The Best Prescription

My youngest brother has a devotional book which contains stories about the power of God and His word. Each night someone will read one of these stories with him and then ask some of the questions at the end of the story.

Last night's story was about a lady named Martha. Martha was married to a farmer named Jake and for three years the drought in the country had destroyed all their crops. As a result she was worried about all the bills that they had to pay. She was concerned that they might not be able to get their loan extended for another year, and worried that then they might have to get rid of their farm. On top of all this worry, Martha was also not feeling very healthy. Her heart would flutter at times and her head would always ache. It seemed like the more problems and worries she had, the worse she felt. 

The story tells us of Martha going to visit her doctor because of all these problems. When at the doctors, the doctor asks her if she ever spends time reading the Bible. Surprised, Martha tells him no, she doesn't. The doctor then told her: "My prescription for you is to go home and read your Bible for at least an hour every day, come back and see me in a month." At first Martha is shocked and angry at this prescription, but she realises that she doesn't have the money to spend on other medicines so she follows orders. She searched for her mother's well worn Bible. Each day she got up 1/2 an hour earlier everyday to spend time reading the Bible, she spent some time after lunch reading the Bible and again in the evening after her children had gone to bed. 

After a month Martha went back to see her Doctor. She felt like a different person, surrounded by the care and protection of the Lord. Surprised she asked the doctor how he knew what she needed. The doctor told her that it is what he did every day, the Bible was his deepest source of strength and skill. He depended on the word of God. The story ends by telling us that: The doctor in this story has passed away but his prescription lives on. What a blessing it would be if we, by God's grace, would look to the rich heavenly Physician who knows what we need before we ask.

Maybe we should all spend more time in prayer and Bible reading. I know I should.

Love your neighbour as yourself

This week we had the most amazing camp. Centred around the topic of "love your neighbour as yourself" , we had several speeches and workshops investigating the subject further. There is so much to write about and I have NO idea where to start. (I also have to beat my sister in posting this). The whole experience was enriching both spiritually, emotionally and personally.

With the different speeches covering the topic of love we were able to learn more about the meaning of love and how an why we show love to our neighbour. The workshops covered the topics of: Love is a commitment, Love in action, love is pure, engaging in the community, a workshop targeted specifically at females, and a summary speech which covered WHY we are to love our neighbour. I've learnt so much from all these speeches and would like to share the biggest take home message with you now: Because of the love and compassion which God our Father has given to us, by the saving work of His Son, we should be driven by love and compassion for who ever God causes to cross our path.

Luke 10: 25-37 tells  us the story of the good Samaritan. This parable was used as a reference point and the basis for two of the speeches we had. The Samaritan was moved with compassion for the man whom the thieves had beaten (he did not have any moral obligation to the man as the Priest and Levite did). The man on the side of the road was a man in need and the samaritan was moved with compassion. Jesus also was moved by compassion.

• Matt 14:14 - When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
• Matt 15:32 - Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
• Matt 20:34 - Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
• Mark 6:34 - When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Because of the compassion which has been shown to us, we too should show love and compassion to others. Because of the love of Christ for us and in us we too should be showing love and compassion to our neighbour also.

On top of that the camp was an amazing opportunity to meet new people. There were people from Tasmaina, Queensland and some even from Canada and we were all able to interact and develop new relationships.