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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
At this season of the year many make time and take time to pause and reflect. It can be good to stop and think and kneel and pray. What kind of year has it been? How have you grown spiritually? Have you accomplished and achieved what you planned to do away back in January? Has the Word of God fed you and led you?
When King David reflected, he was able to see the guiding hand of God in all his experiences.
For me one real highlight, which came as a sudden and unexpected surprise, was the invitation to return to Kenya to speak and teach at Pastors and Leaders Seminars in Kisumu and Nairobi, and to visit the prisons orphanages and schools and preach The Word of God.
What are you aiming for as 2010 starts? What is your personal goal for 2010? It can depend much upon your current circumstances.
The writer of Psalm 92 held various certainties upon which it would be difficult to improve. He knew it was good to praise God. We praise God for what He has done, and worship Him because of Who He is. The Psalmist was a worshipper who had good cause to praise the living God. High on his agenda was his decision to proclaim the love of God each morning and the faithfulness of God at night before he fell asleep. Read through Psalm 92.
This led him to be genuinely concerned about the people around him, as he recognised so many were poor, perishing, and disappearing like grass on a hot middle eastern summer’s day.
By contrast, the righteous would flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. The palm tree is beautiful, majestic, tall and with branches stretching upwards like hands in worship. Its deep roots search for moisture indicating a place where the weary traveller can find refreshing reviving water.
The cedar grows slowly and is able to withstand all kinds of wet cold challenging conditions. These trees have an undecaying quality about them. Of course, note where they were planted. In the house of the Lord. Where you are planted matters, if you want to bear fruit and make your life count for God.
Are you still looking for a goal for 2010? Become an encourager. There are lots of vacancies. Not many apply for this role.
God is the God of the second chance and even the third chance, but we never know when it will be our final chance! Nearing the end of his life, when Paul wrote to young Timothy, he said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.
To fight the good fight, and to finish the race, it is essential to keep the faith. Do not give up. Here are positive pointers to encourage you and to enable you to go on encouraging other people throughout 2010.
Be regular at worship. Be faithful in prayer. That will take time discipline and effort. Be in the Word of God every day. Read part of the Bible each day. I do not remember what I had for lunch a year ago, but I know it did me good at the time. I do not remember what I read a year ago, but I know it did me good at the time.
Let me encourage you to set reasonable goals, which are possible to keep, and goals which will benefit you in every area of life. Pause and reflect. Decide your priorities. Aim to be the best that you can be for Jesus Christ.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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