By Tim Challies

Have you ever dreamed of being rich?  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to know that money poses no barrier between you and your dreams?  I think we all have at one time or another, haven’t we?  And most of us are convinced that we would use our wealth for good, to serve others rather than ourselves.  We imagine handing over the keys to a new home, or donating the full-ride scholarship to that person who could never afford it.  We dream of using extravagant wealth to do extravagant good.

We attach great significance to great deeds, don’t we?  And we attach little significance to little deeds.  And yet so few of us ever have the chance to do those exceptional things.  But what if we are measuring it all wrong?  John Stott says it so well as he comments on Galatians 6:2: “To love one another as Christ loved us may lead us not to some heroic, spectacular deed of self-sacrifice, but to the much more mundane and unspectacular ministry of burden-bearing.”

I think the reason we dream of helping others through extravagant wealth is that it feels like those extravagant deeds count for more.  So many of our good deeds are so small. They seem paltry.  Instead of handing over the keys to a brand new car, we hand over a slightly over-cooked casserole. Instead of funding an extreme makeover for that person’s home, we show up on Saturday morning to help apply a new coat of paint.  Instead of giving them a check to pay off their mortgage, we give them a few hours of our time to listen and counsel. Instead of funding a wonderful vacation, we take their children for a couple of hours so they can escape for a date.  It is hardly the stuff dreams are made of.

But I love what John Piper says: “Here is a vocation that will bring you more satisfaction than if you became a millionaire ten times over: Develop the extraordinary skill for detecting the burdens of others and devote yourself daily to making them lighter.” This is the extraordinary ministry for every ordinary Christian—bearing the burdens of others. What seems so mundane and so unspectacular, is actually bringing great glory and honor to God.  Read more…

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By Trevor Bradley

Some people use Red Bull, others coffee and still others stimulants for a lift …. albeit temporarily.  I want to use His word… Psalm 91…

David must have been facing some horrific things when he wrote this psalm.  He talks of “terror by night”, “arrows by day”, “pestilence that stalks” and “destruction that lays waste”.  Notwithstanding, this is what David says he was privileged to learn, and I trust that this word carries you through 2015 and becomes part of your life:

• GOD IS AND WILL BE YOUR REFUGE from and in the storms of life.  We can run to Him and find a safety house;
• MY FORTRESS:  When the battles rage, God will fight for us while we look on.  He will gain our victory (in fact he already has at the cross).
• HE WILL DELIVER:  He is Jehovah Sabaoth who delivers us in and out of our troubles. God will live up to His name.
• HE WILL COVER YOU:  God will be your surety and security.  And there is no better comfort to know, than that He has your back.
• HE WILL BE FAITHFUL to His word and that which He has covenanted to do for you in His word.

Why, you ask, will God bother with me and to do this for me?  Because of who He is… and because you matter and you are precious to Him as we are repeatedly told in scripture.

So may I encourage you to bask in the glory of God’s unimaginable love for you, His inexhaustible grace toward you and His ever available mercy outstretched toward you.

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What does God think about the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy?  A Biblical Response…

You needed to have lived in the deep jungles of Borneo not to have heard of the 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy that has hit book stores over the past few years.  They have recently been followed up by the equally steamy film version of the series.  The theme song for the movie has topped the music charts for 6 weeks consecutively, and everyone you speak to has an opinions about the book or the movie.

Author & Blogger Tim Challies says:  “On one level, this is just another in a long line of films with a storyline that portrays sex and relationships in ways far removed from God’s design. But it is so much more than that. I believe that 50 Shades of Grey can serve as a kind of cultural barometer that alerts us to the colossal changes that have been occurring in recent years, and to the consequences they bring”

So what can the 50 Shades phenomenon teach us today?  Tim Challies shares 7 lessons that we can learn from 50 Shades of Grey.

Pulling Back the Shades is a response to the Shades of Grey phenomenon and is available at our stores or on-line.

