A Heart Untroubled

As we're counting down to Christmas, I become more aware of conversations that focus around the stress, the spending, the family trials that come at this time of year.   Christmas, and really any day as a Christian, shouldn't be this way at all!   But if we do the same things we have always done, we are going to get the same results we always get.   If we want to have a different experience, we have to do things differently. So here's my top tips for a peace-filled Christmas 1) Dashing through the snow...Running around being busy is going to bring stress.  It's ok to say 'no'.  Don't over-commit and don't do things from a sense of obligation, because that breeds resentment.  Instead consider your option before you make your decisions and then agree to the things that you want to do.  (Matthew 5:37) 2) T'is the season to be jolly...Give cheerfully, or don't give.  (2 Corinthians 9:7) It's easy to get into a rut of simply giving gifts to people

I was listening to some teaching and reading the story of Moses when he took the people of Israel out of slavery and off towards the promised land.  To give a bit of background, the Jews are enslaved by Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  They are building stuff for the Egyptians when God calls Moses to go and lead the Israelites out of slavery and into the land he has promised them.   Moses is to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let God's people go!    If Pharaoh refuses, then plagues will come upon the Egyptians.  Pharaoh doesn't let them go and so those plagues come. First, they had the Nile turn to blood and then, the second plague; frogs, frogs and more frogs everywhere!!  In the oven, in the bed - EVERYWHERE.  Now I don't mind frogs, but in my bed or cereal box?  No thanks! Frogs were worshipped in Egypt - you weren't supposed to kill them because they worship various deities that took on frog heads or bodies.  Heqet was their goddess of fertility and life for example.   I a

This week I have been thinking about the 10 spies that they sent out to view the promised land.  You probably don't remember the names of 8 of them!   The other two were of course Joshua and Caleb.    In the book of Numbers we see that Moses sent out these 10 men off to spy out the land that God had promised them.  They were to check it out and see what kind of place it was, what kind of people lived there and bring back some produce from the land. Well, if you know the story they brought back some figs, pomegranates and a bunch of grapes so big it had to be carried between two men!   It was a good land (no surprise there, seeing as God had told them it was good).  But when they got back 8 of the spies told the people "Well, it's a good land, but the people that live there included giants and all sorts of people that are really strong' I can imagine that all Israel gasped in horror or shock. Each person murmuring to his neighbour about how awful the situation was. In t

This week I was listening to a message and I was reading the verse in Luke 17:32 which simply says " Remember Lot's wife ."   This is a really interesting statement. When Jesus tells us to consider something or remember something we should pay attention. So what do we know about Lot's wife?  Not a lot really.  But what we do know is that an angel of the Lord took her by the hand to lead her out of the city before God destroyed it.  She was told to run for her life and not look back.  According to Genesis 19, she ran but she turned and look back and as a result, turned to a pillar of salt.  This short verse really spoke to me for a number of reasons.    The Apostle Paul tells us " I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. "  (Phil 3:13 TPT) Since 2020, it's like we have a new category in history BC now stands for BEFORE COVID! People a

This week I heard a phrase that really spoke to me. It was "An ambassador is not a person, they are the personification of the country they represent".   This really got me thinking about our lives as Christians.  Paul, in the book of Ephesians, says that he is an ambassador of the Gospel, and so are we.  We are no longer simply just people - we have become a personification of the Gospel message.   We should be healing the sick, raising the dead, loving, giving, serving, standing for truth, preaching the gospel... This is what we have become once we have accepted Christ.  It's not just enough to show up at church on Sunday or watch a YouTube service.  It's about constantly remembering that we have been bought with a price and that like Pau, we say it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that lives in me!    From the moment we wake up until we fall asleep, we are the personification of Jesus Christ; we are the Kingdom of God.  There's a lot of responsibility

