Let Your Light Shine

It’s pointless turning on lights when you are standing in bright daylight, but when you are trying to find your way from one place to another in the dark, lighting become invaluable.

Recently new outdoor lights were installed in the property of one of our churches.   These new lights are great and while it’s not as bright as standing in daylight, it’s much easier to see the trees, their roots as well as the car park when you are on the grounds at night time.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” Matthew 5:14

So today, if you find yourself surrounded by darkness, turn on your light, let it shine and show the world Jesus who lives within you.

Loving God

    Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’  Matthew 22:37 (MSG)

I have often thought that if I only spoke with my husband once a week, if our conversations were one sided and I didn't listen to him, if everything I said to him was written by someone else and if I didn't put any extra effort into spending time with him, would that make him happy?  Would we have a relationship or would I just be his wife in name only? 

That's about my relationship with my husband...but what about Jesus?  Several times in scripture, the church is referenced as the Bride of Christ, so have you ever wondered what loving God and being the Bride of Christ really means practically?  Or have you thought that its a nice idea in theory, but in real life the hour we spend in church each week should be enough to keep him happy?

This week, I am sharing a quote by author Francis Chan, which really speaks to me about my part in maintaining my relationship with God.

    “When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even if it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together. We need to be like this with God.”

May our ears be ready to hear God's voice, may our hearts be open to his heart, and may we fall in love with Jesus a little more every day.

A Marvelous Love

God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending Jesus to suffer and die so we could enter into religion.  He sent Jesus in order for us to enter into a relationship with him.  God’s biggest desire is for us to know him as a loving father who would do anything to spend time with his kids.   After all, he didn’t make us robots that mindlessly carry out lists of tasks.  God created us to be the objects of his love.    

His love for us isn’t based on our performance or whether or not we love him back.   He just loves his kids because we are his kids.  And what an wonderful, amazing and marvelous thing it is to be called a child of God!

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us!  Just look at it—we’re called children of God!

1 John 3:1 (MSG)

Kingdom of Heaven

This week, my pastor challenged us to write our own parable based on Jesus parables of "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..."  which are found in Matthew 13.

This is my parable:

The kingdom of Heaven is like a dry cleaners ticket that has been freely given to you. You neither handed anything in to the dry cleaners nor paid for anything to be cleaned, yet you have the ticket to claim the item at any time.  Whether you take the ticket and claim the item or throw it in the garbage bin is your choice. However, if you do go and claim the item, you will find it is a beautiful coat that is perfectly tailored just for you. You then have a further choice to wear the coat or put it away in the wardrobe to wear on a 'special' occasion because you don't want to get it dirty or damaged.


Only those see the value in the ticket will claim and wear the coat because they understand that the gift wasn't random. They know and believe the ticket giver made the deliberate decision to hand his best coat to someone who couldn't afford one any other way.  And besides that, it was his great joy to have his beautiful coat expertly and precisely tailored to fit each individual person perfectly.

I would love to know what people think of this...

Do It Afraid

‘But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”‘ Matthew 17:7

1n the 80's, DC Talk, a Christian pop group sang “What if I stumble, what if I fall, what if I lose my step and make fools of us all?”  Can you relate to that?  I can.

On many occasions, I have felt so gripped by fear that I can't move.  My instincts tell me that I do nothing; I can’t fail and can’t fall.

However, I have also found there are blessings hidden in every struggle, and triumphs in every fear that is faced, even when the biggest triumph is doing something instead of doing nothing.

Joyce Meyer is quoted as saying “Just because you feel fear, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.  Just do it afraid.”

Sometimes you have to stop worrying about falling, take a deep breath, put your best foot forward and ‘just do it afraid’.

Who knows, maybe the fact you are afraid means something big is going to happen.

It could also be why Jesus said “Fear not!” just before he performed a miracle or taught about the Kingdom of God.

Only Believe

Smith Wigglesworth (British evangelist) once said “God wants us so badly that He has made the condition as simple as He possibly could: ‘Only believe.’” 

We have in our heads there are lots of obstacles between us and God.  We think our behaviour keeps us away from God, but in truth, He isn’t watching for us from a distance and waiting for us to slip up. And at the same time, he isn’t waiting for us to go to church on Sunday or for you to pray a ‘proper prayer’.   

God is as close as your next thought because his biggest desire is to spend time with you.   You just need to believe he wants to be part of your life and he will be there. 

When Jesus heard this, he replied, “Do not fear. Only believe”  Luke 8:50

The Love of God

I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.  Ephesians 3:18-19

The Apostle Paul prayed for the saints at Ephesus, that they would know the amazing dimensions of Jesus’ love for them.  Why not pray it for yourself?  I fully believe that if you get even a tiny glimpse of the love of his for you, you will be stronger and more powerful than anything that can possibly come against you.