In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain.’ (Psalm 11:1) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, better known as the Shah of Iran, fled from his home country in January 1979 as it sunk into bitter revolution. For the next 18 months, he was a hunted man who moved from place to place, from country to country for safety. He never found a place of permanent refuge and died a fugitive. King David knew what it was like to be a fugitive. For almost seven years he fled the murderous pursuit of King Saul. Many years later he would flee for his life from his son Absalom who tried to steal his kingdom from him. Yet, it was this same David who wrote the words, of the verse above. David would not flee. He had found his refuge in God. This causes us to consider the question: “When things get difficult, where do you flee to? Where do you take refuge? I work in a rehabilitation centre where I meet people who, for many years in some instances, found refuge in substance abuse and alcohol. The pain was numbed, the memories of past trauma dimmed….at least for a while until the effect wore off and the process began all over again. Here are other much sought out ‘places’ of refuge:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) I once read the following comment: “God’s business is putting things right and setting us straight. So, why run?” Why flee to another mountain? Spurgeon summed up the position of man beautifully when he said: “I have a great need for Christ. I have a great Christ for my need.” So, before you ‘phone a friend’ or binge on Netflix why not stop, give God a chance, make Him your “go to”. Pauline Ann Anderson
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You will be a crown of splendour in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Isaiah 62:3) As we look back over our spiritual journey of 2023, some will reminisce with rejoicing while others will reminisce with regret. However, whatever the path you have walked in 2023, a new year has dawned for you with the opportunity to become something of beauty in God’s sight, in fulfilment of the promise set forth in Isaiah. If this is your desire, here are a few principles that can help you: 1. Make Bible Reading a habit. Dwight L. Moody said, “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” 2. Make Church Attendance a priority. “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do.” (Hebrews 10:25) 3. Make Obedience a way of life. “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19) 4. Live an Outward Focused Life. “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4) 5. Learn to Pray. “But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer” (Luke 5:16) NOTE: The NIV Study Bible tells us that 'The Greek verb tense indicates that Jesus habitually withdrew for prayer.' It was His habit to withdraw. Is it our habit to withdraw and pray? There are so many things that lure us away from prayer. So many things to entice us, to distract us. Are you easily distracted from prayer? All of the above help transform us into a ‘crown of splendour’ but there is something else we must do. We must learn to ride out the storms. O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you with precious jewels. (Isaiah 54:11) You can make a choice to “manage not to be destroyed, harmed, or permanently affected by the difficult situation you experience.”(Cambridge Dictionary). You allow the tempest to drive you into a deeper place of trust and reliance upon God. You mediate upon God, and, even in the midst of being ‘storm-battered’, you ‘behold (His) face in righteousness’ (Psalm 15:17). You decide just not to give in. You decide to trust Him. On New Year’s morning 1892, a month away from his death, Spurgeon said these words “Let me tell you, in a few words, what I see as I look into the new year.” He then went on to speak about · God’s Sovereignty · God’s Guidance · God’s Strength · God Glorified Keep your eyes on these things and you can ride out any storm that assails you in 2024. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:18) Happy New Year to you all.
Pauline Ann Anderson For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) As we celebrate Christmas, one great tradition is Carol singing. In the carol, ‘Angels from the realms of Glory’ we sing these astounding words ‘God with us is now residing.’ We thank God for His great work of salvation as we journey through life and it is in this journey that God seeks to be our constant companion. He wants to become our personal ‘Emmanuel’. In His desire for fellowship and communion with His own, He teaches us how to commune with Him. At a time when King David was being pursued by his enemies, he wrote these words: “Show me where to walk for I give myself to you.” (Psalm 143: 8) No doubt David felt troubled and perhaps afraid, however, he did not direct his attention to the problem. He went to the One who had the power to keep him in, and help him through his trial. Lifting his voice to God he said, “I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done’. (Psalm 143:5) His focus was Godward not earthbound. Keeping our focus on God is a key to living in fellowship with Him. The book of James encourages us to: “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” (James 4:7 KJV). A fruit of submission is fellowship. Late in his life, the apostle Paul showed his ‘son’ Timothy the key to a full and joyful relationship with God. “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear.” (1 Timothy 1:19) Are you getting the picture?
