Jo Saxton

Archive for the ‘Soul Food’ Category

Since landing in the UK three weeks ago, snow has been on the ground constantly.  Whilst pretty, the snow has hampered our ability to move around and the cold has forced us inside. We have been made to stop, to rest, to do nothing.  Some of our plans have been called off.  We have been unable to see friends we had planned to see.

 Yet, I know that this is God’s blessing to us. 

 Seeing the white snow is a constant reminder of the rest forced upon us.  A cold but comforting blanket of protection on our lives.

It made me think: what is happening to the plants and trees faced with freezing temperatures? They have gone dormant.  I discovered that certain plants die above ground and the only growth that happens is below the surface.  The bulb and root systems become hardier, and when the warm weather comes again they grow back faster and the plant is healthier.

 Thinking of Biblical rest I thought of the command in Leviticus 25 to leave fields to fallow every seven years.  Today we know that fields that are left fallow like this, have better soil, natural fertilizers, rebalanced chemical levels and produce healthier crops when made productive again. 

 But lack of productivity is uncomfortable.  It feels lazy and against everything we are taught by our striving western culture. 

But I am choosing to embrace it because I know that this is God preparing me for future fruitfulness.  It is a time where he is strengthening root structures and turning over the soil.  A time he is using to re-balance elements of my life.

Now when I look at the snow, I think of the strengthening that is going on out of sight.  And I thank God that that is happening in my life too.

England is obsessed with the weather and as we’re at the receiving end of unusually large quantities of snow we find it’s making headlines. The news is dominated by reporters standing in the middle of snow storms and angry motorists stuck in traffic – a pretty bleak picture is painted of the world outside.

 Watching the snow and reports of snow from the inside of my cosy home makes leaving an unappealing prospect especially if it means trekking through icy roads to battle on public transport to go to boring work! Unfortunately there is no choice i had to go to work so I kitted myself up and off I went.

Only it wasn’t what I expected – cold? Yes. But also breathtakingly awesomely beautiful.  Spiritual. there was such a stillness and beauty. The creator at work. No photo could capture how concrete streets had been turned to into something magical.

As I walked up my snowy street this morning I reflected on how light and darkness seem to come hand in hand and how often I focus on the dark and thereby miss the light. If I had chosen to miss out on the wintry cold of the outdoors I would have missed the delicate beauty of the snow.

Maybe I’ve just found a way to romanticise potential ankle breakages (!) but I really felt God speaking to me about fear. There is much I can be fearful of – always being alone, never seeing dreams realised, circumstances that are horrible.

But what if as we venture into the things we are afraid of God reveals to us secrets, beauty and knowledge that We would never have encountered if We hadn’t stepped out? What if life is really not about staying in the light but going into darkness bringing light into situations – asking God to use us to bring light. Maybe it all just boils down to trusting in a perfect Father and believing that he works together all things for our good. Maybe that’s a simplistic faith and it certainly does not answer some of the bigger questions of WHY we endure the things we sometimes do but maybe as we perserve, plod, endure and hope we will experience beauty.

For some years now, the end of the year has been a time where I’ve done a review. Amid the festivities and pressies and food, it’s been the ideal time to take stock of life and begin to seek God for the coming year. It’s turned my New Year’s Resolutions into a spiritual discipline and helped me get some focus for the time ahead. Review times have been times of thanksgiving and celebration for breakthroughs, but also wrestling times over unanswered prayer and difficulties. They’ve help me gauge what’s really happening in my relationship with the Lord, and how what he’s doing in my life. As a result, they’ve become an essential part of my relationship with God.

Whilst lots of things come up, my review is broken into 3 main parts. In my years at St. Thomas, we used the Lifeshapes discipleship tools, one of which was called the TRIANGLE. The triangle explores the 3 priorities we see in Jesus life – Up, a relationship with the father, in – relationships with his covenant community, other believers, and an OUT relationship to the world around him. So adapting what I learned, my review was broken down into the following

How am I doing spiritually? It covers prayer, bible study, spiritual battles and deserts and breakthroughs. Am I secure in my relationship with God as my Father, am I surrendered to God as my Lord and King?

