The Importance of the Ten Commandments

Psalm 23 Verse 3b-he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

I was living in Oklahoma, USA, when Dan, my husband and father of four children, announced he was leaving our family without warning.

After speaking to the children privately, I found out he slandered me to them, telling them it was my fault I was leaving.

To my dismay, he grabbed everything and crammed what he could into the family car. With panic and terror in my heart and voice, I cried out-you can’t leave us with no money! (he had exclusive access to our bank account). With a smile, he slowly reached into his pocket and drew out a single dollar. As he gave it to me, he said, don’t let anybody tell you that I never left you with any money and then disappeared into the night. I was devastated and suffered a breakdown.

That was in 1994; from then on, neither I nor the children have seen him again. Dan did not explain his reasoning for leaving; we were terrified, not knowing what the future would bring.

The letter that changed everything

A year later, the week of my 40th birthday, the children and I lived in the UK. To my surprise, my youngest son, who was six then, received a letter from Dan, his father. The letter was bizarre, not at all one that should be written to a six-year-old.

However, through this letter, we learned why he abandoned us. The letter stated that he left us to start a new life with another woman. This woman, he explained, was younger, prettier, and smarter than me and had no children to hold him back. He wrote that God told him to leave because the burden of his wife and children hindered him from God’s perfect will. To his absolute shame, he used God to justify his actions. The reality was, unbeknown to me that he had committed adultery for some time even though he professed to be led by God.

The truth is that our Shepherd- God, only leads us in the path of righteousness, not into paths of the unrighteousness of sin. My now ex-husband was on an unrighteous path leading to nowhere-land and blamed the children and me instead of taking culpability himself. He put the onus on God and us to avoid any responsibility. The story that God told him to leave was, of course, fabricated.

Dan did this so he could be free from blame and the judgement of others. Sadly, some people believed his lies for a time because he was so convincing, a typical narcissist personality.

My husband’s behaviour has nothing to do with God’s love revealed to us in the Bible. However, such behaviour is typical of the influence of a false god of one’s own making.

Dan created his own God with his own values to suit his lusts. This God was created by his selfishness, delusion, and sin. In the shock of our sudden loss, we grieved and felt the loss deeply; our lives were never the same again, nor was our relationship with each other .

Be Wise in What You Do

Decision-making, when we are distressed is tricky. It is tempting to make unwise choices as Dan did without fully considering the consequences.

Be careful who you follow because we can be fooled into thinking that so-called well-meaning folk have our welfare at heart. Some scammers make offers we may interpret as an answer to prayer, but we must be alert and discerning. If the paths they offer do not lead to righteousness, they will lead us to sin.

Be watchful; if something does not benefit you, your family, your future, or anyone else, do not do it! One great rule is- if in doubt- don’t! If you smell something fishy, trash it immediately. When the red flags come up, notice them because God only leads us on the path of righteousness. Satan appears as an angel of light but is really our foe. Satan’s job is to cause us to detour onto the unrighteous path, bringing us to eventual destruction.

The opportunity you’ve been offered may look incredible, far too good to be missed; it appears as an angel of light. It may be an opportunity for a new relationship, more money, a new job or something illegal. Whatever it may be, we can be fooled into believing this is a good thing, eventually only to find it is nothing but ashes. The best person in the world can be tricked and fall for the promises of a persuasive individual. So what are we to do?

The paths that God has chosen for us are clearly marked out for us in God’s Word. No path of righteousness, for example, will ever pass through the field of extramarital sex.

No path of righteousness will ever travel over gluttony, adultery, slander, dishonesty, unloving behaviour, or engage with anything illegal. The righteous path will not lead us away from the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20 NIV

The Ten Commandments

And God said these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and the land of slavery.

1 “You shall have no other gods before me.

2. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

6. “You shall not murder.

7.”You shall not commit adultery.

8. “You shall not steal.

9. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.

10 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

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Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

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Are You Hearing God’s Voice?

HOW CAN I DEEPEN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND LEARN HOW TO LISTEN TO HIS LANGUAGE IN PRAYER?

JOHN 10.22-30

Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[ no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Why is it that these people didn’t know that Jesus was the Christ?

They wanted Jesus to speak plainly so they could understand and surprise them by telling them that he already answered their question.

This gospel continues the teaching that Jesus is the good shepherd. Interestingly, these people want Jesus to speak clearly about whether or not he is Christ. He answered them, yet they did not believe. They did not believe for the simple fact that they were not listening. They completely missed what he said,

One thing that this story teaches us is that God speaks to us in how own way. His way is not ours and is not always how we want Him to speak to us.

Through the mouthpiece of Jesus, God speaks the mystical, profound, gentle and often hidden language. He only reveals His most profound mystery to those with an ear to what the spirit is saying… Revelation

But for those who do not have an ear- in other words, honest seeking and genuine heart-felt interest, God’s words can be confusing and difficult to understand.

If you find yourself confused in life or about the plan God has for you, then maybe it is time to examine how carefully you listen to God’s words. Of course, we could beg God day and night to ‘speak plainly’ to us, but How will he only speak in the way he has always spoken. So, how does He speak? What is the language??

On the deepest level, it’s the language of love-infused faithful Prayer.

This kind of Prayer, of course, is a lot different than just ‘saying’ prayers.

Infused Prayer

Infused Prayer is different from just ‘saying’ prayers. Infused Prayer is born from a loving relationship with God the Father through Christ. To develop such a relationship, it takes commitment, time and effort on your part. Father is ready to meet you- are you ready to meet Him?

A prayer is an act of God within our soul by which God invites us to love, believe and follow Him.

This invitation is continually offered to us, but far too often, we fail to hear it because we fail to connect with God in Prayer.

Hear with Your Soul

Much of John’s gospel mystically speaks to us. Therefore, it is only possible to fully comprehend what Jesus is saying to us at a glance or a quick read. No, we must diligently propose to learn and understand, which means we must commit to studying the Bible in its context.

Jesus’ teaching must be ‘heard’ in your soul, touching the deepest part of your humanity. This approach will open the ears of your heart to the freedom from doubt to the voice of God.

Reflect

Reflect today upon the mysterious ways in which God speaks to you. That is a good starting point if you need help understanding how He speaks.

Spend time in the gospel, prayerfully pondering it. Meditate upon the words of Jesus, listening for His voice as you read the Gospels.

f reading is a problem for you, you can download audio Bibles cheaply off the internet. Being a dyslexic, I use my audio Bible often and find it a great help to me to learn Jesus’ words. Learn His language through silent Prayer and allow Jesus’s holy word to draw you to Himself.

Let’s Pray

My Lord and God, you speak to me day and night and continually reveal your love. Help me learn to listen to you so I may grow deep in faith and genuinely become your follower in every way.

Jesus, I trust in you- Amen.

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Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

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Stepping into Lent #1

Matthew 24:36-44 The Day and Hour Unknown

³⁶“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[^a^] but only the Father. ³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will grind with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

⁴²“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the house owner had known the thief was coming at what time of night, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Isaiah 2:1-5. The Mountain of the Lord

2 This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

³Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Lent is when we can look soberly and reflect upon our walk with the Lord.

St Matthew issues warnings about the days of Noah. Noah’s story of the ark is a memorable one. Even those who are not believers know something about Noah’s ark story. For believers, it’s an important story, and the NT writer thought so as well, so they mention it by example to their hearers.

The point about Noah’s days is that they were ordinary days. People ate, drank, conducted business, married, and had families. They were engaged in ordinary activities, just getting on with life as we do today.

There was no sign that trouble was ahead or hint that their lives and everything they built was in jeopardy. But they did receive a warning from Noah that one day they would lose their lives if they did not heed God’s call to prepare themselves to get on the ark.

We know the story; they laughed at Noah’s predictions, called him a fool, and subsequently lost their lives. God’s warnings fell on deaf ears.

Noah’s story contrasts the previous verse in Matthew, where clear signs herald Jerusalem’s destruction. Some suggest this is a different ‘Day’ and ‘hour’.

The second coming might occur anytime, not necessarily after a generation.

Alternatively, these warnings can too be interpreted as relating to Jerusalem’s fall.

However, Christians have read this text from the early days referring to the end times. A future that will usher in the end of the world as we know it.

And the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD was just a foretaste, a rehearsal of what was to come, where some will be taken in judgment, and others left in mercy.

We must also balance the Matthew reading with our Romans reading, which wakes us up to the fact that we can not become complacent and lazy.

We must live as children of the day and not of the night. The night-time is for sleeping, and the day is for alertness to work. Therefore, God calls us to be alert and not to be found sleeping when that great day arrives.

And today we must not be found sleep, today is the day of salvation- we have today- that’s all we don’t have tomorrow yet, today is the only thing in our control, and God wants us to be alert, and whatever we do, we do with an eternal purpose.

The celebration of Holy Communion is designed to help us to remember. We remember the death of our Lord, and if we remember what Jesus said to his disciples while they were in the Garden of Gethsemane only a few hours before Jesus’ death-

Matthew 26:40-45 New Living Translation (NLT)

He asked Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me for even one hour? Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

Isaiah’s promises of universal peace must be taken to ourselves in the same way as the call to holiness as our agenda.

We must neither look helplessly at a dark and sleeping world nor think that we, as a church, are alright as we are.

We must wake people up to the fact that the sun is already shining and that the judge of the nations is at the door, longing to see his justice and peace enfold the world in a single embrace.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

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✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

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‘I have heard about Your Faith’. Easter Lee, Taiwan’s’ first Women Pastor.

