Lighthouse Keeper

Keeping the lights on to guide you home

recent posts

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

  • Beautiful in its time

    A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, (Ecclesiastes 3:2)

    A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, (Ecclesiastes 3:6)

    A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,(Ecclesiastes 3:7)

    A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.(Ecclesiastes 3:8)

    Of all the things I hear and see people struggling with in their everyday life, timing is often both the problem and the solution. 

    I was advising an old work friend on how to buy a first home for her and her family. They were saving a deposit and preparing to sacrifice a more desirable suburb to get into something they could afford as a stepping stone. She was pumped and committed–it was all go. 

    Next thing on Instagram I see they had bought a motorhome (presumably with the house deposit) and were going travelling around the country for a year. 

    “The kids are young and we’re scared of a big mortgage–we want to get out and live!”

    A time to be born and a time to die,

    A time to plant and a time to uproot.

    Prayer and wisdom will guide us into knowing which season we are in and what lies on the road ahead. Both of us were right to some extent but was it the time to harvest the seed and uproot  (house deposit money) for an adventure before it had even had time to be planted and grow in the soil (first home)? My advice would be no. 

    I hear working friends talking about the days and how they want to speak up get their views across but don’t want to be argumentative or unreasonable:

    A time to be silent, a time to speak…

    A time for war, a time for peace.

    Both options can be right (or wrong) in the given context. Being able to hold two things being true at the same time is a sign of wisdom. Us Christians often like our Bible black and white and steer away from the wrestle that is necessary to pray down ‘kingdom come’ into our situations. Sometimes “it’s complex” is a perfectly fine answer because not all paths are obvious from the start and we are humans and only have certain knowledge and capacity. 

    One of my favourite sayings is “you’re not always going to get a run of green lights”. There will be challenges and obstacles to navigate and yes our Great Shepherd is always guiding but He is also equipping us to make better choices and help others once we’ve found a way across the mountain. 

    Sometimes it’s just timing. 

    I read a lot of books on investing and property when I was at university and in my early 20’s but I was broke! I had no seed to invest so as much as I tried, I wasn’t growing any trees. It wasn’t until miracle provision came through when I was 39 (I’ll write that post later) that I could actually apply some of the things I’d read about. 19 years after I had read the books. I used to feel like a fraud that I had all this head knowledge and no harvest “all hat and no cattle” as the Americans say. That was me. 

    God will work all things for good (Romans 8:28) so don’t feel like you’re doing your Christian walk wrong if sometimes the road ahead isn’t clear. 

    He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

  • The disciple Jesus loved

    So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” John 20:2

    Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. John 21:7

    Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) John 21:20

    John cracks me up. As the author of the gospel of John he regularly refers to himself as “the disciple that Jesus loved”. Talk about self flattery! 

    But aren’t we all the disciples that Jesus loved? Of course we are and it’s easy to have head knowledge that God is love and yes, Jesus loves you and all that. Do you really get that Jesus loves you? That he is super proud of you and delights in you? (Psalm 147:11)

    I collect sneakers (mainly Nike’s like Jordans and Dunks and AirForce 1’s). Sometimes I have a sneaker crisis of faith that I am too vain about my sneakers and spend too much on materialistic things and I should just give them all away. I was at a cafe when I saw a little four year old walk up in  a stylish pair of baby Jordans. I said to him “Hey great kicks! I like your shoes, they’re cool”. 

    The Dad came in after him and was grinning with joy. His kid did look cool. He did look stylish and I know who had bought him the shoes. His Dad. He didn’t scold him for being vain or materialistic. His Dad had dressed him up to go uptown and look awesome. 

    Immediately I thought what a nice Dad and what a nice kid. The kid was glorifying the father by shining in his gift of love. 

    “Tell the lady thank you”. 

    So the little four year old said ‘thank you’ and off they went to have lunch. That’s it. Just say thank you. Receive from the Lord and be grateful for the many blessings he has bestowed on you. False humility and beating yourself up is just rejecting the many blessings of God. The air that you breathe is a blessing. The body you walk around in. So why would Jesus get caught up on a pair of Nike kicks?

    He doesn’t. You are the disciple that Jesus loved and He is proud to call you His son or daughter. He delights in you-and your Jordans. 

  • What picture of Jesus do you have in your head?

