Monthly Archives: July 2021

Random Devotional Thoughts

Lead Us Not into Temptation….

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  We have been thinking about temptations of different sorts for a couple of weeks now, and these thoughts have come to me yet again….  A young man training for missionary service remembered hearing the following sentence, and he never forgot it…”.There’s no point in praying, ‘And lead us not into temptation’ if you go where temptation lurks “. This statement made a deep impression on him, and kept him from many a compromising situation.

    A lady I once knew wanted badly to give up smoking. She had been convicted about the habit for a long time, but had excused herself by saying, “I know God loves me just the same if I smoke or if I don’t!!”  Someone else asked “If you gave me your smokes today, how would you get on?” She promptly replied, “I’d just go and get another packet!” At least she was honest with that statement!!

   But now the conviction had come more strongly than ever, and besides that she couldn’t really afford the weekly cost of her habit, so she once more asked for prayer to overcome it. We didn’t hear for some time if she had overcome it or not.

     To go back to our original statement, God will only answer our prayer with a “yes” if we do our part by either keeping away from temptation or getting rid of the cause of it altogether. It’s a two-way thing, as are a lot of God’s promises. He will do His part if we will do ours.

     It’s the same with salvation…He has provided it, but we have to take it from Him. When we are given a present, we have to take it and open it before we can enjoy it or use it. Let’s think about these things and get the full benefit from God’s promises!

Morning Musings

That Temptation in Your Pocket (2)

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   If you idolize popularity, if it is being admired and having lots of followers that makes you feel good about yourself, then you will be tempted to use your smart-phone to pursue that idol. You may use the camera to take inappropriate photographs of yourself and put them on  Instagram, or you may use the Facebook app to say harsh words about other people. That phone that can be used to do so much good and to bring so much encouragement can  also be used to cause great harm.

There are not many people who buy a phone intending to use it to harm others or to look at pornography. But where your heart is, there your technology will be also. The way you use your technology reveals your heart.

   It shows whether your heart is oriented toward God and toward finding true joy and satisfaction in Him, or whether you are attempting to find counterfeit joy and satisfaction in the things He forbids. At any moment, your heart has a purpose for your phone. Yes, thank God for your smart-phone, but plead with Him for wisdom to use it well, and guard your heart.

 Use It to the Glory of God!

 And now it is time to take that phone out of the box and to turn it on for the first time. As you hold it in your hand, why don’t you take a moment to pray? Ask God to help you to use that phone well. Commit before Him right now that, to the best of your abilities, you will only ever use it to serve His purposes. Ask a believing friend or two to be your accountability and check in regularly. Then go and glorify Him with and through it.

Morning Musings

Beware of the Temptation in Your Pocket (1)

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This blog has been on this site before, but it doesn’t do us any harm to be reminded of the traps that surround us….

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 anyone at home to 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. They used this great, God-given technology to do harm instead of good.

    If you find yourself being tempted in this way, ask God to give you the strength to resist looking at those sites. 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

Growing Older!

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    I went to visit an old friend of ours last week who is now in a rest home and not able to get out much. I remembered how we had known him for over forty years, from the time when he was a vigorous man in his middle age, involved in his job and in various things in the local church. It is sad to see him as he is now, not able to look after himself, or even able to read for himself.

   I couldn’t help thinking of how we all like to think that things won’t change on one hand, and yet on the other hand we don’t think of how life IS going to change if we live long enough! We all want to live a long time, but no-one wants to get old!  We see other people getting older and becoming infirm, and yet we never stop to think what it must be like to be like that ourselves!

   But this is part of life. The Bible says that our life is like the flowers that start off in bud, then come into full flower, and finally get faded and then die down,  We have a graphic picture of this shown to us in Isaiah chapter 40, verses 6b-8  “all flesh is grass and all the goodness of it is as the flower of the field, The grass withers, the flowers fade because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Surely people are like the grass which withers, and the flowers that fade but the Word of our God shall stand for ever”.

    In that last verse we have the whole point of life….God’s Word stands for ever! We can totally depend on what He says. Another friend of ours used to say, “God says it; I believe it, and that settles it!”

   When people like to argue with what we believe, we can hang onto that saying….their argument is not with us, but with what God says!

   Another older lady said  to me one day, “No-one told us when we were younger what it’s like to be old!”

I had to agree, and even if they had, we wouldn’t have taken any notice! We all tend to live in the present without giving a thought to the future, but we would all do well to think about what lies ahead and prepare our hearts and minds to meet whatever comes our way.

Life Lessons

The Storms of Life….

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We attended a Bible conference recently that was being held in the small chapel where we grew up as children and young people. We try to make a point of attending this conference each year, partly for old times’ sake, and partly for fellowship to catch up with old friends from years before.

   There were two speakers this year, and the two talks during the afternoon sessions really made an impact as they seemed to dovetail together beautifully. The first speaker talked about the Storms of Life, and this was a topic he spoke of from the heart. It had only been four years since his wife died with cancer. He broke his talk into three parts, showing how the Lord speaks to us in these three aspects of the storms of life that we all experience at different times.

    When the disciples experienced the worst storm of their life, they had been sent across the lake by Jesus Christ. The disciples were experienced fishermen who could read the weather signs and knew how to handle these sudden storms that whipped up the lake surface into a frenzy. Jesus knew all this, and He knew a storm was coming up that would test them to the maximum.  They hadn’t made a mistake that brought this upon them, they were there for a purpose.

Remember this….Jesus Christ knows the storms we are in at any given time. He could have stopped the storm coming to the disciples, but He wanted to show them His power. He knows the storm that I may be in right now, but He wants me to go through it so He can show me His power and refine the dross out of my life and strengthen the faith I have in Him.

The Lord speaks to us in these three ways ….

In the storm….He comes to us through the storm, walking on the water…”I will never leave you”, He says.

Through the storm… He reminds us that He is there with us…”don’t be afraid”, He says, “trust Me”.

The storm within you….often when these storms come, they attack us from the inside. We are all in a turmoil because of circumstances beyond our control, and wonder where we are going to turn next.

Don’t be afraid of being afraid….storms always have an end. There will be a period of calm when it is over and then another one may come but because we have proved our Lord’s help with the first one, we have confidence within the next one.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) We cannot build the house during the storm, we must have it built before it comes! Remember….He is the Lord of all our storms!

Transitions….     The next speaker spoke about transitions and how the peace after the storm usually precedes a transition….and transitions are never peaceful, they are a time of turmoil. Take the birth of a child….a time of labour for the mother and time of turmoil for the child leaving the womb to enter this world, and then turmoil for the rest of their lives! So many things in our lives are a transition….a new baby brings a whole new way of life to a couple; a move to a new area is a period of turmoil until settled in; children reaching the teenage years bring a transition for both themselves and their parents.

  Then again there is the transition into the empty nest syndrome and finally into retirement. But that is not the end….what about the transition into the retirement village and then the rest home? What about the transition of the loss of a spouse? It seems that the whole of life is a series of transitions. We need the Lord’s help in each of these transitions in life. Nothing remains static…change is the essence of life. Let’s make sure that we approach each of these transitions with the peace of God in our heart and mind.    Be anxious about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

   We had a lot to think about as we made our way back home.