LOOKING UP IN TROUBLE
By Not Known Where do you look in times of trouble? Sometimes we look around us and see the overwhelming nature of our troubles and the threat they pose. This may paralyse us with fear. Sometimes we look inside ourselves and see our lack of ability to solve our own problems. That may paralyse us with despair. Both the prophecy of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation were…
Meeting God
By Not Known How do you prepare for a meeting with an important person? Our preparations tend to increase as the other person’s importance rises. How do we prepare to meet with God? We meet with God in settigns such as a personal and family devotion and Sunday services Ofter, we give almost no thought or preparation to these meetings with God. It’s almost as…
Youths
By Not Known We know how times have changed and so have teenagers. Back when today’s adults were growing up, the church tradition involved recitation of Christian creeds during weekly worship services. The entire congregation participated, old and young. Whether as young people then understood the significance of those repeated words or not; whether we protested or…
TREKKING WITH GOD
By Not Known A devotional calendar page reads – God’s will for my life is not a neat box on the path, but the path itself – a pilgrimage to be discovered by trust and obedience. Simple words, yet words that resonate both human potential and pain. Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou did create all things, and because of Thy…
NEW BEGINNINGS
By Not Known This is the time of the year when we often express a need for “new beginnings”. However, “new beginnings” that are genuine must lead us to a new way of thinking and looking at things. For us, these must begin from within us and occur with the help of God’s Spirit. This inner change will not only open our eyes to see things from a God-dominated perspective but…
Food for Thought
By Not Known It was lunchtime. Jesus’ disciples had left him to go and get food. Meanwhile, he spoke about spiritual matters with a woman who had a colourful past and who seemed to have now become his follower. Then the disciples returned with food. Their amazement about his conversation with the woman soon turned into a rather practical urging: Rabbi, eat…
2003
By Not Known As the year ends, this is a good time to prayerfully look back. This has been a tough year for our nation. Continuing economic difficulties, SARS and a troubled regional environment have all taken their toll on national confidence, our sense of safety and our economic well-being. Yet, we end the year with a sense that we have survived and grown during the…
Christmas Meditation
By Not Known What shall we give to the Lord in return for his gifts? For us he became human and, on account of our corrupted nature the Word became flash and dwelt in our midst. He was the benefactor to those who were ungrateful, the liberator to those in bondage and the sun of righteousness to those who dwell in darkness. He who was incorrupt ascended on the cross, the…
God, Who Chose How to Save
By Not Known The Bible says that God has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1: 3). In particular, we are adopted as God’s sons and daughters through Jesus and have redemption in his blood. As Eph. 1: 5- 6 tells us: he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious…
God, Who Chose Whom to Save
By Not Known Christ came at Christmas time because God’s response to human sin was to save rather than to judge (Jn 3:17). This is a remarkable love and it is totally undeserved. However, the love of God GOES further than his choice to save and to send Jesus as Saviour. God also chose whom to save. Consider these words: For he chose us in him before the creation of…