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SURROUNDED BY GOD’S FAVOUR!

(February 06, 2025) Norman and Margaret Moss share another precious meditation…

On the wall of my grandmother’s kitchen there was a large poster advertising Pears’ Soap. 

It was a picture of age and poverty. An extremely old couple in poor clothing sitting facing one another across an almost bare table. Yet their wrinkled faces conveyed happiness and love. Between them was a large mixing bowl full of soapy water, and the man was using his clay pipe to blow a large bubble. Other bubbles were floating to the ceiling  and the wife was watching him with loving delight.  

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PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE!

(January  23, 2025) Dr Richard Winter encouragingly hits home…

If I told you that you were going to have the opportunity to talk with Jesus for fifteen minutes today and could make one request of Him, what would be your request? If you could ask Him anything, would you ask for protection, a new job, money… or just what would you ask?

The disciples got this opportunity one time. Luke 11:1 tells of them caming to Jesus with a specific request— ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ 

Desire
Why, of all the things they could have asked of Jesus, did they ask that?

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HOW MANY TWEAKS BEFORE A RECIPE IS MINE?

(January 15, 2025) Mama Lava challenges…

Can a recipe be tweaked and still considered authentic?

How many tweaks do you think I need to make to a recipe before I call it mine? If I change a few things, is it still the originator’s creation, or is it now my own? Have you ever thought about this?

Tweaking Online Recipes
When I read online recipes, I often read the comments also. Most of them say something along the lines of ‘Great recipe! I substituted this for that, or used this other kind of pan, or adjusted the cooking time this way.’ And I often think those comments are unfair to the author, who was gifting the community with their original recipe.

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LEMONS IN 2025? TRUST GOD’S PROMISES!

(January 04, 2025) Carol Round reflects on 2025…

As we move ahead in 2025 trusting our God, what a wonderful, comforting and strengthening scripture is Deuteronomy 7:9 TLB, ‘Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is the faithful God who for a thousand generations keeps His promises and constantly loves those who love Him and who obey His commands.’

I also draw attention to John 16:33, one of my favourite Bible promises, one that Jesus gave His disciples… and we can believe that it applies to us to as we follow Him! Jesus had pointed out that ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble‘ and added encouragingly ‘But take heart! I have overcome the world.’

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PUT YOUR HAND IN GOD’S IN 2025

(January 02, 2025) Norman and Margaret Moss share another precious meditation…

‘I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.”’

Significant Words
I vividly remember my parents back in 1939 talking about King George VI’s Christmas speech. At the time when he quoted the above lines from Minnie Louise Haskins’ 1908 poem God Knows, I was eight years old, and my imagination was captured by ‘the man standing at the gate…’

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2025 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

(January 01, 2025) Dr Jim McClure challenges…

When Cyrus, the king of Persia in 538 BC, permitted the exiled Jews to return to Judah, they discovered that Jerusalem had been totally destroyed. 48 years earlier the invading army of Nebuchadnezzar’s army had left behind a nightmare! The walls had been torn down and the magnificent temple that had been built when Solomon was king now lay in ruins.

Confrontation
Can you imagine the anguish that confronted the returned exiles as they tearfully walked among the ruins. What a challenge lay before them!

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OVERCOMING EVEN WONDERFUL DISTRACTIONS

(December 19, 2024) Mama Lava shares another precious insight…

Have you noticed your attention span getting shorter?

Whether it’s the constant scrolling we do from one topic to another on social media, or the short-format videos and stories we’re bombarded with, general consensus suggests the human mind is losing its ability to focus on one thing for long. Is it becoming more difficult for you to overcome distractions?

Recently when taking a walk, I was chatting with the Lord as I went, and He gave me valuable Encouragement from the Tangled Mess of a web-encased fruit tree. But I would like to tell you about another tale, this one less victorious, which played out that same morning.

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LET LOVE COME DOWN EVERY DAY

(December 08, 2024) Carol Round reflects on Christmastime…

Love Came Down at Christmas, one of my favourite hymns, was written by Christina Rossetti in 1885. The lyrics capture the very heart of Christmas in one word— love.

And love is highlighted in one of the most well-known scriptures: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).

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HUMBLE SHEPHERDS HEARD IT FIRST!

(December 07, 2024) Dr Richard Winter encourages…

Image a dark night on a lonely hillside scenario…

‘Feel cold, Mordie?’ asks Nathaniel. But before Mordecai can answer young Elijah opines: ‘It’s always cold out here at night! Why ask such silly questions?’ Before Nathaniel can respond, Jacob interrupts with ‘Listen… can you hear… see something?’

Those lonely shepherds are instantly troubled. Maybe a hungry wolf. The nearby village is asleep, the sheep were asleep, now they’re disturbed. The shepherds pull their robes a little tighter and inch closer to a small fire.

And suddenly—

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KEEP YOUR LIGHT BURNING!

(December 02, 2024) Norman and Margaret Moss share another precious meditation…

Throughout my (Norman’s) childhood my grandparent’s house was without electricity. There was an incandescent gas light fitted in the ceiling. Even the early days of my ministry a few of the homes I visited still had oil lamps.

Both of our childhood homes had electricity and ‘Fairy Lights’ always adorned the Christmas tree. However these had their frustrations, because they were so wired that if one lamp went out, they all went out and each had to be tested in turn until the culprit was discovered and replaced. The cheap bulbs (oh the days of ‘Woolworths the local Sixpenny Stores’) seldom lasted more than a few days.

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