Search Results for: blog time and the wind and work of the holy spirit

Practical Help for Christian Living

The book of Romans is one of the helpful and practical letters in the New Testament. Just look at some of the gems from Romans 8. Romans 8:1 assures believers of their standing before God. There is ‘no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ Paul goes on to tell us that those who believe in Jesus have been ‘set free, from the law of sin and death,’ verse 2. The reason we are set free is not because of anything we have done or because of keeping rules but because of what Jesus has done for us through … Continue reading →

How Can You Be Sure That You Are Born Again?

So, we saw that to be sure of getting into heaven we need to be born again. But how can you be sure you have been born again? We saw that being born again is a work of the Spirit. We can’t see the Spirit just as we can’t see the wind, John 3:8. We can see where wind has been and what it has done. We can see where The Holy Spirit has entered a life and changed the person. We can see the evidence of a changed life in several ways. The simple test of whether you are … Continue reading →

God Can’t Use Me

Have you ever wondered how you be used by God? Sometimes we hear people say God couldn’t use me. I’m not clever enough or strong enough or good enough or powerful or able to talk well enough to be used by God or I’m too old. As a matter of fact that last one was one of the excuses Moses threw back at God, when God called him to go back to Egypt and lead his people out, Genesis 6:30. I’ve been reading ‘Living Water’ by Brother Yun. Brother Yun is a Chinese preacher and evangelist who has spent year … Continue reading →

What Are You Thinking?

‘I think therefore I am,’ Descartes said. The apostle Paul obviously considered a person’s thought life to be important. Philippians 4:8 reminds us ‘whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is anything excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your minds dwell on these things.’ Our pastor recently suggested, ‘a man is not just what he thinks he is but what he thinks about – he is.’ The reality is that as our minds are transformed so are our attitudes and behavior. What we … Continue reading →

Three Keys to Peace

Have you ever thought how nice it would be if you could have peace regardless of what was happening in your life? I know it’s something I struggle with at times. But Philippians gives us some helpful tips about how to have that peace. One of the keys to achieving and maintaining peace is to ‘stand firm in the Lord,’ Philippians 4:1. It’s easy to become unsettled when we are flitting from one new thing to another. We need to come back to what we know to be true and stand firm in our Christian faith. The next key comes … Continue reading →

The Church In Danger

Today the church is in danger of absorbing the ideas and values of the world, rather than the ideas and values of God as taught in the bible. We would do well to take note of the book of Colossians, which is written to a church in danger. The Colossian church was in danger from deception and false teaching, Colossian 2:8 and from criticism, Colossians 2:16-18. These Colossian Christians were people who wanted to know God but, having heard and responded to the message about Jesus as given them by Epaphras, they still felt that something was missing from their … Continue reading →

Out of Place

Have you ever met someone and you know their face is familiar and you know them but can’t think where from? I have great difficulty with this one, especially if I can’t place the person in the right context. It happened recently. I saw a guy at choir and couldn’t determine if it was someone I knew from tennis or not, because he was dressed differently. In the end I realized it was. This weekend my husband kept thinking he knew this guy but couldn’t figure out where from. It turns out he is our new mayor and his face … Continue reading →

Time and the Wind and Work of the Holy Spirit

Last week my husband and I took a day out of the busyness, as we sometimes do, to just enjoy being together and being out in God’s creation. We went a little further down the coast, enjoying the beauty of the beaches. I snapped lots of photos. I’m particularly keen on photos of water washing over rocks. It’s interesting to see how much the rocks have been worn away and shaped by the waves and also by the wind. Sometimes it can be a bit like that in our Christian life. When we first come to believe in Jesus we … Continue reading →

Evidence of the Holy Spirit

The other day at our church ladies’ breakfast, one of the women had a locket around her neck. ‘Does it open? And does it have a photograph inside?’ I asked. She admitted it didn’t. I have a large silver locket my mother bought for me many years ago. Inside it for years were two photos of Mick and me when we were both about eighteen and ‘going steady.’ Then one day I decided the engraved silver was tarnished and needed a clean, so I left the locket closed, got the silver cleaner out and cleaned the outside. I never thought … Continue reading →

How Do You Give?

Suppose someone comes to the door collecting for a specific charity how do you respond? Do you scrabble around guiltily for a small amount of small change, just to get rid of them? Do you give money to their cause and then deduct it from what you would normally give to another charity or organization? Do you tell them no because it is not part of your planned giving? Or do you alternate between all the above and then manage to feel guilty and in the wrong no matter which option you choose? In our household we make it a … Continue reading →