Recently I was asked to speak at a World Day of Prayer meeting here in South Wales (formally Women’s World Day of prayer). The chosen theme was prepared by the Christian women of Taiwan called ‘I have heard about Your Faith’. I was excited about joining because Taiwan is close to my homeland in Austrial-Asia, and as an Australian, I meet a lot of Taiwanese folks. The following is the talk I gave about inspirational women of faith. I hope it may encourage you to follow what God Has called you to despite the odds.

I read about this lovely woman in the Taipei Times article last year.

Easter Lee was born to a Buddhist fishing family in today’s Shezidao area. Her mother contracted tetanus when she was pregnant with Lee and sought treatment at the nearby Mackay Clinic in Tamsui, where she was introduced to Christianity.

After recovering, she attended Canadian missionary William Gauld’s services and eventually, the entire family converted to Christianity before Easter Lee’s birth.

Per the common custom then, Lee was betrothed when she was 11. She still received an education, enrolling at age 15 in the missionary-run nursing program at Tamsui Girls’ School. But after a financial setback to the family, her mother asked her to drop out so that they could afford to send her younger brother to a teacher’s college.

Lee recalls asking why they favoured her brother’s education. Her mother replied: “Even if our daughter is well-educated, she’ll eventually marry, have children, and become part of another person’s family. That is not the case with sons, and we hope you can accept our arrangement.”

Lee begged them to let her finish the semester and even contemplated suicide if they refused. However parents eventually relented, and she worked at Mackay Memorial Hospital for a few years until her “vision from God” set her on a different course. It’s unclear how she got out of her arranged marriage, but she says in her biography that it felt like she regained her freedom.

Easter Lee, the Young Woman

Still bitter about nearly having to give up her schooling for her younger brother, the ambitious 18-year-old cancelled her arranged marriage, attended seminary school abroad and became Taiwan’s first female Pastor. Easter got this idea when an apparition appeared in a vision telling Easter Lee to build a seminary, which was nearly impossible to meet for a woman born in 1909 to a modest family with 22 children. But with God, nothing is impossible.

Easter Lee completed theology classes while working as a nurse and “prayed day and night” for the chance to study abroad. It finally happened in 1934 when the church recommended her to today’s China Bible Seminary in Shanghai, an all-women institution.

Upon graduating in 1936, Lee served as a missionary in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, until the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out the following year. She was jailed under suspicion of spying for the Japanese. She headed to British Malaya after the English Presbyterian Mission negotiated her release and returned home in 1941.

Ironically, she was also imprisoned for several months by the Japanese after her return for collaborating with Western powers due to her work sheltering widows, children, and other disadvantaged people at the Tamsui mission.

CHARISMATIC LEADER

Easter Lee helped establish the Qianjin Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung in 1946 and served there when an anti-government uprising that was violently suppressed — broke out the following year. She turned the church into a temporary clinic for the many wounded and helped to retrieve dead bodies and conduct burials because men were afraid to go outside.

Easter Lee made history when Tainan Theological College and Seminary president W. E. Montgomery ordained her into the church.

According to a National Museum of Taiwan History entry, many religious leaders initially disapproved of Lee due to her gender. Still, she proved to be a charismatic speaker who quickly attracted a following with her “gentle, warm but magnetic” sermon style. By the time Lee moved on in 1954 to focus on her seminary, the church had expanded to Siaogang and boasted over 500 members.

Easter Lee started at Tao-sheng seminary in 1953 with temporary headquarters at the Qianjin church. She moved the school to Taipei the following year, and after several moves, it was established on its current grounds in Beitou District.

In 1957, she established the Yuanping Dawson Presbyterian Church in Taipei’s Dadaocheng area. The distinct building was erected in 1937 by Taiwanese followers of the Japan Holiness Church, and Lee raised funds to renovate it after World War II.

Lee only got busier over the years, handling pastoral duties at Taipei’s Christian New Life Mission for several years. She expanded the Tao-sheng brand in 1974, opening seven directly affiliated churches during that decade.

In 1953, she fulfilled her promise by founding today’s Tao-sheng Theological Seminary. She sought to advance women’s education and rights through the school’s institutions while tackling social problems such as the often-abusive foster daughter system.

After moving the seminary to Taipei, she started her quest to build 100 churches with the launch of the Yuanping Dawson Presbyterian Church in 1957. She founded seven more Tao-sheng-affiliated churches during the 1970s.

Stroke

Lee’s mission was cut short in 1989 by a stroke that left her bedridden for the last eight years, leaving her unable to speak.

The grand-nephew Lee writes that the family knew of his grand-aunt’s wishes to open an assisted living centre. Despite the project stalling for over a decade, it finally happened in 2011 when her family donated her savings to help her fulfil one more goal by opening the Dao Sheng Assisted Living Facility 2011 on the seminary grounds.

As for her dream to build 100 churches? “That’s the tougher one, and we can only do our best,” Lee Jen-hao writes.

Easter Lee, Taiwan’s’ first women Pastor, a woman of great Faith in Christ, went home to be with her Lord in 1997.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

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Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

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Ordinary People–Extraordinary Results!

Christ doesn’t need our ability. But our Availability

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:12-23

Intro

If you think you’re too small to have an impact.- try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.

Our scripture text starts by saying, “Now when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee” (v. 12). It then tells us that Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (v. 17).

This is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew has told us about Jesus’ birth (chapter 1)–the visit of the Wise Men (chapter 2)–the ministry of John the Baptist in the wilderness–the baptism of Jesus (chapter 3)–and the temptation of Jesus. It is at that point that Jesus officially kicks off his ministry. He calls four disciples–Peter and Andrew–James, and John.

It’s interesting to note the kind of people that Jesus called:

o They were brothers–two sets of brothers. Peter and Andrew were brothers, as were James and John.

o They were fishermen. Peter and Andrew were casting a net into the sea when Jesus called, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men” (v. 19). James and John were helping their father repair nets when Jesus called them. All four men dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus.

o All four men were ordinary people. They weren’t the worst, and they weren’t the best. They weren’t poor, and they weren’t rich.

o As far as we know, these four men were successful fishermen. That meant that they worked hard and worked smart. It meant that they used their hands and their heads. It meant that they seldom went hungry, but they just as seldom had money left over at the end of the week.

You would think Jesus could have done better! You would think that the Son of God could have anyone he wanted–and you would think that he would want the best! You would think that Jesus would assemble a team to beat all teams–a team of superstars–of super-disciples! Each disciple should specialize in a particular skill:

But those weren’t the kind of people that Jesus chose. Jesus chose Peter and Andrew–James and John. He chose ordinary fishermen.

o Perhaps Jesus couldn’t find the kind of people he needed.

o Or maybe he didn’t feel like he needed great people.

o Perhaps he preferred ordinary people.

o Maybe he felt more comfortable with ordinary people.

o Or maybe he was making a point.

o He may have been telling us that it is all right to be ordinary.

o He may have been saying that God can use ordinary people.

o Perhaps he was trying to encourage us. After all, most of us are pretty ordinary.

o Maybe he was telling us that if we respond as these four disciples responded, we too can change the world.

I think that those possibilities have much to commend, but the bottom line is that God prefers to work with ordinary people.

o If God calls a brilliant person–a person with a genius IQ–then people will give that brilliant person credit for whatever happens.

o If God calls a rich and famous person, then people will give that person credit for whatever happens.

But we aren’t likely to accomplish much for God unless we’re God-powered–Holy Spirit powered–so God wants us to know that it was God who achieved the results. So, God often prefers to work through ordinary people.

That’s Good News! If God wanted only the rich and famous, we would be left out in the cold. The call of these four disciples–Peter and Andrew–James and John–tells us that God can ordinary people and enable ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. That’s Good News for us because we’re ordinary people–but God can use us to do extraordinary things.

. I was a young woman in my 20s and only came to faith in Christ for a few years. I was training as a nurse then and met other nurses working in a neighbouring hospital. They told me about the success of their Nurse’s Christian fellowship. Once I learned from them exactly what the fellowship was all bout by attending one of their meetings, I wanted to start one in my hospital. With the help of my Pastor, the group grew from 2 to 30 in no time at all. I am nothing special- just an ordinary person with ordinary ideas, and God did extraordinary things. We had four nurses give their lives to the Lord, two were baptised through that group, and several patients came to faith and were baptised.

When Jesus called these four fishermen, he didn’t invite them to read his book. He invited them to follow him.

He invited them to become his disciples.

Jesus allowed these four men to live with him and observe him at close hands daily. By doing so, they learned much more than Jesus’ ideas. They became familiar with his moods. They observed how he treated other people. They saw how he dealt with problems and opposition. They began to copy his manner of speaking and his gestures. Slowly but surely, they became like Jesus in thought, word and deed.

That should speak powerfully to us about discipleship. It’s not enough to accumulate knowledge from the scriptures about Jesus. Becoming disciples involves spending time with Jesus. We, of course, don’t have the opportunity to sit down with Jesus in the flesh. Still, we can develop an intimate relationship with Jesus through reading the scriptures–prayer–and faithful obedience. Discipleship is “heart knowledge,” not just “head knowledge.”

Jesus chose these four ordinary men–and a few others like them–some better, some worse–some men, some women–and those disciples turned the world upside down. It’s now two thousand years later, and everything has changed. The Scribes and the Pharisees are gone. The Roman Empire is gone. But all over the world, people worship Jesus Christ. That happened because Christ called these ordinary people to be his disciples and empowered them to do his work.

