A Full Life


I have come that you might have life in all its fullness. John 10:10

After 12 years of living high rise apartments, we recently moved to a ground floor flat with a small garden. We were really happy in the high rise apartment with our lovely view down Hong Kong harbour which I was reluctant to leave, but I didn’t realise what I was missing in other ways. I now enjoy being able to walk out into the garden and water my plants and feel my bare feet in the grass. To sit and listen to the birds in the trees is just wonderful.

It is like that for people who don’t know what it is to find freedom in Christ. They are happy and comfortable in their lives, they don’t see a need to change until they take that step of faith and enter the new life in Christ. The difference is like night and day. They didn’t know what they were missing.

Like me with my garden, I didn’t realise that I missed being able to just walk outside without waiting for the elevator to take me down 8 floors, take a walk across the road and into the park. It isn’t that I was unhappy in my high rise living, it was good for that season of our life and it served a purpose as well as providing me an illustration for me to write about!

Not everyone feels the need to be set free from their current lifestyle. Some are living “the good life”. For them it is difficult to see that there could be more or something better for them. For people in hopeless circumstances it is easier to desire more to life, but we all need more because we are created as eternal beings. We need the spiritual life to be awakened within us in such a way that will enable us to begin a new kind of life that will take us safely through death to eternal life with God. That takes an active shift – a decision to move from one place to another. Jesus called it being ‘born again’ of the Spirit. Like me with my house move, we don’t get to appreciate the difference until we make the move by faith. It is only once the spirit within us is awakened that we experience the joy of abundant life which brings a growing freedom that we never knew before.

I hope that this has been your experience but if it hasn’t I invite you, even urge you to pray the following prayer which will make that shift for you.

Prayer: Dear God, I want to move into that dimension of full life that the Bible speaks about. Thank you for Jesus who died so that my sins could be forgiven. Please forgive me and come into my heart, waken my spirit. Help me to walk in relationship with you so that I can find freedom from the things that spoil my life. Change my heart Lord God I pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen

A Work in Progress

And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. Philippians 1:6

Do you ever get disappointed in your actions or reactions to trials, tests and temptations? I know I do. I so much want to ‘be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48) but it just doesn’t happen. I have lovely times where everything is wonderful but then something happens and I take a tumble and get disappointed with myself. In times past I used to stay discouraged for days – one time even for a month! It was miserable. I’m learning that it’s okay to fall but I need to get up quickly, give it to God and walk on.

I heard Bible teacher, Joyce Meyer say that we are not to fellowship with our sin – we are fellowship with God. We are not to keep thinking about what happened and how badly we failed. That only serves to keep us down and out. When we are discouraged we are pretty useless for any ‘good work’.

I was meditating on some challenging scriptures recently (Luke 6:27-36) and realising how far short I fall when I measure myself by God's standards. During this time the Holy Spirit brought to mind this very encouraging scripture from Philippians. Yes, He (God) who began a good work in me is able and will bring it to completion. That’s good news.

Yes, it is a good work that He has begun in me and He will continue to work with me to break down old mindsets, habits, unhealthy attitudes and unholy behaviour. Yes I need to cooperate with Him in this but I need to keep my eyes, not on what I can do, but on what He is doing. I need to run with patience the race that is set before me and so do you!

Leave those sins at the cross and move on in the joy of knowing His forgiveness and acceptance, knowing that there is a work to be done in you but He’s working on you. Rest in His love and be thankful that it’s not yours to worry and fret about. Hallelujah!

Prayer: Thank you dear Lord that you are the one who called me into this life of faith and you and the one who is going to complete a good work in me. Help me to enjoy the journey. Amen.

Falling Leaves


Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. John 15:4

There was an interesting little piece at the end of the news recently. It told us that leaves don’t just fall off trees in the autumn (fall), they are pushed! How so?

A botanist explained how the tree makes a channel of cells between itself and each leaf. This channel actually becomes a block to prevent life-giving sap from passing to the tree, thus the leaf withers, dies and falls off the tree. To prove the point, the reporter had broken a green leafy twig off a tree and left it to dry out. He then turned a fan full force on the leaves and they all stayed firmly attached to the twig. Interesting!

