In my last piece, I touched on this wonderful passage from Zephaniah, which speaks of God’s emotion towards us: Zephaniah 3:17, ‘He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.’ As stated in the previous article, the Hebrew word ‘rejoice’ literally means to ‘spin around under violent emotion.’ The imagery is of impassioned dancing, while singing and shouting for joy. It is incredible to know that... Read more
Knowing the nature of God is at the heart of a meaningful walk of faith. Understanding God’s intentions towards us informs our interpretation of passages that could be taken in a number of different ways, and shapes our spiritual experience. As a young man, I thought God was stern and remote, leading to heaviness, drudgery and misery. After learning that God is good, in simple ways we mortals can understand, such as in parental love and care, my spiritual life... Read more
I love Psalm 23, and often draw strength from it. After recent discursive posts, I thought I’d offer something more devotional – a moment of repose and refreshment. I’ll be going through the psalm, explaining what I take from it, and hope readers might respond with their own reflections and insights. Meditating on the scripture has two active elements to it – repeating/muttering, and imagining. When I return to this psalm for refreshment, I repeat each line numerous times,... Read more
Many of us have watched on, horrified, as sections of the church have given themselves to an extreme of faith known as ‘The Prosperity Gospel’, have we not? Leaders have become gleaming, suited and booted celebrities, syphoning money from the wages of their millions of TV followers, and carving out extraordinary lifestyles of obscene wealth, enormous mansions and private jets. Some such leaders are straight-up fraudsters, and others have been sucked into a maelstrom of greed, endangering their faith and... Read more
My brothers and I never had a pet you could stroke, because of allergies in the house, but we did have a tank of tropical fish. I used to enjoy watching their colourful little ecosystem at work, except when Oscar the catfish developed a bowel condition. Every now and again, the tank needed a clean (thanks Oscar!), so the fish were carefully removed and temporarily housed elsewhere, while the tank was emptied. This was my dad’s job, and I was... Read more
What do you think of when you hear the word humility? What does it look like? How does humility speak? What does humility do? What does it not do? Common notions of humility are of unassuming speech and a deferential manner. That person has to be humble, right? In my mid-teens, I remember overhearing someone at church saying the following: “I don’t mean to make a big deal of it, but you know when you’re doing the humble job.”... Read more
“Our Most Important Relationship Is Not With God” was stated to me by a wonderful, spiritual lady called Deb from the church I was attending in Alabama, in 2003. I was taken aback, but Deb walked closely with the Lord and I trusted her, so I wanted to hear more. Her theory was that our most important relationship is with ourselves, because how we view ourselves defines the extent to which we can know God. In other words, our view of... Read more
How good is your Good News? It is wonderful, is it not, to join together and sing the praise of our God? We feel his nearness, we thank him for his love, we rest in the sure knowledge that we have been given his righteousness, and do not need to impress him to earn our way into Heaven. Celebrating the goodness of God is a festival of joy, and one of the highest privileges given to human beings! But what... Read more
There is a time for waiting, even in areas of personal change we know need to happen. In those times, we experience the patience of God, his kindness and his preparation for the period of change, when it comes. In those times of waiting, striving to change ourselves before we’re ready, in our own strength, would be counterproductive. Believers grow and change under the leading of the Spirit, rather than according to their own agenda. But when the time for... Read more
Those who’ve read my other posts will know I often write about the need for breakthrough into the miraculous in the Church, and the importance of healing and deliverance. Wonderful though such things are, and much though they reflect the heart of God for his children, Christianity would be shallow if it were just a parade of victories over obstacles and circumstances. Today I want to write about the emotional blessings of knowing God, and particularly the emotional resources available... Read more
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