 How am I doing relationally? This area looked at how my friendships were doing, relationships with guys, and my single years. Now it focuses on my marriage, and kids and friendships. But as I attend to this area, it would highlight attitudes and insecurities, frustrations, how I dealt with conflicts, as well as how God had met me through the people in my life

How am I doing physically? This area worked twofold: on one level it looked at some of the practical areas of my life, money, health, work, etc. How well was I engaging with life in the real world as it were? But then it  also explored calling, and witness and social action. Had I shared Jesus with anyone, who was I seeing come to faith? How active were my relationships with non Christians? How am I engaging with the Lord’s call on my life? How am I responding to the pressing issues and needs of the world around me?

So that’s how I review the year. How do you take stock of what is happening in your life?

 

(for more info on LifeShapes – check out www.3dministries.com)

Recently I was talking to my sister about our difficult financial situation trying to work out if we had done something wrong and why when we had given in faith, so far we have not seen enough blessing returned to compensate it.  She shared with me from Psalm 1:1-3 which says:

‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.’

She commented on the fact that this tree, although evergreen, produced fruit not continually, but in season. And the fact that there are times that it does not produce fruit does not mean that its roots are not in the stream.

Does our negative bank balance mean that we are not rooted in the Lord? No, after much meditation and prayerful consideration I can tell you that is not the reason.  I don’t believe in a God who punishes us.  We have been faithful to his word and have been open-handed to the poor (Deut 24:12; Proverbs 28:27).

And when I look at why we are in financial problems it is not down to unwise decisions, but direct attacks on our finances: out of our control.  That tells me that the problem is not us, too.

God, in His Sovereignty, has so far decided that we are not quite ready to be fruitful in the area of our finances.  But He is faithful and does provide what we need.  We have had unaccounted-for money appear, we have had a week’s worth of food left in our kitchen and we were given costly medicines for free when we went to the doctors.

I refuse to believe that God is not faithful.  Instead, I choose to believe that God is pruning us and preparing us to be able to withstand the fruit He is going to bring – in season!

I love autumn, it’s my favourite season. I love the beautiful colours, the smell of bonfires, crunching and kicking through the leaves with the kids or splashing in puddles, the excuse to get out those chunky winter jumpers, the afternoons getting darker and feeling cosy inside. How romantic it sounds!

I’ve been really aware of the changing season this year, particularly in the past week coming away from the coast to the hills where the trees are in full autumn glory. I read something recently that remarked on how ironic it is that the leaves are only so beautiful because they are dying. The leaves have enjoyed the pleasant spring and summer and now must die in order for the cycle of life to start again in the spring. This isn’t a dismal death though; this is going in a blaze of glory! It has made me reflect on how I embrace the cycle of life and death (or pruning in John 15:2) in my walk with Jesus. Ecclesiastes 3 says, “there is a time for everything…a time to be born and a time to die.” So often, I am not best pleased when that pruning time comes; I want to run from it because it is usually painful and hard work. I reluctantly give in to God rather than run towards Him with a willing heart. I kind of wither and shrivel in self-pity rather than blaze with glory and let the beauty of death to self shine through. The thing about the seasons in nature is that you know what’s going to happen. I know that winter will soon follow and it will be cold and sometimes feel desolate but then the warmth of spring will eventually return and the trees will become green again. Life will be restored.

Really, it’s the same in our faith.  If we want to have life to the full and be fruitful in our walk then we have to go through seasons of pruning and death. But we have to remember that light and life will return and that the Lord will carry us through those tough times. Trust in Him and embrace whatever season you are in!

