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The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

There are over 700 mentions of the heart in the bible. We are commanded to love God with "all our hearts" (Deuteronomy 6:5), we are warned to "guard our hearts as they are the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23) and we are told that "where our treasure is, our hearts will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  Jeremiah 17:9 claims that "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" and Matthew 15:19 says "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" which doesn’t paint a very hopeful picture of us being able to get our hearts in the right place with God at all! We’re going to need some help…!

So what can we learn from what the bible says, and how do we put this into practice?

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.

Psalm 139 says the following:
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

That’s a good place to start – asking God to reveal our hearts to us. Sometimes we can presume our hearts are in the right place, but actually rather than having hearts fully after God, we find out that often our hearts are divided or our motivations are not right. Just because our hearts are telling us something, doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to be right.

One way the bible tells us of finding our where our heart is, is to look at where we invest (what’s our treasure?) Matthew 6:21 : "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where do we choose to spend our available time and money?  What do we choose to invest our energy or finances in? What do we spend much of our time thinking about? If the answers are  not "God / Jesus / God’s kingdom / loving the Lord & our neighbours" then we’re investing in the wrong things, and our hearts are not aligned to God.

God knows well that we often follow our hearts, and sometimes we follow our heads, but actually neither of these are the right things to follow!! That’s why there are so many warnings in the bible, and verses telling us to set our hearts on God and on his laws. Instead of following our hearts (or our heads) we should be following God’s word, and the Holy Spirit living in us, seeking God for his will and his plans for our lives. Like the request in the psalm above we should be praying "lead me in the way everlasting" We cannot walk on the right path without asking and following God… our hearts will lead us astray.

Psalm 86:11 says "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." I think it’s key that we realise a lot of the time our hearts can be divided. We want to live for God and trust God fully, but although perhaps a good percentage of our hearts are willing, there’s often another part of our hearts that cannot fully let go and trust God. Because we don’t always get what we want, our hearts try to trick us into believing that perhaps our way is actually better than God’s!! We cannot be divided! James 1:6-8 says a double-minded man is "unstable in all he does." We must ask God continually to help us with our divided hearts, so that we can learn to have hearts that are sold out for Him and prepared to walk in all his ways, not just the ones that suit us.

Proverbs has a lot to say about man’s heart, including this "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails" Proverbs 19:21. Therefore, what we need to do is learn to align our hearts with God’s, so that God’s plans are our plans! If not, our plans are not going to get us far!  Proverbs also says  "trust in the LORD with all your  heart and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5.

There’s a passage in the bible that’s quoted quite a lot : Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart". A really lovely passage, but what we need to be careful of is that we don’t skip over the first bit of this passage “delight yourself in the Lord” and rush straight into the getting the desires of our heart bit!! It’s when our hearts are totally after God, when we love to be in his presence and are so thankful to him for all he has done, that our hearts become aligned to God’s own heart. We start to get glimpses of his heart for us, and for others, and our selfishness and our own desires get put back in their place. That’s when we start to desire the things that God desires and our hearts stop leading us astray.

So in Summary: Don’t trust your heart!! It can be very deceitful! Do love God with all your heart and you can’t go far wrong! Ask God to test your heart and be willing to work on anything he reveals to you. Look for yourself at where you spend your time and money to get an idea of if your heart’s currently focused on the right things. Trust The Lord with all your heart, and don’t be divided – He’s the only one who is faithful. Pray for God to help you to do this so that you can love and serve him fully. Delight yourself in God, and your heart will become aligned to his, then he will be pleased to give you the desires of your heart!

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.  1 Chronicles 22:19

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Acts 2:46

Our good friends Phil & Kim showed us a short film that their small group made, which was basically like a mini ad for small group. It was great! It had a backing track called “We’re all in this together” by Ben Lee and this song just got stuck in my head!!! It’s a month later and it still keeps popping back up when I’m thinking or praying about small group.

