Random Devotional Thoughts

In the Beginning

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Our preacher pointed out this morning, how that in the very beginning, God made not only creatures and the environment for them to live in, but His final crowning effort was in making mankind. Man was different to the animals, in that man can think and talk. Man can create and invent which animals can’t do. We see how domesticated animals seem to love human companionship, but wild animals keep as far away from humans as possible.

But God’s desire was to have someone He could have fellowship with, and when man was made, we are told that God breathed into him the breath of life. This is not merely being able to breathe, but it means that man was given not only a body and a soul, but also a spirit. This is the part of the human that can communicate with his Maker. God saw everything that He had made up unto this time, and it was good. But when He made man in His own image, His creation work was complete, and everything that He saw then, was VERY good!

In what ways is man made in God’s image? It sounds presumptuous to say the least, to say this! But think about these things….God created all things, and people are creative in the things they can make and invent. God wrote books, and has given people the ability to do this also. God wants fellowship, and people need fellowship with each other. Not only that, but people can respond to God’s call for this fellowship. People have a desire to worship something….God wants them to worship Him. In fact, this is the primary reason for man’s existence. Yet so many people turn their backs on Him and worship everything else but Him!

Adult Testimonies

The Christian’s Confidence

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    A very good friend of ours passed away last week. Although we don’t mourn for him, yet he has left a very big hole behind, and his family will miss him very much. He was very much ready to go, having made his peace with his Maker many years ago.  I am sure he would be saying to us, the words of this following poem right now….

Do not Mourn!

I do not know the way I’ll go, If short and fast, or pain so slow, I pray the Lord will help me bear, Whate’er He plans for me while there; And when I’ve gone, I do not need, A fanfare of my work or deed; All I say is simply this, I’m with the Lord in heaven’s bliss. And so my friend, no need to mourn, Or feel bereft or all forlorn, For I’ve had fun, enjoyed it all; And now I’ve heard my Lord’s sweet call. I’m more alive than e’er before, Enjoying life NOW, more and more! For those  today, who hear this now, I ask, have you before Him ever bowed? For if you have, I’ll see you when, Your turn comes, as to all men; Oh do not wait, but choose today, To follow God in all your ways!

Random Devotional Thoughts

What is Life?

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We had a visit the other day from our youngest grand-daughter with the latest twig on our family tree….a little boy, barely a month old. How small he was!! And yet everything that this child is going to grow into, already has the seeds within him. Not only that, but this little child has a soul that will live for ever! No matter what age the body lives to, the soul is there for eternity, and it is up to the parents to teach and train the child the way he should go, to enable him to make the right choices in life.  What an awesome responsibility, and one that so many people take so lightly!     Life has a beginning at conception and then grows as the child is born and takes its first breath. This life does not end at death, it just begins! What we have been on earth lays the foundation for what we will be in the next life…just as Jesus said, “What we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.”(Matthew 18:18)  This life is just the beginning of eternity. For every baby that takes a breath,  exists for ever, for eternity….life on earth is just a dot, and what this child does with his life is where his eternity will be spent!

Jesus said….”I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly!”  ( John 10:10)  and… “This is life eternal…that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ  Who You sent.” (John 17:3)

Life Lessons

Reflections

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        It was a gloriously mild winter day.  We had gone back to our home village while in the area and parked at the end of the road beside the local wharf. There were a couple of fishing boats discharging their catches to the waiting truck which had come for them, but other than that, it was the most peaceful scene one could imagine. There was no wind to break up the great reflections on the water, and each moored boat was sitting upon its own reflection.

   But then a fizz boat went roaring up the channel and the picture was completely smashed. The water became a churned up mess, and the reflections gone for the time being.

   This is just like gossip or a bit of temper in our lives. We may look great on the outside, and mostly be what we ought to be, but then one of these disturbing factors comes roaring through our day. The picture is gone, and the damage is done. Resentment sets in and the water of our day is disturbed. In some cases it takes a lot of time and effort to make it right, if indeed it can ever come right

    Let’s make sure that we curb our tongue and keep the water of our day with the beautiful reflections of God’s love!

Life Lessons

Our Anchor of Hope

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Last week we had the opportunity of sailing from one harbour to the next in Northern New Zealand. It reminded me of the many happy times we had been sailing ourselves when younger, and when we would spend weeks at a time enjoying the experiences that came along.

