Whatever He Says

Hey, when God is making something clear, it is exciting how his Word pops, like kernels of popcorn blasting from hard nuggets to delicious edible morsels.  I read one of my favourite Bible chapters this morning:  the book of Colossians, chapter 3 , and some of the verses, when I read them in the light of what I shared in my last blog post,  The Heavy Weight of Words,  had deeper significance than ever. Think about the agency of the Enemy of God to divide, and his propensity for the use of words to do so, perverting the gift that sets us apart from all the other wonderfully created beings on this planet. See how some of the verses from the passage in Colossians emphasize that fact in describing his influence, to which humans are all too receptive. Look at the contrast with the character of God, with which Paul the apostle, admonishes us to "clothe" ourselves. Colossians 3:8-12 New International Version (NIV) 8  But now you must also rid yourselves  of...

By Belinda The lawns in town, including ours, look like the face of a grizzled old man who hasn't shaved for several days. That's what the long stalked, gone-to-seed dandelions, reminded me of this morning! Yes, that is a suitably unkempt image. But I was thinking of other things besides the wild lawns of Bond Head as I drove to work. I was thinking of conversations gone equally wild.  You see, our cell group finally finished our study on the book, Holy Conversation  and we almost missed an article tucked away, right at the back, almost as a little extra: Holy Conversation The Lost Art of Witness . Someone suggested we read it, and when we did, we spent the evening discussing it (if you're interested, you can find it by clicking the link.) The article talked about the four factors of genuine conversation, quoting Australian lecturer in practical theology, Geoff Broughton . The factors are: mutuality, reciprocity, openness and respect. Richard Peace, the author of...

By Belinda The Teacher clears earth grime from the lenses of my eyes and helps me to see more clearly. He reshapes; re-forms, my heart. If he didn't do this simultaneously with the revelation I would despair. Puffed up pride on one hand and disdain on the other--twin sister smirches on character. No one could have told me it was so. I would have denied it; would not have seen it. But, ah, that gentle Teacher, Holy Spirit; Revealer and Counsellor--he showed me and I can never be ignorant again of that propensity in me. Now, humility borne of truth; insight. Awareness of my smallness and true significance--not less than, but not greater than. Repentance and regret that I was blind to such a (now) glaring heart shadow; that it took so long to see. Mostly I am grateful to God, who loved me as I was, loves me as I am, and as I will be and who is in intimate relationship with me, caring to reveal, caring to change, and always in love. Psalm 119:103-104 (Amplified Bible) 103 ...

 All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.   When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it. ( 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 , The Message ) By Belinda It leaped out at me from the page ...

By Belinda Today in My Utmost for His Highest , I read about having a "White Funeral"--"a crisis of death"--and a "resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ." This is something I have been pondering and writing about a lot lately. It is as though God is determined to establish a rock solid understanding of this principle within me, and in everything I read, whether scriptures or the same devotionals I have read many times before, the obvious requirement and possibility of  this  gift and grace is leaping off every page and line. There is an absolute necessity of it if we are to experience Christ as both Saviour and Sanctifier, and now I believe that we should learn about it as the immediate next step after any decision to follow Christ, but I think that often we aren't taught, or don't get it if we are. It makes the step of baptism so clearly an outward demonstration of an inner reality. I think that many people could be baptised without ful...

By Belinda I confess that I have not followed Jesus well to this point in my life. I thought that I had made at least a good attempt, but really I have been far more in step with the culture I live in than with the pattern Jesus lived; and they are both very different. You can read the Bible, as I have, and know it well, but have a sort of blindness to the implications for your own life. For instance: John 5:19 (New Living Translation)   19 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. This is a verse that is quite shocking when you think of who Jesus is. Jesus laid down a pattern of humble dependence on God, of not running ahead of God.  By contrast, my life is driven by busyness; by plans and goals and deadlines that have been set without any consultation with God. How arrogant, when I contrast this with the way of Jesus. Here is anot...

By Belinda "Handsome is as handsome does" is an old proverb that I grew up with in England. It means that actions, which speak to inner character, are far more telling than outer beauty... I love nice clothes and have always rationalized my overspending in that area of our budget as a "small weakness." I can trace my passion for shopping back to my childhood where there was no money for frills, including pretty clothes. We had our school uniforms and good shoes but other new items of clothing were so rare that I can remember every item of clothing in my wardrobe between the ages of 12 and 16, when I started work. But that is all so long ago! On my trips back to England to visit Mum and Rob, I always looked forward to spending time in Marks and Spencers, Next and Dorothy Perkins and always came home with several new items of clothing. In October I was back in Alvechurch again and this time was different. I focused on Mum and being everything to Rob that h...