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Candice is a busy wife to Matt and mom of Noah (5) and Tyler (3 going on 21). Candice also works part-time at our Rosebank Store of Christian Book Discounters. In her spare time Candice writes for her own blog and is a travel consultant.

Candice shares more thoughts about her experience so far and what she has learnt so far in Park 2.  For Part one of this blog click here… 

• Eating sand, running in the muddy puddles in a Spiderman suit or wearing your gum boots to the mall is cool. Cultivate the explorer in your children. Let them experience. Let them get dirty. Don’t be a mom that stops them from trying new things.
• Be an example to your kids. I’ve often found myself disciplining my children and then taking a step back and realising that I do the same thing, yet I tell them not to do it. I heard it said that life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mom. We’re the blueprint they work off in learning how to react, how to behave, how to deal with emotions, how to express emotions.
• We should always have the courage to admit when we’re wrong and say sorry.
• We can NEVER hug, kiss or tell them you love them enough. Never stop.
• Let your kids surprise you. They are more capable than we think. That happened to me on Sunday with Noah at Sunday school. I expected him to come running back to me and have me walking in holding his hand. Alas. I was shut down! 🙂 Give your kids the opportunities to show how they’ve grown, even if that means they don’t need you as much anymore. Be proud of that. They know you’re always there when you need them but have the courage to let them go. It’s harder than it sounds, believe me.
• Be honest about your struggles. Other moms will appreciate that.
• This is the MOST important thing I can tell you ~ always remember, you are their mother first and their friend second. That might be choosing the harder road sometimes and it hurts but you’re their mother first, before you’re their friend.
• The birth of a child is also the birth of a mother. Miraculous as it is, motherhood is ours at every stage and at every age. Motherhood is difficult. I sometimes feel like loads of moms pretend like it isn’t. Believe me, it is. On the days that you think you just aren’t shaping up, remember this:

“ No matter how busy or difficult your life gets, never forget:   To your little people, your kisses stop pain, your voice defeats monsters and your hugs make the world right again.”

Nobody can ever take that away from you… ever.

Motherhood has been my greatest character shaper. Funny how the littlest people teach us the greatest things. What a privilege to have a front row seat ~ whether you’re a first time mom of a newborn, or a first time mom of a 5 year old like me. Either way, we’re both rookies thrown in the deep end,  and that’s where we learn the most.

See you in the trenches, fellow mommy warriors. Chin up. One day we’ll drink HOT tea together and wish our babies fitted in our arms again. At least we know for sure, they’ll never outgrow our hearts.

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By Tim Challies

I trust God with my soul. I do. I have no other hope in life and death but the confidence that I am in Christ for all eternity. I trust God with my soul, but for some reason have a much tougher time trusting him with the souls of my kids. I wonder if you can identify with the struggle.

I am convinced that God saved me by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. I did nothing to merit this salvation. There is nothing in me that turned God’s eye in my direction. There is no vestige of goodness that compelled him to look my way. I was not seeking him when he began seeking me. It was all of his grace without even the smallest bit of my merit. I added nothing to my salvation but the sin that made it necessary.

I believe all this about myself, but somehow find it more difficult to believe when it comes to my children. Now it’s not quite as simple as you might think: I have seen enough of my kids to know that they suffer from the same total depravity as their father. I know they have no merit to bring before the Lord. No, my problem is deeper than that, and a little more difficult to root out.

When it comes to my kids, I seem to want to believe that God’s action is dependent upon my action. I believe that for God to save my kids, I first need to do the right things. If I want God to save them, I need to cross the spiritual t’s and dot the spiritual i’s. And if I don’t, well, their salvation may just be questionable. When it comes to their eternal destiny, it’s like he isn’t looking to their good deeds, but to mine, as if they will be justified by my merit or condemned by my lack of merit.

I don’t actually articulate this, but I see it trying to manifest itself in my life.  Read More…

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 Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books. 

