Saved

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

This is a promise from God. Our sins are behind us when we confess to our Lord. Our mistakes are forgiven and forgotten when we turn to God. We are saved and there is nothing that can separate us from our Lord.

We don’t need to prove ourselves by doing great works. Great works are meaningless if they don’t first come from God.

We don’t need to redeem ourselves by paying off all we owe to God. That debt was already paid by Christ Jesus when he died on the cross.

We don’t need to force our way into favour with God. He already loves us.

All we need to do is trust him.

When we do this, we become richly blessed. We become God’s children. We become heirs to his Kingdom. We become saved.

Insufficient Words

There are insufficient words for the gratitude I feel for my life,
for the people whom I love,
for the countless gifts and blessings I’ve received.

I can’t express the thankfulness I feel for the power of a smile,
for the touch of reassurance
and the support of a helping hand.

I can’t articulate my appreciation for the world we live in,
for the smell of Jasmine in the morning,
for the cleansing rains,
for the shade of a tree in summer
and the warmth of a blanket in winter.

All I can do is kneel at my Lord’s feet and praise His Holy Name.
He knows my heart. He hears the words I can’t express.

He delights in you and me.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100:1-3 (NIV)

The Inconsequential Moments

I was sitting at the local coffee shop on the weekend and my husband teased me about the amount of crumbs I dropped while I ate my raisin toast. It was an inconsequential moment, but it made me smile and thank the Lord for sending me this precious man. It made me thank the Lord for laughter. And, because I could share this moment with not only my husband, but also the Lord, it made the moment not so inconsequential.

Our lives are made up of a string of inconsequential moments that can pass without notice or thought. But when we share everything with our Lord, the big moments, the little moments and the inconsequential moments become transformed into poignant moments, special moments, blessed moments.

This is when I realised that there is nothing inconsequential about our lives. Our Lord knows this. Do you?

Of Worry, Warts and Bunnies

I don't know about you, but I can be a stress bunny - so much so that my husband bought me bunny ears to wear. I worry about everything. I worry about work, the family, the house, my health. When I make a decision, I wonder if it's the right one. I even worry about the increasing speed of each passing year.

Then God reassured me I don't have to live this way. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life..." He says in Matthew 6:25(NIV). God promises many wonderful gifts. He promises us salvation, eternal life, joy, fulfillment and even peace. The thing about God is that we can trust everything He tells us. So, it's true: I don't have to worry, I can experience joy, I can be content and I can find peace.

So why don't I feel this peace?

The key of course lies in the definition. When God promises us peace, He doesn't mean a sixties movement. He doesn't mean that everyone should agree with everyone about everything. Neither does He mean we should stand back and watch our sister or brother fall because we would rather avoid confrontation or awkward situations. Jesus reassured his disciples in John 14:27 (NIV) - "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." It's a peace not of this world, but a peace of the inner spirit that can only come from God and has nothing to do with our worldly situations.

To receive joy, contentment and peace there is only one condition: we must accept these promised gifts by responding to God. It's much like getting a voucher for a free gift in the mail. All we have to do is go to the store to pick it up. Sounds simple enough. But the problem is 90% of those vouchers are never redeemed. It might be because it's inconvenient, we're too busy, we forget about the voucher or time runs out. Likewise, we must redeem God's promises. God's gift of peace is ours for the taking if we turn to God and claim this free gift.

I need to remind myself that there's no need to be a stress bunny or a worry wart. Paul said it best in his letter to the Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV): "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

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This piece was published in the November issue of Sancitfied Together Online. You can find it here.

Love One Another

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18 (NIV)

Both friendship and love take time and effort. Neither are passive things. Neither are simply labels if they are genuine. We may feel good when we say we love others, but if we do nothing when they are in need then we have fooled ourselves.

We are asked not only to love our friends and family, but our neighbours also. We are asked to love the stranger, to love the foreigner, to love those we don’t understand. And, to love anyone is to take a certain responsibility for their well-being, both spiritually and physically, as we would for any of our closest friends.

It may seem daunting at first but through God we are given both the desire and the ability. When we focus on the love God has for us, for all the things He has done for us, all that He has sacrificed, it becomes difficult to keep that love contained. We discover that He has given us the grace to love others even if they seem difficult to love at first.

The power of God’s love is transformational.

Embrace Your Powerlessness

None of us like the idea of being powerless. It’s a difficult thing to accept because we’re told throughout our lives that we are masters of our own destiny. We’re told we must be in control. And so we try to control our lives; we sometimes even try to control other people’s lives. We take on the world with the conviction that we have the power to at least control our corner of it. But in truth we don’t and we can’t.

No matter what we do we can’t control the weather, we can’t control the passage of time, we can’t choose our family, we can’t pick the gift or abilities we are graced with and we have no idea what’s around the next corner. We are powerless to the drunken driver, the debilitating sickness, the unexpected tragedy.

And so I ask, wouldn’t it be better to hand all control over to the One who does have the power? Wouldn’t it be better to allow God to rule you, rather than your schedules, your jobs, your financial situations? After all, God knows you better than you know yourself and He cares what happens to you. He knows everything. He has already saved your eternal soul, so why not let Him save your life on earth as well? You have nothing to fear when He is in control.

Embrace your powerlessness. Accept it. Revel in it. Praise the Lord for it. Because He is the one with the power and He knows how to use it.

The Beatitudes

This past week of struggling with sickness reminded me of the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-11. When I was a new Christian I struggled with these verses. They basically said that those who suffer, mourn and struggle are blessed.

How is it a blessing to feel wretched? How is it a blessing to go hungry, to suffer loss, to be persecuted? How can I rejoice at those times? It sounded like a foolish declaration by a dreamer. Where was the reality?

God is the reality. He changes everything. When we suffer as Christians we cry out to Jesus. He provides for us. He comforts us. Because of Jesus we gain the kingdom of heaven (v3), we inherit the earth (v5), we are shown mercy (v7), we will see God (v8), and be called His children (v9).

It’s not the pain or suffering or struggles that bless us. It’s the fact that those things draw us closer to God. We cling to Him and cry out for relief, forgiveness, healing, and comfort. Our relationship with God is our blessing. When the focus is on God, we are transformed, the weight of our suffering becomes bearable, and we are blessed.

I'd just like to thank eveyone again for the prayers. I'm still not 100% but I can at last say with confidence I'm on the mend.