Christ calls us too! Christ calls some of us to be preachers and others to be teachers. Christ calls some of us to be youth leaders and others to be youth group members. Christ calls some to be missionaries in Africa and others to be missionaries in the places where we live and work day by day. Christ calls some of us to sing in the choir or play musical instruments and others to enjoy the music.

But for all of Us- Christ calls all of us to love! Christ calls all of us to bear witness! Christ calls all of us to spread the Good News!

Martin Luther SAID : believe in Christ, and do your duty in that state of life to which God has called you.

If we obey and heed Christ’s call, he will make things happen. Christ doesn’t need our ability. He just needs our availability, so others will see the great light!

Listen for his call! Listen to hear what he is calling you to be–and what he is calling you to do.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

Faith In Christ & Your Well-Being.

In this article, we are briefly discussing what it is that makes us healthy and define what health actually is. You may ask, what has this got to do with faith in Christ? Shouldn’t we develop spiritually and give the physical a miss? After all, isn’t the physical body sinful, and should we not be repressing it, not nurturing it?

Many Christians think this way because of the doctrine of original sin (which most theologians disagree with) teaches that anything to do with our body, or mind for that matter, is of the flesh, and the flesh is evil. Further, a well-known passage by the Apostle Paul gets misconstrued about the body as unimportant, and of little value, and has led many believers to neglect the care of their bodies. We will be looking at this text in future articles, so watch out for that.

I intend this year to explain the doctrine of original sin in more detail, who made it a doctrine and why. And I want to write more about healthy spirituality and faith in faith, including the health of mind, body, and soul.

I will bring in scriptures from the Bible to share how our Father God is interested in us as a whole being who is comprised of mind, body and soul.

By understanding health, and what it means for our daily living, we can better equip ourselves to be healthy. Good health and well-being bring many benefits to all of us. Healthier people tend to be happier, play an active role, and contribute to society and the economy through their families, local communities, and workplaces. If you are happy and feeling well, you will be better able to serve the Lord in the way you have been called.

According to HM Gov Department of Health, there is a two-way relationship between well-being and health: health influences well-being, and well-being itself influences health

Health is one of the top things people say matter for wellbeing
Both physical and mental health influence well-being, however mental health and wellbeing are independent dimensions, mental health is not simply the opposite of mental illness.

What is health?

We use a broad definition of health that encompasses holistic health and well-being. This means we are not only interested in whether or not people are ill or have a health condition but also in how healthy and well they are. According to HM Gov Department of Health, there is a two-way relationship between wellbeing and health: health influences wellbeing, and wellbeing itself influences health

Health is one of the top things people say matters for wellbeing
Both physical and mental health influence wellbeing, however mental health and wellbeing are independent dimensions, mental health is not simply the opposite of mental illness.

Definition of health

The concept of health as a balance between a person and the environment, the unity of soul and body, and the natural origin of disease,

WELLNESS is a combination of the 7 Pillars of health (for more info click the ink)

All should be called to be healthy and balanced to achieve well-being or elements must be observed each element affects the other.

So, to understand what health is, we need to be understanding what it is in relation to all aspects of the 7 Pillars.

You are a Holistic Being

So many of us just concentrate on our physical health and ignore all the other elements. You can be physically healthy, mentally and emotionally unwell. But the problem is that your mental and emotional state will finally catch up with you and affect your physical health. Then your social health will suffer, and in turn, affect your mental and emotional health. Then all the aspects of your life will be affected, and that’s when life becomes difficult. So, we cannot separate any elements of our body, but we must look at Health holistically – as a total whole- because you are a total whole. The problem is that this takes a little bit of research to get our heads around. We do not automatically understand how to maintain the health of our bodies nor our minds or our emotions or even our social well-being, it is something that needs to be learned. This is why people who enjoy educating themselves are usually a lot fitter than those who don’t. Science has learned how healthy your physical brain is and that it actually affects your mental and emotional health. Both physical health and mental health can influence wellbeing. So, learning to love learning, is one of the key elements in your total health.

Ways to make physical health stronger

· daily eating nutritious meals and snacks

· physical fitness activities that challenge your muscles

· Regularly visiting Dr and dentists and other health providers for check-up’s. Avoid all harmful behaviors and habits

Ways to make Mental and Emotional Health Stronger

· Improve your physical health

· Strengthen your positive relationships

· Deal with thoughts and feelings and the choices you make sure you have a positive and balanced self-concept and self-esteem

Material Cited

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215911/dh_122238.pdf

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful. Please subscribe using the banner as you come onto the site. Also, please follow this blog, and you’ll find a button on the lower bottom right and leave a comment with any questions or prayer requests.   Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post! Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love Paula Rose Parish💕

The Reason for the Season. Christ before time and space.

based on Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

For many people, the only time they think about God, religion or Jus is at Christmas time. And many more others, have never heard that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ our Saviour!

You may not realise it, but many of the traditions you hold dear such as Christmas, the expressions you use, and the ideas you have originate from a time and place in history.

We also change things and create our own traditions: expressions, ideas, etc. The given passage in Hebrews which I encourage you to read is about history. The writer is encouraging the Hebrew Christians about the value of their history in relationship to Christ. The history he is teaching occurred before time and space. So, in this article, I will take a couple of verses at a time and briefly explain them.

So let’s acknowledge the real reason for the season- which is Jesus! Let’s learn a little more about him and where he came from- Let’s jump in!

Introduction

The opening affirmation in verse 1 that God spoke through the prophets is essential. While Hebrews as a whole is written to establish Christ’s superiority to the old covenant, which is a foundational belief. Thus, the old-new contrast presented in Hebrews is not arguing what is the finest, but between what is most excellent and the incomparable. It was no easy thing for God’s revelation in Christ to surpass the old ways — but it is terrific that it does!

Verses 2-4 present a series of assertions about Christ that establish this exceptional quality. Each describes aspects of Christ’s status as God’s Son, distinguishing Christ from the prophets.

New Revised Standard Version readers may be surprised that Christ is referred to as “a” Son of God in verse 2, rather than “the” Son (most other translations add “his,” though there is no such word in Greek).

Christ’s Divinity

The first point that the verse makes is about the superiority of sonship to being a prophet as a method of disclosure; it is not making a direct trinitarian assertion even if we suggest that the verse ultimately does point to the idea of the Trinity.

The second point is that the prophets were spokespersons for God; we would not claim that any of the prophets were “heirs of all things” or involved in the act of creation.

These two points together establish Christ’s presence at the beginning and at the end, or as revelation puts it, the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13).

Verse 3 adds the third point of Christ’s role in sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

So, all three points combine to make a powerful statement about the son’s role and activity in creation throughout time from genesis to revelation. In other words, Christ always existed.

Such a claim of extensive pre-eminences makes no sense apart from understanding the son’s relationship to God, and verse 3 supplies this understanding.

The meaning of Jesus is “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” The emphasis on the unity of Christ and God is also seen in Colossians 1:16-20 and 2 Corinthians 4:6, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

It is worth reflecting on the whole meaning of such phrases is to fully understand the concept. The latter part of verse 3 adds that Christ “made purification for sins” and “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

The previous claims focus on who Christ is and points out the chief elements for the Hebrew believers of the purpose of Christ.

Christ’s exalted status at God’s right hand connects to the first claim in verse 2 that he is the “heir of all things.” It is an image from Psalm 110:1, mentioned here and there throughout Hebrews and the New Testament as a messianic prophecy.

It also provides the primary basis for the claim here in verse 4 that Christ is superior to the angels. In fact, the rest of chapter one is occupied with demonstrating Christ’s superiority to angels. This theme is continued in 2:5, which points out that God “did not give the coming world…to angels, but to Christ. This idea picks up again on Christ being the “heir of all things” and is seated at God’s right hand, and in the new world, which is the coming kingdom of God, and Christ will be overall.

Christ’s Humanity

So, how can Christ’s humanity be reconciled with this superior status? The basic answer provided by Hebrews is that for Christ to atone for the sins of humans, he had to share in their humanity. Therefore, Christ’s humanity does not detract from his superiority but makes him relatable to us.

Hebrews 2:6b-8a quotes Psalm 8, as I have read, and the first part of the quote is translated in the RSV as, “What is a man that the Father be mindful of him, or the Son of man, that YOU care for him? the Father made him for a little while lower than the angels. “

Jesus, the Son of Man, referred to in the psalm, was temporarily made lower than the angels when he became human to fulfil this psalm’s prophecy. But, as the rest of chapter 2 explains, he had to become human to save humankind.

Christians today often stumble over the idea of Jesus having to be made perfect, but the claim here is merely about Jesus’ being fitted to his task. Perfection here is not about sin or morals or anything else regarding his character — it is about Jesus perfectly fulfilling his role in salvation. This role requires him to enter the whole human experience. In that sense, Jesus’ experience of suffering and death indeed was a matter of achieving perfection. Verses 11-12 affirm Jesus’ solidarity with humankind – he calls us his brothers and sisters.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

Paula’s Story- How I came to Faith in Christ.

I know I shared this a few years ago in this community. However, I have a few people ask me how did go from an atheist to a believer in Christ.

Although It’s Christmas, If you’re interested in my story please read on. Also found my book Psalm 23 Unwrapped purchase on Amazon.

I was born in 1948: Grange Primary School - Moving the Old School — Grange Primary school, Adelaide 1960

The year was 1965 when the school bell rang. Usually, I never bothered to stop and chat with friends, but rather, I ran home as fast as my little legs could carry me. Nonstop I went as fast as I could, from Grange Primary School up the street to my home at Henley Beach Adelaide, South Australia.

