Tuesday 20 December 2011
TTWO RESPONSES: Doubt versus Faith. A devotional. I had planned to write a couple of different Christmas things, but this is such a busy time of year I am only going to share a few thoughts with you on one aspect of the Christmas story. This is just somethin I put together quickly. Luke's Gospel presents us with two angelic visitations. The Angel Gabriel visits Zechariah in the temple: And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time." [Luke 1:11-20] The second angelic visitation took place six months later, when Gabriel appeared to a young girl called Mary: And he [Gabriel] came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. [Luke 1:28-38 Notice that both Zechariah and Mary asked a question; but one was punished and one was not. Why? God doesn't punish people for asking a question, though he may choose not to answer, so that can't be the issue. I've heard it taught that the reason Zechariah was punished was because he had been praying for a son for many years and God was finally answering his prayer. Therefore Zechariah should have rejoiced and gladly accepted the message, whereas Mary had not been praying that she would be the mother of the Messiah so her question was understandable. I wonder though, if the difference didn't have something to do with faith. I'm not a pastor or theologian and I could be misreading this, so I encourage you to study this for yourself and allow the Lord to teach you. I see Zechariah as a person who had been praying for so long and had finally given up hope He still served the Lord and did what was good, he is described as a righteous man, but maybe he didn't want to get his hopes up again just to have them dashed. Maybe he didn't want to believe again because it would be too painful if it didn't happen. Even the visit of one of God's angels didn't penetrate his heart and cause him to hope again.. In that culture children were seen as blessings from God, so a childless couple were thought to have sinned in some way. You can imagine how fervently Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a child in their younger days but as time went on and Elizabeth went through the change of life it seemed impossible for them to have a child and so perhaps they gave up hope. We tend to do that sometimes in our prayers, don't we? We pray fervently for something, such as the salvation of our parents or friends, but as time goes by and we don't see any changes in their lives we give up and stop praying. This is something we should not do, God rewards faithful and persistent prayer, even over many years. Abraham is a perfect example of this, he and Sarah prayed for a son and finally God gave them one when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. So, I think it could have been Zechariah's doubt and lack of trust that got him into difficulty. Gabriel tells him: "And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time." As for Mary, I suspect her question came from curiosity. She was betrothed, which in that culture was as legally binding as marriage except that the girl still lived with her parents and there was no physical intimacy. That being the case she was naturally curious as to how she , a virgin, could become pregnant. We can see her faith and trust in God clearly in her response: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." [v38] We can't imagine how difficult and scary it would be for Mary to be discovered to be pregnant when she wasn't married. These days it is an accepted thing in our culture though that doesn't make it right, but in Mary's time and society she would have been shunned and possibly, if Joseph chose to denounce her, she may have been put to death by stoning. Apart from all of that, can you imagine the awesome challenge and privilege of being mother to God's only son? She might have been expected to do as Moses did and ask God to give the job to someone else but instead she says "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.". In Hebrews 11 we read these words: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So to sum up, we see two things: 1. Persistent, faithful prayer is pleasing to God. We should not give up praying even if we have been praying and waiting for many years. 2. We cannot please God and do what he wants us to do if we don't have faith and trust in him. We must believe that what he says he will also do, and put our confidence and trust in him, stepping out in faith even if what he is asking us to do seems impossible. I wish you all a very merry and blessed Christmas. wo Responses: a Devotional
Sunday 6 November 2011
Reflecting on the Rapture
Let's look at the subject of the rapture today. Unfortunately there are those out there who predict the day that Christ will return. Even more unfortunately there are those out there who believe these people. why? Because they don't check what someone says to see if it lines up with scripture. Please, my dear brothers and sisters, do not be deceived by these people. They may just be misguided but they are also misguiding others and causing heartache and anxiety. I don't mean to sound harsh but I'm so saddened by those who believe these false prophets and find themselves confused and doubting when what is prophesied doesn't come to pass.
Don't misunderstand me, I firmly believe in the rapture, Jesus is coming one day and those who are his people will meet him in the air. I don't believe in those who say they know when this event is going to take place because of what the bible says. I'm going to talk briefly about what the Bible teaches in the hope that someone who reads this won't be mislead into believing what someone tells them if it doesn't line up with scripture. I'm not a pastor or theologian and my own understanding of these issues is limited, so I encourage you to check what I say and the scriptures I will give and if what I say doesn't line up with scripture please disregard me and be guided by the Word.
There are bible scholars who disagree about the order of end-time things. Some say that the rapture will come first, followed by the tribulation and then the glorious appearing of our lord Jesus. Others believe that the rapture will take place half way through the tribulation and others don't believe in the rapture at all. I'm not a theologian by any means but i personally take the first view, that the rapture will occur before the tribulation.
Now to explain a few terms so you will be able to follow the rest of this study, just in case you are already confused. The rapture is when those of us who believe in Jesus will be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air. Every Christian who ever lived will rise from their graves and we will be given new, glorified bodies that are far superior to the bodies we have now, just as a mansion is far superior to a tent.
The tribulation is a 7 year period of time where the Lord will begin to judge the earth for their rejection of his son Jesus. There will be those who come to salvation at this time and many of those will be martyrs. At this time we will see the rise to power of a man who will be at the head of a one-world government. He is known by many names but most commonly known as the Antichrist. in the second half of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation, he will be worshipped as God, and those who don't worship him or who don't have his mark on their head or hand will not be able to buy food.
The tribulation is also known as 'the time of Jacob's trouble' and there will be a second and worse Jewish holocaust where two Jews out of three will be killed. Please don't think I am antisemitic by saying that, I'm really not.
The Tribulation will end with the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus, who will come in the clouds and everyone will see him. he will defeat the antichrist and set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years. This is called the millennium.
This study is just a brief overview of some key passages dealing with the rapture. this isn't a full study on end time things but if people are interested we can do a deeper study of these things in the future. one of the key passages dealing with end time things is Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus addresses some of those issues. I actually started preparing a study on that chapter before I realised that wasn't the direction I should take this study. We are going to look at a few verses though as I think they are relevant:
And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
[verses 1-8, 23-24]
Jesus warns us that false christs and false Prophets will arise and they will lead people astray. The trouble with false prophets is: unless we know the scriptures we may not even know we are being deceived. that's why it is all the more vital for us to know what the bible says and if we don't know if something is true or not, to check it up and not just believe what someone tells us. most authentic bible teachers and pastors will encourage us to do that very thing, check if what they teach is in agreement with what the bible says. It is sad but true that devout believers have been mislead into joining cults because they accepted and believed what they were taught and were discouraged from checking to discover if what they were told was scriptural. .
The passages where the rapture is discussed most clearly are in the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. we are going to read these passages and I will make a couple of comments.
The Coming of the Lord
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
[1 Thess 4:13-18]
The first thing that needs to be clarified here is what Paul means by sleeping, and Jesus clarifies that nicely in John 11:
After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died,"
The early Christians distinguished between the death of a believer and the death of a non-believer. For a believer, absent from the body is present with the Lord and the Church knew that they would see that loved one again in heaven. For an unsaved person they said he died because Death is a place of no hope, where god is not
The Church at Thessalonica had received a letter purporting to be from Paul, claiming that the resurrection had already happened. Also some of them were worried because they knew in the future there will be a time known as the great tribulation but at that time they were experiencing a lot of persecution. What if this was the end time already? Did that mean they missed the rapture?and what about their departed loved ones? So they were confused and uncertain, which is why Paul wrote these letters to them and explained these matters a bit more clearly. Confusion is one of the enemy's tricks.
The time of The rapture will happen at a time we are not expecting it. Jesus set it up that way so that we would have to be ready. If we knew he wasn't' coming for 100 more years we would relax and not try too hard to reach the lost and we wouldn't care about our spiritual growth, but if we realise he could come at any moment we are going to want to be ready. There won't be any advance warning, we can't predict from the scriptures when the Lord will return. That's why we shouldn't listen to anyone who says the world is going to end in 2012 or anything like that. the bible gives us prophecies of things that will happen in the last days but we can't discover the exact dates of things.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
[1 Thess 5:1-4
If we knew that our house was going to be robbed on a certain night we would be there waiting for the robber and we wouldn't let him take anything and would take him to the police. In the same way, if we knew Jesus was coming today we would wait for it and we would be very careful about how we lived and what we did on the last day. We don't know when he will come but we need to be ready. i have heard of some Christians who think "O well, the rapture is coming soon, so I don't need to worry about saving money for the future and i can just live for today because Jesus is coming back soon." That, of course, is spurious. The knowledge that the lord could come at any moment should encourage us to get our lives right and deal with any sin we have in our hearts so that if he does come today we will be ready.
God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2 Thess 1:6b-12]
This refers to what is known as the judgement day, it will happen at the very end of time, when everyone who has rejected the great thing that Jesus did for us by dying on the cross will be judged. The time of judgement for the Church takes place after the rapture, when all of our works are tested by fire.[See 1 Corinthians 3]
We need to remember that we will have to give account for the way we lived our lives here on earth. It should make us reflect on the way we live and the decisions we make.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
[2 Thess 2:1-12]
This is talking about the glorious appearing, the return of Jesus to the earth after the tribulation. he will defeat the antichrist, [the lawless one mentioned in this passage], and all those who follow him and then Jesus will reign over the whole earth from Jerusalem for 1000 years. After that time the devil, who had been chained and left in the bottomless pit for 1000 years, will be released, and the final battle between good and evil will take place. None of this will happen until the tribulation happens and the tribulation i believe won't happen till after the rapture, it's the explanation that makes most sense to me although bible scholars disagree about the order of things.
I hope this has been helpful to someone. Let us live each day in readiness for the return of our Lord and saviour!
Don't misunderstand me, I firmly believe in the rapture, Jesus is coming one day and those who are his people will meet him in the air. I don't believe in those who say they know when this event is going to take place because of what the bible says. I'm going to talk briefly about what the Bible teaches in the hope that someone who reads this won't be mislead into believing what someone tells them if it doesn't line up with scripture. I'm not a pastor or theologian and my own understanding of these issues is limited, so I encourage you to check what I say and the scriptures I will give and if what I say doesn't line up with scripture please disregard me and be guided by the Word.
There are bible scholars who disagree about the order of end-time things. Some say that the rapture will come first, followed by the tribulation and then the glorious appearing of our lord Jesus. Others believe that the rapture will take place half way through the tribulation and others don't believe in the rapture at all. I'm not a theologian by any means but i personally take the first view, that the rapture will occur before the tribulation.
Now to explain a few terms so you will be able to follow the rest of this study, just in case you are already confused. The rapture is when those of us who believe in Jesus will be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air. Every Christian who ever lived will rise from their graves and we will be given new, glorified bodies that are far superior to the bodies we have now, just as a mansion is far superior to a tent.
The tribulation is a 7 year period of time where the Lord will begin to judge the earth for their rejection of his son Jesus. There will be those who come to salvation at this time and many of those will be martyrs. At this time we will see the rise to power of a man who will be at the head of a one-world government. He is known by many names but most commonly known as the Antichrist. in the second half of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation, he will be worshipped as God, and those who don't worship him or who don't have his mark on their head or hand will not be able to buy food.
The tribulation is also known as 'the time of Jacob's trouble' and there will be a second and worse Jewish holocaust where two Jews out of three will be killed. Please don't think I am antisemitic by saying that, I'm really not.
The Tribulation will end with the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus, who will come in the clouds and everyone will see him. he will defeat the antichrist and set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years. This is called the millennium.
This study is just a brief overview of some key passages dealing with the rapture. this isn't a full study on end time things but if people are interested we can do a deeper study of these things in the future. one of the key passages dealing with end time things is Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus addresses some of those issues. I actually started preparing a study on that chapter before I realised that wasn't the direction I should take this study. We are going to look at a few verses though as I think they are relevant:
And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
[verses 1-8, 23-24]
Jesus warns us that false christs and false Prophets will arise and they will lead people astray. The trouble with false prophets is: unless we know the scriptures we may not even know we are being deceived. that's why it is all the more vital for us to know what the bible says and if we don't know if something is true or not, to check it up and not just believe what someone tells us. most authentic bible teachers and pastors will encourage us to do that very thing, check if what they teach is in agreement with what the bible says. It is sad but true that devout believers have been mislead into joining cults because they accepted and believed what they were taught and were discouraged from checking to discover if what they were told was scriptural. .
The passages where the rapture is discussed most clearly are in the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. we are going to read these passages and I will make a couple of comments.
The Coming of the Lord
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
[1 Thess 4:13-18]
The first thing that needs to be clarified here is what Paul means by sleeping, and Jesus clarifies that nicely in John 11:
After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died,"
The early Christians distinguished between the death of a believer and the death of a non-believer. For a believer, absent from the body is present with the Lord and the Church knew that they would see that loved one again in heaven. For an unsaved person they said he died because Death is a place of no hope, where god is not
The Church at Thessalonica had received a letter purporting to be from Paul, claiming that the resurrection had already happened. Also some of them were worried because they knew in the future there will be a time known as the great tribulation but at that time they were experiencing a lot of persecution. What if this was the end time already? Did that mean they missed the rapture?and what about their departed loved ones? So they were confused and uncertain, which is why Paul wrote these letters to them and explained these matters a bit more clearly. Confusion is one of the enemy's tricks.
The time of The rapture will happen at a time we are not expecting it. Jesus set it up that way so that we would have to be ready. If we knew he wasn't' coming for 100 more years we would relax and not try too hard to reach the lost and we wouldn't care about our spiritual growth, but if we realise he could come at any moment we are going to want to be ready. There won't be any advance warning, we can't predict from the scriptures when the Lord will return. That's why we shouldn't listen to anyone who says the world is going to end in 2012 or anything like that. the bible gives us prophecies of things that will happen in the last days but we can't discover the exact dates of things.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
[1 Thess 5:1-4
If we knew that our house was going to be robbed on a certain night we would be there waiting for the robber and we wouldn't let him take anything and would take him to the police. In the same way, if we knew Jesus was coming today we would wait for it and we would be very careful about how we lived and what we did on the last day. We don't know when he will come but we need to be ready. i have heard of some Christians who think "O well, the rapture is coming soon, so I don't need to worry about saving money for the future and i can just live for today because Jesus is coming back soon." That, of course, is spurious. The knowledge that the lord could come at any moment should encourage us to get our lives right and deal with any sin we have in our hearts so that if he does come today we will be ready.
God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2 Thess 1:6b-12]
This refers to what is known as the judgement day, it will happen at the very end of time, when everyone who has rejected the great thing that Jesus did for us by dying on the cross will be judged. The time of judgement for the Church takes place after the rapture, when all of our works are tested by fire.[See 1 Corinthians 3]
We need to remember that we will have to give account for the way we lived our lives here on earth. It should make us reflect on the way we live and the decisions we make.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
[2 Thess 2:1-12]
This is talking about the glorious appearing, the return of Jesus to the earth after the tribulation. he will defeat the antichrist, [the lawless one mentioned in this passage], and all those who follow him and then Jesus will reign over the whole earth from Jerusalem for 1000 years. After that time the devil, who had been chained and left in the bottomless pit for 1000 years, will be released, and the final battle between good and evil will take place. None of this will happen until the tribulation happens and the tribulation i believe won't happen till after the rapture, it's the explanation that makes most sense to me although bible scholars disagree about the order of things.
