{"id":213,"date":"2010-08-07T11:25:01","date_gmt":"2010-08-07T10:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pender.org.uk\/?p=213"},"modified":"2011-08-26T11:47:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:47:11","slug":"the-magic-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/08\/the-magic-word\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic word"},"content":{"rendered":"

God spoke: “Light!”And light appeared.<\/strong>
(Genesis 1:3) (from THE MESSAGE)<\/span><\/p>\n

When my son was about 3 years old, he was at the birthday party of one of his friends. With his glass in his hand, he went to his friend’s mum and asked, “Can I have another drink?”<\/p>\n

The mother looked at him, and said, “Yes, Simon, but what is the magic word?” Simon stood, puzzled. “Come on, Simon,” she said, “what is the magic word?”<\/p>\n

………Silent thought……<\/p>\n

“What is the magic word, Simon?”<\/p>\n

More thought, then a look of excitement as he remembered. “Abracadabra!<\/em><\/strong>” he shouted, and held out his glass.<\/p>\n

As children, we are all enthralled by “magic” – magicians can make things disappear!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As we grow up, we grow in understanding, and realise that it isn’t magic after all, just sleight of hand, trickery. But we don’t really grow up enough, and it is when we face trouble that it becomes apparent. We still want things to disappear, to go away – people, problems, habits, debt, weight, whatever. “I wish…….”<\/p>\n

Abracadabra – we are looking for the magician, the fairy, the magic word, anything to make it disappear.<\/p>\n

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.<\/strong> (John 1:1, NIV)<\/p>\n

There isn’t a magic word. There is the Word<\/em>. The God who said, “Light!” and created light. Christ, who is the Word and who said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, NLT) <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It isn’t magic. It’s love.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When my son was about 3 years old, he was at the birthday party of one of his friends. With his glass in his hand, he went to his friend’s mum and asked, “Can I have another drink?”<\/p>\n

The mother looked at him, and said, “Yes, Simon, but what is the magic word?” Simon stood, puzzled. “Come on, Simon,” she said, “what is the magic word?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[145,38,48,56,144,75,77],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-burdens","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-trickery","tag-trouble","tag-worry","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-3r","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2194,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/04\/well-well-will-will\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":0},"title":"Well, well! Will, will!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"05\/04\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"How big is your faith? In our Celebrate Recovery programme, we have been talking quite a bit about faith and, to help people get a grasp of what Jesus said about faith (Matthew 17:20), we gave everyone a mustard seed. If we have faith that big, we can move a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2110,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2011\/01\/right-mountain-out-of-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":1},"title":"Right, Mountain, out of the way!","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/01\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine will shortly set out on an amazing adventure - to climb Mount Kilimanjaro - to help raise funds for the charity Scottish Spina Bifida. I really admire him for that. It will take courage, strength and endurance. You can sponsor him if you would like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3919,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/05\/praying-at-the-right-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":2},"title":"Praying at the right time","author":"Robert Pender","date":"08\/05\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I once went for an interview in London and I was having a lot of trouble finding a parking space. I finally found one in a multi-storey car park and then ran to the place where the interview was being held. I arrived just in time, but after the interview\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7242,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":3},"title":"14 – Plans","author":"Robert Pender","date":"16\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7243\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I have always been a great believer in making plans, especially when we are doing something special or going away somewhere. It is best to get it right and not miss anything out. Be in control! The trouble is that we are seldom, if ever in control.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":4},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":213,"position":5},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. 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