Before Christmas we were thinking a good deal about asking our Father God for those things that we need Him to provide for us and that we want Him to do for us and for others. Christmas increases our faith in asking as it reminds us that there is, at the heart of Christianity, a […]
This comes with our very best wishes for a Happy New Year, and our prayers that all of us will have a heightened awareness of the love of God and of His presence with us in 2022. May we recognise, each day, His kindness and care for us, His hand in our lives working for […]
I expect you are familiar with Psalm 92 where, in verses 12 to 14 it says, “The righteous man (and woman) will flourish like a palm tree, he will grow like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield […]
This Christmas you may have many visitors, or none. You may be surrounded by family and friends, or you may be having to isolate, or be separated from those you love by circumstances, difficulties or practicalities. You may be in good health or poor. You may be rich or poor, surrounded by gifts, or there […]
It’s funny, isn’t it how we human beings, who are so full of failings, and so prone to make mistakes, often have in our heads a ‘driving voice’ that says “This has got to be perfect.” ? This can be true of a ‘one off’ special day like a wedding, a big celebratory party, or […]
Yesterday we were appreciating the fact that, when it comes to things that will help us to live Godly lives, we can ask God for His help, with confidence. Because of course the Father will give us anything that helps us to grow into the likeness of his Son, but what about other things? What […]
Yesterday we were thanking God that not only did He ‘give’ His only Son so that we might have life, but that we can also ask Him with confidence for all that we need to fully live that new life, to ‘live it abundantly,’ John 10:10, as Jesus Himself would like us to. Today I […]
Yesterday we were looking at the wonderful truth that ‘receiving’ is at the heart of the gospel. We have also recently been considering the contrast between the tradition of Father Christmas, who brings gifts to ‘good children’, [although he does seem to turn a blind eye to a lot of bad stuff!] and our Heavenly […]
Yesterday I mentioned that recently my eye seems to have been continually drawn to huge blown up red Santa figures. Our western Santa Claus has travelled a long way from the original St Nicholas of the 4th Century. A Saint who, tradition has it, did many good things and whose legacy has been embellished by […]
Last Christmas I was so sad as I walked around a garden centre looking at all the Christmas decorations and paraphernalia, because I could only find one small ‘nativity tableau’ table decoration. It was the only thing in that centre that held any reference to the true meaning of Christmas. A few years before I […]