Every letter than the Apostle Paul wrote, starts and ends with a prayer or confirmation that our Lord Jesus Christ has grace that He keeps with His saints. This is not a mere greeting habit that Paul repeated to break the ice and then get to the “meat” of what he wanted to write. Rather, […]
What do you do with an all-knowing God?
If God has eyes, this is what they would see. The eyes of the LORD are in every place,keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3 (ESV) God knows everything about everyone. He knows our daily activities; He knows out thoughts; He even knows what we are going to say before we say […]
The simplest way to handle complex situations
“Get back to the main two or three commandments for your situation”. That is the counsel we so often need. The difficult situations we face each day, and sometimes for years on end, are so complex, that we exhaust ourselves trying to handle it all, and, when honest, realise that all our trying might well […]
A fear-driven life
There was once a stingy young man so consumed with the fear of going hungry, that he put away some money each month in a future food fund. Decades later, the man retired, and his regular income was no more. So intent on having enough money to buy food at any given moment, the man […]
Praying the Bible
Some of the least recognised, but profoundly impactful, especially over time, ministry of some pastors has been the public prayers during worship services. This reflects a heritage of the importance of public prayers in the lives of believers. The book of Psalms is the Bible’s way of modelling the relevance of public prayers to those […]
Godliness can be very complex or very simple
Our situations in life often require different kinds of counsel. Sometimes all we need is a “Just do it!” or “Stop it” command, other times we need a long and very detailed set of instructions to fulfil our daily responsibilities before God. The same is true of God’s counsel to us. We are taught in […]
Give thanks
There is a difference between being thankful and giving thanks. One can verbally say the words “Thank you” and not mean a word of it. Likewise, one can claim to be thankful all the while denying it by an unwillingness to actually express it. True thankfulness will always express it by giving thanks to those […]
Romans 12:21 The battle of good VS evil is yours!
Mankind has often thought of religion as a battle between good and evil. The idea goes something like this: God (or some of the gods) are good and try to do good at all times. Others (mankind or other gods) exist who are intent on doing evil at all times. Whoever is stronger at the […]
Christian experiences summed up in one Psalm
Psalm 1 is commonly recognised as the Psalm that introduces to us the rest of the Psalter. It is truly a Psalm that sums up the daily life experiences of every believer. Just like some life experiences are wonderful moments of worship, so many of the Psalms are Psalms of praise and worship. And like […]
The sigh of righteousness
Until the Lord comes again to put an end to sin and establish righteousness as the standard for society, righteousness will be difficult. We know that it is always better to respond to evil with righteousness, but sometimes righteousness seems to draw out more evil from evil-doers. There is often a sigh of helplessness after […]