Encouragements

The oil stain Many years ago, on a Saturday afternoon, I was changing the oil in my car in the car park of the apartment block we lived in. I’m generally quite capable of this without spilling oil and making a mess, but this time, something fell and splashed oil everywhere. I cleaned up all I could, but I was worried about a stain on the concrete—something that would attract an angry letter from the apartment block manager. I had no time to attend to it any further, I locked my car and rushed in for dinner. The next day it still weighed heavily on my mind while I drove to church. Suddenly, a rush of peace came upon me. I heard God say – “I’ve got this, and I’m going to show you what my forgiveness looks like”. Driving home from the service, the skies opened up and our car was hit with a downpour of rain. There were no weather predictions for it – it just came out of nowhere. Even though the driveway was sloped, water was going down the concrete car...

Walking with a Cast On Hi friends, Lana and I were teaching in our school last week on the importance of being free of a victim mentality. During the session, a picture came to mind that I felt to share as an encouragement and exhortation to you on this list. Imagine, you hear about a friend who had broken their leg, and now had a plaster cast on – as is the process of healing. I have known people to have a cast on for six weeks, sometimes twelve, depending on the break. But if you saw your friend six months later still with a cast, trying to walk on it (as if it were a normal leg) with a hobbled gait, you would try to know what’s going on. Imagine then, your friend telling you that they had kept the cast on because it was much stronger than their normal leg. Sure, it made them walk funny, but they liked the strength and protection it gave – not to mention the number of people who wanted to talk about it. It had become a part of their life, and they were even proud ...

In the Image of God The Bible begins its story with perhaps the most amazing example of power. With words: God spoke, and His words manifested physical realities. It once occurred to me that God could never lie, at the utterance of His word, whatever He uttered would be manifest. If He spoke something that was not yet truth – it would be truth by the time He finished the statement. What is remarkable also, is the concept that we are made in His image. The word ‘image’ is ‘tselem.’ (Hebrew) It is used 17 times in the Old Testament. A few times about man being made in the image of God. More times than not it is used to represent an idol. But, this array of uses gives a good picture of what it actually means to be made ‘in the image of God,’ in particular (strangely enough) the idol. I am not saying that we are idols. But, the idol was an icon for something, it was fashioned to resemble something they believed to be greater. They were icons, not solel...

Belt of Truth ‘Honesty is the best policy.’ That’s a phrase my mother used to say, often, as we were growing up. I was a rambunctious kid like many others, although generally well natured (in my recollection).  Nonetheless, there still occurred the occasional broken plant pot, cracked window or other broken item that I would be tempted to conceal my responsibility in their destruction. It rarely worked, and repercussions were often greater because of it. Truth, today, seems to be an easily lost commodity. It can be shaded to hide injustices or even to create injustice. Especially in our social and political climate. In our day as much as it was for Paul, we still face a spiritual battle and need our armor.  So, in thinking about the battle we are in, why did Paul invoke the image of a belt for truth? Undoubtedly, the image of armour he was considering would have been that of the Romans, and the belt is an important part of Roman armour. There are the ob...

Encouragement – Too Tired to Worship This is an encouragement for those who are very tired. Maybe it is from grieving, maybe it’s burnout, maybe it’s just been a long season of warfare.  When David pursued the Amalekites, his army was tired. He and his army were in exile, fleeing Saul. He allied with Philistines to fight against their enemies, returning home to find everything  – the families and belongings of him and his men – had been taken by the Amalekites, one of the armies the Philistines had warred against. They pursued their enemies, but two hundred of David’s men had to break off, as they were too exhausted to even cross the river. The rest of his army continued and vanquished their enemy, returning with not just what had been stolen from them (including the wives and children), but all the Amalekites had taken as plunder from the various battles they had recently won. When David’s war party returned to the exhausted m...

Who made your voice? Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” (Exodus 4:11-12) In this verse, God said to Moses during his conversation at the burning bush. God had announced to Moses that he had heard the cries of his people, he knew their sorrows and had come to deliver them to the land promised through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Standing before God was Moses. Moses was uniquely capable because of what he had experienced in Pharoah’s house – he knew protocol, he knew the magicians. In every way, he spoke the language of Pharoah’s court. He was also uniquely qualified because he knew Pharoah personally. Looking back we may see that Moses was practically made for this moment, to represent the Lord before the oppressing regime.  God had already shown him a glimpse of the mirac...