I hope this has been helpful to someone. Let us live each day in readiness for the return of our Lord and saviour!
Tuesday 18 October 2011
rishie's Ramblings 29 September-18 October
Thursday, September 29, 2011 05:41:33 PM
Today was a rainy and horrible sort of day, a day borrowed from winter. I managed to get all I needed to get done and I was able to order a new bed, since mine is falling apart. I will be sleeping with my head at the foot of the be because this end is a bit more stable.
this afternoon I was talking to my little cousin Georgia on Facebook. I am going to stay with my cousin Nicole, who is Georgia's Mumn, next weekend. I always enjoy visiting them.
Well that's about all I have for today and I'm getting tired anyway. Tonight I will be trying a sleeping aid i got fro the health food shop, I can't remember what's in the tablets but I hope they will help me.
god bless you all.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011 04:40:09 AM
I was just reading from a devotional book called "our daily bread" that someone sent us in braille. I felt inspired when I read about a Mum who took 5 minutes each morning before her kids went off to school, to pray for each of them by name. Other kids in the neighbourhood joined the prayer circle when they happened to be around. What an inspiration! Sometimes it's the little things that make so much difference!
I want to share 2 quotes that were quoted in that article:
The issue isn't how much time
We spend with God in prayer,
But seeking him throughout each day
And knowing that he's there [Sper]
Prayer is an acknowledgement of our need for god [Unknown]
I was challenged by that first quote. I have 2 prayer and bible study sessions a day and I try to start each hour with meditating on a bible verse for a minute or two, [I'm not boasting I'm just explaining something, we each have our own ways of approaching time with God,] but I was challenged about seeking him through the day and knowing that he's there, not just in my prayer times and things. We don't' just give God part of our day, we need to give him all of it. We can acknowledge god while talking with friends or doing shopping or making something to eat or whatever we're doing, and if we find that we can't acknowledge god in something that we're doing then maybe we need to think about whether we should be doing that thing.
O Abba father, thank you that you are always with me at any time of the day or night, whenever I call to you, you're always there and each one of us when we pray gets your full attention. How awesome you are, dearest Lord. Your love for us is far greater than we could ever comprehend with our little mortal minds. I praise you Lord for who you are. You are my holy, loving, heavenly father and you gave your son Jesus to die for us because that was the only way to save us. Thank you Lord, I wish there were better words to express my gratitude but sometimes the simple words are best and I know you understand how I feel. Thank you Abba Father. Amen.
[note: Abba is a Hebrew word meaning daddy, it's a word a small child would use to speak to their dad. The bible says:
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
{romans 8:15}]
04:59:47 AM
I just wanted to say a great big thank you to all those who read these scribblings of mine. i may not always say it but I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read these posts. God has been speaking to me about letting people know how much I appreciate them and about showing my gratitude more openly. I am often blessed by things that people do, even little things, but I don't tell them often enough how I feel. May God bless you all!
Thursday, October 13, 2011 04:05:15 AM
Hi readers:
I was looking through a list of journalling prompts for things to write about since I'm in a mood for writing this morning and i might as well make use of it, lol. The prompt I found is:
what bible verse spoke to me today?
Here's the bible verse:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[Galatians 2:20]
Thoughts:
As Christians we are new creations. We can't live for god and live in our own way at the same time, we have to choose which way we will go. We often face the choice, "Will I do what I want to do or will I do this god's way?"
I am encouraged in times like that by remembering that Jesus experienced the same temptations and challenges we face. I'm sure there were times when he wished he didn't have to go through with the Father's plan that sent Jesus to the cross to die for us. The difference is, Jesus always chose to go God's way. His prayer was "not my will but your will be done". When we are faced with the choice of going our way or god's way we can talk to Jesus about it and ask his help to make the right decision and hold to it no matter what.
Thanks for reading and may god bless you!
4:24:58
Hi again readers:
I told myself I wouldn't write about any other journalling prompts unless one really stuck out at me and grabbed my attention and guess what ?
I found a quote in my list that i didn't realise I had copied. I really like it. Here it is:
• “What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in
the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul? In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons, do you hear it? Name it, if you must, or leave
it forever nameless, but why pretend it is not there?” - The Terma Collective
the thing that calls to me is music, specifically singing. I love it. I've always been passionate about singing. I dreamed of being an opera singer but that never came to fruition. I feel drawn to my keyboard to sing a few times a day. Mostly what I sing is Christian praise and worship music but I sometimes sing other things, like the classical songs I learned when I was blessed enough to have a teacher.
I'm glad that sis and I have got back into singing at church, I really missed that. We also go to Garden court and sing and play piano there, although the piano there is woefully out of tune. We sometimes sing at the International Christian community website, they have a music event on Wednesday morning my time. I long to get back into singing at nursing homes, I loved doing that so much but there were reasons we couldn't continue to do it.
Well I think that will probably be my last entry for now, unless i find something else to comment on. I'm listening to a lovely worship song now called we all bow down. I like it.
Ok see you all later and thanks for reading.
4:39:07
you can tell I'm in the mood for writing today can't you?
• If you had to evacuate your home because of a natural disaster, what three things would you take with you?
We were in a situation similar to this once, the drama was that we had a tree in front of the house we lived in that looked about ready to fall. the foundations of that house weren't very strong and we thought the place would collapse. There was a very strong wind that day so the emergency services people couldn't come and cut the tree down. We packed up in one heck of a hurry and I thought about the things I wouldn't want to leave without. i packed the bouquet of material flowers I carried when I was bridesmaid at my best friends' wedding, the candlesticks a dear friend in America sent me, some of my jewelry, a few clothes and things like that. Later we came back for the computer.
At that time there were bush fires in the surrounding areas but we weren't affected so people were being evacuated to our town. We were given a room in a hotel that was miles from the bathroom, well miles is an exaggeration but it felt that way. There was also a dust storm that night. It was not the most enjoyable night we ever spent.
Well if today there was a natural disaster and I could only take 3 things my handbag would be one of them because there's a fair bit of stuff in there, including my bible courier, which is a little black box with a memory card that has 2 versions of the bible that are read through a speech synthesizer, as well as my cane and miniguide and a few other odds and ends. If I could i would take my computer and also my piano keyboard. I would also want to take the candlesticks and perhaps a few of the little ornaments my Grandmother gave me before she died. yes, I know that's more than three things, but o well never mind.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, October 14, 2011 03:44:49
Dear readers:
Well i don't know what happened to the earlier entry I put in here it seems to have vanished. O well i know where else I posted it so i can get it back. I wrote that I was feeling very depressed, weak and vulnerable, and needed God's help.
Just a little while ago I went to my piano keyboard and sang some songs of worship to God. Just before I did that, I opened my bible as I always do an read some verses from the book of psalms which is my favourite book of the bible. here are the verses I came across this morning:
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Selah
Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge!
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!
For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
[Psalm 143:5-11]
wow! those verses perfectly fitted my situation. I read them aloud as a prayer to God. It's amazing how God knows what we need, and blesses us with evidences that he knows what we are experiencing and is with us in our trouble. god is sooooo good!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:09:11 PM
I've been unwell today with gastric problems but I'm feeling a bit better now. I'm just sitting here listening to music and chatting online. I'm about to post this to my blog.
I just heard that Gilad shalit has been returned to Israel. I'm so glad about that, he was a prisoner with Hamas for 5 years it must be an amazing relief for him to be back in his homeland. God is good.
Well that's all I have to say for now so I'm going to post this. Should any of you wish to talk to me on twitter my id is
heartsong4jc
www.twitter.com/heartsong4jc
god bless you all!
Today was a rainy and horrible sort of day, a day borrowed from winter. I managed to get all I needed to get done and I was able to order a new bed, since mine is falling apart. I will be sleeping with my head at the foot of the be because this end is a bit more stable.
this afternoon I was talking to my little cousin Georgia on Facebook. I am going to stay with my cousin Nicole, who is Georgia's Mumn, next weekend. I always enjoy visiting them.
Well that's about all I have for today and I'm getting tired anyway. Tonight I will be trying a sleeping aid i got fro the health food shop, I can't remember what's in the tablets but I hope they will help me.
god bless you all.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011 04:40:09 AM
I was just reading from a devotional book called "our daily bread" that someone sent us in braille. I felt inspired when I read about a Mum who took 5 minutes each morning before her kids went off to school, to pray for each of them by name. Other kids in the neighbourhood joined the prayer circle when they happened to be around. What an inspiration! Sometimes it's the little things that make so much difference!
I want to share 2 quotes that were quoted in that article:
The issue isn't how much time
We spend with God in prayer,
But seeking him throughout each day
And knowing that he's there [Sper]
Prayer is an acknowledgement of our need for god [Unknown]
I was challenged by that first quote. I have 2 prayer and bible study sessions a day and I try to start each hour with meditating on a bible verse for a minute or two, [I'm not boasting I'm just explaining something, we each have our own ways of approaching time with God,] but I was challenged about seeking him through the day and knowing that he's there, not just in my prayer times and things. We don't' just give God part of our day, we need to give him all of it. We can acknowledge god while talking with friends or doing shopping or making something to eat or whatever we're doing, and if we find that we can't acknowledge god in something that we're doing then maybe we need to think about whether we should be doing that thing.
O Abba father, thank you that you are always with me at any time of the day or night, whenever I call to you, you're always there and each one of us when we pray gets your full attention. How awesome you are, dearest Lord. Your love for us is far greater than we could ever comprehend with our little mortal minds. I praise you Lord for who you are. You are my holy, loving, heavenly father and you gave your son Jesus to die for us because that was the only way to save us. Thank you Lord, I wish there were better words to express my gratitude but sometimes the simple words are best and I know you understand how I feel. Thank you Abba Father. Amen.
[note: Abba is a Hebrew word meaning daddy, it's a word a small child would use to speak to their dad. The bible says:
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
{romans 8:15}]
04:59:47 AM
I just wanted to say a great big thank you to all those who read these scribblings of mine. i may not always say it but I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read these posts. God has been speaking to me about letting people know how much I appreciate them and about showing my gratitude more openly. I am often blessed by things that people do, even little things, but I don't tell them often enough how I feel. May God bless you all!
Thursday, October 13, 2011 04:05:15 AM
Hi readers:
I was looking through a list of journalling prompts for things to write about since I'm in a mood for writing this morning and i might as well make use of it, lol. The prompt I found is:
what bible verse spoke to me today?
Here's the bible verse:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[Galatians 2:20]
Thoughts:
As Christians we are new creations. We can't live for god and live in our own way at the same time, we have to choose which way we will go. We often face the choice, "Will I do what I want to do or will I do this god's way?"
I am encouraged in times like that by remembering that Jesus experienced the same temptations and challenges we face. I'm sure there were times when he wished he didn't have to go through with the Father's plan that sent Jesus to the cross to die for us. The difference is, Jesus always chose to go God's way. His prayer was "not my will but your will be done". When we are faced with the choice of going our way or god's way we can talk to Jesus about it and ask his help to make the right decision and hold to it no matter what.
Thanks for reading and may god bless you!
4:24:58
Hi again readers:
I told myself I wouldn't write about any other journalling prompts unless one really stuck out at me and grabbed my attention and guess what ?
I found a quote in my list that i didn't realise I had copied. I really like it. Here it is:
• “What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in
the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul? In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons, do you hear it? Name it, if you must, or leave
it forever nameless, but why pretend it is not there?” - The Terma Collective
the thing that calls to me is music, specifically singing. I love it. I've always been passionate about singing. I dreamed of being an opera singer but that never came to fruition. I feel drawn to my keyboard to sing a few times a day. Mostly what I sing is Christian praise and worship music but I sometimes sing other things, like the classical songs I learned when I was blessed enough to have a teacher.
I'm glad that sis and I have got back into singing at church, I really missed that. We also go to Garden court and sing and play piano there, although the piano there is woefully out of tune. We sometimes sing at the International Christian community website, they have a music event on Wednesday morning my time. I long to get back into singing at nursing homes, I loved doing that so much but there were reasons we couldn't continue to do it.
Well I think that will probably be my last entry for now, unless i find something else to comment on. I'm listening to a lovely worship song now called we all bow down. I like it.
Ok see you all later and thanks for reading.
4:39:07
you can tell I'm in the mood for writing today can't you?
• If you had to evacuate your home because of a natural disaster, what three things would you take with you?
We were in a situation similar to this once, the drama was that we had a tree in front of the house we lived in that looked about ready to fall. the foundations of that house weren't very strong and we thought the place would collapse. There was a very strong wind that day so the emergency services people couldn't come and cut the tree down. We packed up in one heck of a hurry and I thought about the things I wouldn't want to leave without. i packed the bouquet of material flowers I carried when I was bridesmaid at my best friends' wedding, the candlesticks a dear friend in America sent me, some of my jewelry, a few clothes and things like that. Later we came back for the computer.
At that time there were bush fires in the surrounding areas but we weren't affected so people were being evacuated to our town. We were given a room in a hotel that was miles from the bathroom, well miles is an exaggeration but it felt that way. There was also a dust storm that night. It was not the most enjoyable night we ever spent.
Well if today there was a natural disaster and I could only take 3 things my handbag would be one of them because there's a fair bit of stuff in there, including my bible courier, which is a little black box with a memory card that has 2 versions of the bible that are read through a speech synthesizer, as well as my cane and miniguide and a few other odds and ends. If I could i would take my computer and also my piano keyboard. I would also want to take the candlesticks and perhaps a few of the little ornaments my Grandmother gave me before she died. yes, I know that's more than three things, but o well never mind.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, October 14, 2011 03:44:49
Dear readers:
Well i don't know what happened to the earlier entry I put in here it seems to have vanished. O well i know where else I posted it so i can get it back. I wrote that I was feeling very depressed, weak and vulnerable, and needed God's help.
Just a little while ago I went to my piano keyboard and sang some songs of worship to God. Just before I did that, I opened my bible as I always do an read some verses from the book of psalms which is my favourite book of the bible. here are the verses I came across this morning:
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Selah
Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge!
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!
For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
[Psalm 143:5-11]
wow! those verses perfectly fitted my situation. I read them aloud as a prayer to God. It's amazing how God knows what we need, and blesses us with evidences that he knows what we are experiencing and is with us in our trouble. god is sooooo good!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:09:11 PM
I've been unwell today with gastric problems but I'm feeling a bit better now. I'm just sitting here listening to music and chatting online. I'm about to post this to my blog.
I just heard that Gilad shalit has been returned to Israel. I'm so glad about that, he was a prisoner with Hamas for 5 years it must be an amazing relief for him to be back in his homeland. God is good.
Well that's all I have to say for now so I'm going to post this. Should any of you wish to talk to me on twitter my id is
heartsong4jc
www.twitter.com/heartsong4jc
god bless you all!
prayer2 - the Lord's Prayer
Pray then like this:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[Matt 6:9-13]
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."
I want to talk to you today about using the beautiful prayer known as the Lord's prayer as a prayer guide. It is nice and meaningful to pray that prayer through, we often do it in Church services and it's often the first prayer taught to new believers. however Jesus gave us not only a prayer to pray but a guide for our prayers. We are going to go through this prayer bit by bit and i will share what I have learned about using this prayer as a guide.