I have been thinking about forgiveness and restoration. I believe that if we confess our sin and repent we are restored to the standard that we were at before we sinned, we are pure in God’s sight (Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Acts 3:19). He no longer holds what we have done against us. He has forgotten it and we are restored to our original place. Not to say that we have not got to live with the consequences of our sin but we are restored. (Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1)

I was out in America recently and visited a church. During the service the senior pastor publicly welcomed and affirmed a well known Christian leader who has had some issues with integrity. As I watched this public welcoming a part of me felt very uncomfortable because, if I was being honest, I did not think that he deserved it. God immediately convicted me of this and I found myself examining my heart.

John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

I have sin in my life and my hope would be that if my sin causes me to stumble and fall, people would not shun me or give up on me. Instead I would desire to be forgiven, accepted and yes, restored – regardless of what I had done. I may not deserve it but when Jesus died on the cross He took our sins upon Himself and He gives us something we do not deserve – forgiveness, freedom, eternal life. Because we have sinned we all deserve death but we have not received that, we have received life.

Being restored to a former place may not be something we deserve but when we repent we are restored 100% and that’s for everyone regardless of what we have done. I want to be a person who extends forgiveness and who is in the business of restoration not condemnation. I feel far away from this but I am sure God can and will do it.

There is something restorative about a moment of quiet. Many of us feel uncomfortable with silences – we try to fill them, we feel their unproductive, perhaps even a waste of time.

But there is something incredibly beautiful that happens when we embrace the natural pauses that there are in a day.

A few quiet moments to sit on the sofa with a toddler and read a story after lunch. An early morning sleepy hug in bed. A cup of coffee and a book in a coffee shop.  A quick walk to the local shops. A silence that falls when a friend shares her heart with you and you don’t know what to say.

We need moments of rest in our day, not just to catch our breath, but to breathe deeply and connect once again with our creator.

When you read the psalms, you will often see the word ‘selah’ or pause.  Far from being awkward silences, these were moments to reflect on the words that had been said.  They are moments to connect with the God who brings the words alive. They are moments to receive restoration in our busy lives.

Selah. Pause. Breathe deeply. Connect.

Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.

I recently heard teaching that included a discussion about idolatry. Now I’ve always known that idolatry means worshipping something or someone other than God but I’ve never thought very deeply about it. After all, it can be easy to give yourself a clean bill of health in the idolatry stakes when you use the language of “worship”. “I worship God, I praise Him at church, I talk about Him with friends, I read the Bible…I’m not worshiping other gods”.

But am I? One of the speaker’s comments was, “You become a slave to the thing you worship”, and so I asked myself a different question.  “What have I become a slave to?”  My answers were very different.  For example, I might say “I don’t worship money” but am I a slave to my finances, to always wanting to accrue more to pay for the things I ‘need’?  I might say “I don’t worship fashion” but am I a slave to my appearance, to having ‘trendy’ things to wear? I might say “I don’t worship that person” but am I a slave to their opinions, to making them happy, to seeking their approval?

A few days later I came across this Jewish prayer which challenged me further.

“Sovereign of the universe, it is well known to you that our will is to do your will. [But] what prevents us? The yeast in the dough[1] and [our] enslavement to other kingdoms. May it be your will to save us from them so that we can once more fully perform the statutes of your will”.

A prayer by Rabbi Alexandri (Berachot 17a)[2]

In the context of this prayer “enslavement to other kingdoms” is a literal reference to Israel’s inability to freely practice the Jewish faith while they were suffering “at the hands of ruling authorities”[3]. But it spoke to me about our own inability to fully know and perform the will of God when we are enslaved to other things, when other “kingdoms” or kings dominate our lives.  You might spot physical signs.  I know for me this can mean that life just feels heavy, burdensome, like I’m wading through mud! Anxiety levels rise, shoulders tense, sighs expelled.  But as this prayer expresses, there is hope.  Just as God moved powerfully to save Israel from Egypt so they could worship him at Sinai, He has also moved powerfully to provide a route to freedom for us through Jesus.

Quoting Isaiah 61:1 Jesus declared,

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Luke 4:18-19

• • • • • • Are there areas of your life where you are enslaved? To people, things, attitudes?
          • If you are able, why not try sharing them with someone you trust and start asking Jesus to set you free to be ruled by Him alone.

