Finding Strength in God (Building to Last #4)
I’ve always loved King David. The early and quite difficult years were vital to allowing him to ‘Build to Last’ over a lifetime….
The Valley of Eshkol – From Fear to faith
Fear freezes out faith. The valley of Eshkol helps us to think about we can move from a place of fear to a place of trusting God in faith…
The Valley of Dry Bones – Hope out of Hopelessness
The Valley of Dry Bones encourages us that even amidst such dry and lifeless scenes there is always hope. The Spirit of God is able to bring hope in our hopelessness…
The valley of Elah – Finding courage for the battle
In the valley of Elah David fights the giant Goliath. Its a story of courage as we see how David’s relationship with God empowers and inspires him to triumph against all the odds.
Holding onto Hope: Preparing for a spiritual battle
Living for Jesus and serving Him as we await His return is like the battlefield. The spiritual battle is intense and everything points us towards a place where we give up on hope. Yet Jesus wants us to stand firm in His strength and with the armour He provides.
When it all goes pear shaped!
Two weeks ago we had a somewhat challenging period of about 5 days. It was challenging on a whole number of levels and was one of those times when everything felt like it was going ‘pear-shaped’. My most striking memory of pears comes from my mother who during my childhood was particular motivated to see me benefit from what she felt were the enormous health benefits of eating pears. There was no getting away from them and if I did…
Hope in anxious times
I’m conscious that time is ticking on and once again its been a while! In fact its been such a long while that we find ourselves on the cusp of yet another Norwegian adventure which jets off on Thursday morning. Since the arrival of young Aaron we seem to have had a really busy few months and even though the student ministry term finished at the beginning of June this past month has been exceptionally full. A full life is not necessarily a…
Hope is stirring…
My title this morning reflects two things; firstly today is the beginning of our annual Discipleship week here in Skjolden, Norway and there is a growing excitement and expectancy about what God is going to do amongst us all this week. Secondly with reference to my previous post “Hope and the Spiritual Battle“, there is a real sense of the darkness lifting after what has been a particularly difficult build up to our time here in Norway. Some of you will…
Hope & the Spiritual Battle
This morning we had a phone call from our 6 year old son Benjamin’s school saying that they thought that he had broken his arm. Quite concerned, Debbie went up to the school only to find (to our our great relief) that it was now thought to be a false alarm. Benjamin (like his daddy) is not good with anything accident or health related and had been refusing to move his arm at all. This had made his teachers think he may have broken…