It reminded me particularly of one valuable lesson we learned very quickly during those years. At first when we went a quiet bay for some rest and relaxation after a day of sailing, we would drop the anchor, and then go inside for a hot drink. Then if, after a while, we could see that we weren’t in quite the same place as we had been when the anchor went down we would realise that we had drifted, and were much further out in the bay. So we would lift the anchor, and go forwards again, and put out more rope this time, pulling back on it to make sure that it had a good grip in the mud on the bottom. We soon learned to make this check every time the anchor went down.

    It’s a lot like that in life at times. There will be times when we think we have a good hold on things and then we find that the winds of life have picked us up and carried us where we don’t want to be. It is in times like this that as we stop and take stock of what is happening around us; we are to go forwards once more and drop our anchor into the hope that God gives us in His Word, the Bible.

    It is no use merely dropping the anchor; it is not the anchor that does the holding, it is what the anchor is sitting on. If the bottom has a lot of weed on it, the anchor will just slide along the top of it allowing our boat to drift. It is only as we put out more rope and pull back on it making sure that there is a good grip on the bottom, going through the weeds into the mud beneath, that we can rest in staying in one place. The rope is like the rope of faith in our life… the longer it is, the better the grip. The more we trust God in our difficulties, the stronger our faith becomes, and the firmer grip we have in the storms of life.

    Without hope in our life, everything seems pointless, and we tend to get depressed. So it is that without the hope of God’s salvation, we have nothing to look forwards to. God doesn’t intend His people to be swayed around in the storms, but we must do our part by digging deep into His Word for ourselves.

Life Lessons

Near Enough!!

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    We were working on a project together, and I was thinking it was time we were finished. “Well, that’s near enough”, I said as I put my gear down. My brother looked at it, and said, “Near enough is not good enough, Gwenyth, you’ll have to spend a bit more time on it!” Those words have stuck with me for over forty years, and whenever I am tempted to think “Near enough”, they come back to haunt me!

     King Solomon was one who chose what was good, but it was not the best. When he first became king, we are told that one night he had a vivid dream. In it, he heard God tell him to choose whatever he would like and it would be given to him. At this stage, Solomon was still new to being a king, and the thought of having to solve disputes between people at times was overwhelming. So he asked for wisdom to be able to govern the people he was over, as he should. God replied that seeing he had asked this thing that was not so much for himself, but for the benefit of others, that he would be granted this in abundance. Not only that, but he would  also be  given wealth and health.     We see as we read through  the book of Second Chronicles in the Bible, chapters 1-10, how God did indeed bless Solomon with great wisdom  and wealth. But there were times when Solomon thought he knew better than God and acted on his own feelings and desires. He felt that if he had princesses of the neighbouring countries as his wives, that  their fathers would not come to war against him.  But these young women came from pagan backgrounds, and as he listened to them, they gradually wore him down from his belief in the one true God Who had given him all that he had. He felt he had done near enough to what God wanted.     As a result of trying to please his many wives, he even got far enough away from God to make the idols that they wanted. Not only that, but he even placed them in God’s temple that he had built!  Solomon was near enough, but not good enough; he had chosen what was good, but not what was best!

    We have to be so careful that we don’t wander away from God’s instructions to mankind, or we too will miss out on not only what benefits us, but God’s best for us!

Random Devotional Thoughts

How Much is Your Soul Worth?

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       Every now and then we get a pamphlet in the mail asking if we are thinking of selling our house. They say that they have clients wanting to buy in our area! They will come and give us a free appraisal of our property, they say, hoping we will take them up on it.

     They say that it is every young married couple’s dream to own their own home, and if we manage to save up enough for our deposit, it is a real thrill when we are finally given the key to our new place!     We say we own this or that. But whatever we own, really owns us! If we have a car we have to service it regularly. If we own a house we have to keep it maintained or it loses its value. If we buy a lawn mower, we have to use it or the place soon looks untidy.   . As time goes by and we might need to move away, we put our house up for sale. We wonder then how much our house is worth, but it is only worth as much as someone will pay for it!

    Maybe we only own something small like a mobile phone. It has to used responsibly or else it controls us! How many people do we see walking down the street not watching where they are going because their fingers are busily going on their gadget. They feel lost without having it in their pocket or hand. We don’t own these things, they own us!

    But you know,  we all have something that is worth much more than any house or gadget.  This is our soul, that we are each given at our first breath. This is the part of a person that lives for ever….every new born baby has this in them, and it will never die….our bodies may die, but our souls never will.

