Tag Archives: Discipleship

Shining your Light

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For the last few weeks when I’ve left home to drive to work I have automatically put on my car lights without thinking. This morning as I got into my car I did think that maybe I didn’t need the lights on but I decided to put them on anyway, not for my benefit but so that I might be seen by the other motorists. The last part of my journey involves driving through some country roads and as it was slightly foggy I felt I had made the right decision in putting the lights on. I was visible to all the other drivers.

This reminded me of when Jesus spoke about being salt and light in Matthew 5 verses 13-16. Jesus challenges us here to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Just as I put my car lights on this morning for the benefit of others so we shine Christ’s light for the benefit of others so that they might know Him.

Challenging Words

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One of the blogs that I enjoy reading is anti-itch meditation which is written by Jeff Weddle. I especially like the sub-title of his blog which is 2 Timothy 4:3 Doing my God-given duty to not tell you what you want to hear.

It can be very easy whether you are blogging or preaching to give your audience messages that they want to hear. For example we all like to hear sermons about how God wants to bless us. And whilst there is obviously a place for this there is also a place for the tough messages too.

We only have to flick through the bible quickly to see Old Testament prophets such as Ezekiel and Jeremiah delivering tough words to the people. When Nathan was told by God to speak to David about his sin it could not have been easy for him to say these words. I would not be surprised if he was slightly worried about the prospcct of delivering these words! Yet he did it and as a result David repented of his sin and we can read that wonderful prayer of repentance in Psalm 51.

Moving onto the New Testament we see Paul, Peter, James and John delivering tough words when required. And of course if we look at the words of Jesus we see deeply challenging words too.

No-one really enjoys hearing challenging words. However we should take heart from Hebrews 12: 5-11 where the writer tells us that God disciplines us for our own good.

So let us pray for those who deliver God’s word that they would not be afraid to speak challenging words where necessary as we need to hear them to grow as believers.

Don’t Quit – Christ Didn’t

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There used to be a picture on the wall of one of my former churches showing a sportsman walking off a sports field looking dejected saying “I quit” and in the background there was an image of Christ on the cross and above Him were the words “I didn’t.”

I was reminded of this yesterday when I read an article called perseverance and persistence. I’ve quoted some of the article below:

Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up

How often do we make halfhearted attempts at things and when they fail give up, dismissing it all as a waste of time, not admitting it was our own inaccuracy or inefficiency that caused the lack of success? God, however, requires more perseverance and persistence from us.

God does not fail, so get up and try again

All of us no matter who we are will at sometime fail. However the important thing to remember is to go back to the cross and confess our failure to Christ and get going on the path again.

Heed the Warnings

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Yesterday the sermon we heard was taken from Luke 16:19-31 which is about the Rich Man and Lazarus.

One point that struck me from the message was that God gives us warnings from His Word and it is important that we heed these warnings. Sadly in this story it seemed that the rich man knew his brothers would not heed the warnings from the Scriptures.

“Father help us always to heed the warnings from your Word and obey them wholeheartedly”

Act Like a Soldier of Christ

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This morning I came across a posting entitled Act Like a Soldier of Christ which reminds us that we are soldiers of Christ and that we must not neglect the battle against sin, the world and the devil.

Being a member of the Anglican church I see a number of baptism and thought that it would be good to remind myself of the following part of the baptism service:

The sign of the cross
The minister will make the sign of the cross on the forehead of the child using the water. This is a sign to remind us of how Christ died for each one of us on the cross. As Christ died for us so we are now signed with the cross -the badge of our faith – to remind us that we must not be ashamed to profess our faith and fight against all that is evil.

Minister: I sign with the cross, the sign of Christ. Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified.
The congregation says: Fight valiantly under the banner of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and continue his faithful soldier and servant to the end of your life.

May we all indeed fulfil these vows and be true soldiers of Christ!

Indecent Exposure

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Voice of Vision is one of the blogs listed on my blogroll and one I would recommend. The Christmas day message there is very challenging. It’s called Indecent Exposure and looks at the things to which we expose ourselves. In particular the following paragraph is deeply challenging:

A.W. Tozer said, “Every one of us is the sum of what we secretly admire, what we think about and what we would like to do most if we become free to do what we wanted to do.” Think about that. If money, jail time, conscience, family, friends, and God were not constraints, would you spend your time following Christ, learning of Him? Be honest, because the way you truthfully answer this question will reveal to you a lot about where you are in your walk with God. What do you want to be exposed to when you have the opportunity? What is lighting your fire, and where is the light going out?

Food for thought!

First Steps – Starting out with Jesus by Bob Gordon with David Fardouly

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This is a short book written for new Christians to help them grow in their walk with Christ. The book has ten chapters covering topics such as: Reading the Bible, Prayer, The Power of the Holy Spirit, Resisting tempatation and witnessing to others.

Although each chapter is short and can be read through very quickly there is so much to be gained from each one. Every chapter has plenty of Scripture references to help the reader grow in their relationship with God and ensure all topics are biblically based.

One of the themes running throughout the book is the encouragement for the reader to give their all to God and serve Him with all their heart.

This is also an ideal book to be used in conjunction with an Alpha course if you are thinking of running one.