I have thought about many different ways this can apply to our lives. The obvious one is what Jesus talks about in John 15. He tells us that we need to stay in close fellowship (abide) with Him. You can be sure if you do that, He will not push you away. But there is another application that quickly comes to mind. It is very easy for us to be the “tree” that makes that channel between ourselves and others and causes broken relationships – it happens in marriages, families and friendships.

The ‘channel’ is caused when we decide to hold onto our hurt, bitterness, unforgiveness or anger. We literally cut our hearts off from the ones who hurt us and create an impassable obstacle. So long as we don’t allow a flow of love, communication or fellowship between us, the relationship cannot survive. We are actually causing it to die by our refusal to love and forgive. When we do this we also become a victim of our own actions because Jesus says very plainly that if we will not forgive others then they sin against us, our heavenly Father cannot forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). This means that we will be like the branch that bears no good fruit which is cut off and thrown into the fire. Ouch!

Is the satisfaction you are getting from withholding love and forgiveness from the one who hurt you worth losing your loving relationship with God for? It will be hurting you more than the one you are offended with. Settle it today. God can help you do what you feel is impossible.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I need your forgiveness so much each day but sometimes I find it hard to forgive those who hurt me. Please help me to forgive so that I can receive the forgiveness from you that I so desperately need. Amen.

Childlikeness

I have stilled and quieted myself, just as a small child is quiet with its mother. Yes, like a small child is my soul within me. Psalm 131:2

There is a wonderful simplicity and lack of pretension about a small child. They don’t name-drop – except to say “MY Dad is the best!” or “MY Dad knows everything!” To them their father is the greatest and can do no wrong….. then they become teenagers! When I became a teenager I knew that I knew better than my Dad! Little children usually trust their father, look up to him and rely on him for protection. Above all, they believe that what he tells them is the truth.

When the disciples tried to turn the children away from ‘bothering’ Jesus, he stopped them. He brought them near and blessed them, reminding the disciples that the kingdom of heaven belongs “to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). What did he mean?

In Matthew 18:1-6 we find the disciples vying for position, yes, competitiveness was ‘alive and well’ in their lives. They wanted to know who was going to be greatest in the kingdom. Jesus again used a little child as an example of those who would enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that a childlike humility was required for greatness in his kingdom, not a degree in theology, a fantastic CV, or great power and wisdom.

As adults we often get educated out of our simplicity and lose the ability to retain or maintain a childlikeness which is attractive to God. Childlikeness is different to childishness. Childishness is not attractive in a grown person and it usually shows a presence of bad traits, for instance selfishness, meanness, jealousy and greed. I thought about the traits of a small child that God looks for. There is a willingness to change (turn from our sin, verse 3), there is a simple trust that what father says is true. How precious are these ways to God and, for that matter, to any father.

A child looks to his father to solve his problems, help him fix things, comfort his sadness and supply all his needs. A child does not worry or question whether the father can do these things, he has an inbuilt knowledge of and trust in his father’s love for him which causes him to expect all these benefits to be there for him. I tend to believe that this is what God wants us to be like, so let’s try and make childlikeness our aim.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to understand the importance of childlike simplicity. Deliver me from childishness but help me to have the simple trust of a child. Amen

Mindset

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. Psalm 84:5

At the time of writing this I am trying to decide whether or not to embark upon a course of study which could take 2 years or more to complete. The difficulty for me is knowing whether or not I will be serious enough about it to complete the course. In other words, I am counting the cost and weighing things up before I am willing to commit. Jesus said a wise man will consider whether or not he has the means to complete a building before he begins to build (Luke 14:28-30).

The verse we are considering today refers to those who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as they used to do in Old Testament days. For believers today it is the equivalent of setting our minds to follow Christ. We should not enter lightly into this journey. The Bible warns us that it is costly to follow our Lord. We have to literally give up our old ways to follow the new and better way.

The most difficult part of taking any course of action is first to make the decision to do it. Whether it be diet, study, marriage or lifestyle changes, it is easier once the decision to ‘just do it’ is made. For us Christians we have an advantage in that once we have decided to followed Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit as our Helper to strengthen us along the way…. God’s grace to help us. Look again at this verse….blessed are those whose strength is in you… Isn’t that great! God calls us into this life but then he gives us the strength to make the journey.

