Windows On The Soul

"I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him" - Forrest Gump Jesus said, " Blessed are those who know their need of God (the poor in spirit) for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" . Our directives are to first seek the Kingdom of God, to make disciples (students, learners), to be open to receive the Holy Spirit. I pray that this New Year will be a year for us individually and as a Church, to be true "seekers after God". And that our witness to the community will be to awaken people to realise that the "hole" in their life is "God shaped", and to discover their need for Him. ----xxxXxxx---- Deu.4:29 "If you seek the Lord your God, you shall find Him" 2Chr.7:14 " If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face..." Prov.8:17 "Those that seek me early shall find me" Lk.11:9 "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and...

Good evangelism is more than apologetics, which attempts to give a reasoned defense of the Christian faith.  Apologetics cuts down trees; evangelism builds houses. As John Stott puts is, " You have to win a person's confidence before you can win their soul ". But good evangelism is more than being friendly, its more than inviting your neighbour to a mission at the Church. Evangelism is relating to people as Jesus did - day by day, week by week, right at the point of their need. And the best evangelistic Churches are where people truly love one another, especially across racial, social, cultural and other barriers which previously divided them. In the end, an evangelistic life-style arises out of the reality of our own experiences of Christ. If He has really changed our lives, that's great news and we will want to share it. ---===X===--- Mt.9:31 "they (the blind healed) spread the news of Jesus..." Ps.66:16 "Come and hear...I will decla...

“ What the Church needs are more ‘deep’ Christians ” (Richard Foster, “Celebration of Discipline”).  The Apostle Paul wrote, “ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!!” ( Rom.11:33 ) How does one become a ‘deeper’ Christian? It takes ‘Time’ and ‘Experience’. To know the depth of something, one must have ‘plumbed’ the depth, that is attempted some sort of measure. To have some knowledge of the depth of God, one must explore the consequences and implications of Christian faith on one’s life and society, and thus to start to see the vast possibilities. Such exploration, takes time in God’s word, time with Him in prayer, and time in constructive, exploratory fellowship together. But most of all, depth of understanding and knowledge of the wisdom, grace and ways of God, come from experience. We learn only a small amount from what we hear, a larger amount from what we read and s...

The Bible uses a number of different analogies to describe The Church, such as a ‘body’ ( 1 Cor.12 ), a ‘garden’ ( Isa.61:3 , Jn.15:5 ), a ‘family’ ( Jn.3:29 , Rev.21:9 ), or a ‘building’ ( 2 Cor.5:1 , Eph.2:21 ). All of these images illustrate multi-faceted growth, extension and adaptation, and all apply equally to The Church, any individual congregation or individual Christians. I’ve always liked the slogan, “ Please be patient. God hasn’t finished with me yet ”. When a ‘lost soul’ finds Christ, there is a sense of completeness in that a void has been filled. But as we grow in Christ, there is another sort of sense of incompleteness, not like an emptiness that needs to be filled, but rather being called onward in constant improvement. As God is constantly revealing areas of our lives that are not ‘up to scratch’, we are challenged to renewal. As our lives encounter new experiences and situations, we are challenged to meet them like Christ, with love. We are called to st...

We're all familiar with the standard chant of protest marches - "What do we want? .....", "When do we want it? Now!".  The peace movement in Israel is no exception, with their slogan of "Peace Now!". But it is King David in Psalm 118:25 that points us to God's priority, " Salvation Now " (Petersen's paraphrase). In His "Sermon on the Mount", Jesus tells us that all these worldly concerns are secondary to " Seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness " ( Mt.6:33 ). Whether they be clothing or shelter, food or drink, health and healing, security or peace - all our needs God will meet - our striving, concern or 'worry' must first and foremost be to establish our right relationship with God. And that relationship is only found in salvation through the sacrificial love of Jesus, available by faith when we put off the old "I-centric" attitudes and in humble repentance put on "Christ-centredn...

