Category Archives: Life Lessons

Life Lessons

How to Do It!

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       Our sermon this week followed on from the previous week. It’s one thing to know what we should do, but the question remains, how do we go about it? In the passage of Scripture (Ephesians 6:14-18)  that this talk was based on, we are given a blow by blow account of the WHOLE armour and weapons at our disposal and how to use them. 

    Firstly, there is the belt of truth, and we see this belt is missing in so many of our leaders today….we simply can’t take any notice of what they say! Yes, they may be sincere and think they mean what they say, but it could be a different story to putting it into practice…they simply didn’t know enough about the situation of the things they were promising! We must always make sure before we make a promise that we have gone into it thoroughly first, and KNOW what we are talking about!

    The truth of any matter is the foundation that our words are built on, and without that our statements and promises are valueless!

   Next we must be wearing the boots of something solid….in this case, the Gospel of Peace. We must KNOW that what we base our statements on is solid! Boots are no good if they don’t fit properly, and our feet slide around in them….they let us down in the end and we have to take them off with having blisters and sore feet.

   Then we must pick up and use the shield of faith. This is the basis of all that we believe in…without faith we don’t have stability, and waver from side to side. We are told that we cannot please our General (God) without having this shield with us (Hebrews 11:6)….we have to know the One we believe in, and we cannot believe in Him without having faith that He exists. The shield of faith also helps us to fight off the fiery darts of unbelief and doubt that our enemy shoots at us….it gives us the confidence to face him and stand firm. We are told by James to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7)

    We are to be wearing the helmet of salvation to protect our head…..our thoughts and our mind….what a person thinks about is what they do and how they act. Not only that but we are to take up the sword of the Spirit with us to fight with. We might ask how we can do  that…. we are told that the Bible, is not only God’s Word to us, but is also the Sword of the Spirit! We need to know it thoroughly to use it effectively.

    We are fully provided for, and now it is up to us to use it all. The overall covering is that of prayer, both for ourselves and also for those we know. Just as there is full communication in a family, so there must be for us in the family of God…communication with Him as our Father and supplication for strength for each other, especially in the troubling times we find ourselves in these days.

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Life Lessons

Fragmented!

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    Our government has decided in its wisdom that gatherings in general (and churches in particular) are not to meet in numbers greater than twenty-five for unvaccinated people, and one hundred for those who are vaccinated. This means that for a lot of organisations, the people have had to look at how to divide their gatherings and yet keep the overall unity of the whole group together. This is no mean feat, as people tend to gravitate towards those they know best, and hesitate to join those who they don’t know so well.

   But we need to look at the wider picture, and think of some positives of such a move. Firstly, it gives us a chance to get to know other people better…there is nothing like a small group to activate conversation by asking questions and really listening to the answers. Then others who may irritate us somewhat, give us a chance to exercise Christian grace and patience, and to look beneath the surface of remarks we may not agree with. There is one thing to remember….always look at the half cup of drink in front of you as being half full and not half empty!!

    Then again, there is the prospect of road blocks facing those who travel over our holiday period, and the frustration this will generate….another time of exercising grace and patience!

So whatever our particular test will be, let us remember the wider picture and learn some benefit from it, rather than just grinning and bearing it ungraciously!!!

Life Lessons

What’s over the Hill?

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        We have been recently watching some documentaries of the early explorers of Australia, and how they wanted to explore this new continent that they had settled in. Sadly, some of them lost their lives in the process, and all because they went into the trip unprepared for the conditions that they found. They thought that by travelling with camels which were used to dry conditions that they would be safe enough. They made their way over the thousands of kilometers of trackless desert, only to lose their lives on the way back through the heat and lack of food and water.                               

Yet, if they had only known it, there was enough food in the desert if they had only known where to look for it. The river that they explored had an abundance of creatures in it that they could have eaten, but they weren’t aware of it.                                                                                                           

       It reminds me of how we flounder along in life at times hungering for the truth, and yet not able to find it because we are looking in the wrong places for it. Or maybe we aren’t prepared to search in the right direction because of some preconceived ideas that we have. The explorers didn’t fancy the idea of looking in the river for something to eat because they weren’t familiar with the things that lived in it. So even though they were desperate for food, they perished because of their lack of knowledge.

    So let’s make sure that we aren’t looking for spiritual satisfaction in the wrong places through ignorance or preconceived ideas. Jesus Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to the Father (God) except by Him. He is more than a mere name or word to be carelessly used, but is the source of all truth and life. Not only that, but He is able and willing to reveal Himself to all who sincerely look for Him.

