Dragons and fairy tales

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton

There is something intriguing about this quote - perhaps it is because most children love fairy-tales or that we grow up wanting to believe in heroes and 'knights in shining armour.' 

My immediate thought was how this quote speaks into our experience of Faith. We don't need to be reminded that evil exists (these are the dragons), but rather that Christ has overcome all of our dragons. The stories of faith, found the Bible, remind us that Christ is victorious and these should inspire us to place our trust in the One who defeats all evil.

Jeremiah 1:19 - They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

John 1:5 - The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Living in Grace

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The scars are there for a reason

Mark Davis - "I consider it one of the gifts of the Christian tradition that every gospel account of the resurrection includes Jesus' scars."

I find it very moving that Jesus is not afraid of his own scars. He is willing to show them to his disciples, not as a badge of honour, but as I sign of his 'over-coming.' 

We can learn a lot from this action and remember that God is not afraid of our scars either. Whether our scars are hidden or visible, Christ still loves us.

John 20: 27 - Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Living in Grace

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Overcoming ourselves

Thomas a' Kempis wrote in the 15th Century, “the hardest struggle is the struggle to overcome ourselves." I think that what he could have meant by this is that we are often our own worst enemy. We struggle with our faults, short-comings and sins, wondering if God could even love us. This can sometimes move us away from the embrace of our loving God. Thankfully we have Jesus who has paved the way for our salvation and he is the ultimate victor.  

What things in your life do you struggle with? 

Do you find that your mind plays tricks on you? Does your mind sometimes run away from you so that your biggest struggle is with yourself? If you can relate to this, then I pray that these scriptures help you today.

Jeremiah 1:19 - They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Mark 9:24 - Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Living in Grace

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Death shall have no dominion - A reflection on Dylan Thomas's words

Dylan Thomas fans will remember that he wrote a number of brilliant, and some controversial, poems. One of them was called: Death shall have no dominion. Although this is not the platform to debate his views on God, Dylan Thomas does make an excellent point on death. In fact, his views are just an echo of the New Testament writers. He writes:

Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

Nineteen hundred years earlier, the Apostle Paul wrote: 

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

We are living in very sobering times at the moment friends, but let us remember that the worst of things (death) has been swallowed up in Victory.

Thanks be to Jesus.

Living in Grace

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Tables turned

"Those who want to kill me will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.

They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals." - Psalm 63:9-10

In these verses David reminds his listeners (and his enemies) that those who plot against the Lord will end up on the losing end. This reminds me that even when it seems that evil is winning, we must remain hopeful and remember that God has already won the battle for us.

Who is seeking to hurt you at the moment? Does today's scripture give you any hope?

Living in Grace

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Four

Our two greatest enemies are Death and the Devil. In Jesus' temptation in the wilderness He defeats the 3 strategic attempts of the enemy to try and distract him from God's plan. No matter how hard the devil tries, Jesus rejects his efforts.

^"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." - Matthew 4:8-11

As we project forward to the Passion of Christ we should also remember that the second of our enemies is defeated at the Resurrection. Taking a look into the empty tomb reveals the greatest gift we could ever dream of. It tells the story that death will not be the end for us, but rather the transition from this world to God's home. 

Allow the knowledge of this victory to bring you LIFE today.

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." - Hebrews 2:14-15

Living in Grace
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Prayer for today

May you find the following simple prayer as profound as I did. Enjoy and God bless you.

"Lord, goodness is stronger than evil;
love is stronger than hate;
light is stronger than darkness;
life is stronger than death;
victory is ours through you who love us.
Amen." - Desmond Tutu

John 12:25 - "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

Living in Grace
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You can be Danny Willett

Let me start this blog post by admitting that I am not the biggest Golf fan, but I do know many of the international golfers, mainly from flicking through the sports channels. On Monday morning I wanted to know who won the US Masters and when I saw his name as the winner, my first reaction was: "Who is Danny Willett?!"

As I say, please forgive my golfing knowledge, but I had never heard of him before. As this news filtered through my Monday morning brain, I thought "That's actually quite nice! It is good when an unknown/underdog wins a major sporting event."

So, I feel that we can all be like Danny Willett in a way. Even though we may not feel like "regular" champions, God can grant us Victory in the most important event of our lives. When we join God's team, God will grant us the ultimate prize.

Revelation 2:7 - To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

1 Chronicles 11:14 - But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.

 Psalm 149:4 - For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

Have you decided to join God's team yet? What is stopping you?

Living in Grace
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Overcoming failure

It has taken me two years to get the monkey off my back, but on Saturday I finally managed to conquer a challenge that has been bugging me. In 2013, I attempted to ride the Hill2Hill (half distance) bike race and it was something I had never done before. In hindsight, I hadn't trained as much as I could have and I was ill in the week before the race. Well, as you may remember I had to bail around the 30km mark and it left me feeling disappointed.