Firstly though, notice what the bible says in Luke 11:1
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
I think we can all benefit from learning more about prayer, it's such a vital part of our Christian life and yet it is one that so many believers including me struggle with at times. We looked at prayer in a previous message but there is so much more to say about it.
now let's look at the Lord's prayer phrase by phrase:
1.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[Matt 6:9b]
God is our heavenly father. The bible says:
God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan
[Ephesians 1:5 CEB]
and this:
Like a parent feels compassion for their children- that’s how the LORD feels compassion for those who honor him.
[Psalm 103:13 CEB]
notice the verse in Ephesians says:
God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ....
we are not natural born children of God, we are not god as Jesus is, but we are adopted into the family of god. An adopted child doesn't have the same birth parents as a child of the family would have, but an adopted child is legally part of the family.
When we became Christians we became part of the family of god. That's why the Lord's prayer starts with "Our father" not "My father". It reminds us that we are united with every Christian everywhere in the world and all those who have gone to Heaven before us, in one family with God as the head and Jesus as our holy big brother.
Hallowed is an old fashioned word meaning "holy". Other translations put it in different ways such as:
May your holy name be honored;
[GNT]
Reveal who you are.
[MSG]
may your name be kept holy.
[NLT]
uphold the holiness of your name.
[CEB]
may your name be honoured;
[Phillips]
God's name is holy, and that will always be true. The fact is, though, that people judge god by what they see in us. That's a very sobering thought. If they see us lying or using profanity they will think less of god and so in that way his name is not hallowed. his name refers to his character. We want to live in such a way that people won't have a lower opinion of god because of us.
Suggested prayer points:
* thank the Lord that Jesus died for you
* thank God that you are now a part of god's family, if you are a Christian.
* Pray that the way you live will bring glory to God and not bring dishonour to his holy name.
2. Your kingdom come, [Matt 6:10a]
Jesus is the King and one day he will return to set up his kingdom here on earth but for now he is in heaven, ruling over the heavens and ruling over our lives. One of the reasons he came to earth was to speak about the kingdom of heaven:
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17
We are subjects of the kingdom of heaven if we have surrendered our lives to Christ and accepted him as our Lord and Saviour. He rules over us from heaven through his holy Spirit who lives in each of us.
When we pray "your kingdom come" we are praying for the day when King Jesus will return in all his glory and will set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years. after that time, when Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all, ,there will be a new heaven and a new earth where god and Jesus will reign from the New Jerusalem.
We are also praying for God's help to live here and now as subjects of the kingdom should live, that we might follow the King's rules for our life and do the work god has given us to do. for example, Jesus tells us this:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
this is the most important work that we as Christians can do: sharing god's truths with the people he brings into our lives.
Suggested prayer points:
* Pray for your unsaved family and friends to come to know Jesus.
* ask god if there is some way you can help your unsaved friends and family to come to know Jesus.
* Pray for missionaries and evangelists, who are busy about the work Jesus gave us to do.
3. your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [Matthew 6:10b]
god has a perfect plan for the universe and for our lives, a plan he knew of before the world was formed. He wants us to walk in that will. god is our loving heavenly father so his will is always best for us even though it may not always seem to be so.
God reveals this will to us in various ways such as:
* when we study the bible
* through the advice of Christian friends we trust, especially those who are mature and can advise us well.
* when we examine our circumstances and see if god is opening a door for us to go through or if the door we think we want to go through is shut.
* through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to our hearts and tells us what god wants us to do.
Can you think of other ways god speaks to us?
When God tells us what he wants us to do he also gives us the grace and strength to do it. Sometimes, though, he will tell us to do something that
*. we really don't want to do. the choice then is between doing our will and doing god's will. Sometimes it can be really hard to say no to what we want, and we can battle with ourselves about whether we should do what we want or what we know is right.
We also pray for god's will to be done not only in our lives but on earth. We can pray for situations like war, famine, natural disasters and corrupt political leaders, because in every situation god has a perfect will and we know that his way is far better than ours. The trouble is that most of the people in the world are not children of god, most of them haven't asked Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour and even those of us who are Christians often choose to do what we know is wrong. There is also the enemy, satan, who temporarily rules over this world. he wants to do as much damage as possible, keep as many people as possible from getting saved and tries to work against God's perfect plan for this world.
We can still pray "your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" because God can take the worst possible situations and bring some good out of them.
In Heaven god's will is always perfectly carried out, and the time will come when this will be true of the earth as well.
Suggested prayer points:
All we have to do is listen to the news to find plenty of bad situations we can pray about.
* pray that God will bring something good out of the bad situations that are happening.
* pray that you will know what God's will is for your life.
* Pray for the strength to choose god's will over your own in situations where you find it hard to obey.
4. Give us this day our daily bread, Matthew 6:11A]
In this petition we are asking god for the things that we need. He already knows what our needs are but he wants us to talk to him about them. Notice that it doesn't say "give us our daily cake" but "our daily bread." God will give us the things he knows we need to have, not necessarily the things we want to have. God will say no if what we are asking for is not good for us. He may sometimes choose to give us what we want to have but not always. He may also give us the answer "wait", because he knows that what we ask for is not best for us at this time and also he wants to teach us to pray without giving up, even if we have to wait years for what we have prayed about. Abraham prayed for a child for years and years and when he was 100 God gave Isaac to Abraham and his wife, when they were far past the age of childbearing.
god wants us to talk to him about every situation of our lives, bring to him every need no matter how trivial, and then trust him with the outcome. He is our heavenly father and he desires to have a relationship with us, isn't that a great thought?
we can also use this time to pray about the needs that our loved ones have, [our friends and family members], for our Church groups and for any needs we are aware of in the community or even our country.
Suggested Prayer Points:
* talk to God about the things you need.
* talk to god about the things your loved ones need
* Talk to god about any needs you know about in your town or even your country.
* If God says no, pray for the strength and wisdom to accept it.
* If god says "Wait" then pray for the patience you will need as you wait.
* if God has answered your prayers then thank him.
5. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [v12a]
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. [Luke 11:4]
we are asking God to forgive our sins. We all sin every day, sometimes because we choose to and sometimes just because it is part of our nature. Whatever the cause of our sin, we need to confess it to god, taking full responsibility for our actions and asking his forgiveness, ... but there is a proviso: we have to be willing to forgive those who have sinned against us. We have to forgive those who have hurt us, those who lied to us, those who spoke unkind things about us behind our backs, and anything else that anyone might have done to us. The bible says:
“If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your
sins.
[Matthew 6:14-15]
Sometimes it can be hard to forgive. maybe there is someone who hurt you badly in the past and you can't even imagine forgiving that person. That's when you need to ask god to help you forgive them. maybe you also need to see your pastor or find a Christian counsellor in your area. I have a person in my life I'm finding it hard to forgive but I'm trusting the Lord and I'm talking to him about the issues and I'm sure he will help me to really forgive them and put it behind me.
Remember that those whom we have hurt and treated harshly will have to forgive us too. It can be hard to forgive but God blesses us when we sincerely make an effort to do it and he will help us.
suggested prayer points:
pray for the willingness to forgive those who have hurt us.
Pray for the ability to forgive fully.
Thank god that he has forgiven all your sins.
6. And lead us not into temptation, v12a]
Every human being experiences temptation, even Jesus went through seasons of temptation but he never sinned.
god isn't the one who leads us into temptation. We are tempted either by our own desires, and/or by the enemy. God can and will help us when we are tempted, however. The bible says:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation
he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
when we experience temptation we can ask God for help and he will always show us a way to go that we will not fall into the temptation. Sometimes though, we don't want to avoid the temptation and there is a war in our hearts between what we know we should do and what we may want to do even if we know it's not good for us. we need to choose to do god's will even though it's hard, because what God tells us to do is really for our best even if we can't see it at the time. We need to cry out to God for help and for strength to do what we know he wants us to do.
Suggested prayer points:
pray for guidance about avoiding situations where we know we will be tempted.
pray for the strength we need to say no to sin even though our flesh is fighting against us.
7. but deliver us from evil. [v13b]
another translation says it like this:
but deliver us from the evil one. [v13b]
That's what this is all about. We know the evil one has plans and schemes against us. We want to avoid those schemes as much as possible. To do this we need god's help. As a blind person, there are times when I need to rely on someone to help me find my way, if I am in a place I don't know or if I'm walking in a place that is familiar to me but there are obstacles in the way. then I need to trust the person who is helping me, and go where they lead.
If we want to avoid the pitfalls and obstacles the enemy puts in our path we need to trust god and follow where he leads us, even if we don't understand or if we don't know the path he is leading us on .
Suggested prayer points:
pray that God will help us to be aware of the enemy's schemes against us.
Pray that God will keep us out of the traps the enemy sets for us.
Pray for your loved ones that the enemy's schemes in their lives will not stand.
To finish off this prayer we have to go to the KJV because this part is not always included in all the versions of the word:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
[Matt 6:13c KJV]
the word "thine" is an old-fashioned way of saying "Yours".
In this final part of the Lord's prayer, known as the doxology, we are acknowledging god as king, as the all-powerful one and as the only one worthy to receive glory.
this doxology can be compared to the praises Solomon gave to God when the first temple was consecrated:
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power
and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
Many believe that this part of the prayer was included at a later time and wasn't part of what Jesus taught his followers. It's a great way to finish praying though, to offer praise to god for who he is and to remember he is the all-powerful, glorious king of kings.
The word Amen comes from a Hebrew root word meaning truly or surely. The word for faith, emunah, comes from this same word. When we say amen we are expressing our agreement with what has been prayed.
I hope you have found our study of the Lord's prayer helpful. May the Holy spirit lead and direct you as you pray this prayer and use it as a prayer guide.
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you have given us a prayer to pray and also to use as a guide for our praying. help us to learn to pray as you have taught. Help us to be honest and sincere, talking to you freely about every aspect of our lives. Thank you lord god that you always hear us when we pray. Amen.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[Matt 6:9-13]
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."
I want to talk to you today about using the beautiful prayer known as the Lord's prayer as a prayer guide. It is nice and meaningful to pray that prayer through, we often do it in Church services and it's often the first prayer taught to new believers. however Jesus gave us not only a prayer to pray but a guide for our prayers. We are going to go through this prayer bit by bit and i will share what I have learned about using this prayer as a guide.
Firstly though, notice what the bible says in Luke 11:1
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
I think we can all benefit from learning more about prayer, it's such a vital part of our Christian life and yet it is one that so many believers including me struggle with at times. We looked at prayer in a previous message but there is so much more to say about it.
now let's look at the Lord's prayer phrase by phrase:
1.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[Matt 6:9b]
God is our heavenly father. The bible says:
God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan
[Ephesians 1:5 CEB]
and this:
Like a parent feels compassion for their children- that’s how the LORD feels compassion for those who honor him.
[Psalm 103:13 CEB]
notice the verse in Ephesians says:
God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ....
we are not natural born children of God, we are not god as Jesus is, but we are adopted into the family of god. An adopted child doesn't have the same birth parents as a child of the family would have, but an adopted child is legally part of the family.
When we became Christians we became part of the family of god. That's why the Lord's prayer starts with "Our father" not "My father". It reminds us that we are united with every Christian everywhere in the world and all those who have gone to Heaven before us, in one family with God as the head and Jesus as our holy big brother.
Hallowed is an old fashioned word meaning "holy". Other translations put it in different ways such as:
May your holy name be honored;
[GNT]
Reveal who you are.
[MSG]
may your name be kept holy.
[NLT]
uphold the holiness of your name.
[CEB]
may your name be honoured;
[Phillips]
God's name is holy, and that will always be true. The fact is, though, that people judge god by what they see in us. That's a very sobering thought. If they see us lying or using profanity they will think less of god and so in that way his name is not hallowed. his name refers to his character. We want to live in such a way that people won't have a lower opinion of god because of us.
Suggested prayer points:
* thank the Lord that Jesus died for you
* thank God that you are now a part of god's family, if you are a Christian.
* Pray that the way you live will bring glory to God and not bring dishonour to his holy name.
2. Your kingdom come, [Matt 6:10a]
Jesus is the King and one day he will return to set up his kingdom here on earth but for now he is in heaven, ruling over the heavens and ruling over our lives. One of the reasons he came to earth was to speak about the kingdom of heaven:
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17
We are subjects of the kingdom of heaven if we have surrendered our lives to Christ and accepted him as our Lord and Saviour. He rules over us from heaven through his holy Spirit who lives in each of us.
When we pray "your kingdom come" we are praying for the day when King Jesus will return in all his glory and will set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years. after that time, when Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all, ,there will be a new heaven and a new earth where god and Jesus will reign from the New Jerusalem.
We are also praying for God's help to live here and now as subjects of the kingdom should live, that we might follow the King's rules for our life and do the work god has given us to do. for example, Jesus tells us this:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
this is the most important work that we as Christians can do: sharing god's truths with the people he brings into our lives.
Suggested prayer points:
* Pray for your unsaved family and friends to come to know Jesus.
* ask god if there is some way you can help your unsaved friends and family to come to know Jesus.
* Pray for missionaries and evangelists, who are busy about the work Jesus gave us to do.
3. your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [Matthew 6:10b]
god has a perfect plan for the universe and for our lives, a plan he knew of before the world was formed. He wants us to walk in that will. god is our loving heavenly father so his will is always best for us even though it may not always seem to be so.
God reveals this will to us in various ways such as:
* when we study the bible
* through the advice of Christian friends we trust, especially those who are mature and can advise us well.
* when we examine our circumstances and see if god is opening a door for us to go through or if the door we think we want to go through is shut.
* through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to our hearts and tells us what god wants us to do.
Can you think of other ways god speaks to us?
When God tells us what he wants us to do he also gives us the grace and strength to do it. Sometimes, though, he will tell us to do something that
*. we really don't want to do. the choice then is between doing our will and doing god's will. Sometimes it can be really hard to say no to what we want, and we can battle with ourselves about whether we should do what we want or what we know is right.
We also pray for god's will to be done not only in our lives but on earth. We can pray for situations like war, famine, natural disasters and corrupt political leaders, because in every situation god has a perfect will and we know that his way is far better than ours. The trouble is that most of the people in the world are not children of god, most of them haven't asked Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour and even those of us who are Christians often choose to do what we know is wrong. There is also the enemy, satan, who temporarily rules over this world. he wants to do as much damage as possible, keep as many people as possible from getting saved and tries to work against God's perfect plan for this world.
We can still pray "your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" because God can take the worst possible situations and bring some good out of them.
In Heaven god's will is always perfectly carried out, and the time will come when this will be true of the earth as well.
Suggested prayer points:
All we have to do is listen to the news to find plenty of bad situations we can pray about.
* pray that God will bring something good out of the bad situations that are happening.
* pray that you will know what God's will is for your life.
* Pray for the strength to choose god's will over your own in situations where you find it hard to obey.
4. Give us this day our daily bread, Matthew 6:11A]
In this petition we are asking god for the things that we need. He already knows what our needs are but he wants us to talk to him about them. Notice that it doesn't say "give us our daily cake" but "our daily bread." God will give us the things he knows we need to have, not necessarily the things we want to have. God will say no if what we are asking for is not good for us. He may sometimes choose to give us what we want to have but not always. He may also give us the answer "wait", because he knows that what we ask for is not best for us at this time and also he wants to teach us to pray without giving up, even if we have to wait years for what we have prayed about. Abraham prayed for a child for years and years and when he was 100 God gave Isaac to Abraham and his wife, when they were far past the age of childbearing.
god wants us to talk to him about every situation of our lives, bring to him every need no matter how trivial, and then trust him with the outcome. He is our heavenly father and he desires to have a relationship with us, isn't that a great thought?
we can also use this time to pray about the needs that our loved ones have, [our friends and family members], for our Church groups and for any needs we are aware of in the community or even our country.