Life Lessons

Uncertain Times

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There is no doubt about it, we live in uncertain times! We ourselves have just been packing our motorhome up to go to a rally for the weekend and then received a notice saying that it has been cancelled. Someone had come to our district and then tested positive with Covid, so in case the whole area might be closed down, the rally was cancelled. What to do now?

The van was packed with our clothes, (first things first!) ; food next with the frig packed for the weekend, then finally (which I had not yet completed) bag of gadgets….phone, laptop, tablet, to take as we leave the house….not forgetting the charging cords etc.

So it had to be a complete change of plans and mindset. Thus it has proved to be over the last few weeks. Plans made and then cancelled; other events put on hold until certainty returns. It has been said, that life as we once knew it, may never return. How thankful we are that we did the things that we did while we could. But we could never have envisaged that things would change so drastically or so quickly!

For those who are committed Christians, there is much to be thankful for. We have a sure and certain hope (confidence) that God sees and knows it all. We know the time we have left is getting shorter as the days go by. In fact, we can’t help wondering just what disaster is coming next. The very earth itself seems to be convulsing in birth pangs with earthquakes shaking, volcanoes erupting and floods sweeping things away, as well as hurricanes brewing in the various oceans around the world. We know that the Bible predicts these things will happen (Luke 21:25-28) and it is all there right before our eyes! So we know that things are not going to go back to how they once were, but will indeed become worse before they get better!

There is only one solution for us all, and that is to make our peace with our Maker while there is still time. Not a one of us knows when our time will be up, and then it will be too late to do anything about it.

Life Lessons

Storms of Life.

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When the disciples experienced the worst storm of their life, they had been sent across the lake by Jesus Christ. The disciples were experienced fishermen who could read the weather signs and knew how to handle these sudden storms that whipped up the lake surface into a frenzy. Jesus knew all this, but He knew a storm was coming up that would test them to the maximum.  They hadn’t made a mistake that brought this upon them, they were there for the purpose of seeing God’s protection and power..

    Remember this….Jesus Christ knows the storm we are in at any given time. He could have stopped the storm coming to the disciples, but He wanted to show them His power. He knows the storm that I may be in right now, but He wants me to go through it so He can show me His power and refine the dross out of my life and strengthen the faith I have in Him.

     The Lord speaks to us in these three ways ….

In the storm….He comes to us through the storm, walking on the water…”I will never leave you”, He says.

Through the storm… He reminds us that He is there with us…”don’t be afraid”, He says, “trust Me”.

The storm within you….often when these storms come, they attack us from the inside. We are all in a turmoil because of circumstances beyond our control, and wonder where we are going to turn next. We must not be afraid of being afraid….storms always have an end. There will be a period of calm when it is over and then another one may come but because we have proved our Lord’s help with the first one, we have confidence within the next one.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)”

      Then we were reminded of the two houses that were built….one on the rock and one on the sandy beach edge. When the first storm came, the one on the rock stood firm, but the one on the sand fell and was destroyed.  So it is with us in life’s storms….we cannot build our house during the storm, we must have it built before the storm comes!  Remember…Jesus Christ is the Rock we must build on……He is the Lord of all our storms. Anything else is like shifting sand!

Life Lessons

Danger Ahead!

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        Our speaker in church yesterday was talking about the foolishness of refusing to hear God’s voice, and what will happen if we consistently shut it up. Every time we have that little niggle about doing something about that apology we should make, or fix up a problem there is between you and another person, is the prompting of God, and should not be ignored. It reminded me of the following story that happened many years ago….

   A man we knew had been taken to the Sunday night services where the Gospel was being preached regularly. But his wife wasn’t keen on him going and she tried to block him by asking the local school teacher for the evening meal on Sunday nights. In the end, he said to not ask him any more as he wasn’t able to go.

    Years passed by, and he never went back to those services again. One day he met his Uncle who knew him very well, and said, “You know Unc, I had a dream the other night. I dreamed that I could see God in heaven, and while I was watching, a big black blind came down between us, and I know now that I couldn’t come to Him even if I wanted to!”

   His uncle didn’t know what to say to this, but it proved to be true. That man never did turn to God, and he died without Him just as he had lived without Him. How sad we were when we heard this! But it serves as a warning that when we consistently block our minds to the truth of these things God says, ”OK, if that’s how you want it, that’s how it will be”. He says in the Bile that His Spirit will not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3) …He gives us our chance and we must take it as we never know when we might go beyond the point of no return!

