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Sunday 21 January 2024

C'ing into 2024

As I paused to reflect on the start of 2024, I asked God to give me a word to carry into the blank pages of another year.  In an instant, a lot of 'C' words came flooding into my mind.  I had to smile as God knows how much I love alliteration, although I must admit I was not so keen at first on His choice of letter.  When I think of the reference to the C word, the dreaded Cancer word comes to mind.  However, I was reminded of the verse in Psalms 112:7 that we won’t need to fear bad news when our hearts are steadfast, trusting, and believing that God will carry us through the year, even if there is a diagnosis of cancer. 

CHANGE.  - We may have set many goals and resolutions in 2023 that never materialized because we didn’t make the necessary choices to effect the change. We know God never changes, but He does change our circumstances and there are some things God wants to help us change.  These are our attitude, our perspective, our behavior, our responses, and our habits.

CHOICES - To effect this change, we need to be making the right choices.  To choose is to decide.  Will we serve God or will we choose to serve man or self?  When we choose God, we are choosing life and a blessing.  As God’s chosen, let us choose what is right, what is pure, and what is pleasing to God.

CONFIDENCE – To be confident, is to have no doubts, fears, or uncertainty.  God calls us to have boldness in the abilities He has gifted us with. He wants us to be confident in our identity of knowing who we are in Christ and what that means.  He wants us to know that we are victors in every battle of life and lastly, God wants us to have a relationship with Him as our loving Father, to be bold enough to go to Him with confidence.

COMPASSION – To have compassion is to have a tenderness towards someone's suffering and misfortune. We express compassion with care and concern. God expects us to feel and be filled with compassion and be moved to act in doing the right thing, to see justice and mercy administered.

CLARITY – God calls us to write down our vision and goals.  I believe there is something powerful that happens in the spiritual realm when we write things down.  I also want to think clearly, speak clearly, write clearly, hear clearly, and see clearly.  Each night our goal should be to go to sleep with a clear conscience and to wake up each morning clear-minded.

CALM – We are called to give gentle answers and not fly off the handle every time someone pushes our buttons.  We need discernment to remain calm when the storms of life come and not react or respond with anger.

CHEERFUL  / CHARISMATIC – If you are a moody person like me, you will know the struggle of trying not to let our emotions rule our lives.  God calls us to be cheerful, not just because it is good for our health, but because it attracts others.

CONTROL – We need to relinquish our control over our lives and give it fully to God to rule and reign over every aspect of it. The only control we need to master is our self-control – over our tempers, over our words, over our eating, and our temptations.

COMMITTED – God calls us to not only be fully committed to Him but also to our goals and remain loyal in our relationships. We need to commit our plans and our ways to God daily, giving Him our all in everything we do.

CREATIVE – Last, but not least, we need to tap into our creative side.  I believe each of us is creative in one way or another.  Find a hobby that appeals to you and discover the creativity God has blessed you with. Creating is an outlet that brings our soul joy and is a lifetime treasure waiting to be discovered. 

So let us see into 2024 with these C words to live by, as signposts to help lead and motivate us each day.

God bless you all!

Saturday 23 December 2023

Finding Jesus in the Christmas Tree

I was recently surprised to discover that a dear friend does not put up a tree at Christmas, believing it to have pagan roots. As a huge fan of the Christmas tree, it set me on a mission to find Christian meaning to this age-old tradition. It is my hope that this blog will give new meaning to this Christmas symbol and that you will see your tree in a new light.

It is true that the origins of a cut down, decorated tree may have its root in paganism, as can be read in Jeremiah 10:1-5. In later years, pagans would also bring fir trees into their homes at Yuletide because it represented everlasting life and fertility.  However, history tells us that it was an 8th-century English missionary in Germany that first introduced the tree as a symbol of remembrance of Christ’s birth. Author Henry Van Dyke recounted these events in his fictionalized short story “The First Christmas Tree.”