Suggested Prayer Points:
* talk to God about the things you need.
* talk to god about the things your loved ones need
* Talk to god about any needs you know about in your town or even your country.
* If God says no, pray for the strength and wisdom to accept it.
* If god says "Wait" then pray for the patience you will need as you wait.
* if God has answered your prayers then thank him.
5. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [v12a]
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. [Luke 11:4]
we are asking God to forgive our sins. We all sin every day, sometimes because we choose to and sometimes just because it is part of our nature. Whatever the cause of our sin, we need to confess it to god, taking full responsibility for our actions and asking his forgiveness, ... but there is a proviso: we have to be willing to forgive those who have sinned against us. We have to forgive those who have hurt us, those who lied to us, those who spoke unkind things about us behind our backs, and anything else that anyone might have done to us. The bible says:
“If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your
sins.
[Matthew 6:14-15]
Sometimes it can be hard to forgive. maybe there is someone who hurt you badly in the past and you can't even imagine forgiving that person. That's when you need to ask god to help you forgive them. maybe you also need to see your pastor or find a Christian counsellor in your area. I have a person in my life I'm finding it hard to forgive but I'm trusting the Lord and I'm talking to him about the issues and I'm sure he will help me to really forgive them and put it behind me.
Remember that those whom we have hurt and treated harshly will have to forgive us too. It can be hard to forgive but God blesses us when we sincerely make an effort to do it and he will help us.
suggested prayer points:
pray for the willingness to forgive those who have hurt us.
Pray for the ability to forgive fully.
Thank god that he has forgiven all your sins.
6. And lead us not into temptation, v12a]
Every human being experiences temptation, even Jesus went through seasons of temptation but he never sinned.
god isn't the one who leads us into temptation. We are tempted either by our own desires, and/or by the enemy. God can and will help us when we are tempted, however. The bible says:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation
he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
when we experience temptation we can ask God for help and he will always show us a way to go that we will not fall into the temptation. Sometimes though, we don't want to avoid the temptation and there is a war in our hearts between what we know we should do and what we may want to do even if we know it's not good for us. we need to choose to do god's will even though it's hard, because what God tells us to do is really for our best even if we can't see it at the time. We need to cry out to God for help and for strength to do what we know he wants us to do.
Suggested prayer points:
pray for guidance about avoiding situations where we know we will be tempted.
pray for the strength we need to say no to sin even though our flesh is fighting against us.
7. but deliver us from evil. [v13b]
another translation says it like this:
but deliver us from the evil one. [v13b]
That's what this is all about. We know the evil one has plans and schemes against us. We want to avoid those schemes as much as possible. To do this we need god's help. As a blind person, there are times when I need to rely on someone to help me find my way, if I am in a place I don't know or if I'm walking in a place that is familiar to me but there are obstacles in the way. then I need to trust the person who is helping me, and go where they lead.
If we want to avoid the pitfalls and obstacles the enemy puts in our path we need to trust god and follow where he leads us, even if we don't understand or if we don't know the path he is leading us on .
Suggested prayer points:
pray that God will help us to be aware of the enemy's schemes against us.
Pray that God will keep us out of the traps the enemy sets for us.
Pray for your loved ones that the enemy's schemes in their lives will not stand.
To finish off this prayer we have to go to the KJV because this part is not always included in all the versions of the word:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
[Matt 6:13c KJV]
the word "thine" is an old-fashioned way of saying "Yours".
In this final part of the Lord's prayer, known as the doxology, we are acknowledging god as king, as the all-powerful one and as the only one worthy to receive glory.
this doxology can be compared to the praises Solomon gave to God when the first temple was consecrated:
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power
and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
Many believe that this part of the prayer was included at a later time and wasn't part of what Jesus taught his followers. It's a great way to finish praying though, to offer praise to god for who he is and to remember he is the all-powerful, glorious king of kings.
The word Amen comes from a Hebrew root word meaning truly or surely. The word for faith, emunah, comes from this same word. When we say amen we are expressing our agreement with what has been prayed.
I hope you have found our study of the Lord's prayer helpful. May the Holy spirit lead and direct you as you pray this prayer and use it as a prayer guide.
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you have given us a prayer to pray and also to use as a guide for our praying. help us to learn to pray as you have taught. Help us to be honest and sincere, talking to you freely about every aspect of our lives. Thank you lord god that you always hear us when we pray. Amen.
Tuesday 11 October 2011
Thoughts from my Grandmother's Grave
Yesterday I went to my Grandmother's grave. I was staying with my cousin in Grafton which is where Nana lived a good part of her life. My heart was aching and all I wanted to do was get back home to my computer and write.
It's so hard to lose a loved one. All the time i was in Grafton I kept expecting to visit her but of course she's in heaven now.
I talked about it with my Auntie and learned from her that my mother isn't coping well with Nana's loss. The sad part was, a few of us weren't able to get there in time to say goodbye to Nana and Mum was one of those. Also when someone we love dies we can think of so many things we would like to say to them but once they are gone it's too late.
As Christians we know it's not too late, we will see our loved one again in heaven. I have that comfort of knowing Nana was a Christian and so in the sadness of her loss there is the ray of hope because I know I will see her again. I don't know how those who live without God in their lives can cope with the lost of a loved one. God helps us, comforts us, listens to us when we want to talk or cry or even scream. he gives us his peace and he carries us when we can't go on anymore.
I wrote a poem for Nana that I want to share. I know you all didn't know her but maybe you can relate to some of this:
rest in peace, dear Nana,
close your weary eyes
and open them on heavenly vistas
of indescribable glory.
Rest in peace, dear Nana
your time on earth is done,
You lived a long life, and we
are left to mourn your loss.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
You will never be gone from us As long as your memory
Lives on in our hearts.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
dance on golden streets,
feast on heavenly delicacies
and see clearly all the beauty around you.\
rest in peace Dear Nana,
we miss you and we love you
and for now our hearts are sad,
Because you had to go.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
no more pain or sorrow,
Life eternal stretches before you,
Happiness, pleasure and peace
Before she died my Nana was almost completely blind. She had bad arthritis in her knees and needed to use a walker. She also had diabetes. The thought of her feasting on heavenly delicacies, dancing and seeing clearly all the glory of heaven is comforting to me.
Thank you for reading this. god bless.
It's so hard to lose a loved one. All the time i was in Grafton I kept expecting to visit her but of course she's in heaven now.
I talked about it with my Auntie and learned from her that my mother isn't coping well with Nana's loss. The sad part was, a few of us weren't able to get there in time to say goodbye to Nana and Mum was one of those. Also when someone we love dies we can think of so many things we would like to say to them but once they are gone it's too late.
As Christians we know it's not too late, we will see our loved one again in heaven. I have that comfort of knowing Nana was a Christian and so in the sadness of her loss there is the ray of hope because I know I will see her again. I don't know how those who live without God in their lives can cope with the lost of a loved one. God helps us, comforts us, listens to us when we want to talk or cry or even scream. he gives us his peace and he carries us when we can't go on anymore.
I wrote a poem for Nana that I want to share. I know you all didn't know her but maybe you can relate to some of this:
rest in peace, dear Nana,
close your weary eyes
and open them on heavenly vistas
of indescribable glory.
Rest in peace, dear Nana
your time on earth is done,
You lived a long life, and we
are left to mourn your loss.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
You will never be gone from us As long as your memory
Lives on in our hearts.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
dance on golden streets,
feast on heavenly delicacies
and see clearly all the beauty around you.\
rest in peace Dear Nana,
we miss you and we love you
and for now our hearts are sad,
Because you had to go.
Rest in peace, dear Nana,
no more pain or sorrow,
Life eternal stretches before you,
Happiness, pleasure and peace
Before she died my Nana was almost completely blind. She had bad arthritis in her knees and needed to use a walker. She also had diabetes. The thought of her feasting on heavenly delicacies, dancing and seeing clearly all the glory of heaven is comforting to me.
Thank you for reading this. god bless.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Thoughts and a Poem for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
I've been thinking about Youcef Nadarkhani , a pastor in Iran who is sentenced to death by hanging because of his Christian faith. He had three opportunities to recant his faith in Jesus and return to Islam, but he didn't do it. He is a husband and father of two boys and if he had denied his belief in the Lord he would be back with his family by now. I can't imagine how strong the temptation would be to deny Jesus. Actually that would be a bad choice to make because the Bible says that if we deny Jesus he will also deny us, which is a scary thought.
People like this man are such an incredible inspiration! I know it's the power of God in them that makes them able to stand strong and endure such persecution, but God gives us the choice of what we will do in each situation and pastor Youcef and others like him are choosing to stand strong in their faith, even to death if they should be called on to do that.
I've been following Pastor Youcef's story on Twitter and praying that he might be released unconditionally and he and his family kept safe. If you want to receive updates on this story on twitter I suggest you follow @JordanSekulow www.twitter.com/JordanSekulo you can also do a search on twitter for Youcef Nadarkhani. Another thing you can do is check out the American Centre for Law and Justice website: http://aclj.org/ which has news articles and whatever up-to-date information about pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's case that is available. they also have a petition there to sign that I would encourage all of you to sign.
I wanted to express my thoughts about this situation and poetry is the way I express them most easily. if I could talk to Pastor Youcef this is what I would say:
I am so encouraged by people like you
Who allow god to use them so mightily,
Who stand up for the truth in the face of death
And will not recant your faith.
I read your letter of encouragement
Which you wrote from prison
And it really touched my heart and made me
Think of how I would react in your situation.
You are an example of what god can do
With a heart and life that is yielded to him,
You may not even realise
The ways God is using your testimony.
God has used your case powerfully
To make people more aware
Of the difficult plight of Christian people
Who live in the Muslim world,
And to challenge us who live in the West,
Who don't experience such intense persecution
To think about our priorities
And the way we live as Christians.
So I want to say thanks to you
And tell you my friends and I
Will continue to pray for you
That God's will be done in your life.
Thank you to all who have read my scribblings, may God bless you all.
People like this man are such an incredible inspiration! I know it's the power of God in them that makes them able to stand strong and endure such persecution, but God gives us the choice of what we will do in each situation and pastor Youcef and others like him are choosing to stand strong in their faith, even to death if they should be called on to do that.
I've been following Pastor Youcef's story on Twitter and praying that he might be released unconditionally and he and his family kept safe. If you want to receive updates on this story on twitter I suggest you follow @JordanSekulow www.twitter.com/JordanSekulo you can also do a search on twitter for Youcef Nadarkhani. Another thing you can do is check out the American Centre for Law and Justice website: http://aclj.org/ which has news articles and whatever up-to-date information about pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's case that is available. they also have a petition there to sign that I would encourage all of you to sign.
I wanted to express my thoughts about this situation and poetry is the way I express them most easily. if I could talk to Pastor Youcef this is what I would say:
I am so encouraged by people like you
Who allow god to use them so mightily,
Who stand up for the truth in the face of death
And will not recant your faith.
I read your letter of encouragement
Which you wrote from prison
And it really touched my heart and made me
Think of how I would react in your situation.
You are an example of what god can do
With a heart and life that is yielded to him,
You may not even realise
The ways God is using your testimony.
God has used your case powerfully
To make people more aware
Of the difficult plight of Christian people
Who live in the Muslim world,
And to challenge us who live in the West,
Who don't experience such intense persecution
To think about our priorities
And the way we live as Christians.
So I want to say thanks to you
And tell you my friends and I
Will continue to pray for you
That God's will be done in your life.
Thank you to all who have read my scribblings, may God bless you all.
Tuesday 27 September 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011 05:22:13 PM Well I keep saying I'm going to update this regularly but I keep failing to do so. I'm only writing now because I need someone to vent to. I'm sitting here at 5:30 trying to stay awake. I've had precisely 2 hours sleep. this sleeping problem has been going on for months now. Now and again I'll have a few nights of fairrly good sleep but i dont' remember when the last night like that was. To top it all off I have a 4 hour radio show starting in an hour and a half and I'm already battling with sleepiness. grrr! But, balancing that picture out and overshadowing it, I have a big god who loves me, who knows my needs and has promised to be with me until I can be up there with him. Sunday: well I do feel better today, it's amazing what a couple of hours of sleep can do! I didn't end up doing the show last night I just didn't feel up to it. I'm looking forward to church tonight it should be good. Well I don't have any more to say right now so I will close this. Monday, September 19, 2011 5:21:16 PM church was very nice last night. I told the Pastor about my sleeping problems and he prayed for me and anointed my forehead with oil. I felt a lot more peace last night. After Church we decided to go for a drive, which was relaxing and we enjoyed it. Then we stopped in at a cafe for a late dinner/early midnight snack. then we went home and talked for a while before i came in here and went to sleep. This morning Maria and I did our Christian radio show Power praise and got a new listener, yay! It was a young guy Maria met on one of the game sites we are members of. These games are written for blind people and they are a lot of fun. Well that's all I wanted to say for now. Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:07:23 PM Ever since Pastor prayed for me on Sunday night I have felt much more at peace and I'm getting 5 or so hours of sleep a night. It sure is an improvement. god has swept away the darkness and confusion in my mind and i am so grateful to him. tonight we are going to a concert at Church. A new Zealand singer called Jules Riding is coming to sing for us. I'm excited about it, it should be a good night. I didn't have my computer class today because my teacher, Ross, had something else happening today. i met him in the bank this morning and it took a few moments for me to realise who it was. Duh! Well I don't have much more to say I just wanted to check in. Wednesday, September 28, 2011 3:53:51 PM the Jules Riding concert was awesome! Not only did he sing and play some great songs, despite the fact that he had a mild dose of laryngitis, he gave a testimony about a difficult time in his life when he hadn't felt God's presence for a couple of years and he stopped doing his music ministry and experienced depression. It was a very real, honest testimony of how god brought him back from all that. it was such an encouragement to us! His music is rather popular around here right now, Sis and I bought one of his albums but we also have some of his songs from youtube and we play his music quite often. On a different note, my chihuahua Speedy is in hospital again. She went to the vet yesterday and she won't be home till tomorrow. I miss her so much! she had an infection in her teeth and the infection has spread through to her kidneys. We don't know how bad her kidneys are but it's not good. Anything they can do is only a temporary solution, she isn't going to be with us for much longer which is sad. We are praying that God will do a miracle for her. please pray for her too. I think I'm going to create a separate blog for posts like this, if so I will let you all know. I'm going to upload this now. Thanks for reading and God bless you all!
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Prodigal Returning
I want to share some thoughts today About the Prodigal son, a story I'm SURE IS
well known to each of you. For those who may not know it or those who need a refresher, here it is:
[Luke 15:11-24]
And he[Jesus] said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.
