Monthly Archives: April 2026

Lost in translation…

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Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing …. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing – nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable – absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our master has embraced us.

(Rom 8 38-39; the Message)

O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name! O my soul, bless God, don’t forget a single blessing!…..

God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges for ever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.

As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud. Men and women don’t live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, but a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here. God’s love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear him …God has set his throne in heaven; he rules over us all. He’s the king!

(Ps 103, extracts; the Message)

A few weeks ago, I woke in the early hours of the morning and found myself unable to get back to sleep. My mind was full of questions, fretting over issues – none of them actually urgent, and all quite reasonable – and getting into a real state of anxiety and self-condemnation as a result. I decided to get up rather than lie and fight with my rebel-thoughts, and as a result, I heard a  blackbird singing in the darkness, singing because he knew the dawn-light was coming.

O Lord, my compassionate Father, I want to be like this bird, confident in your love in spite of the darkness of grief, sin and evil in this world; at peace and able to surrender the illusion that I have control over my life. Let my mind and heart be gripped by your love so that I grow in wisdom and hope, resilience and usefulness. Let me not fail to know your love even when circumstances seem to conspire against it, and when my spirit quails. Lord , you know that it is hard to believe in your personal love when my life hurts and I am filled with fear, or when I see loved ones suffer and walk away from you.

I read and believe in the truth of the gospel, it is my foundation for life and all my hope is in Jesus. Yet I can’t seem to translate the great truth of that love down into my daily struggles, the need for decisions and action, the continual distracting effect of the pressure of other lives upon mine. I have to be present with people, with my own body in its roles and responsibilities – and when I am present, I seem to have forgotten about You; I just can’t hold the big stuff and the small stuff together in my mind, and it is a bit discouraging. 

How does the reality of my Father’s eternal and secure loving grasp on me get translated into life as a sinner among sinners? How does it make a difference? Perhaps simply asking this question on a regular basis is a good thing, because it forces me to recognise my need for God, and my own inability to do what I desire apart from him!

O Lord, have mercy on me and teach me, make it real for me. I need you to make a difference in all my life – in how I live and deal with an ageing body; in how I live within my marriage and family; in how I resolve tension and make decisions (small and large) about all the practical details and patterns of life. The big picture is so beautiful, but Lord, I can’t just sit and look at it all day every day!! By your spirit, please enable me to be ever more conscious of your presence even as I am immersed in the busy-ness of my life.

So be content with who you are.. God’s strong hand is on you.. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. 

(1 Pet 5.6&7; the Message)

Thank you Father that you provide for the gritty realities of our lives, and that your grace never fails. Each new day brings us new opportunities to prove your love, receive your grace and grow in trust. Thank you that it isn’t a one-off thing, but a continual process; help me to go on casting my cares on you, make it my constant practice, a liberating discipline which gradually becomes instinctive, so that your loving care for me is the foundation from which I face each day’s messy reality. Let the great gospel truth so completely permeate my thinking that there is no longer a disconnect between my knowledge of your love in Christ, and my attitude to the smallest challenge. Unify all that I am in godly obedience and joyful trust, for Jesus’ sake, Amen

Reacting to fear…

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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

(Ps 23)

“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you”, declares the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

(Isa 41.13&14)

This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us… There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…

(1 Jn 4.10,15&18)

The valley of the shadow is the natural home of fear, the habitat of malice and evil. In shadowy places, we feel vulnerable and cannot see what might be pressing close around to threaten us. Fear comes when I feel unsafe, when I or those I love am threatened in any way. Fear is defeated when the threat is revealed to be weaker than I thought, or when something stronger than the threat is discovered which will act to overcome it on my behalf.

In this world of broken beauty, where sin continues to exist, we are all vulnerable and will suffer in many ways. But the gospel teaches me that for all who are safely hidden with Christ, nothing can actually deprive them of that which matters most for eternity – the love of God and our inheritance in glory. The testimony of God’s saints down the generations is that no matter what else it touches, evil cannot touch my salvation. In this overarching view of our lives, it is clear that God’s perfect love for us has the power to drive out all that causes us to fear. But on a day-to-day basis, I know that I continue to be afraid – what am I to do with that fear?