The distance was just over a mile, and I had to get there quickly, or I would miss out. My goal was to park my butt in front of the black-and-white telly just in time to enjoy another adventure of superman. I couldn’t miss my daily dose of the Adventures of Superman, he intrigued me and made me think that there was more mystery to life than I understood. As the introduction began, I would chime in, Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Noooooo it’s SUPERMAN!!! – I loved it. George Reeves, an American actor, played the handsome superman. He was born on January 5, 1914, and died on June 16, 1959, the series continued long after he died and he became my hero.

super man I did not have a role model, and God was not in the equation at the time, and I thought superman was the embodiment of all that was right, good and just. As a ten-year-old, growing up in the 60s, I thought his outfit was quite fetching! Superman was more of a reality to me than God.

I was convinced that if God did exist, he must be like an old man in the clouds ready to throw down thunderbolts as soon as I did something wrong. God was someone who didn’t think much of us mortals at all and seemed to take pleasure in punishing us. When I was at primary school when it thundered, the kids used to say- Oh, don’t worry, that’s only God upstairs moving his furniture around. I found that to be a frightening concept. So, for me, if there was a God, he was not a very approachable character, a thing to be feared.

My idea of God was that he was a thing, not a real person. Just like a cartoon character, not real at all. I was told by other kids that parents used the idea of God to put the heebie-jeebies in the kids to control them – maybe it worked- I don’t know. I considered that perhaps he was something that you really wouldn’t want to come face to face with within a dark alleyway on a rainy night. Putting all these ideas together, I decided it’s best to stay away from God for one’s safety and to avoid him at all costs! From what I was told about God, it was clear that he was a pretty mean fella indeed, and there was no way that I wanted to shake hands with him any time soon.

Over the years, here and there, I meet a few Christians. I was in high school for only six months, and I meet two Christian sisters. They attended a Methodist church and tried to persuade me to go with them. I refused as I didn’t see the reason for it. However, one of them told me that Jesus loved me and invited me to ask Jesus into my heart – whatever that meant I didn’t know. I certainly didn’t like that idea anyway. Well, it was stuck in my mind of a big bad God, an old bloke with a beard and there was no way that even with the kindest invitation that I was going to let that God get into my heart and life.

My teenage years proved to be difficult, often felt restless. I was dyslexic but was not aware of it at the time. This brought a deep sense that I did not belong somehow. I often felt like a fifth wheel, on the outside of life looking in, and so I began the search for life’s purpose and meaning. I asked questions of those who knew more about life than I did. I would often ask- what happens before we are born, and what happens after we die?

My questions were never answered, leaving me disappointed and empty. However, I still searched for them diligently, which usually led me in all the wrong directions and in the wrong places, bringing me more despair and misery, and also to my family. I reasoned that if a question can be thought of and asked, indeed it can be answered, so I kept looking. Then one day, I got fed up with life and all the unanswered questions.

A few months before my 21st Birthday, in 1976, after a short time of planning, I took off with my friend Robyn to travel around Australia. I met Robyn at an Adult education class on clay sculpturing, it was an exciting time. We decided together to take time out and just leave all we knew to travel around Australia. It was the popular thing to do at the time, and thousands of young people from all around the world would arrive at Australia’s shores to begin their adventure to backpack around Australia. We thought we were lucky, because we were Australian, and we had a car, but little money, however, we could work our way around our sunburnt country. But we did not realise just how sunburnt Australia really was in 1976.

We imagined that we were in one of super man’s grand adventures, we felt invincible. Our plan was to travel about 500 miles which would land us in the next state. We would then find temporary work to earn enough money to move on to the next destination on our itinerary. This sounded great and doable, however, what we did not know was that there was a severe drought across Australia and whole towns were shutting down. Bush fires raged everywhere, taking with its flora and fauna, houses, businesses and livelihoods disappeared.

To our parent’s dismay, we packed up our worldly goods, into an old station wagon and off we went. However, the jobs we hoped to find did not exist anymore while people struggled to cope with the drought. This pushed us further northward, and it wasn’t long before our car broke down, and we ran out of money. Unable to find work, we ended up destitute. The story of how we progressed for the next few weeks is stuff for another book because it doesn’t really fit into the remit of this book. Anyway, we became homeless and had to abandon our car at a garage because we could not pay for its repair.

Through a series of different circumstances, eventually and a genuinely kind couple took us into their home. Their names were Xenoia and Paul. She was Russian, and he was Australian. I was so touched by the love and warmth they offered to us both.

Here we were, two total strangers, from the other side of Australia, taking us in as their own. Although Paul was a pastor of a church (I didn’t understand what a Pastor was) this couple had absolutely nothing to gain by helping us.

Xenoia and Paul. made it clear that they expected nothing back, except to just accept their kind hospitality, which we did. Over a meal, they shared with us the love of Jesus Christ, and this was when all my negative thoughts and preconceptions about God began to whirl around my head uncontrollably. I thought, ‘NO WAY HO-SAY, here we go, just like I was told, they are trying to brainwash me, I need to get out now!’ My heart hardened toward these people, my words became harsh, and I didn’t want to stay anymore. I voiced my objections, (actually, I swore at them) and they very calmly, asked me to stay for a short while to pray.

‘WHAT, pray, this is unheard of, totally, unacceptable! ‘

Then the whole scenario took a turn for the worse when my friend Robyn wanted to become a Christian by asking Christ into her life, and wanted to stay and pray. I was appalled. I attempted to talk her out of it, as any sane person would. I pointed out that she will be trapped forever by this big old man with a grey beard in the sky, who is really just a figment of her imagination. Not to mention forever having every time it thundered to listen to him move around his furniture and should have to dodge his lightning strikes every time, she did something wrong!

And of course, to my dismay, she did not listen. I was horrified seeing my dear friend kneel on the floor with the pastor and his wife as they prayed. What was kneeling down have to do with anything anyway? As they prayed, I sat as far away as I could. I positioned myself at the far side of the room, just sitting and watching cynically. Then I became bored, as one does because it felt like the prayers go on forever and ever. This was all very strange to me, I didn’t understand what prayers all were about, never really experienced the need for them before.

I waited patiently but then got more bored, so I began looking around the room. I thought about these lovely, kind folks, and how rude and unkind I had been to them.

My thoughts also went to Robyn, who was still grieving for her baby and was desperate for help and support. It was only a year prior that she had given her baby boy up for adoption, she named him John-Mark. She didn’t want to adopt him out, but this was the 1970s in Australia where a lifestyle of single unmarried motherhood was not socially acceptable. She was shunned by her friends and family, and she had no regular income. Robyn had little choice, but to bend to her parent’s wishes, to give John-Mark up. It devastated her. Robyn, must have been feeling very alone, and I felt such a wave of compassion for her. I looked up to the ceiling, and I thought, well, when in Rome do what the Romans do, and thought I’d better go along with it, just a little bit, out of respect for everyone.

The strange thing is that I did not know that the saying when in Rome do what the Romans do, came straight from the pages of the Bible. Because the others were still kneeling, I decided to conform and knelt; however, I refused to close my eyes to pray. By this time, I was feeling quite sad for Robyn and how hurt she must feel, so I just decided to chat with God on her behalf. My eyes wide open, cast toward the ceiling, I said out loud, God, if you are really there, I ask you to help Robyn because she really needs it! The last word barely left my mouth when the whole room disappeared, and a huge white light shone before me brighter than the sun. Its brightness seemed to penetrate my soul, but it didn’t hurt my eyes, it was drawing me in, while I gazed with amazement straight into it.

It is challenging to find the right word to describe it, but that light was pure as could be, a shimmering transparent gold liquid light. There is nothing on earth like it and seemed to be a three-dimensional feeling that I could fall right into it. The vision excluded the whole room and the other people in it. It was just me and that light. Its brilliant warmth permeated my very being and coming from it, is what I could only describe as the feeling of intense love. I felt entirely accepted and loved. I was a bit perplexed because if this was God, why isn’t there an old man with a beard throwing lightning at me?

It was only a few weeks prior that I was doing all sorts of other things that one shouldn’t be doing. But instead, I was encompassed by this beautiful, indescribable light. I could actually feel it as well, it felt like liquid love, acceptance, and hope. And best of all it felt like I had come home.

Then to my surprise, a voice spoke that said, follow me. I reacted quite quickly and responded out loud. Later on, the people in the room told me that they heard me say, show me the road, and I will follow. Because really, that’s what I was looking for. I was looking for a purpose. I was not looking for any road, but the way to life. I was looking for the right path to lead me to discover my purpose on this planet.

Throughout my life, I asked some of the most challenging questions, like; what I’m supposed to be, and what was I born for? When I heard the words, follow me, I knew I had found the way to live.

Suddenly out of that light emerged a road of the same liquid love of the brilliant white-gold light, pure and holy. The road came out of the light and surrounded me as I knelt. It covered my whole being, and with that, I felt as if somebody was standing behind me, hugging me. In reality, there was no person there, but I certainly could physically feel that hug. I was held with great love and care, it seemed like I was cradled for an eternity, but it was just for a nanosecond. It was at that moment that I knew that it was the love of God cradling me. I understood my own sinfulness, my pride, and selfishness. I saw my own shortcomings. In a split second, I understood everything that I had done to others and to myself. I broke down and cried and just wept in repentance. This holy amazing God bothered to reach out to me talk to me, hug me, love me, – a person such as me. It was humbling, I came face to face with pure love and beauty.