That little song holds a key truth to living our lives the way Jesus did – I know I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again – WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER! Jesus hung out with his disciples and they shared life with each other, the ups and the downs, the crowds and the quieter times.  We should do the same! I’m not saying we should only be in our little Christian bubble, NO! That’s not what Jesus did. But when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we share their trials as well as their joys and subsequently we are being witnesses of God’s love and provision. We cannot go solo as Christians, it wasn’t part of God’s plan. Jesus didn’t, so we shouldn’t fool ourselves into believing we can either.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Acts 2:44

It’s in community that we are taken care of, encouraged, prayed for and loved. It’s also where we can take the besy care of others. That way we can share the load, enjoy life together and have real relationships that aren’t just based on a Weds evening bible study, instead being about on truly caring for those God has put on our path. As we love and serve within our group, we will also look out and want to bring others in to be loved and supported to. That way we are reaching out to the lost and the broken with God’s love and healing touch. Doing it together and making a bigger impact than we could ever do alone.

I don’t know where you are at with God or if you are in a small group or not, but I encourage you today, if you aren’t in a small group and want to feel more part of God’s plan, as well as having the opportunity to share life with others who want to share life with you, please do pray about it and consider joining a group at your church (or creating one if there’s not one at your church at the moment!).  If you don’t yet know God, go find some people who do and hang out with them for a bit. Ask them questions and see first hand what it’s all about!

May God help you to bless others with his love, and may you be blessed by Him as well as your brothers and sisters in Christ!

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25

So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.  Zechariah 4:6

I think this verse is a really important verse for us to be constantly reminded of as we live out our lives. We can be so good at relying on ourselves and leaning on our own understanding, that we don’t give the Holy Spirit much opportunity to move and work through us..

Praying and asking for God’s leading should be the 1st thing we do! But generally we can be a but rubbish at remembering this. We push hard on closed doors, we rely on ourselves to tell people about God, and we’re not looking out for God-given openings / opportunities, led by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is pretty cool. He can go places none of us can! He can touch the hearts and souls of individuals, he can open doors no man can open. The Holy Spirit is the resurrection power that brought Jesus to life! We must not give the Holy Spirit the relegated role of just giving us a “nice feeling” on a Sunday morning!! That’s not the primary work of the Holy Spirit! We need to be living in the Spirit and trusting in the Spirit’s promptings every day of our lives!

In small group we’ve been talking about sharing our faith and reaching out to others, and this week it was really clear that the most important thing in doing this was to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to listen to His promptings and not to try to do things in our own strength. We cannot save anyone – Jesus is the author of salvation, and he uses the Holy Spirit to prepare the way for us to speak the message of truth into people’s lives who are ready to hear it, and to guide us away from forcing our message onto people who are not yet ready to hear. It’s only by the Spirit that we can do anything for God!

It’s not only sharing the gospel that the Holy Spirit is interested in. He wants to be living in us and working through us in all aspects of our lives. When we are in tune with the Holy Spirit we can have faith in God for anything! We can stop striving to do things in our own strength because we know that God is with us. We can be better at doing God’s will rather than our own (or what we think God’s will might be!) and we can spend a lot less energy on things that God is not calling us to do!!

Let us meditate on this verse throughout the week ahead and ask God to help us do things by His Spirit and not in our own strength.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.

And when you do – just step back and watch the things that God does by his Spirit!

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing I have to constantly check myself on, it’s what I allow to come out of my mouth! I can so easily get into saying negative stuff or things that are not bringing glory to God or encouragement to others.

I learned that the word unwholesome could also mean rotten – like rotten fruit. The bible tells us that we are to bear good fruit, and that we will be recognised by the fruit that we produce, as this fruit comes from what’s in our hearts. (Read Luke 6:43-45 and Matthew 12:33-37).

We need to watch ourselves carefully as negative, dishonest, unkind or vulgar words are not coming from a heart that loves God and is in fellowship with him. James 3:10 says “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

We are not told just to stop speaking bad stuff, but to replace it with good stuff! We are to be people who speak words of encouragement to others, words that will build people up in the faith and will help people to grow and be encouraged. We are to speak things which will “benefit those who listen”.

Proverbs 12:18 says that reckless words pierce like a sword but when we speak wise words these bring healing. Wouldn’t you like your words to bring healing into other people’s lives?

I encourage you to take notice of what comes our of your mouth, as it’s an overflow of what’s in your heart and it reflects your true relationship with God. You can do a health check on your heart just by listening to your words!