Hi Friends. Continuing the subject of the Armor of God, I just wanted to share a quick encouragement on faith. Faith is like air. We can always have it, and not be aware of it – but by the time we realize we are languishing things are in a bad way. For the longest time in my life, faith was an abstract concept. It was something I was sure that existed in my life, but ask me what it was, or how I knew it was a reality and I could not give a good answer. To be honest, I never gave it much thought. Of course, we all know the verse: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1a). But it goes on.. “For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:1b-2) We live in a world that is both seen and unseen. Of course...

Good Fruit Hi friends, I will come back to the Armour of God more in the future, but as I was worshipping the other day, the story of the Fall came to mind, particularly one verse that I feel is often overlooked. ‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.‘ Genesis 3:6 Firstly, this is a deep and consequential story, for the purpose of this encouragement the questions of blame and cause are not significant to what I hope to convey, those are questions that we can look at on another day. What is significant in this post, is that on the outside, the fruit was good. Without the context of divine perspective, there seemed to be no good reason not to eat the fruit. After all, it would even seem a waste to not eat the fruit – and if she was looking for food at th...

The Armor of God – Shoes of Gospel of Peace The book of Ephesians (where the text of the Armor of God) is quite interested in the walk of the Christian. This theme continues through the book even to the end, as Paul describes the Armor of God. “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15) In Ephesians chapter 2, he begins by noting how before we were saved, we walked in the same way that everyone else did in this world, conducting ourselves to the lusts of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath. He follows this up by describing the amazing grace of God that has redeemed us, his kindness that has come to us as a gift, noting that we are his workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works that God prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Eph 3:10).   The gospel is a gospel of peace. We once walked in wrath, according to the lusts of our flesh at war with God. Now, we walk as redeemed people, walking in the Holy Spi...

Put on the Armour of God—Breastplate of Righteousness. The book of Job is interesting, it really shapes up the value of human opinion compared to God’s perspective. Another thing of interest is the courtroom type scene at the beginning, when Satan, the accuser, makes this claim against Job. ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?  Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’ (Job 1:9-11) There are a few interesting things here: Let’s consider this concept when we look at Paul’s writings in Ephesians 6. Paul encourages the reader to stand against Satan, listing off items of armour that they are to utilise in their war against evil. Eventually, I want to look at each piece, starting with the Breas...

Abraham, and Who We Will Be  There are but a few people in the Bible that had a specific encounter with God or His angels, and each time signifies a dramatic shift in the narrative of the story. Looking at the story of Abraham, from the age of 75 he encountered God and His Angels numerous times, each time painting a greater picture of what God was doing in Abraham, in his life and through it. God had a plan for Abraham, and He intervened in his life in dramatic ways to see it come about. You can see how God takes a childless foreigner and invites him on an adventure – leaving family behind and stepping into so much more that becomes the entire Jewish people. Each encounter Abraham has with God is important, but the specific conversation that Abraham had in Genesis 18 with three men shows something unique. Before Isaac was even conceived — God treated Abraham with the reputation and reward he, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and his sons had not yet earned. ‘Then the men rose ...

The Power of Voice Did you know that each voice is unique? When you think about it, it’s not just physiology but it carries with it a long chain of influences from our history. Our voices are as unique as our fingerprints in ways I never considered before.  One factor is tone. Our vocal chambers can indeed resonate in a certain way that produces a certain timbre… from our vocal cords to our sinuses. Our physiology carries with it generations of ancestral fragments, all placed together in quite a unique way—and can even be influenced by how we have trained our own voice. This goes beyond accent. Even the way we structure a sentence can use words and phrases unique to a region. Just as our physiology can be the product of generations of history, regional accents and dialects are the product of countless years of cultures and influences. Our voice can also be influenced by those around us. Have you ever noticed that people can often emulate people who mentor them? A singer ...