In making other decisions in life Christians also have the added blessing of being able to consult with the One who sees the end from the beginning – our God. He invites us in many verses of scripture to seek His wisdom. The book of Proverbs gives much wisdom for life; it begins like this – “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair;”.

God is interested in the whole of our life, not just our Christian life. Yes, our mindset needs to be to follow Him but that is to cover every aspect of our lives. We don’t need to be afraid of what He may show us or the way He might take us. Jesus came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10), that means life in all its fullness. He wants the best for us, his children.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me to have my mind set on following you with my whole heart. Please strengthen me and teach me your ways. Amen.

Praising to Peace


Why are you so downcast O my soul, why are you disturbed within me, hope in God for I shall yet praise Him. Psalm 42:5

Remember the movie “The King and I” ? Anna taught the children a song that went like this…. “whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head up high and whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect….I’m afraid.” I remember flying with my husband in a small single-engined aircraft over the mountains of Papua New Guinea many years ago and I was feeling very nervous. My fears were quelled when my husband, who was flying the plane, started whistling a happy tune. I thought everything must be okay so I relaxed. It was only much later that I found out that when things were a bit difficult he would whistle so his passengers would not be nervous! Well, it worked for me…… at least until I found out his strategy!

David had learned to praise the Lord when he was fearful or disturbed. Right in the midst of his fearfulness he made a choice to praise the Lord. He spoke out a positive statement of fact. He admitted that he was disturbed, perhaps depressed or fearful. He also spoke out a decision to do something about it – he would get through it knowing that he would one day feel like praising the Lord again. In the meantime he would ‘hope in God’. When we make statements like that it has a positive effect on us. It brings a stability to us and a confidence. “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” (Psalm 59:16)

Many things can happen to cause us to fear and when fear takes over it always takes us on a downward spiral which can end in hopelessness and despair. This is the time to make a decision to stand against fear. We can choose to praise God and ‘whistle a happy tune’. Put on some music and let your heart be lifted. Set your eyes on the One who is able to deliver you from fear and take you back into the realm of faith once again. We can praise ourselves to peace but it will take determination and perseverance on our part.

God’s word holds many promises of deliverance, hide His word in your heart so that when the difficult times or times of fear come you have something stronger to put your trust in than in your circumstances.

Prayer: Almighty and wonderful God, I choose to praise you and trust you because you have promised that you will never leave me nor forsake me. You have told me in your word that your plans for me are good. Thank you that you give me peace. Amen

Dad-Can-I?


Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

I remember being very amused at comedian Bill Cosby’s words in an interview I watched. He said “My kids have a special name for me – it’s "Dad-Can-I". Whenever they want something they come and say ‘Dad-Can-I?’.” In other words he was saying that they only seemed to come to him when they wanted something. He was joking, but sometimes parents do feel that way.

Many times I think that I treat God in the same way. Today I heard Him speak to my heart “Worship Me for who I am, the One who loves you dearly, not just for what I can do for you.” How very easy it is to slip into the prayer mode of asking and just treating God as a ‘spiritual cheque book’ so to speak, just giving him a list of prayer requests to answer.

When the disciples observed Jesus’ prayer life they asked him to teach them to pray (Matthew 6, Luke 11). Jesus didn’t teach them to rush in with their ‘list’, but first to honour and praise God for who He is – our wonderful creator whose name should be honoured. Then the first request was for God’s kingdom to come to earth and for His will to be done here just as it is in heaven. If our first concern is with bringing His kingdom to earth and seeing people learning to please God and walk in Kingdom principles, then our other requests will take their proper place.

Yes, God wants to hear our prayer requests and He wants to answer our prayers, but most of all He wants that loving father/child relationship with him. Remember the psalmist’s words about delighting in the Lord. I think this is what he was talking about; enjoying God for who He is, not for what He can do for me. If we delight ourselves in Him our hearts will be tuned in to His Kingdom and His desires, and hopefully we will avoid the trap of ‘Dad-Can-I? prayers’.

