A couple of years ago, I was fascinated by a BBC News report about an endangered species of bird called the Regent Honeyeater which is found only in South Eastern Australia. It has a very sparse distribution over a vast area, and the male birds are now forgetting their own song, and mimicking the songs of other bird species around them.

We cannot lose heart if our hearts are fixed looking to Jesus in our circumstances for His grace, peace, presence, enabling, etc., because we will be living life from a totally different perspective.

Some years ago, a team of people from New Life and another church in Derby went on a mission trip to Kosovo.

A few of the older people at the church there could speak pretty good English, but most of the younger members of the church and guests invited from the local community could manage only a few words in English. How could we effectively communicate with everyone? The good news was that one teenage girl could speak very good English, so much so, the other teenagers in the Kosovan youth group had given her the nickname “Google-Translate”.

For the Christian, the truths of the Bible should define our thinking and our attitudes, not our imaginations which may be based on negative memories from earlier in life. Will we let our background/ history/perceived failings and shortcomings hold us back from effective ministry for the Lord, or will we step out, believing “I am who God says I am?”

Many non-Christians see churches as “museums” – things relating to the past, with little or no relevance to society today. Thinking of museums, I wonder whether you have ever visited the Museum of Making in the old Silk Mill adjacent to the River Derwent? It’s certainly worth a visit.

When I first heard of this new attraction in Derby, I found the name a little strange – a “museum” speaks of a showcase of old exhibits, whilst “making” speaks of something that is currently ongoing. Of course, this is exactly what those behind the museum were seeking to achieve. As their website states, the museum is “a contemporary space telling Derby’s 300-year history of making to inspire new creativity.”

It is interesting to note that the number Six in Hebrew means man, flesh, whilst number Seven means completion, satisfaction. How do we assist in moving our non-Christian friends from “Six” to “Seven” = married to Jesus?

Moses was the younger brother of both Miriam and Aaron, but God had chosen Moses to be the great leader who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. God had not forgotten Miriam and Aaron.

Like the sign of the workman/ man with an umbrella sign, we can only see that which our hearts allow us to see. If we desire to "see" the new things that God is unfolding in our day, we need to know the word of God well and have pliable, soft hearts that are open to the Holy Spirit, not hardened hearts like the disciples, who missed seeing the deeper implications of Jesus' signs. May we all desire hearts of flesh, so that we may grow in stature in Christ.

We all know the signs: a build up of traffic; a warning sign; temporary traffic lights; and a necessary deviation around the obstruction in the road. We rarely, if ever, give a thought as to what the works actually are; we are more concerned about continuing on our journeys…….

In our prayer lives, what is it that we take to the spiritual battlefield? We fight our enemy, not only with the sword of the Spirit, but with all those other elements of armour that have been entrusted to us…