Nothing can separate us

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Boldness is not my problem when faith is in action, however, if I have been listening to condemnation I struggle. This is the very time I must rouse myself to come anyway. Boldnesss is present when we realise we are children of God, a loving Father who never turns us away. His goodness and love are beyond our comprehension. As children of God we are loved dearly.

When we need it most is when we must come, condemnation tries to turn us away. When we struggle we need to remember the scripture that tells us ‘nothing can separate us from the love of God’. (Romans 8:31) we need to keep reading past this verse to know what Paul considered nothing.

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NLT‬‬

No nothing! Nothing can separate us from His love! Amen!

Not ashamed

“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

I am so grateful that Jesus persued me and brought me to Himself. I cannot bear to think what life would have been without Him. He is my joy and peace. This joy compels me to share my good news with others.

I am in Nepal and although I am learning the language I still do not know many of the tenses and the vocabulary. I have been learning the language for over one year. Sharing the joy of the Lord can be a challenge, however, when the opportunity presents itself I do. Each night my flatmates and I do Bible study and a young girl comes to join us. We are amazed. The landlord and his family have joined us in prayer at New Year. 

This week I was at the Immigration office waiting for a new visa and I saw a man desperately rubbing himself across his forehead with prayer beads. I new I needed to share Jesus with him. I have cards in English that speak of God’s love, and John 3:16 printed on the backside. I asked him if he spoke English and gave him a card. He did not speak English, as he was getting a visa he must have been Tibetan as he appeared Chinese. He gratefully took the card when his wife explained what it was. I trust the Lord to speak across the language barrier.

In Nepal it is illegal to proselytise. I took the chance that because this man was a foreigner it would be acceptable. He needs Jesus. My Jesus does not require me to rub myself down with prayer beads, His sacrifice is enough. I am so grateful that Jesus lives in my heart. He is enough! Amen!

Fear in its right place

“We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God. Stubborn know-it-alls will never stop to do this, for they scorn true wisdom and knowledge.”Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Other versions say: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In my quest to understand the word ‘fear’ here I checked out TPT. ‘Obedient devotion’ says it better. 

Living in Nepal you see many police officers directing traffic. I’ve been present when rogue officers singled out my friend Chelle for traffic offenses, letting everyone else go. The latest pocketed 500R of my money threatening to keep my friends licence. Generally most abide by good lawful practices. Why do I mention the police? well, fear is associated with the police. You, out of fear obey the road rules so that you avoid a penalty.

Our Heavenly Father gave us laws to live by but more importantly He gave us His Son who fulfilled the Law. As I live by faith in the ‘work’ of the Son of God I am saved and safe. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus paid that penalty for me. I do not need to scurry around trying to appease my Heavenly Father, Jesus paid the price once and for all time for me. I am, now, welcome into relationship and family with my Father. However, just as an earthly child should obey their parents, I obey and respect my Father, not out of law but love.

I live trusting His words to me. I trust His Holy Spirit to guide me, I do not run off on my own. His ways and understanding is far better than mine, however, I do not sit on all He has given me, I use it for Him. Amen!

The one

““If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?”Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

On Saturday in our trek we passed around six sheep tethered by the Snake Lake. The sheep were dirty. The keeper lived in a small Tim shack near the lake. There were several new lambs frolicking around the sheep. I had never see sheep tethered as I come from Australia where hundreds, perhaps thousands roam in a paddock eating grass. The sheep by the lake were trying to eat straw. As this year I plan to start a sheep farm I determined not to tie my sheep up with a tether. Mind you, Australian sheep have huge paddocks to roam across and the farmers have sheep dogs to keep the sheep from roaming into wrong pastures.

I am sure the shepherd does not want to lose his sheep in the lake or have them wandering off and being attacked by dogs or stolen by hungry locals.

Jesus was telling the crowds a godly truth; He was the good shepherd and He came to seek and save the lost. I once lost my daughter. She was around 10 and had gone to find her school bag at the train station. It was dark and she did not return. I called the police. I had a small Christian bookshop near the station and was open for night trading. My daughter and son had come from school to have dinner with me at the shop. My daughter was quite confidant around the station but a train had come in and hundreds of passengers had disembarked. 

As a mother I was frantic. Realising I should not have let my daughter go by herself to get her bag and feeling caught at the shop and not able to go with her. We prayed and she returned quite unharmed and bewildered at my concern. Losing my daughter would have been a great hardship for me. However, my gracious God returned her unharmed. 

As my daughter was more precious than a sheep, she was nonetheless my lamb. There was nothing I would have not done to find my daughter. Jesus went on to tell a parable about a woman who had lost a coin and then about a father who had lost his son. God is into retrieving lost people. They are more valuable than coins or sheep. He seeks and saves the lost, this is also our job. Amen!

Good soil

“If you understand this, then you need to respond.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

This is the verse of the day in my Bible App. It begs the question: to which must I respond? The answer is found in the preceding verses in the parable of the sower. 

We read the parable and hear there are four different types of soil into which the seed fell: the path, the gravel where there was little topsoil, the next fell into soil mingled with thorns and finally the seed that fell in good soil. The path represents a hardened track where the soil was trodden down, Satan came and took the seed immediately, the second was shallow soil, this Christian has a shallow relationship with Jesus, the next is the thorns, Jesus called them the cares of life, they choked up the seedlings and they failed to grow, finally the good soil is a heart open to receive the word of God. Jesus goes on to explain to His disciples that the good soil will yield a crop of 30,60,100 times what is down. 

We have often relegated the soils to hearts of non-believers, however the verse above implies I need to act to ensure my soil is good. Jesus told the parable to believing Jews. He was calling them to have a heart that would receive the truth He brought.

It si up to us to cultivate good soil, and hearing hearts. Amen!

The light

““You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.”Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭14‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Over the last two days I have an uneasiness growing inside. Saturday was a beautiful day, my friend Chelle and I went for a trek. I took my ukelele with me and worshiped by the snake lake to the true and living God. Afterwards we went to our favourite markets and had lunch. We saw another church friend there.

Coming home I felt rich and blessed and in fact euphoric. I prayed I would not lose my love for the poor. Yesterday at church we heard a message from James about the rich and poor in verses 9-11. Again I was convicted about the poor. I have a growing number of foreigner friends from church and do not spend my time with the poor refugees at church.

During the week my flatmates and I look for ways to outreach to the ladies in our area. They are poor in that they do not know Jesus, however, they live in houses and not on the streets. It is a comfortable outreach.

What is God doing in me? I pray He guides me to where and what is on His heart. Amen!

Give me more

“Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭12‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We measure oursleves by: what we own, our houses, cars, bank accounts etc but Jesus warns against this and living with our eyes on earthly possessions. 

He said the above words in response to a man asking Jesus to tell his brothers to share his father’s estate with him. His first response was: ‘who made Me a judge over you to decide on such things?’ An interesting response. I wonder if that applies today?

In Matthew we read Jesus saying: ““Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We have watched the LA fires destroy homes, cars, businesses. The people affected lost everything! Now as they stand in the ashes what do they still retain? They have their lives and those of their children. They have a Heavenly Father who comforts them and draws them into a relationship with Him.

If my bank account is in heaven, then nothing and no one can destroy it. Eternity is all that matters. Jesus had made homes for us there. What He gives no one can take away. Amen!