How God reorients our perspective
1 Kings 19:9-21 In my last post, I mentioned the fellow worker at the hostel whom I had a difficult relationship with. When God finally spoke to me at the retreat centre, I was reading through 1 Peter and was…
God’s answer when we think our difficulties are too great
1 Kings 19:1-8 During my gap year in a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, Israel, I worked with a fellow volunteer of my age who came as a traveller, was saved and stayed on. She had a lot of emotional…
The way of transformation from compromise to commitment
1 Kings 18:30-46 A few years ago, I suddenly developed a painful tennis elbow. My routine has not changed, so the reason was a mystery. A cortisone injection seemed to have sorted out the problem, but a month later I…
Putting our misguided beliefs to the test
1 Kings 18:20-29 When I was learning to drive, my instructor explained early on about areas that my mirrors did not cover, and how important it was to look over my shoulder so as not to miss a car in…
Can we trust God?
1 Kings 18:1-19 At a doctoral board meeting of a secular university, I was struck by the vitriolic comments made by fellow (secular) board members who were commenting on the proposal of a Christian master’s student. I must admit that…
Where do we look for the source of our life?
1 Kings 17:17-24 Dramatic changes in our situation, a tragedy, an illness or accident are often the times when we awaken from the busy-ness of life to ask the deeper questions. What is the source of our fulfilment? What does…
Is dependence a bad thing?
1 Kings 17:1-16 In my gap year that I spent working at a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, Israel, I once encountered three tourists who missed their cruise ship and had to wait three days before the ship returned from…
Is God’s Word really true?
1 Kings 15:25-34; 16:1-34 The first doubt sown about God’s Word was in the serpent’s question, ‘Did God really say…?’ (Gen 3:1), followed by the lie, ‘You shall surely not die… [but] you will be like God!’ (Gen 3:4-5). The…
What difference it makes how we live once saved
1 Kings 14:21-31; 15:1-24 I often remember a conversation with a Roman Catholic friend from the early days after I had become a Christian. When I spoke of salvation as by grace alone, she asked, ‘But why would anyone want…
Why repentance is hard and how God seeks us
1 Kings 14:1-20 When non-Christians hear the gospel of grace, that if we repent of our sins then God forgives and reconciles us to Himself because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, many say that this is too easy. The…