I don't like the taste of failure - I am not sure there are many of us who do - and so I have lived with that nagging sense of "failure" for 2 years now. I can't tell you the elation I felt on Saturday when I crossed the finish line and to top it off I was feeling great! I am grateful to my friends and team-mates who encouraged me across that finish line.

So, here is my observation on this:
Failure doesn't have to define you. 
Failure doesn't have to be the last word spoken from a particular experience.
Failure is not fatal.

When God is in our lives, He is able to transform anything into something worthwhile. Well, that is what I believe!

Psalm 73:26 - My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. 

James 5:11 - As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

So, DON'T Give up!

Living in Grace
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Evil will not last!

“Only one principle will give you courage - that is the principle that no evil lasts forever nor indeed for very long.” – Epicurus

With another terrorist attack taking place this week, it leaves all 'peace loving' people feeling jittery, angry and anxious. It makes us question, how much longer 'evil' will continue to reign in our world. 

I don't have an answer as to when it will end, but the Bible does promise us that God has already won the victory and that evil has been conquered. What is taking place, may just be considered as the last death twitches of the enemy. 

1 John 3:8 - "But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil."

Psalm 37:9 -"For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."

Psalm 92:7 - "....that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed for ever."

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you are our All Conquering Saviour and even though evil seems to flourish, it too will pass away. May you grant us the peace that passes all understanding as we trust in your deliverance.

Living in Grace

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Shaking off the snakes

In Acts 28 we come across an interesting situation where Paul encounters a snake (viper) while putting wood onto a fire. This is one of my worst nightmares - snakes love to hide amongst piles of wood and it would be easy to find one lurking underneath a log. Snakes are not my favourite reptiles!

This is how the actual story goes:

"Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god." - Acts 28:2-6

My friend and colleague Collin Moore was preaching on this passage on Sunday and he reminded us to 'shake off the snakes' that wrap themselves around our spiritual lives. Perhaps it would be a helpful exercise to think about this for a moment. 

Who or what has become a viper in your life? 
What has wrapped itself around your heart and is threatening to poison your life?
What will you do about it?

Paul has the strong conviction that God has called him to preach the gospel and he is convinced that this viper will not take his life. So, in an act of bravery, he shakes off the snake that has just bitten him. God protects him from the bite and he carries on to spread the gospel.

We may not have control over what snake may bite us, but we do have a choice in allowing it to stay wrap around our lives. Let's follow Paul's example and 'shake off the snake'! 

Ask God to show you what vipers are in your life and how you can shake them off.

Living in Grace
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Toy soldiers - Lent 2

As I come to Psalm 2:2, I immediately think of a movie like Braveheart - long lines of warriors forming up on a rugged green hillside, looking across the valley towards another motley army - all of whom are waiting for the battle cry to ring through their ranks.

"The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One." (Psalm 2:2)

Instead of quivering with fear, God responds to the taunts of the rulers and kings in an interesting way:

"The One enthroned in heaven laughs:
The Lord scoffs at them." (v.4)

So, the next time you feel as if the devil's whole army is against you, remember these verses and chuckle to yourself. May God's laughter, at their puny challenge, make you laugh out loud too!

Prayer:
Lord, teach me to remember your victory. Help me to look beyond the shouts and taunts of the enemy and to see your knowing smile. You smile because you know nothing can stand against You. May I have some of that same assurance today. Bless those who take refuge in your name. Amen.

Living in Grace
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Who is fighting your battles?

It struck me again today, that when we come up against stressful and complicated 'battles' in our lives, who is the one who is doing the fighting for us? Most of the time, we end up getting our 'weapons' ready and we face up, ready to fight. But, we don't stand a chance if that's the way we are going to fight these hardships. In our own strength we will not overcome, so that is why we need to allow God to fight for us.

"You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’” - 2 Chronicles 20:17

Our battle is not against flesh and blood remember?! If it were, then we could use our own weapons. Instead, isn't it time we handed over the 'battle plan' to God and asked him to fight for us. No one can defend against God's weapons. 

The victory can we ours, through the strength and grace of God.

Hand it over, today! Watch God fight for you!

Living in Grace,

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Which part of the Newspaper?

For those of us who still read the Newspaper in the paper format (i.e. not online), which part of the paper do you turn to first? I always turn to the Sports section first - always! And here is why:

"The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures." ~ Earl Warren

How true is that?

When you read the Scriptures this week remember that despite the 'bad' stuff recorded in the Bible (i.e. the sins of humanity), Jesus WINS in the end! Jesus has won the victory over sin and death. Jesus' accomplishment overturns our failures!

Psalm 60:12 - "With God we will gain the victory..."

Live in the victory of His grace,
D3LM3