A Heart Untroubled

Today I want to think about whether Jesus is enough!  I can imagine most Christian's piously asserting 'of course he is!'  but, the reality is, most people don't live like he is. I remember speaking to a woman once who had been involved in an extra-marital affair. She was devastated by her own actions and had fallen into despair, believing that, despite her repentance, she was a terrible person.   She repented over and over again, on a daily (and sometimes twice daily) but continued to sink into depression and discouragement.   During a conversation with this lovely lady, I felt the Holy Spirit lead me to say something (and I don't normally minister this way).  I said to her 'Yeah, you're so right! Jesus' blood wasn't enough for your sin'. She was shocked and said 'But I thought the blood of Jesus was enough to take away the sins of the world'?' YES!  That is the truth!  Of course it is, and once she had said this, we talked about wha

Colossians 1:6 says .. which has come to you, as it ( the gospel)  has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth  And verse 10 says ...that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; So, today I was studying Colossians and these verses jumped out to me.  Col 1:6 says that the gospel is bringing forth fruit and that they (the Colossians) were to be fruitful. The way that they were instructed to walk worthy of the Lord and to be fruitful was this (verse 9) " For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; " When we are filled with the knowledge of God's will with wisdom and spiritual understanding, we will be able to walk worthy of the Lord. Walking worthy is

  A friend of ours and instructor at Charis Bible College, Barry Bennett, posted on Facebook the following quote: " The words that have power in your life are the ones you have chosen to believe " So many things in life speak to us.   Your bank account will speak to you and tell you whether you are prosperous or not. Your body will speak to you and tell you whether you are healed or not, and circumstances will speak to you and point you to fear or faith. Romans 10:17 tells us that ' faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God '.  This is a 'law' of God, if you like.  This is how it works; you hear the word and faith comes.  Thing is, what we hear, what we listen to and what we believe is going to direct the very course of our lives.  The key is to look at what we are listening to, and if it's not the word, ditch it and spend as much time and effort letting God's Word speak to us as we do anything else. So today that is my challenge to you. 

  My husband, John, preached a few weeks ago at our church and he challenged us regarding what we were doing!    Jesus' last commission to us when he left the earth was to 'go into all the world and make disciples'.  How are we doing with that? Over lockdown, there has been a slip in many ways regarding faith.  People started to tune in to online services, but this very quickly tailed off.  The pandemic has restricted us in many ways, but in many ways it has presented Christians with, as Paul might say, a great and effectual door of ministry! Online services, worship, sermons and blogs have become more common, but what of exercising our faith with our friends, family and neighbours? Jesus didn't say 'Preach the gospel if you are an evangelist' or 'heal the sick if you want to'!   We are commanded to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead!  We spend so much time worrying about what others think of us, or selfishly focussed on ourselves, that we

Today I came across this text (above) and it really spoke to me.  So many times in the bible we are told 'fear not' or 'do not be afraid', but it would be totally unreasonable and unfair of God to tell us not to do something, if it wasn't possible.  Many people think that emotions are what they are, and you can't help them,  but if God says FEAR NOT then it will be possible for us to action that in our lives. There are some things that are dangerous and we are right to avoid them, but fear itself is not based on reality; it is the result of imaginations. In the New Testament, we are told that: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ ; 1 Peter 1:13 (NKJV) Let's break that down a little bit. Gird up:      This expression originates in the bible and refers to tucking up ones garment into                                 your belt so as not to be hin