Closing my eyes, I broke down and cried, and the vision vanished away. The room returned, and I felt people around me, asking me what had happened. I struggled to find the words to tell them. That was in 1976, and I think it was about April, but not sure of the date, it was a long time ago, and I have been following God on that road ever since.

Thank you for reading and I hope this testimony has inspired you to seek God with all your heart for yourself – may you be blessed as you do.

Paula Rose Parish💕

Matthew 11:2-11 ADVENT 3 YEAR A. The Kingdom has Come.

Helen Keller, blind and deaf, said: “I thank God for my handicaps. I am blind and deaf. Through (my handicaps), I have found myself, my work, and I found God.” the salvation of Helen’s soul is indeed a miracle!

We’ve reached the Third Sunday in Advent – this Sunday- It’s the third week of readings that are meant to help prepare us for Christmas- the birth of Christ.

The Unusual herald of the Kingdom

John comes storming out of the desert dressed in camel’s hair and warning us to turn our lives around: “Repent! Change your ways! Or look out for what’s coming next.” It always pretty much fell on deaf ears.

John came to drive home the point that Jesus’s messages and his were not even remotely the same.

John said: “Repent. The Kingdom of God is coming!”

Jesus said: “Rejoice! The Kingdom of God is here.”

John’s is sitting in prison –He’s been arrested for stirring up the crowds and challenging the status quo. King Herod imprisoned him for criticising his lifestyle and turning the crowds against John.

A few more days later, King Herod ordered to chop John’s head off and serve it on a platter. But, of course, one didn’t mess around with Herod and lived long to talk about it.

Have you felt like you are trapped- like in prison- or metaphoric chains of some sort?

So, while John’s sitting in chains, he’s starting to hear stories about a young carpenter from Nazareth- his cousin, Jesus.

John and Jesus

John had quite a reputation and a considerable following. Jesus was drawn to John and he asked John to baptise him. Jesus likely stays with John for some time, learning all he can –But then, it seems equally evident that the teacher and his student parted ways. Jesus travels north – and his ministry goes off in a different direction.

He wasn’t so interested in warning the crowds about what was to come; Jesus seemed much more interested in welcoming them into what he said was already here.

In different ways, both Jesus and John were calling into being the Kingdom of God on earth.

John said: Get ready the Kingdom is coming soon.

Jesus said: Start the party, the Kingdom is already here.

And maybe another thing that made these two men different was who God was inviting to come into his kingdom.

For Jesus, it was the outcasts and the broken –the ones living on the edge and about to fall off, were the ones that Jesus seemed drawn to. Probably because they were the ones desperate enough to say YES to his invitation to leave their egos behind and follow him.

So, Jesus didn’t travel to fancy Jerusalem; instead, he carried the message out into the backward, little towns of his day – to Capernaum and Nazareth.

Jesus was different from John, and if he was to be the long-hoped-for messiah – GOD ON EARTH- then his would be a kingdom very different from what they were expecting.

John and Jesus the Jews

The Jewish culture raised both John & Jesus – there was this thing called the purity code, and much of the Jewish religion was built on it,

The purity code told the people who was clean and who was not. The code determined who was acceptable to God and who was fit to come inside the camp. But those who were impure had to stay out!

Back then, they thought that the sick & the lame were being punished for their sins, and the blind & the lepers were being punished for doing something even worse. Therefore, such people were rejected by the community, living a life of an outcast.

The prostitutes and the tax collectors were right up there with them – and collectively, they were all the scum of the earth.

You couldn’t get so much as touch one of them, and if you did for some strange reason, the purity code gave you a whole heap of things you had to do to clean yourself.

Getting clean often involved sacrifices of lambs and other animals putting getting clean outside the reach of the poor.

So, the outcasts were trapped both in their sickness and in their sin. They were indeed hopeless, but one day, this carpenter arrived in their towns, and he started turning their worlds and religion upside down.

Jesus the Rescuer

Jesus began to eat his meals with them, heal them and touch them, and he began telling them what sounded like some pretty good news: He said: “You’re God’s very own kids, and you’re welcome in his Kingdom!”

He said God’s kingdom was being opened to them right here and now. New Living Translation Luke 17:21
You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”

So, all they had to do was take a step inside (John 3;16) and then welcome others into it too.

They had to welcome OTHERS in just the way they were being welcomed. The more hopeless the ones outside were, the more welcome they were made to feel.

And so, when those messengers from John finally meet up with Jesus and ask him if he’s the one.

Here, the blind see again, and the lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.

Here, the ones who were as good as dead are being raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them free of charge. Indeed, the age of miracles has come, the kingdom has come just as Jesus had said.

And blessed are those who don’t take offence at what I’m doing – Jesus said.

The Pious Take Offense

Well, then, as now, some people did take offence. The ones who were offended and felt threatened were the rich and powerful. Like the rich & the powerful, the religiously proper had John killed; soon, they’d take care of this little nobody from Nazareth.

How we love & treat ourselves is how we love & treat one others.

We have got to realise that we’re all weak and wounded. We’re all prisoners to something. We are all blind, deaf, and dead to something or someone we’re trying to keep outside our camp.

Maybe it’s an old resentment, or an intense shame about something we’ve done, or something we’ve been told is unacceptable or unforgivable.

Maybe that would be true for John, but it’s not true for Jesus. With him, it’s always now, and with him, we’re always in the Kingdom.

Before we turn and walk away, Jesus invites us to stay just long enough to look around and see what’s happening in the world.

Jesus is touching lives today, people who felt like lepers were being touched and cleansed by the love of God. Around the world today, drunks and addicts are being made whole; even those who were as good as dead are being raised!

Indeed, the age of miracles has come, God’s Kingdom has come. So don’t turn away before the miracle and the kingdom come for you too.

Amen.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Remember to live life on purpose, in Hope. Faith and Love

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

Advent 2022

We are entering the season of Advent (appearing) which is the four weeks before Christmas day. It begins on the last Sunday of November and is a time to prepare our hearts to worship Christ, the Lord, who is the promised Messiah.

No longer a baby in the manger, but now is the risen Lord. Jesus has done the work of salvation on our behalf, and as a result, we are free from the power of sin, which is eternal death. The first Advent has passed, and now we wait for the second Advent when our saviour Jesus returns, and can be valuable so us to think about such things. Our faith in Christ is hallmarked by worship.

So, through this Advent, I share a little of what worship means and what it is. Whether you are still shielding at home or can attend a Church service, I encourage you to continue in daily worship this Advent, Christmas and beyond.

1.Worship Involves Sacrifice

In New Testament times, worship consisted initially of sacrifice (of animals). However, the focus of worship for Christians today is the sacrifice of praise. It is a self-sacrifice in honour and adoration of Christ (Mark 8:34-36). Worship is the total response of our gratitude toward the grace of God that comes to us in the work of Jesus Christ (see Romans 12:1-2). It is no longer related to the temple notion of animal sacrifice, but rather, in Christ, the whole Church has become a temple and a priesthood inhabited by the Holy Spirit or presence of God (see 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:19-22; and 1 Pet. 2:9).

2. Worship Is Spiritual

For many Churches, worship may involve some rituals. However, our worship from a New Testament perspective, is essentially spiritual (see 1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 12:2). Jesus instructed the women at the well, to worship God in spirit and in truth. It was an internal attitude of heart, rather than a practice of external rituals. This understanding is also found in Isaiah 1:11-20 and Psalm 51:15-17.

3. However, Worship Did Include Specific Practices

Some of the rites in the New Testament include baptism (Matt. 28:19), communion (1 Cor. 11:23-34), laying on of hands (Acts 6:6; Acts 8:17; 13:1-3), foot washing (John 13:5-17), lifting up hands in prayer and worship (Luke 24:50; 1 Tim. 2:8; see Psalm 134:1-2 and Psalm 143:6), the reading of Scriptures (1 Tim. 4:13), and contributions for ministry to those in need (1 Cor. 16:2). Because we are not given explicit instruction on how to practice these rituals, many variations of their practices emerged in the early churches. Of course, the early Church patterned much of its worship service after that of the Jewish synagogue service. Worship services at first were on the Sabbath (Saturday). An edit was given y the Roman Church in the middle of the first century to order Christians to gather regularly on the first day of the week on a Sunday. At first, however, followers of Jesus in Jerusalem gathered daily in the Temple for prayers on the Sabbath-Saturday (Acts 3:46). (see 1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10)

4. Worship Was Filled with Charismatic Praise

The offering of enthusiastic praise and prayer under the influence of the Holy Spirit was characteristic of the early Church’s worship. This was demonstrated through speech (1 Cor. 14:19) and tongues or jubilant speech (1 Cor. 14:2, 6 ff.). Each person was given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor. 12:7) and to build up the body of Christ to maturity (Eph. 4:11-15).

5. Worship is Educational

The early Christians were a teaching community giving instruction in their time of worship (see 1 Cor. 12:8; 14:26; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:13; 5:17).

6. Worship Was giving thanks- rejoicing

The early Christians were a happy bunch. The early Christian community was conscious of the need to give thanks to God and to rejoice in the Lord always. (Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:17).

7. Worship Was giving thanks- rejoicing

The Greek word, koinonia, means “sharing” or “participation” and is seen as the kind of giving in the fellowship that builds up the family of Christ (Acts 2:42-47). This is the focus of 1 Corinthians 12:1-7-each person was expected to come and share in the event of worship rather than simply listen to one person.

8. Worship Was Corporate

There was also corporate worship in every sense (1 Cor. 12:12-26). The Church was consciously a body or a fellowship of persons who saw themselves as inextricably bound together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to find out a community that upholds the Word of God and welcomes you into its midst.