Here are a couple of points that stuck out at me:
1. the son is saved, he's a son not a servant. the point is, even children of God can mess up big time! I know it from my own experience. all we need to do is put distance between us and God and we allow the enemy an opportunity to get at us.
the bible says:
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
[1 Peter 5:8-9]
Satan wants us to fall into sin and be ineffective in our Christian life and he will take every opportunity, he and his unholy horde, to tempt us and try to get us to put enough distance between us and God to allow the enemy of our souls access to our lives. that's why we need to be vigilant and why we need to watch and pray. The enemy will try to convince us that it will be fun to step away from god for a while and do some other things, but those who have fallen into sin know it's not fun. Maybe at first it is but it's a downward spiral. when I got out of the mess I was in I wondered how I could have let my life get into such a state. One of The answers is this: sin is deceptive. It likes to pass itself off as something harmless,there is often a false sense of security that what we are doing is really not so bad. i used to justify it by saying
noone knows what I'm doing I'm not harming anyone but god knew and I knew he didn't approve.
2. I'm sure the prodigal didn't overnight decide that he wanted his share of the inheritance. This was something just not done in that culture even in ours. It was extremely rude and the father could have severely reprimanded him for even suggesting it, but he didn't'. The point is, if the son had rejected that sort of thought the moment it cropped up, the whole sorry scene wouldn't have occurred. the same happens with us. Sin starts in our thoughts and moves on to words and actions, and, if it is not dealt with it can really mess up our lives, just like a little fire that starts and begins to spread, if someone doesn't put it out it can do a whole lot of damage.
3. The prodigal realised how bad his situation was, but to return was his own choice. he could have chosen to stay where he was feeding pigs and slowly starving to death, but he made a choice to return to his father. When we are brought face to face with our sin what we do then is our choice. we can cry out for mercy to god and repent or we can stay in our sin, which may lead to our choosing to abandon our faith altogether. Our story differs from the prodigal son in at least one point, the moment we call out to god he is there we don't have to take the walk back on our own, God will help us to get our lives back in balance, there will be a time of restoration, and he is the one who restores us and helps us to change our ways.
4. The prodigal's father wouldn't take him back as a servant and neither does our father. we serve him because we want to thank him for his incredible love for us, but we are god's children not just slaves. Jesus said:
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
5. The father welcomed the son right back into the family. There was no period of probation to see if his behaviour had changed, there was no stern lecture "you better change your ways, this is your last chance!" The father welcomed him back gladly. I want to look at that scene a bit closer before we conclude:
[Luke 15:17-24]
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him,
'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe,
and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.
the son hadn't gotten far in his repentance speech when the father started giving orders to the servants and ordering a celebration. Notice what the Father gave the son?
1. A robe.
our Father takes our filthy robe of sin and replaces it with a clean robe of righteousness.
. the bible says it this way:
He himself[Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
[1 Peter 2:24]
and this:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 NRSV]
2. The ring:
The significance of this didn't hit me until I read one of Max Lucked's books. The ring, in olden times, was used
to seal important documents, the emblem on the ring was dipped in wax to form the seal. The father was showing that the returned prodigal has the right to speak for the father. And we are our Father's ambassadors here on earth. We speak in his name when we tell people of his great love for them. Can you think of other times when we represent God?
3. The party:
the bible says this:
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
There was a celebration in heaven when you first gave your life to god and there will be one when you go home. God doesn't cancel that party If we get tangled up in serious sin. We may wonder if we will be welcome in heaven because of the bad things we did,but no, god is merciful and if we truly repent he will restore us And our sins will be removed as far as the east is from the west,and that celebration in heaven will happen when we get there.
I want to speak a word of encouragement to anyone caught in a web of sin. Jesus says:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. [Revelation 3:20]
Jesus was speaking to THE Laodicean Church whom he called a dead church. yet though they had sinned by compromising with the world and they were proud and puffed up, Jesus offers them mercy. He is standing at the door knocking. No matter what you've done or where you've been he is standing at the door of your heart waiting for you to open the door. And if you feel that you can't break free enough even to do that, cry out to him and he will come to you and take you by the hand and he will affirm his love to you and help you get started on the journey of repentance and reconciliation. One of my favourite verses says
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
[Psalm 147:3]
We may not feel worthy to come to him, we may feel so sin-stained that we can't approach him, but the truth is we aren't worthy. god's grace is a free gift that we couldn't possibly earn even if we lived as close to perfect as we can. but the enemy wants us to feel so unworthy, so brought low that we may choose not to come to our father because we can't see how he would possibly accept us. he is waiting for us to cry to him, so we need to call out to god, tell him how unworthy we feel pour out our hearts to him and allow him to heal us. The words in the original language of that verse Psalm 147:3 imply a surgeon stitching up a wound. It may be painful but once it's done we will be fully healed and restored.
If we can it might be good to ask someone to pray for us through this process. We don't have to go into specifics unless we feel lead to, but it's good to have someone praying for us and prayer is powerful.
if you're in a situation like this, I would really encourage you to read "When godly people do ungodly things" by Beth Moore. that's where I got a lot of my ideas
for this message. I want to share a message that one of my followers tweeted today:
No matter how far you have fallen....#YOU can begin again.
God bless you all.
Questions:
[These are just for you and God to talk about privately, if you want to]
1. Why do you think that putting distance between you and god allows the enemy access to your life?
2. Why do you think that Satan works so hard to stop us being effective for god?
3. We saw that sometimes we can let our feelings of unworthiness separate us from god. Can you think of other times when we should disregard our feelings and go with what we know is true ?
well known to each of you. For those who may not know it or those who need a refresher, here it is:
[Luke 15:11-24]
And he[Jesus] said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.
Here are a couple of points that stuck out at me:
1. the son is saved, he's a son not a servant. the point is, even children of God can mess up big time! I know it from my own experience. all we need to do is put distance between us and God and we allow the enemy an opportunity to get at us.
the bible says:
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
[1 Peter 5:8-9]
Satan wants us to fall into sin and be ineffective in our Christian life and he will take every opportunity, he and his unholy horde, to tempt us and try to get us to put enough distance between us and God to allow the enemy of our souls access to our lives. that's why we need to be vigilant and why we need to watch and pray. The enemy will try to convince us that it will be fun to step away from god for a while and do some other things, but those who have fallen into sin know it's not fun. Maybe at first it is but it's a downward spiral. when I got out of the mess I was in I wondered how I could have let my life get into such a state. One of The answers is this: sin is deceptive. It likes to pass itself off as something harmless,there is often a false sense of security that what we are doing is really not so bad. i used to justify it by saying
noone knows what I'm doing I'm not harming anyone but god knew and I knew he didn't approve.
2. I'm sure the prodigal didn't overnight decide that he wanted his share of the inheritance. This was something just not done in that culture even in ours. It was extremely rude and the father could have severely reprimanded him for even suggesting it, but he didn't'. The point is, if the son had rejected that sort of thought the moment it cropped up, the whole sorry scene wouldn't have occurred. the same happens with us. Sin starts in our thoughts and moves on to words and actions, and, if it is not dealt with it can really mess up our lives, just like a little fire that starts and begins to spread, if someone doesn't put it out it can do a whole lot of damage.
3. The prodigal realised how bad his situation was, but to return was his own choice. he could have chosen to stay where he was feeding pigs and slowly starving to death, but he made a choice to return to his father. When we are brought face to face with our sin what we do then is our choice. we can cry out for mercy to god and repent or we can stay in our sin, which may lead to our choosing to abandon our faith altogether. Our story differs from the prodigal son in at least one point, the moment we call out to god he is there we don't have to take the walk back on our own, God will help us to get our lives back in balance, there will be a time of restoration, and he is the one who restores us and helps us to change our ways.
4. The prodigal's father wouldn't take him back as a servant and neither does our father. we serve him because we want to thank him for his incredible love for us, but we are god's children not just slaves. Jesus said:
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
5. The father welcomed the son right back into the family. There was no period of probation to see if his behaviour had changed, there was no stern lecture "you better change your ways, this is your last chance!" The father welcomed him back gladly. I want to look at that scene a bit closer before we conclude:
[Luke 15:17-24]
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him,
'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe,
and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.
the son hadn't gotten far in his repentance speech when the father started giving orders to the servants and ordering a celebration. Notice what the Father gave the son?
1. A robe.
our Father takes our filthy robe of sin and replaces it with a clean robe of righteousness.
. the bible says it this way:
He himself[Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
[1 Peter 2:24]
and this:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 NRSV]
2. The ring:
The significance of this didn't hit me until I read one of Max Lucked's books. The ring, in olden times, was used
to seal important documents, the emblem on the ring was dipped in wax to form the seal. The father was showing that the returned prodigal has the right to speak for the father. And we are our Father's ambassadors here on earth. We speak in his name when we tell people of his great love for them. Can you think of other times when we represent God?
3. The party:
the bible says this:
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
There was a celebration in heaven when you first gave your life to god and there will be one when you go home. God doesn't cancel that party If we get tangled up in serious sin. We may wonder if we will be welcome in heaven because of the bad things we did,but no, god is merciful and if we truly repent he will restore us And our sins will be removed as far as the east is from the west,and that celebration in heaven will happen when we get there.
I want to speak a word of encouragement to anyone caught in a web of sin. Jesus says:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. [Revelation 3:20]
Jesus was speaking to THE Laodicean Church whom he called a dead church. yet though they had sinned by compromising with the world and they were proud and puffed up, Jesus offers them mercy. He is standing at the door knocking. No matter what you've done or where you've been he is standing at the door of your heart waiting for you to open the door. And if you feel that you can't break free enough even to do that, cry out to him and he will come to you and take you by the hand and he will affirm his love to you and help you get started on the journey of repentance and reconciliation. One of my favourite verses says
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
[Psalm 147:3]
We may not feel worthy to come to him, we may feel so sin-stained that we can't approach him, but the truth is we aren't worthy. god's grace is a free gift that we couldn't possibly earn even if we lived as close to perfect as we can. but the enemy wants us to feel so unworthy, so brought low that we may choose not to come to our father because we can't see how he would possibly accept us. he is waiting for us to cry to him, so we need to call out to god, tell him how unworthy we feel pour out our hearts to him and allow him to heal us. The words in the original language of that verse Psalm 147:3 imply a surgeon stitching up a wound. It may be painful but once it's done we will be fully healed and restored.
If we can it might be good to ask someone to pray for us through this process. We don't have to go into specifics unless we feel lead to, but it's good to have someone praying for us and prayer is powerful.
if you're in a situation like this, I would really encourage you to read "When godly people do ungodly things" by Beth Moore. that's where I got a lot of my ideas
for this message. I want to share a message that one of my followers tweeted today:
No matter how far you have fallen....#YOU can begin again.
God bless you all.
Questions:
[These are just for you and God to talk about privately, if you want to]
1. Why do you think that putting distance between you and god allows the enemy access to your life?
2. Why do you think that Satan works so hard to stop us being effective for god?
3. We saw that sometimes we can let our feelings of unworthiness separate us from god. Can you think of other times when we should disregard our feelings and go with what we know is true ?
Sunday 11 September 2011
9/11 some thoughts, a devotional
Hi!
i wrote this devotional this morning. I didn't take much time to edit it because I wanted to put it here today so it's probably not as well written as my other things. Anyway here it is:
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
[Isaiah 40:1]
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
[Psalm 23:4]
Your Word has given me new life.
This is my comfort in my suffering.
Psalm 119:50
When I felt the Lord telling me to write a devotional on 9/11 for our Christian radio show Power Praise, I felt unqualified to do it, since it wasn't my country that was attacked and though we can feel sympathy for those who lost their lives and for their families, it's not the same for us as it is for the people of America and especially the people of New York.
But I was reminded how I felt the night of the Christchurch Earthquake which I know has nothing to do with 9/11 but bear with me just a bit.
I remembered thinking about the tragedy and wondering where god was in all this. I know God is all-powerful, so why didn't he stop it from happening?
Then God reminded me of the little miracles. The people who shouldn't have survived but did. The people who were supposed to be at work in the buildings that were worst hit but somehow weren't where they were supposed to be. the survivors that were found when all hope was gone.
the same could be said for 9/11. What happened then was terrible and tragic but there were tiny beacons of hope that shone through. People who got out of the buildings thanks to the bravery of the firefighters and with god's help. People who were supposed to be at the twin towers Who didn't get there for whatever reason.
It's hard to find the words to say to explain why god allows things like this to occur. THERE are things happening that we won't fully understand this side of heaven. Yet there are things we do know, things that we as Christians can hold onto Though the world is going crazy around us. We need to hold onto these things because it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Let me remind you of some of these things.
1. God loves us. the bible says:
"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
2. He is with us when we suffer
and he understands how we feel.
The bible says:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
[Psalm 23:4]
and this:
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
[Matthew 28:20b]
3. Our life on earth is temporary.
The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to
the great glory that will be shown to us.
[romans 8:18]
4. The future we have in God is far more wonderful than we could imagine:
As the bible says:
but just as it is written,
“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,
AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
I hope that something I said has encouraged you today. remember that God does understand how you feel so you can tell him whatever is on your mind.
May god be with you today.
Thursday 1 September 2011
Reflecting on God's Love, a devotional
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
[1 John 3:1a ESV]
There are 2 things I love about this verse that I would like to discuss.
Firstly we are not just called God's children, that would be miracle enough, but we actually are his adopted children as the bible says:
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5]
I don't have any children of my own but there are a few young people in different parts of the world, mostly Africa, who call me Mum. I'm even a grandma. We aren't related in any biological sense but we care about each other like family. I have a Mum and Dad of my own who aren't biologically related to me, actually I have 2 mums as well as my natural mother. I separate the families in my mind by calling them my natural family and my other family.
My point is, God could just choose to call us his children but he goes one step further and actually adopts us into his own family through Jesus Christ. You know the saying you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relations? Well god picked us, the unlovely, the sinful, those who have rejected him and hurt him and disobeyed him and ignored him. he still picked us. I think if I were God and wanted to add to my family I'd pick the angels because, apart from the third of them who joined Lucifer's side, the angels are obedient to his every word and they don't sin. God didn't do that though, he chose to love us even though he knew exactly what our lives would be like and all the good and bad things we would do. the bible says:
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
[1 John 4:10
God wanted to show his love and he chose to do that by loving and saving us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. we are god's children.
the second thing I love about our verse from 1 john 3 is it talks about god's love, which we have spoken about already. God's love is not like our love, it doesn't fluctuate, it isn't less when we mess up and it doesn't increase when we do good although he is pleased when we do good. There is no force on heaven or earth that can stop God from loving us ... except if we ourselves reject God and totally turn away from him and
even then he will try to draw us back to him until the end of our lives.
this is incredibly comforting. I can't lose God's love unless I reject him. When I sin I may wonder why God puts up with me but I know he doesn't stop loving me. There was a time a few years ago when I strayed away from god and got into some stuff that I regret very much now. When I came back to god he didn't say "I'm not taking you back, my love for you has died because of your actions". no no no! He took me back, cleaned me up and put me back on the pathway to walk with him. If he did that for me he will do that for you, whatever you have done. If he could forgive and use the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of /god in Jerusalem, then he can forgive anyone who asks him. Isn't that great news! How awesome God's love for us is!
This is what the Apostle Paul says about god's love:
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.
We need to realise that even if we don't feel that God loves us, he really does. In times like this we have to choose to believe what we know is true rather than relying on our own feelings or knowledge.
A point to remember is thatGod doesn't love us sparingly but willingly, lavishly, more than we can ever imagine. He doesn't accept us into his family grudgingly but welcomes us and loves us and works in our lives because he wants us to be the best we can be and he wants us to glorify him.
