A Heart Untroubled

Nehemiah went to rebuild a wall. Doing what he did to honour God and call the people back to worship. He faced many attacks; people mocking him, writing letters to bring fear, people trying to tempt him to do wrong so they could then hold it against him, people making false accusations,  people lying about him, people plotting against him, threatening him,  people mad at him...and yet he refused to be distracted from his purpose, continuing to seek God, to ask for God's strength, listening to God.  It is easy for us to become distracted from God's purpose when others come against us, but just as Nehemiah kept his focus and completed the mission, so must we.  When the job was done, the people came together in worship.  We must press on, complete the task and then give God the glory.   In the end everyone could see that God had done the work and the people praised. Don't waste precious time trying to justify yourself or correct some mistruth, but continu...

John Maxwell said "To be significant, all you have to do is make a difference with others wherever you are, with whatever you have, day by day." One of the things we all need in life is significance. Significance is defined as ' the quality of being worthy of attention; importance.'   We may not want to be the centre of attention, but we all want someone to think we are important in this life.  Jesus is the one that gives us our significance and worth.  The bible tells us in  Matthew 10:29 (TPT) " You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren’t you worth much more to God than many sparrows ? " Jesus thought you were of the highest importance to him. He gave you worth when he gave up his life for you.  When we realise and recognise our significance in him, we can then go ahead and make a difference to all those we meet day by day.  It doesn't have to be huge ...

Everyone puts their trust in someone.   The most common expression of this is to put your trust in yourself.  We do it everyday, we encounter a problem and look to ourselves to solve it and find a solution.  Whether it's an everyday type problem or a big stressful situation, we try and figure it all out. In Jeremiah 17:5-10 ,   we are told that everyone who trusts in the flesh is going to be like a dead, unfruitful shrub.  With no purpose, no hope, empty and destitute.  That's what we are like when we rely on, trust and put our reliance on our own self-sufficiency. Conversely, the passage goes on to say that when we trust in the Lord, and our trust is in him (confidence, security, certainty) we will flourish and be fruitful, despite the challenges we may face. This can apply to those who do not know the Lord, but it can also apply to us as believers.  Every one has a tendency to revert back to trusting in ourselves at certain times in particular a...

I wasn't really a Star Wars fan until I got married.  Somewhere in the last 25 years my beloved husband talked me into watching the original three movies, and I really enjoyed them. Of course, then you have to watch the new three that go before the originals and then the ones that fit after.   Well recently a couple of series have been launched and John and I have been watching them.  In one episode of 'The Book of Boba Fett', one character says this " Persistence without instruction will lead to the same outcome" We can be really zealously doing and doing and doing, and yet without teaching or training, we don't get anywhere.  Christians don't just become wiser or more in tune with God accidentally or just by going at something over and over. We need to be wise, and we need instruction.  We can try the same things over and over and over again, but if we don't really know what we're doing we're not going to get the results we're desiring. W...

Have you ever felt under attack when you've begun to do something the Lord has told you to do? It can be very challenging. You may consider whether you are doing the right thing and even be tempted to give up, but before you do, consider the word of God! The bible tells us that it contains examples for us, so we can learn from them. So many times, we see people who could simply have given up..Esther, Joseph, Noah, even Jesus, faced such intense opposition when doing what God told them to do. Nehemiah, also faced opposition, but I love this verse " When all our enemies heard about it, and all the [Gentile] nations around us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognised that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God . " Nehemiah 6:16 When we start a work for the Lord, problems will come, people will rise against us, but ultimately when we stick to what God has purposed for us, when we trust God, we will finish the work, and then those who att...

Have you ever thought about why we are called Christians?   The term literally means 'Little Christ' or 'Belonging to the party/group of Christ'.  The bible tells us Christians were first called by that name in Antioch.   I have heard people say that it was a derogatory slur and I have seen people that say it was not bad, but was indicative that the people in Antioch distinguished between every other sect or group in the city and came up with this new terminology.    Either way, it referred to a very specific group of people that were clearly recognised by others.   Today often we hear people describe themselves as 'Christian' simply because of the nation they live in.  When asked for their religion, people will often site a denomination 'catholic' or 'baptist' or whatever, but the truth is that a true Christian is one who looks like Jesus!   Not of course physically, but in our conduct, our actions Paul told us in 1 Corin...

This week I have been thinking about the difference between things you take hold of straight away, and things you need to tend to before you see fruit.  I am not sure that's exactly the right way to say it, but I hope it will make sense when I am done.   I'm thinking about maybe an apple pie and an apple seed!  If someone gives you an apple pie, it can be eaten.  You don't need to do anything to it (except maybe add cream or custard!! 😊 ). In the same way, Jesus gives us salvation.  When we get saved, accepting Christ as our Saviour,  we don't need to go over and over that point. We don't need to get saved every day.  It's like the apple pie.  It is ready to eat.  Christ made it for us.  It's immediate. We move from darkness to light in an instant. God's gift of salvation is a completed action in one sense; we can take hold of it right away, but there are aspects of that salvation (healing, prosperity. peace, wisdom etc) that we wi...