The day with dianne Louise

“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”  Galatians‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Let that sink in! We cannot please people and God. We work for Him not man. He is beating a drum that we must follow. The gospel is my passion, serving Him is my passion! I may be judged as crazy, but He is leading. Paul would have been thought crazy by all who knew him before his conversion. To see such a change in the man who was a zealous Pharisee to turn completely around and become a zealous Christian was more than they could handle. “He has lost his mind!” They would say! Family and friends would have disowned him. However, he had met Jesus was could never be the same. Daily, I am listening to testimonies from people who were so bent on atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism or Muslimism who had encountered Jesus in the recent disasterous flood here in Nepal. That encounter stopped them, changed them. They could never be the...

“Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This was a part of Moses’ last message to the children of Israel before they went, under Joshua’s leadership, into the promised land. He was reminding the people they had a holy and righteous God. He would not tolerate sin but shower blessing on the faithful. Although the people said, “we will obey”, they did not obey. By their own will they were incapable of faithfulness. That is why, centuries later, at the right time, He sent Jesus. Jesus is and was God’s compassion. Without a new heart we will continue to follow after sin. We will create our own God’s and do what is right in our own eyes. However, as renewed people we can follow Him and faithfully acknowledge Jesus as our saviour and source of life. The moment we become proud we fall. Today Inmu...

“I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.”  Psalms‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This Psalm was supposed to be sung with the tune to a song: ‘for the death of a son’. It is a alphabetic acrostic, that is it is written with each line staring with a letter of the alphabet. Whilst we know David lost a son, his first child with Bathsheba it is reckoned that the tune used was a popular one in the day he wrote the psalm. It so more a praise psalm to the Lord. My constant challenge is to keep my mind on praising the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind. I find my mind wandering when I sing songs in my daily devotion. Perhaps David’s habit of writing new Psalms kept him focused and kept him from wandering. I am thinking of find a new worship song. I have sung favourites for about a year now. When you sing words that no longer hold you in awe it is time t...

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Paul was saying he remembered the Philippians with fondness. This church partnered with him in his missionary work. For us who are on the mission field finding these people is a challenge but they are there. Last visit home I discovered who mine were. They were people I had sowed my life into in regular Bible study week after week, and then there was a couple who stepped up as well. I now pray for them daily. They were not the obvious, the rich or well connected. Yet they were the faithful, the committed and the loving. Daily I pray for friends who are also on the mission field with me and have been in the past. Their committment to the gospel blesses me. As I...

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬ We will have many ideas and discover many useful tools to form those ideas but the true wisdom and strength comes from the Lord. I recently used AI to put together a business idea. I found AI very informative but was warned to check everything by an IT friend of mine. On checking facts I discovered AI had left out inportant information which was a deciding factor in which model to take. I have noticed, recently, that UTube has changed and so has Facebook. They have an uncomfortable feel about them. It is as if it no longer is people sharing their ideas but all about a master knowledge source. Yesterday I listened to a young man tell of a dream he had...

“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬ We have a choice as Christians, when we become Born Again we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Do we want our minds controlled by what is good and clean and lovely or by the selfish flesh? Allowing our minds to be controlled by the things of God brings life and peace. Allowing it to be controlled by the things of the world and flesh brings rottenness and death. Each day we will be greeted with an opportunity to choose to praise God and worship Him for His goodness or choose the lusts of this world, the critical attitudes of the is world, the selfish attitudes of this world, or life. God said the following to Israel after bringing them out of Egypt: I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live,...