Down below is another Janet Sketchley  song recommendation and I love it. Let it soak into your heart and soul as it did to mine. Somehow it says exactly what God is saying to me right now. Something profound is happening in me;  if it didn't have such negative connotations I would say that I am being radicalized.  I love the question across the top of Todd Agnew's shirt, "What if Jesus meant everything he said?" Yes, what if he did? There is such a contrast in the song between the motions we go through in church and the reality we would break through to if we broke out of the expected pattern; between the much we have and the little others have. Like tonight, as I talked to Paul on the phone. He is far away on a northern First nations reserve, just being with people, and immersed in a totally different reality to where we live. I am in the last throes of preparations for friends from England who arrive tomorrow. I told Paul I was moving my stuff from ...

By Belinda My friend's uncle was a Buddhist and prominent in his community, so when he died recently, the memorial service she and her family attended was a large one, with over 300 people in attendance. When they arrived, she and her sister were briefed, with other family members, on the protocol of a Buddhist memorial service. At the front of the room was a large incense urn. Behind it they could see a statue of a god. To the right was a photo of her uncle. The man instructing them said that at a certain point in the service, the family would file to the front, put some incense into the urn, bow from the waist and then turn and bow to the photograph of their deceased family member. Alarm bells were going off for my friend and she and her sister looked at each other, then said to their guide, "We can't do the first bow, we're Christians." "Oh, it's nothing," said the man (I'll call him Barry,) "...

By Belinda My newly showered skin revels in the exquisite comfort of a freshly washed, fleece sweater. My clean hair, tied back out of eyes and face, shiny and catching the light, feels silken as a baby's. But I come seeking soul shower, this early morning. Clean clothes, skin and hair are not enough to start my day; I seek my Saviour's sanctifying voice; his cleansing Holy Spirit breath through the hallways of my inner self. Oh, Lord, shower me, With your cleansing, purifying, mercy rain. Wash away selfishness and soul dinginess, Clean forgotten corners of cobwebs that drift in the breeze. Blast them away with the breath of  your love. Make me shiny; clean; pure; holy; set apart for service, Shower me. Hebrews 12:14 (New International Version) 14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Ephesians 4:22-24 (New International Version) 22You were taught, with regard to your former wa...

By Belinda Confession time. I have a quirk or two (maybe three!) :) One quirk is becoming ridiculously attached to certain articles of clothing. Oh, I can "shop until I drop," with the best of them, but when something serves me well and is comfortable, then I will try to  hang on to it forever. Take this shoe, for instance. It belongs to a pair that I have had for about 7 years. I didn't even buy them--they were Brenda's, and expensive, but they didn't fit her properly. They fit me like a second skin and have been faithful friends; carrying my feet on long walks, on shopping expeditions in Canada, England and Holland, to work and church--pretty much everywhere in my life for 7 years, with short bouts in between when I wore my equally faithful Birkenstock sandals. But sadly, nothing lasts forever, and although I would wear them forever if I could, the seam on one shoe is coming apart. I considered having it restitched, but taking a few photogr...

By Belinda I wrote last week, in my post entitled Ponderings, about giving thought to who I choose to be as I enter a new decade of life. Lightening my load and leaving negativity behind was one decision made. More often than I cared to admit, I allowed my mind to drift towards a negative thought; or a clouded moment to hang around too long. And I have shared negative things unnecessarily, thereby spreading the ripple to other souls. These things are just so much excess baggage that I am offloading. I am contemplating little mantra daily; a sort of pledge. I'll share it here again, expanded a bit: I will not... receive (welcome) entertain (invite to pull up a seat and stay awhile) maintain (give space to) or retain (hold onto)...negative thoughts or words. It amazes me how often, since I've been paying more attention, I have diverted negative thoughts, and words that were on the tip of my tongue. And I am sure that I will have plenty of continued opportunity to...

By Belinda Please let me live every moment of the rest of my life as a woman who fears the Lord. I prayed this at the end of my Sunday morning devotions, before leaving for church, a week or so ago. During my prayer time I had come to a place of peace about a situation that had angered me at work; God's Holy Spirit gently did a course correction in my heart and I left for church feeling better about it. With God's help I had formulated steps to do things differently next time--my "What ifs" list, posted here a few days ago. At church there was an altar call during the service. One person went forward and I knew I had to get there, as fast as I could. I wanted to make a fresh commitment to God with all of my heart. And so I went forward, followed by one or two others. But as I stood there, someone came to my mind. We'd had one of those silly misunderstandings earlier that week and the atmosphere between us was cool. At the altar, a verse came to mind;...