    I once heard a pastor say that your view of who Jesus is will determine your whole Christian walk. Your speech, your heart position, your worship, your serving, how you interact with others–all rest on who Jesus is to you. 

    If you have an angry, disappointed father’s view of Jesus, you will always be trying to do more to please Him and earn his love. If you have a Sugar Daddy or “he’s my boyfriend” view of Jesus it’s easy to lack discipline and correction. If you are scared of Jesus, you will have a fire and brimstone punishing God. You get the idea. 

    Sometimes I have to stop and correct myself when my own private thoughts condemn me and the joyful Jesus goes out the window. 

    The Bible is very clear that Jesus is full of joy. 

    You are passionate for righteousness, and you hate lawlessness. This is why God, your God, crowns you with bliss above your fellow kings. He has anointed you, more than any other, with his oil of fervent joy, the very fragrance of heaven’s gladness. Psalm 45:7 TPT

    As you abide and commune and stay focused on Him, this joy and gladness will run into you and overflow to others around you. As Christians, we should be characterised by our joy and gladness. I know the cynical would call this toxic positivity, happy clappy Christianity–but it’s all there in the Bible “fervent joy-heaven’s gladness” 

    My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness! John 15:11-13 TPT

    Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” Psalm 126:2

    If you are a joyless Christian, you’ve got to wonder if your view of Jesus is a bit off. Ask yourself:

    “Do I have fun with Jesus and enjoy his company?”

    “Is church attendance enjoyed or endured?”

    “Does my Jesus condemn me, or encourage and celebrate me in sanctification?”

    “When Jesus corrects me–does He do it in a loving positive way or with shame?”

    Often it’s our own negative self talk that muddies the waters and distorts the love and joy of Jesus. Let Him encourage and fill you with his joy today as you find out who He really is in the Word of God.

  • Nourished and empowered

    I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me. You must continually let my love nourish your hearts. If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy I experience will fill your heart with overflowing gladness! (John 15:9-11 TPT). 

    If there ever was a cure for those burnt out on church culture and religion it’s this verse. 

    Who doesn’t want to live nourished and empowered and overflowing with gladness? Everyone. And Jesus teaches us that the way we do this is to stay in the vine, in union with him (John 15:5) which is the love covenant of the New Testament. 

    Note this has a lot more to do with “being” than “doing”. Receiving the love that is ever present in the trinity between Jesus and the Father (and ultimately the Holy Spirit as the love emanates from the Father) (John 15:26). 

    It’s an unconditional love and assurance that you have been chosen and commissioned by God to bear fruit. It’s an escape from striving and trying to “be somebody” in this life. You are somebody and you are not an accident or a random explosion of atoms. You are designed and purposed to be on earth and reflect the image of your Creator. 

    Trying to “be somebody” has haunted me my whole life. And when you surrender to the life of Christ, it’s easy to transfer your worldly striving (status, power, money, control, attention, performance) into your religious and church life. 

    I see so many people (and I know I’m projecting here) who work very hard to “be the best Christian”. 

    Look at me, I’m on fire for God

    Look at me I brought someone to church

    Look at me I worship enthusiastically

    Look at me, I know the Bible. 

    Look at me I’m on all the church rosters. 

    Constantly seeking external validation in a church setting is no different than seeking validation in Hollywood, or the corporate world, or in a material, worldly sense. 

    Notice me-I’m the best Christian

    Our modern churches are rampant with this platform=promotion and an obsession with leadership and titles and people’s little empires we politely call “ministries”. 

    It happens in big and small churches. In cities and towns. Across all denominations. It’s a cancer in our souls that we strive to earn God’s love and he is standing with open arms today saying “you already have my love– you’ve had it since the beginning of time” (1 John 4:19). 

    I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me.

    Perhaps it’s time to surrender today to the simplicity of walking each day with the Father who loves you and laying down the constructed self we try to sell to God and others as proof that we are worthy. 

    Have a little meditate with Jesus and lay down some of the empires at his feet:

    • The ministries
    • The identity (I’m a pastor, teacher, evangelist, apostle etc)
    • The status (your job, your income, your car, your house and suburb)

    You get the idea. Who are you without these things? Who does Jesus say you are?Let him prune off the window dressing and see the fruit come forth in your life as it overflows from the true and living vine. 

