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...

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...

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 aw...

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 BEFOR...

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.  Ther...

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 dif...

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...