This Christmas, let us rededicate our hearts to Emmanuel, the one whose descent to a cradle led eventually to a cross. “Christ didn’t only come into the world that first Christmas night in Bethlehem, but He wants to come into our lives today, and every day of the year.” Billy Graham Pauline Anderson He has made his people strong, honouring his faithful ones. (Psalm 148:14) In 2024, the Olympic Games returns to Paris. One hundred years ago, Paris hosted these same games and a young athlete, one of the the fastest, if not the fastest runner on the planet at the time, made National headlines for a race he never ran! Eric Liddell, a committed Christian, decided not to race in the 100m as the heats took place on a Sunday. His obedience to God was of higher importance than winning a gold medal. He chose to be one of God’s ‘faithful ones’, despite huge pressure to run. Subsequently, God honoured this faithful man when, against the odds, Eric went on to win gold in the 400 metres race, not his strongest discipline. Evangelist and writer Cannon J John, has just published his second volume of ‘Heroes of the Faith’, a book which gives brief biographical sketches of 60 of God’s ‘faithful ones’. They chose faithfulness over fame, discipline over defiance, purity over perversion and integrity over iniquity. God “made his people strong” as they obediently served Him. Many were honoured with much fruit for God in their lifetime. In the Great Commission, Jesus says to his disciples: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19,20) If you want to be one of God’s ‘strong’ people, the path to victory is the same as those ‘heroes’ who have gone before us. You must learn to lovingly, willingly and eagerly ‘obey everything’ He commands you . There may be no gold medals, but you won’t be disappointed! “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer Pauline Anderson “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more…”(Isaiah 43:25) Exodus 19 &20 are well known chapters of the Bible where we read of God preparing the children of Israel to gather round the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses ascends and receives the Ten Commandants. This day was, and still is remembered each year among Jews during the festival of Shavuot. It is also sometimes called The Day of Mattan. ‘Mattan’ is the Hebrew word for ‘Gift’. The Ten Commandments were God’s gift to his people. It was an act of love from a Father who wanted the best for His children. He wanted to guide them, to guard them, to protect them. Mattan is a word that was also linked to the time in ancient Israel of the betrothal, when a bride and groom were living in their separate homes, preparing for their wedding. The groom would send the bride a gift. It was something to help her prepare for her wedding day but, more importantly, it was the sign of the bridegroom’s love for the bride. The mattan assured her that her groom had not forgotten her and that one day soon he would return and take her to his home. We could fill books describing the countless thousands of gifts that God has showered upon us, each one an assurance, a demonstration of his love for us, a reminder that one day He is coming to take us to Himself. But these gifts are not just given in times when we walk closely to Him. He reaches out with his ‘Mattan’ even when we sin. Isaiah 46:12-13 (NLT) speaks of God’s gift to us of forgiveness and reconciliation: “Listen to me, you stubborn people who are so far from doing right. For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now!” Are you in need of this gift today? If so, don’t delay in drawing near to the Giver with a soft, repentant heart and discover how graciously he holds out His Mattan to you. “I sin like a man, but He forgives like a God”. C.H.Spurgeon Pauline Anderson Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. (Colossians 2:6) When a Christian turns from following Jesus, or when the flame is burning low in their life, we normally wonder what that person has done to cause this. We look for ‘actions’. However, there is one question that is not normally asked. It is this, “What has that person been failing to do?” You see, it’s not just a case of ‘commission’ but of ‘omission’. We can blame someone’s backsliding on spending excessive amounts of time on Social media, but the problem doesn’t just lie in what they are doing but what they are not doing. What is being neglected as they sit hour after hour, night after night in front of a screen? What things of eternal importance and significance are slowly sliding away and being replaced by things of no eternal significance. Times alone with God become shorter then non-existent; Bible reading becomes less frequent until the Book is never opened; looking outward to others in need takes a back seat and even church attendance wanes. Pearls are being displaced by paltry pleasures. Our verse today reminds us that once we start to follow Jesus, we 'must continue to follow him'. Jesus must never be ‘omitted’ form our lives. We must never underestimate the power of sins of omission. We are reminded in Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Is there something that you need to build back in to your life as you follow Jesus? Don’t wait another day in doing it. “Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.” Abraham Verghese Pauline Anderson Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time. (Ephesians 5:15-16) God has given us many precious gifts from the storehouse of His grace for which we can be immensely grateful. He showers down forgiveness. He has saved us from the power of sin in our life. He gives us the right to call Him ‘Father’. He has promised to be with us always. He supplies our needs. He gives us friends and family, those who will help us in times of need. So many gifts so constantly given that we can forget to rightly appreciate all these things and take them for granted. This is especially true for His gift of ‘time’. Every day, God gifts us 86,400 seconds. He entrusts with this precious gift. He encourages us to make ‘the best use of time’ (Ephesians 5:16) because we will never get a second chance to live these seconds over again. What we do with each second can never be changed, never be undone, never be obliterated. It is woven into the fabric of time. The Psalmist cries to God, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) To ‘number our days’ means recognising the truth of our limited timespan and living in such a way that these days are not wasted. That may mean planning to spend only a small amount of time each day on social media; it may mean regularly building in a visit with someone who lives alone and needs support; it can mean spending more time in prayer than on an iPad. The Apostle Paul urged the early Christians to, Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. (Colossians 4:5) Are you making the most of your 86,400 seconds each day, or do you need to do some planning? “If you knew the sterling worth of time, you would shrink from the smallest waste of so precious a thing.” C.H. Spurgeon Pauline Anderson
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:21-22) Recently I was speaking to a group of men, some of whom are new believers, some who have been believers for a couple of years and others who have been Christians for decades. I wanted to transmit something of the greatness, the might, the majesty, the wonder of Almighty God. How do you provide a glimpse of a God who is far higher, deeper, and wider than they had ever previously imagined? How do you enable them to see just how much we limit this God? I decided to share with them some facts about the Universe.