Your Sins are Forgiven…

Mark 2:5  “Son, your sins are forgiven”

There can be no greater need in the human heart and conscience than to hear that our sins are forgiven. So many of us live with shattered lives and broken dreams, because of past mistakes, errors in judgement, hasty words, bad actions and perverse deeds.Regrets and fears sometimes stalk the conscience of even the very best of human beings. After her death in September 1997 Time magazine published a cover story on Mother Theresa entitled “Mother Theresa’s Crisis of Faith”. In this article written ten years after her death and quoting from her correspondence, they showed that even such a highly revered person was plagued by doubts about her relationship with God. This only showed how human she was and many of us can identify with her strugglesHow wonderful then to hear these the best of words from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ “……. Your sins are forgiven”! In the story in Mark’s Gospel the man who was ill was not presented to Jesus to have his sins forgiven. He was a paralytic and his friends frantically tore a hole in the roof to let the man down in front of Jesus to be healed. But the Saviour is wiser than the wisest of men and perceived a greater need in this man than simply the healing of his limbs, great though that need undoubtedly was. There was a much greater need. He needed his sins forgiven. This is a great reminder to us that sometimes the outward symptoms we experience occasionally mask a greater need. Often when people are struggling for instance with a persistent depression or other troubling affliction it is because the prevailing problem is not the chief problem. There is often a hidden need. Forgiveness is needed for some sin or failure buried deep away in past memories.

The thing for us to notice is that this carpenter from Nazareth not only had the insight to know this about us but also has the power and authority to forgive us because of who He was and what He came to do for us.

Perhaps your conscience is heavy as you read this. What can you do? You can turn to Jesus in full confidence that not only does He receive all who come to Him but that He has the full authority to forgive all our sins forever.

Prayer: “Lord, see my heart, know my need. Please forgive me for all my past sins. Know my heart and set my conscience free and may your name be glorified. Amen”

Follow Frank Retief’s daily blog on http://frankretief.co.za/

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A devotion by Trevor Bradley

Believe… I am seeking the LORD to teach me a whole new way life.  The word of the Lord says that I am called to live a life of faith. Faith in Him pleases Him.  This I want to do…

I want GOD to alter, change and rearrange the order of things in my life so that I might know what it is to take HIM at HIS word for everything pertaining to life.

3 words. 3 people. 3 very different set of circumstances.  They are: BARRENNESS, BATTLE, and BLEEDING.

BARRENESS:  Abraham and Sarah receive a promise. Years pass and still no fulfillment comes.  They delay God’s answer by getting personally involved… enter Ishmael… at 100 years old and with Sarah in her 90’s, GOD answers and makes good on HIS word.

BATTLE:  Joshua  is fighting the Amorites – the day is drawing to a close and Joshua realizes that if they don’t finish the enemy off, they might come back later to attack Israel yet again.  He prays an outrageous prayer (Joshua 10 vs 12 & 13), and God stops the sun & the moon in their tracks so that he can finish the job…  GOD gives the victory.

BLEEDING:  A woman with a physical condition.. she tried everything and spent all her money to get healed. She is an outcast, alone and ostracized…hears of JESUS..if only she could touch HIS prayer shawl….does and gets healed.

The word says that my GOD, has not changed from the GOD who was back then.  He can and still wants to do the impossible, if we will take HIM AT HIS WORD AND BELIEVE HIS PROMISE.  You and I are His covenant children.  And he has covenanted to deliver on His word to us.  Why? Simply because of who He is and that He loves us.

You may be in barren-land today. The land of nothingness. Death. Fruitlessness.
Or you may be in the heat of a battle and time is running out for you. You have fought and fought but you just cannot ‘finish’ the enemy off, and you are weary.  You my be bleeding.  You have spent your all to find your desired ‘wholeness’ , but to no avail.  You know loneliness and what it’s like to be marginalized, and life is being drained from you daily.

God stands before us today and says to us ‘I have not changed. My arm has not weakened. I still do what you believe to be the IMPOSSIBLE even though you might think that your ‘ask’ is outrageous like that of Joshua’s..ask of ME..trust my word’.

