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Five themes for encouragement and inspiration
The Priority of His Presence - The Discipleship Process - The Divine Purpose - The Heavenly Perspective - Growing Personally
These five themes are Jim’s ministry emphasis, the focus of his study and the passion of his heart!
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The Priority of His Presence- Understanding why every thing must begin with Him
We don’t know her name only her love. When Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster flask of costly fragrant oil and poured it on His head. Set free from torment and now living with new hope, she came to pay her debt the best she could. But some disciples including Judas asked why the fragrant oil was “wasted?” GK Apoleia” Literally “ruined to perdition.”
300 denarii was close to a year’s wage. That is extravagant worship. You can’t accurately ladle out worship, so she poured it out. Worship is wasteful; it is always excessive, even over the top. You can only pour it out unmeasured. Extravagant worship always exposes the hard, pragmatic, selfish or merely natural mindset
Judas also asked why her passion and devotion were not used to help the poor. But worship is not about being helpful or alleviating need. Meeting a need is a good thing to do at any time but it is not worship. Worship is given to the One who has no need - we worship because it is we who have the need to worship.
Tellingly, when Jesus was describing Judas later, as the “son of perdition”, he used the exact same word "wasted", meaning “ruined to perdition.” When a man calls wasted a thing that God esteems, God who wishes to esteem every man's life, may call it wasted.
Friends, the extravagance of our worship and how we rejoice in extravagant worship by others, is a good indicator of our heart and our future.
Worship is the gyroscope of the soul. Worship is a sign of right order in the universe. When men and women worship God they begin to find out what they are born for and the benefits that God plans for them. Worship is all about God, but it benefits us.
Worship lifts a man out of obscurity. Of course, God knows every person and loves them, but people don’t really appear on His “radar” until they begin to worship Him. Worship will lift a man to his place in history. Gideon worshipped God and discovered he was a mighty man of valor. Moses was unknown till he bowed at the flaming shrub and Isaiah was just the son of a rich man until he saw the Lord high and lifted up. When people worship, they become what they were intended to be.
Worshipping Jesus is the only way to get the best from our life and our day. When Jesus was visiting His friends in Bethany, Martha was busy in the kitchen but Mary sat at His feet. When Martha later complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t helping her, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the best part. On an average day, there are tasks to complete and people to relate to, but they can never become the best they could be, till we have done the best part of the whole day, which is to worship Him. Without the best part of the day in place, all other parts are ill-placed and unaligned. We may have a wrong perspective, or life’s priorities may become distorted like Martha’s. She believed that love was best shown by industry, not intimacy even in inactivity.
Being “unproductive” is not a virtue in the world or even in the kingdom of God but imperative in the very presence of Jesus. Our importance and what we can do for Him, is zero compared with what He can do for us as we worship.
Friend, to become the person, the father or friend, we were intended to be, and even to have the day God intended, choose to be a worshipper.
The Discipleship Process- How Father creates the image of His Son within us
Gideon’s men quietly picked their way in the darkness around the Midianites’ camp. At the signal, they broke their clay vessels, revealing their flaming torches. The Midianites felt outnumbered by the great army that they thought had come upon them. It's amazing what God can do with people who have the lamp in their vessels and are willing to obey and break it in the battle. (Judges 7:19). The Word of God is the lamp (Psalm 119:105). And that lamp can be hidden inside our hearts (the vessel). David said he hid God’s Word in his heart so he might not sin against God. If there is no Word stored in our heart, there will be no victory in the field. It is the Sword that works, not garlic. How many of us still memorise scripture? The Bible has to be more to us than an App on our phone next to Instagram and Facebook.
When Paul and Silas, vessels for God, were broken by imprisonment, they sang. Their faith-filled songs sounded so good, God turned up and every prisoner's bands were loosed - not just the Apostles. When a woman broke her alabaster vessel to worship Jesus, the room was filled with the fragrance of devotion.
Friend, today, we may find someone who is sick, or who needs our prayer of faith, or we have the opportunity to share the good news with them. Breaking our vessel is taking the risk to step out and to do it. Whenever we allow the Word of God and our devotion to shine out of our lives, there will be a breakthrough. In our lives and theirs!