    The Bible asks the question….”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”     Nothing in this world, whether it be a house or a car; a mower or a phone is to be compared with a person’s soul. These “things” only last a short while….they either break down or become out-dated, but our soul will last forever!

    Let’s make sure that we take the time to think these things through and make the right decision about what we put first in our life.    How much is your soul valued at? What is it worth?  We are told in the Bible about a man who gathered as much of this world’s goods that he could. Most people would have classed him as a very successful and wealthy man. But one night, God said, “This night your soul is required of you, and what is going to happen to all your wealth now?”     We never know when  some disease will overtake us, or if we might have a sudden car accident that will result in our death, so it pays to look into these things and get ready for the “trip” at the end of our life! We can find out all we need to know from God’s Word, the Bible, and the best place to start reading it is the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament.

Adult Testimonies

Neil.

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     We went to the funeral last week of an old friend of many years. We had seen him periodically over the years since we all grew up together, and he was always a joy to meet. His hearty “Ho,ho,ho” would ring out during the conversation each time, and he never failed to ask “How are doing Brother?”  We knew what he meant, and also knew what he wasn’t asking. My mind went back to the time that Neil became a Christian….this is how it happened….

    We grew up together in a small country area that was serviced by a large timber mill where most of the men folk of the district were employed. It was the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else and all of their business as well. The  district was sort of loosely divided into those who attended the local church and those who didn’t….Neil was one of those who didn’t.     There were about half a dozen young fellows at that time in the early nineteen-fifties who were at a loose end at the weekends and who used to get together and roam around the road (there was only the one road in the place!). One Sunday afternoon one of the men who went to the church was on his way home from delivering the children who had been to the Sunday School and he stopped when going past this group of loitering young chaps. “Hey,” he said as he pulled up, “Why don’t you guys come to the service tonight? We’ve got a good preacher speaking, you want to come and hear him!”     So later on most of the group did turn up at the service, sitting rather sheepishly at the back of the church. There was some hearty singing to the old pedal organ playing the hymns, and then the preacher spoke. He was indeed very interesting, talking about the way the stars were all put in place  by the Great Creator, and then telling the timeless story of Jesus Christ.

   For the next few Sundays, the group turned up again at the church, and then after that most of them drifted off having lost interest. But for some reason Neil kept on going, and one of his mates turned up as well. The next Sunday, Neil was walking along the road heading for the church when Keith pulled up beside him in his old Morris 8 car. “Where are you going?” he asked. “I’m off to church”, Neil said. “Well, hop in,” said Keith, “That’s where I’m going too!”

So for the next few Sundays, the two boys went to the little church together. There was a variety of preachers, some of them local men and other visitors who came and preached the old, old story of how Jesus Christ came to earth to pay the price of sin for all people.     Gradually these truths began to sink into the hearts of these two young men and they became convinced of the truth of what they were hearing and turned to the Lord in all sincerity. Their other old mates left them alone now, knowing that they weren’t interested in the old ways of loitering around the roads.      Neil spent every spare minute with Keith and the two of them would talk of what they were learning from the Bible and from the church services. Later on Neil left the district and moved to the big city. Over the years he had his ups and downs, as we all do, and for a period neglected his Bible reading. But when things got a bit tough for him, he turned back to the Lord with all his heart.

    Keith met up with him again one day, and said, “You seem to be happy all the time….why is that?” “Well, it’s like this”, Neil said, “I know I wandered away from the Lord for a while, but I realised that I was in the wrong, and I asked  God for forgiveness for my slack way of life. There are things in my life that I can’t change now, but I’ve confessed it all to the Lord, and I’m back into reading the Bible again. That’s why I’m always happy!”     It was always a joy to meet up with him after that, and to hear his cheerful “Ho,ho,ho” which preceded his conversation. So it was a shock to hear that he had had a severe stroke which he didn’t recover from. Keith felt honoured when he was asked to take his funeral service, and this was the story he told about Neil during the service.

   Of the original group that had wandered the roads on those Sundays long ago, some had passed on, but there were still a couple of them at the funeral service. They are old men now, and have never come to see what Neil saw all those years ago and sadly they haven’t made preparations for this, the greatest trip of their lives that will overtake them shortly. This is the trip that Neil prepared for, so that we can be confident of where he is now…. rejoicing in the presence of his Saviour in heaven!

See what God has to say to YOU.