Category: December 2016

Change

Posted on by Ruth

 

They say that a change is as good as a holiday. Winston Churchill was reported as saying that “ a change is as good as a rest”.

I find that around the end of a year, most people are talking about facing a new year with the hope of some type of change in either their circumstances or life. The old year is about to past over into a new one.

For most people, they are looking at new year’s resolutions, maybe a renewed desire for something different, or returning to something that once was better than the life they live now. Either situation brings a sense of hope that this one change, will bring the happiness that they hope will come.

Whether the resolution or change is a 5 degree deviation or a 180 degree about face, people hope that this will make the difference.

This year has been a difficult year for several people that I know. On Facebook, there are a lot of people that have expressed relief that this year is nearly over.  I have a few close friends who have experienced personal heartache and difficulties over this year.

The ability to be able to change something in our lives gives us a very satisfying feeling of new beginnings. Even the thought of change brings about the prospect of endless possibilities.

The chance of “burning bridges behind you” to leave behind the past mistakes and failures, gives giddy thoughts of new beginnings. All the while we soldier forward, hoping that the past never crosses the river without the bridge in place.

Everyone looks for a change, everyone wants rest from something. What most people forget is this – sometimes the only thing that needs the change is the change in their heart. Is it possible that this is the only change and resolution that needs to happen?

It takes very little to realise that a resolution or new city has one same thing – that heart goes with them to the new scenario. It goes with them into the new year and continues to make decisions for them regardless of the new resolution.

I have had people say that they are giving up on God, on their spouse, on life or on a fight. They forget that their own heart goes on with them into the next change.

If the heart has not changed; if the attitudes are still the same; if we haven’t learnt from our old mistakes, then nothing is new.

Change is good… rest is good. But it will not be a true change and a true rest, if your heart has not changed.

When the Israelite people went into the desert, after leaving Egypt, they anticipated change. They walked away from slavery and tyranny, but because their heart had not been renewed, they brought their old life into the new. God wanted to change that, to show them He was real and that He loved them. He also wanted a changed heart, a different spirit. They just wanted new land without a new heart.

Can I challenge you as the new year starts, to ask God for a new heart? One that is open to His leading a direction. Ask God for the strength to fight, to stay, to change and ask Him to help you face the new year with one thing – a new heart for God.

Remember that a change is a s good a rest. God’s rest is better than a human rest…it settles our restless and wondering soul. The change that God makes, is good.

I too have faced an…um… interesting year. I am yet to face a few difficulties that are up ahead and it will be a few months before we see the backside of them. My hope for a change is not about to come with a new year starting. I have faced the end of this year physically exhausted and emotionally weary.

At the moment, I am taking time to rest every day until I the future complications are less. I am leaning on God and leaning into Him for the strength that I need, daily. I am thankful that He has given so much so that when I am able to look back, I know that in this time God has changed my heart. This change has caused me become…well… more. I know that if this new year turns out the same or worse than last year… I am ok with that.

The new, is every morning. For me, I don’t have to wait for a new year. Every morning has its own beginning. Not only can I have a change that is new, my mornings are a time for the “new”. For this I am grateful.

 

My favourite verse of scripture is this –

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.

So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:23-26 (NLT)

 

My prayer for you is this – May God strengthen you in your inner being and give you the desire to change. May this change give you the rest you so desire. May God bless you in the new coming year and pour our His love into your heart. God Bless you in every new morning.

 

Happy New Year to each and every one of you.

 

****

 

“May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show you his favour and give you his peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT)

 

Love

Posted on by Ruth

 

Love is beautiful.

There was a saying that said, “love makes the world go ‘round.” Franklin P Jones made an amendment to this and said, “Love doesn’t make the world go. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile”.

Still another man, a bit of a larrikin, said, “Love is what makes the world go around. So does a bump on the head.”

In fact, if you study the word “love” there are so many varied beliefs about what love really is, that you could fill a couple of encyclopedias. Everyone is an expert on love, what it is, and what it looks like.

For me the true definition of love is this – Almighty God. There is nothing greater than the love of God. It is love in the purest form.

God loved the world (and all its people) so much (more than we can think or imagine) that He gave (willingly and completely) His only Son (Christ Jesus). He loved so completely that there is no one that could give as much as God gave.

