Christmas!

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

‘Christmas is only for children.’ It’s all a waste of money.’ ‘After Christmas Day things go so flat.’ These are some of the things that we can hear about at this time of year which to us is a special time of year. How can we cope with these negative statements when our thoughts are just the opposite?

‘Christmas is only for children.’ We might have a chance to meet with nephews, nieces or grandchildren over the festive season and we can explain that the baby in the manger is evidence of God’s love for us. He is the Son of God who came to save us from our sins. ‘It is all a waste of money.’ No, it’s a chance to show our love to others as we give them cards and presents. Our presents are a representation of God’s present (His Son) to us. ‘After Christmas Day life goes flat.’ Christmas is the beginning not the end (Well actually the beginning was before creation) His love and sacrifice will go on through eternity.

Without Christmas there would be

no crucifixion

no resurrection

no salvation

no purpose-filled life.

As the saying goes ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year.’

We don’t need to think –

‘only for children,’

‘needless expenditure,’

‘a boring llife.’

With Christina Rossetti we can say,

‘Yet what I can I give Him, Give my heart.’

The Other Boats

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

Jesus was by the lake with His disciples and the crowd. He had been teaching them by telling parable after parable and was now tired and weary. He needed to ‘recharge His batteries’. ‘Let us go over to the other side,’ He said Matthew 4:35. As I re-read this story I noticed something I had failed to noticed before. There were other boats with Him, verse 36.

It was usual for boats to sail in groups. The only difference was Jesus was in one boat with His disciples, the other boats didn’t have Jesus sleeping in their boat. The disciples were frightened when the storm arose, imagine how frightened the other fishermen would have felt!

I expect you can see where I’m going. Firstly, do we have Jesus in our troubled sea of life? And if we do, what difference does it make? A life without Jesus is an uncharted life, with the person being tossed about by every chance wind and disaster. What a difference it should make if Jesus is with us. He won’t be asleep. He is awake and longing to be at the centre of our lives. We need to talk with Him and obey Him. He may ask us to ‘fish on the other side of the boat’ and ask us to uproot from our comfortable lives and go. He just says to us, ‘My child, do not be afraid. I am with you wherever I send you.’

Are They Ready?

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

We are thrilled when we have the opportunity to share the love of God with someone who doesn’t yet know Him. We are excited when we have the chance to speak God’s word. This can only be done under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Yet our prayer needs to be that a person’s heart is in the right place. With the sower in Matthew 13:3-8 the Word does not thrive in rocky or thorny places.

Some people’s hearts are far from God and they will not even register what we say to them. At that time we can only pray that there will be a softening of their hearts. Maybe someone else will give them the words of life at on a future occasion. Only at the correct time will God’s word have power. Others may have hearts which have become tender. As it is said ‘They are near to the kingdom of God.’ The right word will touch their hearts at just the right time and it may be that we are the person privileged to give that word.

It doesn’t matter who is speaking when a person’s heart is reached. The most important thing is that another soul comes to Christ. We are of no importance, only to be used by God. We can pray that we say nothing to draw attention to ourselves, or give a word that does harm. We are merely messengers and channels of blessing. May the Holy Spirit be our guide.

Saved but stuck

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

We have been saved by Christ’s sacrifice, we have been forgiven our sin, but we can be stuck. It is as if we have entered the gates of heaven but haven’t taken a step inside to enjoy the wonders of that place.

I am reminded of the children of Israel who set out on an eleven day journey which took forty years. Why did this short journey take so long? Because the people didn’t listen to God. He was with them all the time in the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but they just weren’t paying attention. They were ignoring the voice of God. In fact the first generation of those who left Egypt never entered the Promised Land

We are on our own journey of up to one hundred years or so. We have our own pillar of fire and pillar of cloud to guide us. God is always with us day and night, but are we listening? Are we growing in our spiritual life or are we stuck?

It’s not as if we didn’t know God’s presence, we see Him all the time in nature, in His miracles and blessings towards us . On every day of our lives we could sit down and list out a hundred blessings, but we do need to listen. He is guiding and instructing us all the time. Our part is to listen and obey (my father’s favourite hymn was Trust and Obey) That is the only way we can grow and not be spiritually stuck..

Reaching God

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Why is it when we need God the most, we find it the hardest to reach Him. In pain, bereavement, sin or danger our need for God is great. Often our prayers seem stuck as if we re talking to ourselves. The anguish which is physical, mental and spiritual feels too difficult to overcome. But God hasn’t moved away; He is right there in the trouble. He has never moved, He is conscious of our next thought even when we are stuck.

The Psalmist often had these feelings and a number of the psalms start with cries of pain, but end with a triumphant shout. Psalm 10 ‘Why God do You stand afar off?’ Why do You hide Yourself in time of trouble? which later says ‘The Lord is King for ever and ever.’ Psalm 143 ‘Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy.’ which ends ‘I meditate on all Your works.’ Psalm 22 ‘My God. my God, why are You so far from me.’ finishing ‘They will proclaim His righteousness.to a people yet unborn.’

We need the perseverance of the Psalmist. God is always right beside us.