Blind Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by. He reached out and received his sight. He left behind his mat, his garment and his begging. Others in the Bible had their lives changed, too, because they received something from Jesus. The adulterous woman couldn't believe what happened. She was brought before Jesus to receive judgment, but she received mercy instead. (John 8) Zacchaeus received value, and Peter received forgiveness.
Jesus is not trying to take something from us, He is always trying to give something to us. What do we have, and what will we ever have that we do not receive? We have nothing valuable that never came from Him.
We need to be good receivers. It is the hungry, the thirsty, and the needy that receive from Him. The only thing that hinders us from receiving is not knowing our need, not knowing He is close by, or not asking. Everyone who received knew there was no life in temple programs or rote prayers, but only in a Person. When we receive from Jesus, we receive Life. God is so good that it always brings Him more joy to give to you than to receive from you. Blind Bart received sight and followed Jesus in the way. The more we see of Jesus, the closer we will want to follow. Not as beggars but as sons.
Friend, when you receive from Jesus, your words, your position and your garments change. If you are ready to follow Him, call out to Him, "who is coming your way" and receive.
The Divine Purpose - Seeing Fathers purpose to form a bride for his Son and mature offspring for His Kingdom
Joshua gazed out over the Promised Land; it was breathtaking—a place of inheritance, destiny, and fulfilment. But then there was Jericho! A fortified stronghold stood between God’s people and the land He had promised them. God didn’t remove it; He told Joshua to be strong, because every inheritance given by God must be claimed by us. Until we are strong enough to take it, we won't be strong enough to hold on to it. God knows we can’t change what we won’t confront. Strongholds are real. For us, they are not ancient cities, but patterns of thinking, habits, fears, or lies that we’ve believed for years. Strongholds keep us from stepping into the life God has planned for us. And the biggest stronghold is almost always this: wrong thinking about who we are and what we have in Christ. In Christ, you are strong—not because of your personality or a perfect past, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit within you. As disciples, we must understand that how Jesus lived serves as a model for our daily walk and that Heaven empowers us in our humanly impossible tasks. God has given us ample power through the Holy Spirit to enter into His inheritance, which He has invited us to share with Him.
Friend, we are not meant to live limited by strongholds. We are meant to tear them down. So today, face the stronghold. Name it. Confront it, because all the land and all the promises of God are yours and yes in Christ. Come on, every time it lies to you, shout it down! The only thing between you and possessing all that He has made yours is the decision to be strong in Him.
In Messina, we saw the biggest ancient astronomical clock in Italy. As we waited, lions roared, roosters screeched, and when the angels and saints inched around the circle, it seemed to take forever. Sometimes we think that it goes too slow, but in God’s hands, it’s a tool. It humbles us. It slows us down. It teaches us to love, to forgive, to endure. Time wasn’t part of Eden’s blueprint. It was God’s gift to humanity the moment we fell. Why? Because redemption takes time. Forgiveness takes a moment, but transformation takes a lifetime. God gave us time to get to know Him and learn to love. One day, “...There should be time no longer.”Revelation 10:6. When redemption is complete, time will have served its purpose. If salvation is just about forgiveness, it could happen in a day. But redemption is about being conformed to the image of Jesus—and that takes time. We’re not just being saved from something; we’re being prepared for Someone. Heaven isn’t just a destination—it’s likeness to Jesus. Time burns slowly, but character is forged, pride is broken, and love is refined. Sometimes even failure is formation. When Rebekah was being brought to Isaac on the camel, it was a time the servant could talk about and reveal the bridegroom to her. By the time they met, she felt like she already knew him.
Friends, we have the gift of time to sit and talk with Him, so we can get to know Him, and He us, for neither Jesus nor we want to be surprised on the day of the wedding, and find we never knew Him.
