Category Archives: Life Lessons

Life Lessons

Beware of the Temptation in Your Pocket!

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    Do you have an idol? You might ask whatever I’m talking about! An idol? Of course not. The very idea is ridiculous!!!    But do you know what God classes as an idol? An idol is anything that you can’t possibly do without. Anything that you raise up in the place that God  wants from you. Something that, at least for a moment, takes first place in your heart.

    How do you feel if you find you have left your phone behind when you go out? Does something seem to be missing? Is there a feeling of panic?    What exactly do you use your smart phone for anyway? Do you use it merely for messages or talking on the phone? Or do you sneak looks at some of the things on line that you wouldn’t like your mother see you doing?     Whatever your idol is, will prove to be a special kind of temptation for you when you use your phone. If you idolize sexual pleasure, you will probably be tempted to use your phone to look at pornography. Did you know that more than half of all pornography is now viewed on mobile devices like yours? This means that many people like you bought a smart phone so they could text with their friends and take pictures of their vacation, but somehow they ended up using it to look at pornography or other dubious sites. They used this great, God-given technology to do harm instead of good.

    Or perhaps this isn’t your problem, but you like to pass on juicy bits of news with unkind innuendos of the ones you are texting about! If you find yourself being tempted in this way, ask God to give you the strength to resist looking at doubtful sites, and sending those texts. Right now. If that doesn’t work, go back to the ordinary small phone that only does talking and texting until the temptation is out of your system. Remember that verse that says And now, little children, abide in Him (Jesus); that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming  (1 John 2:28).

Life Lessons

Why do Bad things Happen to Good People?

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   We went to a funeral on Saturday….a mother with young children. It just didn’t  seem to be fair!! We do the best we can and then things go wrong for us! I got to thinking about this age-old question and then thought about a man in the Bible whose name was Job (pronounced Jobe). He was a good man who always did the best he could and then he lost everything. But reading this story  will give us a picture of why this happened which will help us to see things differently and put them in a wider picture when things go wrong for us too.

   Let’s turn to the book of Job in the Bible and see what it says about him….   In chapter one, verse one, we read….”there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, one who feared (respected and reverenced) God and who hated evil.”

So we see that Job always did his best and as we read down the chapter, we see the things that he did for himself and for his family. Let’s turn it into a story……

   One day, God’s team of angels came to report to Him. God noticed a shiny, glistening, sneaky looking one among them who  didn’t usually come, and recognised him instantly. “Where have you come from, Satan?” He asked. “I’ve been walking up and down all over the place,” Satan replied shiftily. “Have you seen any person as good as My servant Job is?”, God asked, “No-one else is as good in the whole world as he is….he loves Me and hates everything evil! He makes me an offering every day, not only for himself but also for his family.”

“Ho”, sneered Satan looking at God, ” No wonder he is so good! You look after him on every side, and have given him all he’s got! I bet if you took it all away from him it’d be a different story! He would curse You to Your face if that happened!!”     God knew His man, and He knew He could trust Job to do the right thing. “OK,” He said to Satan, “We’ll see. I’m allowing you to take away everything that he has. I know he will stand firm for Me.”  Satan chuckled gleefully. ” I’ll make him sorry for following God’s ways. I can beat him!”    So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

   The next day, Job got up early as he usually did, and made the morning sacrifice for himself and his wife. Then he made another sacrifice to cover each of his children. As he did this, he prayed for each of them, as he did every day. “Lord”, he said, “Please help the boys to stand firm for you; help them to resist temptations, and always be helpful  to their mother and sisters. I pray for the girls, Lord that they will not be vain with how they look, but that they will try their best to be beautiful with their minds and their speech.”

   Job knew that his eldest son was putting on a party that day for his brothers and sisters, and he hoped that everything would go well for them all. While he was sitting there after breakfast thinking about them, he saw one of his servants rushing up the path. He could tell something was wrong. “What’s the matter?” he called out as the man got close enough to hear. “We were out in the field ploughing with the bullocks and the donkeys were there beside them when a marauding tribe from over the hill came and rounded them up, killing all the herdsmen, and I’m the only one who got away!” With that, he fell down on the ground panting with the run, and fright at what he had seen.

