As lockdown continues, and may be made more restrictive, the thought of ‘stagnant water’ has come to my mind. Spiritually, we need to be active and for many of us that has become more difficult in the current situation. So many things have shut down - church services, communal worship, meeting with like minded friends, etc. etc. But it is so important that there is a flow of life - like living water - between our souls and God. This can happen within our spirits and without words, but for many of us - perhaps all of us - there needs to be the voicing of our worship and our praise. As we come before God in our homes, I think it’s important that we are vocal. I know that some of you have found that worship in a small family group has brought you closer spiritually to each other and that has been of enormous benefit. Others live alone and don’t have that opportunity. But for all of us there can be a release in being vocal as we come before God. Hosea 14:2 says 'Take with you words’. Take words with you when you come before God. They can be words of request - bringing our needs (and the needs of others) to Him. But I’m thinking, more particularly, of words of worship and praise. Words that spring from deep within our spirits. Words in English or in new tongues. They can open up a spring of life within us - and that brings healing. As we pour out, He pours in - and the waters in our soul are no longer stagnant, they are flowing! ‘Flowing, swiftly flowing... I will lead you to my healing streams’ Try it - as you sit quietly before God or as you listen to some Christian music - and may God bless you as you worship!
Jennifer Jack What better thought can we have at this time of year than that expressed in the words of this beautiful hymn by Frances Havergal. Standing at the portal of the opening year Words of comfort meet us hushing every fear Spoken through the silence by the Saviour’s voice Tender, strong and faithful, making us rejoice! He will never fail us, He will not forsake His eternal covenant He will never break Resting on the promise what have we to fear? God is all-sufficient for the coming year! Onward then and fear not, children of the day! For His word can never, never pass away! Jennifer Jack The Thought for the Day is from Mary Bell.
The Almond Tree Coffee Shop had a big sale on for several weeks before we closed. Our Christmas sales assistant showed us a dull looking cylindrical object that none of us was interested in buying ... until she switched on the lights inside it! What a transformation! It had a leaf design on it that you couldn’t see before and with the light shining through, the green was a lovely hue. Well, all three of us wanted to buy it - especially at the bargain price! I made the comment - ‘Wouldn’t we be more likeable if we were lit up?’ Then the conversation went on to the fact that we do have the Light of the world within us. Is the light shining through us? It is so attractive. One way to let the light shine is to rejoice in Christ. Thanking Him for His love for us and His goodness to us. Don’t let anything steal your joy in Him - no problem, worry or annoyance. Let us radiate the real joy of Christmas to others around. Many are fearful, sad, stressed and anxious because of the restrictions just now and the threat of illness and death. Let us smile and be glad! We have a Saviour who walks with us! Mary Thought for the Day is from Lesley. When Jesus was born a few of those around received revelation to fill them with increasing wonder about the baby born into the world. The Saviour, yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! (Luke 2:11) Messiah - Mashiach, the Hebrew word meaning Messiah, means "the one anointed with oil." The custom of anointing with oil is a ritual act designed to elevate those designated for priestly, royal or prophetic roles. This revelation was given to ordinary shepherds about a tiny baby lying in a stable. Take courage! That anointed One is in your situation no matter what it is. Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him." (Luke 2:34) Simeon called Him 'child' to his mother.. So normal, insignificant but something we can understand. Yet we need to remember it is God who has come into our world to help normal, insignificant human beings who are opposed by the enemy of souls. Be encouraged! “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” (Matt 2:2) The people who were first to call Him king, and who came the longest road at His birth to do so did not have the revelation of all God's names that the Jews had. Yet they were very much drawn to Him. Take courage if you puzzle over situations - do what they did, come and worship the King. "...for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel". (Matt 2:6) He would be ruler but also the shepherd. We can only marvel, even at birth all His provision for our lives is so clear in His names. Let your faith in Him rise despite what the day may bring. And you will recognise him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12) The angel said they would recognise the Messiah by this sign - He would be a baby wrapped snugly in an animal feeding place. They saw that poverty, yet the care and love shown to Him - He was well wrapped. They also saw two unknown people - Mary and Joseph - who were well known to God. One fragile baby but all the power of the Godhead in the flesh. Even at His birth, heaven gave signs that men could recognise if they wanted to find Him Lesley This thought for the day is from Lesley. Before Christ was born revelation came to different people - bringing names to fill them with wonder at the coming baby. