A Heart Untroubled

Have you ever noticed how hungry children can be (especially teenagers)? Children are growing of course,  and in order to do that in a normal, healthy way, we have to feed them.  We are like that spiritually too.  I've noticed that the nature of fallen man feeds on negativity!  The more negative stuff we feed on, the more we seem to gravitate to it and look for that until we can no longer see the goodness of God.   Negativity breeds fear, sorrow, and anxiety by the bucket load!  But Jesus didn't save us so we could live in that! Matthew 4:4 (TPT) says: He answered, “The Scriptures say:  Bread alone will not satisfy,  but true life is found in every word,  which constantly goes forth from God’s mouth.” Our Spirit is fed by what God speaks.   Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).  We will feed either the Spirit of the flesh.  There's no two ways about it; you will be sowing to one or the other, and there's a really easy way to tell which: L

This week I was reading this passage from John.  Jesus is talking in the temple to the Jews when he says: Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s seed. But you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I am telling what I have seen with My Father, and you are doing what you have seen with your father.”  John 8:36-38 (MEV)   The phrase". ..because My word has no place in you."  Really jumped out at me.    I looked that up in a variety of tranaslations: ... because you do not welcome My voice into your lives. (The Voice) ... because my message does not find a home within your hearts. (LB) ... because My word has no place to grow in you and it makes no change in your heart . (AMP) It is very clear that they were looking to kill Jesus because of the word.  John said " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "  John 1:1 (KJV) While we may not physically be 'killi

How many times have you sat at a traffic light and waited for the light to go change only to find someone beeping you because you missed the fact that it was green? I run into many Christians (not literally) who spiritually sit at that traffic light waiting for it to go green, regardless of what colour it's showing.  I was reading my bible one day when I saw this verse: Acts 16:7 (MEV) When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. What was interesting to me what that they seem to have made a plan to go somewhere, but then the Spirit did not allow them. Most of us believe we have to pray before we move and wait for God's green light before we do anything.  But it seems to me that Paul made a plan and moved forward trusting that God would stop him if necessary.   I feel like too often we want everything confirmed by 27 witnesses, shaking of the ground and writing on the wall before we do anything; we live our lives sitting at the tr

Ecclesiastes 9:11  " ... It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time . " I don't believe in coincidences.  I don't believe whatever will be will be, but I do believe in divine-incidences; God ordained moments that we could not create by our own will or effort.  It is my understanding that there is no Hebrew word for coincidence, but there are two words in the bible I want to look at today; the Hebrew word QARAH and the Greek word KAIROS.' In the verse above, that world CHANCE doesn't really refer to 'luck' but simply means 'an occurrence or happening', but the next phrase ' in the right place at the right time'  is QARAH.  It's isn't just a lucky break that you happened to be somewhere but implies a God-ordained moment in time. QARAH literally means 'right happening'.  It was first used when the servant was sent out to find a suitable wife for Abraham's son, Isaac.   The servant heads

I do love Peter in the Bible.  He's such a character.  He is passionate, headstrong, jealous, and he messed up quite spectacularly too. Despite all that he was mightily used by God even with all his flaws.    We can learn so much from him so today I want to consider one thing about him. On the day Jesus was crucified, he was sent to the High Priest.  Peter was following from a distance and ended up hanging about outside. He's met by a variety of people who recognise him and ask him "Aren't you one of the followers of Jesus?" Three times Peter denies that he is, and the cock crows just has Jesus had prophesied.  Peter wasn't even really getting persecuted at that point, he was just linked with Jesus, but it was enough to scare him into basically swearing aggressively that he wasn't a follower of Jesus! T errified of a servant girl (one of the people that challenged him) and what might happen to him if people knew that he was a follower of Jesus, he buckled,

I've spoken before on the verse in 2 Corinthians 1:20  " For all the promises of God in Him are “Yes,” and in Him “Amen,” to the glory of God through us. "  I was thinking about it again this weekend.  At church on Sunday, right before communion, someone prayed 'Thank you Jesus that you never said no!  You said yes to the cross."   I began thinking about this and the above verse.   How quick are we to think badly of God (you wouldn't believe some of the things people are willing to think are true about Him), but Jesus said 'yes' to horrific suffering and death, just so that we could say 'yes' to him.    In that 'YES' we not only were able to enter into salvation, but we are able to say to YES to healing, YES to deliverance, YES to freedom and YES to provision.  Because Jesus said 'YES' to the plan of God and God always says 'YES' to all that Jesus provided, we don't have to wonder if God will give us a 'Yes'

