A Heart Untroubled

Have you ever wondered about the importance placed on the name of Jesus?   We hear people all the time adding on "In Jesus name" to the end of a prayer. We sing songs about "Praise the name of Jesus".  But why? Well, think about corporate logos.  You only have to see a golden M and you know exactly what it is - anywhere in the world. The value of a name is more than just what we call something.  For example, if I say to you that I know Joe King. If you have met Joe, it will immediately bring up a picture or an emotion, depending on what your experience of him is.  His name will make you think about the kind of man he is; the way he treats you and others; his nature; his character.  Just by saying his name!  The name of Jesus is just the same.  It encompasses his nature, his character and his promises.  His name is salvation, his name is healing, the deliverer, the provider, the banner, the Great Shepherd, the door, our righteousness, our peace.  When we speak the na

Did you know that there are 525600 minutes in a year?   No, I didn't either, but I heard a song recently that was talking about how you measure a year of life.  Do you measure it in tears?  In the number of cups of coffee you have had? What about the number of sunsets you watched, or the number of runs you went on?  How do we use those precious minutes.   In the last 12 months, things have been strange and we haven't been able to do the things we normally do, so do we measure the year by things we couldn't do?   I think as Christians we need to measure our minutes by how we love.  How have you loved in the last hour, the last day or the last week?  Have you focussed on your own lack, your own issues or your own problems?   Are you a walking demonstration of God's love to mankind, or are we so self-absorbed that we are as grumpy and selfish as those that don't know the Lord. Jesus told us that it was by our love for one another that we would be recognizable as his di

Has anyone ever said to you "Just wait!!"  People say it all the time, perhaps you've said it to your children this morning even!   But do you ever think about what waiting entails.  We often think about it in terms of sitting doing nothing, until something happens, but a biblical view of 'waiting' is far more than that.  In fact, it's not a passive action, but it is an active thing. Today as we wait for the bit in between Good Friday and Resurrection (Easter) Sunday, i Have been thinking about waiting on the Lord. The word wait in Hebrew is qâwâ.  Before we look at what that word means, I want to have a quick grammar lesson.  Words have both literal and figurative meanings.  What do I mean by that?  Well for example the word 'dead'.  Dead has a literal meaning - to cease to be alive.  But also we understand the word dead or death has a figurative meaning - for example. I laughed myself to death.  The church I visited was dead - we understand these a