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[1] i.e. our sinful nature.

[2] Quoted by Brad Young in “The Lord’s Prayer (6) “Thy Will Be Done””, Jerusalem Perspective, 1 Jan 04. http://www.jerusalemperspective.com/

[3] Brad Young, as above.

Why does God always seem to show up at the last minute?  The eleventh hour?  It seems to me that He doesn’t, yet this is the way our culture seems to explain it.

God’s timing is perfect and while we may not understand why things aren’t happening when we want them to, they always happen in His time.  And if we can keep listening for his direction and timing then we get to see how awesome His plan is.

Too often we get scared and force things to happen.  Sometimes this can lead to some good but I find I’m left feeling like it wasn’t God at all, just me.

Sarah and Abraham got scared.  Sarah gave Abraham her servant Hagar to father a child with, since God wasn’t moving fast enough for her.  The result was a son, who was blessed, but was not the son of the true blessing.  How many times have I read this story and thought how crazy they were for not trusting God and waiting on Him, yet here I am in a situation which forces me to wait and I get impatient and want to “fix it.”  I want the control.  I want to get moving.  I want.  I want.  I want.

My prayer is that these circumstances will happen less and less often as I learn to trust.  Guess we’ll wait and see.

Lord, help me to trust in you and your timing, not my own erred self.  Grant me patience, strength, wisdom, and an ear to hear your voice, as I travel through life with you.  Amen.

Genesis 16

• What are you afraid of?
• Where do you need to let go of control in your own life?
• Where is God calling you to trust in Him more?

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2v4-5).

How often do you use the word ‘but’? It’s an every day word, used countless times often in an insignificant way; “I’d love to help but I’m busy right now”, “You can have that chocolate button but first you need to tidy your toys away”, “I forgive you but I’m still cross inside.” In this passage in Ephesians the word ‘but’ becomes a hugely significant turning point; hope is restored with that one word. Man disobeyed God and so we have come under His judgement and anger BUT because of God’s enormous love for us, He sent Jesus to die for us and so opened up the way for us to have eternal life. I’m so thankful that that ‘but’ is there! This passage has spoken to me hugely this week. I have been in London learning about different religions, and had the opportunity to visit a Mosque, a Sikh Gurdwara, and a Hindu Temple and listen to religious leaders talk about their faith. The thing that struck me the most was their lack of certainty that they would be forgiven and go to heaven; a common feature with all was that they had to do good works or make offerings to their god in order to be in with a chance. It felt so hopeless. BUT what good news we as Christians have! We are forgiven and given hope and life in abundance and nothing we can do can change that. We should really pray that we know the power of the word ‘but’ in our lives every day.

An inspiring and uplifting audiovisual interpretation of Psalm 51 that really speaks for itself. I hope you enjoy it!

Created by Ben Lacey.

Conviction versus condemnation, there is a difference.  My current understanding of conviction is when your spirit reveals a wrong to you.   Condemnation is simply a lot of guilt, oftentimes false guilt.  This false guilt is what I’d like to speak into

I will never forget the day I was chatting with a mentor and she simply asked me if I was being convicted in a particular situation or condemned.  Up until that point, I had always believed the two terms were interchangeable.  I had always felt guilty about everything.  That was the first time I ever stopped to think about it.

She led me further down the thought process to explain that there is no condemnation through Christ and that Christ was sent to save the world, not to condemn it.  So often I had found myself in a trap of being condemned, or even condemning myself, for things that God was not convicting me of.  Up until that day, I hadn’t stopped to ask God if he was convicting me.  I simply assumed the guilty feelings meant he was.

So much freedom came from that conversation.  I now regularly and even without thinking, stop and ask myself if this is God’s conviction or satan’s condemnation.  I repeat scriptures to myself to remind me God does not condemn me, and then I move on.  Do I sin?  Absolutely.  Every day.  We all do. (Rom 3:23)  Yet now I know I can do my best and allow God to be the guide in my life and allow his truths to lead me, not my feelings, emotions and former habits.