The Heavenly Perspective - The power in being able to see our lives from our loving Fathers point of view
In 2016, we were running late and trying to get to the airport in Portugal. On the motorway, the GPS was slow to refresh and appeared to say to turn right. We did and ended up on one of the longest bridges in the world. We couldn't turn around for 20 kilometres! There are moments in life when it feels like you’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up on a bridge you never wanted to cross. Maybe it’s a financial burden, a health crisis, a broken relationship, or a spiritual dry spell. We didn’t plan it, but here we are.
David returned to Ziklag to find everything gone—his city burned, his family taken, and his men ready to stone him. David had every reason to collapse under the weight of grief, fear, and exhaustion. But in that moment, when no one stood with him, David did something powerful: “But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6. He didn’t have answers. He didn’t have support. But he had a history with God. Kings need to know how to stand alone. It was only a short time after that, that he was crowned King.
Encouraging yourself in God doesn’t mean pretending everything’s fine. It means remembering who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s promised. It means choosing to believe that God who blessed your going out is still with you in your coming in—even over a bridge you hate.
Friend, your bridge isn’t forever and God isn’t finished yet. So look up and go ahead. Encourage yourself that God is still good, still present, and still in control. Because crowns come to those who are faithful in trials. And by the way, we just made it to the check-in, and they opened the bag drop again, just for our bags!
Abraham looked up and scanned the heavens. As a million stars twinkled, he thought, “How can it be?”. Childless Abraham was given a promise—his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. But then came the test: offer up Isaac, and incredibly, he did. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac…” Hebrews 11:17. God didn’t explain or reassure. He watched. Because sometimes silence is not absence—it’s examination. The teacher doesn’t speak during the test.
Usually, the promise from God comes via a process and a test. We love the idea of increase, but we often resist the path that leads there. Yet there is no glory without a story, or a crown without a cross. Tests are not meant to hurt us—they’re designed to reveal us. They expose what we believe, what we fear, and what we’re willing to surrender. And if God seems silent in the test, it is not rejection—it’s refinement. It is not because He’s distant, but because He’s developing something deeper in us. We want to skip the process, but the process is what makes us like Jesus. Our Father who loved, called and tested Abraham is developing us too.
Friend, don’t stumble in the silence. And when the Father speaks, you’ll find that you’ve grown closer and stronger and more ready for the promise than you ever imagined. Keep walking. Keep trusting and keep surrendering, and you will find that He has a resurrection of the promise and a supernatural provision for you.
The lamp glowed in the dark, and in the distance, Paul could hear sounds of shouting somewhere in the soldiers’ barracks, but then Paul heard the voice of God. “…You must also bear witness at Rome” Acts 23:11l” Paul had a word from God, and he was soon confined on a Roman ship sailing for Italy. He wasn’t free to move. He wasn’t in control. And yet, he was still in purpose. The prison ship wasn’t a detour. It was the vehicle to his destiny. The journey would include a violent storm, a shipwreck, and even a snake bite. But none of it meant the promise had failed. God often gives us the destination but not the details. He tells us where we’re going, but not what we’ll face on the way.
Like Paul, we may find ourselves in seasons of confinement or surrounded by difficulty, unsure of how the promise will unfold. But confinement doesn’t cancel your calling as a child of God. Storms don’t sink destiny. And silence doesn’t mean God has left. Sometimes the very thing we want to escape is the thing God is using to shape us. The prison ship teaches us that God is not just the God of the promise—He’s the God of the process.
Friend, Our Father is present in the storm and sovereign in the silence. What appears to be a setback may be the setup for your next success. Trust the One who called you, because if He started it, He will finish it.
Growing Personally - On becoming Spiritual people
What a blessing children are and what a miracle birth is. In the weeks following, they will begin to recognize their parent’s faces. They look up and because they are content with the sight of their father’s familiar face, they feel that all is well in their world. A child’s identity is related to their father and mother. Identity is about, who we are, who we are related to and the value we have to them.
Our identity first comes by seeing our father’s approval in his loving face, as we were growing up. The images in our hearts and minds, of his smile, encouragement and love, even when we failed, stamped us with inner security and worth, giving us the strength to live life courageously. This is important as our identity will always express itself. If you are a postman, you do things that postmen do. If you are a policeman, you act like a policeman. And even if you think you are a policeman and you are not really a policeman; you still act like one! If we feel we are worthless we may begin to do worthless things or crave the approval of others to validate ourselves in some way.