    The man had hardly finished telling Job this when another servant came panting up. “Oh!,” he said, “There was a massive lightning storm over the paddock where the sheep were, and they have all been struck dead as well as the other servants there. I’m the only one who managed to get away to tell you!”    A third servant came panting in from another direction and said, “The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yes, and killed the servants with swords; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.” Job hardly had time to take all this in when another servant came rushing in from the direction of the oldest boy’s house. “Oh, oh,” he wailed when he saw Job, “Your sons and your daughters were eating their meal and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house when there was a terrific gust of wind rushing in from the desert like a tornado, and the roof was lifted off and the whole thing collapsed on everyone else in the house, and they are all dead! I’m the only one to  escape and tell you!”

   Job had been sitting down all this time, and now he stood up and tore his long robe off his shoulders. He went inside and shaved the hair all off his head to show how upset he was.    His wife and servants wondered how he would cope with all this bad news and the disasters that had happened. But he didn’t curse or swear, or even complain. It didn’t even enter his head to ask God why this had all happened.    Instead, he got down on his knees and prayed in front of everyone left in his house, and said, ” I was born naked with nothing, and I will go back to God the same way, with nothing. The LORD gave me these things, and the LORD has taken them away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”     In all these disasters Job didn’t sin or complain and blame God foolishly. He had truly shown a godly attitude to a disastrous situation, just as God had known he would.

    What a lesson that is to us!! This is how we should react when disaster falls upon us…to not complain or blame God. He may be going to use you as an example to others, and even if it is hard at the time, what a privilege to be able to exalt God at a time as this. We must remember that God’s ways are always perfect, and that He knows what He is doing and allowing!

Life Lessons

My Heart, God’s Home….Part 12..

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                                     Have We REALLY Handed all to Him??

     On one of my morning trysts with my Lord in the living room before anyone else was stirring, we were reading together His promises about me in abiding in Him. I was sure I WAS abiding in Him….after all, here we were together enjoying fellowship together over His Word weren’t we?

   Then He turned me to that verse in the Old Testament where the psalmist was asking God to search his heart, and know his thoughts, and try him to see if there was still some wicked way in him (Psalm 139:23-24).    I started to squirm as I thought how scary it would be if He turned those pure and holy eyes on my innermost being! I couldn’t trust myself to be totally one hundred percent honest. I knew what I ought to be, and I knew that I wanted to be that, but WAS I? I knew that my heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked  and that only God could know it (Jeremiah 17:9-10).  I didn’t even know it myself!

” I know that you want to follow Me with all your heart”, Jesus said, “Would you mind giving me your smart phone for a while?”

What would I do without it? I shrunk back, keeping it in my pocket. What if he went on to the log, and saw what I’d been looking at? And read those catty comments I’d put onto Facebook? And read some of those suggestive remarks my friends had sent to make me laugh?     Suddenly those things didn’t seem quite so clever or witty as I’d thought they were when I got them! Besides, what would I do without the phone there at my fingertips? Someone might try to get hold of me, or worse still, maybe the Lord would answer for me! What would my friends think if they got Him on the phone?    It came on me in a flash, that He already knew all those things! There was nothing at all that I could hide from Him! He didn’t need to get the phone to know those things…the point was, was I ready to hand all those things over to Him too? Those little resentments and excuses that I always made, refusing to take the blame. Being offended if I thought I was being overlooked?

“Oh Lord”, I cried in repentance, “You can see me through and through, you know every little rotten thought I’ve ever had. Help me to walk in Your way everlasting, beginning now so I won’t be ashamed before You as I go into eternity!” “My child”, He said with that beautiful smile of His, “That is what I’ve been wanting to hear from you all along!”

He handed me my phone back again, “Now use this for My glory, speaking of the things of Myself to build others up, sending words of encouragement to them, and praising others”. My desires were now what He desired, and He was giving it all back to me! What joy! What blessings He bestows!  “Oh Lord!” I cried, “Help me to be each day what You want me to be, and to do only what You want me to do!”

   I knew then the truth of Psalm 37:4 which says to delight yourself  in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart, because I WAS only wanting what He wanted for me!

Life Lessons

My Heart, God’s Home…11….The Garden

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     Things settled down and everything seemed to be going smoothly. I was having my daily morning times with the Lord when He opened His word to me and I talked with Him. They were precious times and I wouldn’t have missed them for anything. I had banished all the doubtful things from the study of my mind, and I was feasting on the good and pure things that He delighted in.

  My cupboards were clean and tidy with all the rubbish disposed of to the dump. He was teaching me how to make the best use of my time and to make useful contacts with others. Everything was neat and tidy, with my cupboards all clean and I had nothing to be ashamed of, or so I thought.