The brief question I now ask myself is… “Is this God convicting me or condemnation from myself, others or satan”?  And if it’s still a bit hazy I continue to pray that God’s voice would be clear to my ears and only His voice.

I cannot even begin to describe the freedom that has come from this discovery.  I can only pray that God reveals to you what his conviction is and how to listen more closely to it, while he also deafens the enemy’s condemnation.

I’ve found it very helpful to place the following scriptures in places I will see them often.  (And on occasion I’ve been known to write them on my mirrors in dry erase markers, which typically clean off very easily, but check them first, as always.)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…  Romans 8:1 (New International Version)

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.  Romans 8:1,2  (The Message)

The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.  Psalm 34:22

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  John 3:17

Everything I have ever needed has been provided for.  So why do I question the next step?

I have never had to go a day without food, or even a meal, yet at times I’ve wondered if God would keep providing.  Any bill I have ever needed to pay has been paid on time, yet I wonder if the next bill will be met.  What is it about humans that causes us to forget so easily all the times God has been faithful?

I remember hearing stories of Moses and the Israelites.  I often wondered how they could want to go back to Egypt or how they could start worshipping another god.  And yet I see similarities in my own life now.  What about this move?  Will there be a house?  Friends?  Provisions?  The answer is yes, yes, and yes.

God is faithful.  He can’t not be faithful, even when we are faithless.  It’s who He is.  So, I write this article to encourage you that He will be faithful and also to remind myself.  Now next week, or next month, when my fears start to get a hold of me, I can pull this up, read it again and remember God has never left me or forsaken me.  He has always provided for me and my family.  He has always had plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  He knows me better than I know myself.  And He knows my heart better than I do.  He will be faithful, o ye of little faith.

As a challenge, even if you don’t keep a journal, write down 5 ways God has shown his faithfulness to you.  Then when your fears start to take hold, get out your list and remember God is faithful.

Some scriptures about God’s faithfulness.

2 Timothy 2:13

1 Thessalonians 5:24

2 Thessalonians 3:3

Psalm 111:7

Psalm 33:9

1 Corinthians 1:9

Hebrews 10:23

Are you a Pigeon or an Eagle?

It’s probably not a question you’ve been asked before, but I think I know which most people would rather be. Recently God called me to leave my pigeon ways behind and rise to the heights of the eagle.

See it’s all about rest, resting, peace. I went all the way to the USA to learn this lesson. Well, who am I trying to kid, it was just the start of a process of God calling me into a place of rest. You see I thought when I was there I was resting, I was chilling out, hanging with an old friend, enjoying not doing that much. In my book “resting”. But as my first day back at work hit me like a ton of bricks, it turns out that what I thought had been “resting” had simply been taking a break from life. I put on hold the things that were difficult, challenging, painful. I left them on the runway but, you guessed it, they were still there when I got back.

Revelation: taking a break from something, not thinking about it or engaging with it is not the same as resting.

Resting is not the absence of work but the presence of peace.

My break from life took place in Northern California, which isn’t all beaches and surf but mountains and valleys. Flying over these valleys are amazing bids of prey, don’t ask me what they are, I’m no David Attenborough (Nature Man). But I watched them for hours, soaring, gliding so effortlessly, they would catch a lift and soar high, wings stretched wide. Most of the time I don’t look like a soaring, graceful, peaceful eagle. I more accurately reflect a flapping pigeon that can’t quite make up its mind which direction to walk in.

But I want to be the eagle. I am willing to put my pigeon ways behind me. I have to because it’s un-peaceful and stressful. For me becoming like the eagle is about surrender and faith.

