Consistency … sticking with something, holding your course despite the pressures, the confusion, the exhaustion, the roller coaster of emotions that so often come your way … is a powerful driver toward success.

During the WWI Battle of Jutland, Admiral David Beatty led the British battlecruiser fleet against the German navy. Problem was, he frequently changed course and tactics during the early phases of the battle. That failure to engage the enemy consistently led to confusion, poor communications and ultimately, heavy British losses.

In short, Beatty’s inconsistency squandered the opportunity for a decisive British victory at sea that day.

At the other end of the spectrum, I read something recently that really quite intrigued me. It’s called the rule of one hundred. If you spend a hundred hours a year in any discipline (which comes out at less than seventeen minutes a day) you’ll be better than 95% of the world in that discipline. I don’t know how accurate that is but it makes a lot of sense.

So how consistent are you … let’s say, in your faith walk; in your efforts to follow Jesus, hmm?

1 Corinthians 15:58 … my dear brothers and sisters, stand strong. Don’t let anything change you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. You know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

Challenges, obstacles, exhaustion, flagging enthusiasm will all come your way as you follow Jesus wherever He leads along the highways and byways of life. So be strong. Give yourself fully to whatever He’s called you to.

Because you know that your work in the Lord is never wasted.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

The development of communication technology over this last century, each new invention, has enabled us to be further apart whilst communicating ever more quickly and conveniently. These days, there’s pretty much nowhere on Earth where you can’t use technology to communicate.

Back in the 1950’s, when my father (who’d emigrated to Australia from post- war Europe) proposed to my mother (still back in Austria), it took almost three months for his letter to reach her and for her response to come back to him.

By comparison, I was recently in a ministry Board meeting in Sydney when a message popped up on my phone from our Africa director visiting a radio station in Zanzibar. It’s easy to take that for granted these days, but think about it – that’s amazing!

Yet the quicker and more convenient our communications become, the more isolated we are from one another, and the more abruptly, the more unthinkingly, we can end up communicating.

Some of the emails I receive, the text messages, the comments on social media, step over the line from being abrupt (fair enough, I guess) to being downright rude. It’s a real issue. So … time to take stock of our digital communications with some ancient words of wisdom:

Ephesians 4:29 When you talk, don’t say anything bad. But say the good things that people need—whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you.

Or, as one of my Facebook friends said recently, post wisely over these next few months. Contribute to discourse but not division. Check your facts. Resist cheap digs. Create beautiful content. Transcend the bitterness and be better, even when you disagree.

Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

In all that we think, say and do, it’s incredibly worthwhile to ask ourselves from time to time – why did I think, say or do that thing? Why did I have those negative thoughts about my sister? Why did I snap at my wife? Why did I splurge on that useless trinket or toy? Why?

The reason I share that with you today is that all too often we think, say and do things out of selfishness and sometimes out of pride. The average person is an incredibly selfish creature.

Think about it. One of the most important things to teach our children from an early age is not to be selfish. Because, as they grow up – as we grew up – that selfishness all too easily morphs into a sense of pride.

Be honest. In your dealings with those around you, to what extent have those two bedfellows – selfishness and pride – influenced your behaviour? Perhaps it’s time for a reality check.

Philippians 2:3-4 In whatever you do, don’t let selfishness or pride be your guide. Be humble, and honour others more than yourselves. Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.

How do you deal with your selfishness and pride when they’re so hard to put down? After all, they rear their ugly heads all too often – especially when we’re under pressure, when we ourselves are hurting. Answer?

Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too.

It’s funny how selfishness and pride evaporate when we become genuinely caring, genuinely concerned, over the needs of others.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Is it just me or is public debate (fuelled as it is these days by the unbridled freedom of expression that many enjoy on social media) indeed becoming ever more partisan, more vitriolic, more divisive? What do you think?

The left lines up against the right, the right against the left. The environmentalists against the industrialists; the industrialists against the environmentalists; the global technology companies against government regulators, the … well, I’m sure you can list many others.

But as these titans, these well-funded interests clash horns in the public arena, it seems to me that the little people, the people without the money, the people without a voice, are being crushed in the process.

And can I tell you the thing that really breaks my heart? It’s the Christians who, amidst it all, pound their chests asserting their rights while remaining silent about the injustices being done to the little people.

Elon Musk, to be sure, is a polarising public figure. But something he said recently caught my eye: “Unless there’s more bravery to stand up for what’s fair and right, Christianity will perish.”

That’s a bit of an overstatement, that last bit. But you get his point. Where are the Christians in all of this? Where’s their clarion voice that cuts cleanly through the self-interested, self-aggrandising clashes of the titans, hmm?

As 18th century Irish statesman Edmund Burke observed, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing.

Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Help people who are in trouble. Stand up for what you know is right, and judge all people fairly. Protect the rights of the poor and those who need help.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

You don’t like to label people … but let’s be honest, some people are just obnoxious. You’ve met them, I’ve met them … but the question is, do you meet one each morning when you look in the mirror?

Twentieth century, New York real estate mogul and hotelier Leona Helmsley developed quite the reputation for being one of the most obnoxious public figures of her time. Together with her husband, she built a vast hotel empire.

But she was best known for her ruthless business tactics, the way she mistreated her employees, and her famously condescending attitude. Her downfall came when she was convicted of tax evasion in 1989. During her trial, one of her former employees famously testified that she’d said, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." Delightful.

It’s been said that each of us has the power to make someone else happy. Some do it by entering the room, others by leaving. The question we should be asking ourselves pretty regularly is, which one of those am I?

As you’re mulling that over, drink this in. It’s good, very good.

Hebrews 3:13 … encourage each other every day, while you still have something called “today.” Help each other so that none of you will be fooled by sin and become too hard to change.

Encouraging others comes from a good place, a good heart, a good person – the sort of person who makes people happy when they walk into the room. Helping each other … well, if you ask me, you can’t take a more powerful, a more proactive, step against being obnoxious than by helping people. Please, don’t be obnoxious.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

“Religion” is a word with which I have a rather uneasy relationship. I get that it’s a commonly used term to label a belief system that’s become … well, organised if I can put it that way. But I still don’t like it. How about you?

Why don’t I like it? Because so many bad things have been done in the name of “religion”. And I’m not pointing the finger here at any other religions – let’s get right to the heart of it. So many bad things have been done in the name of Christianity and its religious traditions.

But let’s not for one moment imagine that any of this is new.

Luke 13:10-15 Jesus taught in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. A woman was there who had an evil spirit inside her. It had made the woman crippled for 18 years. Her back was always bent; she could not stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called to her, “Woman, you have been made free from your sickness!” He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was able to stand up straight. She began praising God. The synagogue leader was angry because Jesus healed on the Sabbath day. He said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come to be healed on one of those days. Don’t come for healing on the Sabbath day.” The Lord answered, “You people are hypocrites! All of you untie your work animals and lead them to drink water every day—even on the Sabbath day.”

Religious people will destroy a person to keep a tradition. Jesus will break a religious tradition to save a person. That’s the difference.

And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

So many things promise so much. You can’t spend even five minutes online without some ad popping up spruiking this or that. Mostly they’re just a lot of hot air, but when you’re out of breath – as we all too often are in this fast-paced world – they can easily suck you in.

So instead, let me share something with you today that’s real, that’ll never fail, that brings life – rich, abundant, life. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, His disciples were looking for a heavenly answer to their worldly problem, namely booting the occupying Romans out of Israel.

Acts 1:6-8 … They asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time for you to give the people of Israel their kingdom again?” Jesus said to them, “The Father is the only one who has the authority to decide dates and times. They are not for you to know. But the Holy Spirit will come on you and give you power. You will be my witnesses. You will tell people everywhere about me—in Jerusalem, in the rest of Judea, in Samaria, and in every part of the world.”

In both the Old Testament (in Hebrew) and the New Testament (in Greek) the words for “the Holy Spirit” basically mean a rushing wind, a breath … the very breath of life.

Look, God may or may not change your circumstances. That’s totally up to Him. But when you follow Jesus, when you become one of His disciples, He will fill you with His breath, His Spirit, with the power to deal with whatever you have to deal with; the power to tell others of Him. Holy Spirit Power.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Sometimes – often-times, in fact – the simplest things in life yield the greatest benefits. And we ignore them at our peril.

Did you know that deep breathing – several slow deep breaths completely filling your lungs, holding, and then slowly letting them out again – has scientifically proven health benefits?

It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering your blood pressure and heart rate and reducing stress and anxiety. So the very same breath that gives us life can deliberately be deployed to improve our quality of life as well.

There are times when the pressures, the grind of life, get the better of you. At first you don’t notice it all that much, but little by little life eats away at you, at which point what you really need is the breath of life itself:

Ezekiel 37:5,6 This is what the Lord GOD says to you: I will cause breath to come into you, and you will come to life! I will put sinew and muscles on you, and I will cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you, and you will come back to life! Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Friend, this is God speaking to you today. He wants to put His breath back into you, to bring you back to life – the rich, abundant, vibrant life that He always planned for you.

Yes … with all its trials, all its challenges, and at times all its sufferings … but a rich life, nevertheless. Please, listen to God today, heed His call, come back to Him:

I will put breath in you, and you will come back to life! Then you will know that I am the LORD.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.