The day with dianne Louise

“Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!”  1 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ My young Nepali friend who had charges made against him for ‘religious conversion’ has been spared jail time whilst his enemies collect evidence. Normally a person is put in jail for 27 days. We who prayed are grateful, as is our young friend. Our young friend was doing much good, he had built a children’s home, was building churches and...

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” ‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬ I am having to make a major financial decision by tomorrow and as yet I have not heard guidance. I am in a position where faith and wisdom disagree. A man of God once taught me: “if faith and wisdom disagree, choose wisdom every time”(Phil Pringle). My challenge is finding the wisdom of God, I have man’s wisdom. Perhaps the Lord has spoken and I’ve not heard or listened. I need clarity! Bill Johnson says God does not always tell him what to do but wants him to move then God directs, especially if he is at the wrong door. Perhaps this is the way. I cannot rely on the wisdom of man, it is fraught with emotion. Jesus said, “I am the Way!” I will follow Him! Amen!

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬ To be able to receive rescue we must first admit we are in trouble; to receive assistance we must first admit we cannot do something; to receive salvation from sin we must first admit we are sinners. What is a sinner? Someone who has missed the mark of perfection, who insists that they are good enough by their own judgement, and not by God’s. If we go through life insisting that our determination of goodness is enough, when we finally die and stand before the sinless, perfect Christ and tell Him His goodness is not what we needed, where will we go? If heaven is not an option what is the alternative? Hell was created for Satan and his demons and fallen angels, however, his goal in life is to take as many of God’s children with him by deceiving them into thinking they, not Christ,  are the judge. Satan’s sin was pride, and elevating himself above God’s throne. ...

““Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬ It is interesting that this is the scripture for today! My Nepali friend who has charges against him has been allowed to stay out of jail whilst his opponents gather evidence. Normally the accused is imprisoned for up to 27 days. My friend was free to return to Karhmandu some 5-6 hours drive away from where he was charged. This is a miracle in itself. Our God is indeed great...

“See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” Isaiah‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This verse is so apt for today! My Nepali friend faced court yesterday and was charged with ‘religious conversion’. He was afforded bail and needs to return to the police station today. He has many people praying for him. Jesus s his victory! The Lord whispers to my spirit, “he will be ok!” What an awesome God we serve! He goes before us and follows us with love and mercy! Yesterday evening my flatmate and I went walking and we met a woman I have not seen for two years. She remembered me and invited us to her house for a cup of tea. This woman and her husband have both survived leprosy and the woman, particularly, lost her fingers, she has only stubs remaining. Her husband complained of diabetes and stomach problems. I laid hands on him and rebuked the sickness and commanded complete healing. These people are church folk. I sen...

“Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Finding the wise is a challenge! There is so much noise out there! However, the Holy Spirit know who they are. Proverbs tells me who they are. “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”  Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ These are few weeks of many verses found in the Book of Proverbs. The Lord is the source of wisdom, I am not! When I trust in myself and my own wisdom then I will fall. Today a dear Nepali friend faces court charged with proselytism. A good thing to be charged with. However, in Nepal an offence worth putting a man in jail for. He had also other charges made, which have since been dropped. May wisdom guide his defence!  This is something we hear from China and North Korea, Pakistan, India, Afganista...

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬ For years growing up, I was taught I had to earn my salvation. I was raised in a Catholic home. As a young child, there was a period of time where, in the dead of winter, I would ask my mother to wake me so I could go to church, daily. The Catholic Church did not teach me that salvation came through believing that Jesus was Lord, and confessing the same I would be saved. I laboured under a load of doing. It was not until I was 19 that I encountered Jesus personally and made Him Lord.  Many years later I found one of the priests who had ministered to me and I preached the gospel to Him. He was a very old man and I wanted to be sure that he found the Jesus I knew. Today I look for those who do not know Him and share my faith with them. Jesus is the best news I ever had. He is the saviour and liberator of all mankind. He is the only way, th...