  • Because there is one loaf

    Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
    1 Corinthians 10:17

    The other day, I got my gardening friend to come and have a look at my soil. You see The Lighthouse has lovely gardens but I’m not much of a green thumbs so I needed a crash course. 

    Soil. Parable of the sower. You need good soil (an open mind and heart) to receive the seed (Word of God. Matthew 13

    I was convinced that was the issue and all I needed was a big load of top soil and I would have thriving trees and plants. Experienced gardener friend immediately said “ it’s not a soil issue-your soil is fine. Everything just needs a good feed”. 

    Food. Fertiliser. So he rattled off some names and brands and off I went to the garden centre to buy half the store. I was delighted with this seemingly simple fix and went to it mixing potions to put on my well established plants. Fortunately, I had a quick Google before I started. 

    Nitrophoska Blue is amazing on everything but not Proteas (I have Proteas)...

    Citrus food for citrus but avoid winter and not against the trunk...

    As I continued my investigation I quickly learned that if I had hit everything with equal doses of the blue stuff, I would have killed a quarter of my garden. What you feed is important. Timing is important. Seasons. 

    Different plants need different food at different times. 

    The primary source of food for the living Christian is the Word of God (The Bible) and the various ways it is communicated through writing, preaching and teaching, personal devotionals-that sort of thing. Paul talks about moving the church from living on milk (basic teachings), to solid food or meat (more complex teachings) 1 Corinthians 3:12. 

    Jesus says “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and when we feed on Him through communion, prayer, reading and meditating on Scripture, fellowship with other Believers; we get spiritually nourished. Just like the human body, what you feed on will determine your spiritual health. 

    I think we have to be careful as Christians that we don’t “food shame” other people who are either trying to learn about Christianity and Jesus or walking with the Lord already. 

    When I first became a Christian, I read a lot of Philip Yancey and Max Lucado. I then became more hungry for the Word and changed up to John Piper teaching and preaching. After wandering back to the world, Jesus gave me the Joyce Meyer on-ramp back into the church and put me into the teaching hothouse that is Hillsong Sydney. I studied the Bible ravenously. Currently I’m reading a lot of NT Wright, Oswald Chambers, and Charles Spurgeon (and of course the Bible every morning and evening). I would consider all of these teachings good spiritual food. 

    I went through a Bill Johnson YouTube preaching season. I love TD Jakes and Steven Furtick when I need some motivation. To say “well I go to a line-by-line Bible study so I’m a superior Christian to you” is silly. To say you “don’t need motivation and encouragement because you just need knowledge” is counter to Scripture (Hebrews 3:13). We all need variety in our diet and being a food snob about someone else’s journey in the Word (or your own) is limiting. 

    I’ll go into more detail in another post about how I read the Bible but for now, just let people enjoy their time with the Lord in whatever form that takes. It might be a season they’re going through that you don’t have much idea about.  We all feed from the one loaf, the bread of life, in the living Word of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 10:17).

  • Remain in me

    Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4. 

    Before the death and resurrection of Jesus, our sins separated us from God so we need a sacrifice to atone for (cover or reconcile) ourselves.  Now you may think that’s a bit weird, why do I need a sacrifice? It may have made sense to ancient Mayans or even the Jewish nation but we’ve moved on from that sort of thing. 

    One of the things I’ve learned in my studies and exploration of the things of Jesus is that you need to accept things as they are, not how you want them to be. As a non-believer in my early 20’s I came to a point where I just wanted to know either way, was this God stuff real or not? Was Jesus a real person? Why is everyone so obsessed with him? The more I studied (I have a Master’s degree so book study comes easy for me) the more captivated I became with the mysteries of the Bible and the story of Jesus. Why is the story still going? Why do people “see the light” and go all ga-ga from him? Did these historical events really happen and if so, how does that change things? 

    The central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him (Oswald Chambers). 

    The gospel message is not one of establishing a moral code, being a good person, or finding a nice way to meet wholesome people in a church. Believe me, there are many people who come in and out of churches over the years who want these things and eventually turn away disappointed. The death (atonement by the blood of Jesus) and resurrection of God in the flesh is a gift of moving from death to life- a new creation. And it is this newly created or born again person who follows (or abides, remains with) Jesus to bear fruit. 

    So what is the fruit?  

    Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

    This fruit is the evidence of a person who is being conformed to be like Jesus. Not how often they go to church. Not how many charities they serve. Not if they have the most Bible knowledge. Put simply, the fruit is who you are, not what you do. Now some people try to twist this around and say “well if you love the church then you’ll be on five church rosters”. It’s a joyless nonsense more aligned with trying to earn God’s love than be like Him.  How you are with your family and friends at home, how you talk to the staff at a cafe, how you approach life with optimism and courage and peace; these are the fruits of the Spirit. 

    Your loyalty to Him, your sticking with Him. 

    It doesn’t require striving or manufacturing of projects to try and force the fruit. The abide and remain of John 15:4 will feed and water you. You are reconciled to God by the atonement of Jesus Christ and in this way, you will bear fruit. Remain in me. 

  • Make it your ambition

    The modern church is obsessed with church building which is often defined by lots of activity and “ministries” and not a lot of contemplation, prayer, and listening to God. In a world that is drowning in anxiety and busyness, I think it’s important that our churches offer a place of respite and peace from the worries of the world so people have space to fix their eyes on things above (Colossians 3:2). 

    Striving to bear fruit for the kingdom is often striving to bear fruit for human validation,  or simply distraction from what can be drudgery or struggle if we fail to grasp the peace and joy and simplicity that flows from new covenant promises. 

    Jesus has already come to earth. The new covenant was forged in His resurrection and the new life has been purchased for us. Getting “church busy”  because Jesus is coming back is quite silly when you think of it in New Testament terms. 

    Yes there is a race marked out for us (Hebrews 12: 1-3).  Yes there are good works He has prepared in advance (Ephesians 2:10). And those good works can look like helping your child with their homework or letting someone in front of you in the grocery store line. An offering of thanks can be singing a song or planting a tree.  If you constantly feel like you aren’t “doing” enough for God, you’ve missed the point of the Atonement. He is all sufficient and requires nothing from us (Psalm 50:12). 

    God doesn’t want you to be frazzled and stressed out and angry at the world. And the way to counter this in our lives is to be how Jesus is observed in Luke 5:16 where He “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed”. 

    Seek the kingdom. Seek the quiet. Seek His face.

  • Why ChatGPT won’t make you a Bible scholar

    One of the main reasons people get intimidated by the Bible is because they haven’t received a revelation that the Holy Spirit is the great Teacher and will always be teaching his Word. 

    Racing straight into a commentary, or nowadays ChatGPT, will guarantee that you get someone else’s revealed word and not necessarily your own. It’s challenging because it has become very fashionable to scream “context” at anyone when they start preaching or teaching the word of God. While context is important, it can also dilute a unique revealed Word and assumes that there is only one correct way to interpret a scripture. There isn’t. (We currently have 45,000 Christian denominations so there’s your first clue). Prayerful reflection and meditation on the word of God is always the best place to start. Then you can do a bit of colouring in with other people’s teaching and commentaries as necessary. 

    I’ll give you an example. 

    The other morning, I was doing a little study on Paul’s shipwreck in the book of Acts. 

    One passage that jumped out at me was in Acts 27: 43-44.

    43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

    Those who could swim were ordered to swim for shore. The ones that couldn’t float on pieces of the broken ship. 

    My personal revelation of this Scripture was concern that a shipwreck was occurring in a supposely safe harbour. Why did the shipwreck need to occur if it was always God’s divine providence to save all the lives on board the boat at Malta? Why did the able swimmers make for the shore and not rescue the others? Those that couldn’t swim were left on broken planks?

    I went to another commentary that had a completely different revelation. The boat (often a picture of the church or Jesus, Jesus and Noah’s ark redemption etc) was a symbol of the saving grace of salvation and how we can’t save ourselves and need the broken boat (the body of Christ) to get us safely to shore. Instantly I thought, “wow I’ve completely missed all that”. 

    Then, I went to the great Matthew Henry commentary and read his analysis:

    “Although there are great difficulties on the on the way of promised salvation , that salvation will be brought about without fail and even a shipwreck may be a means of saving lives so that when all seems to be lost, everything proves to be safe ,even though it is on boards and broken pieces of ship” 

    You see the scriptures and commentaries build on each other so you start to get a clearer view of the picture of salvation that is being illustrated here in Paul’s story. Simply screaming “context” at people and hammering away at ChatGPT will not get you to the wonderful revelation that the Holy Spirit can teach through his own, very much alive, Word. 