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. (Luke 1:32) The greatness of God's Son spoken to a poor insignificant woman. Be encouraged, the same Christ has now come to you. He has sent us a mighty Saviour from the royal line of his servant David... (Luke 1:69) The Saviour was about to born. It would be as a fragile baby, but He is described as a mighty Saviour. Take courage in these fragile times. She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ (Mat 1:23) God's Son born in flesh - the mystery of His nearness to His people. He is with you, near you today what ever the day holds. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light (or dayspring) from heaven is about to break upon us,(or visit us). (Luke 1:78) Heaven’s newday was a tiny baby who came into a very large darkness... Yet He came and changed everything for us... and in you is that life! Lesley This is the title of a new book of daily readings for Advent which someone brought to my attention. It has 24 short chapters - one for each day of Advent - and each one focuses on something very unexpected in the Christmas story. It is easy for us to gloss over these things because the story is so familiar to us. But take a moment to think about it. God had a plan to intervene in man’s affairs in order to redeem him. Who would have thought that God Himself would actually become a man amongst us to do that? Who would have thought He would come as a helpless baby... have an unknown peasant girl be that baby’s mother... and have the first public announcement made to shepherds who were often despised people in the community and counted of no worth? Take time to think through the other details of the Christmas story. So many of them are things we do not expect. If we had been planning how to outwork things, our approach would have been very, very different. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) We need to think about this in our everyday lives. His way of handling things may be very different from yours and mine. His thoughts about people might be very different from our thoughts. His ways are higher - they are better, they are ‘full of grace and truth’. The disciples of Jesus took a long time to learn that He really did know best and that they should always listen to what He said and not to their own ideas. And we take a long time to learn this lesson too. We need to learn humility and look to Him for wisdom, for understanding. For His ways are the ways that lead to light, to peace and to joy in the human soul. Jennifer Today’s Thought for the Day is from Josie McFarlane. I would like to share with you how the Lord, my Shepherd, has been leading me. During the months of lockdown I often walked to the Boardwalk Restaurant. I would lean against the metal barrier - sometimes I would pray, meditate or just quietly look around. I didn’t know this would be my next place of employment, but my Shepherd knew. In August I returned to work in The Almond Tree and it was on September 19th we were told the Coffee Shop would be closing. We were encouraged to start looking for employment so that we could have something in place as soon as possible after we closed in December or even before then. That evening I began my search for a job and saw a vacancy at the Boardwalk. On the Monday a few of us were going to the Boardwalk and my sister Mary encouraged me to phone the restaurant in advance and enquire about the vacancy. I did - and an interview was arranged for after our lunch. I left the restaurant with a job - my starting date was the next morning! There was much to give thanks for as the job was very suitable in many ways. Then very recently on a Sunday morning while I was at work the presence of Jesus drew very near. There came the assurance that this was the place where God wanted me to be and I felt such joy. But that was shattered a few minutes later when I was called to the General Manager’s Office and told she was about to terminate my employment. However, as we spoke it became clear there had been a misunderstanding about the job description and she apologised for that. I was very relieved and said that when I had to work on a Sunday, in future, I would no longer ask to get away early to go to church. But to my astonishment she replied, ‘You will go to church every Sunday. I won’t come between you and your religion'. I couldn’t believe my ears! I knew my Jesus had worked everything out for me. Yes, He leads me. He smoothed the way and brought peace in the midst of misunderstanding. In the dark valley He is right there, to help and protect. Be encouraged today. The Lord your Shepherd leads you. If you are in a place of peace and rest, rejoice in that place. Your Shepherd knows what you need. He gives green meadows and peaceful streams. If life is difficult - be encouraged for He is still close beside you. May each one of us know this truth - that He leads us and He is our Lord, Shepherd, Saviour, King and Friend. Jesus shall lead me night and day Jesus shall lead me all the way He is the truest friend to me For I remember Calvary. Josie