When people think of God, they rarely think of love. They might think of God as being harsh, unfair, judgemental, and quick to punish. Yet if God was truly like this, he would not have sent His Son to die for you and me before we even knew. There is no greater definition of love then someone giving their best for those who do not deserve it, see it, or acknowledge it. Yet He did it for you and me anyway. The moment we see how much God loves us, is the day we are changed forever.

The love that God gives, the love that we show others, and love in action is the type of love that is eternal.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the “love chapter”. Take time to read it. It is the final words of that chapter that reaches my heart – “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” (verse 13)

This Christmas, I would like for you to think on the following song and believe in the One God who loves you now, even while you read these words.

 

The Love of God  – by Frederick M Lehman

 

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

 

Refrain:

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

When hoary time shall pass away,

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

 

May God bless you and keep you. May His love surround you, and give you peace and joy.  May His wonderful message of love give you the understanding of how much He wants to be apart of your life. The relationship you can have with God was only brought about through the life and death of His Son.

– Ruth Lindsay

christmas-2016

Peace

Posted on by Ruth

 

At Christmas time, you see the word “peace” written a lot. It is written on cards, you see it in shopping centres and in the community. It is often the time when people talk about peace in this world ..or the lack of.

Is peace just one thing, or it is many things to many people?

Ask those in war torn areas of the world – they would say that peace is the absences of war, the ability to have freedoms that should be the right of every human on the face of this earth.

As a businessman/woman – they would say that peace is the stock market steady and income coming in. They would also say that peace is happy customers and happy staff.

Ask a man or a father – they may say that peace is sitting quietly with no interruptions, or pottering in the shed with their own thoughts. They could also say that a having a happy wife is peace.

Ask a mum or a woman – they may say that peace is when the children are asleep of a night. Or when the house is clean and tidy and there is some quiet “me time”. They might also say that when hubby and children are fed, then peace reigns.

Ask a teenager what is peace – They may say that it is when they can stay in their room and not get annoyed by younger siblings, parents, teachers …or life.

Ask what peace is to those that protest for the rights of others – they would say that having rights is peace, or the removal of dictatorial governments, or even the rights of animals will bring order and peace.

Is this the peace of Christmas?

I have 5 teen and pre-teen boys in this house at the moment. They are asleep. It is peaceful at the moment and soon it won’t be as they wake and look for food. One might say that I have peace at the moment, but soon voices will interrupt my peace and my thoughts and I won’t be able to finish this piece of writing.

Is peace so temporary that we think of it so elusively? Is this the peace that God offered to us?

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14

Isaiah in his prophecy about Jesus referred to the coming Messiah as the “Prince of Peace”. Is 9:6

So, what is this peace all about.?

A lot of people think that if God were truly God then peace would be  on this earth, that babies would not die and people would not suffer. I have met a lot of Christians who think that Christ came to make their world better. That He came to make their world a more peaceful place to live. That God would miraculously change the world simply because there are now Christians on this earth. Is this how we really think?

Why would God send His Son and not change the world? Why wouldn’t a God of peace cause enormous amounts of peace to an unpeaceful world?

Let me create a scenario for you – Jake and Jack are two neighbours in a little town called Horseshoe Bend. Jake loves animals and he has 5 acres of land to which he made into a sanctuary for himself and his wonderful animals. Peace is over all and Jake is at peace. Jack moves next door. Jack loves his vegie garden. He has bought his 5 acers for the ability to grow hydroponics. He busily starts building and making and doing stuff, all the while singing and whistling. Plants start to grow and Jack is happily in garden paradise. Do you get where I am heading?

Jake’s peace s destroyed. His dogs are not a peace over the whistling and singing. The terrified animals do not like the sawing and hammering. The snakes and lizards that were living in the former bushland have now taking up residence in Jakes back yard and bushland. Jake is no longer at peace, and he resents Jack for destroying his peace.

Jack on the other hand knows nothing until a letter comes from his local council, and suddenly realise that his crops are dying for not reason. Jack is now not at peace and he seeks to do something about it.

Jake receives and letter from the council and get a visit from the RSPCA. Next come a visit from the police and guess what…

A war has started over the lack of peace, and the Horseshoe Bend will be the place for the struggle for the right to have…peace.

While you may smile at the scenario we could use this type of scenario in relationships, workplaces marriages and churches (surely not!!)

The peace we often seek is both self-serving and external. It is peace at all costs and superficial.

Peace that only reigns at Christmas is not peace. It is only a temporary ceasefire.

