Faith and Life Blog

Passage: Ephesians 6: 10 -17  (NIV)  Focus verse:  Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.   (Ephesians 6:11)     The Christian life is a constant battle and so each day, as soldiers of Christ, we are at war with forces of evil, the enemy of our souls. The war is not physical, but spiritual. How do we prepare ourselves for battle? How do we show up? How do we win the fight? By dressing for success, putting on our weapon of warfare, our armour. In the passage above, the Apostle Paul urges Christians to "put on the whole armor of God," a metaphor for spiritual protection against the forces of evil. This armor is not physical but spiritual, designed to shield us from the attacks of the devil and his minions. Let's delve into each piece of this divine armor. The Belt of Truth This is the foundation of our spiritual armor. Truth, as revealed in God's Word, is our belt, holding up the rest of our spiritual at

  September 19, 2024 • Lona For God has not given us a spirit of fear…2 Timothy 1:7 As a young woman, one of my dreams was to learn to drive and eventually purchase my own car. I kept the dream at the back of my mind for many years, but finally, in the late 1990’s I decided to take the plunge. Armed with my learner driver “lunatic” licence and the knowledge gained from reading the driving manual, I found myself a driving instructor and embarked on the journey of learning to drive. I was ready to put the theory into practice. My first driving lesson was a lunchtime lesson. At the time I was working at Jamaica Information Service (JIS) on Half-Way-Tree Road. My first mistake was to assume that, as is the custom with most driving instructors, we would head to the National Stadium or some other quiet area to go over the basics for the first lesson. Was I wrong! I was in for a surprise! We proceeded down Half-Way-Tree Road and turned onto Oxford Road in the heavy lunchtime traffic. The inst

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13   As I exited my vehicle at work one morning, I looked across to the newly constructed extension to the parking lot admiring how beautiful, spacious and well laid out it was. It was a sight to behold! My mind then went back to the previous day, when two of my neighbours, having passed the location that day, were very impressed with what they saw and mentioned it to me. I looked on with a sigh of relief, happy with the fact that there would be no more parking problems, at least for a very long time.  As I reflected on the new upgrade, the words ' pardon our progress' flashed across my mind, and this time, my mind was taken back to the days when the work was in progress. Often used in the field of construction, these words are usually mounted on a sign alerting the public that even though there is a lot of chaos, noise, dust, confusion and inconvenience, something new and better

  September 9, 2024 • Lona Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24 (NIV) It’s amazing how God often shows up in the simple and seemingly insignificant things of life. Two recent incidents in the past two days have securely cemented this fact in my mind and are the inspiration behind today’s devotional. Incidentally, I had planned to go into a totally different direction for this week’s blog, but on two different occasions, as I sat down and tried to put pen to paper, I had a terrible case of writer’s block. My thoughts were not flowing and there was almost a sense of mental paralysis. I decided, on both occasions, to take a step back. In hindsight, I can see that what I faced both times was God’s re-direction. Yesterday, I went through a time of being angry and impatient with God. I was upset because He had made me a promise a long time ago and it has still not yet been fulfilled. I am sure you have all been in such a position and can u

I am sure you have often heard the phrase 'comfort zone', but what does it mean? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a comfort zone is  a  situation  in which you  feel   comfortable  and in   which  your   ability  and  determination  are not being  tested . A Google search returned the following definitions:         1.  A  settled working method that requires little effort and yields only barely                     acceptable results.          2.  A situation where one feels safe or at ease.   Having established a comfort zone, I am sure we can all identify with this state. In fact, it is a place where most of us like to be. It is a place of ease, where little effort is required. It's life on Easy Street. I borrow a few lines from the theme song from the old TV comedy of the same name: I love to live on Easy Street, nobody works on Easy Street, just sit around all day.... In everything, there is good and bad. So, while easy street/comfort zone may be a good stop for

  Recently, I went to the Inland Revenue Department (Tax Office) to conduct business. I arrived at about 8:15 a.m. and joined the line, anticipating the 8:30 a.m. opening. The sun was already brutally hot, and I wondered if the powers that be had ever thought of covering the entire waiting area, so that clients could be a little more comfortable while waiting. I had totally forgotten that it was a common practice for some public sector workers to be given a ‘bligh’ at the Tax Office, once they showed their work identification. I went anticipating a long wait, so I brought a book to read in order to make pass the time profitably. As I stood in the line, I saw someone with a familiar face and a huge smile approaching me. I smiled back, but for the life of me could not remember who she was or where we had met. I had seen her twice before at the Tax Office and realized that she was an employee but did not get a chance to speak to her. Now here she was standing in front of me – The third ti

  I was not the best student of Economics in high school, but there is one principle from the subject that has remained stuck in my head over all these years – the law of diminishing returns. In layman’s terms, this law states that after a certain point, further investment or effort does not increase your output or expected return. It can, in fact, reduce it. In comparison to us as humans, when you spent time engaged in a task, you are expending effort. After a while, you get tired. The natural thing is to take a break, however, maybe because of a pressing deadline or some other factor, you continue to push, tired as you are. The more tired you become, the less you concentrate. You lose focus and so the quality of the output is less than desired. The law of diminishing returns set in and so the extra time spent after reaching your peak were wasted as you failed to achieve your intended target. Simply put, the more tired you are, the less you produce. The solution? Take a break.