“And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What do we classify as ‘good news’? A clean medical report? A financial win? A successful bid on a house?  I think the best new I ever had was Jesus forgave me my sins and wanted me to walk with Him through life, in other words, He wanted a close relationship with me. I remember the night this happened like yesterday. I am still grateful! I woke the next morning and danced to work. I was sooo happy! Whoever asked why I was happy heard my ‘good news’.  Today I must carry the same joy with me so that whoever asks is told the story, ‘Jesus set me free!’ We want to tell others about our good news. Go armed and ready! Amen! Put on joy!

“The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalms‬ ‭32‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬  Those who know the Lord and saviour have been given the Holy Spirit as a guide. He steers us to the right path. Our lot is to keep a listening ear and not to have a stubborn and self-willed heart. In this Psalm David deals with the effects of unrepentant sin and the joy of finally confessing his sin. When his sin was unrepentant he suffered in his body but healing flowed in repentance. A guilty heart makes for a troubled mind, a heart clean before the Lord is a free mind. Knowing we are right before the Lord is peace and joy. A listening ear is good! Keep the soil of your heart fertile to the word of the Lord! A fertile heart receives God’s word with joy and much fruit comes from it. The psalm gives the outcome of the wicked: ‘many pains come to the wicked!’ but ‘the ones who trust in the Lord will have faithful love surrounding them.’ I know which...

“Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John‬ ‭20‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ How was Jesus sent? Jesus announced this when He read from the scroll of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,  Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬ There was one sentence Jesus omitted, the very last: “and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.” He constantly told people He did not come to judge the world but to set it free from it’s sin. We read this in John 3:17: “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Jesus portrayed what being sent looked like: He taught, healed, delivered from demonic oppression and fed. He also pa...

“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Paul, in this chapter, is dealing with factions developing within the Corinthian church. The enemy was dividing the people with their loyalties. One was devoted to Paul and another to a man called Apollos. I am grateful for this message because Paul reminds us that it is God who gives growth to the seed. We can, so easily, become distracted and make idols of people, only to have them torn down before our eyes. I listen to many preachers and they are all different, but all good. They each have a different flavour. However, I find my time, alone, in the word with the Lord the best, because He is the best! He brings me revelation...

“For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬ The first to call upon the name of the Lord was the thief on the cross. For him to do this he would have had a revelation that Jesus was who He said He was, the Son of God. He said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom!” And Jesus replied, “today you will be with me in paradise!” (Luke 23:42,43). The thief was not a godly person, had not sat at Jesus’ feet, was not a disciple, he saw and believed. There will be many unchurched in heaven. Beside all the aborted babies who grow up there, there will be many who have such a conversion at death, then the rest of us. The heart of God the Father is that none be lost, He is forever reaching out. Let us be likewise! Amen! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=dhU-Omwg2rU&si=DkrRiAotVGT148sR

“Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭2‬:‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What Peter said is basically what is needed to be a Christian. I am not a Christian because I was raised by parents who took me to church; by living in a Christian country, but by actually having an encounter with the Lord. I still remember the night He came and showed me my sins, I was grievously aware of them and repented and asked for forgiveness. He then told me, “go to Anne!” Annie was a Christian friend who knew Jesus like I did not, she had a personal relationship with Him. I went and she opened my eyes to the scriptures. we prayed together and i knew had become a new being. i resisted baptism as I had been baptised as an infant, however, watching others be baptised and the change it brought, I joyfully joined in. A few weeks later I was baptis...

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  John‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Jesus was teaching in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the things celebrated at this feast was the light that God led the people in the wilderness by. The chandeliers in the women’s court would be lit all night and the people would dance. When Jesus said He was the light of the world, He identifies himself with the light that led the people of Israel. Whilst the light of the chandileers was temporary He was offering permanence. He used the words, ‘  I am’. God was know as the ‘great I am’. Jesus was giving His opponents fuel for their fire. For us who come to Him, He is our light when we are surrounded by darkness. Yesterday, I troubled my mind about a planned trip to Denmark for a friends wedding. I thrashed about doing my sums wanting to be wise. When the pe...

