Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

It should be during this period of seeming inactivity that we are able to reflect and to develop a plan that will enable us to change some of our habits. It is so easy to become deceptive and the deception usually starts with you believing a lie. For Jonah, the fear of facing the Ninevites, caused him to run in the opposite direction. It was only when he was questioned by the sailors on the boat facing certain destruction that Jonah started to tell the truth. Truth telling is a cathartic process. It enables the teller to come to terms and face up to reality. When you live in a dream world, you will eventually have to wake up and face the music. Jonah literally woke up and faced up to his past when all of his new found colleagues were about to perish. Imagine the panic in the voices of the sailors as they bombarded him with questions. Why has this calamity befallen us? What do you do for a living? Where are you from? Who are you?  Jonah snapped out of his malaise and started the process of restoration. He told them that he was a servant of the God of heaven, Yahweh and that he had run away from the presence of the Lord and was acting in rebellion. Therefore the only solution to the problem was to sacrifice his life to save theirs. Not only was this confession cathartic for Jonah, it was music to God’s ears.  For us today let us learn from the experience of Jonah and like an old ditty I learned as a youth, let us “speak the truth and speak it ever cost it what it will. For he who hides the wrong he does will do the wrong thing still.” Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It comes when we start the process of deception. Today let us all stop, think, reflect and repent of the lies we have allowed to skew how we see things and what we say. Healing starts with facing up to problem not running away from it! for today read Proverbs 6.