Is this the peace that is the awesome promise of an Almighty and loving God?

I think not.

God never intended that His Son should come, live and die for so little. Did God do so much so that I, and I alone, would be at peace? Did He live and died for only me, so that I alone should have peace and life? He didn’t bring peace just for me so that I could be at peace. So having peace around me is not what God intended.

This world is becoming worse, not better. People love war and fighting, especially if it is to get what we think is best. Even in Jesus day they hated Him. They despised what He was trying to do – He was trying to tell the world that God did truly love the world and each and every one of us could change. Jesus was the testimony of that.

Later, the disciples told the world that Jesus had come to bring life and peace to the hearts of man. They hated them too.

This world is made up of hatred, greed, sin, and sorrow. Did God mean for this world to be so hard on the very concept of peace?

All that God did for us by sending His Son to this earth as a babe, was to give to each one of us a peace of heart that is with us no matter what is around us. It is the “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) You cannot explain it, you can’t bottle it and drink it when needed and it is seen in it’s true light during the hardest times in our lives.

Yet there is this. If every man, woman, and child on this earth had the true peace of God, loves others and loved God… then peace would truly be on this earth. Isn’t that the good tides that Christ’s birth announced?

Peace could come to you and me… in our hearts. Deep down inside us. And from this should flow out to others around us. Not seeking to change them, but being a light and a movement and a change for the better in a world that does not seek peace.

Religions says go and find peace and there you will find God. God says come to me and I will give you peace. Religion may also tell you that if you don’t have peace, you don’t have God.

I have been through some battles and still have many to go. The peace that I have had during those times can only be of God. Just like being in the boat with Jesus the disciples learnt that they could trust the Master. I am learning that the peace that God brings sometimes requires me to trust Him until He stills the storm, or to hang on to Him if He doesn’t.

Peace should not only be for after the storm, but in the storm. This is the promise of God.

The tiny babe of Christmas, Jesus Christ, was to allow the hearts of man to have peace not influenced by circumstances, not because of where I live, not because of the “I-am-better-then-you-therefore-I-have-more”. It is not conditional, cannot be bought and cannot be sold.

God gave His best, so that we could have the peace that we really crave.

There are so many wonderful scriptures in the bible that tell us what peace is…even peace with our neighbours. Peace is a good subject, even when it is not Christmas. It is even a better if we have peace with others and with God.

God gives peace. He is peace. It is another facet of God that He is. There was a little ditty I read once – “Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.”

I have heard so many testimonies on this very subject of peace, a peace that is far above our own understanding or eyesight. If you tried to explain it, people have trouble understanding it. My testimony is the same. God is good.

God gives peace when your marriage falls apart, God gives peace when someone close to you leaves this world, God gives peace when people accuse you and tell lies against you, God gives you peace when everything seems to go wrong. God is peace, He gives peace. Do you believe? Then ask for it and accept it.

My prayer for you this Christmas is this. That the peace of God may be given to you in your hearts and that God would strengthen you in your inner being.

Be blessed.

**************************

If you don’t know this Jesus of our Christmas, and would like to, then say this prayer –

“Jesus, I don’t know you, but you know me. I am sorry for the way I have lived my life and I cannot do this anymore. I give you my life, forgive me for my sins and take them from me. Thank you for saving me, thank you for the change you will make in my heart. Bring your peace and joy to me and make yourself known to me. Thank you. Amen”

Please go and get a Holy Bible and read it, start with an NIV version or a NLT version (as these are easy to read). Start it by reading about Jesus, can I encourage you to start with the book of Luke in the bible and the book of Psalms. Start to find a church family where you feel comfortable and that teaches the Word of God. Ask God to show you where to go.

 

Joy

Posted on by Ruth

 

 

Joy is an incredible experience. To have joy is wonderful, to experience joy is …well… joyful. To have it as a feeling or emotion is almost to be euphoric.

If you were to look up some synonyms of the word “joy” you would find such words as:

happiness

bliss

pleasure

delight

and

enjoyment

I find those words to be bland compared to the word – joy. It is just a small word…just three letters, but it packs quite a punch when you say it….joy…JOY!! It seems to suggest merriment, like a tickle in your tummy about to burst forth from you in something like a giggle.

Actually, when I think of joy I think of young children.

Their faces alight with happiness, a small giggle escapes from their lips as their eyes sparkle with merriment. Every fibre of their being is excited and their little bodies move to the excitement they feel.