As we see God our Father’s face and His love for us in the Word, we develop a new identity that will determine what we do and what we act like. When we know He has declared us to be His holy children, we can more easily live as we want. When we know we are accepted by Him we are more able to live acceptably.
Friend, our Father has revealed Himself to us in Jesus and He wants us to look into the realm of Spirit and see His look of love and approval.
In the garden, Adam became conscious of himself instead of God. His conscience was ignited. Shame became a reality for the first time. “I’ve not done right; I made a mistake there, I messed up. I’m embarrassed by that. Satan awakened the knowledge of good and evil -that was good that was bad. And while we are dealing with the conscience (that was good or bad) we are far from the tree of Life. After the confession of our sin, we have a clear conscience with God and with men.
When we receive Life from Him, we leave Gods presence with joy, direction, confidence, and authority. So Satan tries to keep us from Life in God's presence by bringing an accusation to us whenever we approach Gods presence. His favorite weapon is an accusation
Jesus said “I come that you might have life, but Satan comes only to steal and destroy. To rob, steal and destroy what? Life! Those precious, holy, inspiring moments when God speaks to our spirit. He comes to rob that life!
Maybe this week you have been robbed by condemnation but it won’t be your conscience accusing you any longer - It is only the devil.
Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!
Christ has purged our conscience from an evil conscience. We are to be only conscious of God now. Satan seeks to deceive us into thinking we should be still conscious of our past struggles.
Friend our conscience is purged of all the past dead works of the flesh we have done. We are not conscious of ourselves but conscious of Him. We are no longer sin conscious but Son conscious.
God forgives and He forgets. God's forgiveness is full, it's free and it's final.
I will remember sin no more, for I will be merciful regarding their wrong deeds, and I will never again remember their sins." Hebrews 8:12
Satan wants us remembering and feeling bad about the sin which God does not even remember. God is over it. He's moved on- it’s a new day. He only has mercy for you today, no thoughts of yesterday, He does not remember past mistakes and failures. As distant as the east is from the west, that is how far He has removed our sins from us. Psalms 103:12
God has dealt with our sin and our shame. Oftentimes we confess sins and we believe we are forgiven but we still feel some sense of shame. Shame hangs over us like a cloud. Many times we know we are forgiven but we don't feel cleansed. That feeling of failure and unworthiness Satan will seek to exploit. Regrets can be about what you think of your past. But God has made provision for not only our guilt but our shame too. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1Jn 1:9
God only sees our failures as a lesson. A lesson in Love!. When Jonah failed God in his mission to Nineveh, the lesson God wanted him to learn was the lesson of love. When the gourd grew overhead then died, Jonah was miserable for himself, but Gods point was - shouldn’t I have had compassion on these people? Jonah couldn’t be a success until he learned to love like God.
When Peter failed three times, Jesus asked him “do you love me?” three times. The declaration of love was necessary to undo the sense of failure. When Peter was asked to feed the sheep it was to show love. The essence of success is love.
Friend failure is only ever a failure if the lesson of God love for us and others is not learned. Love never fails and love re-stores failure.
Some anger is caused because our goals and possessions have become idolatrous. Bill Gothard said it is because we haven’t yielded our rights. Think about that. If we get angry because another has wrecked our coat, it's because we never yielded that coat up to God; we saw it as our own and not belonging to God.
When we are angry at a person for not doing what we wanted them to do, its sinful because anger says you believe that this person is in charge of your future and life. Somehow you believe that they are determining what you can be. That their cooperation is key to your life becoming happy and successful. No, your life and fulfillment is not determined by anyone else but you and God. Whose goals in life are you pursuing; whose will do we want to do? |If God gave you the goal, no one can stop it.
And here is the one goal God has for all of us.... to be conformed to the image of Jesus. So traffic jams, screaming kids, etc are all working toward His goals as we need to develop patience and character. That is why the lady Elizabeth young wrote disappointments are his appointments!
Friend, when our goals become more important than His goals, it is an idol and we will tend to become angry!