“He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭37‬-‭38‬ ‭NLT‬‬ There are many Christians but few of them are workers. I can also fail to see the harvest right in front of me at times. I can be distracted by fellowship with other saints. This happens on Sundays when I go to church, lunch afterwards and then coffee and sweets at my place, along with a game or two (this happens now and then, especially when one friend who lives further away from the city comes to church). Several of my friends and I like to play a card game called 5 Crowns, or another called Skippbo. We chat about the week and the future wedding in Denmark we will attend. It is usually my only chance to see these friends, unless they also attend our weekly Bible study and then they are busy chatting to others. As I reflect on the people in the harvest I interacted with yesterday I w...

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.”  Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Back in 1974, I turned 21. For my birthday my husband to be gave me a Bible with this verse underlined. In 1974 we were all on fire and wanting to share the gospel of Christ. It is still a potent verse today.  Why did Paul write this verse? In verse 14 he wrote: ‘I am obligated both to Greeks and babarians. Who were Babarians? Not the Romans, but rather the people of Spain and Asia Minor. Again why did he write verse 16? Why would he be ashamed of the gospel? A crucified Jew being God seemed strange to Roman ears. The Romans despised the Jews. Those crucified were the lowest of low in society.  Onky the Holy Spirit could make any testimony powerful, and this He did. The book of Romans is a powerful letter about the truth of the gospel. Peopel are saved by faith. Faith is not the cause of salvation,...

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Whilst this prophetic word was spoken to Israel, and speaks of a time in the mellennium, when Jesus will return to earth, it also applies to an encounter with Him now. A new heart is exactly what He gave me, a heart to love and obey Him. In the born again experience this transformation takes place just as soon as I confessed my sin, asked forgiveness for my sin and asked Jesus to come and live in my heart. His Holy Spirit came in and now resides there. This transformation was an act of grace on His part and faith on mine. Jesus loves us so much He had already paid the price for our freedom from sin and the gift of eternal life. I can trust in this! I can , by faith, live out of that new heart. It loves Jesus and it loves others. Amen!

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬ The books of Galatians was written to a group of people who had been troubled by the teaching of Jews who wanted them to be circumcised as a beginning point of salvation. Galatian’s tells them that Christ is the beginning of freedom and how to walk in the freedom won for them. He tells them ‘for through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness’. He goes on to say, ‘for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision not uncircumcision accomplishes anything, what matters is faith working through love’. Paul cites the evidence of the Spirit walk as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He has first given them the list of evidence of works of the flesh: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, disse...

“He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭10‬:‭43‬ ‭NLT‬‬ These words were spoken by Peter to a man named Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman who was a follower of God but did not, at that time, know about Jesus. God had sent Peter to share the good news about Jesus. As Peter was speaking the Holy Spirit was poured out on Cornelius and his household who had come to listen. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Prior to this happening God had taught Peter that the good news was for all mankind, not just the Jews. He did this by giving Peter a vision in which he saw many different types of animals,  unclean to Jews (that is those which the Jews were unable to eat). The Lord had commanded Peter to rise and eat, but Peter refused saying, “no Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean!” This happened three times. As he was pondering why God showed him this the Holy Sp...

“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ This is an amazing right! From stranger to child of God! We hear many fine stories of adopted children finding love and a home in their adopted parents.  I know of one beautiful young man hidden away from prospective adoptive parents, all because he was the drawcard for the orphanage. If he was gone no one would come. This is sad, yet I know how God turned this story around for good. This young man has now built an orphanage and has welcomed many children into its arms. In God’s kingdom there is no favourite, all are welcome! We are all invited into the loving arms of the Father. The original Greek word ‘children’ takes more the connotation of ‘bairns’ the Scottish word of endearment for little ones. We have all been given the opportunity. Though not all take that opportunity.  First we must believe that Jesus is who He says He is and accept Him. He must be the ...