Life Lessons

Do You Ever Feel Like this?

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    We were travelling once in a strange area, and decided to take a train ride that was advertised as being a scenic one. So we went on board, and there was one other passenger, a Japanese tourist with a large camera strung around his neck. It was a while before the train started off…it was an old steam train, and of course had to get the steam up before it could move off. No-one else turned up to go for the ride, so at last it began to huff and puff and then to finally move off.    We waited to see what was around the first corner, but it was only more of the same sort of scenery. Another two or three minutes of this chugging along, and then it stopped. In the middle of nowhere, just like that. Then we heard a clanking and fresh chugging, but the train was going back the same way that we had come! Was this all that we were going to get for our money?

   The other passenger hadn’t even got his camera out of its case, let alone taken any pictures! With a great swooshing sound, the steam was let out of the engine as it came to a stop at the platform. The driver came along, and said that the trip was over. We could hardly believe our ears! Just that little bit? The Japanese passenger got out, and we followed him along to the road. “I tink we been had,” he was saying, more or less to himself. And then again, “I tink we been had!!”   Well, we felt like that too, in fact we KNEW that we had been “had”!

     There are many times in life when we feel we have been shortchanged, and let down. But you know there is one time when we are never let down or been “had”, and that is when we take God at His Word. He will ALWAYS keep His Word….what He says He will do, He WILL do! And if we are His followers, that is how we should be too…we must always stick to what we say, so that others will know that they can trust what we say. In this world where there is so much fake news, we hardly know what to take notice of and what to discard as nonsense.

    That is another lesson for us to learn…always make sure that what bit of information you are going to pass on is based on FACT, and not just hearsay or  idle gossip. If we do this, then others will know that they can always trust what we say.

Life Lessons

Don’t Leave it Too Late!

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    We’ve been concerned about a new friend who has been coming along to church recently, with his wife who is a devout Christian. He doesn’t appear to be anti the messages he is hearing from the pulpit, but neither is he altogether accepting of them. Perhaps you know some folk who are like that.

      He says he just cannot see how God is, Who He is!  He says he will do something about it one day, but we wonder if he really wants to! After all, God has said in His Word, “Those who seek Me SHALL find Me”.

    It reminds me of another man we knew many years ago. He had been going to the
Sunday evening services where the gospel was preached clearly every Sunday night. But after a period of time, he started to make excuses, and eventually stopped going altogether. But the Lord had not quite finished with him. One night he had a vivid dream that troubled him greatly. He went to his uncle who knew him well, and said, “You know Unc, I had a dream the other night. I dreamt that I was in an open place, and that God was in Heaven above me. Then I saw a great big black curtain come down between me and Him, and I know now that I couldn’t come to Him even if I wanted to”. What a tragic state of affairs! He had been convicted so many times, and kept putting off doing anything  about God’s invitation, until now he had passed the point of no return. Shortly after that, he passed away with his daughter by his side. Her comment was, “I never want to see another person die….the expression on Dad’s face as he went, was terrible!”

     We have the case in the Bible of the story of Moses telling the king of Egypt  to let the people of Israel leave the land. At first we read that the king “hardened his heart” and refused to let the people go, but after a few times of this request being made, then we read that the Lord “hardened his heart”. So it was in the case of this man we knew….he had put off the strivings of God with him for so long, that then it had no effect on him. He knew it too, and that dream just confirmed it to him.

     So we continue to pray for our new friend, that he will not do the same thing until it is too late, and he has no desire to come to church any more. So it is with those who may read this post…..if there is something you need to put right or some confession of sin that needs to be done, do NOT put it off. The desire to do so may leave you, and you will be the worse off for it in the long run!

Daily Devotionals

Some Random Thoughts

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      I’ve been reading in the Old Testament book of Isaiah lately, and have come across some thoughts about that book that might be helpful. Many people skip reading the Old Testament prophetic books as they feel they are irrelevant for today’s world, but there are pearls scattered all through these books that we would miss if we didn’t read the books through consecutively.

    The book of Isaiah is especially so, as there is a distinctive pattern followed here that gives some tremendous  insights into the thoughts and desires of God’s heart. For instance in chapter nine, verse s 6-7 we are told of the coming Messiah, and what He would be like. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

    This prophecy, as with so many, has been partly fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, but will be completely fulfilled at the end of time when He takes over his Kingdom forever.     And in  chapter fifty three we are told of the sufferings of the coming Messiah which we see fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ .

    Apart from these prophecies, there is also a pattern followed whereby the book itself is divided into two distinctive sections, just as the Bible  is. It is, in fact, a miniature of the Bible itself……

There are 66 chapters; there are 66 books in the Bible. There are two sections; the Bible has the Old Testament and the New Testament.  