Jesus implies you can be at rest even when everything is going crazy around you. He slept in the midst of a storm. He talks about rest for the soul. My soul was not rested, my body maybe, but not my soul. So now I’m working out how I live from a place where my soul is rested.  Jesus, immediately after he says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”, follows this with “Take my yoke upon you AND LEARN FROM ME”. So I’m trying to learn from him, looking to Jesus to see how he rests. What I’m seeing so far is that the place of rest is in the presence of the Father. A place where there is stillness, calm, peace and dependency and although in the midst of busy, not allowing the busy and the challenge to rule. Instead, allowing the peace and the rested soul to be the well from which I work, not the stress and the pressure.  Believing that close to him, resting in him means that I will be more fruitful in the long run. I know that right up close to Jesus there is rest and restoration for my soul. That there he gives me the grace to fly.

By Ally Proudfoot.

It was an amazing weekend. We spent it with great friends, worshipping the Lord and learning more stuff about Him. There was a special time of praying for each other. People shared words, prophesied, it was truly life-changing. The atmosphere was electric.  Do you know what I mean?

That was almost a week ago. And today is today. Not that exciting. I went for a walk with the dog as usual, reflecting on the past weekend, remembering the words, prayers and prophesy. And this strange sadness started settling in my heart. I asked the Lord: “So, what’s gonna happen now?” Now isn’t that exciting. The reality of family routines is creeping in and making all those ‘heavenly’ experiences almost unreal.

It got me thinking. What about Jesus? The Son of God, present at the Creation of the World, sent to embrace, challenge, save… And yet fully human. How did He deal with emotions in those times of great affirmation? When the eyes of the crowd were upon Him and the atmosphere was electric? Oh, for the expectations… Baptised in Jordan, suddenly this voice breaks the sky and speaks those life-changing, incredibly affirming words: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased!” (Luke 3:22 NIV)  Wow! What an amazing time! There is nothing more beautiful than to hear the Father say ‘I love you’! The atmosphere must have been more than electric! I think I’d feel ready to change the world! But no. Instead of setting off on His mission to save the world, Jesus goes out into the desert… Why? We are told about the temptations, the hunger, the loneliness… They must have been unbearable for an ordinary human being. But can they be the only purpose for such a harsh reality? Or did Jesus also need time to write those words of affirmation on His own heart?

You see, when God speaks, in those life-changing, electrifying moments of our lives, we are almost enveloped in this spiritual, Heavenly atmosphere.  It is in those moments when God’s reality breaks into ours with a huge impact. We are encouraged and affirmed, we are given a new purpose and calling. All the Words and Prophecies are like spiritual particles circling around us, like Holy Dust.  And as we return to the ‘normal’ and we begin to walk in those ‘words’, writing them on our hearts, they become part of us. The Word becomes Flesh. We begin to walk on a ‘new floor’, new perspective. We are changed by the Words that God had released into the atmosphere! And with affirmation, our confidence and identity in God is secure. We are ready for what we are called for.

I pray that you too, may recall those moments, when God released His Words for you. It may have been a long time ago. And maybe the experience of that Desert was so painful that it still brings tears to your eyes. And as you remember and reflect, may you begin to see the woman He has made you to be today. With courage, love, identity and firm steps. And that His Word gives you Life. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14 NIV)

And I pray that today you walk in the new purpose and calling, embracing your world just like Jesus did.

It’s a nasty looking word in my opinion. I think words have personalities. This one is sly, seeping into your mind when you’re not aware of it, taking root from innocent observations or situations. It poisons the past with regrets, the present with dissatisfaction and taints the future with disillusionment, lack of hope, envy and a risk of chasing after the wrong goals for a lifetime. I don’t like it.

I found it hiding in me recently, which was an unpleasant surprise. There I was, merrily observing the splinter in my husband’s eye, only to realise that he didn’t have one – the rotten great plank in mine was obscuring my vision. I had been reading a book called ‘Affluenza’ by a man called Oliver James – he travelled the world for 9 months to see if his hunch that being rich didn’t make you happy was true. It was. In fact if being rich is your aim it makes you miserable. On the other hand, if doing what you love makes you rich then you’ll probably be fine. It’s about your motives and goals. Hubby does what he loves, leaves the past where it belongs, accepts present reality with contentment and looks forward to the hidden delights of the future. I regret decisions which mean we don’t have a huge garden, wish I had a big garden now and wonder if we will ever get a garden worthy of bike rides before the kids get old. The kids like playing outside in our current garden. I also woudn’t mind another bedroom. And a dining kitchen. Oh and a big driveway – for two cars. Don’t get me started on shoes….

