Marching Forth!

" Lift up His name, with sound of singing; lift up His name in all the earth.  Lift up Your voice and give Him glory, for He is worthy to be praised ." Lyrics from " Holy, Holy " by Tim Hughes I woke this morning to the lyrics of a song we sung as a congregation last Sunday in my mind.  It is lovely when God wakes us with a song in our hearts as we consider His goodness and faithfulness to us.  God enables us to praise and worship Him as we walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit, and this worship is manifested in many ways:  praying according to His will, personal choices, giving ourselves to Him and gathering as the Body of Christ. When COVID restrictions ramped up last year and we were unable to meet in person, the sound team at our church worked to organise a live-stream of the sermon and recorded praise songs.  After churches were allowed to gather in person, we mused over whether it was wise to continue the live stream because it might serve as a poor substi...

My wife and I have been working to compile hard copies of documentation as evidence at an upcoming meeting with the New South Wales Tribunal to resolve issues with the builder of our house.  We are blessed the Australian government has provisions in place that supports consumers and holds contractors accountable to the contracts signed by both parties. During this process it occurred to me in the justice system the burden always falls upon the victim to take legal action to receive the benefit.  In our case it meant filling in applications online, providing all requested information, paying fees, providing access for Fair Trading to inspect the home, making inquiries with involved parties, printing copies for the Tribunal, cancelling other plans to attend the Tribunal meeting and affirm we are honestly telling the truth.  I have never heard of guilty parties commencing legal action against themselves!  It falls to the victim to take the initiative in the pursuit of j...

" One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,  9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many ?" John 6:8-9 Feeding 5,000 men with a lad's five barley loaves and two small fish seemed a ridiculous suggestion.  The answer to Andrew's question was obvious, for they would have insufficient for five lads, much less 5,000 grown men and their families.  However, I give credit for the lad for volunteering the use of his food and Andrew for making his offer known to Jesus.  In the hands of Jesus the bread and fish were blessed, broken and miraculously multiplied, and all in attendance were enabled to eat until satisfied. It was a generous thing the lad did to give all his food to Jesus and entrusted all he had to Him.  It seems he was not concerned about going hungry himself, a fear which perhaps kept others from offering what food they carried.  The result of the lad's giving resulted...

" Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  12  Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,  13  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed ." Hebrews 12:11-13 The writer of Hebrews told readers they had forgotten the chastening of the LORD demonstrates His love as the good Father of adopted believers.  When God chastens and rebukes us it stings, but God always has a profitable purpose for all He allows us to endure.  While we do not rejoice over the pain, we ought to rejoice over God's love and how His correction and training produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness down the track.  A healthy child is born after intense labour pains, and praise the LORD He who redeems our temporary pains to produce the enduring and peaceab...

It is amazing how God can use past experiences to provide wisdom in the present and future.  I was reminded of a school trip when I accompanied my eldest son as a chaperone to a historical site of the gold rush in California.  I was tasked with overseeing six very energetic year 5 boys who had their hopes on finding their fortunes in gold like thousands before them. As our bus drove over a bridge one of the lads shouted with excitement, "I saw a gold nugget!  I saw a massive nugget in the middle of that stream!"  After arriving at the campsite where we would spend the next couple nights, the whole group was given instructions on how to pan for gold.  Each group was stationed around wooden troughs filled with water and sand that had been "salted" with real gold.  Our guide explained the gold in the river had long ago been mined and these troughs were an opportunity to find gold ourselves. With the attention span of squirrels, it was mere minutes before some ...

There are all sorts of situations in life which leave us feeling helpless and hopeless of making progress.  We pin our hopes on seeing measurable improvement but our best efforts seem futile.  Disappointment leads to discouragement, and we feel like we are living in limbo.  Limbo is described as, " an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition ."  We desire the feeling of closure over a legal decision or a personal conflict, and we cannot see the way forward or an escape from pain until the weight of waiting for justice to be done is lifted by meaningful action.  The wheels of justice turn slowly when at all, and the movement does nothing to heal wounds opened afresh by the process. To those whose lives feel in suspension from grief and pain, there is real hope available for you today.  The LORD is righteous, holy and does not change ( Malachi 3:6 );  the God who is just and merciful, mighty to save and wi...

" Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it ." Hebrews 12:11 When I was trained to be a union insulator for years on the job and classroom, there was a lot to learn.  We were taught to understand the systems we insulated, how to read a set of drawings and lay out patterns.  Knowing how to insulate mechanical systems also required skill in fabrication:  cutting out material and applying it correctly.  Working in the field meant we also needed a degree of physical fitness to climb up and down ladders all day and make the most efficient use of our time.  Different foremen had additional techniques and approaches which apprentices practiced and adopted to improve our skills.  Being trained was hard work, but those who committed themselves to the process with a good attitude would go far. The writer of Hebrews told the readers t...