Reasons to be Cheerful

Romans 1 verse 7. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have a wonderful new patio thanks very much to one of my neighbours who gave freely of his time to help me lay the slabs. If I'm honest about it, he laid the slabs whilst I looked on and tried to learn. The time it took would have cost me hundreds of pounds but as a neighbour he just said "I'm sure there'll be opportunities to return the favour". As friends and neighbour this is what we do. We help each other out and then we return the favour.

When we're subject to such neighbourliness we often feel the need to return that favour as soon as possible. That feeling of being in debt to somebody, albeit not financially, makes us restless until that debt is settled. We seek the opportunities to help our neighbours just to ease our minds.

Are we indebted to God?

Have we the same desire to settle any debts with God?

God has bestowed upon us so much in the way of blessings. He floods us with his grace and mercy despite our many sins. I may not be the richest person in my community but there are a heck of a lot more poorer people in the world than I. I have always been fed and watered and have a loving family and this is just the start of the blessings that God has given to me. He's even given me a brand new patio.

How conscious am I of what I owe to God?

How conscious am I of the debt I have to God?

How conscious am I of the debt that I owe to Jesus Christ?

In hindsight, not enough. I'm conscious of what I owe to my neighbour but I forget what I owe to The Lord. I can be conscious of what I owe to the bank in the way of mortgage payment but I forget about my monthly, weekly, daily repayments to God.

Through Moses, God rescued his chosen people from their sufferings in Egypt, but these same people soon forgot about God's grace and mercy. They fell into the ways of sin deviating greatly from the life that God longed for them to follow.

So how can I/we settle that debt with God?

God will continue to poor his blessings upon us. To show our gratitude we must try to live a holy life. By that I mean a life that is good, righteous and free from sin and in God's name. And we do this because we desire to please God. It may be a tall order I know. Only Jesus Christ led a sin free life. But if we truly want to please God we will endeavour to live a life as close to that of Jesus as possible. And when we do stray away from the straight and narrow, we know that if in our hearts we are extremely sorry then God will forgive us and continue to envelop us with his grace.

How fantastic is that?

A Wish or A Prayer

A good Christian friend of mine was recently challenged to explain the difference between a wish and a prayer. Hazel Butler is an accomplished writer and so consequently chose to answer in the written word in the form of a poem. To me these are beautiful words and Hazel has allowed me to share them here.

                                                            Wishing
I plunge my knife in virgin cake,
My eyes screwed tight, my wish to make;
Or pull the greasy chicken bone
My wish to others never known.
As coins I throw in wishing well
My hearts desires I throw as well.

And now it's time for Christmas lists
To Santa - That's if he exists!
So many hopes, desires, dreams;
The list is enless, yet it seems
That with the passing of the years
They fall on ever deafening ears.

                                                           Praying
My new found love - With Him I walk
Our hearts entwined, we laugh and talk.
I tell Him of the day that's gone
Of how my love for Him just shone
Because I knew how much He cared;
Oh! How I relished all we shared!
Of all we did and said and thought;
Of how His loving ways I'd caught;
How all my plans had Him in mind
And all my thoughts were re-defined
To how to please Him - Make Him smile
As we drew closer mile by mile.
His hope, ambitions, now made mine.
Our plans and wishes intertwine.
For now I clearly understood
His greatest longing was my good.

So prayer is love's communication -
Silence, worship, supplication.
Opening my inmost heart,
Allowing Him to have, not part,
But all my thinking, hearing, seeing,
Every part of all my being.
So I'll grow much more like Him
Not shooting prayers at every whim,
But resting in a love so vast
That it is safe for me to cast
My every need, concern and care
Into His hands - He's always there.
This mighty friend, who's endless power
Created sun and earth and flower,
Reveal Himself in many ways
But most of all within the maze
Of complex lives like yours and mine,
He reaches down with love divine
And then, in answer to my prayer,
Transforms with love the mess that's there

How fantastic is that?

Terry Norrington

http://www.cryinthedark.org/

http://www.christian-charity-world.com/