#christian

Kristina Trott

3 days ago
3 min

Ruth was a stranger and you took her in

If you have ever worked in a foreign country, you will appreciate how wonderful it is when the people of that country greet you warmly. I have spent long periods in Thailand and in Iran and in both countries I was made to feel extremely welcome, as if I was a part of the family. God actually commanded His people Israel to be welcoming to the stranger, but there are very many stories throughout the Old Testament where they were anything but. The Book of Ruth occurred about a t

13 views0 comments

Escaping disorder and instability and finding peace

Kristina Trott

6 days ago
2 min

Escaping disorder and instability and finding peace

Another way people can feel lonely and isolated is when they flee or are expelled from their home country. In the course of my work I have encountered hundreds of political refugees from Europe, the Middle East and Asia who have fled their homelands because of persecution, political instability, war and hostile physical conditions. The stories I’ve heard from them are testimony to the resilience of the human spirit to survive. There is a book in the Bible that relates the for

18 views0 comments

Transformation from hopelessness and pain

Kristina Trott

Mar 14
2 min

Transformation from hopelessness and pain

If you’ve ever suffered ghastly betrayal and loss in your life you know what I’m talking about when I talk about the loneliness and inexorability of pain. But I’ve friends who’ve fared far far worse. One endured unspeakably wicked brutality at the hands of a malevolent regime - simply because he was so talented. How could you ever surface from such horror? How helpless and powerless you are when people betray and torment you! How very alone you feel in your suffering. But wha

45 views3 comments

Persian belly dancing and guarding our hearts

Kristina Trott

Mar 5
2 min

Persian belly dancing and guarding our hearts

Last night we went to a party where there was a Persian belly dancer. She cavorted, twisted and tossed about effortlessly moving every muscle in her torso but although my husband was sitting directly in the front of the dance floor, he didn’t once look at her. Afterwards I asked him why. He replied, “I have the most beautiful woman at my side. Why would I want to look at any other?” Apart from that being a very good answer that melted my heart, it made me reflect on the man i

57 views2 comments

Isaiah, the new Israel, forgiveness and healing

Kristina Trott

Mar 3
2 min

Isaiah, the new Israel, forgiveness and healing

In my last blog I wrote of God creating new hearts in us that we are to guard diligently. It is God’s power operating on our hearts when we trust in Him that will keep us safe from sin’s deception and entanglement. The spinoff for those who trust in Him is that they will want for nothing. Turning to God in faithful, believing prayer ensures that their daily needs are covered and their sins are forgiven. In short, every blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on all that ask

37 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Mar 1
3 min

Guard your heart

I last wrote about God wanting a heart that had all its affections yielded to Him and honoured Him in everything we did. Our hearts are the control centre of the soul: the mind, will, and affections. In the dryness of the middle east, a fountain of water was so precious that it was guarded and Solomon reminds us that the heart likewise needs to be guarded for it is like a fountain out of which flow the "issues" of life (Prov. 4:23). Of all the parts of the body, it is the he

33 views2 comments

A life-changing Bible message I heard 30 years ago

Kristina Trott

Feb 25
3 min

A life-changing Bible message I heard 30 years ago

I lived 47 years of my life as a 5th generation Christadelphian. I actually listened to the talks that were regularly given for about 35 years so therefore I must’ve heard thousands of Christadelphian talks in that time. There were no paid clergy so each baptised man was asked, if they were willing, to provide the messages. Unsurprisingly, there was a wide array of aptitudes yet the only talk I can actually recall was one given by someone who was in the far left on that cont

33 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Feb 20
1 min

Where is God when it hurts?

I want it to stop. This past week has been too much. A friend lamented to me that her son in law is carrying on with another woman while her daughter cries her eyes out. A friend’s friend has her baby mauled to death by a dog and they are inconsolable. A cousin said goodbye to all his friends and family and then put himself off life support. A doting father loses all access to his children by a faulty legal system. Why is there so much grief and trauma in the world? Can the w

68 views0 comments

Imagine entering the throne room of heaven

Kristina Trott

Feb 15
3 min

Imagine entering the throne room of heaven

I’d like to invite you to join me in imagining what it might be like to step into the throne room of heaven and visit with our beautiful Jesus and our Holy God. Come, Step in to the throne room my beloved The door is open, He meets me at the threshold. His eyes are kind, His voice warm and welcoming. It is Jesus! I know it in my innermost being. How I have longed for this moment! “My Lord Jesus, my Redeemer!” I say to Him. I take in His presence, He is so handsome! His me