   One day, the Lord came to me and said with a whimsical smile, “Um, have you looked at the garden lately?” I glanced out the window, and said hastily, “But Lord, You know how busy I’ve been doing Your work, and taking time to be with You each day!”

“Ah,” He said, “But you cannot afford to get slack in anything that belongs to Me. I know I could do this work for you with a single word, but that is not  how I have ordained things. It is up to you to weed and tend this garden, or you will not be able to totally enjoy the beauty I have provided. The plants will be covered in weeds, and the dead heads on the flowers will prevent new growth and continual flowering!”

“Oh”, I said somewhat shamefacedly, “I’m sorry Lord, I’ll get onto it straight away and promise I won’t let it get away from me again!”    I was beginning to realise that serving the Lord is a lifelong daily task! When the shrubs were starting to grow too rampantly, they needed trimming back to keep their shape, and other plants had to be staked to hold them upright. So as I began to weed and trim, the garden started to look cared for…I had always known this, but had been too busy doing other things. The garden became a joy to behold, and those passing by were able to enjoy it too.

The next time the Lord came to see things, He commended me on keeping it looking so good. He wasn’t the only One to notice this either….the neighbours began to say how much they were enjoying the flowers that were being grown, and not only that, but I was able to give away the extra fruit and vegetables. I had more than enough for my own needs. I thanked and praised the Lord for what He was able to do with my life….after all, all that I had He had given me in the first place! It was up to me to use these things for His glory!

Life Lessons

My Heart, God’s Home….(7)…the Hall Closet

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The Hall Closet….,.

One day I found Him waiting for me at the door, An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, “There’s a peculiar smell in the house. Something must be dead around here. It’s upstairs. I think it is in the hail closet.” As soon as He said this, I knew what He was talking about. There was a small closet up there on the hall landing, just a few feet square. In that closet, behind lock and key, I had one or two little personal things that I didn’t want anyone to know about. Certainly, I did not want Christ to see them. I knew they were dead and rotting things left over from the old life, but I didn’t really want to get rid of them.  What if I ever needed them again? Reluctantly, I went up with Him, and as we mounted the stairs the odor became stronger and stronger.

     He pointed to the door. I was angry. That’s the only way I can put it. I had given Him access to the library, the dining room, the living room, and the bathroom,  and now He was asking me about a little two-by-four closet. I said to myself, “This is too much. I am not going to give Him the key.” “Well,” He said, reading my thoughts, “if you think I’m going to stay up here on the second floor with this smell, you are mistaken. I will go out on the porch.” Then I saw Him start down the stairs. When one comes to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen is to sense Him withdrawing His fellowship. I had to give in.

“Yes I’ll give You the key,” I said sadly, ‘but You will have to open the closet and clean it out. I haven’t the strength to do it.” “Just give me the key,” He said. “Authorize me to take care of that closet and I will.” With trembling fingers I passed the key to Him, and He took it, walked over to the door, and opened it. The stench that came out of it nearly took my breath away! But He entered, took out all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there, and threw it away.

Then He cleaned the closet, washed it out and painted it. It was done in a moment’s time. Oh, what victory and relief to have those dead things out of my life! I thought of that verse that says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9)

Life Lessons

Help Needed; Help Received!

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    Last week I wrote about how to be prepared in some sort of emergency, and of course, about the greatest emergency of all, that which affects our soul and spirit.     About thirty years ago, we had a sailing boat, and one of our greatest pleasures was taking our visitors out for a sail on the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand which was our base. We had done this many times, and this particular time we had visitors from England with us. Coming back to base after a pleasant three day trip on the water, the skipper thought he would give Howard a chance to take the steering wheel.       The wind was directly behind us, taking us gently up the channel to the mooring. The sails were in what is called the “goose-wing” position, which means that one sail is out one way and the other sail the other way. But it is most important that the boat stay with wind directly behind.

     I was inside the cabin, packing things away when I heard Howard calling out from outside. On going out into the cockpit, I saw the skipper lying on the seat, moaning , and with blood everywhere.      Howard, with his lack of experience, had let the yacht wander just the slightest bit off beam, and a gust of wind had swung the boom over with a bang,  catching the skipper unawares and throwing him down onto the gunwales.     I started the motor and quickly ran up front, and dropped the sails. This made the yacht easier to steer and I felt capable of taking it in to the mooring. Once this was done, it was imperative to get help as quickly as possible.      I sent Howard ashore with instructions to go to the end house and ask them there to ring a friend up the road who had his yacht moored next to ours, and ask him to come down to help.  “Oh, that’s no good, he’s at work”, the lady at the house said (I had completely forgotten it was a Friday!). As Howard turned to leave,  the lady called out, “Here he is, coming in the gate!”

