‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him…’ (1 Cor. 2:9)
Just pause for a few seconds to reflect on these words from Paul and then give thanks to God for the wonderful love He has for us.
‘Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found…’
(Psalm 119:35)
What is it that makes us happy in life? The love of family and friends, the good health and well being of our family, job and financial security. All of these, without doubt, affect our emotional state at different times in our life. But for true happiness according to the Psalmist, the best to attain this is to walk the path that God has set before us.
‘And my God will meet all your needs…’ (Phil. 4:19)
What a comfort and joy for us to know the Lord is always there for us, no matter where we are or what we are doing, He is by our side looking out for us and will never leave us on our own.
‘God has given gifts to each of you…’ (1 Peter 4:10)
To all who claim the Lord as their Saviour, He will pour His Spirit upon them. With that outpouring God gives to us all gifts, gifts that can be used for our own personal edification as we seek to grow in our faith, but gifts also that we should used to share the Gospel with all people. Ask the Lord how you can best use the gift He has given you to bear witness to Him and glorify His name,
As you will no doubt be aware, we moved ‘beyond level zero’ on Monday 9th of August. With this the legal requirement to socially distance has been removed, although the Church of Scotland suggested that we might wish to consider keeping this in place for a further few weeks. Both Kirk Sessions have been consulted on this over the past week and have decided as follows.
At Bendochy Church the need to socially distance will be removed, although members of the congregation are free to choose to do so when they sit in the pews. However, all other measures remain in place ie. the need to hand sanitise on entry to and exit from the church, following a one way system within the church, the need to wear face coverings at all times (unless exempt) and the need to give contact details for Test and Protect.
At the Abbey Church the seating will remain as it is at the moment for another few weeks. At this spacing of 1m we are able to accommodate between 64 and 75 people. This will be reviewed at the end of August and as with Bendochy, all other measures remain in place at this time also.
‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you…’ (Jer.29:12)
What a wonderful comfort to know – that the Lord will always listen to us when we come to Him. So why not take time now to come to Him and spend time with Him, giving thanks for all His goodness and love and sharing with Him all your concerns and prayers for others.
‘…encourage me by your word…’ (Psalm 119:28)
How often do we take time out of our busy lives to read and meditate on the Word of God – and how long do we spend doing so when we do? Today there are a multitude of Bible Study Notes and Daily Reflections for us to choose from, either in booklet form, on line or via an app – and of course even without any of these, there is nothing to stop us from taking our Bibles each day and spending some quiet time with God reflecting on His word. It’s important that we do so, not only to edify our own personal faith and to find this kind of encouragement that the Psalmist speaks of, but also because the more time we spend with the Lord in this way, the more it shows through in our everyday lives and the more we do this, the greater our witness to His name.
‘I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand…’ (Isaiah 41:10)
Following on for the words of the Psalmist yesterday we come to these wonderful words of reassurance from the prophet Isaiah. Take time now to read them slowly, over and over again, and then reflect on all those times when the Lord had strengthened you, when He has helped you and when He has upheld you. Praise be to God for His love for us.
‘The Lord is close to the broken hearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit…'( Psalm 34:18)
As we journey through life we all experience something of a rollercoaster of high points and low points, and sadly there are times when we are just broken hearted by certain events. The loss of a loved one, the break up of a marriage, the loss of our home or a breakdown of our relationship with others. These are only a few of the most traumatic times that any of us might face in life and when they do happen we do feel crushed in spirit and there seems little that anyone can say or do to help us or offer us the comfort and solace we yearn for at that time.
The Psalmist reminds us, however, that through all of this the Lord is always there with us and He will help us in a way that not even our closest loved ones can. Yes, there will still be pain in our hearts and souls, but knowing that the Lord is there to share that pain with us in a way that no other can will help us find the kind of peace that we need at that time and in His strength, day by day, one step at a time, we will once again be able to move forward in our life.
‘Since He Himself has gone through suffering and temptation, He is able to help us when we are being tempted…’ (Hebrews 2:18)
Every single day in life we are tempted in some way to turn away from the teaching of our Lord and to act in some way that we know to be in contradiction to the Gospel message. It doesn’t matter how faithful we believe we might be or how strong we believe our relationship with Christ to be – temptation will come to us and it will do so in many forms and guises. Sometimes this temptation will be obvious but at other times it will be subtle, so subtle in fact that we might not realise it at the time.
We can never stop temptation coming our way, however, as the author of Hebrews states here, if we look to the Lord, if we seek His strength and His guidance, and allow the Holy Spirit to move within us, we will be able to overcome so much. But even when we do succumb, as soon as we take it to the Lord and acknowledge our shortcoming, He will be there to uphold us and set us back on His path once again.