So have you noticed that everything has an expiry date on it now.   It tells you when it becomes unusable,  or is no longer any good; at what point, it should be thrown away.  Many times I have seen Christians, once they get to a certain age, or a certain point in their ministry life, they feel like that have reached their expiry date.   A minister we had the privilege to know, Pastor Bob Yandian always used to say he would preach in his church until he died, and that he would probably even be in the pulpit when that happened.   He was a seasoned minister, and fully expected to be the pastor of the church his whole life.  But one day the Lord told him he was to hand the church over to a successor and that there was a new season ahead of him.    Despite his immense faith, years of experience, and lifetime of walking with the Lord, it challenged him a bit - thankfully he acted on the Lord's word and is ministering now in a totally different way!  (He's a great teacher if you want

At church last Sunday, the preacher said the following statement:  " The gifts and talents we have; what we can do - these are the currency of the world.   The currency of the church is the love of God . " It got me thinking.  Really how often to we look to our own performance in things relating to Spiritual matters?  Sometimes that looks like doing all the right things. Sometimes, it means not doing all the wrong things.  Sometimes it means making sure everyone knows what you're doing!  Whatever it looks like, when it doesn't turn out like you expect, it ends up in the attitude of " Why not me Lord ".  What I mean by that is, when someone else get's promoted over us in church, we say " Well!  I've d one XY & Z for 20 years!  That person walked in here and was given that job! It should have been mine! "  Maybe it's about healing... " Why wasn't I healed - I fasted, I prayed, I did it all.. .." The truth is, if we'

This week I was listening to a pastor in a church we visited while on holiday and he was urging his congregation to attend the upcoming prayer meeting, and he suggested that it had not been previously well attended. Just a few weeks ago I heard the same exhortation from our church, and as I began to ponder it, I realised, prayer meetings in general are not the most well attended meetings in church across the board.  It doesn't matter which denomination, or how charismatic the church is, there just isn't the attendance.   I began to ask myself why that might be.  One of my questions was 'why do we have prayer meetings?' or 'What is their purpose?'. I am not going to answer those questions now, but what it did make me think is that, as Christians we do a lot of things without thinking, whether at church, or in our personal walk with the Lord, but do we understand why we do them. When we repeat the same actions or words over and over (and no, this is not just true

Today, as is my habit on a Saturday, I did Park Run.  If you don't know what that is, it's an organisation that hosts 5k walk/runs every Saturday at 9am at multiple locations all over the world.  My usual rule of thumb is that if it's not raining when it starts, I will run, even if it starts later in the run.  I don't like running in the rain. Today however, it was drizzling lightly when I arrived.  I was sitting in the car wondering whether to just turn around and go home again.  I was hoping for divine intervention in the weather department, but as some good friends had come to the same venue and they were going to run, I dragged myself out to the start.  Just minutes before it got underway, the heavens opened and I got totally drenched.  It was horrible.  It was windy and wet, but I did it.  At the end of a very wet run, I felt good for doing it and in fact, the rain didn't mess up my time. As I was thinking about today's blog, I began to think about how ofte

We have a host of wildlife that frequents are patio: foxes, robins, the occasional deer, blackbirds that come in to the living room for sultanas, and a plethora of squirrels that will bang on the glass if we're not quick enough in sending out breakfast, lunch or supper for them.    After a hearty munch on some peanuts one day this week (the squirrels not me),  I managed to catch this little one, lounging on our wall, and basking in the sun to warm himself and take a little rest after the frenzy of feeding.  He stayed there for ages not doing anything at all. It got me thinking about 'basking in the sun' or more importantly, the 'Son'. You know the sun is amazing.  It's is precisely positioned so we don't freeze or burn up.  It's huge and it's absolutely necessary for us; without it's heat and light we would die.   It is not always visible to us, but it is always there, constant and stable.  This is like the Son of God, Jesus.  Without him true li

Isn't it funny how easy it is to get busy and how hard it is to rest?  We plan a quiet day when we expect to be able to ready the bible, maybe take a little walk and pray and rest, and then suddenly we remember we need to go shopping, we have to mow the lawn, are neighbour drops off some wrongly delivered mail and then stays for a cuppa and a chat for an hour and before you know it, your day is done and it's time to climb in to bed.  But did you know you were meant to live with rest as a regular part of life.  In the beginning God took a day at the end of all that creating and rested.  Man was given the Sabbath as a day of resting, a blessing for us, and yet we frequently move our boundaries, reorganise our schedules and find things to fill that space instead of enjoying that precious gift. Jesus told us that in him we find the perfect rest: Matthew 11:28-29 (TPT) “ Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply jo

