From there we went into the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. I spent a lot of time and hard work here trying to satisfy my wants. I said to Him, “This is one of my favourite rooms. I am quite sure You will be pleased with the food we eat!” He sat down at the table with me and asked, “What is on the menu for dinner?” “Well,” I said, “my favourite dishes are money, academic degrees and stocks, with newspaper articles of fame and fortune as side dishes.” Those were the things I liked – secular meals. When the food was put in front of Him, He said nothing, but left it on His plate uneaten. I said to Him, “Master, don’t You like this food? What’s the matter?” He said, “I have food to eat that you do not know of. If you want food that really satisfies you, you must do the will of the Father. Stop seeking the things you want, your own desires, and satisfaction. Seek to please Him. That is the food that will satisfy you.” (John 4:32, 34) It was there at the table, that He gave me a taste of the joy of doing God’s will. How full of flavour it was! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. As I began to delight myself in Him and His things, I found my desires were changing, and He gave me every one of them!! (Psalm 37:4)
Category Archives: Morning Musings
My Living Room.
I had invited Jesus Christ into my heart in all sincerity, and was so excited at the thought of Him being with me all the time. Everything was going to be just wonderful now that He was with me every day! I couldn’t wait to show Him around. The first room we entered was the living room. Now my living room is my favourite room, depending on the time of the day it is! But it is the room where I can relax and be myself. It isn’t always particularly tidy, but it has a nice homey feeling. As Jesus looked around He said, “This is indeed a delightful room. Let’s come here every day and talk together”.
Well, as a young Christian I was thrilled. I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes with Christ every morning. He said, “I will be here early every morning. Meet me here, and we will start the day together.”
So every morning, I would go downstairs to the living room. He would take a book of the Bible from the case, and we would read it together. He would unfold to me God’s wonderful truths, and my heart sang as He shared the love and the grace He had toward me. These were wonderful times.
But after a while, this time began to be shortened. I began to miss days now and then. Urgent matters would crowd out the quiet times of conversation with Jesus.
I remember one morning rushing downstairs, eager to be on my way. I passed the living room and noticed that the door was open. Looking in, I saw a fire in the fireplace and Jesus was sitting there. Suddenly in dismay I thought to myself, “He is my guest. I invited Him into my heart! He has come as my Saviour and Friend, and yet I am neglecting Him.” I stopped, turned, and shame facedly went in. With downcast glance, I said, “Master, forgive me. Have You been here all these mornings?”
“Yes,” He said, “I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at great cost, I value your fellowship. Even if you cannot keep the quiet time for your own sake, do it for mine,”
The truth that Christ wanted my company hadn’t entered my head. I hadn’t realised that He wanted me to be with Him and might be waiting for me! In fact, I had often wondered if my prayers were doing any good, and then I remembered how He has told us to always keep praying, and to never stop doing this ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 25).
I realised then that the enemy of our souls does everything in his power to keep us too busy to have our prayer time, and he has even whispered in my ear, “You don’t pray very well, and it’s a waste of time doing it”. But God showed me the other side of the coin when He says, “My Spirit also helps you in your weaknesses. Even if you don’t know how to pray very well, He will make intercession for you with groanings which cannot be explained” (Romans 8:28). Once I realised that, I went ahead and prayed just the same, no matter how feeble it seemed. So now I make sure that I don’t leave Him alone in the living room of my heart, but to see that I give Him the first minutes of each day….this time with Him is infinitely worth it!!
My Heart is my House.
I came across this story the other day of our heart being like a home for God. It was written just as if Jesus was walking through our heart with us as though it was a house. In fact, the Bible bears this thought out. In the book of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 we read, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? You have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”.
