Faith ventures

We have just finished our season of prayer entitled “God’s dream for us”. In inclining our ear to listen to the Holy Spirit and to each other a few things became recurring themes. We play it far too safe The verse that came out was Deuteronomy 1: The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb saying “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go……go in and possess the land. It’s quite clear to me from speaking to many different people that we have become far too comfortable with programmes, meetings and events. We stay within the confines of what we think we can actually do and accomplish. This is human nature. In fact if left to our own devices human beings will pretty much always revert back to the way of least resistance and most comfort. We do this subconsciously because our

A reflection on the cross

Today is good Friday. It is good to remember the Cross and ask yourself the question “What does this mean”? If you do, don’t be tempted to give a trite answer.  Instead I want to encourage you to spend from now until resurrection Sunday thinking, meditating and praying about the answer to that question. If by the time you read this resurrection Sunday has passed then take until the next one! It’ll do you good! Here are some thoughts about what the cross reveals to me as I reflect on it.  This subject is so vast, so incomprehensible at times that what I share will be only a small part of what the cross speaks of. But here goes! I have 4 points for us to reflect on. The cross is ugly It was devised as the most humiliating, excruciating, tortuous, public method of execution possible. Victims would be stripped

The quest for authenticity and why nothing is wasted.

Several years ago now the Lord gave me a prophetic picture. It was of a carpenter sitting at a neat looking table. The table was veneered to look like an oak table, but the carpenter was shaking his head in disappointment while he looked at it. Then the carpenter took out his chisel and began to skillfully remove the veneer to reveal the wood underneath. Once the veneer was removed the glue that held it there was also skillfully removed. This took a great deal of time and patience from the carpenter. What remained was a genuine oak table that had knots, imperfections, and grains that went in differing directions. However, the carpenter was now smiling and took out his sander to begin to make the oak table smooth again. Once the surface was sanded he then took a waxing oil and began to work it into the wooden surfaces.

Romans 8:28 – What could it really mean?

I love Romans chapter 8.  It is hands down one of the most uplifting and encouraging passages of scripture one could read.  In it one reads about the exhortation to be spiritually minded, the encouragement that we are sons of God through the Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s help in times of suffering.  We also learn that the Spirit helps in our weakness and nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!  What a chapter! But there is one verse that I think often gets misunderstood and that is verse 28 which reads: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. What could this really mean?  I can tell you my thoughts on this by first saying what I don’t think it means.  I don’t think it means that if

The inadequacy of language

I’ve been wrestling recently with how inadequate language seems to be to describe the God we worship and love, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.  If God is truly infinite, truly omniscient, truly omnipotent, truly omnipresent (and I believe God is!) then how on earth can the finite mind conjure words that properly describe Him? (or should that be ‘it, they, her’ etc!) It reminds me of when our kids were little and they drew pictures of our family.   The colourful squiggly lines that were meant to be mum and dad weren’t even close to resembling us.  But, to me as a parent it was an amazing drawing, a source of great joy.  It was also an expression of love from my child, and to be honest I didn’t really care whether those squiggles were in proportion or were the right colour or shape at all! It came as