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

In the Western World we have so much that it is never enough…

1 Tim 6:11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

These words are words I love – their personalities are warm, yet strong; they demand the better side of me and make me want to flee from all the wanting and chase the peace that comes from being content and oh so thankful for what I have been freely given.

1Tim 6:6-8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

I’ve been challenged in the past year or so about my words and the power of agreement.  Proverbs 18:21 says

‘The tongue has the power of life and death’.

Scary but exciting truth.  I wonder, if it were possible to count up all the conversations I’ve had and set them against each other in categories where I’ve spoken either ‘life’ or ‘death’ (about both myself and other people), which one would outweigh the other? Perhaps that’s not something to be pondered too much, but it challenges me.

It is important to talk about the stuff we are struggling with and acknowledge that it’s there, but this has to be accompanied by declaration of God’s truth. All too many times I’ve chatted with friends about how rubbish I feel about myself, which in turn has reminded them of their own insecurities. Before we know it I’ve succeeded in dragging them into my pity party. For some bizarre reason, wallowing in woes feels quite good. I’m not going to lie, it’s comfortable to indulge in a bit of self pity. It’s nice to feel justified in our struggles and squeeze sympathy out of people. But there comes a point where we have to make a choice about whether or not we’re going to stay there.

If our words contain the power of life and death, in conversations we’re essentially embracing one or the other. I find this really exciting because in speaking life we both counter the agenda of the enemy and agree with an awesome and powerful God all in one swift move.  When we notice the potential others have and tell them what we see in them, we agree with God who made them in his image. When we agree with him, earth is in agreement with heaven, and when heaven and earth come into alignment, the kingdom gets released. People are walking in their true identity – sons and daughters of God, rather than in a lie.

Spot the lie, and counteract it with the power of life in the tongue.

I often marvel at Christian leaders who give all their money away and see God’s provision in miraculous ways.  I admire their great faith and mature walk with God, and when I’m struggling with money, I often think that the answer is to give away everything and live by faith.

But does living by faith really mean giving away all your money?

For me there are two elements to living by faith.  The first is one that I quite like – being generous.  We can do this in lots of ways – time, hospitality, finances.  It’s simply giving away things that we’ve already received.  And I can genuinely say I’ve learnt that being generous can be really fun!

On the flip side, I don’t really like the idea of receiving from others.  A while ago I was in the supermarket and I got to the check out, my items had gone through the till, only to find that I’d left my purse back in my office.  I left the shop, without my groceries, embarrassed and shaken.  A colleague had been in the supermarket the same time as me and when she got back to the office she immediately said, “Why didn’t you just come and find me? I would’ve paid for it!”  I felt really uncomfortable – but surely this was a legitimate way for God to provide?

Recently a friend challenged me about why as Christians we want to learn to ‘live by faith’ and why we sometimes aspire to give so much away  so that we can’t live within our means. Asking that question caused me to have a really good think about why I’m trying to learn to put my faith in God, particularly with my finances.  And as I’ve thought about it, I realised that living by faith is all about living in community.

In the Bible God doesn’t call all of us to give all our money away.  But He does call us to put our trust in Him.  When I look at the church in Acts, they shared everything – this defined them as community.  Subsequently the rich had a cost to them, in giving away all that they had, and letting go of control over their possessions.  The poor had a cost in humbly receiving from others and trusting that provision doesn’t carry expectations or conditions.  As a community they shared everything together because they recognised that it all came from God and was to His glory.  We have to be prepared to bless others with what we have, but also to receive and share in others’ blessing when we don’t have very much.