    Taking time to meditate, linger, contemplate, and savour the word of God as you ask questions and see new insights in the text ensures that you will always be humbled by the richness and depth of scripture and also have life-long learning with the Person who wrote it.

  • Jesus calms the storm

    He (Jesus) replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. Matthew 8:26

    We had a doozy of a storm here last night. Gale force winds with trees and power lines down. 

    There are many storms in the Bible. The most well known ones are the storm of Jonah at sea (Jonah 1:4-13), the plague storm of Egypt (Exodus 9:23-26), and of course Noah and the great flood (Genesis 6:9).  In the New Testament, Paul experiences a stormy shipwreck (Acts 27) and Peter walks on water in a storm (Matthew 14:22-33). 

    Perhaps the most striking imagery is when Jesus calms the storm in the Gospels  (Matthew 8:26 and others):

    “Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and it was completely calm” (Matthew 8:26)

    Storms demonstrate God’s sovereignty over his creation and encourage us to have faith in the midst of frightening or uncertain events. 

    My first reaction when I saw all the alerts coming out online was to charge my two Kindles, two cellphones, and backup battery packs-in case of a power outage. As the weather intensified it only then occurred to me to pray that Jesus would calm the storm and keep everyone safe. Oops. 

    I could hear our small town’s emergency siren going off as I sat in my room praying for Jesus to calm the storm when suddenly I thought “where is my cat?!”. 

    Grace is a nervy wee thing and at the first signs of danger, she disappears out the cat flap. I called and called into the squall and she eventually resurfaced so I could shoo her inside and give her some Temptations to keep her inside. 

    I wanted her with me. 

    I wanted to give her shelter and comfort and protection. 

    I didn’t want her out in the storm trying to figure things out on her own. 

    You’ll hear Christians saying that the safest place in the world is at the foot of the Cross and I believe it. Jesus wants you with Him. Jesus wants you to run to Him and sit with Him and pray (have a conversation with) Him. He doesn’t want you running off instinct and disappearing into self-reliance and thrashing around in a panic in the storms of your life. 

    When I got up this morning, the storm had passed. We had a bit of upturned outdoor furniture and jumpy cat to show for it but Jesus had calmed the storm and kept us safe. 

    Jesus wants you with Him in your storms. 

    Jesus wants to give you shelter and comfort and protection.

    Jesus doesn’t want you out in the storm trying to figure things out on your own. 

    Turn to Him in your storms. 

  • Does the devil really offer you your past?

    There’s an old timey Christian saying that “the devil will offer you your past”. 

    I was trying to think if there were any Scriptures that support this idea?

    The most obvious one is the Hebrew nation’s journey through the wilderness and when they tried to return to Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron in Numbers 14:1-4. 

    Remember, the Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt but they longed for the perceived security of the familiar. In Exodus 16:3, they romanticise the past, dramatically wishing the Lord had killed them in Egypt where at least they had meat to eat and other food they wanted. As slaves, this scenario was unlikely but their fixation on what was behind kept them from moving in faith toward the Promised Land. 

    A New Testament example that springs to mind in John 21:3 when Peter denies Christ three times “I am going fishing” Simon Peter said. God is calling Peter forward to follow him but instead he chooses to return to what he knows, the comfortable pair of shoes found in his fishing job. 

    We all do this- texting the old boyfriend, hanging out with people God has removed from your life, nostalgia over an old job, nostalgia over an old city you lived in when you were younger. Left unchecked, it can lead to dangerous decisions like leaving a marriage, job, or responsibilities God has given to you. Living in whimsy for the past also robs you of the “daily bread” and “daily grace” that God supplies to his children.

    Change is hard. Change is unfamiliar and can be scary but the simple command of Jesus to follow me is the true essence of the Christian daily walk. The follow me is always forward and not backward. We see this again in Matthew 8:21 when a disciple asks Jesus if he can go back and bury his father.

    But Jesus said to him “follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” Matthew 8:22

    Jesus’ place is with the spiritually alive and not with the dead. He’s always reminding us to keep moving forward on our journey Home. 

    Yes, the devil will offer you your past-because he wants you to turn back and miss out on the Promised Land of Jesus. The old timey Christians were right 😉