It does us good to reflect on these things. today I spent a few minutes thinking about who God is and reflecting on his great and awesome love. i came away from that feeling very grateful and deeply loved. I was thinking about the verse:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16]
I only got as far as "for god so loved the world" but there will be other times to reflect on the rest of it. I'm glad I took the time to do it today, I often get too busy and caught up with things but we all need to take more time to read god's word and think about what it says and how we can apply God's word to our lives. It draws us closer to god and helps us to learn more about god, or ourselves, or whatever we have been reading or reflecting on. I hope you will take some time soon to reflect on the verse at the top of this message, or on any verse you find that talks of god's love. We really need to know and believe that god does love us and that he showed it by sending Jesus
"who loved me and gave himself for me."
Galatians 2:20c.
Prayer:
God we thank you for your amazing, unfailing, steadfast love. thank you that you did adopt us into your family through Jesus. thank you that he did give himself for us. Lord help us to reflect on your great love so that we will have a deeper understanding of it and so that we will truly believe that you do love us, despite what the enemy may tell us.
we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King. Amen.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
[1 John 3:1a ESV]
There are 2 things I love about this verse that I would like to discuss.
Firstly we are not just called God's children, that would be miracle enough, but we actually are his adopted children as the bible says:
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5]
I don't have any children of my own but there are a few young people in different parts of the world, mostly Africa, who call me Mum. I'm even a grandma. We aren't related in any biological sense but we care about each other like family. I have a Mum and Dad of my own who aren't biologically related to me, actually I have 2 mums as well as my natural mother. I separate the families in my mind by calling them my natural family and my other family.
My point is, God could just choose to call us his children but he goes one step further and actually adopts us into his own family through Jesus Christ. You know the saying you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relations? Well god picked us, the unlovely, the sinful, those who have rejected him and hurt him and disobeyed him and ignored him. he still picked us. I think if I were God and wanted to add to my family I'd pick the angels because, apart from the third of them who joined Lucifer's side, the angels are obedient to his every word and they don't sin. God didn't do that though, he chose to love us even though he knew exactly what our lives would be like and all the good and bad things we would do. the bible says:
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
[1 John 4:10
God wanted to show his love and he chose to do that by loving and saving us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. we are god's children.
the second thing I love about our verse from 1 john 3 is it talks about god's love, which we have spoken about already. God's love is not like our love, it doesn't fluctuate, it isn't less when we mess up and it doesn't increase when we do good although he is pleased when we do good. There is no force on heaven or earth that can stop God from loving us ... except if we ourselves reject God and totally turn away from him and
even then he will try to draw us back to him until the end of our lives.
this is incredibly comforting. I can't lose God's love unless I reject him. When I sin I may wonder why God puts up with me but I know he doesn't stop loving me. There was a time a few years ago when I strayed away from god and got into some stuff that I regret very much now. When I came back to god he didn't say "I'm not taking you back, my love for you has died because of your actions". no no no! He took me back, cleaned me up and put me back on the pathway to walk with him. If he did that for me he will do that for you, whatever you have done. If he could forgive and use the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of /god in Jerusalem, then he can forgive anyone who asks him. Isn't that great news! How awesome God's love for us is!
This is what the Apostle Paul says about god's love:
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.
We need to realise that even if we don't feel that God loves us, he really does. In times like this we have to choose to believe what we know is true rather than relying on our own feelings or knowledge.
A point to remember is thatGod doesn't love us sparingly but willingly, lavishly, more than we can ever imagine. He doesn't accept us into his family grudgingly but welcomes us and loves us and works in our lives because he wants us to be the best we can be and he wants us to glorify him.
It does us good to reflect on these things. today I spent a few minutes thinking about who God is and reflecting on his great and awesome love. i came away from that feeling very grateful and deeply loved. I was thinking about the verse:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16]
I only got as far as "for god so loved the world" but there will be other times to reflect on the rest of it. I'm glad I took the time to do it today, I often get too busy and caught up with things but we all need to take more time to read god's word and think about what it says and how we can apply God's word to our lives. It draws us closer to god and helps us to learn more about god, or ourselves, or whatever we have been reading or reflecting on. I hope you will take some time soon to reflect on the verse at the top of this message, or on any verse you find that talks of god's love. We really need to know and believe that god does love us and that he showed it by sending Jesus
"who loved me and gave himself for me."
Galatians 2:20c.
Prayer:
God we thank you for your amazing, unfailing, steadfast love. thank you that you did adopt us into your family through Jesus. thank you that he did give himself for us. Lord help us to reflect on your great love so that we will have a deeper understanding of it and so that we will truly believe that you do love us, despite what the enemy may tell us.
we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King. Amen.
[1 John 3:1a ESV]
There are 2 things I love about this verse that I would like to discuss.
Firstly we are not just called God's children, that would be miracle enough, but we actually are his adopted children as the bible says:
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5]
I don't have any children of my own but there are a few young people in different parts of the world, mostly Africa, who call me Mum. I'm even a grandma. We aren't related in any biological sense but we care about each other like family. I have a Mum and Dad of my own who aren't biologically related to me, actually I have 2 mums as well as my natural mother. I separate the families in my mind by calling them my natural family and my other family.
My point is, God could just choose to call us his children but he goes one step further and actually adopts us into his own family through Jesus Christ. You know the saying you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relations? Well god picked us, the unlovely, the sinful, those who have rejected him and hurt him and disobeyed him and ignored him. he still picked us. I think if I were God and wanted to add to my family I'd pick the angels because, apart from the third of them who joined Lucifer's side, the angels are obedient to his every word and they don't sin. God didn't do that though, he chose to love us even though he knew exactly what our lives would be like and all the good and bad things we would do. the bible says:
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
[1 John 4:10
God wanted to show his love and he chose to do that by loving and saving us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. we are god's children.
the second thing I love about our verse from 1 john 3 is it talks about god's love, which we have spoken about already. God's love is not like our love, it doesn't fluctuate, it isn't less when we mess up and it doesn't increase when we do good although he is pleased when we do good. There is no force on heaven or earth that can stop God from loving us ... except if we ourselves reject God and totally turn away from him and
even then he will try to draw us back to him until the end of our lives.
this is incredibly comforting. I can't lose God's love unless I reject him. When I sin I may wonder why God puts up with me but I know he doesn't stop loving me. There was a time a few years ago when I strayed away from god and got into some stuff that I regret very much now. When I came back to god he didn't say "I'm not taking you back, my love for you has died because of your actions". no no no! He took me back, cleaned me up and put me back on the pathway to walk with him. If he did that for me he will do that for you, whatever you have done. If he could forgive and use the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of /god in Jerusalem, then he can forgive anyone who asks him. Isn't that great news! How awesome God's love for us is!
This is what the Apostle Paul says about god's love:
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.
We need to realise that even if we don't feel that God loves us, he really does. In times like this we have to choose to believe what we know is true rather than relying on our own feelings or knowledge.
A point to remember is thatGod doesn't love us sparingly but willingly, lavishly, more than we can ever imagine. He doesn't accept us into his family grudgingly but welcomes us and loves us and works in our lives because he wants us to be the best we can be and he wants us to glorify him.
It does us good to reflect on these things. today I spent a few minutes thinking about who God is and reflecting on his great and awesome love. i came away from that feeling very grateful and deeply loved. I was thinking about the verse:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16]
I only got as far as "for god so loved the world" but there will be other times to reflect on the rest of it. I'm glad I took the time to do it today, I often get too busy and caught up with things but we all need to take more time to read god's word and think about what it says and how we can apply God's word to our lives. It draws us closer to god and helps us to learn more about god, or ourselves, or whatever we have been reading or reflecting on. I hope you will take some time soon to reflect on the verse at the top of this message, or on any verse you find that talks of god's love. We really need to know and believe that god does love us and that he showed it by sending Jesus
"who loved me and gave himself for me."
Galatians 2:20c.
Prayer:
God we thank you for your amazing, unfailing, steadfast love. thank you that you did adopt us into your family through Jesus. thank you that he did give himself for us. Lord help us to reflect on your great love so that we will have a deeper understanding of it and so that we will truly believe that you do love us, despite what the enemy may tell us.
we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King. Amen.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
[1 John 3:1a ESV]
There are 2 things I love about this verse that I would like to discuss.
Firstly we are not just called God's children, that would be miracle enough, but we actually are his adopted children as the bible says:
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5]
I don't have any children of my own but there are a few young people in different parts of the world, mostly Africa, who call me Mum. I'm even a grandma. We aren't related in any biological sense but we care about each other like family. I have a Mum and Dad of my own who aren't biologically related to me, actually I have 2 mums as well as my natural mother. I separate the families in my mind by calling them my natural family and my other family.
My point is, God could just choose to call us his children but he goes one step further and actually adopts us into his own family through Jesus Christ. You know the saying you can pick your friends but you can't pick your relations? Well god picked us, the unlovely, the sinful, those who have rejected him and hurt him and disobeyed him and ignored him. he still picked us. I think if I were God and wanted to add to my family I'd pick the angels because, apart from the third of them who joined Lucifer's side, the angels are obedient to his every word and they don't sin. God didn't do that though, he chose to love us even though he knew exactly what our lives would be like and all the good and bad things we would do. the bible says:
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
[1 John 4:10
God wanted to show his love and he chose to do that by loving and saving us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. we are god's children.
the second thing I love about our verse from 1 john 3 is it talks about god's love, which we have spoken about already. God's love is not like our love, it doesn't fluctuate, it isn't less when we mess up and it doesn't increase when we do good although he is pleased when we do good. There is no force on heaven or earth that can stop God from loving us ... except if we ourselves reject God and totally turn away from him and
even then he will try to draw us back to him until the end of our lives.
this is incredibly comforting. I can't lose God's love unless I reject him. When I sin I may wonder why God puts up with me but I know he doesn't stop loving me. There was a time a few years ago when I strayed away from god and got into some stuff that I regret very much now. When I came back to god he didn't say "I'm not taking you back, my love for you has died because of your actions". no no no! He took me back, cleaned me up and put me back on the pathway to walk with him. If he did that for me he will do that for you, whatever you have done. If he could forgive and use the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of /god in Jerusalem, then he can forgive anyone who asks him. Isn't that great news! How awesome God's love for us is!
This is what the Apostle Paul says about god's love:
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.
We need to realise that even if we don't feel that God loves us, he really does. In times like this we have to choose to believe what we know is true rather than relying on our own feelings or knowledge.
A point to remember is thatGod doesn't love us sparingly but willingly, lavishly, more than we can ever imagine. He doesn't accept us into his family grudgingly but welcomes us and loves us and works in our lives because he wants us to be the best we can be and he wants us to glorify him.
It does us good to reflect on these things. today I spent a few minutes thinking about who God is and reflecting on his great and awesome love. i came away from that feeling very grateful and deeply loved. I was thinking about the verse:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[John 3:16]
I only got as far as "for god so loved the world" but there will be other times to reflect on the rest of it. I'm glad I took the time to do it today, I often get too busy and caught up with things but we all need to take more time to read god's word and think about what it says and how we can apply God's word to our lives. It draws us closer to god and helps us to learn more about god, or ourselves, or whatever we have been reading or reflecting on. I hope you will take some time soon to reflect on the verse at the top of this message, or on any verse you find that talks of god's love. We really need to know and believe that god does love us and that he showed it by sending Jesus
"who loved me and gave himself for me."
Galatians 2:20c.
Prayer:
God we thank you for your amazing, unfailing, steadfast love. thank you that you did adopt us into your family through Jesus. thank you that he did give himself for us. Lord help us to reflect on your great love so that we will have a deeper understanding of it and so that we will truly believe that you do love us, despite what the enemy may tell us.
we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King. Amen.
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Prayer, study 1
Today I want to share some thoughts with you about prayer. there is so much I want to say about it that it will probably end up being more than one study.
Prayer is, very simply, talking to god. When my dad was alive and I wanted to ask him for something or even just to spend time with him I didn't drag myself into his room on my knees and grovel at his feet and say something like "O most noble father I beseech thee that in thy mercy I may make a request of thee, unworthy wretch that I am,..." I would walk into his room and say "Hey dad can I talk to you about something?" Now it is true that god is absolutely worthy of respect and we should thank him for the privilege of prayer, but because of what Jesus has done for us we have every right to come into the presence of our Heavenly Father as i had the right to come into my earthly father's room and talk to him. The bible says:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
[Hebrews 4:16]
We are god's children, the bible says;
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5 GWT]
god chose to make us his children and he wants us to come and spend time with him, just like earthly parents are happy when their children just want to spend time with them. It is true that we are sinners and we don't deserve the kindness and mercy god has lavished on us, it is true that we do so many things that god does not approve of, yet he doesn't' turn away from us. He forgives us and cleanses us and restores us to fellowship with him.
So prayer is spending time with god; sometimes talking to him, sometimes listening to him, sometimes just being silent in his presence. God wants us to pray to him, he wants to fellowship with us.
If I had a child who came to me every day and repeated the same words and phrases each and every day, i would get frustrated after a while. god wants us to pray to him from our heart, telling him the things that are on our minds. We have seen already that we can talk to God like we would talk to an earthly father, respectfully but naturally. god knows our needs before we voice them so we don't need to repeat prayers or even use the same words every day when we pray. If someone wants to pray but doesn't know what to say to god then they might benefit from saying a prayer that some other Christian has written, it might give them a place to start from and give them ideas to pray about. I have some prayers written by others that on occasion I use to guide my praying but on the whole I think it's best to pray from our hearts.
I would also encourage those who don't know how to pray or what to pray for to turn to the book of Psalms which is basically the bible's prayer book as well as being the songbook of the scriptures. there are other prayers in the bible such as the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, or Paul's prayers scattered throughout his writings. These prayers are divinely inspired as all the word of god is divinely inspired. I plan to do a study on using the Lord's prayer as a prayer guide but that's for another time.
Also I think we should try to avoid using the same words whenever we pray for something. sometimes we find words that express so well the things we feel that we put those words in our minds and the next time we pray we use the same words to pray for the same thing. Our prayers can become just something we say by rote if we do that. If we make the effort to find new ways to pray for the same things each time we pray then we are more involved in our praying.
For an example, a person might say grace every time using these words:
"Father thank you for this food, bless it to me in Jesus' name amen." After a while it becomes just a routine to say those words before eating. those words are fine but if the person made an effort and used different words such as
"Lord I'm so blessed that I have this good food to eat, thank you for giving it to me lord and thank you for the good it is going to do to me. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen."
then he or she would be more involved in their praying and it would remind them to be truly grateful to god for the blessings they have received.
There are formulas for prayer such as STAR [Sorry, thanks, adoration and requests] which might help some people in their praying but they need to be careful it doesn't become just a routine of repeated words.
When we pray we pray in the name of Jesus. What that means is that we know on our own merits we don't have the right to pray or expect god to hear us, but because of what Jesus has done for us we are able confidently to enter god's presence and we know our prayers are heard and will be answered in his way and timing. The bible says:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever
we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
[1 John 5:14-15].
Let's talk for a bit about answered prayer. Sometimes we can pray and pray about something and nothing happens. It can be discouraging but we must never give up.