• How are you sharing your finances with the people you live life with?
• Where do you need to trust God for His provision, both through giving and receiving?
• And how are you celebrating with others all the goodness that He gives to us?

What foundation are you building your life on?   If you’re a Christian then your automatic response is probably “Jesus” right?  Great!  We all grow up with different values and principles modelled to us – hopefully they are mostly good ones, but sometimes people or experiences we have mean we can have some unhelpful foundations in there too.  They often just seem normal to us, probably because we don’t know anything different, but they can mean we find it difficult to be the people we really want to be and we maybe feel like we’re walking with a bit of a limp.

Sometimes we build our lives on foundations of fear – fear of what others think, fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of rejection, even fear of God and what he might ask us to do.   Sometimes it’s a wrong foundation of identity – misunderstanding who we are or who God is.  Sometimes we stand on the wobbly ground of looking for acceptance from other people, achievement or status, rather than God.  It could be all manner of things!

So what do we do to build our foundations on the right things?  Firstly, ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there’s anything He has to say about what you’re building your life upon. Then ask God to break down the wrong foundations in you and build new, secure, strong ones based on the truth of what He says, rather than what the world or the enemy says.  It may be painful, it probably won’t happen overnight and it may require some effort from you, but it will be so worth it to know freedom.

It is easy to take for granted our English translations of the Bible. Yet when translating from one language to another meaning can be lost. This is especially true when translating Hebrew which has a relatively small vocabulary and one word may have many possible meanings. For instance, the word shalom (שָׁלוֹם) can mean “completeness, fullness, wholeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, health, quiet, tranquillity, contentment and friendship”.[1] It is also sometimes used as a synonym for salvation,[2] yet more often than not it is simply translated as peace.

If we were reading the word in Hebrew we would be able “to embrace in our minds the breadth of meaning [but] when we translate into English, we have to make choices which limit the meaning”.[3] Therefore, a little time spent looking at a Hebrew word’s full range of meaning can be extremely rewarding. Although the New Testament was written in Greek (the lingua franca throughout the Roman Empire) behind the Greek words are Hebrew minds. Scholars might debate whether Hebrew or Aramaic was the common daily language of First Century Jews, but Hebrew was the language of the Torah, religious instruction, prayer and synagogue services[4] and so it should not be surprising that the New Testament “is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions”.[5] Both Jesus and Paul would have started learning Torah from age 5 and rabbinic commentary from age 10, and so when they spoke of peace they did so with a Hebraic understanding. Therefore, when we exchange peace for shalom where it occurs in their speech and writing, a whole world of new meaning explodes!

The best example of this is John 14:27:

“Shalom I leave with you; my shalom I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

I have often recited this verse in times of anxiety and fear, believing that the peace Jesus spoke of was the antidote to being troubled or afraid, but set in context I now see it rather differently.  Jesus has been telling his disciples that he is to leave them soon but the Father will send the Holy Spirit in his name. His presence/the Holy Spirit will remain with them.  He is saying: “Though I am leaving you in body you do not need to be afraid. My completeness, my wholeness, my fullness I leave with you and give to you. Such a gift the world could not give.”

Jesus is offering more than the ability to remain calm and have a tranquil mind; he is offering the complete, fullness of himself through the Holy Spirit. What a gift!

(The meaning of these verses also expands by inserting shalom: Acts 10:36, Gal. 5:22, Eph. 6:15, Phil. 4:7, Col. 3:15.)

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[1] http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=07965&version=kjv

[2] See Bivin, D. ‘Hebrew Nuggets Lesson 15 – Shalom’ in Jerusalem Perspective, Issue 1, Oct 1987.

[3] Dobson, J. Learn Biblical Hebrew (2008), USA: Baker Academic, p.56.

[4] Pryor, D. Behold The Man (2005), USA: Centre for Judaic-Christian Studies, p. 13 & 50.

[5] Wilson, M. Our Father Abraham (1989), USA: Eerdmans, p.136.