Considering that the curse was introduced through a tree in the Garden of Eden, I believe it is quite fitting that our redemption is signified through the Tree of Life, Jesus, who is our Vine and as Christians, we are His branches.  Conifers, like the Pine tree are also evergreen, which represents the everlasting life we get through Christ. The Cross that Jesus was crucified to was also made of wood from a tree. And lastly, its triangular shape represents the trinity, which makes this tree the perfect representative, especially when we consider the many tree references there are in the Bible.

As Christians, we get to choose whether to put a star or an angel on the top of our tree, both of which heralded the announcement and place of where Jesus was born. It is also fitting that the fir tree mentioned in Isaiah 41:19; and 60:13 draws attention to the future glory of the temple in Jerusalem that would be built with its noble wood.

The bright twinkling lights on the Christmas tree is a metaphor for the light of Christ, who illuminates the darkness with His hope and salvation.  The soft glow is also a reminder to us to shine the light of Jesus to others. 

Each ornament can be carefully chosen to represent something to do with Jesus, His birth, the characters of the Nativity scene, or even something to represent the many gifts God has given us. Each ornament then becomes a small piece of the Christmas story and of our faith and blessings, woven into each branch. These symbols can remind us of the sacredness of the season and our love for God, who gave us the greatest gift of His son. Having replaced many of my ornaments over the year with ones with more meaning, I can honestly say that this does make a difference. Even a snowman can remind us that Jesus has washed us clean as white as snow!

Putting up the tree together as a family can become a sacred ceremony instead of just a holiday tradition. Finding Jesus in the tree helps us connect with the spiritual essence of this special season and the reason we celebrate it.  As a family, it is a special time where we can feel the presence of Jesus, through the joy, love and peace we experience, whilst singing along to Christmas Carols.

In a world filled with the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations, finding Jesus offers a moment of respite and spiritual connection. It is a reminder that amidst the festivities, the heart of Christmas lies in the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To me, Christmas is not just one day, but a season and spirit of goodwill and joy as we gather in love to remember and celebrate the birth of our King!

Lastly, the gifts under the tree that we get to give and receive from our loved ones is a reminder that it is Jesus’s birthday!  Yet, it is His presence that is more important that the presents, for they represent the many gifts we receive spiritually.  It also teaches us to be generous and meaningful givers.

This year, let us find a deeper connection to our faith by seeking the presence of Jesus in the heart of our Christmas decorations, traditions and celebrations.

Wishing you and your family a meaningful and tree-mendous Christ-mas and a faith-filled festive season!

Sunday 22 October 2023

Finding the Lost

Have you ever lost something really valuable, much needed or expensive to replace?  When you can’t find something and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach and your heart beats into panic mode?  Recently, I lost my car keys and experienced that very real, dreaded feeling. What made it worse is that there was a public holiday the day before, where I hadn’t gone out, so my limited memory gabbled to remember my steps from the last time I had seen them.  I was so sure I had put them in my jacket pocket, but after turning all my jackets upside down, emptying my handbag, shopping bags and checking every drawer, nook or cranny, I was at a complete loss. I even panicked that I might have left them inside the car or the boot, but the spare key convinced me otherwise.  Yes, I had a spare key, but it does not have the remote for the immobiliser which is a much-needed device living in South Africa!

After a whole day of searching frantically and turning up empty handed, I was reminded about a time when my husband had lost his wedding ring a week before our 10th anniversary.  I had anxiously viewed this is a foreboding sign for our marriage and left no stone unturned in helping him to find it. It wasn’t until someone from Church reminded me that the Holy Spirit can help us find things when we ask Him, that I decided to pray. I believe God prompted me to look in our daughter’s toy box, for this was a place I never would have thought to look.  Lo and behold, it was there!  It must have come off when he was packing away her toys, the neat freak that he is…

So, with this remembered, reliable tool, I turned the situation over to God, asking Him to reveal where my car keys were. Later that afternoon, I had the notion to look in the drawer where we keep our dog’s leash and voila – there it was!!  That rush of relief sweeping through your body is the best feeling in the world! With a grateful heart and heartfelt thanks to God, I now know I will never forget to pray first, the next time I lose something.

