The last camp we went to recently dealt with the Cross of Christ, and above all else it just reemphasises the following to me:

1. That I do not deserve the least of the mercies that God has so lavished upon me and so I ought to be grateful for each and every blessing.
2. The grounds for the blessings I receive is not in me but in my Saviour who bled and died for me on the Cross.
3. It reveals to me how undeserving I am and thus how humble I ought to be, for only God knows what I would be, what sin would have overcome me so much, even now the battle with sin is daily and greatly distressing; What would have happened had the Cross of Christ not existed to break the power of sin and to challenge me to seek victory? - Would I not have been slaughtered by Sin. I see that “There goeth I but for the Cross – but for Grace”
4. Looking to the Cross and seeing what my Saviour suffered physically there, knowing that that is but an infinitesimal reflection of the wrath of God that he bore on my behalf, challenges me to live righteously, how can I despise, so much suffering by falling freely into sin, – Lord grant me grace.
5. It reveals how terrible sin must have been to God, for on the Cross, the Son of God looked terrible, battered, beyond human image (Isa.52) – He bore my image on the Cross that I may bare His image before God. If His image on the Cross did not look human and that Image is mine, then it shows that sin has made me and all like me inhuman, we may convince ourselves of our humanity, but not before God.

when more things come into my mind about how the Cross affects my daily life I will not hesitate to put it here.

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city“  Heb 11:13-16

Its this statement “acknowledged they were strangers and exiles on the earth … desire a better country a heavenly one” that gets to me, why am I so earthbound when they who are supposed to be examples to me of godly living weren’t? why do I still long for this worlds goods and gadgets? why am I so engrossed with this worlds fashion? why am I not satisfied with what God has given me and my eyes are wondering, longing after other things? why do I want to be like this worlds celebrities – not that I want to be well known but at times I find myself craving some of the wealth they have.

Yet I know that none of these things really matter, and so I ask myself why am I so earthly minded, when I want to be full of the desires and longings for God, I want my heart to be en-rapt with the Lord Jesus, who suffered the loss of all things for my sake, for whose sake I also should suffer the loss of all things.

So the question still remains, I know what I ought to be, one who is at loss for words, totally enthralled by the person and work of my Lord and Christ, yet I know what I am, one who is attracted by this worlds goods, and I know I don’t want to be like that so how can I be what I ought to be.

 Richard Baxter is quoted as saying “Frequency in heavenly contemplation is particularly important to prevent shyness between your soul and God. Frequent fellowship breeds friendship, and friendship increases love and delight.” -

So why am I so earth bound? Its because I have not spent much time in frequent fellowship, in heavenly contemplation, if I want my desires to be fanned into flames of passion then I will have to spend more time this coming year contemplating the heavenly.

But first I must ensure that there is a spark there for where there is no spark there can be no fire; no matter how frequently the fan is used. But where the spark is bright only there can the flame burn. So the first question, is am I saved, is Christ my Lord my Saviour, am I totally dependent on Him alone for my salvation or is within me a thought that I too am good and so approved of God, we all must answer this before we can contemplate heaven, for the unsaved can never fully savour heaven and must remain earth bound.

Why are you earth bound is it because:

1. You have not the love of Christ in you?  or
2. You have not spent time contemplating heaven.

Ensure you can answer this today. Don’t be earthbound.

Those were the words of William Cowper in his hymn “God Moves in a mysterious way”. I was reminded of this hymn, as I began to write this post on what I read in the 6^th chapter of the gospel of John, these are the verses that are pertinent:

“Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” …

“When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.  The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.  When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”  Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” John 6:5-6; 16-21

Seek Him

From verse 1 – 15 is the story of the Lord feeding up to 5000 men, in verse 5 the Lord asks Philip, where are we to buy bread to feed all these and we are told He said this to test him, he himself knowing what he would do. Knowing that God is sovereign means that we should know that every thing we face, whether good or evil comes from His hands, so no matter what our trials are He knows what He would do, the condition may seem tough, hard and unbearable, notwithstanding all these Jesus knows what he would do, he already has a solution at hand, sadly to say many of us seek him not for that solution, we do several things apart from seeking Him, and this is the first lesson about trials, it is a test that God already has a solution for seek him.

The Clouds are for your good

Looking at verse 18, we are told the sea became rough and a strong wind was blowing, they were rowing hard against the wind, and getting nowhere fast, so much that Jesus walking on the water caught up with them. The first question is was the weather for them or against them? Was it working for their good or otherwise? The answer is it was working for their good even though it was blowing against their intended destination, for had the wind been blowing in their direction they would not have seen the miracle of Jesus walking on water, even so the trials and tests we face, are working for us, they may be delaying us in order that we may more see the hand of the Lord, many are times when our situation is rough, we begin to seek our own way out, it is only when it gets so unbearable that we then begin to trust and seek the Lord, if we were to learn this ahead and seek the Lord immediately, maybe we would not waste so much time and the good that was intended by God, we would experience it earlier, with less expenditure of energy.

All Solutions in Him

This brings me to the last part of our discussions today about trials and tests, if we look at verse 21 of chapter 6, we are told that they were pleased to take him into the boat, and then “immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”. They were struggling to get to where they were going for a long time and could not reach it, but as soon as they allowed the Lord into the ship, all that was against them worked for them, now we are not to be unwise to think that as soon we turn to the Lord our condition would change, though sometimes it does happen like that other times it doesn’t; notwithstanding whether it does or doesn’t our attitude ought to change and your situation will.

Serving you in Christ.

“Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” (Prov 16:20)

I came across this verse recently, not that I have not read it before, but I read it in ESV and it just turned on lights in my head. The person that thinks about Gods word will discover a wealth of good. The question I ask myself is that maybe why I am not discovering as much as I should be is because I am not thinking about the word of God as I should, I am not letting the word sink deep into me, so that it may affect my whole person.

The problem with someone who teaches the word, is that if he does not take care, he will read the scriptures as though he were preparing a sermon rather than for himself, so the first question ought to be:

1. What is this verse encouraging?
2. What is this verse discoraging?
3. How have I been failing to apply this verse to my life?
4. How may I improve my obedience to this verse?
5. what exact changes do I need to make in my life, that I may bare positive fruit with regards this verse?
6. Have I began to see changes?

only when I have began to see changes can I now present the truth to others, for their own edification. This is not to say that one has fully grasped the truth being proclaimed before one begins to share but one should at least be making some form of progress.

But thinking about the word is not all that needs to be done, one may find much good whilst thinking about the word and yet that much good may not do any good in a persons life because the latter part of the verse is not considered, that says “… blessed is he

The following is a Poem I wrote some years ago, it always challenges me when I read it and I thought it might be used of God to do the same for you so here it is for His glory and your perusal and meditation:

None In Heaven But Thee

Heaven my delight, my goal, my desire

For only one thing do I delight in it

Because my Saviour, my Lord, my King

Therein dwells

Some seek heaven because of pleasure

their desire and delight is in the pleasure

though they won’t say so

but were there a heaven where pleasure exists

and God was not there they will yet desire it

This is not for me I seek higher things

Others seek a heaven to avoid hell

they despise hell and all it stands for

they are ecstatic about avoiding hell

but would they still desire heaven if hell ceased to exist

This desire is not for me, I seek higher things

I gazed into heaven and treasures lay,

innumerable; the wealth surpassed any other

and the joy of many are overwhelmed by this

they count their jewels daily and think of mansions

But this is not for me I seek higher things

Others choose heaven because they think they deserve it

They have toiled so long and their wages cannot be any less

Heaven is surely their home for they would have nothing less.

This again is lesser than what I seek, this is not for me

I care little about heaven and its wealth

I care little about mansions and crowns

I care little about jewels and gold

I care little about hell and its howls

I seek something higher, they are not for me

The one I care for, OH! To die for

He outshines the stars in splendour

He out gives all the world put together

He out loves the greatest of all lovers

He out cares the loveliest of mothers

He alone holds my heart, my soul my all

I will live in the lowliest of places as long as He were there

I will loose all worldly wealth for Him alone

I will cast out all goods, if by it I will have Him

I care not for all the rest, if he is there.

(Ps. 73:25; Isa. 64:4; Ps. 31:19)

Prayer: Oh! Lord Oh! That these were my cry in every situation, in every condition, in every sorrow – OH! to have you and be satisfied.

We have been looking at what several religious groups teach and last week we began to look at the Roman Catholic Church -

Catholicism and traditions:

The questions we will be asking and trying to answer are:

1. What do traditions have to do with the scriptures
2. When they contradict which one has more authority over our life

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 82 states:

“The Church, …, does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy scriptures alone. Both scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence”

So what they are stating that although something is not taught within the bible, if traditions teach it then it is acceptable.

Why no tradition but only the word:

“1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”(Matt 15:1-3)

Here the Lord Jesus says why are they breaking the commandment of God because of their traditions, it is evident that when traditions and Gods command conflict then tradition must be put aside, or else we are placing traditions above the command of God.

“3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,“‘This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me;7 in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!”(Mk 7:3-9)

This is the same as above but there is more verse 6 and 7 specifically shows that when we put traditions ahead of Gods commands, Gods word, we are worshipping God in vain, if our teachings to men is based upon traditions then our worship is vain, i.e. it is empty it has no profit, it is unacceptable to God, we may point to miracles, we may point to wonders, but if all these are mere traditions then all is mere vanity (Matt. 7:21). Don’t be mesmerized by the way they portray these traditions, Jesus says they had a fine way a fanciful way it seemed logical, it seemed emotional, but because it is mere tradition and not based on the word it should be rejected, for it will only lead to vanity.

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”(Col 2:8)

Here Paul the apostle says don’t be taken captive, i.e. don’t be overcome, don’t be bamboozled into things, don’t allow anyone to trick you to holding unto human traditions that have not Christ as the root or source or as the aim and goal. If Christ is not honoured then the tradition should be discarded. Jesus is meant to be honoured glorified in all we do, He said even when the Spirit comes He will glorify me (Jn 16:14), any tradition that has not its source in Christ is vain.

“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”(II Thess 2:15)

So what of the traditions that Paul spoke about here, first we have not said that traditions are wrong, as long as the traditions does the following

1. It does not contradict Gods word
2. It is according to Christ – i.e. it is to The glory of the Lord Jesus, and it is sourced from the Lord.
3. It is based on Scripture, we don’t want to just proclaim any truth that truth must be based on God’s word.

So to our two questions above, if the tradition does not contradict the word, is from the word and honours Christ then it is fine.

One of the powerful acts of Sin is to to make us settle for the disposition of mind that the sin that so easily trips us is a simple one, something we don’t need to worry about, something we don’t need to lose sleep over and by so doing we are lulled into ease, with regards to the sin and with ease comes a deadening of conscience, and dishonouring of God.

No that sin is not a simple sin. We are dishonouring God, crucifying Christ again, and quenching the Spirit. OH! that God will quicken our hearts and make us see how heinous every sin is.

We aim to provide articles that can help to invigorate our desire for God, by looking at the Attributes of God, The Cross of Christ, Mortification of Sin – And what ever God inspires us to do.