Daily Picture

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw a huge tree with its branches stretching as far as my eyes could see to the left and to the right. This is reminiscent of a tree that the kingdom of King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon was likened to in the Old Testament Book of Daniel chapter 4. God warned the king in a dream, interpreted by Prophet Daniel, that if he continued to attribute his kingdom success to...

Today I saw a partially eaten bar of chocolate which evoked the feeling I have when I have eaten part, misplaced the rest, leaving the feeling of wishing I could find it in order to finish it. This feeling of wanting to finish implies a start. This begs the question as to how can we know we want to continue and finish with God unless we at least start? Give Him a chance. In the Old Testament book...

Today, as I was looking out at the new day through some vertical blinds, I reflected on the unclear picture we have of God whilst He, meanwhile, knows us intimately and loves us deeply. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Apostle Paul declares, "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known". We are fully k...

Today I saw a needle and thread above a tapestry. Every stitch contributes to the full picture. Sometimes a seemingly insignificant act or moment ends up being of great significance in the whole tapestry of our lives. Let's not waste any of the potentially precious moments of our life. Also, as with tapestries, mistakes can be undone. God doesn't want us to be too hard on ourselves. Guilt and sham...

Today I was reminded of transistor radios whereby one of the dials is turned to change the radio waves in order to connect to the different radio stations. Once the radio station of choice has been found the dial is not turned further. In Colossians 3:2 Apostle Paul tells us to "Set your mind on things above and not on the earth." Setting one's mind requires the same deliberate adjustment and fixe...

Today the image I saw was of some steam rising so I automatically looked for the boiling water from which it emanated. Though I couldn't see the water I knew it must have been there. We cannot see one gaseous particle of steam but with a concentration of the seemingly transparent and colourless steam particles we actually can identify the mass of it. Similarly, though we can't see God in the natur...

Today I saw a picture of small shallow porcelain saucer upon which is usually placed a teacup. In the English language the words 'cup' and 'saucer' often come together as would say, 'bucket' and 'spade: These connected words are called collocations. One definition is "the habitual juxtaposition of a particular word with another word or words with a frequency greater than chance". Despite being acc...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw a nest with orphaned baby birds resting on the ground, clearly needing their parents close by. In echoing Jesus's prayer we say, "Our Father who art in heaven". Is God our remote heavenly father? God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are as one as they are completely united. Father God came down in the form of His Son Jesus. John 1:1 tells us that in the beginning was The W...

UK charity shops are renowned for their wonderful bargains of carefully accepted preloved clothes, toys and other miscellaneous personal items that previous owners no longer want. Yesterday, in one of these shops, I saw a beautiful small Ainsley vintage collectible porcelain dish for only £1.50 and then a small well-loved purple low quality, plastic unicorn toy with matted hair which was priced at...

Today's is a message about the necessary tension in a snap hair clip to pull long hair back off one's face and/or to provide a decorative hair accessory. Similarly, we sometimes need tension to be effective. God does His awesome part but there is often a part for us to play. Sometimes we might feel tense, nervous and outside our comfort zone before we step into the action God requires of us. It is...

Today's is a split message as my car broke down on the way home yesterday evening. Part of the message is me explaining my predicament but declaring God's goodness and the second half is me explaining what happened with the roadside assistance company I use. They said they would come to me within 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours! God does not promise us that all will be smooth for us in life but He does promi...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw dining room chairs stacked up as in storage. It has made me think that sometimes a human tendency is to put potentially useful things aside, into storage, for our possible future use and then they are forgotten or eventually discarded. What a waste. We sometimes do that with the giftings God has for us, in the form of talents, opportunities, instructions to us to ble...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw a reminder of a preschool TV programme I used to watch in the early 1960s called Watch with Mother, which had different stories every week day. My favourite was Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men. They had a little friend called Weed which was a beautiful flower which in my memory was yellow and white but in fact TV was in black and white in those days! Well, now we kno...

Today continues with the bed imagery we have had for the past 2 days - first we had just the uncomfortable bed frame, indicating an inadequate, uncomfortable or even painful view of God making us feel that we had better not have Him in our life at all; then we had a comfortable cushiony mattress and warm cosy coverings imagery, whereby we recognise the loving provision and comfort of God. Today we...

Today, whilst thinking on today's Message, I reflected on the expression "to boast in the Lord" which appears in several places in the bible. "This is what the LORD says: 'Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who ex...

Today I saw a picture of the basic frame of a bed with the springs and no mattress. That would be extremely uncomfortable to sleep on and we would be better off sleeping on a floor. Similarly, if we have a limited view of God as being a God who curses people with sickness, pain and misfortune then we have a very uncomfortable view of Him and it is best not to have Him in our lives at all. God actu...

Today I saw a picture of gold coins in a treasure chest which reminds me of Jesus's teaching, as recounted in Matthew 13:44, that "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field". In other words, it is worth relinquishing other possessions in your life to gain God's Kingdom which is...

Today I saw a picture of a whisker. Another word for whiskers is vibrissae, an old Latin word meaning "to shake" or "to vibrate". Most of us know that whiskers have sensors at their tips so help the owner guage the size of a tight enclosure they are thinking of negotiating or locate objects nearby. Whiskers are sensitive to even the slightest changes in airflow so even in the dark they can indicat...

Today I saw, in my mind's eye, a beautiful and majestic horse. Often when we have a strong entity working with us, it elevates our image e.g.us sitting tall and straight on a majestic horse, driving an expensive sports car etc. In Jesus's day, a victor might walk in to a town on a tall black stallion. As prophesied by the prophet Zechariah over 500 years previously (Zechariah 9:9 - as mentioned ye...

Today I saw some frothy cream as could be sprayed from an aerosol can. The frothiness is caused by lots of aeration. This moves me on to thinking of yeast as mentioned many times in the bible, with the air bubbles representing sin, other than on one occasion when Jesus shared a parable about the Kingdom of God being like yeast in dough which can positively impact its surroundings. As at the Last S...

Today I was reminded that our words have power whether it be towards us or the listener. We create a spiritual atmosphere. As Christians we believe that Jesus is The Word. He was there at the beginning of creation, when God spoke the world into existence -"Let there be ...". Check our hearts before we speak behind someone's back; avoid slander and gossip. We may try and convince ourselves we are s...

Today, in my mind's eye, I saw the choice of a blank sheet of white or a newspaper covered in black print - from front to back. I believe the Lord wants us to trust Him with our lives even if we don't know what is round the corner so to speak. God doesn't want us to consult those who tell us about our future. A well known Pentecostal preacher and authur in the latter half of the last century, Dere...

Today I was reminded of an article I saw recently of an eagle catching a snake and taking it up in the sky to fight it, the point being that we are to fight our enemy in the spiritual zone rather than in its own comfort zone. For instance, our harmful negative thoughts could be our enemy. There could be a place which triggers off these thoughts. Instead, pray. We enter the spiritual zone when we p...

Today I am reminded of a woman I read about recently who had had trouble keeping her kitchen from getting filthier and filthier. She got to the point that she was too embarrassed to invite anyone over, she couldn't open her front door to anyone and gradually she didn't even care about her appearance. Help came her way through a friend recommending an app to her which took her systematically throug...

Today's focus is on a verse given to me this morning of Ephesians 6:10 " Be strong in the Lord and in His might and power" with accompanying text which reminds us that it is easy to get negative when someone offends us, to get upset over the unchanging circumstances that we don't like etc. However we forget that God gives us the strength to change our attitudes and reactions towards our seemingly...