Finding the lost made me think also of our mission as Christians in finding those who need God’s salvation.  Imagine if we all searched for people like we do for lost material things, how many souls we would find for Christ?  The truth is that there is a harvest field out there that is ready to be picked, if we will just take the time to go out there and really search to find them. 

Wednesday 5 April 2023

Communion and Baptism in the Cross of Easter

God has laid on my heart the symbolism of Communion and Baptism in reference to Easter’s message of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, which I wanted to share with you.

We know from scripture that the wine taken at communion symbolises Jesus’s blood, which was shed for us all at the Cross of Calvary.  Wine, in essence, is the blood of many grapes.  The power that unites those grapes was extracted in the wine press of the Cross.

We also know that the bread is a symbol of His flesh, which was broken and beaten, which is why we break the bread. When you think of how bread is made, it is just many grains of flour that are brought together by water.  With us representing the body of Christ, we too are brought together by the waters of baptism, and baked in the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

When we take Communion, we remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross and identify with the pain and suffering He experienced, by taking the bread of life, His body, that saved us from our sin, and drinking the redemption wine, His blood, that was poured out that washed us clean. Therefore, Easter is the perfect time to take Communion, to remember what Jesus did on the Cross. 

Looking back at Jesus’s crucifixion, I often wondered why Jesus refused the first wine but accepted the second. I was interested to learn that the first wine had been mixed with myrrh or gall, a narcotic that is often given to those being crucified to help numb the pain. Yet, Jesus chose to fully experience the pain, as we painfully witnessed through the accuracy in the Passion movie. 

It was only when Jesus said He was thirsty, that He accepted the soured wine or vinegar, which was a common drink in those days to alleviate thirst.  In a way, by quenching His thirst, Jesus was actually prolonging the pain. He drank the wine of His Father’s wrath down to its very last dregs, and He did so for us—that we might enjoy the new wine of His Father’s love, and live redeemed forever in the glorious presence of the one who took no shortcuts in saving us.

After the recent baptism of a dear friend’s daughter, I was reminded of the spiritual significance of this event in that you are exchanging your old worn and weak wineskin for a new stretchable and strong one so that we can fully receive the pouring of the new spiritual wine of Christ. You are laying down the old you and taking on a newness in the spirit. In a sense, what Baptism symbolises is the crucifying of your flesh and the resurrection of the new you, full of the Holy Spirit’s power and effectiveness to keep you walking in that newness, and daily reminding yourself that your flesh and the old you are dead.  Baptism is a declaration to Satan and the world that you are now committed to being all in with Christ.

As I remember back to my own Baptism; I was so excited to be given the opportunity to have it done in the Jordon River. Yet, a few weeks before the departure of our trip to the Holy Land I felt God telling me not to wait and to have it done sooner at the Baptist Church I was attending at the time, which I did. I strongly believe that being Baptised before going, prepared me spiritually for the powerful encounter I had with God, and had I not obeyed Him, I would have had a more glorious setting of a baptism, but without the lasting and powerful effect. 

If you have never been Baptised with the full immersion of water, may I urge you to take this next step of faith in your walk with God? If it was important enough for Jesus to do and because He tells us to, this is an act of obedience where we get to publicly declare the decision made in our hearts to follow Jesus.  From my experience, it is where you receive the victory in truly becoming an overcoming Christian to live with the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit, and there is no better time to be baptised than at Easter.


Thursday 29 December 2022

Why Christmas?

Having just celebrated Jesus’s birth on Christmas day, 25th December, the real reason for the season, have you ever wondered why God had to send Jesus as a baby?    

Although the Nativity story is told in the Gospel books of Mathew and Luke, having recently finished a study on the book of Hebrews, I was amazed to come across many verses pertaining to why Jesus was born. 