Prayer: Abba Father, please help me to worship you in spirit and in truth, seeking to see Your kingdom come and praying that Your will be done in my life. Keep me from the trap of just bringing my prayer list before I honour You and bring you my heartfelt praise. May I truly learn to delight myself in you. Amen

Dancing Dragonflies


….they delight in doing everything the Lord wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:2-3

I have heard it said in Hong Kong that when there are many dragonflies around it is a sign that there is a typhoon (tropical storm) in the area. I don’t know if that is true but an abundance of these large insects – happily they are harmless – does often seem to coincide with pre-typhoon conditions. When my sister-in-law was visiting recently she was fascinated with our dragonflies, but it was the weekend after they left that we had the most amazing display from them.

Colin and I sat one morning and watched them with fascination. Possibly a dozen or so of them did their aerial dance over our glass-topped patio table. The attraction for them seemed to be little pools of water on the table top which had been left by the overnight showers. They danced and dipped, danced and dipped; again and again dipping to drink of the water. We got tired of watching them long before they finished drinking.

This reminded me of how the Christian life should be for us. There is much ‘dancing’ to be done with ministry responsibilities and opportunities constantly knocking at our doors, but we need to remember to drink of the life-giving water from God’s well. Just as the human body needs water to function effectively, so our spirits need God’s refreshing from His word and from being in His presence often.

I know that camels can store up much water and go for long distances without water and sometimes we may find ourselves in a position where we need to work hard with little time to draw deeply from God, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. What we are doing in life, whether secular or spiritual is all part of our life with God and we need to involve Him in it. This is a relationship with a person, it is not religion where we do our duty and go on our merry way to ‘do our own thing’. Our lives need to be in constant communion and communication with God.

We will be much more productive and effective if we constantly draw on the Spirit of God for strength and refreshing. That is what Jesus meant when he spoke about abiding in the vine. If we learn to do that then there is a constant ‘water’ supply. Much better than traveling through a parched desert desperately looking for an oasis!

Prayer: Dear Father, help me to abide in you and draw water from your wells of life-giving water. Amen.

Listening


……Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled…. Hebrews 3:7-8

How often do we hear parents complain to their children, “You are not listening to me.” ? Or it may be your spouse, your parent, your employer, your friend who has the same complaint. We all want people to listen; not just to hear our words but to understand what we are wanting our words to convey. To really listen to someone thoughtfully is to give them a sense of value.

The writer of Hebrews reiterates in this verse, and again in verse 15, the importance of our listening to God. He uses the example of the children of Israel in their travels from slavery in Egypt to freedom. God wanted to give them a land of blessing, but it was going to cost them some faith and some effort. Because they did not listen to God’s promises to them and believe Him, all of that faithless generation missed out on tremendous blessing. They left Egypt and died in the wilderness never seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise because of their unbelief.

There were two exceptions however; Joshua and Caleb were amongst the twelve spies sent to check out the land of their inheritance and they were the only two who believed that God could help them conquer the giants in the land and obtain their inheritance. The other ten spies told Moses, “It’s too hard for us to do. We’ll never conquer the giants.” They had their eyes on what they could do and not on what God could do with them. Sadly the people voted with the ten and refused to listen to God’s promises. They missed a lifetime of blessing as a result of their unbelief.

How about you? Are you listening to God and really believing His promises to you? What is your heart telling you? Is it stirred with the hope of adventures with Him? Are you thinking, “Yes, I can do this with your help, God.” Or are the voices of doubt and fear speaking louder to you and causing you to not hear the heart of God, which is to do you good all the days of your life?

This doesn’t mean life will not have challenges. The children of Israel had giants they needed to face and fight. Your giants will be different ones but God will still be with you as you face them in faith. The psalmist got it right when he wrote “for with our God we shall do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” (Psalm 60:12). He knew that it was not he who was going to conquer, but God WITH HIM. There is a world of difference! When faced with our giants or our challenges to faith, let’s not forget to listen to God speaking His promises to us, for above everything else He is faithful.

Prayer: Lord God, faithful One, forgive the times I have doubted your ability to see me through the challenges of life. Help me to allow you to walk with me into my battles and then I know together we will be more than conquerors. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Money Matters


If you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? Luke 16:12

One of the most difficult topics for pastors, teachers and preachers to speak about today is the one that deals with money. The hearers will invariably think that the speaker has a hidden agenda; they think that he is asking for money, so they ‘shut him down’ before he has begun. Sadly this has robbed Christians from much blessing because they have not heard that God wants to bless them and release them to be a blessing, but first they have to be taught how this can happen.

