Month: September 2022

G.R.O.W.

September 28, 2022

I was doing my morning prayer time today and I kept thinking about the word grow. As I reflected I used the letters of grow as an acrostic to help me/us to keep growing in our faith.

G – God first. We need to continue to seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33)

R – Reach out. We need to continue to reach out with God’s love and saving message through Jesus (John 3:16)

O – Offer ourselves. We need to continue to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God for His service (Romans 12:1-2)

W – Walk in His ways. We need to continue fear the Lord and walk in God’s ways (Psalm 128:1)

This simple acrostic can give us some things to help us grow in our faith. If we keep mindful of these four things we will keep moving forward in our faith.

Prayer

Dear God, I want to continue to grow in my faith and trust in You. Please help me to put You first, reach out to others, offer myself to You and walk in Your ways. I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

Why did Jesus wait before going to Lazarus?

September 26, 2022

One of the questions that has often puzzled me from the raising of Lazarus is why did Jesus wait two days until He left. In john 11:38-44 it gives us some clues. In verse 38 Jesus says that if we believe, we will see the glory of God. So Jesus delaying was about people hearing about the miracle and seeing God’s glory.

In today’s Our Daily Bread there is some extra insight that I thought I would share. It shows a couple of extra things that are not obvious from the text…

After Jesus learned Lazarus was gravely ill, He waited two days to go to the home of his sisters, Mary and Martha (John 11:1–6). When Jesus and His disciples arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days (v. 17). This allowed a day for the news to reach Jesus and a day for Him to reach Bethany. So, Lazarus may have already been dead when the news reached Jesus that he was ill. That it had been four days was significant because in that warm climate, Lazarus’ body would have been severely decomposed (v. 39). If Jesus had left immediately and resurrected Lazarus, naysayers could’ve easily denied his resurrection, suggesting he’d only been in a deep sleep or coma. It was also significant because in that day some Jews believed the soul hovered over the body for three days, hoping to reenter. But by four days, even that hope would have expired.

If you want to read the full devotion you can find it at https://odb.org

Preaching again tomorrow

September 24, 2022

I am preaching again tomorrow at our church. I am not sure how many times I have preached this year, maybe once every 4-6 weeks.

At our church we do our roster up for three months at a time. In that period I am usually on twice. Every now and someone asks me to fill in for them as they will be away.

Tomorrow I will be looking at two passages. The main one is James 1:3-12. I have three verses I want to highlight and talk about. They are verses 3, 5 and 12.

The other passage comes from 2 Corinthians 4:8-11, 16-18. This passage is to just give us some final encouragement before closing.

If you are interested I will put the full text and audio up here tomorrow afternoon.

Blessings,
Dave

A story about Queen Elizabeth

September 17, 2022
Queen Elizabeth II inspects the jewel-encrusted Imperial State Crown.(BBC)

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, I have heard a lot of stories of her faith and service of God. One story I heard was a my favourite. It talks more about her sense of humour.

Around 2005, the Queen and her Personal Protection Officer, Dick Griffin, were walking alone one afternoon in the hills near the Scottish royal castle, Balmoral. Two tourists approached them, and engaged in conversation. Griffin recalls:

“There were two hikers coming towards us, and the Queen would always stop and say hello.
“They were two Americans on a walking holiday.
“It was clear from the moment we stopped that they hadn’t recognised the Queen, which was fine.
“The American gentleman was telling the Queen where they came from, where they were going next, and where they’d been in Britain.
“I could see it coming, and sure enough, he said to Her Majesty: ‘And where do you live?’
“She replied: ‘Well I live in London, but I’ve got a holiday home just the other side of the hills.’
“He said: ‘How long have you been coming up here?’
“She replied: ‘I’ve been coming up here ever since I was a little girl, so over 80 years.’
“You could see the cogs whirring, so he said: ‘Well, if you’ve been coming up here for over 80 years, you must have met the Queen.’
“Quick as a flash, she said: ‘I haven’t, but Dick here meets her regularly.’
The hiker then asked Griffin what the monarch was like in person.
“Because I was with her a long time, and I knew I could pull her leg, I said: ‘Oh, she can be very cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humour.’
“The next thing I knew, this guy comes round, puts his arm around my shoulder, and before I could see what was happening, he gets his camera, GIVES IT TO THE QUEEN, and says: ‘Can you take a picture of the two of us?’
“Then we swapped places, and I TOOK A PICTURE OF THEM WITH THE QUEEN.
“And we never let on, and we waved goodbye.
“Afterwards, Her Majesty said to me: ‘I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to his friends in America, and hopefully someone tells him who I am’.”