....the road less travelled by

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by. And that has made all the difference." (Extract from "The Road Not Taken", a poem by Robert Frost). Our journey in God will take us down many different roads. Our choice is to follow the road of faith. Well-travelled or familiar roads are not always the correct ones to take. I have found that many people can take the road of indifference. Indifference is basically a state of not caring. I can't imagine being on a more unproductive path through life. Jesus said, "I am the way, The Truth, and the Life.."(John 14:6). We have already been given our direction in Christ and this will surely make all the difference in our lives.

Repeat play!

Mother Theresa once said "Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless". Sometimes we need to consider the words we sow. Are they blessing or are they curses? I have come to understand more and more that our words have roots and actually grow into something outside of our control. You can't take them back once spoken. They will wound or encourage the receiver. Matthew 12:36 says "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned". Interestingly an echoe has multiple repeats of the same phrase. Lets put good kind words on echoe or repeat play today and everyday with God's help. God loves you! God loves you! God loves you! God loves you! God loves you!

Chosen and adopted

Ephesians 1:3-8 says "I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding". These verses sum up our identity in Christ. We have been chosen and adopted as sons of the most High. Sonship means that we inherit our Fathers identity. Wow!

Identity crisis!

The LORD who revealed Himself as YHVH in the Old Testament is revealed as Yeshua (Jesus) in the New Testament. Jesus shares the same attributes as YHVH and clearly claims to be YHVH. In John 8:56-9, Jesus presents himself as the "I AM." When challenged by some Jewish leaders regarding His claim of seeing Abraham (who lived some 2000 years earlier), Jesus replied, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Those Jewish leaders understood that Jesus was claiming to be YHVH. This is clearly established when they tried to stone Him to death for what they considered blasphemy under Jewish Law. The Lord Jesus had to cope with His disputed identity. He was not received by many. However for those who receive Him He gives us the right to be called the children of God. Do you know who you are?

Words of wisdom

Some words of wisdom -
The worst thing to be without is Hope
The deadliest weapon is The tongue
The two most powerful words are Can do
The greatest asset is Faith
The most worthless emotion is Self-pity
The worst thing you can lose is Self-respect
The most satisfying work is Helping others
The ugliest personality trait is Selfishness
The most beautiful attire is A smile!
The most prized possession is Integrity
The most contageous spirit is Enthusiasm
The most powerful communication is Prayer

Light and shadows

Sometimes the Lord calms the storm for His child but other times the Lord calms the child in the storm. We sometimes feel that the result of prayer should be the immediate removal of the opposing force. I agree that sometimes this is the case. However, I have also found the words of Psalm 23 comforting when facing a dark shadowey valley in my faith journey. We must walk these valley's but the Lord's light will cut a trail through for us. You can't have a shadow without light being present. I just love to draw comfort from that revelation. Let the Lord light up your path with His word today. Be strong, help is on the way.

Friends who encourage

2 Corinthians 7:6 says - "But God, Who comforts and encourages and refreshes and cheers the depressed and the sinking, comforted and encouraged and refreshed and cheered us by the arrival of Titus"(Amp.) Has anyone ever come into your life and brought encouragement when you were feeling down? Have you told them today?

Spread a little kindness

Ephesians 4:32 says “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” We don’t realize it, but it is easy to neglect people when life becomes filled with routine and mundane tasks. It's easy to get off focus on the real stuff. Paul reminds us here in the book of Ephesians that we are to care for everyone no matter what our situation. It is true that a little kindness goes a long way. Spread a little today.

Healing Rain

Read an extract from Michael W Smith's song "Healing Rain" -
Healing Rain is coming down
It's coming closer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It's bringing mercy, it won't be long
Healing rain is coming down
It's coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus' name
Choose today to let the hurts be washed away in Jesus' name. Lord let Your healing rain come down on us. Heal us. We are not afraid.

Putting out the rubbish!

Phil 3:7-8 says "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ".
Everything in our lives should be like rubbish (literally excrement or poop in the Greek) compared to Jesus Christ. A quick way to find out what is important to us is to look at our calendar, email inbox, and credit card statements. What you spend your time on and how you spend your money will tell you where your heart is and what you are passionate about. It's a question of priorities. What rubbish should we put out today?

Giving back

I heard a quote recently that said "Your talent is Gods gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God". I believe that everyone has something unique to give or share. If all we do in life is take we become self focused and unproductive. So you ask what can I give? What about some encouragement for those who pioneer on your behalf, a kind word for the person or friend who is struggling, a bunch of flowers for a loved for just being that, a few minutes to have coffee with someone who is lonely or cheering your ministers heart by your presence to name just a few. Let's live our lives as a gift back to God and in the process change someone elses.

Looking for happiness?

American author Helen Keller once said, "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us". It is often true that we spend more time on what could have been than on what lies before us today. The Psalmist David gave us a Prescription for Happiness in Psalm 1:1-3. He said that blessed(or happy) is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful. David is basically saying that we we must position ourselves in order to experience happiness in God. Planted people bear fruit!