‘re-set button’ pressing time

GET CLOSE TO GOD — NOW!

(May 31, 2023) The late Dr Andrew Evans’ 1997 Heart to Heart challenge is still very relevant today! [See footnote]

Where are you in relation to God? James 4:8NKJV is a powerful scripture: ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’

Not even close? If you’re not a Christian, Ephesians 2:1-3 describes you well –

  • Doomed forever for your sins,
  • Going along with the crowd,
  • Obeying Satan,
  • A heart against God, and
  • Doing wicked things stemming from evil thoughts.

Strong words from the apostle Paul, yet that’s how you stand in your relation to God! The good news is in verses 4-6. In His mercy God loves you and wants to bring you into His family so that you can be close to Him.

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THE ‘GIFT’ IN THIS VIRUS

(August 1, 2020) Charles Schwab challenges Christians to consider a different aspect to the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected so many lives worldwide …

The ‘Gift’ in This Virus – isn’t that an utterly crazy and irresponsible use of words?

How can the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed multiplied thousands throughout the world, disabled economies leading to job losses along with stress and strain, forced countries and regions into lockdown, thrust normal living into a mess… horrendous for many, decimated tourism and freedom of travel… causing such pain and pandemonium be considered a ‘gift’ from God?

Sounds crazy
How in the world could this idea of ‘gift’ possibly be true from a biblical perspective? Sounds like heresy, the babblings of a religious zealot, the sign of a demented mind, the ramblings of a soul in a theological desert and, at face value, devoid of any biblical warrant.

What madness is this ‘gift’ notion?  Or… could it be a surprising reality for good in the midst of horror? The phrase, ‘the gift of this virus’, came unexpectedly to mind as I emerged from sleep well before dawn… and I knew within to what this strange phrase referred.

The use of ‘gift’ in association with ‘virus’ does not appear in scripture… but I suggest that the idea and its potential are biblical. While illness, fear, death and economic disaster are widespread and accompany this awful Covid-19 virus, God is giving us – Christians and churches – the ‘gift’ of opportunity.

The real ‘gift’
This ‘gift’ of opportunity is one to carefully and prayerfully…

  • Reconsider some things
  • Keep some things
  • Axe some things
  • Discover some new things or new ways that will be effective now and into the future.

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