The first section calls Israel; the Old Testament of the Bible  calls Israel. The second section calls ALL to come;  in the New Testament, the Bible gives the Gospel to the whole world. The final message is the same in both Isaiah and the Bible itself…. Both tell of the new heavens and a new earth. Both tell of an eternal blessedness. Both end up with the result of ignoring God’s message and invitation.           

    So read it for yourself, starting off in chapter forty, the beginning of the second section, and be blessed.

Life Lessons

What do you See?

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     As we approach the new year later this week, let us think on this little story….

A  professor once set  his students an exam. He handed the papers all out upside down, and then told them to turn the page over. They found it was just a blank piece of paper with a large black dot in the middle of it. He told them to have a good look at it, and then write down what they were seeing.

   Without exception, they all wrote about the black spot, where it was on the page and the effect it had on the paper. The professor then told them that not one had commented on the whiteness of the paper or the size of it in comparison to the black spot, and then pointed out the moral of the story….how much we concentrate on the wrong things around us instead of on the good things we see.

   That reminded me that I’m like that too, and it ought not to be !

  So whenever things annoy or grate on you in this New Year, just remember to overlook the black spot in  the middle of the page and focus on the white size of the paper!! As we look around at others, there are always those who are worse off than we are….perhaps in health,  in family problems, or in losing a dear friend. Let us each one be thankful for the blessings we have and not see the “black spot” on our page!!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Joy to the World!

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Joy is something that many people are not experiencing this year! Maybe it is because a loved one is no longer with you; or maybe some dread disease has shown its face, and then again there may be injuries from some recent accident. But when we remember the true meaning of the Christmas season, we have every reason to be joyful. God come to earth in human form!!

When we look at the world situation, fears may arise (with every good reason for those affected), but even in those places, God will be with His people for He has promised that He will never leave nor forsake those who love and follow Him. So we must look upwards and not downwards….there’s an old saying that says to look at the cup of life as being half-full, not half empty. There are always those who are worse off and we still have much to be thankful for! May it be so.

Have a great Christmas!!

Life Lessons

How do we View the Baby in the Manger?

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Our speaker at church this week continued on with the theme of Christmas.  He pointed out how Christmas is all about Christ. Unfortunately, this seems to make people feel uncomfortable, and they have covered up the real meaning with commercialism, the getting and giving of presents and family time. While these things are all good, they tend to blur what the season is all about.

People can cope with Jesus, the baby in the manger, and with Jesus the Healer and Teacher. When it comes to Jesus on the cross, they agree that yes, it was a historical fact, but as for the Resurrection and the ascension to Heaven, they tend to pass that off as being a bit fanciful. As for the mere idea that Jesus Christ is still alive and about to return to earth to mete out judgement on all the evil that has been done over the ages, this idea is totally out of their realm and is refused out of hand.

   Stop and think about it for a minute…. if this is not correct, there is nothing to lose, but if it IS correct and no preparations are being done for it, then there is everything to lose.

Random Devotional Thoughts

A Joyous Christmas !

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And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11).    None of the characters in the Christmas story were important or famous people from other people’s point of view…in fact, they just seemed very ordinary. Elisabeth and her husband Zechariah the priest, were two older people with no children. At the other end of the spectrum was Mary, engaged to Joseph the local carpenter, young and looking forwards to what life had in store for her.

Both these couples had had a visit from the angel Gabriel telling them that they would each have a miraculous child born to them. Elisabeth was too old, and Mary was not yet married, but they both accepted this news as from the Lord Himself with Whom nothing was impossible. Once Mary had ascertained how this miracle would take place for her, she humbly said, “Let it be so as the Lord has said”.

   Elisabeth was already six months pregnant by the time the angel visited Mary, and after talking with him, she immediately went to visit her older cousin. We wonder what these two pregnant ladies would have said to each other! We are told some of their conversation….it was not their condition or their symptoms they spoke about. It was the babies that they were carrying. In fact, Elisabeth the older lady, deferred to Mary the younger girl, recognising the importance of the child that Mary was carrying. She referred to her as “the mother of my Lord” and said how her baby had leaped in her womb at Mary’s greeting.

    Mary immediately burst into a song of praise….this was not a song of someone else’s, this was a spontaneous series of quotations from the book of Psalms that she knew off by heart, and that glorified God for what He was about to do with and through these as-yet unborn sons that she and Elisabeth  were carrying. God’s plan of salvation for mankind was about to be unfolded, and these children were to be the means of bringing great joy to the world.

See what God has to say to YOU.