This week’s Thought for the Day is from Isabel Fairgrieve I often find the words of hymns inspiring and thought provoking which is not altogether unexpected, given that hymns are written due to the inspiration of God. One such hymn written by Fanny Crosby deeply touched me recently. The verse was quoted on a daily calendar: “O the soul thrilling rapture when I view his blessed face, And the lustre of his kindly beaming eye; How my full heart will praise him for the mercy love and grace, That prepare for me a mansion in the sky.” Take a moment to ponder these beautiful words. It is many years since I have heard that hymn sung but the chorus immediately sprang into my mind. “I shall know him, I shall know him And redeemed by his side I shall stand; I shall know him, I shall know him By the print of the nails in his hand.” Amidst the crowds of the redeemed in our heavenly home, one will stand out from the throng – our lovely Saviour. But should there be any doubt, only one will have the nail prints in his hands. What a wonderful God we have. “Great God of wonders, all thy ways are matchless and divine... Who is a pardoning God like thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?” (Samuel Davies) What a loving God we have. “Such love, pure as the whitest snow; Such love, weeps for the shame I know; Such love paying the debt I owe; O Jesus, such love.” (Graham Kendrick) Our Saviour is uniquely faithful and compassionate and he wants us to know him here, in this life as well as in the next. May we develop an ever closer relationship with Jesus, day by day enjoying his friendship, guidance, comfort and strengthening, through the present difficult times and in the future. May we thrill in his presence and praise him for all he has accomplished at Calvary. A Saviour worth knowing. Isabel Fairgrieve Thought for the Day, this week from David Wilson. Nevertheless when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, seeing the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory by Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:16-18) Something we probably only thought about once a year at Halloween has now become an ever-present in our society. We even go to church and sing and pray wearing our masks. How life has changed!
For some of us, however, there is nothing unusual about wearing a mask to church. We’ve been doing it for years or even decades. We walk in and meet the greeters at the door with our “No we didn’t just have an argument in the car” masks on. We sit in the pews with our “I’m doing just fine” masks on while we wonder how it all went so wrong. So many different masks worn for so many different reasons, but all with one aim - to protect us, to stop God and the people around us from knowing what we are really like, because if they did, they probably wouldn’t like us any more. It’s not original. After Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing that they did was make clothes to try and hide their nakedness from God and here we are so many years later still trying to do the same thing. It doesn’t have to be like that. In the passage from Corinthians, Paul makes it clear that turning to the Lord requires us to remove the veil(or mask) from our faces and come with complete openness to the Lord. In that state, when we are truly vulnerable to the Spirit, he promises liberty from the shame that clings to us and gazing on His beauty, we find ourselves being transformed into His likeness. If we set our hearts and minds to live in that place of vulnerability to God, there will be no need of masks to hide our scarred and twisted visages anymore, as we will be reflecting the perfect glory and beauty of the Lord. Even the smallest part of that reflection will vastly outshine any imperfections of ours. One of the buzz word around these days is "authenticity". Let us all strive to be authentic before God, and He will be authentic with us. Dave This is the time for Remembrance and this year - like so much in these times - it has been different. Remembrance Services were so small and many people across the world were on their own as they could not come together. This annual act of remembrance has had to be more individual than at any time over the past 70 years.
In the Bible, one Hebrew word for remembrance is ‘zakar’. It has a full, rich meaning - of remembering someone, and doing something about it. This is not a reminiscence or passive thinking about a person or situation. God ‘remembered’ Noah and those in the ark and He sent a wind across the earth to make the waters recede (Genesis 8:1). In Egypt, Joseph asked the cupbearer to ‘remember’ him to Pharaoh. He wanted the cupbearer to do something to help his release.(Genesis 40:14). The psalmist often said God had forgotten, which meant that God did not seem to be moving on their behalf or remembering them. God first gave His name ‘I Am’ to Moses to be remembered. ‘This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations’ (Exodus 3:14, 15). Christ, on the day of resurrection, caused the two on the Emmaus Road to remember scripture concerning Him. Even before full revelation came to them we read that their hearts burned within them as He spoke and stirred their remembrance. As they remembered the words of the prophets they began to hope, where before they had been hopeless. Are you actively using this great gift of remembrance that every child of God has been given? Is your heart beginning to burn within you? Even if you are sad and discouraged like the two on the road to Emmaus you can do as the psalmist did and say, ‘Now I am deeply discouraged but I will remember you’. (Psalm 42:5) As you are alone in these days, spend time remembering until your heart begins to burn, despite your situation. Remember, as we have retuned to church but seem distanced from others in these unusual services. Allow God’s gift of ‘zakar’ to flourish in you in these unusual times. Follow Christ’s one request in the communion feast - ‘Remember Me’. And allow your heart to burn in worship and love more than ever before. Lesley |
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