When we pray, god will give us one of 3 answers: yes, no or wait.
sometimes he will say "yes" and we will receive the thing we asked for. sometimes he will say "No" and we need to accept that he has good and sufficient reasons for saying that. Other times he will tell us to wait. Waiting on God produces patience and trust in him and also produces perseverance which is important.
We don't know how to pray as we ought, sometimes all we can do is tell god what's on our hearts and ask his help. The bible says;
And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
[Romans 8:27]
so if you have a situation and you find it hard to pray about, remember that the Holy spirit is praying to God for you.
It can be nice having friends or Church Members praying for you if there is some need in your life. there is power in united prayer. The bible says
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
[Matthew 18:19-20]
I meet every week with a little group of people and we have a prayer meeting. I'm always inspired by them. They pray for anything from world governments to members of the website who are unwell or anything else.
I think something like that is a real blessing because we agree with each other's prayers and pray for each other. It might be beneficial for you to find a little group and make a time to pray together online or offline.
The bible says:
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
the Pastor at my church makes time in our prayer times during the Church service to pray for those who are ill or need surgery. He and one or two deacons will come and lay their hand on the person and the pastor will anoint them with oil, just a little cross on the forehead, and they will pray for the person. This doesn't mean that the Pastor's prayers are more effective than the sick person's prayer, god is not a respecter of persons, it's just that they are praying for the sick person in agreement with what James says in the bible passage above.
We can pray to god anywhere at any time but it's a good idea to have a special place and time set aside for prayer. I pray in my room, when I first wake up in the morning, at some point in the afternoon and just whenever throughout the day.
Prayer Problems:
1. The biggest pitfall to prayer is our lack of faith. The bible says:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[James 1:6-8]
and Jesus has this to say:
And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
[Mark 11:22-24]
And the writer of the book of Hebrews warns us:
And without faith it is impossible to please him [god], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
[Hebrews 11:6]\
2. I don't know about you but whenever I go to pray my mind comes up with a whole stack of things I need to do now and if i persist in prayer all kinds of stray thoughts cross my mind to distract me. We can get around that by asking god's help to control our straying thoughts. He will help us if we sincerely ask him.
3. sometimes when things happen we think "O, I need to pray about this." but when we get to our prayer time we have forgotten what we wanted to pray for. We need to keep a list of things and people we are praying for. I have a file on my computer and I've divided the things I'm praying for into groups like financial needs, healing, missionaries and ministries, prayer needs from my friends, prayer needs for me, etc. During my prayer time I might say "Right I"m going to pray for financial needs today" so I will go down the list and pray over each need. It really helps me to have that file and know what I need to pray for. We need to be guided by God about what things he wants us to pray about. We might be praying for one thing and God will tell us we nee to pray for something else, then we need to drop what we are doing and pray for what God has revealed to us.
I'm sure I will have more to say about prayer at a later time but I'm going to finish this for now.
Questions:
These are just questions to ponder or talk about with God.
1. Why do you think prayer is so important in the Christian life?
2. What are the problems you have in praying ?
3. Have you created a prayer list with all the things you are praying for. If yes, do you find it helpful.
4. what are the problems in prayer that you have experienced?
Prayer is, very simply, talking to god. When my dad was alive and I wanted to ask him for something or even just to spend time with him I didn't drag myself into his room on my knees and grovel at his feet and say something like "O most noble father I beseech thee that in thy mercy I may make a request of thee, unworthy wretch that I am,..." I would walk into his room and say "Hey dad can I talk to you about something?" Now it is true that god is absolutely worthy of respect and we should thank him for the privilege of prayer, but because of what Jesus has done for us we have every right to come into the presence of our Heavenly Father as i had the right to come into my earthly father's room and talk to him. The bible says:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
[Hebrews 4:16]
We are god's children, the bible says;
Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this
[Ephesians 1:5 GWT]
god chose to make us his children and he wants us to come and spend time with him, just like earthly parents are happy when their children just want to spend time with them. It is true that we are sinners and we don't deserve the kindness and mercy god has lavished on us, it is true that we do so many things that god does not approve of, yet he doesn't' turn away from us. He forgives us and cleanses us and restores us to fellowship with him.
So prayer is spending time with god; sometimes talking to him, sometimes listening to him, sometimes just being silent in his presence. God wants us to pray to him, he wants to fellowship with us.
If I had a child who came to me every day and repeated the same words and phrases each and every day, i would get frustrated after a while. god wants us to pray to him from our heart, telling him the things that are on our minds. We have seen already that we can talk to God like we would talk to an earthly father, respectfully but naturally. god knows our needs before we voice them so we don't need to repeat prayers or even use the same words every day when we pray. If someone wants to pray but doesn't know what to say to god then they might benefit from saying a prayer that some other Christian has written, it might give them a place to start from and give them ideas to pray about. I have some prayers written by others that on occasion I use to guide my praying but on the whole I think it's best to pray from our hearts.
I would also encourage those who don't know how to pray or what to pray for to turn to the book of Psalms which is basically the bible's prayer book as well as being the songbook of the scriptures. there are other prayers in the bible such as the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, or Paul's prayers scattered throughout his writings. These prayers are divinely inspired as all the word of god is divinely inspired. I plan to do a study on using the Lord's prayer as a prayer guide but that's for another time.
Also I think we should try to avoid using the same words whenever we pray for something. sometimes we find words that express so well the things we feel that we put those words in our minds and the next time we pray we use the same words to pray for the same thing. Our prayers can become just something we say by rote if we do that. If we make the effort to find new ways to pray for the same things each time we pray then we are more involved in our praying.
For an example, a person might say grace every time using these words:
"Father thank you for this food, bless it to me in Jesus' name amen." After a while it becomes just a routine to say those words before eating. those words are fine but if the person made an effort and used different words such as
"Lord I'm so blessed that I have this good food to eat, thank you for giving it to me lord and thank you for the good it is going to do to me. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen."
then he or she would be more involved in their praying and it would remind them to be truly grateful to god for the blessings they have received.
There are formulas for prayer such as STAR [Sorry, thanks, adoration and requests] which might help some people in their praying but they need to be careful it doesn't become just a routine of repeated words.
When we pray we pray in the name of Jesus. What that means is that we know on our own merits we don't have the right to pray or expect god to hear us, but because of what Jesus has done for us we are able confidently to enter god's presence and we know our prayers are heard and will be answered in his way and timing. The bible says:
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever
we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
[1 John 5:14-15].
Let's talk for a bit about answered prayer. Sometimes we can pray and pray about something and nothing happens. It can be discouraging but we must never give up.
When we pray, god will give us one of 3 answers: yes, no or wait.
sometimes he will say "yes" and we will receive the thing we asked for. sometimes he will say "No" and we need to accept that he has good and sufficient reasons for saying that. Other times he will tell us to wait. Waiting on God produces patience and trust in him and also produces perseverance which is important.
We don't know how to pray as we ought, sometimes all we can do is tell god what's on our hearts and ask his help. The bible says;
And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
[Romans 8:27]
so if you have a situation and you find it hard to pray about, remember that the Holy spirit is praying to God for you.
It can be nice having friends or Church Members praying for you if there is some need in your life. there is power in united prayer. The bible says
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
[Matthew 18:19-20]
I meet every week with a little group of people and we have a prayer meeting. I'm always inspired by them. They pray for anything from world governments to members of the website who are unwell or anything else.
I think something like that is a real blessing because we agree with each other's prayers and pray for each other. It might be beneficial for you to find a little group and make a time to pray together online or offline.
The bible says:
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
the Pastor at my church makes time in our prayer times during the Church service to pray for those who are ill or need surgery. He and one or two deacons will come and lay their hand on the person and the pastor will anoint them with oil, just a little cross on the forehead, and they will pray for the person. This doesn't mean that the Pastor's prayers are more effective than the sick person's prayer, god is not a respecter of persons, it's just that they are praying for the sick person in agreement with what James says in the bible passage above.
We can pray to god anywhere at any time but it's a good idea to have a special place and time set aside for prayer. I pray in my room, when I first wake up in the morning, at some point in the afternoon and just whenever throughout the day.
Prayer Problems:
1. The biggest pitfall to prayer is our lack of faith. The bible says:
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[James 1:6-8]
and Jesus has this to say:
And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
[Mark 11:22-24]
And the writer of the book of Hebrews warns us:
And without faith it is impossible to please him [god], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
[Hebrews 11:6]\
2. I don't know about you but whenever I go to pray my mind comes up with a whole stack of things I need to do now and if i persist in prayer all kinds of stray thoughts cross my mind to distract me. We can get around that by asking god's help to control our straying thoughts. He will help us if we sincerely ask him.
3. sometimes when things happen we think "O, I need to pray about this." but when we get to our prayer time we have forgotten what we wanted to pray for. We need to keep a list of things and people we are praying for. I have a file on my computer and I've divided the things I'm praying for into groups like financial needs, healing, missionaries and ministries, prayer needs from my friends, prayer needs for me, etc. During my prayer time I might say "Right I"m going to pray for financial needs today" so I will go down the list and pray over each need. It really helps me to have that file and know what I need to pray for. We need to be guided by God about what things he wants us to pray about. We might be praying for one thing and God will tell us we nee to pray for something else, then we need to drop what we are doing and pray for what God has revealed to us.
I'm sure I will have more to say about prayer at a later time but I'm going to finish this for now.
Questions:
These are just questions to ponder or talk about with God.
1. Why do you think prayer is so important in the Christian life?
2. What are the problems you have in praying ?
3. Have you created a prayer list with all the things you are praying for. If yes, do you find it helpful.
4. what are the problems in prayer that you have experienced?
Wednesday 3 August 2011
Rishie's Ramblings 28 July-4 August
Thursday, July 28, 2011 11:27:40 PM
Today would have been my Father's 63rd birthday. He died when he was 57. It still hurts though the pain is dulled by time. Grief like that never goes away completely I guess, it just gets dulled by time. I'm a little sad but I know he's in heaven and I know he's happy.
11:29:35 PM
[ my reply to a prompt sent to one of my Christian journalling groups]
Are some of your friends so precious that you hold them to be as dear to you as family?
O definitely. I call them my online family. I won't list them all but there are several of them. I have some online sons, 2 online Mums, a few online sisters and quite a few online brothers as well as 1 online dad. I'm blessed.
11:57:46 PM
this quote was sent to one of my Christian journalling groups, here is the quote and my thoughts about it:
"Where your feet take you, that is who you are." Frederich Buechner
I like this quote it made me think about where I want my feet to take me, what I want to be and do with my life that god has given me.
My feet take me to my keyboard a few times a day to sing and praise God. I am passionate about singing, I would sing all day long if I didn't have other things to do. I have always loved to sing and I used to dream of being an opera singer. I would love to use the voice god gave me for some purpose. O Lord, show me what you want me to do and give me the strength and the willingness to do it. Amen.
Monday, August 01, 2011 9:12:52
A new month, what does it hold? sometimes I think it would be nice to look ahead an know what was coming and at other times I'm glad I don't know. At least I know that god knows exactly what is going to happen to me this month, he knew all about my life from before the world was created. I can trust him in good times and bad times because he sees the bigger picture. The bible says:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[Isaiah 55:9]
so i know he knows everything and how each situation will turn out. I find that thought very comforting. I hope this month will be a good one for all of us but if it isn't at least I know god has his hand on everything that happens and his way is always best.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011 03:07:46 PM
Fear.
It claws at my gut and makes my heart race.
A hundred "What if" scenarios fill my mind,
my peace goes out the window.
"God, are you out there?"
but the noise in my mind makes it hard to hear him.
the world says "don't worry be happy".
what planet are you from?
Do you think its as easy as that?
the bible says "Fear not"
but Lord that is so hard!
Maybe if I did this or that
then maybe you would help me?
If I promised not to do ...
or if I promise I'll do ...
won't you help me then ?
The choice is ours.
will we worry and stress and fret?
or will we trust and have faith in god?
worrying, what good does it do us? What help does it give us? it only puts our blood pressure up and keeps us awake at night. Jesus has this to say about worry:
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
[Matthew 6:27]
I was confronted by this today when I got a call that my doctor wants to see me. I had a blood test last week and I guess he wants to discuss it with me. fear immediately seized me and hit me with a heap of reasons why the Doctor wants to see me, none of them good. I had to make the choice, do I give into fear or do I trust God? It's not easy, it's a moment by moment choice. Fear doesn't give up easily, it keeps coming back and trying to take control, so we must keep choosing to trust god and ask his help to deal with our fears. Meditating on scriptures like this will help:
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
[Isaiah 41:10]
god tells us several times in scripture to "fear not" so I guess he wants us to take it seriously.
God, give me strength to resist fear when it comes knocking. Help me to trust that you do know what you are doing and you know exactly what is going on with me. I give you praise because you said in your word:
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."
[Hebrews 13:5]
Help me to cling to promises like that when I am tempted to give into fear. Amen.
Thursday, August 04, 2011 1:33:03 AM
Well it's time again to upload this to my blog. It has certainly been an interesting week. i heard a Christian comedian describe the Christian life as interesting. I think I can agree with that. God doesn't want us to get caught in a rut of routine, he wants our life to be interesting, as we grow in maturity and know more about God and do what he says. It requires faith to live like that but god has given us the measure of faith.
well I will leave you with that thought and go and upload this. God bless you for reading.
Today would have been my Father's 63rd birthday. He died when he was 57. It still hurts though the pain is dulled by time. Grief like that never goes away completely I guess, it just gets dulled by time. I'm a little sad but I know he's in heaven and I know he's happy.
11:29:35 PM
[ my reply to a prompt sent to one of my Christian journalling groups]
Are some of your friends so precious that you hold them to be as dear to you as family?
O definitely. I call them my online family. I won't list them all but there are several of them. I have some online sons, 2 online Mums, a few online sisters and quite a few online brothers as well as 1 online dad. I'm blessed.
11:57:46 PM
this quote was sent to one of my Christian journalling groups, here is the quote and my thoughts about it:
"Where your feet take you, that is who you are." Frederich Buechner
I like this quote it made me think about where I want my feet to take me, what I want to be and do with my life that god has given me.
My feet take me to my keyboard a few times a day to sing and praise God. I am passionate about singing, I would sing all day long if I didn't have other things to do. I have always loved to sing and I used to dream of being an opera singer. I would love to use the voice god gave me for some purpose. O Lord, show me what you want me to do and give me the strength and the willingness to do it. Amen.
Monday, August 01, 2011 9:12:52
A new month, what does it hold? sometimes I think it would be nice to look ahead an know what was coming and at other times I'm glad I don't know. At least I know that god knows exactly what is going to happen to me this month, he knew all about my life from before the world was created. I can trust him in good times and bad times because he sees the bigger picture. The bible says:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[Isaiah 55:9]
so i know he knows everything and how each situation will turn out. I find that thought very comforting. I hope this month will be a good one for all of us but if it isn't at least I know god has his hand on everything that happens and his way is always best.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011 03:07:46 PM
Fear.
It claws at my gut and makes my heart race.
A hundred "What if" scenarios fill my mind,
my peace goes out the window.
"God, are you out there?"
but the noise in my mind makes it hard to hear him.
the world says "don't worry be happy".
what planet are you from?
Do you think its as easy as that?
the bible says "Fear not"
but Lord that is so hard!
Maybe if I did this or that
then maybe you would help me?