(Mark 9 vs 23): If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. If you can believe… Will you today??

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Candice is a busy wife to Matt and mom of Noah (5) and Tyler (3 going on 21). Candice also works part-time at our Rosebank Store of Christian Book Discounters. In her spare time Candice writes for her own blog and is a travel consultant.

On Sunday, I watched Noah walk into his new Sunday School class. I’m not really the emotional type but he’s moved up into the bigger section and goes to a separate building to Tyla so he’s with all the primary school aged children – Grade R to Grade 6. I saw my boy walk into that hall, the shortest little guy by about 5 feet (I’m pretty sure that grade 6 boys are giants these days and this mommy is having heart palpitations), turn around and wave and say “bye mommy!” ~ just like that. And instantly, I was that new mom again. That unsure, cautious first time mom. Actually, I AM a first time mom. I’ve never parented a 5 year old before so yes. First time mom, it is…

I think it’s become more prevalent in my life because my brother and my sister-in-love are having their first baby next month. I can remember being a pregnant mommy and waiting for the baby to arrive and while Lindsey (my sister in love) is just beginning her journey, I’m entering a new phase of mine. That’s always quite scary. Just like giving birth and entering motherhood is life-changing, seeing the “birth” of your children into another stage is emotionally jarring as you birth a new phase of your parenting journey.

Lindsey ~ the first time mommy of a newborn.

Candice ~ the first time mommy of a 5 year old. Same but different.

Having said that, I sat back and thought about my experience so far so here are some thoughts on what I’ve learnt so far. I don’t profess to be the perfect mother by any means but there are points in this blessing-filled, crying-enveloped, hug-infested, love-dosed journey where these have meant a lot to me. I’m not saying I’ve got it right because I definitely don’t and my way isn’t the only way, that’s for sure – but here goes.

• Everybody will tell you “It goes so quickly, enjoy every stage and every minute.” Yes, it does go quickly but I promise you, you won’t enjoy every moment. It’s just not possible. You’ll have days where you feel like you’re going to fall apart and you do, in a big way. There will be days where you will hate every second. That’s ok. It’s not meant to be easy and it’s ok to admit that.

• You’ll hear “sleep when the baby sleeps” – I have never met  a mother who’s got this right. I never did. If my daughter was sleeping, she’d think that 15 minutes at a time was about enough. In that time, I’ve just actually re-heated my cup of tea (yes I’m still in my pajamas) and I’m about to drink it while sterilising the bottles. Before I can even vaguely think about even sitting down, let alone sleep, my child is awake. Moms operate on minimal sleep with a smile most days. You’ll be totally fine!

• The other day I was in a baby shop and I was floored. I only had my last baby nearly 4 years ago and there are another 3546 gadgets you can buy for your child since then! You honestly don’t need all that stuff ~ your child will grow up and be the most amazing, happy child even if you don’t have the best baby gym with original Frozen characters that sings Do You Wanna Build A Snowman? everytime you push Olaf’s nose. Noah’s favourite toy was an old apple box from the fruit shop. Go figure.

• Pick your battles. With your kids and with your man. You’re going to be so tired so you can end up grilling your husband about something totally ridiculous (been there, done that) and when you look back, IT IS completely ridiculous. Before you rage, take a step back and think about it. With your kids too. I’ve learnt this the hard way.

• Work at your own pace. My son gave up his dummy at 5 years old. So what? I had loads of people tell me that he’s way too old to still sleep with a dummy. Hey, he only had it at night and it lived under his pillow. The minute he went to bed, out it came and he slept like that. In my eyes, that’s not a big deal. In his time, Noah said “Mom I don’t need this dummy. We can give it to the elf babies.” And he and his sister left their dummy and bottle in the garden for the elves to fetch. Forcing him to do it earlier wouldn’t have achieved anything except he’d have been younger. Just because the world dictates milestones, doesn’t mean you have to enforce those with your kids. Your child will develop and grow how he/she is supposed to.

