God Calls You By Name by rodneyshottter At Christmas we celebrated Jesus coming among us as the light of the world. Jesus calls us to reflect that light to shine in the darkness around us. We may not appreciate that we are to be salt and light to those around us, for although Christ is in us […]
Ian Cole, founder of the World Prayer Centre, Birmingham This time last year, I remember recording a message standing in front of the large map of the world in the WPC prayer room. The office was busy, outside the German market was in full swing selling half metre long sausage, various alcoholic beverages and the […]
From Pete Greig Thinking today about faith and the many set-backs we’ve faced along the way. How the simple act of not giving up has somehow made us stronger and maybe a bit wiser too. How the very things you’d expect to make us question everything have actually, ultimately deepened our faith. I guess if […]
Jarrod Cooper writes… A lot of songs might be confession, intercession or prayer, but they are not worship. Worship is when our focus is completely fixed on Him! The closer you get to the throne, in the bible, the more God-focussed the songs become. In the end it’s just Holy, holy, holy! In our gathered […]
(Continuing from the previous blog…) And going on to look at Paul in Corinth and Ephesus adds more fascinating detail on his preaching. He preached in both sacred (synagogues) and secular buildings (the lecture hall of Tyrannus). He argued (dialegomai) and persuaded (peitho). Both these verbs are used several times. Of course, argument and persuasion […]
In my daily times of prayer recently I’ve been going through the Acts of the Apostles and of course came to Paul in Athens: Paul the “simple”(?) disciple of Christ in that city of giant philosophers and intellectuals. He was “greatly provoked” by their idolatry (that is the same word that is used in Greek […]
From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition by Oswald Chambers At that day ye shall ask in My name. JOHN 16:26 We are too much given to thinking of the Cross as something we have to get through; we get through it only in order to get into it. The Cross stands for one […]
“The fruit of the Spirit is…..SELF CONTROL”(Gal 5:22). Paul illustrates this 9th virtue when writing to the Christians in Corinth where the Ithmian Games were held every 3 years. Before the contest every athlete had to submit himself to rigorous training. For 10 months he was under oath to keep to a prescribed diet and […]
“The fruit of the Spirit is…..MEEKNESS”(Gal 5:22). We are taught with such emphasis at school that adjectives qualify nouns and we forget the reverse is true. And the reverse is certainly true when the noun is “Jesus” and the adjective is “meek.” If we think of meekness without taking Jesus into account, then straightaway the […]
“The fruit of the Spirit is…FAITHFULNESS”. (Gal 5:22). Jesus did not ask his followers to be clever or successful, but he did require them to be reliable and trustworthy. So it is not surprising that faithfulness is in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. Strictly speaking the word in Galatians is “faith” which […]