9. Worship Included Music

The early Christians lifted their voices in praise to God. The New Testament frequently mentions the corporate singing which took place in their midst and also indicates some of their hymns and spiritual songs, can we do any less? (e.g., Phil. 2:6-11; Eph. 5:19-20; Rev. 4:8-11; 5:9-13).

10. Worship Included Singing and Songwriting

There are several hymns or spiritual songs in the New Testament literature. Among many others, here are examples of Christian spiritual songs: Eph. 5:14 (three lines, first two rhyme in Greek, and the last is a promise), 1 Tim. 3:16, Phil. 2:6-11, Col. 1:15-20, Heb. 1:3. There are also the Nativity hymns in Luke: the Magnificat (1:46-55), the Benedictus (1:68-79), and Nunc Dimittis (2:29-32). Besides these, there are several well-known Christian hymns that date from roughly the early second century AD currently known as the Odes of Solomon, a collection of some 42 spiritual songs. One can see in all these songs both praise and testimony to the greatness of God’s activity in His Son Jesus Christ.

The words of the hymns should relate to the person and work of Jesus Christ. They sometimes mention His pre-existence or how He became a man and accomplished redemption (salvation) for the world through His suffering and death. The dominant motif in most New Testament hymns is that Christ is victorious over all our enemies and is rightly worshipped as the image of God Who is overall.

Finally,

The above examples show us how the Worship Was Corporate lived out its life in worship of God. Worship, of course, was not a simple act done occasionally, but rather a way of life that involved one’s complete dedication to honour Christ and give our complete lives to serve Him. Worship cannot be reduced to just a few songs, a Scripture reading, a sermon, and a closing prayer. Looking at the original language in which the Bible was written, we find that Worship is in fact a whole life of submission to the call of God that comes to us in the proclamation of good news. It is my hope this advent and Christmas that your worship be sincere and heartfelt and bring you close to the One who loves you the most- Father, Son and Holy Spirit – One God, now and forever.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

Stress and God

Being dyslexic, I find it difficult to type at any reasonable speed. Therefore, I have relied upon text-to-speech software for many years.

These last few months, I had to purchase a new PC as my old one was over 15 years old and not working well.

I had text-to-speech recognition installed software on the old computer, which I use for all my writing. But, unfortunately, the software had been lost and could not be reinstalled on my new computer because it was too old for windows 11.

That is when I discovered that windows 11 has software within the package. How delighted I am to write once again with dictation, and now I’ll be able to write more personal and reflective blogs.

Stress that is Destructive

I have always found typing stressful, and text-to-speech eliminates the stress altogether. It is just like sitting down and talking to you as if you were here with me in a normal conversation. The window is 11 Software package speech-to-text, which is very accurate and ended up only taking 5 minutes to adjust to my voice.

The software only misses some words because of my Australian accent; however, overall it is very good.

Stress is a terrible thing. But, unfortunately, one of the blights of humanity is stress. We get ‘stressed out when we don’t achieve our plans for the day, or what we think we deserve, or when things go wrong. We’re a living contradiction. We are our worst enemy, working at cross purposes against our best interest. We want meaning, purpose, and peace of mind.

Stress may affect our mind-body-soul connection, which may cause us to be socially withdrawn. When were highly stressed it is far easier not to be in the company of others, and be with oneself with one’s own thoughts.

This is important to be solitary from time to time; however, to make a lifestyle of it will only guarantee loneliness and despair. Sometimes we live our complete life every minute of every day under great stress that we’re so used to the feeling of struggle that we accept it as normal.

However, it is not normal, and that is why 1 Peter 5:7 encourages us to cast everything upon him because JESUS cares for us. The as he and other passages in the Bible indicate to us that the lord does not want us to be stressed out simply because it is not typical for any of us, whether we are believers or not, to live a stressful life. New International Version

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Pleasure Relieves Stress

Pleasure is a good thing, and we need to have some fun; however, it’s not the be-all, end-all that we imagine it to be, and we become disappointed with our life and can’t put our finger on why. But, again, it’s about expectations; we become stressed when they are unmet.

For example, when we are having fun, and the pleasure we feel comes to an end, we want to chase after it, trying to create familiar feelings of joy. Sometimes we try to recreate experiences at a considerable cost to ourselves; we try to convert momentary pleasure into something permanent.

When life goes wrong, we try to fix it by increasing the feel-good factor and striving to make it stay with us, but we can’t do it. So, when we are stressed, we search for ways to make ourselves happy, often unwisely.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot make what is temporal permanent or make what is imagined real.

We can’t get back our loved one who is gone, the job that fell through our fingers or even the children who have become adults and their lives absent from us.

Also, it’s worth noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its devastating toll, and we will never get back what we lost.

Faith and Mindfulness

Several hundred years ago, along with other religions, Christianity began engaging the West in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.

Although it was not named as such, that is precisely what it is; the aim, objective, and results are the same. In mindfulness practice, if one removes the idea of God, it still works. However, I prefer to still relate to God mindfully because it helps me to focus my mind, body, and spiritual person.

In its purest form, mindfulness is simply trust/faith in God’s ability to help you through whatever it is you are experiencing.

Faith is for the Now- Amplified Bible

Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed) and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].

Mindfulness is also in the NOW. It is about appreciating what is right in front of you- NOW.

And faith is trusting in God Now- not tomorrow that is hope- faith is NOW

The World Borrows God’s Ways.

Science is Good because God invented it. However, it’s such a shame that today the creator- God is taken out of the equation. The scientific evidence of the success of mindfulness in enhancing human life is overwhelming, and for those interested in their wellness, we cannot ignore it.

Various professional disciplines and social movements, such as medicine and health care, psychology and brain science, and education at all levels, the law, business, leadership, and much more, enhance their practice by inserting mindfulness into their daily routine.

Today’s mainstream medicine is developing an ever-growing interest in mindfulness-based intervention, such as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

We can practice mindfulness for peace of mind and to relieve a wide range of chronic medical conditions.

It is much like snowmelt flowing inevitably downhill from a high mountain source, flowing around obstacles, finding many pathways under the gentle tug of gravity, and ultimately merging into significant river systems. The gravitational pull promises liberation from suffering and the potential safe harbour.

The Whole Person

Christians often forget that we are holistic beings of mind, body and spirit, and God ministered to the whole person. Therefore, as humans, we need to prepare for spiritual awakening to embody well-being, greater wisdom, and wise action in our individual lives.

In other words, mindfulness can become a normal and natural way to live your life, and the feeling of well-being is inevitable. Living a mindful life as Jesus Christ did would not end our frustrations but the beginning of successfully managing them.

Jesus gave us the answer to our stress and said don’t chase after things that are here today and gone tomorrow, but rather, strive for eternal things. Eternal things are more satisfying, like top-quality peace, joy, and love, that only God can supply. Mindfulness can help us to pursue eternal things naturally and consistently by focusing on the NOW.

Trying to hold onto relationships or things that are gone will leave you stressed and keep you grieving for as long as you hold onto them. All human relationships, albeit long-term, are temporal and subject to the joys and pains of this life; our lives are so fragile and short.

The only permanent relationship that is forever is a relationship with God offered to us through Jesus Christ.

In my work, I aim to empower others with education and motivation to help them make a purposeful and happy life in Jesus’s love.

In addition, I enjoy helping you to set holistic wellness goals and provide resources, helping you determine which changes would make the most significant impact on your life.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

PILGRIMAGE AND A PATTERN OF FAILURE

Exodus 16:2-4 New International Version

²In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

I once flew over the Sinai Desert and looking down upon it, conjured up in my mind a picture of miles of sandy desert with rolling sand dunes here and there. However, I came to learn that the reality is very different. There are miles and miles of red-brown rock, rising into hills and mountains with unexpected plateaux and occasional caves.

The Sinai can be very cold, bleak, inhospitable, and terrifying. Yet in another way, it is beautiful and magnetic. It drew the desert fathers there too fast and pray. It houses St Katharine’s monastery with its wonderful library and its green oasis garden. It attracts coach loads of tourists, driving up the roads made during the Israeli occupation of Egypt after the Nine-Day War. It is also the scene of the wonderful story which forms the basis of the Jewish faith and creed and the rock-like foundation of the Christian salvation history.

John Rogerson, the Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield, states in his book ‘The Old Testament World’ that the history of Israel begins with Israel.

That is, it begins with an association of tribes that were occupying the Samaria and Bethel Hills and possibly part of Lower Galilee around 1230 BC. The history of Israel can be reconstructed by scholars based on a variety of evidence.

The narratives about Israel’s history in the Old Testament belong to an ancient category of writing. Although they have an interest in Israel’s past, their main purpose is religious. They are concerned to tell the story of Israel as the people of God and so they show how God brought these people into being and blessed, punished, exiled, and restored them.

So, they did not just describe Israel’s actual history. They describe its full sacred and saving meaning. They choose a story about the tribes of Israel after leaving Egypt and wandering around for some years before they settled.

It is this story of escape, wandering, failures rescued, and forgiveness, set in the bleak Sinai Peninsula, which becomes the core of the salvation history of both Jews and Christians.

It gives us a basic theme of pilgrimage and a pattern of failure, forgiveness and a new start because of the overwhelming love and forgiveness of a righteous but amazingly loving God.

EXODUS THE BOOK OF FREEDOM

In the book of Exodus, we learn how the people are freed from Egypt but then go wandering through the terrible wilderness moaning and groaning as they went.

Moses pointed out to them that Your complaining is not against me but against the Lord, but he still intercedes to God for them.

