I am a qualified fitness instructor.  I am working on a plan to start teaching classes here again, but as I have been thinking about physical fitness, I have been thinking about this verse 1 Timothy 4:8 (TPT) For athletic training only benefits you for a short season, but righteousness brings lasting benefit in everything; for righteousness contains the promise of life, for time and eternity. I've been doing a lot over lockdown, running, weights, Zumba and even a bootcamp! We understand that in the natural, keeping physically fit don't just happen.  We have to exercise our bodies, lift weights, do some cardio and eat well.   When it comes to spiritual things though, we seem to think that if we do nothing, or maybe go to church, or watch a bit of worship online, that will be sufficient to grow in our spiritual fitness, but that's not the case.   In the verse above, Timothy says physical training is a little benefit but godliness (righteousness),

Hebrews is one of my favourite books of the bible.  It speaks of the better promises of the new covenant. In Hebrews 4:10-11 (TPT) we read: " As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works , just as God celebrates his finished works and rests in them. So then we must give our all and be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief." The bible speaks of a variety of different kinds of work , but one of the most important concepts we can grasp as believers is that i t's not through our own works or efforts that we can please God.                                                What pleases God is Faith.  What pleases God is faith, and without faith, it's impossible   (not difficult but impossible) to please God no matter how we behave or act. Hebrews 11:6 (GNT)  "No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards tho