Yesterday we were talking about the safety fence that is ‘thanksgiving’ and today we are looking at one of the times when we most need that fence, and that is when we are under pressure and feeling tempted. Temptation can come in any of three different areas. The most obvious is probably the temptation to […]

One route to the top of Helvellyn , a mountain in the English lake district, goes along a narrow path on top of a ridge called Striding Edge. (shown here).On either side of this ridge are steep slopes of hundreds of feet with crags and loose stones called a scree. If you slip down it […]

Yesterday after listening to all the news from around the world, I was struck by the thought that one of Jesus main titles is ‘Prince of Peace’, Isaiah 9:6. As we observe Him through the gospel narratives we see Him as a simple carpenter, with no formal political or religious status, living in a land […]

Today I want to give thanks for the wonderful principle of sowing and reaping. We read about it in the Bible and sometimes it can taken and used as a warning and a way of judging someone, but it is also a guide to great blessing. One of Job’s comforters for example was quick to […]

Even after fifty five years of walking with the Lord, I still find myself amazed that this relationship with Him is so personal. As I get older and realise more and more of the beauty and complexity of the world He created, the universe, and the whole spiritual realm too, it is somewhat overwhelming that […]

As we consider God’s kindness in decreeing that we should take one days rest in seven, I believe that it is also worth noting that Jesus understands that finding rest involves more than taking a day off from work and making it a day of rest, recreation, reflection. Jesus knew that we can take a […]

Yesterday we were thanking God for the wonderful gift that He gave mankind when He instituted the Sabbath. It’s a word that means cessation or ‘rest’. The Lord, who created us, knew that once mankind had left Eden, they were going to have to ‘toil’ in order to eat ‘all the days of their lives’, […]

The first thing that we read in the bible is the story of creation. We see that God created man on day six, and ‘By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and […]

Water is absolutely essential for life, it is such a beautiful gift from God and given to mankind so freely. It is not something any of us can earn or work for. Rain, rivers, springs, all available in nature, keep us alive, and all these different types of water are used as illustrations of God’s […]

Yesterday we were thinking about how Jesus used the symbolism of water to describe the life of God that He puts within us, and it struck me how often Jesus talked in terms of overflow, of extravagance and abundance. There was the reference to “a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. John 4:10-13. […]