    Howard quickly explained the situation, and our friend went out to his yacht, and called up on the radio telephone for help and for an ambulance to come. By this time, the skipper had just about filled a pillow with blood from the gash on his head, and  was decidedly light-headed. The ambulance eventually came to the beach, and as the tide has risen quite a bit more by then, the yacht was able to be taken in much closer to where the ambulance was waiting. We managed to get him ashore and into the ambulance where the two staff were able to attend to him.

     I went with him in the ambulance, leaving our friend to take the yacht back to the mooring and put it away, while Howard drove our car behind the ambulance to the hospital where the staff were waiting with a bottle of plasma to put into him. This perked him up pretty quickly, and he was ready to go home with the rest of us. “Oh no, you don’t!” said the doctor, “You are staying here overnight to make sure you are alright!”

     Much later, I asked the friend who had just turned up, what made him come to the bay at that time. “Well”, he said, “Work was pretty slack and I thought I might as well go home early and take the money that I owed the man at the end house on the way!” After asking him what time of the day that would have been, I worked out that he would have left his office at the very time that the boom had swung over causing the ropes to catch the skipper’s head! I couldn’t help but marvel at the Lord’s timing and prompting….nothing would persuade me that it was mere coincidence! Everything had dovetailed together perfectly to get us help when we needed it most!

Life Lessons

More Frustrations!

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     My frustrations didn’t finish with the computer, as then the printer began to play up. The trouble was that the printer was the problem in the first place, and I didn’t want to face the facts. So I went through all the frustrations of having the printer work sometimes and then not working other times. Not being 100% computer savvy didn’t help matters either, and I bumbled along on my own until in desperation I went to the shop and bought another printer.  This time the technician came with it and got it all going as it should.

     This all reminded me of how life can be for us at times. When things seem to be going all wrong, it pays to go to the real expert, the technician that knows all about how things work. Yes, it may cost more than we want to pay, but at least the problems get solved . So it is in life.       When things go wrong, it pays to go to the expert, in this case, the Maker…and our maker is the God of heaven. He has all the answers written in His Handbook… in His handbook the Bible.  Yes, we may not like to read what He says the problem is, but no amount of bumbling around on our own can fix it. We have to humble ourselves and do  what He advises.

     I didn’t like what the man at the shop told me, but I could see that it was no use buying a new machine if it wasn’t set up properly by someone who knew what they were doing, even if it cost me extra. It may cost us the price of apologising to someone, or making reparation for some wrong we have done.      Most of all, we have to recognise that the source of all our problems is SIN, and confess this to God.  The Bible also says that if we confess our sin, He will forgive us and cleanse us from all the cause of the problems we are experiencing . (1 John 1:9)  Until we do this, the problem will never get fixed. The man who wrote the Book of Psalms, had a big problem in his life, and he cried out to God…. “Create in me a new heart O God” and “Give me the joy of Your salvation again” (Psalm 51: verses 10, 12).

    In the same way I had to humble myself to admit I needed to get rid of the troublesome printer, even though I didn’t like doing it. Then with the new one that had been properly set up, I was able to enjoy the work I was doing on the computer knowing that I would be able to print it out without any hold ups at the end.

Life Lessons, Uncategorized

Frustrations!

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      My computer has been playing up and causing me much frustration. One day it would behave itself, and I would give a sigh of relief….”Ah, it’s come right”, I would think and then the next day it would be back to its old tricks again. Even my fix-it man didn’t seem to be able to get anywhere with it. So I bit the bullet and replaced it with a new one. 

     It reminded me of how frustrating we must be to God (if indeed He could ever feel that way!) when we don’t operate as He wants us to. Yet He doesn’t get rid of us, He just works patiently with us until we wake up and realise that the troubles we are in, are all of our own making. How thankful we can be that the Lord is always there to forgive when we come to Him in contrition and confession! He will never throw us out, although we may have to pay in this life for our foolish actions, We should always remember that our choices have consequences  which we may not like, and which we often have to live with for the rest of our lives.

     My old computer probably didn’t like being thrown into the dump out in the weather, but that was the end result of it. Just remember the next time you are being tempted by something that seems exciting and desirable, that the end result is only likely to bring tears and regrets. It is better to be safe than sorry about some of these choices that face us as we travel down life’s highway!