Only One Life

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

‘Only one life, it will soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.’ C .T. Studd

I wonder what percentage of our life is done for ourselves, what percentage is done for the approbation of others and what percentage is done for Christ. We might not like the answer if we knew. Trying to gain the approval of others is a thankless task. For one thing we will never gain the approval of everyone. Someone will always disagree with us. We can’t make people like us. People are fickle, one minute they will approves of us, the next we are their enemies. And many people will move away from our lives. How many people are on our Christmas card list this year that were on it 30 or 40 years ago? People move out of our lives, by death or location.

Living our life for ourselves, might please us for short while, but soon it will pall; there is no satisfaction in only pleasing ourselves. But we want our life’s endeavours to last. We are working for eternity.

‘Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood, or grass or straw. And the quality of each person’s work will be seen when the day of Christ exposes it.’ 1 Corinthians 3:12

Obedience

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‘To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.’ 1 Samuel 15:22

.’Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.’ 1 John 5:3

We are probably more willing to praise and thank God than obey Him. Singing praises to Him and shouting ‘Hallelujah’ is easier than doing what He wants us to do. Every time we read the Bible we are challenged. As we hear the Holy Spirit there is an instruction for us to follow, an action that needs to be done. Our excuses are endless, ‘We’re too busy,’ ‘we don’t have the ability,’ ‘someone else is more capable than us.’ Or probably the best excuse, ‘I think I misunderstood You, Lord. You can’t possibly mean me.’

A good Biblical example of this is found in Jonah. The message seems pretty clear and unambiguous, ‘Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it’. Jonah 1:1. For Jonah fleeing to Tarshish was better than obedience. We can never flee from God . Jonah should have read Psalm 139. ‘Where can I go from Your spirit?’ verse 1. ‘If I go to the heavens, You are there.’ verse 8. ‘If I rise on the wings of the dawn ……….. even there Your hand will guide me.’ verses 9 & 10

Disobedience will not place us in a whale’s belly but it will rid us of our peace, it will limit the work of God.

The Older Ones

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

The woman had been caught in adultery, the punishment was death by stoning. Old Testament law stated that both the man and the woman were to be punished, so the Pharisees were wrong straight away. But we know they cared nothing about the wrong-doers, they were only looking for a way to trap Jesus.

This was supposed to present Jesus with a problem, should He uphold the Law or give permission for a woman to be killed. We can imagine the self-righteous rubbing their hands in glee, ‘We’ve caught Him out this time.’ Then Jesus leads them on, as He almost ignores them. ‘Oh, He doesn’t know what to say.’ Then He slowly stands up and fixes them with a penetrating stare. Yes of course, she must be stoned, then ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again Jesus has the upper hand. The accusers began to creep away, and I like this bit, ‘beginning with the older ones.’ The younger men brazoned it out for a while, until they couldn’t pretend they were sinless.

It is said the faults we see in others are the ones we’re guilty of. Oops, does that mean I’m lazy, selfish and impatient? Probably. I don’t think I’m in any position to cast stones.

In the Boat

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

If you’re like me you have problems every day, mostly small and insignificant but frustrated plans and upsets all the time. They are small things that go wrong. but with God’s help easily sorted. But that’s the point, He doesn’t say ‘This is Saturday, I’ll take a day off’ or ‘It’s Tuesday, I won’t be needed today.’ Every day He is with us.

In this Biblical story when Jesus was in the boat with His disciples a typical storm blows up. The disciples should have been used to these storms, they were quite frequent. Jesus was in the boat. Although He was resting they should have known were safe.

We never need to face our storms alone, for how can our finite minds cope with the storms of life? When we look at our problems we only see our part of the difficulty. We can ‘t see the whole picture ourselves. Only God knows the overall situation, we don’t have to figure it our ourselves.. God is only a prayer away. 24/7 He is with us, guiding, protecting, counselling, even when we forget to ask for His guidance. I sometimes have to say to Him ‘Thank You for the answer to the prayer i didn’t even get round to asking.’ Whether we are awake or asleep, He will help. God is with us in the boat.

Dreams

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

Dreams in the Bible were very significant. Even today in closed countries, men and women see Jesus in their dreams and seek to know more about Him, in spite of the danger. My dreams are just rubbishy with no significance. Maybe that’s because I don’t need them. God can speak to me through the Bible (I have quite a few different versions), through my Christian friends and my prayer time.

In Genesis 41, Pharaoh was being troubled by his dreams and after speaking with his once-imprisoned cup-bearer, he sent for Joseph, an interpreter of dreams. Under God’s revelation he was able to declare there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. By collecting and storing a fifth of the produce during the good years, they would be able to survive the famine years.

Many of us now are in our plentiful years, but we need to be prepared for the lean years which can come at any time, like bereavement, loss of health or ability or lack of money. We can do this by building up our spiritual life while we can. Time spent with God is an investment for eternity. By speaking with Him now we will recognise Him more. By regular church connections we will learn much from the sermons and fellowship with other Christians and be able to pray for each other in our times of need. Now is the time to ‘fill our barns’ that we may lay up treasure in heaven.