• Trust your mommy intuition. It’s basically always right.

• Accept help. Of course, everyone wants to be super hero mom but you can’t do it alone. You’ll burn out. Take help and accept it gladly whenever it’s offered, from people you trust.

• Don’t be hard on yourself. Your child will never be like anyone else’s and just because your child isn’t sleeping through the night at 8 months, doesn’t mean that’s your fault. Comparing your child to anyone else’s doesn’t achieve anything but mom-stress. What messes with our heads the most is how we think it’s supposed to be. Be confident in the way you choose to parent your babies.

 Part 2 will follow in March

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By Tim Challies

Have you ever compared the front and back of a tapestry? The front of a tapestry is art. In the hands of a skilled weaver it displays incredible artistry and fine detail. The world’s best art museums collect the world’s best tapestries and display them there as examples of a rare but beautiful form of art.

The back of a tapestry is a mess. A tapestry is made by weaving together different-colored threads, and the images and designs are created by the interplay between the different colors and textures. What is clear on the front is opaque on the back. The back shows something of the image, but it looks more like a child’s attempt than a master’s: it lacks nuance and clarity and detail. Where the front is smooth, the back is covered in knots and loose ends.

We are meant to see and admire the front of the tapestry, not the back, and this has often served as an illustration of the truths of Romans 8:28: That God promises to use every single event in our lives to bring about good.  Though I have often heard Joni Eareckson Tada use the illustration, I believe it originated with Corrie Ten Boom and her poem “The Master Weaver’s Plan.”

“Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow; / And I in foolish pride / Forget He sees the upper / And I the underside.”

It serves as an effective illustration for the truth that for now we get to see only the underside of all God is weaving together in this world, while clinging to the promise that someday we will see the upper side and marvel at what he has been doing.    Read More…

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 Frank Retief was pastor at St James Church Cape Town for 31 years, having planted the church in 1968 with his wife Beulah.  He became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of England in South Africa until he retired in 2010.  Frank remains active in ministry through preaching, teaching, pastoral work & writing, and has authored a number of books. 

Sustainer

Matthew 6 v 26:  Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your Heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

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A devotion by Trevor Bradley

Coming to work this morning there was a talk about the start of the new academic year for children, reports of load shedding and low expectations for a better year economically – hope is low and expectations are dim because of the year we had last year.  I met with someone yesterday and their cry was “ not another year like last year!”

What are we to do as Christians?  How are we to react to the ‘system’ we live in?  If I say I am different, it’s time I started living ‘the difference’.

There is a beautiful verse tucked away in Romans 15 vs 13.  Listen to it and may the Holy Spirit wash His word over our hearts, minds and spirit today.
“NOW ( not tomorrow, next week , month or year, but this day) the GOD of HOPE fill you with all JOY & PEACE in believing, that you may ABOUND in hope, by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT”.

Who doesn’t want a bit of that? HOPE … JOY … PEACE.

I want to start at the back of the verse and say that we will not know and live this divine dynamic in and through our own strength.  It has to and will only come through us coming to the Holy Spirit, admitting our powerlessness and asking Him to live His life out through us.  And the fruits of that surrender will be hope, joy and peace.

The verse hinges on 2 little words – “in believing”.  It is as I exercise faith.  Today may we know what it’s like to live out that reality through the power of Him in Us (Colossians 1 vs 27).

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By David Murray

If man were infinitely wise, and could draw up a code for himself, which would involve no hardship, and entail all that was happy, he could devise no regulations more healthful, more profitable, or more pleasant than those of the Savior. Charles Spurgeon

For many people, the existence of the Ten Commandments is proof that God opposes human happiness. “If God really wanted me to be happy, He wouldn’t put all these laws in my way.” Thus, every day, billions of people try to throw off God’s law, cast it behind their backs, and run away from it as fast as possible. What they don’t realize is that instead of escaping hardship, they are escaping happiness.

Here are four reasons why we should trust and obey God’s laws as designed for our happiness.  read more

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