So, I thought I’d share them with you as you ponder and reflect on the celebration of the birth of our King and Savior
  1. Jesus was born so that He could become the son of God that would make us His children and God our Heavenly Father - Hebrews 1:5; 5:5
  2. Jesus was born as a human of flesh and blood so that He would no longer be immortal but would be able to die so that His blood could be poured out for us. - Hebrews 2: 14
  3. Jesus needed to be born, so He could die in order to destroy the devil through His death- Hebrews 2:14
  4. Jesus needed to die to deliver and free us from sin and break the power of death and the devil - Hebrews 2:15
  5. Jesus was born so He could become human like us and know how it feels to be tempted and suffer - Hebrews 2:18
  6. Jesus was born to become the guarantee and mediator of a new covenant between ourselves and God - Hebrews 7:22; 8:6; 9:15
  7. Jesus was born so He could have a body that could be sacrificed like an unblemished Lamb for our sins- Hebrews 10:5
When you add the cross to Christmas, it gives meaning to the purpose of Jesus’s birth.  Our wreaths of holly and berries symbolize a wreath for His death and represent the crown of thorns He had to wear and the berries, the drops of blood that dripped from His brow. 

The Christmas lights represent the light that Jesus brings to the darkness of the world and our own dark places within us.   Whether you have a star or an Angel on top of your Christmas tree, both are symbols of God’s glory that ushered in the announcement of Jesus’s birth.  

The ornaments we put on our trees could represent things we should nail to the tree that was cut up to become the cross. It can also represent hanging our blessings and inherited gifts we have through the death of Jesus Christ.  

Christmas offers us the hope of eternity in Heaven. The Old Testament’s sacrifices were just a parole but with the New Testament and Covenant, we are given a full pardon. Yes, the devil may still seem active in our lives, but he is like a dog that has been chained up to the stake of the Cross.  He can growl and bark, but he can no longer harm us, as long as we stay out of his reach. 

Christmas is God reaching out to us.  It is the celebration of His incarnation that He is Emmanuel and always with us.  It is not just a holiday tradition, but our response to God for sending Jesus to restore our relationship with Him.


Tuesday 6 December 2022

Gearing Down to a Powerful Finish to 2022

With my daughter getting her first car recently, our family conversations have leaned a lot towards driving and cars. This got me thinking about how you need to gear down when you need extra power and how appropriate this seemed for finishing this year off well.

So here are 3 things to help you gear down to give you more power, so you can finish this year less weary and drained, and more in the Christmas mood.

1)   Be Mindful - In this season of ‘rush, hurry, perfect’, focus your mind on being fully aware and conscious of your thoughts and actions, and stop cruising on auto-pilot by just going through the motions.  Focus on being kind, finding joy in simple tasks and looking for the blessings in each day. Make every moment memorable, by choosing to be mindful of it. Be wise in accepting invitations.  If your body is crying out for rest, listen to it and pause instead of trying to make up for all the lost opportunities caused by Covid.

2)  Be Meaningful - Have a purpose for every action and choose to manage the time in each day, that brings meaning to your life and others.  Stop following the crowds by chasing after traditions that you cannot afford or have no meaning to you. Discover what Christmas and this season mean to you and then purposefully choose how you want to celebrate it. When buying gifts, don’t just choose the one on special, but find something with meaning that the recipient will appreciate.

3)  Be Merry - I used to associate being merry with being intoxicated, but according to the dictionary, merry also means to be jovial, jolly, showing high spirits, cheerful, joyous and carefree. We can choose not to be a grinch during this season and instead of being impatient and rushed, slow down to chat with the person next to you in the long queues.  Give someone a gap in the hectic traffic jams. When we wear a smile each day, instead of a frown, we welcome a friendly response that will turn our days from being mundane and manic to being merry moments.

In closing, this season is what you will make of it.  We all know the real reason for this season, so don’t let the shops and the world make you focus on anything but Jesus.  Jeremiah 31:25-26 promises us that those who feel tired and worn out, will find new life and energy, and when they sleep, they will wake up refreshed. 

Let’s stand on that promise and not grow weary in this season, but draw our strength from Jesus, as we keep our eyes and mind focused, with purpose, on Him.  Gear down to get that extra power and speed needed to finish 2022 well, so we can start 2023 feeling refreshed and ready for a new year, and not exhausted and depleted from overextending ourselves during this season.  