This is a story of God feeding his people in the wilderness and is picked up by the writer of the fourth Gospel in the reading we had from that book. Ephesians 4.11-16.

The other three Gospels set the story of the institution of Holy Communion within their account of the last supper. This meal may or may not have been a Passover meal, but it was certainly eaten at Passover time and its significance is undergirded by the story of the escape from Egypt when the angel of death passed over the houses on which the blood was smeared, and the Hebrews were allowed to leave by the grief-stricken Pharaoh whose son had died.

As death passed over the Hebrews, so the followers of Jesus would escape from punishment and the fear of death because of his own death by which he conquered death.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Its deep meaning could only be understood in the light of the new covenant of his blood and his followers must share in the bread and wine, the body and blood, to gain strength and courage for their own pilgrimage through life.

In his sequence of events, Jesus died on the cross as the Passover lamb was being slain and the emphasis is on love, service, sacrifice, death, and salvation. The gospel of John’s reading gives us the teaching about Jesus being the bread of our lives.

Jesus had fed the five thousand and then sent his small band of disciples in a boat across the lake while he prayed.

Later he terrified them by walking on the water towards them. Once they had crossed the lake they were again met by crowds, whom Jesus fed once more with loaves.

Jesus called upon his followers to work for the food that lasted by believing that God sent him. They asked for a sign as their ancestors had received manna in the wilderness. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He promised that Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.

This saying I am the bread of life is one of John’s presentations of the I am sayings of Jesus. Other examples are I am the good shepherd, I am the true vine, etc.

These sayings may not be original, but they are the means by which the Gospel writer here draws out the deep meaning and significance for Christians of what Jesus did and spoke. In his own way, he is teaching the followers of Jesus that the source and sustenance for their whole life pilgrimage lie- in Jesus.

Christians can live their whole lives in the presence of God by believing in Jesus Christ, following his teaching, praying, reading, meditating on his words, and feeding on his body and blood in Holy Communion.

This teaching of John was not just for Christians two thousand years ago. It is for everybody now- for you and for me.

Our lives here are nothing less than a pilgrimage of growing into God’s image, modelling ourselves on Jesus in whom the fullness of God’s image dwells. We are to grow up into Christ.

Just as the Israelites wandered through the Sinai wilderness while they learnt their lessons as a community, we are called upon to do this as members of a community – the Christian community into which all are called.

DO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY

The letters to the Ephesians are addressed to the community of Christians in Ephesus- the body of Christ in that place. It is as members of that community, sharing their gifts, learning from each other, speaking the truth to one another, assessing, commenting, and supporting each other to live out their lives and grow into the body of Christ. To do the work of the ministry, to Speak the truth in love, we must grow up in every way unto him.

This is your call and mine. As members of the body of Christ where you live and beyond. Wherever we are set, we have this wonderful call to work together and grow to be more like Christ.

But of course, we do this not for ourselves but for God and God’s world.

For the salvation of souls, we are to be a living example and be open and ready to welcome everybody and draw them into the community of God’s love.

What a calling!

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

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Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Paula Rose Parish💕

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Christ is King!

Luke 23: 3-43

³When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[^a^] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

³⁸There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.

³⁹One of the criminals who hung there, hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

IS CHRIST KING?

In preparing for this service, I thought it would be interesting to see what other preachers in other churches have to say about Christ the |King. So, I read some sermons on the internet and quickly found a general sense of awkwardness about the idea of Christ as a King, which seems to have two sources. One is political, the other anti-monarchical.

Many Christians seem to be naturally on the left politically. As we have seen in recent months, this country has become increasingly republican and anti-monarchical.

The past leader of the Labour Party UK, Jeremy Corbyn, refused to sing the National Anthem or to kneel before the sovereign. There are plenty of people in the Church who share these views.

I used to work with a URC minister who was very anti-Royalty. In a sermon, he admitted that he disliked royalty so much he would leave the country to avoid a coronation. He also thought we should celebrate ‘Christ as a democratically-elected President’ rather than ‘Christ the King’, and attested that Jesus was a pure communist.

Whatever view we hold, whatever happens on this wordy plane, monarchy or not, our Jeremiah reading looks forward to the day when Christ is King of heaven and earth, and justice will reign forever.

Jeremiah 23: 3-6

³“I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

⁵“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David (who was a King) a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely, and do what is just and right in the land.

⁶In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Saviour

JESUS’ KINGLINESS WAS ALWAYS EVIDENT

In the gospels, the life of Jesus is framed by kingship. At his Nativity, three kings are seeing the newborn King of the Jews. And at the Crucifixion, the notice hammered onto the top of his cross ironically echoes the same unfulfilled promise – ‘This is Jesus, King of the Jews.’

What kind of King begins his earthly life in a stable and ends it as the victim of a cruel public execution? His reaction to whether he was a king is, at least to Pilate, elusive. ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’ demands Pilate in John’s Gospel. ‘My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight so I should not be delivered to the Jews“.

Here is Jesus the friend of the poor, the non-political figure who proclaimed that every human being is equal in God’s sight.

Jesus, the rebel who defied authority and overthrew the money changers’ tables in the temple.

Jesus, born in a stable, entered Jerusalem on a donkey and died the death of a common criminal for our salvation.

This Jesus, who promised the thief hanging next to him that he would be in paradise with him.

But Christ has not always been thought of as a king. In the first century, you wouldn’t find any representations of Christ in physical form at all, but only in signs – groups of letters. Or the sign of the fish. Other early representations are of Christ as the lamb, the true vine, and the Good Shepherd – but not a King.

To the early Christians, the King was the Emperor of Rome, a figure of worldly power who persecuted them, martyred them, and forced them to worship false gods. So, it would have been strange for them to think of Jesus as resembling a Roman Emperor – a King.

So instead, they imagined Jesus as more like themselves: the suffering servant who was obedient even till death and surrounded themselves with images of the lamb, the dove, the vine, the fish, and the shepherd.

WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

It was in the 4th century when Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity and the image of Jesus as King.

The head (Pontiff) of the Church, Jesus Christ, and the Emperor shared majesty in a typical ‘maiestas‘. The figure of worldly power, the emperor, and the figure of Christ the King were merged into one.

Now, this is a very interesting moment in the history of the Christian Church. But, first, Jesus clarified that he wasn’t a king and never sought worldly authority.

But in the 4th century, Emperor Constantine, the most potent King on earth, not only legalised Christianity but became himself a Christian. The spread of Christianity between the time of Constantine and 600 AD is astonishing and the map of the Christian world began to resemble an empire.

Though Christ Himself refused to be a King, the earthly kings protected and spread his gospel by acting on His behalf. The religion of the powerless became the religion of the powerful.

CHRIST THE KING

The important thing to remember is that Christ the King was not introduced by the early Church to promote or support worldly authority but to challenge it, where it is unjust, divided, and discriminatory. It was hoped that the kings of the earth would live by the example of Christ.

The image of Christ in majesty is an image of authority, but the authority of the dove, shepherd, lamb, and vine denotes love and peace and justice.

The image of Christ as King stands as universal, inclusive, merciful, reconciling, and more loving than any earthly Kingship can ever be.

COLOSSIANS 1:15-20

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For in him all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities have been created through him and for him.

17 He is before all things; in him, all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the Church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that he might have supremacy in everything.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

20 and through him, he reconciles to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Comfort and Hope Come Through Grace.

Luke 20:27-38 https://www.bible.com/bible/1/LUK.20.27-38.KJV8

2 Thess 2:13-17 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians%202%3A13-17&version=NIV

“And no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

That must have come as a great relief to Jesus in that he had lately been pummelled with one tricky query after the next.

If ever there was a group of people who were invested in the so-called “Gotcha” kind of question, the religious authorities of Jesus’ day were it.

FIRSTLY, The point that is made here is with just 2 brothers marrying the same woman, but just for effect, the Sadducees crank up the scenario to seven grooms for one woman, which alludes to an OT story.

This scenario is almost childish. It’s the kind of thing my kids would have done when they were about 9 years old, exaggerating the point just to get your attention.

The purpose of the Sadducee’s question was to mock Jesus.

If you think that someone has silly ideas or a stupid stance on a given issue, then one way to reveal your opinion is to construct an absurd scenario and try to force the other person to enter it while trying to answer your question. It’s a sinful thing to do, and it’s unfair.

The Sadducees thought the idea of resurrection to be foolish.

Since Jesus was a prominent teacher, they thought it would be fun and instructive to publicly humiliate him and so they invented their over-the-top scenario that exploited the old Israelite practice of marriage.

Jesus, of course, wriggles out of the question by challenging its entire premise.

The Sadducees wanted to make resurrection look senseless by showing the impracticality of what to do with people who had been married more than once in this life.

Jesus simply challenges them that marriage as we now know it has nothing to do with life in the kingdom of God.

Essentially Jesus said, “Whoever told you marriage would be part of life in a post-resurrection existence?” That left the Sadducees with egg on their faces.

SECONDLY, In preaching on this text, there is a temptation to make it some kind of textbook on sexuality and marriage in the kingdom of God. It seems likely, however, that if we make too much of Jesus’ words here on marriage in the kingdom, we will be guilty of the error of the Sadducees all over again.

That is, we will believe things that are not explicitly taught. We are probably better off saying no more than what Jesus teaches here, which is that we should not assume that life in the kingdom of God will be just like life here.

Yes, there is good biblical evidence for the idea that the kingdom will include a new earth and so we should not always envision heaven (as we tend to do) as some ghostly, non-physical domain that will be devoid of mountains, rivers, clouds, and songbirds.

