Success in Faith?

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Those Days of Golden Light, Shine Already in Our Hearts, by Faith Alone.

Isaiah 52:9

Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem
for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

1 John 2:8

Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

Words of Grace For Today

We try so hard in life to succeed. And there are all sorts of ideas about how to succeed.

One of my favourites* is “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. *though I cannot recommend the man to whom it is attributed – Charles R. Swindoll

Reba McEntire gives us: “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”

Pele the soccer star offered: “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”

Colin Powell put it plainly, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Winston Churchill pointed out that it is always a process: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Out in left field: John Barrow said, “Music is 10% exhilaration and 90% utter disappointment.”

But what really counts in life is Faith

How can we succeed at faith?

Can we ever succeed at faith?

No, because Faith is not something we can do or succeed at.

Faith is a gift, a precious gift, that God gives us. It is the gift that sees us through the dark days of life that are so many and brings us to the days when the bright light of God’s Kingdom shines bright all around.

On those days we can Break forth together into singing, … for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed us all.

Wandering

Monday, September 26, 2022

Sometimes God’s Presence is Just There, Waiting for Us to Notice.

Jeremiah 31:18

Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading:
You disciplined me, and I took the discipline; I was like a calf untrained.
Bring me back, let me come back, for you are the Lord my God.

John 20:27

Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’

Words of Grace For Today

It is so easy to wander.

To wander and find oneself lost.

To wander and find oneself lost and wonder why.

Why the need to wander and why did the result have to be that I am lost?

Lots of people, encounters, events, and circumstances help us find our way in life, often back from being lost.

God works in many ways to bring us back and to bring us home in the end.

Until then we will always have time to demand signs, beg for mercy, and experience the joy of bring brought home again.

No doubt about it.

God is always there, working to bring us back safely.