Jesus spoke about money on numerous occasions, and he spoke without apology. (About half of the parables he taught were about money.) He spoke to the rich; he spoke to the poor, and to everyone in between. He taught that if we knew how to handle our money correctly we could receive “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” (Luke 6:38). If we want confirmation of this we only need to look back into the Old Testament to see the pattern of God’s promises and the conditions for blessing His people. Deuteronomy 28 and Malachi 3:10 are just two of many passages you could read.

In the life of the first patriarch, Abraham, we can see how God blessed Abraham and his descendants after him. They were not afraid of material wealth; they attributed their blessings to God. Sometimes Christians today equate poverty and lack with godliness. They point to Jesus’ life on earth as an example. However we don’t see him lacking anything. People were glad to meet his needs. His coat that they cast lots for at the cross must have been worth having. It was no ordinary coat, it was seamless – scholars tell us it was an expensive piece of clothing. He was obviously not ashamed to wear it!

One time when I was struggling through some of these issues I ‘just happened’ upon a verse which says ‘You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was very rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich’. (2 Corinthians 8:9). I thought that this meant spiritually rich but when I dug deeper I discovered that the word ‘rich’ which had been used literally meant “to be made wealthy or be increased with goods”. It made sense to me in the light of the Old Testament teachings.

Jesus told us that we would always have the poor with us; he also taught that we should not ignore the needs of our brothers and sisters and he taught us to give to Caesar (the government) what belonged to them (taxes) and to give to God what belonged to God.

What we do with our money matters a lot to God. We are blessed to be a blessing to in this world. “It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.” Proverbs 11:24 NLT. The sure way to have enough for your needs with more left over to bless others is to give (2 Corinthians 9:6-11). I take this very seriously, it is God’s promise. God wants us to be faithful with what He gives us. Giving to him is the first thing we should do with our money. In that way we store up treasure in heaven and ensure that our own many needs will be met. God is no man’s debtor.

It is truly more blessed to give than to receive but God wants us to be able to receive from Him too. That’s why He wants us to know how to give. Sowing and reaping is one of his ‘laws of the universe’.

Prayer: Dear God, giver of every good and perfect gift. Help me to be faithful with what you give me so that you can entrust me with more. Help me to get my giving in line with your word and make me a blessing in the Kingdom of God. Amen.

Focus


They looked to Him and were radiant. Psalm 34:5 NKJ

I find that it is very easy for me to get disheartened and discouraged with ministry if I look for ‘people support’ rather than looking to please God. When God calls us to do something, no matter what it is, our focus needs to be on how well we are pleasing Him and not on how much support we are getting in what we are doing.

Recently I heard a story about a missionary in South America who had many years of faithful, but unfruitful service. He regularly wrote home to report on the work he was doing but he had no victory stories to tell his supporters. After some years God called this man to stop his ‘works’ and just spend time in prayer and in reading the Bible. He was to do only this for a whole year!

In obedience to God he began to do it but his supporters got upset with him because he was not doing the work as they thought it should be done. As the man remained focussed on God and prayed and soaked himself in God’s word for a whole year, suddenly things began to happen. Breakthrough came, which brought a great revival.

I’m sure it was difficult for this man to continue to obey God. I’m sure that he also felt that he was accomplishing even less than he had been doing before but you see, he was accomplishing something in the realm of the spirit where God works. So often our religious busyness covers a great dryness in our spirit. We are afraid to sit still and be confronted with our own deep need of intimacy with God. To do this takes great courage but we can comfort ourselves with Jesus’ words of affirmation for Mary who sat at His feet while Martha got frazzled in the kitchen and ended up in an angry outburst to Jesus.

In the midst of our lives, whether in big trials or small irritations, if we can stay focussed on God, trusting Him and doing what He tells us to, we can expect to be at peace and have a radiance that comes from the joy of knowing His approval and His support. This is, after all, the most important thing.