We tend to forget that what we do with our bodies is what reflects to those watching us….if we make even the smallest slip up, it gives them a chance to point the finger. There is no mercy for the believer who does wrong, and as it was said to David when he got Bathsheba pregnant, “You have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, and because of this, the child also that is born unto you shall surely die.” (2 Samuel 12:14)
For a building to be strong, it must have a good foundation, as well as be properly built. These things don’t just happen, they have to be properly prepared, so we must see that our foundation is strong, stable and level. We have to see that it is built on what the Bible tells us…..
In Ephesians 2:19-22, we read….. “Now you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in Whom you are also built together into a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit”.
And so as we go through each room together, I suddenly see it as He sees it all, and I see what needs to be altered, things to be got rid of, and other things added that I had no idea of before. I find that as I begin to delight in Him and what He wants for me, so my desires change to what He wants to give me, and I find that all that I want is what He gives me! (Psalm 37:4)
So our house is built strongly on a good foundation, and we have been living in it for a while. Now we have invited the Lord to be with us in our home, so we will see just how this works out as time goes by…….the house is good and strong, but what have we put in it???? We will find out in the weeks to come.
What Are You Building On?
There is so much building going on around our town these days, we wonder where it is all going to end. New streets are going in and whole new developments taking place, changing the landscape from rural to suburban.
I was reading this morning about the work which we are each one building as we go through life, and what we will take with us when we leave this life. For a building to be stable and firm, it must have a good foundation, and in this building of life, what are we depending on for our foundation? Is it a good education? A good career? What will stand us in good stead as we come to the end of our life? After all, what or Who determines our building standards?
The Bible tells us that we must have the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, otherwise our building will collapse. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 that without Him as our Foundation, what we do with our life will either count for nothing or for something, in the life to come. It is not the amount of money in our bank balance or our possessions that will count, it is our character and relationships. The most important of these, is our relationship with our Maker, with God Himself. If we have a right relationship with God, then all other relationships will fall into the right place.
We read of wealthy men who have all that heart could wish for, and yet they do not know or acknowledge God….the building of their life is on shaky ground indeed! Then there are others who have very little of this world’s goods, and yet they have peace of mind and heart because they know God as their Heavenly Father. This is not to say that a person’s possessions or lack of them determines their standing with God… it is what their heart and mind is fixed on that determines this. It pays for each one of us to search these things out now, and not to put our heads in the sand thinking another day will do! It just might get to be too late!
Global Warming.
Global Warming. (30th June 2022)
We hear a lot about global warming and climate change these days, and while we cannot deny that things HAVE changed somewhat, we don’t need to worry or to think that things are out of control altogether due to what man does or doesn’t do. True, the weather does change, but it always has and it always will. That is the way it has been decreed, by the Maker of all things. When the tides were put in place due to the pull of the sun and moon, God said, “Thus far you shall come, and no further” and He reminded the man called Job of this, saying “The proud waves shall come no further!” (Job 38:11)
Then again, we hear that the ice cap is melting and this will make the sea rise to swamp all the lowland areas. Have you ever looked at a bottle of water that is frozen? It expands in the middle when it is frozen and when it thaws out, the water level is still exactly the same as before it was frozen!! This can give us confidence that even if the sea DOES melt around the icecaps, the sea level can’t rise any more than before it was frozen. In many areas of the earth where the sea freezes over, we don’t hear of the water level rising when the thaw comes. Yes, there may be floods at that time, but everything levels out again once it is all over. There is truly a wonderful Creator who has put everything in place and decreed that this is how it will stay until the end of time.
People say, “Well, look at the Pacific Islands that are being covered by the sea now, and how much worse it will be in the years to come!” We can’t deny that in some places, the sea is covering what used to be dry land in the past. But stop and think a moment, these islands are formed from many deposits of coral that over the years is slowly breaking down, so in actual fact, the islands are slowly sinking rather than the tide over-all getting higher!
So take heart, there is no need to be afraid of what is being said by those who think they know. Instead, look into these things from the point of view of the Creator of all things, who looked at His Creation in the beginning when it was completed, and said, “These things are VERY good!”
A New Life!