One of the more common deep spiritual questions I hear, is “ How do I know God’s will for my life? ”. Whilst meditation and study of His Word will reveal general guide-lines, the application to any person’s specific situation is in the realm of the dynamic of Holy Spirit. We are not given a map showing every bend and hill on the road of life ahead, but rather the bends are revealed only as and when we need to know about them as we walk by faith. Its' no use whingeing about not achieving some high personal aspirations, when Jesus’ general command is to “ start washing feet (dishes, floors, tables, bed-pans, etc.) ”. Then as we show our faithfulness in the small things, God can start putting situations across our path, or using our words, or people start to seek us out - then we start to see God ‘nudging’ us around a bend, or challenging us to climb a hill. It can be quite surprising, humbling, even scary, when someone says to me, “ How did you know I needed to read/hear th...

"The bible was written in tears and to tears it will yield its best treasures. God has nothing to say to the frivolous man. It was to Moses, a trembling man, that God spoke on the mount. Daniel's long season of fasting and prayer brought Gabriel from heaven to tell him the secret of the centuries. The psalmists often wrote in tears, the prophets could hardly conceal their heavy-heartedness, and the Apostle Paul in his otherwise joyous epistle to the Philippians broke into tears when he thought of the many who were enemies of the cross of Christ and whose end was destruction. Whatever is done without heart is done in the dark, no matter how scriptural it may appear to be." A.W.Tozer - "God Tells the Man Who Cares" ----xxxXxxx---- Ps.6:8 "Depart from me all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" Esth.4:1 "When Mordecai perceived all that was done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, a...

I thank my parents that as a child I was taught to write an "I want" list. This helped me identify those things I "really" wanted well after the initial plea had faded. Then came the hard part of giving up some things to save up the money to buy my heart's desire. The same principles apply to our Christian walk. We want to serve, but are we prepared to pay the price? We want to be humble, but are we prepared to be humiliated? We want to be a true disciple, but are we prepared to truly discipline our body, mind and soul? We want to be loving, but that includes the "unlovely", and carries the cost of sacrifice, non-reciprocation, even outright hostility. We ask in pray, but are we willing to accept and obey the answers given? ----xxxXxxx---- Lk.18:18-23 "'What must I do to have eternal life?'...you lack one thing, sell all you have and distribute to the poor...he was very sorrowful for he was very rich" Mt.16:24 "If anyo...

Do you have a dog like ours? Come nail clipping time, I have to wrestle it to the floor and put it in a neck/arm/leg lock, even to get near the nails. What parent wouldn't like a dollar for every time they have asked their child to "sit still". Isn't it true that so often the struggle against us is inversely proportional to the benefit trying to be achieved - hair cut, dentist, inoculation, splinter extraction, etc. The same is so true spiritually - we have to "be still" for God to be able to minister to us. It's not always a conscious struggle against God, but often just being caught up in the rush of life. I've had a couple of weeks like this, with family health and pressure at work. God has had to remind me to " Be still and know that I Am God ", " I Am the Lord who healeth thee ". ---xxxXxxx--- Gen.2:2 "On the seventh day, God rested" Ps.46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" Mk.6:31 ...

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...

It is sad that all too often it takes a crisis for people to acknowledge the really important things of life. I spent a lovely time last week-end with my brother and sister-in-law as they renewed their marriage vows. Having acknowledged the shortness of his prognosis (he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor), they set about prioritizing their remaining time together. This week, they received communion for the first time in perhaps 10-20 years - making peace with their saviour. Time and again, the Bible in both old and new testaments, invites the reader to 'eat and drink' with the Lord; to receive of His liberality. The true seeker will find, the true listener will hear. But be warned, true seeking is impossible without a 'broken and contrite heart'. And as Moses called the children of Israel to 'choose life' and enter the promised land, flowing with milk and honey, there were still 'giants' to conquer. ----xxxXxxx---- Isa.55:6 ...

This was the challenge of some student stirrers to an EU program at university, little realising the real truth in what they were saying. I know that in my Christian walk I have found that one of the keys to answered prayer is in discovering the right question. Instead of limiting God to answering MY question, if I am open to hearing and seeing what God is saying, doing and leading, then sometimes my very human questions become irrelevant, and the real question of how I should be "in God's will" becomes plain. Only then can God meet my need rather than simply answer my want. " I asked God for health that I might be strong: He gave me sickness that I might be compassionate " Rom.8:26 "...we don't know how to pray...the Spirit pleads with God for us" 1 Chr.16:11 "Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually" Jhn.15:7 " If you live in me and my words live in you, you may ask..." 2 Cor....