Windows On The Soul

At this time of year, a mini-building boom occurs across Israel, as Sukkot (Tabernacles) approaches (Sept.20 this year). Councils prune trees and leave piles of branches on the road side for residents to use to make their temporary shelters or sukka . Even the newspaper real-estate sections advertise apartments with "a sukka balcony", so even high-rise city dwellers can have somewhere to sleep under the stars during the feast. As we celebrate our church anniversary Temple Day, I was reminded of the Feast of Tabernacles. The children of Israel celebrate God's guidance (by the cloudy pillar of fire) and provision (with manna and water from the rock) as He brought them out of Egypt, through the Sinai desert to finally reach the promised land after 40 years. As we celebrate our anniversary, lets remember that " Where God guides, He provides ". ----xxxXxxx---- Lev.23:33-36 "The Festival of shelters lasts 7 days...come together for worship" Deu.2:...

One of the frustrating things I have to deal with at work is Change Requests from users. All too often, they ask for things they think they need or explain how something should be fixed, when I can see that their proposal will not fix the real problem. All trades and professions see this sort of thing - patients try to tell doctors what medicine they want, we tell the garage to replace worn tyres when the problem is wheel alignment. The mark of a good professional is to be able to elicit the real symptoms, then diagnose the real problem, and convince the customer of the change/fix they really need. It’s such a human trait to want to appear knowledgeable and in control. But I know that even though I bemoan it in my customers, I still find myself doing it when I am the customer. I think we often suffer the same problem with prayer, trying to tell God what we think we need or how to fix a situation. Instead we should be discovering and sharing the real sympto...

Father? Kingdom? Adopted into a royal family? It all seems too much to comprehend! Yet I seem to so easily take our relationship for granted. "Your Kingdom", "Your will". Yes, you are my King as well as my heavenly Father. Forgive me when I pray "My will be done", instead of "Your will". Dare I presume to try and change Your mind? "Will be done!" My faith rises like the soaring eagle at the very words. Your certainty, my uncertainty. Oh that my will might be at one with yours. ---===X===--- Lk.22:42 "Not my will however, but your will be done" Mt.7:21 "He that does the will of my father...shall enter His Kingdom" Jn.5:30 "...do nothing on my own...only what He who sent me wants." Rm.12:2 "...be transformed...know the good, acceptable and perfect will of God" Eph.5:17 "...understanding what the will of the Lord is." 1 Jn.5:14 "He hears us if we ask f...

Ian Fleming’s ‘007’ said, “ Twice is coincidence, but three times means enemy action ”. Have you ever had, seen or heard of those series of incidences that when least expected, quietly whisper, “ God’s incidences! ”? It’s a truth that the most beautiful, desirable things in the world can never be grasped. It’s as if in the very reaching for the desirable object, relationship or emotion, it is immediately polluted by the selfishness of the grasp, and immediately slips further away. How many times have we pleaded with God to act in a certain way, or desperately looked for signs of some answer to “prayer”. But in the silence of His reply, He is saying, “ Don’t you worry about what I should do; I will do what I need to in my time. You just get on with what YOU should be doing ”. It's in these times when we are faithfully, obediently and lovingly saying and doing what God invisibly leads us to do, and boldly stepping forward to tackle the needs of the world that He puts across our ...

As we think of mother's today, the primary images we have are of giving birth to life, of nurturing and tending, of the earliest formative years, of learning all our basic life skills - talking, walking, feeding ourselves, and a fundamental sense of love. In our spiritual life, Jesus is the Prince of Life ( Acts 3:15 ), in fact He is Life itself ( Jhn.14:6 ). It is by the power of His resurrection life that we are born again. Our sustenance comes from the very word of God ( Deu.8:3 ), in fact Jesus is called the Bread of Life ( Jhn.6:32 ). He tends, guides and protects us like a shepherd of young lambs ( Jhn.10:11 and 1 Ptr.2:25 ). He teaches us that our spiritual talk should be in truth and love ( Eph.4:15,21 ). Then as our spiritual walk matures, it is the word of God that lights our pathways ( Ps.119:105 ). But fundamentally, it is through Jesus that we learn the full depth and breadth of true love, even greater and more wonderful than the love we learnt on our mother...