But even so, we need to remember that the mysteries are yet to be revealed. We need to understand exactly what our bodies and being will be like in the life to come, which is not clear.

What we need to be content with, is the line in Luke 20:36 where Jesus reminds us that we will be “God’s children” in that life to come. And if that is not enough for us, I don’t know what would be!

“And no one dared ask him any more questions.”

It probably was a relief for Jesus to get to that point.

Thirdly, 2 Thess 2:13-17 This is where God grounds us.

Paul reminds us that God loves us. God has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Paul prays for “eternal comfort” and “good hope”. This comfort is unbreakable, and from eternity past to forever more. What will be in the future- will be and we can’t alter it.

But here and now- Our hope is in God’s promise to save and glorify us in the resurrection with Christ. God is good on his promises. This hope is certain, sure and it is true. We can rest on it. This comfort and hope come through grace.

We rest on God’s grace towards undeserving sinners. We have comfort even in the attack of chaos because God’s grace is behind our salvation.

We have a sure hope of God completing his salvation because God’s grace is behind it.

LASTLY,

If you wondered how you are going to stand firm all the way, remember that it is by God’s grace, we have no hope in ourselves….. HC…….

We will hold fast. The resurrection is by God’s grace… Paul is most concerned with our hearts. He prays for us to be divinely comforted and established in good works. We too can pray this way today, that our hearts are comforted by God, and we be used for every good work and word by God to the glory of Christ.

Thank you for visiting me here; I hope this post was helpful.

Virtual hugs, I look forward to your visit to my next blog post!

Paula Rose Parish💕

🖤Want to help support me as an author?

✔BOOKS BY PAULA available at AMAZON in the UK, USA, Aust;

📚Nothing Good about Grief: Path to recovery with Psalm 23 after COVID-19 & other losses.

📚Psalm 23 Unwrapped: Hope in difficult times.

Sowing Seeds of Hope, Love, and Faith.

Christ calls us to take the Gospel to everyone––even to sinners such as the woman at the well––and to witness to Christ as the woman did after her encounter with Jesus. Jesus demonstrates His care for all, regardless of their social standing. We can also be inspired by the Samaritan woman’s excitement in sharing the good news of Jesus

SCRIPTURE: John 4:5-42

Having moved into my own home, I used my holidays to decorate and sort the small courtyard behind my house. I love trees. In the suburb where I grew up in Australia, the streets in my suburb were utterly tree-less; however, many were planted in people’s back gardens. I think there are not many trees because of the scarcity of water, and trees need lots of water. Local councils didn’t want the residents to waste their water, particularly during times of drought, for those who did, were issued heavy fines. So, when I came to Wales Uk to live, I was so pleased to see the trees everywhere!

I bought a house in Wales, where I am surrounded by beautiful Parks, a river, mountains lined with trees, and a sandy beach.

I love trees and enjoy looking at them, so I bought two big pots and a lot of potting soil, bought a cherry tree and an apple tree, and planted them. New buds form within a few days, and fruit appeared after 3 years. I am looking forward to them producing some fruit for me in years to come. I chose cherry because cherries are expensive to buy in the shops, and I really enjoy cherries, and they’ve got very high antioxidant properties being a dark fruit. Usually, apples are easy to grow, and I can do all sorts of things with apples like apple pie, sauce, and much more an added bonus, apples are very high in vitamin C. Then I got thinking about apples and cherries because they have seeds.

SEEDS AND NEW LIFE

A traditional gift for a teacher from the student is an apple. Think about a good teacher that you may have had. A good teacher plant seeds of ideas in our thinking and helps us explore those ideas, and they explain things to us in an exciting way. A good teacher is a teacher because they love to teach and want to help the student be all they can be and pursue a successful future.

Most teachers never know what the results of their teaching will be. It takes many years for the student to mature and become an adult. During that time, they will discover their interests and talents and decide how to use them. A good teacher plants a seed, in their student’s mind, and years later, others will see the results of that teacher’s work, and the teacher may never know the outcome of their student’s life.

WE ALL HAVE A PURPOSE IN THIS LIFE – John 4:5-42

Jesus talks about this idea in (4:37)- He says, “One sow and another reaps” – one person plants the seed, and another person may harvest the fruit. So, when we say something helpful to another person or do something kind, it is planting a seed of God’s love.

We may never know the result; we may never know the outcome of that planted seed. However, we can be sure that there will be a good result when we work with God’s love. This is what we are focusing on in this text today: Sowing Seeds of hope, love, and faith.

JESUS AND THE OUTSIDERS

Briefly looking at the context, we find that Jews had little to do with Samaritans. Ever felt like an outsider? I have many times. Jews considered Samaritans as outsiders who hold little worth.

Samaritans were hated so much by the Jews that they tended to avoid even travelling through Samaria. But Jesus didn’t share this hatred towards Samaritans. He travelled from Judea to Galilee to go through Samaria rather than bypassing it. He was not trying to save time, but Jesus continually sought out the outcasts, the outsider of society––the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers, all those who were considered to have little worth. Jesus loves all people regardless of how others may devalue a certain section of society, Jesus accepts them.

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL

Travelling left Jesus exhausted, and hot and he needed a rest and a drink of water. So, when Jesus came to a little town in Samaria he stopped at the local well for a drink. As Jesus approached the well, he discovered a lone woman drawing water.

Usually, women came to the well in the mornings and evenings, but this woman came at noon. It was very hot at noon, but she was alone at the well and free to draw water without ridicule. But today, a strange man approached. It was not suitable for men to converse with women in this culture. The rule was,

“Let no man talk with a woman in the street, no, not even with his wife.”

Jesus spoke and ministered to the woman and in doing so, he was getting rid of old Jewish prejudices and rivalries that were held against the Samaritan people. Jesus addressed the discrimination of women, particularly toward women who were regarded as sinners. God is spirit, so our worship cannot be confined to a particular place or a particular people. God is everywhere, so He can be worshipped everywhere by all people. True worship is an affair of the heart.

WOMAN MATTER

After the conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan woman left her water jar at the well and excitedly ran into the city to tell the people there of her conversation with Jesus. “Come, see a man who told me everything I did. Can this be the Christ?” (v. 29). Many people “believed in Jesus BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF THE WOMAN” (v. 39). How amazing! In that time and place, people didn’t take a woman’s word very seriously.

Until Jesus came along, this woman was practically invisible; no one would have sent her into town as their spokeswoman. But her contact with Jesus transformed her life and status in the community. The people heard her and said, “You are right. This is the saviour of the world” (the meaning of v. 42).

SOULS MATTER

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said: ‘Go for souls and go for the worst’.

That’s what Jesus did when he turned this so-called outcast into a well-received evangelist.

Jesus planted seeds of hope, love, and faith in her heart, and she received them, and she let those seeds grow to where she acted and shared her story.

Jesus does that. He changes people’s lives, and we do that too, we are seed planters, and if God wishes, we help to grow those seeds by protecting and nurturing them – and we may or may not see the final result.

Jesus especially loves to help outcasts because they most need help, and so should we.

The late Billy Graham said:

“Jesus stopped dying on the cross long enough to answer the prayer of a thief.

He stopped in a big crowd one day because a WOMAN touched the hem of His garment,

and He’ll stop to touch your life, change you, and forgive you – that’s Good News”!

CHURCH MATTERS

As the church, we are Christ’s hands for service in this world, and he uses you and me to do his work, to change people’s lives: How?

• We plant the seeds of Christ each time we CARE;

• We plant the seeds of Christ each time we LISTEN;

• We plant the seeds of Christ each time we REACH OUT;

• We plant the seeds of Christ each time we TOUCH EACH OTHER IN LOVE.

A quote from John Wesley “The Church has nothing else to do but to save souls; therefore, be devoted to this work. It is your business to bring as many sinners as possible to repentance”.

This week let us resolve to allow God to plant seeds of hope, faith, and love to fill us with His Spirit so we might plant the same seeds in the life of others.

Let us pray that we will touch lives with seeds of hope, love, and faith this week and see the transforming love of Christ in action!

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Paula Rose Parish💕

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The letter that changed everything

Be Wise in What You Do

Exodus 20 NIV

The Ten Commandments

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Why is it that these people didn’t know that Jesus was the Christ?

Infused Prayer

Hear with Your Soul

Reflect

Let’s Pray

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Matthew 24:36-44 The Day and Hour Unknown

Isaiah 2:1-5. The Mountain of the Lord

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Introduction

Christ’s Divinity

Christ’s Humanity

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The Unusual herald of the Kingdom

John and Jesus

John and Jesus the Jews

Jesus the Rescuer

The Pious Take Offense

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1.Worship Involves Sacrifice

2. Worship Is Spiritual

3. However, Worship Did Include Specific Practices

4. Worship Was Filled with Charismatic Praise

5. Worship is Educational

6. Worship Was giving thanks- rejoicing

7. Worship Was giving thanks- rejoicing

8. Worship Was Corporate

9. Worship Included Music

10. Worship Included Singing and Songwriting

Finally,

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Stress that is Destructive

Pleasure Relieves Stress

Faith and Mindfulness

The World Borrows God’s Ways.

The Whole Person

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EXODUS THE BOOK OF FREEDOM

THE BREAD OF LIFE

DO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY

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IS CHRIST KING?

Jeremiah 23: 3-6

JESUS’ KINGLINESS WAS ALWAYS EVIDENT

WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

CHRIST THE KING

COLOSSIANS 1:15-20