Psalm 81:13-14says this, “But oh that my people would listen to me….and walk in my paths. How quickly I would subdue their enemies.”
Yes, sometimes God’s hands are tied, as it were, because we will not take time to listen and obey Him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me to take time to focus on you every day so that I can learn to walk in your ways and know your blessings on my life. Amen

Prophetic Words

About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: "This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness." 2 Kings 20:1

I have just returned from a women’s retreat where each woman had encouraging prophetic words spoken to her by our speaker. This is always a faith-builder, especially if we need a spiritual boost. However, as our scripture today shows very clearly, not all prophetic words are necessarily encouraging. The gift of prophecy is for encouragement, edification and comfort in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:3), but there are those who operate in the office of a prophet who are sometimes called to bring bad news. (Not many people are prophets in this way.)

The book of Proverbs tells us very clearly that death and life are in the power of the tongue (18:21). Because we are each made in the image of God, our tongue is by nature prophetic. It holds great power. We have all experienced the power of words spoken over us. Sadly, it is often the power of negative words that has the most effect. We know that a child who is constantly criticized and intimidated will not usually grow into a very successful adult. We are told that it takes ten positive statements to counteract the effect of one negative one! When we understand that, we know that it is vital that our tongues speak words of life and not of death.

King Hezekiah was sick and near death when the prophet Isaiah came with words from God. “Put your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not live.” I don’t think that would have been the word Hezekiah wanted to hear. Perhaps you have heard a similar word from your doctor. See what Hezekiah did. He turned his face toward the wall, away from everyone. He didn’t argue with the prophet; his dealings now were with his God. He prayed, “Remember now, O Lord I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart and have done what was good in your sight.” He pleaded with God. In effect he said, “Lord I have been as obedient as I could, have mercy on me.”

Isaiah was on his way out of the king’s presence when the Lord spoke again – “Go, tell Hezekiah, I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.”

We need to always remember that God has the last word. The doctors speak the truth as they see it, from their understanding and their perspective. But God’s truth and perspective can always supersede that of man. We can be given a medical verdict but we can always come and plead our case with God. If God still has work for us to do, then the doctor’s prognosis does not have to be the final word.

Jesus demonstrated the heart of God as he walked the earth. He constantly healed the sick and even raised the dead. Jesus is the Lord and giver of life. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He hears our cry, he gives instruction, he heals. For Hezekiah the instruction was for a poultice of figs to be placed on his sore, for Naaman (2 Kings 5) it was to go wash in the Jordan river 7 times, for the leper it was to go show himself to the priest (Luke 5), for the blind man it was to go wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9).

You can cry out to God about the negative words that have brought death or despair or failure to some area of your life and He can turn it around. Is there something the Lord wants you to do today in order to secure your healing, physical, emotional or spiritual? God often requires us to do something in order to demonstrate that we believe His words of life more than the words of death. Ask Him, seek Him. He promises that you will find Him when you search for Him with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

Prayer: Lord have mercy on me! Amen

True Colours


And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect His glory even more. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

When pressure comes to bear on people and they act differently, (usually worse), than their normal behaviour, sometimes it is said that they are ‘showing their true colours’. In other words they are showing what they are really like inside, under their nice exterior.

This morning as I sat looking out the window before the sun rose, I noticed that the sky was clear but pale, not the lovely blue that we associate with a clear sky. However, as the sun rose in the early morning sky it became a deeper and deeper blue. It occurred to me that as we allow the light of God to shine into our hearts, the reflection will be better and brighter (2 Corinthians 3:18). We will be changed. Psalm 34:5 says that ‘they looked to him and were lightened’, or “made radiant”). Our lives don’t have to be pale and faded as the early morning sky, they can become a glorious blue, as we become reflections of the light of God.

When we become a Christian we get a brand new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old nature is finished with; we are given the nature of Christ. Our ‘true colour’ then becomes the Christ nature. We have to learn how to ‘wear it well’. If we sometimes slip and exhibit behaviour that belongs to our old nature (and we will), we should not consider that to be our true colours. We need to get God’s forgiveness for the sin which has momentarily clouded the face of His light, we need to also forgive ourselves then get up and move back into the light of His love so that we can again reflect the true colours of who we are in Christ. We don’t need to go on feeling bad about our sin.

