Unfailing Waters - News and Blog

MORNING MUSING January 29, 2012 HE SHOWED ME THE RIVER

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:19:30 +0100

Some versions read, “THE ANGEL showed me the river of the water of life” whilst others say “HE showed me” (Revelation 22:1); it is supernatural, it is thoroughly spiritual and it is essential that this happens to us. God help us to SEE THE RIVER! Whether it seems to be a living angelic being the Holy Spirit of God uses or He Himself we must, like that apostolic, prophetic man of God John, behold the flowing stream that makes glad the city of God. We will turn into dry old sticks and our churches into staid dead places unless we see the Holy Stream of God that turns saltwater into fresh and whose waters nourish the tree of life at the heart of the heavenly city and flows ever onward impacting all nations. Already, in these sentences we have brought together three occasions in which we find this recurring metaphor seen throughout the Bible (Revelation 22:1-3, Ezekiel 47:1-12, Psalm 46:4). In the natural world a river cuts its own course if left to itself. Its flow is not necessarily uniform and is the result of great processes of evaporation, cloud and rain. Frequently river sources are unknown until searched out by intrepid explorers and as they run their courses they bring fertility to barren places and on their banks mankind has established its cities. We all know about rivers. We love to walk beside them, they can be fearsome in the ferocity of their flow or calm and tranquil in their inexorable onward movement, wide or narrow, shallow or deep depending on all sorts of factors. I think we are drawn to rivers, in some countries I have spoken to those, who with nostalgic remembrance have said, “the last time there was water flowing in this stream bed was twenty years ago, we have had so little rain.” Others have taken me to places where they have pointed out a post with a line on it and remarked, “when the river overflowed the flood waters reached right up to there.”

MORNING MUSING January 12, 2012 TO BE EVERYWHERE IS TO BE NOWHERE

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:02:01 +0100

Seneca was a Roman philosopher and the title of this musing comes from him. It is a telling statement and we need to consider it seriously as we enter into this new-year. I confess I have never read Seneca and found this quote in a book by Nicholas Carr, it is entitled ‘The Shallows’ and has the sub-title “How the Internet is changing the way we read, think and remember.” It is always good to read a book confirming ones own growing convictions! I say that tongue in cheek, but Carr certainly does that for me as he reasons through issues to do with the plasticity of the brain and the way it is reshaped by new technology. He draws information from all sorts of research and it inexorably leads to the conclusion that the web fosters ignorance. I have had my misgivings about aspects of the Internet revolution and there is mass of evidence corroborating that this monolith is both help and a profound hindrance. We need wisdom from God as we engage in the use of it.

MORNING MUSING December 28, 2011 THE WELL-NOURISHED SOUL

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:51:35 +0100

It is only a few days till years end. Shortly we enter another year and it does no harm to take a look at what has transpired in our hearts and the churches of which we are a part. What has taken place during these past twelve months? Are we well nourished or under nourished, what is our honest assessment? Have we been engaged in helping to feed and strengthen (one of the Bible words is ‘edify’) the community of Christians to which we are connected or is the opposite more the truth? For some of us it may be that there has been a diminishing of our spiritual appetites, a dangerous sign indeed. I well remember that when we left Australia to help look after my mother in the UK, for the first two and a half years she had a hearty appetite, enjoying her food very much, then, quite suddenly things changed as far as her eating was concerned, it was a brief period of three weeks or so, we did not register it as we should have done, the sign of diminished appetite was a presage of her passing away, in a few days she was gone. We all need to be watchful concerning our spiritual hunger and thirst and not slide into the kind of complacency the Lord rebuked in the church in Laodicea. He could not feed upon their superficial Christianity, there was no substance to their profession of faith, it really was ‘lite’ and He warned them that He would vomit them out. “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:14-22). Should we be surprised that the theme of eating and drinking, of suppertime with Him, figure in these words?

Speaker notes - The Lord’s Prayer in Context

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:25:47 +0100

Speaker notes for The Lord’s Prayer in Context series, from ISOM New Life Restoration Church P.J. from November 21st - December 5th 2011 have been uploaded. (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=28:speaking-notes&Itemid=45)

24 Book briefs added

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:25:02 +0100

IN PERSONAL LIFE AND HOLINESS (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=44:personal-life-and-holiness&Itemid=6)A Gospel PrimerPracticing AffirmationPrayerSpiritual FoodTempted and TriedThe WOunded HeartIN CHURCH HISTORY (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=37:church-history&Itemid=6)Days of FIre and GloryHow to Read a ChurchIN DOCTRINE (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=41:doctrinal&Itemid=6)DispensationalismHow I Changed my Mind about Women in LeadershipLet Go and Let GodTerritorial Spirits and World EvangelismVocationIN BIOGRAPHY (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=32:biography&Itemid=6)Flight to HeavenIN CHILDRENS BOOKS (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=35:childrens-books&Itemid=6)Inside NarniaKnights MaidensIN CONTEMPORARY WORLD ISSUES (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:contemporary-world-issues&Itemid=6)IntellectualsSaving LeonardIN CHURCH LIFE (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=39:church-life&Itemid=6)Quitting ChurchIN BIBLICAL EXPOSITION (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=31:biblical-exposition&Itemid=6)RevelationThe Anatomy of the Fourth GospelThe Fullness of ChristIN FICTION (index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=74:fiction&Itemid=6)The Holy WarWhere the Red Fern Grows