I must love with the love with which God first loved me; a love that moves, that acts, that has effect. I must love in word and in deed - love because I understand the enormity of the mercy that saved me and the grace that keeps me.

It's cold outside - almost freezing and its becoming easier to imagine snow falling on Christmas Day. Where did the summer go? Where the autumn? How is it that without even a blink of an eye we are suddenly propelled into the celebrations - street lights, trees and tinsel; parties, presents and pastries?

Look up the definition of the word 'praise' and ask yourself the question - do you praise the name of your Lord? Do you express admiration of and speak highly of the Lord Jesus? When you speak His name is it to 'rave about' go into raptures about', 'proclaim in awe and admiration'?

I've been thinking a lot about prayer these past couple of months - about the mystery that it is and yet how wonderful that we can come boldly to His throne of grace to find help in our time of need.

Our culture of course adds its own subtle call - 'make some 'me time'- time to love yourself', all the while presenting me with people who are nothing like me, to whom I can never measure up and who seem to have their lives completely 'put together'.

I can't quite believe that it has been almost a month since I posted here - time just seems to slip through my fingers these days. I have been busy though as Desiring Truth is looking to move - we are having to find larger premises to accommodate the number of people who are now attending the regular weekly studies and also the conferences and seminars that are going on monthly.

What an amazing proclamation of the glory of the Lord we have in Psalm 29. An incredible shout of praise to the indescribable Sovereign God.

I want to see Jesus because I want to worship Him as He is. I want to know His way, His truth and His life - I want to serve Him and honour Him and manifest the sweet aroma of Christ in every place. I want to see Jesus and I want us all to see Him as He is - as He really is.

I have started writing short posts on the DT Facebook page that I have called 'Standing on the Word'. I aim to post every two or three days and so far they have been taken from a Scripture I have read that morning.

I read Numbers 6:24-27 just the other day and was caught by the last verse. I'm sure I have read it many times before but somehow God wanted to show me something else, something new in it

Have you believed in, have you trusted, have you given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Then He has put a new song in your mouth and it is a song of praise. Are you singing it out – are you sharing that song with those around you – it’s a song of joy, a song of thanksgiving, a song that will cause others to see the Lord and to put their trust in Him.

Paul has just finished laying out the gospel which he preached and which his readers, the believers in Corinth, had received. He goes on to explain how he came to be an apostle, how he came to be saved. He describes himself as the least of the apostles, someone who did not deserve the grace of God but nonetheless that he had received it and was now experiencing its power.

The Pharisees are watching, always watching to see if they can catch Him out, to see if they can find something, anything to pin on Him and so cause His downfall.

How absolutely fantastic our God is - how wonderful that He would know all that was on my mind and that He would answer even before I asked the questions in my head. I read first in 1 Kings 3 - Solomon's answer when God told him he could ask for whatever he wanted.

I awoke this morning to the news of the tragedy at London Bridge. Horror, anger, tears and questions - 'why Lord' and then -'how can we stop this senseless violence and what should be our response to it'?

Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to You with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better, I'd have come running with a bucket. Nancy Spiegelberg

I was thinking about that this morning as I sat with the Lord, reading through as I always do and asking Him to show me something else, something I hadn't seen before, something that was applicable today.

I have just returned from my trip to Israel, full of the joy of the Lord - amazed at His grace and compassion, filled with the wonder of this unchanging, glorious, covenant keeping God and zealous to proclaim His excellence. I learned much - about myself, which was sometimes hard but also so liberating; about Israel, a land and a people with such a passion and purpose and about the Museum of the Bible, a vision so exciting and challenging that it almost takes your breath away in its scope.

I'm off to Israel today for a week, invited by an organisation from the US called Museum of the Bible. The museum, currently under construction in Washington DC is due to open later this year and will be 430,000 square feet over eight floors providing an 'immersive and personalized experience as visitors explore the history, narrative and impact of the Bible'.

Luke 17:1-10 I think I've always read this and seen in it only the faith like a mustard seed that could uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea - and of course concluded that I too, just like those apostles, needed more faith - indeed a lot more faith!