This is what Jesus called ‘abiding in the vine’. When we abide in the vine we will produce the fruit of Christ’s nature. You can read the list of the fruit in Galatians 5:22-23.

2 Corinthians 3:18 speaks of a veil being removed. All of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the new nature that is mine through believing in Jesus Christ. Help me to live in your light so that my life reflects your joy and your glory and brings you praise. Amen

Goodbyes

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me.”
John 14:1

This is a week of goodbyes. On Sunday my friend said her final goodbye to her sister who died of cancer. She had had a long time to prepare for this sad parting. It is also the end of the school year and many are leaving for long summer vacations back in their homelands. These are happy partings knowing that we will be together again, God willing, in a few weeks.

This morning we are going to the airport to bid farewell to our dear Rwandan friend and his two delightful teenagers. This is a sad parting for us – losing such a dear and faithful servant of the Lord who has been such a blessing in our church family, but there is much joy that his refugee status of many years is about to change with his immigration to his new homeland.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to our home of 4 years which has been a gift from God to us and to those who have stayed with us. And then my friend had to say goodbye to her precious “Lappy Cat” who was old and sick. Yes, definitely a week of goodbyes.

As I was reading the last few chapters of John’s gospel I saw Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples, preparing them for his departure from this earth. They had mixed emotions but I think the biggest was confusion. They thought his kingdom was to be here on earth but now he tells them that he is leaving and they are to be the ones to carry out his work. They didn’t feel ready and they certainly didn’t want to say goodbye to this man who was their friend, their teacher, their mentor. No, they were not ready to say goodbye.

Jesus was not unaware of their lack of readiness and he gave them the wonderful promise that he would send the Holy Spirit to them who would be their teacher, counselor, guide, comforter. He would be all they would need to continue life and ministry without him.

The Holy Spirit was not only for the disciples but for every believer for all time. He is also there for us to lead and guide, to teach, to counsel and to comfort. What a wonderful gift. He is there for us constantly but often it’s in the most painful times that he becomes most real to us. When our need is great, especially in those times of saying goodbye, he is there to comfort, strengthen and bring peace.

Do you need to experience his help in some way today? Is there a goodbye, a trial, a need for direction or counsel that you have? You don’t need to struggle alone, just invite him to make himself real to you. He waits for your invitation.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit; come with your comfort, your wisdom, your teaching. I receive your presence and I thank you Father for your wonderful provision for me. Amen

Caught Off Guard


If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Luke 12:39-40

This week on a lovely sunny day the typhoon number 1 signal was hoisted at the HK Observatory. We don’t get too concerned about that because the storm is still a few hundred kilometers away. Overnight the signal was raised to number 3 and the weather deteriorated but life continues as normal until the next signal (#8) goes up. That’s when everyone leaves school or work and goes home to safety until the storm is past. We knew that this storm was only supposed to pass within 280 kms of us and that we would only get the outer rain bands. The signal never went higher than #3 but the weather was certainly far worse than we would have expected. Many trees were damaged and it was estimated that around 700 trees were uprooted in HK. There were quite a lot of trees felled in our area and many flats were flooded as the strong winds forced rain in around window frames and air conditioners. We were really caught off guard.

I realised that it is so easy to be complacent and to think that everything will be okay. But really we need to be listening to the Holy Spirit and asking him how we should pray and what we should do in situations. The Bible tells us that there will be wars and rumours of wars but the end is not yet (Matthew 24:6). We cannot, however, be complacent. We need divine direction to protect us in these days. We cannot, we must not, think that things are going to always be the same: we need to stay on guard, watching and praying – for ourselves, our families and for the nations.

If you are like me, you will have to ask the Lord to help you do that. Praying is very easy for some and not so easy for others. It is important to learn how to pray effectively so that the enemy cannot rob us of what God has given us – our precious family, friends, and our property, our health and our resources. Also we need to know how to be on guard so that we are not caught ‘sleeping’ when Jesus returns. Yes, He is coming again, at a time that we do not expect. Don’t be caught off guard but be alert and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

(Read Luke 21:34-36)

Prayer: Heavenly Father would you help me to be sensitive to your leading and prompting and to pray accordingly. Help me to be alert to the times and the seasons, but never to fear, for you are my protection and my times are in your hand. Amen