Let us strive to have hearts that are right with God so that we only speak words that produce good fruit! Ones that bring healing and encouragement to others, and praise and glory to God. As we seek God, and continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit, He will change our hearts and help us to speak out of the overflow of His love, His grace and His mercy in our lives! How then could we ever speak anything negative!?

I’ve had a few conversations with people recently who are finding their walk with God a bit of a struggle. Perhaps it’s the winter blues, the thought of all that dark, cold weather. Perhaps it’s tiredness or perhaps it’s spiritual attack. Either way, we all know what the “correct Christian answer” is– seek God. Yet we all also know that sometimes it’s really tough to do this when we’re tired, fed up and don’t feel like making any effort at all.

So I thought I would give you (and me!) a few tips on how to beat the blues by seeking God!

Tip 1) Remind yourself that it’s not about feelings. I think this is the biggest trap we can fall into. Because we don’t feel “it” or feel like worshipping or feel like praying, we give up before we’ve even started. Feelings are unfaithful – God IS faithful! Therefore, let us trust in God & his Word more and in our feelings a lot less!

Tip 2) Remind yourself of the Truth in scripture. Pick out some encouraging verses of who God is and who you are in him (even if you feel it’s not true.. it IS true, so start claiming it).

Read them OUT LOUD, not in your head. The spoken word has power. Your spirit responds to the spoken word (faith comes by hearing) and you will find yourself being built up just by speaking out words of truth.

Try some of the verses below as a starter, but on a good day try to pick out some scripture for yourself so that when a bad day comes along you can look at your personal list on the wall/fridge/in your diary and read them out-loud to yourself and to God. Turn them around too, so you are talking to God through the scriptures and thanking him for his blessings…

For example:

Thank you Father God that in ALL things you work for the good of those who love you, who have been called according to your  purpose. Romans 8:28

Thank you Jesus that you promise that you are always with me, by the Holy Spirit, and that you will never leave me. Matthew 28:20 & John 14:16

Thank you Jesus that I can do everything through the strength that you give me! Philippians 4:13

Thank you Lord that you know the plans you have for me. Plans to prosper me, and not to harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Thank you Father God  that you have given me victory over sin and death through Jesus my Lord and my saviour. 1 Corinthians 15:57

Even if you don’t feel these scriptures and you actually just feel like your being a bit of a parrot, keep on going! You’re talking to your soul and feeding it with the truth, your also demonstrating to the enemy that you are choosing God’s word over his lies or your feelings. Remember that whether you feel it or not, God’s word IS the truth and it doesn’t change depending on where you are at or the day you have had.

Tip 3) Don’t listen to the lies! You know what the lies are – anything that speaks against the word of God. Anything that destroys rather than builds, anything that undermines who God is, what Jesus has done, or your relationship with Him. Choose not to dwell on these things. Like it says in Philippians 4:8, we should be thinking about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy.. If it doesn’t fit into these categories, decide not to let yourself dwell in those negative thoughts. Even more so, don’t keep speaking them out over yourself!!! Just as the word of God spoken out-loud is powerful for building up, speaking lies over yourself has exactly the opposite effect.

Tip 4) God is always worthy to be praised. (Even if you don’t feel like it.) Pick a worship song that is easy and that you like (when you’re in a good place!) And sing it out loud to God.

Pick one that shows the greatness of God, or what he has done for you (rather than your response to him, which you may not think you can sing at that moment) For eg. “How Great is Our God” or “In Christ Alone.” And Thank God for being God! Thank Him for being constantly faithful, loving, compassionate and forgiving (even when you are not!). Thank Him that His mercies are new everyday Lamentations 3:23 (which means that even if we feel bad / fall into sin, he always has enough mercy to cover it all because of the blood of Christ, and He has the grace to give you a fresh start in Him every single day!)

Tip 5) Don’t give up easily! If you quote a couple of scriptures and attempt to sing a song and don’t get immediate results remember that although we live in a world that wants everything instantly, life really doesn’t work like that. (Just look at how awful instant coffee is! Yet people put up with it because they forget how good the real stuff is!). Press into God. Wait on Him and know that he’s listening to your prayers and he loves you with an unending love. Remember too that you may need to repent to get that connection back with God (esp. if you’ve been feeling negative as this can cause you to fall into sin more easily) Check your heart and ask for forgiveness, then go back and start again!

