Paul G-Blog

We belong to God

Paul Gravelle — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:29:55 +0000

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul’, and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labour of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

It is natural to welcome appreciation; I sometimes look for credit for what I do. I ask God’s help that I not be motivated by the reaction of others, but do whatever I can, knowing that God sees and values my efforts.

I think of myself as God’s field, God’s building. The care that others take with their gardens or with Farmville is nothing to God’s care for me. I consider the work that God is doing in me.

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Jesus Always Sees Me

Paul Gravelle — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:57:39 +0000

John 1:45-51

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Philip’s announcement about meeting Jesus received a cynical response. He might have found it difficult to see the good in Nathanael that Jesus recognised. I pray for the wisdom I need to see beyond the dismissive answer and ask for patience.

Jesus sees me ‘under the fig trees’ of my life, recognising what is in my heart. I relax in the knowledge that I am known and loved.

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Be Generous…

Paul Gravelle — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:18:48 +0000

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

God wants the ground of my life to be fertile and fruitful. I give thanks for the areas of my life in which I have worked with God and I try to recognise those places I have left lie fallow.

I think of God as a cheerful giver, taking real pleasure in me as I receive the gifts that God offers to me. I rejoice with God, taking time to be thankful and allowing gratitude to shape me and to make me more generous.

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God writes on Our Hearts…

Paul Gravelle — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:20:32 +0000

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

God wants to draw me into a relationship, into a new agreement. I pray that I may not be held back by anything in the past but may accept the confidence that God has in me.

The covenant is not a just a legal agreement, a contract or a law but a drawing together of people in love. God calls me in love. I make my loving response.

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The Lord always calls us back to Him…

Paul Gravelle — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:57:13 +0000

Jeremiah 15:19-21

Therefore, thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

I am always invited to turn again to God and always back.

I do not have to be concerned with influencing or persuading: God can work through my efforts and communicate through my words.

Even if I don’t experience the ruthless and the wicked, I know there are many things that can keep me in their grasp. I turn again to God, asking for help.

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OT Message of Hope

Paul Gravelle — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:59:30 +0000

Jeremiah 3:15-16

I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made.

My time of prayer is important not just because I read the word of God but because I make myself present to God. Everything that supports my prayer, that brings me to God, is a tool, an instrument. I attune myself to how God is present to me now.

I pray for all those who are shepherds to me, for those who guide and lead me. I pray that I may, in turn, be a shepherd after God’s own heart.

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Prayer to follow the Lord

Paul Gravelle — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:23:35 +0000

Isaiah 26:7-9, 12

The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgements, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.

Like Isaiah, I wait for the Lord. I know that in waiting I can become impatient, disheartened or inattentive. I bring what I desire and yearn for it before God, asking for blessing.

I think of all that I have done, considering the achievements of which I am proud. I turn to God with thanks as I pray, ‘All that I have done, you have done for me.’

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Search for justice, Reach out to the oppressed, Treat the widow and the orphan with justice

Paul Gravelle — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:29:06 +0000

Isaiah 1:16-17

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

As I wish to learn to do good, I realise that only God can teach me. I pray for enlightenment.

My prayer is empty unless it is brought to life in my attitudes and actions. I think of how my way of living brings justice within reach of those in need.

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God is not far away; He is in your Heart!

Paul Gravelle — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:32:14 +0000

Deuteronomy 30:9-14

For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

Before I ask of anything else from God and pray I give thanks to God for what I have already received. The word of God is already in my mouth and in my heart.

God does not ask of me anything that is too difficult but asks me to begin from where I am right now at this time. I pray that I may grow in appreciation of how God ‘prospers’ me.

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Isaiah’s solemn call by God to be a prophet.

Paul Gravelle — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:31:31 +0000

Isaiah 6:5-8

And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

I hear the voice of the Lord asking, ‘Whom shall I send?’ As I want to answer, ‘Send me!’ I pray for the grace that I will need at this time.

God has confidence in me, trusts me and sends me out. I pray that I may have confidence in myself even as I rely on God.

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