It takes courage to speak when you know that your views will be at odds with the prevailing culture. It’s hard to put your head above the parapet. I think it might become more normal for us to be shamed publicly for the views we hold. We might need to be ready to be unpopular.
This year we are going to need the strength that God can give to live well. That won’t happen just by hoping. I’m going to need to keep doing the things that I know will make the difference. And I need to start now.
We may feel it’s too late for something to happen, or that things have happened too soon for us.
But God holds our future, holds our past, and holds us today. We need to learn to put our time in His hands.
The good news of Christmas was for people who felt undervalued, overlooked and not particularly significant.
News that a saviour is born, change is here and that everything can be different.
It still is…
Jesus came for everyone who feels forgotten, everyone who feels on the outside of society, for those who worry that they’re not good enough for God.
God doesn’t love us because of anything we’ve done. He loves us because of His lavish grace.
Our conversation drew to a close. There was a pregnant pause. I waited. She said yes. She understood little of what would follow…
Christmas used to begin with the film of the Coca Cola Truck arriving on TV. This year Christmas begins with the delivery of the vaccines that just might change everything.
But like many things it all began in relative obscurity…
If you’re never going to see someone again, you think hard about what to say. You say what matters, and you might say it with tears.
Paul speaks to a group of leaders and through them to the church and reminds them of what is really important – both then and now.
And he says it with tears.
Advent is the season when we remind ourselves that hope for the world came with the relief of an exhausted mum hearing her new-born child crying. As every mother knows, those angry tears are the sign that there’s life, that things are well, that there is hope. Jesus came into the world crying so that our tears could have hope.
Don’t assume things are ok, don’t let people edge away, don’t forget people. Take the risk of looking like you’ve overreacted by calling the folk who come to mind. You might just stop someone falling…
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Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance
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