When it comes to ‘seeing’ ourselves the way that God sees us, there is probably no more important scripture for our generation than Romans 8:31-39. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul declares that in everything that befalls him, trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or the sword, he and his fellow Christians are ‘more than […]
Looking again at those words, ‘With you is the fountain of Life; in your light do we see light.’ Psalm 36:9, I am thinking that there is probably no more important aspect of our lives where we need to ‘see’ with God’s light, than in how we see ourselves now that we are ‘new creatures […]
If the writer of Psalm 73 tells us that coming into the sanctuary, drawing close to God, is the answer to our perplexities with God’s ways, then Psalm 34 tells us that when we do that, when we come close to God, people notice. But let’s track back a bit. When we are spiritually troubled, […]
It’s that time of year again when we lose so many hours of natural light and then, suddenly (although November is still too early for many of us!!), we begin to see many different kinds of light springing up all around us. Christmas lights now come as a welcome contrast to the decorations of Halloween […]
Following on from yesterdays thoughts about ‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring ‘Good News’. I thought today really must be about ‘Joy’. Good news always brings joy!! In Isaiah’s day of course all news came on foot, a runner would be sent to tell of a hard won military […]
Yesterday we were considering how, with our ‘feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.’ Ephesians 6:15, we could bring good news to people with confidence, and even have some fun doing so. This is because the gospel is such good news especially to the ‘poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the […]
Shoes are fun and functional! I know lots of people just love buying shoes, for others of us it is just a chore, and as long as we have shoes on our feet we don’t go looking for more. So I have never quite ‘got’ the significance of us having our ‘feet fitted with the […]
A further thought occurred to me today with regard to the breastplate, and it is this. In addition to protecting my heart from the slurs and condemnation of the devil about myself, this breastplate can also protect me from the devils slurs and insinuations about God’s character. We read in Proverbs 4:23, ‘Above all else, […]
If the ‘helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit, (God’s Word), help to guard my mind from the lies and insinuations of the enemy, the ‘breastplate of righteousness’ surely guards my heart. We are, of course, whole people and perhaps the distinction between heart and mind is not always very clear, but I […]
We were talking yesterday about the need to be aware of allowing the information that we gather throughout each day to trigger the ‘old man’ reactions in us. Things like jealousy, anger, impatience, lust/greed, etc. This is especially the case in our 21st century digital age when so much information is coming at us, right […]