If I promised not to do ...
or if I promise I'll do ...
won't you help me then ?
The choice is ours.
will we worry and stress and fret?
or will we trust and have faith in god?
worrying, what good does it do us? What help does it give us? it only puts our blood pressure up and keeps us awake at night. Jesus has this to say about worry:
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
[Matthew 6:27]
I was confronted by this today when I got a call that my doctor wants to see me. I had a blood test last week and I guess he wants to discuss it with me. fear immediately seized me and hit me with a heap of reasons why the Doctor wants to see me, none of them good. I had to make the choice, do I give into fear or do I trust God? It's not easy, it's a moment by moment choice. Fear doesn't give up easily, it keeps coming back and trying to take control, so we must keep choosing to trust god and ask his help to deal with our fears. Meditating on scriptures like this will help:
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
[Isaiah 41:10]
god tells us several times in scripture to "fear not" so I guess he wants us to take it seriously.
God, give me strength to resist fear when it comes knocking. Help me to trust that you do know what you are doing and you know exactly what is going on with me. I give you praise because you said in your word:
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."
[Hebrews 13:5]
Help me to cling to promises like that when I am tempted to give into fear. Amen.
Thursday, August 04, 2011 1:33:03 AM
Well it's time again to upload this to my blog. It has certainly been an interesting week. i heard a Christian comedian describe the Christian life as interesting. I think I can agree with that. God doesn't want us to get caught in a rut of routine, he wants our life to be interesting, as we grow in maturity and know more about God and do what he says. It requires faith to live like that but god has given us the measure of faith.
well I will leave you with that thought and go and upload this. God bless you for reading.
Monday 1 August 2011
dressed for success
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
[col 3:12-14]
We recently did a study on the armour of god and this seems to be the logical next step to that. Remember we saw in that study that the bible sometimes uses imagery to explain spiritual truths. We don't go around clad in physical armour and we don't go around dressed in compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience either, I don't know what sort of clothes they would be, do you? But we are to let these characteristics define who we are, they are to become part of us, like our favourite piece of clothing, our favourite dress or skirt or shirt or pair of trousers, that we wear as often as we can get away with, until someone throws it out. The difference is, the more we put on these characteristics the better fitting and more comfortable an nicer they are.
So let's take a look at these characteristics and see how we can put them on:
Compassionate hearts::
We are all part of one family. if our brother or sister is going through hard times shouldn't we sympathise with them? Shouldn't we pray for them and try to help? Jesus wants us to love each other in this way. the bible says:
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
[1 Corinthians 12:25-26]
Just as if we have a pain in our physical bodies, like a headache or back pain, the whole body suffers because of it, so we should suffer with those who are suffering and do what we can to encourage them and support them. We can't sympathise and suffer with others if we are selfish and self-absorbed, we need to ask god to help us develop compassionate hearts.
When Jesus was on earth he showed compassion, there are so many instances of it but we are just going to look at one example.
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue.
And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all
her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!" But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me." And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."
[Luke 8:40-48]
there is a lot I could say about this passage but I'll keep it brief. Jesus was on his way to heal a man's dying daughter and yet when this woman touched his garment he took the time to hear why she had touched him although he already knew.
. I used to wonder why he prodded her to tell her story of why she touched him but now i have a couple of ideas. Imagine if she had slipped away straight after the miracle and went home, she would have been happy for a while but after some time she may have felt guilty for touching him. She was unclean because of her illness and she deliberately touched this man whom the people considered a prophet, which most people would have condemned her for doing. The enemy would not have been able to let a bad guilt trip pass by, so she would have been deeply troubled. Jesus wanted to spare her that and let her know that what she did was ok. He even commended her because of her faith. He called her "daughter" the only person he said that to. his gentleness and compassion towards her makes me want to cry.
Isn't' there someone we can show compassion to today? Maybe being kind to someone who hurt us in the past? Maybe you know someone who recently lost a loved one, or someone who's going through a really hard time. We don't always have to do or say a lot, Just knowing that someone is with them praying for them and supporting them can be very comforting. When my father had a stroke a few years ago and there was not much hope of him living I was, as you can imagine, very upset and I had to try and pack some things to take away with me. My best friend came into my room and just sat with me, letting me talk and helping to keep me calm. She didn't say a lot but she was there and I really appreciated it. I hope I can help someone who is in need like she helped me that day. We should ask the Lord if there is someone to whom we can show compassion today. . There are so many lonely and hurting people out there in this world that need a hug or someone to talk to or some other help that we can give. We may never know how much a little compassion and kindness will do to help someone.
Kindness:
Kindness is an inner mercy and love for others put into action. We show kindness when we do something to help someone who is in need. here's an example of it: For the last few weeks the people I lived with were away from home. Every week during their absence the Pastor of my church came every Sunday evening to pick me up so I could attend evening service. He is a busy man yet he took the time to come and get me each week except for the week i was away. he called me up during the week to ask if everything was ok.
When we are kind we show the love of Jesus to people. god had mercy on us and because he wanted to save and help us he sent Jesus to this earth who died for us on the cross, which is the ultimate act of kindness! ! Jesus didn't just do nice things for people, he sincerely cared about them as well. The to aspects, caring for them and helping them, are the components of true kindness.
Humility:
Humility involves considering others as more important than ourselves and putting the needs of others above our own needs. those who are humble do their good works quietly and discreetly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves but wanting to glorify god.
Again Jesus is our example of humility and the best-known bible passage about this is Philippians 2:5-9.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name,
Jesus could have stayed up there in heaven but he chose to humble himself and come to earth as a baby, as a human being. He humbled himself so that he could save us, that is how great his love for us is!
We need to ask god to help us grow in humility. He is willing to help us.
Meekness:
Meekness is similar to humility. It is a quiet submission to the will of God. The meek person realise's that on their own they can do no good thing and they rely on God to help them do all that god wants them to do. They can see their friends being promoted or being praised without jealousy or envy. For an example of this, think of the story of David and Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of King Saul and he had every expectation of being the next king of Israel but he knew that God had taken the kingdom from his father's house and given it to David. The bible says this:
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this." And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
[1 Samuel 23:16-18]
Jonathan loved god and knew it was God's will for David to be the next king. He deliberately came into the desert where David was and encouraged him. We should be able to do that to our friends, even if they get a promotion or they get praise or compliments we feel should be ours. Once we have found our own place in god and we know how much he loves us we will be able to support and encourage our friends instead of being jealous of them.
Meekness and humility walk hand in hand. A proud person can't be meek.
patience:
I've heard a patient person described as "one who has a very long fuse". We all know people who have a short fuse, they blow up at the slightest provocation. People like that are uncomfortable to be around because you never know when your head is going to be snapped off.
Patient people are able to bear with insults and unkindness without lashing out at the one hurting them. I have to admit that I'm not as patient as I'd like to be. If we have a short fuse we need to ask god's help to deal with that.
Patience is also one of the fruit of the spirit and God is willing to give it to us but we need to stay connected to the vine, that is, we need to stay connected with Jesus.
Forgiveness:
none of the other characteristics we are considering can be worn with an unforgiving heart, it's like throwing a dirty t-shirt on over a party dress, not a good look. Jesus gave us a parable about forgiveness that we are going to look at briefly here:\
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and
said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant,
as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."
[Matthew 18:23-35]
think of the master as god and the fellow servants as fellow Christians. if God has forgiven us a debt that we can never hope to repay then shouldn't we forgive those who hurt us? If we do not forgive we will not be forgiven. It's a very sobering thought but one to keep in mind.
Love:
The type of love we are looking at here is brotherly love. If we have all these other traits and don't have love for each other we have failed. The bible says:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
[1 Corinthians 13:1-3]
The book of 1 john tells us to love one another in a few places, here is one of those:
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
[1 John 4:19-20
the other traits we looked at spring from love. If we love we are compassionate, kind, gentle and patient and our love and gratitude to god keeps us humble. Love also gives these things meaning.
I hope that our study has been helpful to you. God bless you and thanks for reading.
Questions:
[these questions are just between you and god, they may help you reflect more on the subject we have discussed.]
1. why did Paul describe these characteristics as things that we put on?
2. a. Do you have any unforgiveness in your life? Search your heart carefully before answering.
B. How should we deal with unforgiveness in our lives?
C. Why is God angry with unforgiveness?
3. A. Are there any of these characteristics you are having problems putting on?
B. Are there any of them you are having some success with?
4. A. Why do you think it is impossible to put on these characteristics with an unforgiving heart?
B. why do you think that love is so necessary if we want to develop the other characteristics?
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
[col 3:12-14]
We recently did a study on the armour of god and this seems to be the logical next step to that. Remember we saw in that study that the bible sometimes uses imagery to explain spiritual truths. We don't go around clad in physical armour and we don't go around dressed in compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience either, I don't know what sort of clothes they would be, do you? But we are to let these characteristics define who we are, they are to become part of us, like our favourite piece of clothing, our favourite dress or skirt or shirt or pair of trousers, that we wear as often as we can get away with, until someone throws it out. The difference is, the more we put on these characteristics the better fitting and more comfortable an nicer they are.
So let's take a look at these characteristics and see how we can put them on:
Compassionate hearts::
We are all part of one family. if our brother or sister is going through hard times shouldn't we sympathise with them? Shouldn't we pray for them and try to help? Jesus wants us to love each other in this way. the bible says:
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
[1 Corinthians 12:25-26]
Just as if we have a pain in our physical bodies, like a headache or back pain, the whole body suffers because of it, so we should suffer with those who are suffering and do what we can to encourage them and support them. We can't sympathise and suffer with others if we are selfish and self-absorbed, we need to ask god to help us develop compassionate hearts.
When Jesus was on earth he showed compassion, there are so many instances of it but we are just going to look at one example.
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue.
And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all
her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!" But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me." And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."
[Luke 8:40-48]
there is a lot I could say about this passage but I'll keep it brief. Jesus was on his way to heal a man's dying daughter and yet when this woman touched his garment he took the time to hear why she had touched him although he already knew.
. I used to wonder why he prodded her to tell her story of why she touched him but now i have a couple of ideas. Imagine if she had slipped away straight after the miracle and went home, she would have been happy for a while but after some time she may have felt guilty for touching him. She was unclean because of her illness and she deliberately touched this man whom the people considered a prophet, which most people would have condemned her for doing. The enemy would not have been able to let a bad guilt trip pass by, so she would have been deeply troubled. Jesus wanted to spare her that and let her know that what she did was ok. He even commended her because of her faith. He called her "daughter" the only person he said that to. his gentleness and compassion towards her makes me want to cry.
Isn't' there someone we can show compassion to today? Maybe being kind to someone who hurt us in the past? Maybe you know someone who recently lost a loved one, or someone who's going through a really hard time. We don't always have to do or say a lot, Just knowing that someone is with them praying for them and supporting them can be very comforting. When my father had a stroke a few years ago and there was not much hope of him living I was, as you can imagine, very upset and I had to try and pack some things to take away with me. My best friend came into my room and just sat with me, letting me talk and helping to keep me calm. She didn't say a lot but she was there and I really appreciated it. I hope I can help someone who is in need like she helped me that day. We should ask the Lord if there is someone to whom we can show compassion today. . There are so many lonely and hurting people out there in this world that need a hug or someone to talk to or some other help that we can give. We may never know how much a little compassion and kindness will do to help someone.
Kindness:
Kindness is an inner mercy and love for others put into action. We show kindness when we do something to help someone who is in need. here's an example of it: For the last few weeks the people I lived with were away from home. Every week during their absence the Pastor of my church came every Sunday evening to pick me up so I could attend evening service. He is a busy man yet he took the time to come and get me each week except for the week i was away. he called me up during the week to ask if everything was ok.
When we are kind we show the love of Jesus to people. god had mercy on us and because he wanted to save and help us he sent Jesus to this earth who died for us on the cross, which is the ultimate act of kindness! ! Jesus didn't just do nice things for people, he sincerely cared about them as well. The to aspects, caring for them and helping them, are the components of true kindness.
Humility:
Humility involves considering others as more important than ourselves and putting the needs of others above our own needs. those who are humble do their good works quietly and discreetly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves but wanting to glorify god.
Again Jesus is our example of humility and the best-known bible passage about this is Philippians 2:5-9.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name,
Jesus could have stayed up there in heaven but he chose to humble himself and come to earth as a baby, as a human being. He humbled himself so that he could save us, that is how great his love for us is!
We need to ask god to help us grow in humility. He is willing to help us.
Meekness:
Meekness is similar to humility. It is a quiet submission to the will of God. The meek person realise's that on their own they can do no good thing and they rely on God to help them do all that god wants them to do. They can see their friends being promoted or being praised without jealousy or envy. For an example of this, think of the story of David and Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of King Saul and he had every expectation of being the next king of Israel but he knew that God had taken the kingdom from his father's house and given it to David. The bible says this:
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this." And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
[1 Samuel 23:16-18]
Jonathan loved god and knew it was God's will for David to be the next king. He deliberately came into the desert where David was and encouraged him. We should be able to do that to our friends, even if they get a promotion or they get praise or compliments we feel should be ours. Once we have found our own place in god and we know how much he loves us we will be able to support and encourage our friends instead of being jealous of them.
Meekness and humility walk hand in hand. A proud person can't be meek.
patience:
I've heard a patient person described as "one who has a very long fuse". We all know people who have a short fuse, they blow up at the slightest provocation. People like that are uncomfortable to be around because you never know when your head is going to be snapped off.
Patient people are able to bear with insults and unkindness without lashing out at the one hurting them. I have to admit that I'm not as patient as I'd like to be. If we have a short fuse we need to ask god's help to deal with that.
Patience is also one of the fruit of the spirit and God is willing to give it to us but we need to stay connected to the vine, that is, we need to stay connected with Jesus.
Forgiveness:
none of the other characteristics we are considering can be worn with an unforgiving heart, it's like throwing a dirty t-shirt on over a party dress, not a good look. Jesus gave us a parable about forgiveness that we are going to look at briefly here:\
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and
said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant,
as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."
[Matthew 18:23-35]
think of the master as god and the fellow servants as fellow Christians. if God has forgiven us a debt that we can never hope to repay then shouldn't we forgive those who hurt us? If we do not forgive we will not be forgiven. It's a very sobering thought but one to keep in mind.
Love:
The type of love we are looking at here is brotherly love. If we have all these other traits and don't have love for each other we have failed. The bible says:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
[1 Corinthians 13:1-3]
The book of 1 john tells us to love one another in a few places, here is one of those:
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
[1 John 4:19-20
the other traits we looked at spring from love. If we love we are compassionate, kind, gentle and patient and our love and gratitude to god keeps us humble. Love also gives these things meaning.
I hope that our study has been helpful to you. God bless you and thanks for reading.
Questions:
[these questions are just between you and god, they may help you reflect more on the subject we have discussed.]
1. why did Paul describe these characteristics as things that we put on?
2. a. Do you have any unforgiveness in your life? Search your heart carefully before answering.
B. How should we deal with unforgiveness in our lives?
C. Why is God angry with unforgiveness?
3. A. Are there any of these characteristics you are having problems putting on?
B. Are there any of them you are having some success with?
4. A. Why do you think it is impossible to put on these characteristics with an unforgiving heart?
B. why do you think that love is so necessary if we want to develop the other characteristics?
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