As adults we say we are excited, happy… maybe? But how long has it been since we really felt joy in the measure that children feel joy?

As we come up to Christmas we see the word “joy” written and spoken aplenty. We adults seem to think that this means doing something that will make us feel glad. Mmmm… that seems so bland.

When they were young, both my sons loved Christmastime, going places, swimming, playing, eating (except vegetables), seeing their friends, having a bath, story time at bedtime, walking running… well do you get my drift? They danced and jumped about with everything. Their joy for life was part of their thinking, part of their movements. And everything was an adventure!!

As my children are now teenagers, to get an “all-over-body-can’t-control-the-excitement” thing is very rare. And giggling is less… except at the meal table when they both giggle uncontrollably over something that they can’t remember, but can’t seem to stop either. The thing is – I like to see them laugh without restraint.

The joy of a child is a little bit contagious, and to see their happiness brings a deep satisfaction.

As a mum, I love to see joy in the hearts of my children, not surface pleasure, but deep down joy that bubbles forth. I know my children are happy, despite the fact that it is apparently uncool to smile a lot. Last night we were preparing a light tea in the kitchen and my eldest tried to have a battle of wits with me, which soon spilled over into uncontrolled laughter. Someone gets the tissues as tears rolled down our faces. We leaned against the kitchen sink, and tried not to look at each other as to start over again.

They are happy inside… do you know what I mean? Inside they are happy. Even when thinks don’t go their way they do not stay discontent. The words they speak and their actions…it comes from a place of happiness and simple joy. And…since they are teenage boys, the greatest joy comes from seeing food in the fridge or cupboard!! (joke)

It is not just the surface laughter that I look for in others. It is deep down joy that is there in the hard times and the tears. The gladness of heart that is there despite heartache. The joy that comes from deep within our inner being… where the Spirit of God resides.

God is joy.

Think about that…

Our God, who is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, is joy. If He wasn’t joy, then the fruit of the Holy Spirit would not be joy. Gal 5:22 The Holy Spirit would not give us a fruit that was not totally owned and fully God.

Do you see God as joyous…or not?

Next question – Does God’s presence in your life bring a joy that does not come from the momentary situations and circumstances we find ourselves in?

Joy to each one of us is different, because we are all different. While some people seem to bubble, others have just a happiness about them. Likewise, the joy of God shines out of us differently, sometimes it glows, and for others, it is the light in our eyes.

Joy is not limited to one thing or and it is not necessarily an emotion. I also think, that joy is not always a feeling…more like a knowing. Emotions pass by, and feeling don’t stay forever.

Joy is not only outward, but inward. It often takes the form of the more “bland” words of happiness, contentment, calm, bemusement, gratitude, and thankfulness Those of us who are less exuberant are more like to have a more sedate form of “joy”.  Joy often takes a more sedate form when we are in pain or heartbroken.

I know that in the deepest darkest moment of my life, there was still a spark of joy. It was still there, but my focus was dark and my eyes saw only bleakness. When I came through that time, I saw that joy had never left.

Since then I have gone through some really tough times, those who know me have seen this private (and sometimes no so private) pain. Joy, like the faithfulness of my God, was always there. I could laugh through the tears, and smile… thought my heart was breaking. It was there because it was not of me, it was of God.

We have a time of celebration coming soon, a few weeks away when we remember the joy that came to this world in the form of a baby… God’s Son coming to earth for us and the angels rejoiced.

My prayer for you this Christmas is that you will find the joy that the Holy Spirit brings, despite the busyness of your life. May this joy be given to you in abundance and in full measure. Filled to the brim and running over, even in the presence of the enemy. Psalm 23:5

I know that their are many people where Christmas time is a time of loneliness and not joy. Joy does not come from others, it comes from within. I pray that God would bless you with the opportunity to bring joy to others as you reach out of that loneliness to find the needs of others.

I pray that for those suffering heartache and troubles that you will find joy amidst your grief and pain. That God’s presence would bring its own joy to your heart.

Be blessed.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10-11

Message from Ruth –

Hi everyone, over the next two months there will only be one column/blog per week. I need to get some things done around the house and spend time with my children.

May God bless you and keep you as you celebrate God’s gift to you – Jesus Christ.

For those of you that have no one to celebrate this special time with, take time to remember that God is with us (Immanuel). He  is with you …no matter what you may feel. May God hold you in His hands. Our God is an awesome God.

imanual