Category: Faith & life

Jesus is my Lord

October 23, 2025

Here is a simple explanation of what it means to have Jesus as our Lord. It is taken from the book, “To be a Christian” (Catechism #52)

What do you mean when you call Jesus Christ “Lord”?

I acknowledge Jesus’ divine authority over the Church and all creation, over all societies and their leaders, and over every aspect of my life, both public and private. I surrender my entire life to him and seek to live in a way that pleases him. (Daniel 7:13–14; Mat­ thew 7:21–23; Luke 9:23–26; Ephesians 1:15–23; Colossians 1:16–18)

Reflections from James

October 23, 2025

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.

Click here to download

Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes

October 19, 2025

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.

Australia needs another revival like Melbourne in 1902

October 14, 2025

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.

The Jesus prayer is from the Bible

October 12, 2025

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 cries for mercy from the blind man in Luke 18:38 (“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”)
  • The ten lepers in Luke 17:13 (“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”)
  • The tax collector in Luke 18:13 (“God, be merciful to me, I am a sinner”).

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.