A new life is such a precious thing! For both parents and baby, there is a whole new way of life opening up. For the parents, there is consideration to be learned for each other and also for the new life that has been given to them. Especially if the newborn has some disability which comes to light a bit further down the track….there will be broken nights and maybe medical bills which haven’t been reckoned on. For the little one, there is so much to be learned….everything in fact! How to focus on things, people and objects. How to hold one’s head up, and then how to reach and take hold of something. So many fascinating sights, sounds and smells to learn, to say nothing of new routines to be formed.
Wise parents will learn to train this little one in ways to save the least disturbance in the household’s routines. So many babies seem to learn to cry for the slightest bit of attention, and they find very quickly if this works! Once it has been established that baby is not uncomfortable in any way, and is full and dry, then it doesn’t hurt to give them a little space for crying until the child realises that it isn’t going to bring the immediate attention that it is looking for. It is sad indeed to hear of parents who have not been able to have an unbroken night’s sleep for nine months or more.
A child who knows that it is loved and cared for, will become a joy to its parents, and a satisfied little being, happy in itself. There is much instruction given in God’s Word about how to bring up a child in God’s way….after all, God is our Maker and it behoves us to read the Maker’s instructions on how to train a child in His ways!
In God’s Image!
There’s a statement in Genesis chapter one, verses twenty-six to thirty-one that tells us how and where man came to be and why. There is no need to go any further, not to scientists or explorers, philanthropists or other wise men of the world. God has told us all we need to know, and as one old friend of ours once said, “God says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” Here is the Biblical account…..
Genesis 1:26 ….Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food .30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
I pondered this passage and thought about it a lot….in what way was I created to be like God? In the first place we are all three part beings with a body, soul and spirit. God Himself is a three part Being, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Then God desires fellowship with man….a freely given, reciprocal friendship. We too, want fellowship with other people in general, and another person in particular. We have the capacity to fellowship with God, our Creator, and always feel that something is missing until we have it. Without this connection we only have a two dimensional outlook on life, like a flat picture….with it, we see things in a 3D effect, being a part of what is around. We can appreciate the creation of God and look at things with different eyes, marvelling at His creativity and giving Him thanks for what He has made.
There is another way we are made in His image….we can think and reason, we can create things. Think of the craftsman who makes a beautiful piece of furniture, the artist who can paint a lovely picture, the inventor who thinks up these amazing things that we take for granted every day!
We are told that at the end of the creation period, God looked at all He had made and saw that it was “very good”. As each thing was created, He could see that it was good, but when He created man to top it all off, He felt that it was VERY good! Think of the satisfaction we have of doing a good job well! The satisfaction of seeing a perfect cake come out of the oven, a garment that has been lovingly made fitting to perfection, the shining car performing as it should….another proof that we are made in God’s image!
We can see too, that man has the capacity to utilise all that God has created….all these things were created for man’s use and enjoyment. Let us acknowledge this and give Him the thanks and praise for it all, and be careful to not abuse the trust that He has given us!
Stand Fast!
Standing Fast!
In the sermon we were listening to this week, we were exhorted to Stand fast! It is so much easier to go with the flow, to float downstream than to paddle against the current, to stick to your convictions than to give in to popular opinion.
We have seen this in the last few weeks in our community, our church and in our family. How much do our convictions mean to us? We have seen more than one who will not give in, lose their jobs. All they have striven for through the years, and almost their freedoms of movement have gone.
If we had been told that this would happen in this free country of New Zealand three years ago, we would not have thought it possible. Now we find ourselves barred from certain areas, as we are told to move on by authoritarian voices, and who knows how much worse it will get! But if we can do this in the secular world, does it follow on in our spiritual life which is far more important? We are told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 :13 to “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong”. And again in Ephesians 6:11-13 we are given the reason why this is so necessary.
We aren’t in this fight alone, God has provided His armour for us to use, but our part is to take it up and use it. Stand up for what is right and don’t give in!