Let me start with another change! When you start something new, it usually takes some time to get into a rhythm. I decided that Monday wasn’t a great blog day so I’m shifting to Saturday!

I don’t always have a ‘word for the year’ but as I’ve been praying and listening at the start of 2022, I’ve been hearing the word, ‘closer’. I’m reading a really good book at the moment called ‘Ten Words to live by’ Jen Wilkin It’s a book about the ten commandments, which I admit doesn’t sell it well, but let me encourage you to get it. I’m only on commandment one which is, ‘you shall have no other gods before me’ believe me, this is giving me enough to think about. To think about ‘my God and……’ are there things in my life that I depend on or feel I need that knock God of first spot?

Then I began to think, rather than giving up everything I enjoy, giving everything away that I own and going to live in rags in a cave (didn’t really get that far – just for dramatic effect!) I decided that if I just get closer to Jesus, the things that perhaps need to drop off, will do so automatically. If you know me, you will know that I am a huge believer in John 10:10 which says, ‘the devil comes only to kill, steal and destroy, (not God, the devil – in case anyone needs a reminder), but I have come that you may have life and life to the full.’ God is not out to make us have a miserable life. We are His children and He loves to see us thriving – don’t you with your kids?

What we need to watch is that we’re not doing life instead of Him, but rather, as well as. What a winning combination that is. Let me repeat the stat that I mentioned last week. According to a recent poll only around 55% of people have returned to church. That makes me sad. I wonder if they’ve created new habits? I wonder if they think they don’t need church? I wonder if they’ve turned away from God completely? I wonder if they’re scared? There could be so many reasons, but I can’t help thinking that if we all just move closer to Jesus, we would be automatically moving away from the negatives.

I was picturing Jesus like a fire, and the closer I got to the fire, the more, the rubbish burned away. You see the closer you stand to Jesus, the better your reactions and responses will be, you will bite your tongue just a little longer, you’ll speak kinder, you’ll love better and so on. The opposite is true, if you stay away from a fire long enough, you will grow cold.

How close or how far away are you from the fire? One quick test – do you attend your church’s prayer meeting? It’s always the ‘cinderella’ meeting, but we know that without it, we can’t do very much. If you feel far away, maybe this is a place to start? If your church doesn’t have a prayer meeting (sigh) why not start one? Prayer should be the engine room of every church.

I hope no-one is planning on moving to a cave, but whatever you decide to do in response to this, if anything, at least take a step closer. If you don’t know Jesus at all, take the first step. Contact me, nothing would thrill me more!

Move closer to move away. D x

If you move closer to Jesus, you will move further away from negative stuff

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