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Search Me O God

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by John DoylePsalm 139: 23 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties."In searching the scriptures following the results of mine and Barbara's Covid19 tests as positive and feeling so anxious about it, I came across this precious verse of scripture. Sometimes in life especially in these difficult days we need to ask the Lord to "Search me (us)" and lay before Him our anxieties.Of course as a Sovereign God He already knows our hearts and concerns but for us to dwell with Him and spend time with Him in these anxious moments is so important. Please read Psalm 139. It begins with David’s acknowledgement that God has “searched me”. The Lord knows everything about him Nothing about David or his life can be hidden from God, who knows even what David will say before he says it, Ps. 139:4. If he tried to escape from the Lord, in every place God would be present In fact, God knew David even in his mother’s womb as he knit him together wonderfully - Ps. 139:13-16The first eighteen verses of Psalm 139 celebrate the Lord’s intimate knowledge of David. Verse 19 changes the subject abruptly: “O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!” Ps. 139:19. It’s as if the memory of those who sought David’s life interrupted his celebration of God’s presence and filled his heart with hatred for his enemies.Then Psalm 139 takes another unexpected turn, concluding with a prayer for the Lord to search David’s heart: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” Ps. 139:23-24.Am sure David remembered that, like his enemies, he had done things in the past that dishonored the Lord. So he invited God to "Search Him" and reveal anything offensive. The understanding is that David would repent of those sins in order that God might “lead him along the path of everlasting life” (Ps. 139:24). Remember that classic verse of scripture "And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as King, to whom also gave testimony and said 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do My will" Acts 13:22There are times in all of our lives when we need God to *Search Us* in this way. Though a part of us resists dealing with what is wrong in our lives, we know that we need to see our sin as God sees it, so that we might confess and be forgiven, and that we might turn from from any sin and follow the Lord completely.How does God reveal any sin? In many ways: through reading Scripture, through hearing the Word of God preached, through the challenging love of friends, and through the still small voice of Gods Holy Spirit. In asking God to…

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Faith & Works

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by Luke KincaidOne of my favorite scriptures is found in James 2:14-17 (NLT):What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. I am challenged by these Holy Spirit inspired words of James. Walking the talk when it comes to our faith in Jesus is by living out what He commands of us. A faith which is simply proclaimed and not practiced is one which is dead and useless. This leads me to ask myself the question: "Luke, is your faith alive?" And the only way to answer this question is to evaluate how I am currently loving God and people practically. I think it is helpful for all of us to ask ourselves this question. If we truly wish to further Jesus' kingdom this will only happen through a practical faith. The more people we share Jesus with in both Word and deed, the more we will see people coming to a saving knowledge of Him. And the world definitely needs Jesus! I was reminded of this Scripture in James today while reading through Philippians 3:8-9 (NLT): And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. After stressing the importance of fixing our thoughts on the right things we see that Paul says that the readers of this letter to the Philippians must keep putting into practice all they have learned and received from him. Again I see that a practical faith is being referenced here. What I really appreciate about Paul is that they were not only to practice what they had heard from him but also what they had seen him do. This mean that Paul himself lived out a practical faith. This is so encouraging because when living out our practical faith we can then lead others through our example. Our words have more authority when backed by action. As I go into this new week I am going to be praying that God gives me more opportunities to show my faith to others through deeds which bring glory to Jesus. May Jesus be magnified through our practical faith as others see that we are not merely proclaiming a faith in Jesus - but we are also willing to prove our faith in Jesus through how we live our…

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The Quest for Peace (Part 1)

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by Calven CelliersRomans 12 is one of those really challenging passages of Scripture, that goes against our very human nature. It’s a passage of Scripture in which the apostle Paul speaks about being a living sacrifice. He says don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Added to that he says that we shouldn’t think we’re better than we really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves! On top of that he challenges us to take our responsibilities seriously; don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good; serve the Lord enthusiastically; when God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. And then he writes,“14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. (Romans 12: 14 – 21NLT)Peace making does not, however, always go as easily as we would like it to. While some people will readily make peace, others are stubborn and defensive and they harden their hearts and resist our efforts to be reconciled. Sometimes they will become even more antagonistic and find new ways to frustrate or mistreat us. Our natural reaction is to strike back at such people, or at least to stop doing anything good to them. And this makes perfect sense from a worldly standpoint. If you hurt me, I get to hurt you.As followers of Christ, however, He has called us to a higher standard. And that’s why the apostle Paul introduces us to a principle that applies to every situation where we are dealing with people – never pay back evil with more evil, rise above this tit for tat philosophy. In other words when someone does something bad to us, we are not to do something bad back to them.  Instead, he says, “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” And herein we find the important second part of the principle. We are not to do bad things to others when they do bad things to us because…

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Food for the Journey: Fellowship

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The following blog post is an extract taken from our Food for the Journey booklet which covers seven disciplines for Christian living. If you would like to download a digital copy of the booklet and work through the daily devotions please click here: FOOD FOR THE JOURNEYDISCIPLINE 2THE DISCIPLINE OF FELLOWSHIP:LEARNING INTERDEPENDENCEIt has been found that very meaningful growth takes place in small groups where there can be openness, sharing, discovery, comfort, honesty and encouragement — all contributing to a healthy interdependence. At New Harvest we have Fellowship Groups aimed at providing a “safe place” for people to share the journey closely with each other, allowing for people to be at different places in their walk at different times. In other words, some may be soaring and feeling totally on top of things, others may be struggling and a bit empty, others may be just pleasantly comfortable, still others may be deeply hurt and fragile – any one of us could be at any one of these places at different times – so allowance and acceptance of where you are at, is totally respected in the group. Your fellowship group leaders, you will find, are deeply committed, humble, gentle people, who have a real concern for your well-being and growth as a disciple, but they cannot and must not ever be Jesus to you, so they will gently always point you to Him, while doing whatever they can to make your journey easier.The word interdependence means a healthy interaction of people with each other where people are there for each other in positive ways that are not manipulative or clinging, yet supportive and committed. It’s a giving and receiving of love. This, as you can imagine requires sensitivity, kindness, a willingness to think the best of one another, a commitment to try and understand each other and hear each other, above all learning to relax in each other’s company and enjoy one another.As a result of the commitment to Christ of each one in the group, He will always be the main focus and purpose, for it is Him that draws us together and unites us.Within any group of people meeting together, there are bound to be times of differences of thought and opinion. Respect for each other’s ways of doing things and looking at things is very important. The group will aim at responding to each other in ways that do not communicate rejection of what the other is sharing, and will try not to defend, attack, correct or offer quick advice but listen patiently with each other to what the Lord is saying. It is very possible there might be someone in the group you really do not relate to, whom you really struggle with. It will be very important for you and the group that you ask the Lord how He sees that person and subsequently to try to look at that person through His eyes. This is always the challenge of loving acceptance of one another. Remember that…

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