Over the last few weeks I've been listening to a teaching series on Sabbath Rest.  It's really interesting to me how many of us find it hard to rest, I mean really rest!   One thing that struck me from this series was a phrase from one of the sessions on 'not pushing past the pause' - referring to resting before you break!  It made me ponder the question, how often do we push past the pause instead of pushing pause!  While the Sabbath was made for us not the other way round (meaning it's not supposed to be a legalistic regiment), the point of the Sabbath was always that we rest and connect with God.    Think about the context of this idea: The people of Israel had just been freed from a life of slavery; 7 days a week hard labour, suffering and struggle.  Then God tells them, commands them actually, take a break on the 7th day and keep that day just for me!  This was a cultural and mindset shift.  They had been persecuted for 400 years as slaves, and suddenly God is

While I am finishing up the book that I am writing, I have been cleaning at a local school first thing in the morning.  I am the only one in the building at that time and I have the opportunity to listen to some spiritual teaching, play my audio Bible or put on praise and worship. Today, I opted for music and I love to crank up the volume and sing my heart out!   I was listening to a particular album and one of the songs came on entitled 'Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So', taken from Psalm 107:2. It really began to speak to me about how Christians and the church at large remain silent instead of saying so!  We are the redeemed!!  That is not something to be quiet about! Do you know what redeemed means... I always think about when I was child sometimes we went to these arcades where you would win tokens and then when you were done you'd take the tokens to a little kiosk and REDEEM them for a prize. The more tokens you had, the better prize you could get.  That's not a

Last night, I just really felt the need to worship.  I messaged a bunch of friends and we got together for a spontaneous session of worship.    I love moments like this, because there is something beautiful in just uniting in worship; no agenda, no planned songs, just a chance to come together and lift our voices, or sit and listen or whatever really. Sometimes, no matter what denomination our church is, there's a set pattern of what Sunday's service will look like - notices, worship, sermon, prayer, final song and off we go to lunch.  Sometimes our own personal devotional time can become an item on our to-do list to be checked off, and we forget that we are in a living and vibrant relationship with the God of now!  (I Am).   We need to recognise that breaking our spiritual relationship down into a to-do list is never going to be satisfying and fruitful (this is not negating discipline, but when we are only going through the motions, it is religion and self effort, which is nev

Sometimes as Christians we can come across a new spiritual opportunity in life and we panic! Have you ever had that experience.  Maybe the first time you're asked to pray out loud, or share your testimony. Maybe have a friend who has a headache, and we know we could pray for them; but we think ' I've never prayed for that before !'  We forget so quickly that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts and he has most definitely done it before.   If we were playing a Christian version of "Never have I ever...'  We might say: Never have I ever seen someone healed; Never have I ever watched the dead rise; Never have I ever seen God work miracles... But the Holy Spirit would be the one saying: Yup,  I've done that; Yeah that was good fun! and 'I have so seen that over and over and over'. From the foundation of the world he Holy Spirit has been creating, breathing life into dead situations or bodies, comforting, empowering, leading, guiding and

Everyone has limited capacity for stuff in your brain.  You can fill that space with whatever you choose, but we cannot expect to live a flourishing Christian life if you keep insisting on filling up the space with junk or rubbish!  It doesn't have to be bad, but it is just that stuff like that serves no purpose anymore! We so often let junk remain in our minds and this taints the things we see around us and impacts our faith.  If you leave a pile of trash around long enough, it will decay, sometimes smell, but maybe the most common side-effect is the fact that it make the environment around it lose value and beauty. In the same way, when we thing on junk, we will stop seeing the beauty and value in all that Jesus has done for us and all that we are in him.   We will begin to see only the negative and it will impact how we act.   In Philippians 4:8 Paul tells us  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever thin

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was recounting a conversation she had had with someone else.   She said the other lady had made a really negative comment and so she had replied "Well I don't live in that space!" meaning I'll trust God instead of your opinion.  I really like that idea. I don't live in that space where the world says "It's flu season".  I don't live in that space where the world says we're in 'Financial crisis!'  I don't live in that space where others say I have to be down, discouraged or floored because of what is going! The bible tells us that we are in the world John 17:11 (KJV) And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. but that we are not of the world: John 17:14 (KJV) I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of t

  This week I was lead to think about the passage in Revelation where John is watching the scene in Heaven unfold and he says this Revelation 5:6  Then I saw a young Lamb standing in the middle of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. He appeared to have been slaughtered but was now alive!... The elders and the multitudes are falling down in worship, casting their crowns and singing worship to this Lamb.   Jesus is right in the centre of this. All eyes focussed on him and the response is to worship.   Sometimes we get so focussed on all the stuff - good or bad - that is going on, that we forget to turn our eyes to the Lamb of God, slain for us!   We can get caught up in looking for a healing, or looking for direction, or looking for an answer, and all those things are good, but when we look at the Lamb that was dead and is now and alive, when we recall who he is and his eternal position in the centre of it all, we can get things in the right per