A Heart Untroubled

We often create misunderstandings about things as Christians. For example, we talk about eternal life, and the suggestion is that eternal life means living forever.  But in this verse (John 17:3) Jesus tells us that eternal life is about knowing him and God the Father.  Now we can talking about 'knowing' something like French or algebra, but this KNOW is the Greek word Ginosko/Gnosis and it is a euphemism for sexual relationships.  It is the equivalent of the Hebrew word used in Genesis 4 which says that Adam KNEW his wife and she bore a son.  In English, the best way to translate it would probably be: to personally, intimately and experientially know something. It is different from other words translated 'know'; Eido                     knowledge by perception or recognition Epignosis         precise and correct knowledge (factual) This 'knowing' is so personal that for each of...

I've noticed that people don’t take time to invest in themselves.  We are just too busy.  We rush around doing this and that, and this often leads us to finding our identity in what we do or what job we have, who we are married to or other things, but we have to find our fulfillment in the Lord. We have to root our character in the Lord, find our purpose and place in him alone.   We cannot approach our relationship with God from a performance based mentality.  We can see from the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11) that God did not call the polished or professionals to be his representatives, and those that were naturally qualified (like the Apostle Paul) soon realized that all the qualifications were rubbish! The only place to seek acceptance and find fulfilment, is in the Lord.    We often look outside of our relationship with God for our validation and worth. God wants us to look only to him for our identity and value.  Jesus was willing to go to the cr...

Last week I spoke about doing things consistently.   There are just some  things we have to keep doing if we want to see results, but there are other things that we do, that simply take time and there's no shortcut.   For example if a 5 year old says they want to drive your car, nobody in their right mind would agree to that! It is right, that a child grows up, develops, matures and learns before they can be trusted behind the wheel of a car.  In spiritual terms, we are told in Ephesians 4:15 that we need to ". ..grow up in every way to Christ... ".  There are some things that we just need to grow up into, in the Kingdom of God.   There are things that the Spirit of God deposits in us when we get born again and we have immediate access to; there is authority that he gives us that is ours from the moment we become a Christian, but there are some things that just TAKE TIME! You're not going to be called to pastor a church of 50,000, starting th...

I bought a new lip-balm recently and I love it.  I have really dry lips and it was amazing.  Didn't have to use very much and it lasted a lot longer than anything else I've ever tried and I'm going to buy it again. But, what has this got to do with a spiritual blog, I hear you ask! As I was applying my lip balm, thinking about what to say today, I realised that there are just some things you just need to keep doing.  In order to benefit from certain things, I must do them over and over, consistently.  Even with a great lip balm I need to keep applying it during the day.  I need to keep exercising on a regular basis; I need to keep eating right;  I need to keep going into work each day if I want to get paid - you get the idea Sometimes we think about things in our spiritual life as a one-time deal, a check-list of things we do once in a while, but that don't become habitual parts of our life.  Reading the word, prayer, praying in tongues, worshipping, e...

The New Year is often a point in time where we consider new beginnings. We make new year's resolutions and wipe the slate clean and start over, and while goal-setting and change isn't bad, in spiritual terms, will-power alone isn't enough to effect change.   Real and lasting change begins on the inside of us. It begins with seeing on the inside with the eyes of faith before we ever see something with our natural eyes on the outside.  What do I mean by that?  Well, think about Joseph.   Joseph had a dream that he would one day see his family bowing before him.  He had to walk through rejection from his family, slavery, false accusations and prison before he saw that with his physical eyes!  He had a dream and I believe he held on to that dream every single day. If Joseph had seen himself to be helpless, forsaken and lost he would have had the opportunity to fall into despair and do nothing.  The chances are, that would have kept him a slave or...

I totally forgot yesterday was Saturday, so I apologize for the delay in writing this.  It's been such a strange time.   We're in the little in-between bit from Christmas to New Year and here in the UK our area has gone into the highest tier of the lockdown system, meaning we can't socialise or do very much. It's a time when we could feel discouraged or hopeless; what will 2021 be like?  Are things ever going to be back to normal?  When will I be able to see my family & friends again?   BUT as we come to the end of what has been a very odd year, we of all people should have hope! David said in the Psalms:  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? H ope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him,  who is the health of my countenance, and my God . (42:11) He looked at his soul (his emotions) and realised he was feeling down!  Most of us, when we consider how we feel would say 'oh I'm feeling down' and wou...

This year people are moaning about so many things: masks, vaccines, restrictions, limitations, the lack of travel... the list goes on, but  it's a good time to remember this verse:  John 4:10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew who I am and the gift that God wants to give you—you’d ask me for a drink, and I would give to you living water.” The New King James versions reads  Jesus answered and said to her, “ If you knew the gift of God... ” If only we knew (recognized) THE GIFT God has for us.   Jesus! At Christmas we celebrate his birth, but as Christian's it becomes easy to miss the great value of the gift of God during the rest of the year.   Jesus is so much more than a baby in the manager.  We probably would all agree, but if we truly knew what the gift God has given us really meant, we would live differently every day.   The gift of Jesus is for 365 days a year - he is our peace, our salvation, our deliverer, our counsellor, our provid...