95 views0 comments

Saved by grace and empowered by the Spirit for new life in Jesus

Kristina Trott

Feb 2
2 min

Saved by grace and empowered by the Spirit for new life in Jesus

I’ve got to say I am constantly meeting people who think they can work hard enough and long enough so that God will save them. I used to be one of those thinkers. The concept that we are saved by grace is completely opposed to the concept that our own personal efforts enable us to meet the requirements of a holy God. It is in the nature of every person alive to think that they can do something to better themselves, to make themselves more acceptable to God, but this isn’t h

27 views1 comment

Kristina Trott

Jan 28
4 min

The Holy Spirit and new life in Jesus

3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing t

35 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Jan 26
3 min

Chinese New Year, red envelopes and you

11But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. 12 For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love (Psa. 5:11-12) It’s the time of Chinese New Year and that means that Chinese bosses gift their employees with red envelopes full of cash. Employees practise loyalty and diligence because they know that these qualities a

179 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Jan 23
2 min

Where does Jesus come from?

In my last blog I wrote about the aseity of God – the fact that God is self-derived or self-originated, has absolute self-sufficiency, independence, and autonomy. God just has BEING and existence so it is a truth when He calls Himself Yahweh, I AM. God is a BEing. We are human gonna BEs or, at worst, HAS BEENS but God goes on always BEing from eternity to eternity. We can talk about where we came from or where we are going, but with God it is always He IS. Before the mountain

170 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Jan 22
3 min

Where do you come from?

In my study of climatology decades ago, I understood that all weather was a product of energy – energy deficits and surpluses and that ultimately all energy came from the sun. In fact, everything on this earth is dependent on an energy source of some form or another for it to move. This is, in fact, the First Law of Thermodynamics: energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only altered in form, meaning that you can't get something from nothing. Imagine my surprise, then, w

22 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Jan 19
3 min

Roman processions and you

While living in the Cotswolds I have been surrounded by remnants of the old Roman civilisation. Did you realise that there is at least one celebration in that civilisation that has been kept alive in the pages of the Bible? People living in first century Rome were accustomed to seeing a great victory parade after a significant military campaign. A visit to the British Museum confirms that, even if you missed the real procession, you were familiar with its existence because th

9 views0 comments

What does it mean to say we have a new life in Jesus?

Kristina Trott

Jan 16
2 min

What does it mean to say we have a new life in Jesus?

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead (Col. 2:12). I’ve been living in the Cotswolds in England for the past few weeks. It has been cold and snowy but when the temperature rose to 11C we noticed buds forming on plants and trees, flowers appeared and fresh shoots were coming out of the earth. It’s rather like that when we let our lives be over

23 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Dec 19, 2022
2 min

How do we treat our enemy?

How do we treat someone with whom we profoundly disagree? In the course of my stay in the UK I have met church leaders whose religious views I strongly disagree with. I have felt challenged and conflicted about worshipping in their church. It has made me take pause of the situation. The Quakers have a saying that an enemy is anyone whose story we haven’t heard. As a Christian who needs to communicate with other Christians who have come to different conclusions to our own, we

6 views0 comments

Why did the Ethiopian eunuch read aloud?

Kristina Trott

Dec 4, 2022
3 min

Why did the Ethiopian eunuch read aloud?

Have you ever read something a thousand times and then suddenly read something that you have never seen before? That’s what happened to me the other day when I read this passage: 26 As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and h

18 views0 comments

Kristina Trott

Nov 29, 2022
2 min

Christians and sin

I’ve been writing about the difference in the life lived before a knowledge of Jesus and the blessed life we have when we live under His reign. Today I want to look specifically at what it is that separates man from God and from living that life of favour – sin. In the New City Catechism, Question 16 asks, “What is sin?” The answer is: “Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what

9 views0 comments

Storms: living in fear or living in trust

Kristina Trott

Nov 24, 2022
3 min

Storms: living in fear or living in trust

I last wrote about the different way we can approach life’s calamities when we live under Jesus – that we are now living under a different rule. We are already living under Divine favour and instead of calling out in fear to God when calamity strikes, we can rest assured that our Saviour is in control in His kingdom and we will be delivered. We simply can ask and trust in Him. We could look at any of the calamities of life in Psalm 107 but we will take the peril of the sea a

16 views0 comments