I was sat on a plane coming home from our holiday in Portugal (just to make you all jealous!)  reading the book of Acts. It dawned on me again how bold and outspoken the early Christians were and how much trouble they got themselves into by just speaking about Jesus and the resurrection.

For example in Acts 4 Peter & John get thrown into Prison for healing a cripple and preaching about Jesus’ resurrection. The next day the rulers, elders & teachers of the law tried to figure out what they were going to do to stop them preaching the good news.

Acts 4:17: "..to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." (ie the name of Jesus – His name has all the power & authority!!!)

18-20: "Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Then I started mulling over the quote "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."  (St. Francis of Assisi) . This is quite a popular quote which gets batted round a lot in Christian circles. 

Can we really live a quiet holy life and be true followers of Christ? I pondered. Can we live lives like the New Testament Christians without often "using words"? After looking out of the window at the white clouds and blue sky and thinking it all over in my mind, and looking back at the book of Acts, I came to the conclusion (however uncomfortable it was for me!) that we cannot live out the gospel without often using words. (Sorry St. Francis!)

In many cases I believe the two things go hand in hand. Living it out, and speaking it out. How much easier would it have been for John & Paul (and many others, even today) to quietly live out being Christians, but not tell anyone! Although of course this would mean not praying for anyone, just in case a miracle happened and people got wind of it and then they had to explain themselves! Somehow, I really don’t think this was Jesus’ plan! Jesus himself commissioned us to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" Mark 16:15  

As we go preaching, the signs and wonders then follow. The signs point to Jesus & God’s Kingdom, if we are not preaching the gospel then why would God provide us with the signs to support what we are (not) saying? Perhaps if we did a bit more preaching out in the "market place" there’d also be a few more signs and wonders too? 

But back on the plane, the two main reasons for my conclusion were:

1) My life is not good enough on it’s own !

Yes, not too surprising really. My actions are not currently on their own "Preaching" the Good News of Jesus – I’m just not there yet! My life may quietly whisper "Jesus" to those who look really closely, but there’s no real in-your-face-Kingdom-power-living going on. As such (of course!) I need to ask the Holy Spirit to help me improve but in the meantime I think I probably need to supplement my actions with words. To tell people "I don’t have it all sorted yet, but… Jesus.."   and to ask people "can I pray for you" when they tell me they are ill/in need. In my weaknesses and even in my failures, God can still use me, but I do need to acknowledge him before others and speak out with words, until the time comes when my actions are clearly and loudly preaching the Kingdom of God on my behalf!

2) If my life was good enough – people would ask!

So what happens if I do get to the point where my life is shouting out the gospel to all who come in contact with me? Well, like in Acts, if I really was preaching the gospel with my life then people would be regularly asking me why I am so different and where my hope and my authority comes from. In fact I’d probably be stirring up quite a bit of trouble as well as seeing people healed on a regular basis, and facing rather a lot of opposition - just like the early Christians in the book of Acts! People would be asking me why I live like I live, why I love like I love, why people are healed and raised from the dead around me, and why I have so much hope and joy even though difficult circumstances.  So with all these questions, I’d have to preach the gospel, to explain to people about Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God! How could I not?

It says in 1 Peter 3:15 : "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.. " We are to be prepared to answer the questions which are bound to come when we are living out Jesus-centred lives! It’s not an if people ask , it’s presumed that people will ask because of our radically different lives! 

Acts4:20 "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" – If I really truly was living out the gospel each day with my actions, I wouldn’t be able to help myself speaking about all the things that Jesus was doing (and has done!) 

Besides, Jesus himself spent his ministry preaching, teaching and performing signs and wonders: "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." Matthew 9:35 .  - He didn’t just live a holy life and hope that people would guess who He was and figure out who had sent him! He lived it out and spoke it out. 

Of course there are times when preaching the gospel with actions (and not with words is necessary) – for example if we live with friends/family who are not Christians. We cannot begin each morning preaching over breakfast!! This is likely to harden their hearts and turn them away from God (and us!) They’ve heard what we have to say – now they are watching to see how we live. This really is where we preach the gospel at all times, using words only when necessary. Home is were we are seen for our true selves – living with people soon shows them whether we really do live out the gospel, or just talk the talk..

