OCTOBER 6

“Knock and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 (last part)

I have a passion sport.

Any sport. From athletics to golf I know my onions. So this past Sunday was a great day for me. My football team played and are still unbeaten (that would be Nottingham Forest NOT Chelsea!) and Lewis Hamilton won the Japanese Grand Prix to extend his lead on the F1 Championships. One of the reasons I like sport so much is because it has rules. To the observer some of these rules might not seem to make sense,like the offside rule in football, but every player or competitor knows and abides by these. If not, they have to accept a ban or they are red carded – sent off.

My son likes sports too especially those that involve speed. He plays football, striker and midfield, tennis when in the mood, runs short distance sprints and recently has taken up tag rugby. I must say I was a little surprised when he told me that he had taken up rugby. I just equate the game with big hits, hard ‘take downs’ and pain! But he assures me tag rugby is different. How is it different? This is his explanation. “Well you have these ribbons around your waist and they have to try and pull them off, but they have to catch you and I’m fast so I just run away and score tries.” Probing further I asked if there are any rules. “Just one, you can’t throw the ball forward it always has to be thrown behind you to the next player.” So you have to play the game going backwards? I smirked trying to provoke him. “No Dad, you just can’t get the ball when you are ahead of your player.”

Never before had I seen such an obvious spiritual connection. For that I lay the charge at the feet of Peter Jeynes who encouraged me to team up with Shiella and continue with the blog he began as Pastor here at Netherfield.

Never try to get ahead of Jesus.

Sometimes I certainly do it without realising. Making that decision I have made multiple times before without first consulting him, then wondering why it has not gone to plan. Forcing a ‘yes’ decision when He has said wait. Assuming that he is standing beside me when I haven’t asked him.

The key here is to ask, seems too simple.

“Knock and it will be opened to you.”

Note it does not say it might – it says it will. Today let us remember to consult Jesus in all that we do and he has promised that He will be with us - He will open that door.

The song today is called 'Where Jesus is" by Joey and Rory and is one of the first sent by Bryn. The message is direct. Please click on the picture to listen.

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here