Mary’s Christmas
In the lead up to perhaps one of the most celebrated festivities of the year, let’s take a relook at Christmas. Granted that Jesus is the reason for this season, we now turn the spotlight on the one through whom it happened – Mary. Can you imagine if Mary had refused to cooperate with angel Gabriel’s heavenly directive? Think about it. Here’s this carefree teenager excitedly planning and awaiting her marriage to the brawny, bearded carpenter she’s been betrothed to, […]
Forgetting To Remember
‘The person who lacks these qualities… has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.’ 2 Peter 1:9 ISV When I park my car at night, I take a picture of it. Sounds strange, I know. But there are no designated parking spaces where we live. It could be at Block A, or B, or on seven different levels of a multi-storey car park. If I don’t take a picture, I won’t be able to find it […]
The Writing On The Stone
Of late, I’ve been musing over an epitaph. You know, those things people write on your gravestone when you die? Sounds a little morbid but hey, it’s never too soon to think ahead. So I figured, instead of leaving others to crack their brains and think of how best to surmise my life in a sentence, why not do everyone a favour and craft one for myself? So I started looking around for ideas. Here are a few that stood […]
A Time To Weep, And A Time To Laugh
Life is full of ups and downs that come in many unexpected moments. It oscillates from one extreme to another, from sorrow to celebration. It can be the joyful surprise of a long-awaited pregnancy or the grief from the sudden loss of a loved one. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 begins with pairs of opposites that serve as poetic merisms to convey a sense of the totality of human endeavour in all its manifold forms. It starts with the contrast of birth […]
The Overcoming
I turned 60 this March, and was one excited sexagenarian, anticipating what this next decade would bring my way, and extremely eager to have a glimpse of where the Lord would lead in this new season. My fifties had been an absolute blast, and I attribute this totally to visiting Israel in my Jubilee year in obedience to the Lord for something difficult He had been prompting me to do. The rewards for that step of obedience had been immense. […]
Faith-wrestling Matches
Do you possess a heart that’s being challenged and changed under the weight of what you don’t yet understand? It could be expectations that automatically come from your thought process without conscious effort – like when we see the eastern sky grow orange-pink, we expect sunrise soon. When flaws in our logic or biasness arise, such expectations may be incorrect. When they’re not met, we blame someone or something even if our expectations were unreasonable, and pain ensues. Managing our […]
An Eternal and Excellent Offering
There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. He was a devout man, one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming and saying to him, “Cornelius!” When he observed him, Cornelius was afraid and said, “What is it, lord?” The angel […]
Not Sympathy, But Faith!
Have you struggled with how God had let you down? Where was He when you needed Him? When everything kept disintegrating, why did it seem like it didn’t matter what you did? Maybe something as simple as buying petrol is stressful as prices keep rising. Things aren’t as they should be, life isn’t as stable as before when you thought the insurance was forthcoming. ‘Jesus turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for […]
The Times We Are Living In
We’re living in tumultuous times. At the heart of what God is doing now, we see two great polarising dynamics – the greatest revival ever seen in human history, and the most intense acceleration of darkness. The unique circumstances connected to both dynamics make for a season of great change. This generation has got our work cut out for us in navigating a polarised climate. Our ignorance of what the Scripture says about what God is about to do causes […]
The Hand of God
This Father’s Day, as I reflect on my life, I’m once again reminded of the goodness and providence of God. I’m where I am now today solely by the grace and mercies of the Good Father. The providence of God is the mysterious way in which He intersects all things to bring about His perfect plan. It’s where He sets things up and connects them in His Divine Sovereignty. Sometimes, we find ourselves lost and burdened, not knowing how to […]
