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Thankfulness

 “ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ” Philippians 1:3 ESV I think of my brethren in the faith of God. I thank my God in all my remembrance of them. I echo the Apostle Paul's affection greeting to the Philippian church. To be honest, we're commanded elsewhere to give thanks in everything. So even when we remember difficult people, we should give thanks to God for them as souls made in the image and likeness of God. Everyone is either a 'blessing or a lesson' as the cheesy half-rhyme goes. People either bless us with the remembrance of their love, or they give us a lesson, a warning to not be hateful like them. I want to be someone people bless God for. I want to be for those I know like the Philippian church was for Paul, a cause for joy. Thanksgiving is a great North American tradition. Sadly, we're not so thankful in the U.K. Traditionally we remembered harvest in old fashioned churches and thanked God for it, yet even that tends to be forgotten nowaday...
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Turn

 “ Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” Proverbs 3:7 ESV I'm sure we've all met people who are wise in their own eyes. I'm sure we'd recognise that such pride and arrogance is an ugly thing. We're little creatures in a vast universe; to think we're the fount of all knowledge is delusional! The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord. So, brainy atheists haven't even started to be wise. They might have a lot of knowledge, but they're clueless about spiritual things. Fear of God isn't a blind terror that cringes away into the darkness. It's the fear of a child who is afraid to displease his dad, so he comes into the light. A wise son turns from evil and confesses his evils to his dad. Apparently 98% of men get caught in sexual sin and only 2% preemptively confess it. Better to be honest with the Omniscient (all knowing) One rather than to foolishly try and mask our evils. May God have mercy upon us.  'Heavenly ...
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Turnaround

 “ The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.” Isaiah 60:22 ESV My cynical, unbelieving nature initially assumed this verse is too good to be true. Yet this is God's way. He chose Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau for example.  Even Jesus was a humble Carpenter for most of his life. Humanly speaking he didn't have any children. Yet by faith, his people are a mighty throng. Anti-Semitism is a pandemic in the world today. Yet the Jewish Messiah is the Saviour of the world, our only hope. From a despised people comes the means of our deliverance. God's timing isn't ours. A thousand years is like a day to the Everlasting One. Yet Jesus has now achieved our deliverance. All we need to do is to trust in him. 'Dear Lord, we thank you for counterintuitively choosing nobodies like us to shame the rich, powerful and proud. Please help us to trust you to vindicate us. For your glory...
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Focus

 “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ” Romans 8:6 ESV The flesh looks different to different people. There's different symptoms but the same disease. For some it's lust, for others greed and for some it's pride.  This is an interesting verse. We could be tempted to focus on the flesh to try and overcome things like lust, greed and pride. The Apostle Paul tells us to focus on the Holy Spirit of God. There's some old quote about the 'expulsive power of a new affection'. Where once we were consumed by fleshly things like lust, greed and pride, now we're to shift our focus. We're to zoom in on spiritual things like life and peace. A good place to start would be to ruminate on the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy and peace etc. are to define us. If we can be called spiritual, these virtues are to characterise us. 'Holy Father in heaven, please help us to overcome the flesh and to become spiritual....
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Encouragement

 Isaiah 41:13 ESV  For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” To encourage someone is to help someone to be brave. That's what God himself does here for his people in this verse. He's leading us by the hand; we simply need to follow. Apparently, one of the most common commands in the Bible is to not be afraid. If we rightly fear the Lord, we'll have no need to fear anything or anyone else. We don't need to be scared of oppressive superpowers for example like Babylon for Judah. God doesn't just give empty encouragement to not be afraid. He actively helps us. He sent Jesus to give his life for us. Because Christ died and rose again, we too can rise again to newness of life. The risen Lord walks with us by his Holy Spirit, until he calls us home. We just have to keep in step. 'Heavenly Father, help us not to be afraid. May we trust in you instead to help us get to glory. In Jesus' name we ask ...
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Hypocrisy

 Matthew 12:35 ESV The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.  Jesus is brutal in this passage. He calls religious people a 'brood of vipers'. Even in his day, some sins, like pride and self righteousness and slander were seen to be 'acceptable' culturally, even as such people looked down on undesirable tax collectors and overt sinners. If evil spills out of our mouths, we betray the fact that we are naturally evil. Even the good we do is tainted by mixed motives. A drop of poison in an otherwise pure glass of water still contaminates it. Jesus called his own followers evil. He didn't flatter them. Yet he said if they gave good gifts to their kids, how much more will Father God give good gifts to those who ask him? The power of the gospel is that through the humanly speaking evil of Christ's crucifixion, God made a way for evil people like us to be made good. It's a lifelong pro...
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Faithfulness

 Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations is, as the name suggests, a lamentable book. Gods people were at their lowest ebb. Yet here, in the midst of the darkness, it's as though the sun came out. God's love never fails. He never has failed his people and he never will. Even in the midst of intense suffering, God's love for us endures. Even if our nation is in ruins like ancient Judah, God's mercies never come to an end. We deserve hell. Anything better than that is a bonus. Every time the sun rises we can be reminded of God's mercies new each day. The sunrise is pregnant with possibility. The preacher Chuck Swindoll said that people rarely kill themselves at sunrise because it's a hopeful time of day. 'Faithful God, we praise you for never failing us. Please reassure us of your unfailing love for us in Christ, in whose name w...
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Presence

 Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” I think this verse could easily be misled. God could have been seen to have been the means to the end of getting to the promised land. God isn't the means to an end; he is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End. I love this promise of Moses to Joshua. It's such a godly encouragement that God himself echoed it later on, after Moses had entered God's eternal presence. If this verse was true for Joshua, it's certainly true for us new covenant believers who have the indwelling Holy Spirit. For us as new covenant believers, God isn't simply the means to the end of getting to the promised new creation. We don't then abandon God and focus on ourselves. God isn't simply to be paid lip service to. God won't leave or forsake us, even in eternity. This verse is true of those who, by his grace, don't ultimately lea...
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Light

 Genesis 1:3 ESV And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  When God speaks, things happen. God himself is Light, and in him, there is no darkness at all. When God switches the light on, no one can switch it off. The God who created light continues to brighten up our lives to this day. Jesus is the Light of the world. When we trust in him, we ourselves become the light of the world, reflecting his Light to others. Once we were in the domain of darkness. God has brought us into the Light however. We're like Augustine, who once had his back to the Light, focusing on what the Light reflected on; but finally he turned and came into the Light. If we're in the Light, there's no room for being all self congratulatory. It's because God has switched the light on in our hearts that we're lightened up, if we are at all. God forbid that we would assume we're in the light if we're actually in darkness. 'Light of the world, please brighten up our lives ...
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Rest

 Matthew 11:28 ESV Come to me, all who laboúr and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Life isn't easy. It's often laborious and burdensome. Jesus offers rest to those who come to him. To be honest, I don't think life necessarily becomes easier if we trust in Jesus. He does empower us though. Spiritually speaking, we no longer need to toil and be burdened. We don't need to earn God's acceptance. We just need to trust in Jesus. We simply need to come to him by faith. This is a powerful promise. If we come to Jesus, he assures us that he will give us rest. We can leave our burdens at the foot of the cross. 'Dear Lord, may we come to you, and so find rest for our souls. We ask this for your honour and praise, amen'.
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