So whether we are confident that we are living our lives full on for Jesus, as radical Kingdom people, or "not there yet" but wanting to learn & grow, we just cannot keep quiet about being Christians! We must preach the gospel with our lives and with our words, to explain to people where our hope comes from and why we live the way we do. We must show people love, but be prepared to tell them about God’s love to. 

How will they know unless we tell them?

Read the story in Acts 4 here :

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%204&version=31

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy ." 1 Peter 1:13-16

Be Holy because I am Holy – This is quite a hard thing to talk about because on one hand there is Jesus – totally perfect, totally Holy, who lived a sinless, selfless life. Then on the other hand, there’s the rest of us…!

If we think we are "good" then Jesus reminds us that no matter how good we think we are, we cannot and will not reach his perfect holiness. Yet God tells us to be Holy because I am Holy.  

If we think we are "bad" and write ourselves out of God’s script, Jesus reminds us that all have sinned, yet through him we can be forgiven and presented fully cleansed and Holy before God ⁽¹⁾ – hidden in the perfect life, death & resurrection of Jesus.

So what then? If we sin and fall short of God’s holiness, then why bother trying? If we’re already Holy through Jesus, why do we need to make the effort? Yet God tells us "Be Holy because I am Holy"  

We have to carefully hold all these things in balance; We should never take for granted the forgiveness and grace that God has for us, instead in response we should endeavour to live lives that are Holy and pleasing to God. Knowing that sometimes we do sin and fall short of God’s perfect plan, but are forgiven and righteous because of Jesus. Knowing too that we do everything not in our own strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us.⁽²⁾  

So how do we live Holy lives? Well the verse says to :

Prepare our minds for action; be self-controlled – We need not just "put our feet up" now that we know we are forgiven because of Jesus. Our faith is it’s not just spiritual, it’s practical too; we need to be prepared to live it out, to be self controlled – not just giving into our thoughts and feelings as though we have no choice or strength, but to choose to act right and to keep our thoughts and desires in check. God helps us to do this as we walk with him in his grace ⁽³⁾ and the more we do this, the easier it will become to live lives that are Holy.

Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed – We need to look towards our eternal hope and future in Jesus. Not to be distracted/disheartened by situations and circumstances that we are going through now. Sometimes we can feel like God shouldn’t let us go through the things we are going through, and we can allow these feelings to make us loose our faith or hope in God. We focus on the troubles (instead of on Jesus) and it feels like they are going to last forever… God tells us that these troubles are just "momentary" and He’s using whatever we are going through for an amazing eternal purpose ⁽⁴⁾ – we just can’t see it yet!

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance – God tells us "you know better than that now, my child." We can sometimes slip back into our old ways, our old routines and our old desires, which we know won’t give us fulfilment and will ultimately lead to destruction.⁽⁵⁾ In the past we didn’t know any better but now we do and we should be living in the light of our eternal salvation, no longer being led by our selfish desires.

So we should be Holy, because God is Holy & He has told us to be Holy. To do this we must be prepared to act out our faith, to choose to be self controlled, to focus on Jesus not on our circumstances/feelings, and to live in obedience to God’s word rather than following our evil thoughts/desires. But most of all, we must do all this in the knowledge of God’s love and grace… Trusting that he has given us the power to overcome by the Holy Spirit, but also if we do sin and fall short of God’s perfect holiness, Jesus has bridged the gap for us. That means we can get straight back up and keep on walking – free from any condemnation!! ⁽⁶⁾

Praise God!

(1) Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1:21-23 

(2) ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

(3) For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-13 

(4) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17 

(5) For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:18-22 

(6) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Romans 8:1-3

Salt and Light

13″You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14″You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:13-16

Salt

We (as Christians) are the Salt of the earth. This means that we should be flavouring (or perhaps we could use the word “influencing”) the world God has put us in.

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Mark 9:50 (NLT) says “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavour, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

Salt has healing qualities, it seasons & brings out good flavours, it’s gritty and stops people falling in the ice! Salt has many uses – it’s used as a preservative for meat where there’s no refrigeration, stopping things from going bad. And that’s what Jesus is calling us to do – we should be bringing out good flavours in the world around us, bringing healing, helping people not to fall, and bringing goodness and purity into a world that can be very rotten. We can be salt in our actions & in our words. Praise God that he has made us to be salt and that he helps and guides us and sets us apart to live lives that are so different to the rest of the world, that people can see Him through us! Praise God for our saltiness!