Today I was chatting to a friend and we were talking about avoiding the trap of asking the questions 'D o I have ENOUGH faith? ' or ' Did I pray ENOUGH ?' or " Did I do ENOUGH? ".  When we start asking these sort of questions, we are really looking to see if we are self-sufficient.  We are wondering if our own actions, our own efforts, our own works are ENOUGH , but the truth we are not ever going to be enough!  No matter how much we do, or how many hours we pray or how much effort we put in, we are not going to be ENOUGH to achieve results!  Only Jesus gets results and only our faith in him takes hold of those results.  We cannot measure faith in terms of ENOUGH; we either believe or we don't.  The reality is when our focus comes off Jesus and on to ourselves we will struggle! Even the apostle Paul said that he was not enough but that his 'enoughness' (I know that's not a real word - but it just sounds right here - what I mean is sufficiency)

This week I have been thinking about this verse and while I love thinking about the fact that's God promises are YES and AMEN in Christ, today I want to focus on the last part "To the glory of God through us" . This really spoke to me!  Why?  Because the reason that his promises are SO dependable, is to give him the glory through us!   When people see God's promises in our lives, the glory goes to God.  We get to be an advert of God's amazing goodness, grace, love and mercy!  And all we have to do is believe his promises!!   He makes the promises!  He delivers!  All we have to do is believe, and then we get to not only experience the fruit of those promises, but in doing so, we get to give glory to God and shine his love in the darkness.  I don't know if today I am explaining that well, but as I am typing I am smiling!!  This excites me!  To be able to bring glory to God by simply receiving his promises!  That's really good news in my book! To help keep th

Do you remember the TV quiz show Mastermind when it was presented by Magnus Magnusson?  Whenever the buzzer sounded signifying the end of the round, if he had already started the questions, Magnus would say "I've started, so I'll finish" and the contestant would be able to hear the question and respond if they knew the answer. The phrase 'I've started, so I'll finish' became synonymous with Mr Magnusson, but it made me think of this bible verse... Phil 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." The thing that spoke to me is that sometimes we hear the 'buzzer sound'  and think it's all over... but Jesus says 'I've started, so I'll finish'... The buzzer can represent things coming to an end in our life - and sometimes we can think that we're beyond restoration, but Jesus tells us it's not over yet.  Until his return, we

Of course this week we celebrated Easter, and remembered the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, the pinnacle of the Christian faith. I have been meditating on various aspects of the events that happened, and I was thinking about the phrase "It is finished!" John 19:30 (KJV) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. I was thinking about 'what' was finished at that point. I did a bit of research and found that the it was a common phrase used at the time of writing and it meant different things in different professions In accounting terms the phrase referred to the payment of a debt, meaning that nothing more was outstanding, the entire debt had been completely paid. In military terms, the phrase meant that a battle was completely won. The fighting was over, and the victory complete. In a judicial sense, it meant a sentence had been completed. These are incredible in terms of our salva

So, I was eating popcorn yesterday and drinking a fruit tea and I started wondering what makes a popcorn pop! (As you do). With a little help from Google, I found out that inside the kernel, the hard shell, there is a little bit of moisture and when it heats up inside, it turns to steam and as you keep heating it up, the pressure from the steam builds and builds until it cracks open the hard exterior and makes a yummy snack. And then I thought about my teabag (I do promise there will be a spiritual application to this, not just information on my food and drink habits).  The label had come off the teabag, so I didn't know exactly what flavour it was, until I poured on the boiling water and tasted it! As promised... the spiritual bit!  We are like teabags and popcorn!  This is a deep spiritual truth!  Really it is!  Read on and I'll explain why! Firstly we are like popcorn because when heated up, whatever we stir up inside us will burst out.  We're also like teabags too.  We