No Deposit, No Return

by    4th January 2004    0 responses

Matthew 7:24-27   Expand passage

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

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I know I say this every year at this time, but I can’t believe it’s New Year already! Where did the last year go? Weren’t we only just throwing away the wrapping paper from last Christmas? But here we are again, at the beginning of a new year, wondering what life is going to throw at us this year.

Only God knows what this year is going to bring, we can plan, and prepare, and arrange, and control, but at the end of the day, only He knows. Surely that is reason enough to want to draw nearer to Him this year, but God doesn’t just know what’s coming, He wants to help you and I face it without fear and with much joy in our hearts.

I heard a great phrase recently which I want to share with you, it is: “No deposit, no return.” We as Christians tend to live our lives on highs and lows, peaks and troughs, good times and bad. God has not called us to live like this, He’s called us to be stable, secure, firm, and rooted in rock. I’m not saying that with God, the storm won’t come, I’m saying that when the storm hits, your house isn’t going to fall.

How do we get that firm foundation, how do we make sure that our houses are built on rock and not on quicksand? How do we handle the storm, if and when it comes? No deposit, no return. The storm is not the time to start praying and to grab your Bible off the shelf and blow the dust off of it. The time to pray, the time to study the Word is right now. Then, when the storm hits, you’ll have the foundation that goes deep into the ground and supports your every need.

Start this new year as you mean to go on, build up your faith and renew your mind with the Word of God, pray in advance for grace and mercy, don’t wait until the storm has knocked you down, start now!

Here at Crossring, we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and we aim to demonstrate the relevance of that Word through the articles and resources on this site. I, personally, didn’t start to grow as a Christian until I started to read and study the Bible properly. It taught me about God, which naturally helped my relationship with Him, and it taught me wisdom to live right and help people. Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve got a long way to go too, but I’m on the road and trying everyday to move closer to God and his kingdom, His way of doing and being.

The articles on our site are rooted in the Truth of God’s Word, and we hope that they are a valuable resource to you. We pray that the writing is a blessing to you, and that you learn from it, but they should never replace the Bible. I would rather you read your bibles, than read our articles, but we hope you read both.

The Crossring Team has many plans for Crossring, some of them are God’s Will and when the time is right, He will help us make them happen. Some of the ideas we have are not God’s Will, and through prayer and discussion they will be dismissed. Over the next year, we hope to bring you more articles, reviews, and features all designed to bless you and your relationship with God.

Our priorities are to glorify God, to follow His leading, and to share God’s Truth with as many people as we can. You can help us do this, by praying for us and by sharing Crossring with people.

I believe that prayer is the foundation of everything, I want to get to a stage in my life where I’m praying before I do anything. Crossring needs prayer, the Crossring Team needs prayer, so if you feel led to, please pray for us this year. Pray for us always to follow God’s Will, pray for growth in the kingdom and growth for the site, and please pray for the team, that we would be protected and enjoy strong relationships with God.

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of advertising around, if you enjoy Crossring and are blessed by its content, then please tell someone about it. We can’t make Crossring grow, neither can you, only God can. I would love to see Crossring reach new people with the Truth of God’s Word all throughout the next year.

Do you want to get involved? Well you can, this is as much your web site as it is ours. Get involved in discussions, suggest ideas that you have, and have a go at writing an article or a Daily Reading. None of us are “professional” writers, and we’re always looking for people to write for us, why not give it a go?

I’d like to finish off by saying a big thank you to God for everything He’s doing through Crossring.  We may be God’s fellow workers (2 Corinthians 6:1), but God deserves the glory and honour. I’d also like to thank all of you as well, thank you for visiting our site, for participating in the discussion forums and for praying for us.

Remember, no deposit, no return. Start depositing that Word inside yourself, eventually you’ll get a return 30, 60 or even 100 times as much! May God bless you in in the year ahead!

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Andy has been a Christian since his teens when he began to develop his relationship with God. He is an Elder in his local church and leads a home group. Andy has a passion for teaching and writing. He lives near Southend, Essex, with his wife. Andy is responsible for writing much of the content on Crossring.

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