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There is also a warning in the passage – we need to be careful that living in the world doesn’t take away our “saltiness.” We must remain pure so that God can continue to use us as his witnesses, to be a blessing to others and to have a positive impact on the world around us.

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How salty are you? Are you using your saltiness in the situations & places that God has put you in, or are you allowing the world to rob you of your saltiness?

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Light

Jesus has given us His light, we can only be light because of His light shining through us. Jesus tells us to shine in the darkness!! We are not to hide, but to live out the gospel so that everyone around us can see the difference Christ has made in our lives! Then people will give the praise and the glory back to God!

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Ephesians 5:8 (NIV) says “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)”

God has set us free from darkness to live as children of light! The verse uses the words “goodness, righteousness & truth ” to describe what it is to be living as children of light. Would you use these words to describe the way you live? Ask God to help you to be even more of a light in your workplace, in your family and amongst your friends! Ask him to help you live each day as a child of light!

2 Peter 1:5-9:
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

I think this is a good reminder that no matter how long we’ve known God, there’s still a lot of work to be done!! However much we have changed since we first became Christians, however much work the Holy Spirit has been doing in our lives and in our hearts to make us more like Jesus, we can still spend the rest of our lives improving the qualities that God is growing in us, and getting closer and closer to being the people God made us to be.

Don’t lose heart though! Just look how far you’ve come! It’s amazing what God is continually doing in the lives of those who love him! We should be spurred on by this rather than thinking we’re never going to make it. We should be inspired to keep pressing forward and continuing to let the Holy Spirit mould us and shape us, challenge us and strengthen us in all good things.

The scripture says we need to have these qualities “In increasing measure.” No matter how much faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love we have, we can always have more, and we can always grow in each of these areas – with God’s amazing grace and love to encourage us!

So let us “make every effort” to add these amazing qualities to the faith that God has so freely given us, and let us never be satisfied with 2nd best, but press on to be more and more like Jesus, in word and in deed and in the qualities he possesses.

Let’s be Quality Christians!

Does your faith lack life & energy? Feeling bored/fed up in your walk with God?

(Do I sound like a bad advert!?!)

James 2:14-24 Faith and Deeds

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.

20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

This is quite a hard passage to talk about! So I hope I come across in love and you feel encouraged, not condemned!!

I believe that if we are not doing the things that Jesus told us to do, seeing people being saved and served, then we will get bored and dissatisfied and ultimately wander away from God. Without exercise, like muscles, our faith will wither and die. We need to be putting it to work helping, serving and loving others. Just see how alive you feel when you start “stepping out” and doing things for God!! Not only will your own problems feel much less significant, God will “grow” in your eyes and your faith will come alive as you see him working through the things that you do.

If we don’t have any motivation to help/serve others who are in need (spiritually or physically) then we need to question ourselves as to why? We are told that everything we do for others, we do for God and anything we choose not to do for others, we choose not to do for God.¹ If we do nothing to help those in need, then where is our love for God? Where’s our faith?

We know that it’s not by works that we are saved² (Jesus has already paid the highest price) but once saved we should desire to serve out of the overflow of thankfulness for what Jesus has done. God made us for this purpose and prepared good works for us to do³. If we don’t have this inner desire to be serving God, then have we really grasped what Jesus has done for us and are we really trusting in Him for our salvation? If we are not careful, there’s a danger of our faith being turned into a hobby that we tack onto the side of the rest of our lives. We can end up “boxing up” God to bring out on a Sunday morning/Thursday evening, or like a genie in a lamp, just call on him when we want something!

Lots of people are waiting for a “divine calling” (and some do get a specific calling) but shouldn’t we all just be getting on with what God has already told us to do? Jesus has given us a living example⁴ of what we should be doing and how we should be living! People will observe how we live and when we serve wholeheartedly, standing out as people who love others, serve others and do the things God has told us to do – they’ll have to acknowledge that it’s God working in and through us and that our faith is alive!⁵

Please don’t let your faith die – give it some exercise!!

1) Matthew 25: 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ / Matthew 25: 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

2) Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

3) Ephesians 2:9 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

4) Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

5) Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. / 1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.