Life Lessons

Growing Older!

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    I went to visit an old friend of ours last week who is now in a rest home and not able to get out much. I remembered how we had known him for over forty years, from the time when he was a vigorous man in his middle age, involved in his job and in various things in the local church. It is sad to see him as he is now, not able to look after himself, or even able to read for himself.

   I couldn’t help thinking of how we all like to think that things won’t change on one hand, and yet on the other hand we don’t think of how life IS going to change if we live long enough! We all want to live a long time, but no-one wants to get old!  We see other people getting older and becoming infirm, and yet we never stop to think what it must be like to be like that ourselves!

   But this is part of life. The Bible says that our life is like the flowers that start off in bud, then come into full flower, and finally get faded and then die down,  We have a graphic picture of this shown to us in Isaiah chapter 40, verses 6b-8  “all flesh is grass and all the goodness of it is as the flower of the field, The grass withers, the flowers fade because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Surely people are like the grass which withers, and the flowers that fade but the Word of our God shall stand for ever”.

    In that last verse we have the whole point of life….God’s Word stands for ever! We can totally depend on what He says. Another friend of ours used to say, “God says it; I believe it, and that settles it!”

   When people like to argue with what we believe, we can hang onto that saying….their argument is not with us, but with what God says!

   Another older lady said  to me one day, “No-one told us when we were younger what it’s like to be old!”

I had to agree, and even if they had, we wouldn’t have taken any notice! We all tend to live in the present without giving a thought to the future, but we would all do well to think about what lies ahead and prepare our hearts and minds to meet whatever comes our way.

Life Lessons

The Storms of Life….

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We attended a Bible conference recently that was being held in the small chapel where we grew up as children and young people. We try to make a point of attending this conference each year, partly for old times’ sake, and partly for fellowship to catch up with old friends from years before.

   There were two speakers this year, and the two talks during the afternoon sessions really made an impact as they seemed to dovetail together beautifully. The first speaker talked about the Storms of Life, and this was a topic he spoke of from the heart. It had only been four years since his wife died with cancer. He broke his talk into three parts, showing how the Lord speaks to us in these three aspects of the storms of life that we all experience at different times.

    When the disciples experienced the worst storm of their life, they had been sent across the lake by Jesus Christ. The disciples were experienced fishermen who could read the weather signs and knew how to handle these sudden storms that whipped up the lake surface into a frenzy. Jesus knew all this, and He knew a storm was coming up that would test them to the maximum.  They hadn’t made a mistake that brought this upon them, they were there for a purpose.

Remember this….Jesus Christ knows the storms we are in at any given time. He could have stopped the storm coming to the disciples, but He wanted to show them His power. He knows the storm that I may be in right now, but He wants me to go through it so He can show me His power and refine the dross out of my life and strengthen the faith I have in Him.

The Lord speaks to us in these three ways ….

In the storm….He comes to us through the storm, walking on the water…”I will never leave you”, He says.

Through the storm… He reminds us that He is there with us…”don’t be afraid”, He says, “trust Me”.

The storm within you….often when these storms come, they attack us from the inside. We are all in a turmoil because of circumstances beyond our control, and wonder where we are going to turn next.

Don’t be afraid of being afraid….storms always have an end. There will be a period of calm when it is over and then another one may come but because we have proved our Lord’s help with the first one, we have confidence within the next one.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) We cannot build the house during the storm, we must have it built before it comes! Remember….He is the Lord of all our storms!

Transitions….     The next speaker spoke about transitions and how the peace after the storm usually precedes a transition….and transitions are never peaceful, they are a time of turmoil. Take the birth of a child….a time of labour for the mother and time of turmoil for the child leaving the womb to enter this world, and then turmoil for the rest of their lives! So many things in our lives are a transition….a new baby brings a whole new way of life to a couple; a move to a new area is a period of turmoil until settled in; children reaching the teenage years bring a transition for both themselves and their parents.

  Then again there is the transition into the empty nest syndrome and finally into retirement. But that is not the end….what about the transition into the retirement village and then the rest home? What about the transition of the loss of a spouse? It seems that the whole of life is a series of transitions. We need the Lord’s help in each of these transitions in life. Nothing remains static…change is the essence of life. Let’s make sure that we approach each of these transitions with the peace of God in our heart and mind.    Be anxious about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

   We had a lot to think about as we made our way back home.