The size of the universe is astronomical (pun intended)!! Yet, God, it’s creator is so much bigger then even this. In various places in the Bible, God’s magnificent creation is referred to. He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. (Job 6:7) Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? (Isaiah 40:12 ) Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?Do you know the laws of the heavens? (Job 38:31-33) Sometimes we forget that the God who brought “forth the constellations in their seasons” is the same God who says to us: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour “ (Isaiah 43:2-3) In His loving kindness, he gently reminds us, “I am with you always even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) And when we feel lonely or sad He says, “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) When we are having a ‘bad day’ or a ‘down day’, let’s not forget to turn quickly to the our Creator God who waits to reveal Himself to us “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think”. Pauline Anderson Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the LORD of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. (2 Samuel 6:1-2) This was an extremely special occasion. The Ark of the Covenant represented God’s immediate presence with His people. Twenty years prior to this event, the Ark came back from the land of the Philistines and had sat at the house of Abinadab for 20 years. David greatly desired the presence of God to be in the central place of Israel, namely Jerusalem. So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab. (2 Samuel 6:3) But this is where David made his mistake. Transporting the Ark on a cart was against God’s specific command. The Ark was designed to be carried, not set on a cart (Exodus 25:12-15) and was only to be carried by Levites of the family of Kohath (Numbers 4:15). David would surely have prayed for God’s blessing in this venture, but he hadn’t prayed for guidance. How did God want this to be done? David’s intentions were right but his actions were wrong. David did it his way. However, David learned from his mistake. He learned the right way of transporting the Ark and he fulfilled his mission through his humility and obedience. He could have chosen to abandon his efforts altogether. He could have sulked and blamed God. His initial reaction was anger born out of disappointment and confusion. But he chose the noble way, the way of humility and confession, and as a result he achieved his heart’s desire to have the Ark in Jerusalem. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. (2 Samuel 6:12) Not only would he be greatly blessed by this, but so would countless others. Jerusalem would have been all the poorer if David had not learned from his mistake and sought to put it right. The Bible is honest about its heroes. It depicts their failings as well as their faith. If we are wise, we will read the accounts of their lives carefully and deeply learn the lessons they teach us. Have you learned from your mistakes? “God’s call to any man and the anointing of the Spirit for service are conditioned upon that man’s heart response.” Alan Redpath* *The Making of a Man of God: Lessons from the Life of David Pauline Anderson But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. (1 Samuel 12:24) When a topic appears often in scripture, it’s a good idea to take note. It is interesting to see how often in scripture we are reminded to thank God, to be grateful to Him for what we have been given both in natural and spiritual terms. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:2-5) What awe and wonder comes over us as we read and mediate on the words, “Who forgives all your iniquity.” He has not forgiven ‘some’ of our sins. He has not forgiven ‘most’ of us sins. He has forgiven ‘all of our sins’. Perhaps this is an area where you have failed to be deeply grateful. Maybe there has crept in a tendency to take this forgiveness for granted, forgetting the enormous price that Christ paid. Yet this psalmists reminds us to , “Bless the Lord” and “forget not his benefits”. We are also reminded in this Psalm that God is the one “who redeems your life from the pit.” What pit has he saved you from? Depression? Unforgiveness? Anxiety? Jealousy? Pride? Greed? Drug addiction? Alcoholism? Fear? Vanity? Laziness? Lust? Self-condemnation? I could go on and on; the list is endless. Yet He has also redeemed us from the pit of eternal separation from Himself. As the hymn writer Charles H Gabriel once wrote; How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be: How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior’s love for me! We can never thank God enough for saving us from that pit. And how many times does the apostle Paul exhort his converts to live a life of gratitude to God? Here’s just a couple of examples: Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20) Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Take a little time now to think of the incredible blessings that God has poured out on us, and I know you will want to make sure He is receiving the wholehearted gratitude He so richly deserves. “Thankfulness makes much of little.” C. H. Spurgeon Pauline Ann Anderson |
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