What is the difference between talking and conversation?
“Talking” generally refers to the act of speaking with someone, while “having a conversation” implies a back-and-forth exchange of thoughts and ideas between two or more people, usually with the goal of gaining understanding or building a relationship.
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“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Do you ever find yourself thinking this way?
It’s easy to slip into the mindset of doubt and cynicism. We live in a broken world, and we may have gone through painful experiences that cause us to lose our trust in others.
For this reason, faithfulness, a fruit of the Spirit, can be a challenging trait to possess.
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Debts, trespasses, sins … many of us have, over quite a time, possibly prayed these words in a version of The Lord’s Prayer. You can probably think of many other words which have “changed” to suit the times. So … debts come to mind, as something we might owe … trespasses, we’ve gone somewhere the sign told us not to go … sins, we’ve done something wrong and hurt someone or something. Transgressions is another …
“Give us this day (today) our daily bread” is the fourth of the seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer. You may recall being taught in Sunday school or confirmation lessons that the first three address God, the second four are prayers related to our needs and concerns. We need God in all areas of our life (physical, spiritual, and mental), daily. We need to come back to God regularly, indeed each day – for we …
What does it mean to pray “Your Kingdom come”?
We all know that there is a heavenly kingdom where we long to go when our time on earth is ended. So, what about now?
Our earth is many thousands of years old. History has been recorded and we can read of many rulers, many kings, who have reigned over kingdoms in various parts of the world. Some have ruled to their “ideals”. Many people have suffered at the mercy of these so-called kings. How we long for a time with no such suffering. As Christians, we know that there is a king, a ruler, more powerful than any of the worldly kings.
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Praying through the year Welcome to a new year. What will it hold for us? We’ve certainly been reminded in these last two years that life really is one day at a time. For us as Christians, prayer is a part of daily life, be it out loud in family devotion time or in solitude. Maybe for some, as we live with this pandemic, we’ve prayed more, and not just for family and ourselves, but …
Trust, Love, Listen … Wisdom This was the theme of our recently retired President, Wendy Habel’s President’s Reflection twelve months ago. Throughout this past year, we’ve all needed to draw on the strength we gain by the trust we have in a loving Lord and Saviour who listens to our prayers in these times of concern, for the health and safety of our country. So, have we become wiser? We’ve heard from government and health …
ALL PRAISE TO OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR “Who’d have thought it …” Do we say this in a surprised or stunned voice? Is it said out loud or in the recesses of one’s mind? I would have to say that has been in my thoughts in the last 20 months. We are living in uncertain times; will this virus disappear? Or will it keep mutating? I don’t have the answer, but I know that our …
One of my favourite ‘go to’ books for prayer and meditation is entitled, High Mountains Deep Valleys edited by Rowland Croucher and Grace Tomlinson. I initially was attracted, no doubt by the title, having grown up in North East Victoria in sight of the majestic mountains and deep valleys of the High Country. The author encourages the reader to ‘linger with the Lord in serious reflection … be still … prepared to listen and receive’.
Such words of comfort, solitude and silence from the precious Word of God and other sources such as this book, bring wisdom and comfort to our fears. The fear of change, of isolation, the inability to physically hug and embrace our loved ones, and the sense of a loss of identity to name just a few but experienced living with COVID in our lives.
This is the day that the Lord has made … we shall rejoice and be glad in it … Wasn’t yesterday also the day that the Lord had made? And right back to the beginning of time, THIS IS the day that the Lord had made. Each day is a new day in Christ; as we walk the road to the cross, this Easter and all those Easters gone before and those still to come, …
All things being New … Your guild or fellowship … OR YOU! New Year, new beginnings! Did you wait till now for your thoughts to process what this year, for you or your group, might bring! While processing my thoughts before putting pen to paper, or I should say fingers to the keyboard, I am very aware of the many things I do not know. What will this year bring, with COVID-19 still in the …
Trust, Love, Listen … Wisdom This year has certainly been a long journey for many! We have experienced in our different States, degrees of enforced isolation. Through this time many have been challenged in our trust of governments, sometimes we have failed to listen to the right messages! We have certainly had time to reflect, rest in the quiet ‘forced’ periods of 2020. I have ‘over done’ – glued to different forms of digital media …