Sunday 30 October 2022

Halloween - Halo please!

I’ve never understood how a parent can dress their child up as a devil, and then act surprised when they behave like one. As a Christian parent, Halloween has always been a challenging holiday for us raising our only daughter. With her growing up in Scotland, we never wanted her to feel left out or excluded from the fun of dressing up, the Halloween school parties, or the trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood.

Halloween’s original roots may surprise you. All Saint’s Day on the 1st of November is also called All Hallows Day. It’s a day when many believers around the world thank God for His faithfulness to their loved ones who have died. It’s a celebration that they died in the faith and are resting in the presence of God.

The day before, the 31st of October use to be called ‘All Hallow’s Eve’, which was later shortened to Halloween. Unfortunately, the day’s original reason to celebrate has since been twisted by Satan, where the focus has been moved from celebrating the life of the deceased to death itself. Satanic worshippers have even chosen this night to do their most evil work, which is why many Christians choose to reject participating in Halloween altogether.

However, when you consider the story in 1 Corinthians 8, we see that the Church in Corinth faced a similar dilemma - to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples. Although not totally the same thing, we can learn from Paul’s advice that it’s a matter of our conscience. If we have doubts that celebrating it will condemn us, then we shouldn’t eat the meat/candy.

Doing anything that does not proceed out of our faith is a sin. Our righteousness is not determined whether we participate in Halloween or not. We are saved by the work of Christ alone (Acts 4:12), not by observing or abstaining from holidays (Colossians 2:16). Christians that take their kids trick-or-treating are still Christians. And Christians that stay home and ignore the doorbell are also Christians. We shouldn’t judge others by the choices they make.

For me, rejecting Halloween altogether is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I believe that with the right discernment and wisdom, this holiday can offer us opportunities to share our faith in a practical way. As long as we can steer our children away from dressing up as zombies, devils, witches, and other evil personas, this part of the holiday can still be fun. I have purposely not included a ghost, because we all grew up with Casper the friendly ghost. One year, a lady from my church added a halo to her daughter’s ghost costume and proudly announced to everyone that she was the Holy Ghost! I am not sure if God would have approved, but it sure did make us laugh!

This photo is of my daughter’s first Halloween outfit as a pumpkin, which makes me so grateful for the inspired Christian pumpkin message. If you’ve never heard it before, it goes like this: - God picks us up from the pumpkin patch, washes off all our dirt, scoops out all our yucky seeds of sin, carves out for us a new smiling face, and puts His light inside of us, to shine out for all the world to see. This story started a fond family Halloween tradition when we use to live in Scotland, where we would carve out a pumpkin with a smiley face and leave it by our front door.

Living back in South Africa, it seems we are fast following the trends of America, the UK, and the rest of the world, by welcoming the hype and consumerism around this spooky holiday. It would therefore be foolish to try to avoid or shield our children from taking part in it altogether. However, we can change our perspective on how we choose to engage with it and thus use every opportunity to our advantage.

For example, we can share the Gospel of faith over fear and try to educate unbelievers about the schemes of the devil and the path it leads to when you choose to focus on death and all things evil. It may seem like just a bit of fun to many, but if they knew the gates they were opening into their soul, they just might think again.

Trick or treating also offers us the opportunity to get to know our neighbours and is a good platform to be friendly. Your selection of treats doesn’t always have to be sweets either but can include fruits or healthier, less sugary sweets, which I’m sure every parent will thank you for.

I am grateful that many Churches choose to offer an alternative party to Halloween, such as using a Superhero theme, where kids can still participate in the full fun of the holiday, but without the reasons that cause many young children to be plagued by nightmares.

So, however, you choose to observe Halloween this year, do it with a clear conscience, knowing that God sees your heart and your motives. Rejecting the evil part, whilst keeping the good can be achieved when we do it from faith. And as we carve out our pumpkins and take photos of our children in their cute costumes, let us also spend time in prayer for the protection of our loved ones, our Churches, our nation, and for every unbeliever’s eyes to be opened to the spiritual realm that they are innocently dabbling in.