Category: Faith & life

Two verses for two new roles

December 8, 2021

Next year I am starting two new exciting roles. One in my church and one in our wheatbelt communities. In the later I will be driving about 700km a week.

To keep me company I am going to listen to worship music, podcasts and the Bible. I am also going to keep some Bible verses on the dashboard of my car.

The two I am going to start with are Ephesians 3:20 and Matthew 5:16…

Ephesians 3:20 NLT – Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Matthew 5:16 NLT – In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

I was already thinking about these two verses and then they came up as verses of the day of two of my Bible apps. Co-incidence or God-incidence?

Next year I am going to let my light shine and imagine big things. I am going to play my part and let God do His. Yes I am nervous but I know God has got me and I have Him.

God Bless,
Dave

Mark a straight path

December 7, 2021

Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT – Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. [26] Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. [27] Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

I really like a few things in this wisdom from Proverbs chapter four. If we break it down we see four main ideas.

1. Look straight ahead in a focussed way.

2. Mark out a right path or course to follow.

3. Stay on that path and don’t get sidetracked.

4. Keep your feet from following the path of evil.

The thing I like about this is there a real choice. We are told to intentionally fix our eyes on something and set a path towards it. Then we need to be determined to follow that path and stay on track.

As I read these verses today it made me think about my eyes and my feet. It encouraged me to focus on a godly goal with my eyes, then to walk steadily towards it with my feet.

Prayer

Lord God, help me to focus on a good goal for Your Kingdom. Help me to stay focused and not stray from the path. I pray my feet will not follow evil. Help me to serve You and You alone. Amen.

Lessons from Bruce Almighty

November 17, 2021

Possible spoilers in this post: Depending on how you read the following it could be seen as spoilers if you want to see the film. As it was released in 2003 I figure you may have seen it already.

One of my favourite movies is Bruce Almighty. It is a fun movie that I have watched a number of times. It is a movie about Bruce’s life with some interactions with God along the way.

Without giving too much away to those who have not seen it, Bruce is a TV Reporter who does wacky stories for his local TV station. His desire though is to be a serious news anchor but he feels stunted in his career opportunities.

As I watched the movie I found some truths we can draw from that can help us in our everyday life. Here are some observations I made.

1. Bruce was ambitious for the wrong things
Bruce desperately wanted to be a serious news anchor and he felt he was held back by doing wacky news. In one interaction with God he finds out that that is how God made him. God loved Bruce’s sense of humour and said he brings joy to people. Bruce needed to recognise his calling and work within that area. A lesson for us.

2. Bruce wasn’t content with his life
We see that Bruce was so desperate to be a news anchor that he didn’t realise what he had. A great job, a lovely partner, a nice home. His ambition for bigger things blinded him from being content with his life and seeing what he already had. The Apostle Paul tells us he learned to be content in all situations (Philippians 4:11).

3. Bruce thought God hated him
A number of times during the movie we see Bruce shake his fist at God and yell at the sky. He thought God hated him and likened God to a bully with magnifying glass on an ant hill. Bruce didn’t understand his wrong ambition was the source of his frustration, not God hating him. We see that God cared enough to intervene in his life. Just like He intervenes in ours.

4. Bruce realised being God is hard
In the movie Bruce is given God’s powers for a time. He even has to answer prayers to which he finds very hard and time consuming. In the end he says yes to everyone’s prayers and it causes chaos in the world. Being God and getting the balance right is not easy. There is a lot more going on that Bruce realised. I am glad God did not answer all of my prayers with yes over the years!

5. Bruce found that surrender was the key
In one scene we see Bruce realise the error of his thinking and he surrenders his will fully to God. God then turns things around. I won’t say too much but this is a key for all of us. We might think we know what is best, but there is always more going on behind the scenes that we know. The key for Bruce and us is to surrender to a loving God who knows all and has a plan for our lives.

So there you have it. Five lessons from the movie Bruce Almighty. As I said it is one of my favourite movies. I think I have watched it about 10 times at least over the years!

Busyness v Rest

November 3, 2021

I read this in a devotional Bible reading plan I am doing at the moment. I really like the idea of needing rest…

“Busyness often makes us feel like we’re accomplishing something important, but that feeling can be counterfeit. We often use activity to numb ourselves of our need for intimacy with God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We must be intentional to establish healthy boundaries around the different parts of our lives—work, family, rest, etc.—so that no one category becomes an idol in our lives.”

(Quote from “Finding Rest”, a YouVersion Bible app reading plan)

Power to change our lives

October 21, 2021

I thought this was really good from vision180.org.au today…

‘I will strengthen you and help you.’ Isaiah 41:10 NIV

We go to seminars and conferences looking for a painless cure by which our lives can be zapped and changed. We go on diets. We join gyms and our enthusiasm runs strong for about two weeks. Then we fall back into the same old rut. We don’t change. We read self-help books, but the problem with self-help books is that they tell us what to do but can’t give us the power to do it. We are told things like: ‘Get rid of all your bad habits. Be positive; don’t be negative.’ But how? Where do we get the power to change? 

The Greek word dunamis, meaning ‘power’, occurs 120 times in the New Testament. It is used to describe the most powerful event that ever happened—the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that resurrection power is available to change your life today. The most important thing in life is knowing Christ and experiencing the power of His resurrection. 

Paul writes, ‘I want to know Christ—yes to know the power of His resurrection.’ (Philippians 3:10 NIV) Again he writes, ‘I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe in Him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.’ (Ephesians 1:19–20 TLB)

The Greek word dunamis can be understood in two ways: 

(1) ‘dynamite’, which is an explosive force, or 

(2) ‘dynamo’, which is a constant flow of power. 

And in Christ, you have both. Through Him you can break the chains that bind you and the limits that pull you back, and walk victoriously in His power today.