A Heart Untroubled

Last week I spoke about taking a break, a 'selah' moment frequently in your day to mediate and be intentional about thinking about God.  Today I want to think about working! The author of Hebrews tells us that we need to work , but contrary to the way many Christians live, it's not about DOING  stuff; instead the instructions reads like this: Hebrews 4:11 (KJV) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest , lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. LABOUR: to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest: — do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study. Endeavour, do diligence, be diligent, give diligence, be forward, labour, study; to hasten, make haste, to exert one's self, endeavour, give diligence This is a call to put energy and effort into something; but it's not about working in the way we often think. In Hebrews 6:1 the writer says ". ..not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead wor...

I was thinking today just how busy life can be.   There is so much we can fill our time with. not bad stuff, but just stuff.  There are iPads, phones, computers, Facebook, Youtube TV, Sky, shopping, the gym, visiting friends, gardening, decorating, music and so   much more stuff that we can fill out lives with every day.  That is a 21st century problem. In the Psalms the word SELAH appears multiple times.  While the origin of this word isn't certain there are some theories about what it means. One common theory is that it is a musical term meant to denote a PAUSE in the song. I really like that idea.  Often it comes after a really deep thought like Psalm 68:18 " Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with his benefits.  The Lord God of our Salvation !  SELAH " I can see why it would be really good for us to stop there for just a moment and reflect on the magnitude of that verse. I asked a friend of mine who is from Nazareth, what...

I was thinking today about different people from the bible who had a personal encounter with Jesus and what that looked like. Jesus met a woman at a well one day.  He asked her for a drink and when she commented on his request, he said if she knew who he was she would have asked him for the water he had.  The conversation progresses and he tells her things he could not have known in the natural. She drops her stuff and runs off to the village telling everyone about 'the man who told me everything I ever did. He's the Messiah!" (John 4:29) This woman had an encounter with God! What about Zacchaeus?  He was up a tree.  Jesus came along and told him to come down and have dinner with him.   Jesus doesn't appear to rebuke him, but part way through the evening, Zacchaeus declares he's going to give back the money he's taken dishonestly. There are so many people in the Word that had encounters with God, and we don't know all their stories in great detai...

So last night we were watching a movie called "God, where are you?"  It was a very edifying and uplifting movie for me, and right at the end two of the characters are talking and one says "You are a blessed man," and the other replies "I am a grateful man" I was just thinking that when we perceive (become aware or conscious of) our blessings, we cannot help but be grateful . When we focus on our self importance or self ability then we become critical and selfish in our outlook. Sometimes we need to be intentional about being thankful, as it's definitely naturally easier to focus on what we lack or don't like, than it is to be thankful. Gratitude is all about where our focus is.  In Romans 1:21 we are told that people that knew God, didn't "glorify Him as God, and neither were they thankful". People didn't give God credit for who He was or give Him thanks for what He had done, and so the end result was God letting them...

In Isaiah 7, Judah is being threatened and Isaiah gets's a word from the Lord to go and meet Ahaz and share this message: TAKE HEED AND BE QUIET; FEAR NOT I think there is an important picture here for us today. Firstly, in your situation, 'take heed'. This is old phrase meaning 'to listen and follow'.  When we encounter challenges in our life the first thing to do, is listen.  So often we rush in with our own ideas and plans.  We need to stop and listen, then follow what God has to tell us. The second thing is to be quiet.  I remember a long time ago, the Holy Spirit very clearly told me to 'Shut Up'.. You may think 'that isn't the way God speaks', but I know it was God and it wasn't harsh, but it was most definitely what I needed to do at that moment. At another time in my life, the Holy Spirit told me to 'hold my peace'.  At first, I thought that He again meant me to be quiet, but I realized that 'holding my peace...

Just a short thought today.  I was reading in Joshua.  The part in particular was where the people of Gibeon have heard of the Israelites defeat of the people of Ai and they know that they're likely to be next. So they cook up a plan to make it look like they've been travelling for ages.  They get old clothes, old shoes, old food and old wineskins. When they find Joshua they want to make a deal with Israel, a treaty. They show Joshua and the team all their stuff, and then it says in Joshua 9:14 they "...asked not the counsel at the mouth of the Lord" So often we go into a situation and we take in what we 'see'; only what we can take note of with our senses.  We look at natural evidence and we don't seek counsel from the Lord. How many times have we tried to find solutions by these method.  God's ways are higher than ours, and so when we look at a situation only from a natural perspective we are missing a whole dimension. It's not wise t...

The preacher on Sunday posed a question during his sermon: Did the wise men plan to bow down and worship Jesus?  Actually the answer is in scripture, because they told Herod that they had come in search of the new-born King so that they could worship him (Matt 2:2), but that got me thinking.  Their worship was intentional, and they weren't even Jews!  They had heard of the King of the Jews and had come in a deliberate plan with gifts to worship Him. I've heard it said that the wise men may have been from the place where Daniel (as in the lions den) had resided.  His legacy to the Babylonians may have been to tell them all he knew of the prophecies of a coming saviour.  If that is the case, these men may have been scouring the skies for some time, waiting to see how it all would unfold. Whether that is true or not, these men came looking for Jesus; they came with gifts, and planning to worship him. Sometimes I've met people who would call themselves 'Ch...