Music That Moves You

Why is it that sometimes I wake up in the morning and I have a song in my mind? Does it also happen to you? I am not one who wakes up to the radio, but I do find it strange that a song immediately pops into my head. This song normally lives with me the rest of the day - weird, isn't it?!

Music is powerful.
Music can fuel our emotions.
Music can change our moods.
Music moves us.

The Bible speaks about music in a number of places, but the Psalms are the obvious epicentre of these lyrics and songs. Listen to what the Psalmist says:

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord..." - Psalm 98:4-5

May you be moved by music today.
May the 'love songs' of God speak to your spirit.


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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart,’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

No One Noticed!

How long would it take before people realised you weren't doing so well or even worse, that you weren't breathing anymore? Minutes, hours, days?

In the last few days I have stumbled across a few sad stories of people who have died in their homes or in one case, a fire in his home, and all of these people were not 'missed' for months! One old lady was only found years later. That's tragic, don't you think? I understand that some people like to keep to themselves or perhaps they don't have any family close by, but to be dead and this to go unnoticed - that's horrific.

Wouldn't it be bleak if the church died and no one noticed? Wouldn't it be heart-wrenching when a Christian community, that used to be the life and soul of a town, ceased to exist and people hardly missed a step? My prayer is that our churches are so needed, essential and life-giving that we (and the rest of the community) would fight to keep them alive and well! What do you think?
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

Take Off Your Shoes

God instructed Moses to take off his shoes as a sign of awe, reverence and worship. This must have been humbling for Moses, but he wasn't going to argue with God. In truth, Moses was probably looking for some way to respond to the holiness of the moment - so if God was asking for 'no shoes', then Moses obeyed.

When last did you take off your shoes as a sign of awe, wonder and amazement?

Ah, but you are arguing that you have not seen God in the burning bush lately - which is true, but God has revealed his glory all around us! Perhaps we have been looking in the wrong places.

"Earth is crammed with heaven,
And every bush is aflame with God
But only those who see, take off their shoes." - Elizabeth Browning

Sense God's Grace today.
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

Change

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." - Leo Tolstoy

If we could change the world by changing ourselves, would we try?

It is always easier to recognise the faults in others and to expect them to change these faults, before we are willing to change ourselves. This is especially true in our friendships and relationships. We say to ourselves, "I will be more loving or patient when my friend treats me differently." But Tolstoy argues that we need to begin with ourselves first.

Jesus agrees...
Matthew 7:3 - "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

May we change the world, by first changing ourselves.

May we live in grace!
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

Rebuilding Walls

Visiting Castles and ruined Abbey’s always leaves me with more questions than answers. I love the fact that I have the privilege of standing on a piece of ground that has previously had knights, kings, servants and commoners all walking over it. It blows my mind. But, I always feel that I want to ask these historical people a million questions – what was life really like? What did you do for recreation? What was the food like? How did you cope without the internet?

Seriously though, when I see these former Landmarks in ruin I like to remember the story of Nehemiah. It broke his heart to see his home city broken and in ruins. He was moved to rebuild the city and the walls, thus bringing a nation back together again. Nehemiah had been given a mandate from the Lord and he was willing to do all he could to restore the city to its former glory days.

“So we rebuilt the wall ...for the people worked with all their heart.” – Nehemiah 4:6

What parts of our lives or communities may need rebuilding? Are we willing to be the ones to start the process? Just asking?
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

Where's Wally?

Ok, I admit it, I am now hooked on finding Wally? If you don't know what/who I am talking about, please humour me - the rest of you know exactly what I am on about.

Actually, I blame my kids. Declan brought the book home from school and asked me to help him "find Wally." So we now all pour over the pages of the book trying to find Wally, Wenda, Woof & Odlaw, amongst hundreds of other characters. Some of them are clearly not Wally, but there are always a few pretend 'Wally's' - they look similar, but if you look closely you can tell that they are really imposters.

"Where's Wally" can be a little like trying to discover God, at times. There are certainly many 'imposters' out there, trying to get us to give them our allegiance, but there is only one God. The Bible points out that God is not trying to hide from us, but that He wants us to find Him.

"Therefore let everyone who is Godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him." - Psalm 32:6

"God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:27

As Paul Baloche wrote - "Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see Jesus."

This is my prayer for this week - that I may find Jesus amongst the hundreds of other distractions in my world.
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za

Time for a Service

All cars need to have regular services in order for them to function effectively. If we don't take them for these services then they will start to perform below their optimum.

The same applies in our spiritual lives. We need to discern the signs of our own spiritual well-being and if we need a little fine-tuning, then it is best to do this soon. This is what I did a couple of weeks back – I went for a spiritual check-up. Two days of spiritual restoration where I cleared my diary and spent time with Jesus renewing my soul.

Exodus 33:14 - The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

How is your spiritual engine going?
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Living in Grace is written by Delme Linscott, a minister and author. Delme's first book was 'Living Oceans Apart’ and he has just completed his second which is called 'Now: Refuse to let the moment pass.' You can find out more on www.livingingrace.co.za