By Belinda I've done a lot of pondering as I approached my latest age milestone. First I had to get my head around the fact that this impossible number applied to me. How is it even possible? But it is! I confess I struggled with it at first, but then I realized what a privilege it is to be here today and healthy. Lord, I thank you for this, another day of life; a day in which my bones are clothed with flesh, sinew, muscle and nerve, and in which myriad unconscious processes of brain, central nervous and other systems, enable thought and movement. Today I am fully alive, body, soul, and spirit. I rejoice in the gift of life and the One who ordained that I should "be." I spent some time reflecting on the woman in Proverbs 31. I love all the qualities I see in her, this woman rich in all the things that matter. I care about appearances as much as anybody, I have to be honest, but I care about something else much more: Proverbs 31:30 (New International Version) 30 C...

By Belinda "Cool headednes, self possession and restraint." I pondered these qualities, mentioned in a devotional book I was reading, with longing. I realized that if they were the benchmark to shoot for, I had recently failed yet again. Another person had clearly done something wrong and I corrected them, but I was ashamed that I had done it out of  barely contained hot-headedness and anger that simmered not far beneath the surface of my words. I found myself doing another "What if?" exercise. Here's what I came up with: What if next time I waited before responding; allowing time to calm down before saying a word? What if I listened, seeking to understand the one who had offended me? What if I asked myself whether I am the best person to respond? Am I jumping too quickly before thinking things through sufficiently? What if, having heard the situation or concerns that prompted the words or action that offended me; I made my focus addressing t...

By Belinda I turned to Leviticus 14, part of my reading for the day. "Not exactly the most exciting or gripping part of the Bible," I thought, but I would plod through. The chapter is about infectious skin diseases and mildew in houses! To my surprise God began to speak even through a passage I was expecting to "just get through." Three things struck me (with the caveat that these are my humble and limited thoughts on a passage that probably has much more profound meaning): The passage mentions sacrifices of doves and lambs for cleansing. If the spreading nature of skin diseases and mildew represents sin in humankind, then the sacrifice of the most harmless and innocent creatures on the altar of our sin, is a picture of the devastation our sin wreaks on the innocent; both in the natural world and our relationships. For truly, no man is an island  (John Donne,) and only a brief pondering affirms that as true when it comes to our sin: greed, selfishness, bitter...

By Belinda The Beauty Of Jesus Amazon.co.uk Low prices on the beauty of jesus. Free UK Delivery on Amazon Orders 90% off beauty deals I was looking up the words to a hymn, Let the Beauty of Jesus be Seen in Me, and  the advertisement above popped up--no kidding. I'm considering placing an order! While in England I have been reading a book by  a Canadian author, Jean Little , entitled, His Banner Over Me. Although it is supposed to be a children's book (ages 8-12!) I am thoroughly enjoying the book. One of the things I love about it is that each chapter starts with the verse of a hymn. It reminds me of how the inspired words of hymns nourished my soul as a child. I read them like a devotional book and sang them sincerely as they gave words to my young journey of faith. This one, written by Albert Osborn, has been on my heart this morning: Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me All His wonderful passion and purity Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine ...

By Belinda I have a cold and my brain feels fuzzy but I am on vacation and can rest and sip chicken soup and cups of tea. I read and reread a passage from James because I am finding it hard to focus and process the words I am reading. At about the third reading the meaning sinks in fully and I reach for my pen... James 2:8-9 (Amplified Bible) 8 If indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well.(A) 9 But if you show servile regard (prejudice, favoritism) for people, you commit sin and are rebuked and convicted by the Law as violators and offenders. Favouring the rich over the poor is the opposite of the royal law, which is to love without discrimination of any sort. The verses that follow remind the reader that if we keep the whole law, but stumble at one point, we are guilty of breaking all of it. With the law it is all or nothing, and since it can never be "all," we being human, fal...

Waste: it is all a matter of perspective. The Kingdom of God has laws that just can't be assessed by human logic. Nothing makes sense if you try to understand it that way. You have to let go of human perspective, and when you do, the rest of the world will think that you have taken leave of your senses. Jesus said that he would bring strife and division among families and I can see why that would be if people really follow his ways. When I chose to pursue faith at 16, my father worried that I was missing out on life--wasting my carefree years. I had, until that point, been immersed in a busy social life that included art, folk music, dancing and parties. I remained just as busy, but now it was with prayer meetings, Bible studies, youth group and practicing with a gospel singing group. When I married the pastor's son, he must have thought my fate was sealed! Even though I was always his daughter, who could do little else wrong, faith separated us for the rest of his life, in way...

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. I pull over my hands and arms the twin sleeves of compassion and kindness. May these sister virtues flow through the embrace of my arms and the touch of my hands in this good day. Over my shoulders may the garment of Christ be a cloak of humility. His back stooped to wash dirt encrusted feet, and endured the cruel sting of Pilate’s flail. His shoulders bore the cross for me; shall my shoulders not bend too, in service and sacrifice? Around me I gather the warmth of his gentleness, patience and forgiveness; may my heart be filled with his grace and forbearance, always remembering that I have received these gifts in unlimited meas...