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Enemies

“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭44‬-‭48‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This is sobering! Who are my enemies? Who can I love into the kingdom? I only have family who do not want to know me. I am not persecuted like people in countries all around me. I have not been put in prison or been beaten for my faith.  I can love those who reject me. I can be willing to bless them in any way I can. I can pray for them. I can refuse to moan and complain about them. I can pray for those in the world who hate Christi...
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Living in the Light

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What is spiritual darkness? It is allowing darkness to rule attitudes, thoughts, behaviours. Whereas walking in the light is a daily submission to Jesus, Hiw ways, attitudes and behaviours. I can wake in the moring with praise on my lips or a grumble in my heart. Bad thoughts about others will seek to deter me from relationship with them, whereas refusing those thoughts and choosing to bless brings light. If we are living in the light we have fellowship with one another. This is better than walls that divide. Amen!
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Doing good

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Sometimes doing good, to the Lord’s way of thinking, is opposed to mine. “But Lord, this will make a prescedent, and this person has become a beggar instead of helping himself!”  On Sunday, or even before this. Way back 6 weeks ago I received an urgent call for help. A refugee had broken his foot and could not work as a day labourer as he had been doing. I helped at that time but saw him well on Sunday. He did not ask for help then but later reached out through WhatsApp. Earlier that morning I received a scripture about giving and suspected who it involved. However, still I stalled. Last night, I asked another person who I had used to remit the funds before, how this man was going financially. He is about to receive assistance with his hospital bill, he had some work he could do whilst unable to walk during the time and it seemed h...
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Compassion

“You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭36‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This verse is a tag on the end of a discourse on loving your enemies. We all experience times when someone close behaves like an enemy, in a way that hurst us and a way we do not understand. We so easily feel our own hurt and react out of that hurt. However, why is what is happening happening? What is that person going through? What are they not telling us and attempting to deal with all alone? I just received a prayer request. It is 1:14am. Someone cannot sleep. This has been going on for the last two months. It is only now this person is asking for prayer. For two months this brother has struggled alone. He now has prayer warriors beside him. Why am I awake? I often wake at this hour, have time with the Lord, write my blog and go back to sleep. Mind you I go to bed much earlier. Jesus offered us His peace. I pray Jesus’ peace on this brother and on all those who are struggling in turmoil. Amen!
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Generosity

“The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Jesus said it another way:  “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”  Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬ I have seen this principal at work. While away from Nepal and while in it. God wants me to pour out blessing and finance upon others and He pours it back on me. The Lord went before me on my trip to Europe. I successfully went through Dubai even with the war going on between Iran, the US and Israel; nowhere was I having to weigh my carry on luggage, except in Cairns, Australia; even in India where I did not have a boarding pass or a transit visa, He went before me. In Amsterdam, a difficult and unclean city, I was protected. My train journeys covered and protected. Today I go to church, I wonder what i...
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Ask and receive

“I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬ It is interesting that the following verse is straight after this one: “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”  Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Holding grudges are easy to do and we don’t recognise we have them until we need to love that person. Then, the grudge falls out of our hearts and defies the love required. In fact the grudge stands in the way of faith for answered prayer. When we discover the grudge repentance is required because we cannot move into faith with it there. It is a road block! Today I determined to walk to the bank to hand in my latest visa and reopen the account. The people at the bank were most helpful. My feet started to hurt and after I had visited the last shop before going home I told the Lord my trouble and asked for help. Out of the bl...
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Living in God’s love

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬ One thing I have learned lately is to not walk in fear or act out of fear, but rather to seek God and His love for me and in that His answer. Yesterday was a prime example. I had flown all the way from Amsterdam to India knowing I did not have a boarding pass for my flight from India to Nepal. It attempted to cause me anxiety and so I kept myself distracted by reading and praising God. When I landed in India I had to present my checked in  statement and ask to have my boarding pass provided. However, the junior staff could only compute that I must exit the airside of the terminal and check in again downstairs, the port side. I constantly replied that was impossible as I did not have a transit visa. I contacted my friend who had booked the flight and he prayed, as did I. Unknown to me he prayed exactly what I pray...
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