Marching Forth!

" He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him ." 1 John 2:10 Anyone who stands upright and walks has the potential to stumble.  We have all stumbled at times for various reasons and exhibited degrees of athleticism as we struggled to keep our feet.  Some of us have had the unpleasant experience of catching a wall or piece of furniture with a toe or have been intentionally tripped by someone else.  Those guilty of dragging their feet or not paying attention to where they were walking because they were fixated on their phones have stumbled and fallen. When we speak of physically stumbling nearly every time there is an external contributing factor, like a slippery surface, a raised kerb or uneven ground.  It is possible for people to be "stumbled" mentally because of something we have heard or seen that trips us up, like a pastor who was inebriated with alcohol or discovering a person we respect has been secretly living a ...

After King David brought the ark of God into Jerusalem and placed it in the tabernacle prepared for it,  1 Chronicles 16:4-6 says:  " And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD , to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel:  5 Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals;  6 Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God ."  David appointed Levites to commemorate (bring to remembrance), thank and praise the LORD together with stringed instruments, harps, cymbals and trumpets. The picture of the Levites, sanctified and dedicated to remembering, thanking and praising God is fitting in light of His awesome majesty and holiness.  It makes me examine my priorities afresh when it comes to having paid st...

It is good to realise when God provides encouragement for you, it can also be for others.  By God's grace we can be His messengers to encourage, exhort and edify others by freely sharing what God has shown us.  When a person is excited about a good book, quality service or an amazing experience, their enthusiasm draws our interest.  This is also true as the LORD speaks to us through the Bible in our time of need, and we ought to be most excited and blessed to hear from God. After being greeted with troubling news, I was delighted to open God's word and find refreshing water for my needy soul.  As the words cascaded upon my parched mind, the scripture brought unexpected joy and rest.  While God's word is true and timeless, it can also be most timely.  My eyes fell on  Psalm 37:1-8 and my heart drank it in:  " Do not fret because of evildoers,  n or be envious of the workers of iniquity.  2  For they shall soon be cut down like the...

I grew up playing baseball.  I enjoyed the game and all success I experienced was because I had great coaches--which included my dad.  For those who aren't familiar with baseball, even the fundamentals of the sport are quite complex and take years of practice to master.  One of the things I was taught from an early age after hitting the ball or stealing a base was to not waste time craning my neck to see what the fielder or catcher was doing.  I never had blazing speed and the action of turning to look towards home could have led to me being thrown out at second base.  Once committed to advance bases, the next base (while heeding the directives of the base coach!) was the priority. With all that is going on in our lives and the world it is easy to lose focus on Jesus.  In light of the historical suffering of God's faithful people and persecuted believers  Hebrews 12:1-2 states, " Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witne...