I was recently deeply encouraged to realise that I don’t need to feel guilty about feeling fear.. that may sound foolish, but am I the only one who gets cross with themselves because my knowledge of God’s perfect love somehow doesn’t stop me getting fearful? Surely our faith is in the ongoing work of God in our lives, and like everything else, our fearfulness – a legitimate response to real threats – is actually part of how we are made, a useful tool if we know how to use it, in navigating life with our Lord’s power and presence. It doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in God’s perfect love for me! It is in the very perfection of that love that my hope lies – for my fears as well as for every other aspect of my life until I go home to glory and am fully perfected myself. My God is patient, and knows how I am formed. My Lord knows what it is to be human, to grieve, to fear, to hurt, to hunger, to agonise over the trials of loved ones – all the deepest travails of humankind are held continually up for the compassionate and unfailing love of the Father to be met.

Since then I AM loved perfectly, my ‘fear-reaction’ becomes a spur by which I am driven to meditate on the love and trustworthiness of God, to remember that Christ meets me in my troubles and has known human suffering. IN all the muddly mess of my reactions to threats and grievous wrongs, I am met by God’s loving kindness, patience and understanding. Is this not good news for fearful souls like me?! Fear becomes a means of blessing to me, so its power is stripped away and I am released to walk on in faith. Throughout scripture we find exhortations to God’s people not to be afraid – our frail humanity is met with such gentleness, and never condemnation, only the encouragement to step out in faith and prove God!

Great Shepherd, I do believe your powerful presence is with your people in all their daily walk, and in the darkest valleys which they may walk. I want to walk fearlessly, but I know all too well that my fear erupts spontaneously and can be so hard to combat.. Let me not give up hope of learning to cling to you in my troubles, in such faith and dependence on your love that the fear is drained of its poison and blinding power, and I can indeed walk on, in your strength and your victory over evil. You will deliver me through all my dark valleys – whether I walk, or crawl, or am carried in your strong arms!

Wonder of wonders…

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I cannot tell how he will win the nations, how he will claim his earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see his glory, and he shall reap the harvest he has sown, and some glad day his sun will shine in splendour,
When he the Saviour, Saviour of the world is known.

I cannot tell how all the land shall worship, when at his bidding every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation when all our hearts with love for him are filled.
But this I know, the skies will sound his praises, ten thousand thousand human voices sing, and earth to heaven, and heaven to earth will answer,
'At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is King!'
(W.Y. Fullerton, 1857-1932)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus…. who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead….

(Rom 1.1&3)

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.. each in his own turn; Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

(1 Cor 15.19-23)

[Christ Jesus].. being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Phil 2.5-11)

Let all God’s children cry, Amen! Let it be! For today we celebrate the defeat of our great enemy and the glorious assurance which has been won for us by Christ Jesus as he destroys the tyranny of sin and death, releasing us from bondage and bringing us to life in God’s kingdom now and in the age to come. We live in him today, and his power will carry us through the valley of death into his nearer presence and eternal fullness of life, a form of existence beyond our imagining in its pure and vivid perfection. Death is no longer to be feared, but faced with childlike trust in Jesus Christ and in the powerful promises of our Father God. Our elder brother has gone before us, and we can see him as we face that dark doorway, his arms extended in welcome and anticipating joy.

This victory, won once for all time and also gloriously effective day-by-day in our lives, is cause for boundless rejoicing, and will infuse our corporate praise today with great gladness. And as we contemplate the author of this victory, our Lord Jesus, we join our voices and our hearts with all the citizens of the heavenly realms in praising him, extolling his name and worshipping him. Surely he is worthy, worthy to receive so much more than our small songs and frail hearts can offer – but how marvellous to find that even our flawed offerings are cherished and welcomed, and that as we praise our Saviour, he abundantly blesses us and continues to pour out his love upon us. 

Oh Father, how we rejoice today in the wonderful revelation which is Easter Sunday! How we exult to see the tomb empty, and to hear the compassionate love of our Lord as he addressed Mary in her grief, turning mourning into dancing, and giving us an unshakeable hope!

We hear the spiritual realms reverberating with the deafening affirmation of our Lord’s defeat of sin and death; we catch the echo of the angelic shout of triumph as the risen Christ stepped from the grave and the morning sun fell upon his glorious face. We bow in worship before our Lord and Saviour, and wonder, with all the saints, at his glory, majesty, love and passion for sinners. How marvellous, how wonderful is your love for us in Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen