Here is a free download from my main website. This booklet contains a collection of short reflections from the book of James in the New Testament. The reflections have grown out my morning devotions and meditations on Scripture. There are 14 in total.
This is an encouraging video about the work of Samaritans purse and the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box appeal.
Over the years most of the churches I have attended have been involved in packing boxes. In our town the churches get together each year and work together on the boxes.
When I was Pastor of a local country church, I had the privilege of taking the boxes down to the Perth warehouse to drop them off. It was great to see so many boxes and the joy the workers had in their work.
If you want to find out more, you can visit their website here.
In 1898, a petition with over 15,000 signatures was sent to invite American evangelist D. L. Moody to come to Australia. But D. L. Moody was promoted to glory in 1899. Rueben A Torrey was sent in his place.
When R A Torrey arrived in 1902, 40,000 people were eagerly awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The meetings were held in the Melbourne Town Hall and several theatres. At the same time, there were 50 mission centres with 50 local evangelists preaching in halls and 30 large tents. The meetings were packed. Eventually the numbers grew so big they had to move from the Town Hall to the Exhibition Hall. Weekly attendance across the city reached 250,000 . At that time, Melbourne had just 1.2 million people.
Nearly 9000 people became Christians. Whole families were brought to Christ. Many lives were completely changed. The police for sometime after in some areas had very little work to do. “The Big Revival has begun, glory be to God,” became how Christians greeted one another.
Over the last year or so I have prayed the Jesus prayer a lot, especially on my prayer beads. The Jesus prayer says, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.
The Jesus Prayer is founded in biblical passages and popularized by the Desert Fathers in the 4th and 5th centuries.
Key scriptural influences include…
The prayer also reflects the biblical call to “pray without ceasing” that is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
I tend to pray the words very slowly and deliberately. I breathe in and silently pray “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”. Then I breathe out and say, “Have mercy on me, a sinner”.
For me it becomes a prayerful meditation.
“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” Romans 8:6-8
When I was in high school we had a class that taught the basics of car mechanics. In it we learned that a car had three main areas. The engine, the gear box and the diff.
The engine powered the car, the gear box connected the power of the engine to the diff, and this made the car go. We learned that you could start the engine and rev the motor, but unless you put the car in gear, it would not go.
For us as Jesus followers, the mind is like the spiritual gear box of our lives.
Our mind engages whether you to do the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh. Just as we put our cars in D for drive to go forward, we need to put our mental gear box in S for Spirit.
We need to set our minds right and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us in all situations. We need to choose the things of the Spirit over the things of the flesh.
Our actions, or the things we do, follow choices. Let us choose to put our spiritual gear box on S and choose the things of the Spirit today.
God Bless,
Dave
PASSIONAustralia.blog 