WHEN GOD BRINGS LOVE INTO YOUR LIFE

WHEN GOD BRINGS LOVE INTO YOUR LIFE:

I could write, if not a book at least a long short story, about my relationship disasters - times when I rushed into love because I was lonely or a man seemed to be what I was looking for. I didn't ask God, I just went for it. The longest relationship I ever had lasted for 2.5 years, although I was in love with one man for almost 4 years without him knowing a thing about it. 

Just last Year I told god that  I was feeling lonely and I prayed that I would find a man who loved god and would love and accept me as I am. God said that it would come in time, but first he needed to heal my heart from some of the things that happened in the past. I went through a few difficult weeks dealing with some things, I cried a lot, prayed a lot, wrote a lot and god began to heal me.

Around Christmas time god brought a new friend my way. A kind, caring Christian man who lives in a country called the Solomon Islands, which isn't too far from Australia, I'm not exactly sure where it is though, I'm hopeless at geography. Well I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story but just in case you can't, I'll spell it out.

From the first I trusted him. I would write letters that were pages long, sharing my thoughts and talking about my day. when I began to suspect that I was beginning to care for him I said to God, "Lord, I do want to feel love again but I don't' want to get hurt again. Please don't let this go anywhere if it's not from you." 

I knew that martin was in love with me. he told me he was, but that if I only wanted to be friends he would accept that.

Then one night in February I had just gotten into bed when I felt a real urge to pray for him.  I tried to ignore it but it was so strong that I got up and started pacing the floor and praying. That was when I faced up to the fact that I was in love with this man. I didn't tell him how I felt though, not for a few more weeks. I prayed and fasted and pleaded with God to show me if this was his will for me or not. I was so determined I wouldn't take another step until I was sure. 

Then one night I heard god's still small voice. I can't remember the exact words but he said something like this "this is the man i have given to you. This is from me. don't be afraid."

the next time I talked to Martin I told him that I loved him. I've been happy ever since. I tell him that he is my gift from God, an unexpected blessing in my life. I thank God almost daily for bringing me this happiness when I had begun to doubt if I would ever experience true love.

The bible tells us:
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
[Song of Songs 8:4]

This is very good advice. Another scripture that I've taken to heart is this:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
[Psalm 127:1]

in other words, if God's not in it it isn't going to work.

Being single can be hard, I know it can. We need to remember that whatever god allows to happen in our lives is part of his plan for us, and the scripture says:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
[romans 8:28]

I hope I have given you something to think about. God bless you all!

SEVEN THINGS I AM THANKING GOD FOR TODAY

Hi readers:

It's after midnight and I'm in the mood for writing. O well I guess when the inspiration to write hits, I might as well make use of it.

SEVEN THINGS I AM THANKING GOD FOR TODAY:
1. Holidays.  It's just nice to get away sometimes. My friends and I are staying in a place called Moree for a week, we just got here today. I was feeling exhausted, this weekend has been very busy and sleep has been elusive. I've only been here a few hours and I had a bit of a sleep and I feel good. I praise god for that.
2. Best friends. Where would we be without them? My 2 best friends in the world have stuck with me through thick and thin and I am so grateful to God for them.
3. Laughter. Little things that make me laugh can brighten up my day. the bible says that a joyful heart is good medicine and that's true.
4. animals. we have Maria's guidedog Karly with us. She's a great dog, very affectionate and playful. I don't have a dog of my own at the moment but Maria calls me Karly's auntie. lol.

5. Sleep. It can be such a blessing. we take it for granted until we have a few days when we don't sleep well, then we realise how much we need it! I thank god for sleep.
6. god's peace. The bible says:
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[Philippians 4:7]
What a blessing this is! to have God's peace in our hearts when we live in such a crazy, troubled world.
7. God's mercy, which is  new every morning. the bible says:
The steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
[Lamentations 3:22-23]
Each day can be a fresh start with God. No matter how badly I messed up yesterday, today is brand new and God's mercies are new each morning. I find that a very comforting thought.

And now my challenge to you:
can you find 7 things to thank God for? I'm sure you can if you try. Let's take a moment to thank god today for some of the many many blessings he has given us.

Prayer:

Lord I am so thankful for the many blessings you have brought to my life but most of all I am thankful for Jesus who died for me on the cross. Please teach us all to be grateful, to be people who count our blessings.

Lord I pray you will bless each of the readers of my posts, I pray you will meet their needs and that they will feel your presence today. we give you praise in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Where Do Our Frustrations Leave us?

Here is something that I wrote last week and forgot to share until now.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[Philippians 4:6-7]
WHERE DO OUR FRUSTRATIONS LEAVE US?

well there I was, doing a radio show on
www.powerradio104.us
thinking things were going ok., then, uh o!  My computer started going weird. All i wanted to do was get back to the broadcaster window so I  could at least talk and make sure I had a few songs still queued up, but do you think I could get it to work? I did have  a few songs lined up because they kept playing all the time I was arguing with my computer, trying to get it to behave.. At last, however, the final song stopped and I had dead air. the only thing i could do was restart the computer. grrrrrrr! I told the wretched thing how much I hated it and wanted to throw it in the nearest lake. Even when I restarted the computer it took a couple of attempts before i could take back the station and finish the show. grrrrrr!

which leaves me with a question. Where do my frustrations leave me? I think God brings frustrations into our lives for a reason. I was listening to a message on prayer this morning and one of the things the speaker said was that God puts on our platter everything that will happen to us this day, nothing that does happen to us is outside his control. that seems to me to be a good thing to remember when things go wrong. god knows what he's doing.
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW FRUSTRATIONS?

So, if god has control of everything and he has a perfect plan for my day, why did he allow my computer to go haywire this  morning? Maybe, as simple as it seems, because he wanted me to think about frustration and write this post? We don't know all the reasons why god allows things to happen to us, though if we look back we can sometimes see how god was working through some circumstances or issues in our lives. We just have to accept, as hard as it is, that we don't know all the answers, but God does and he has a purpose for everything we go through or experience. Sometimes the reason is for our benefit, sometimes for the benefit of others. I remember one time I asked my best friend why god allowed me to go through a difficult time I had come out of. Her answer, which I believe came from God, stays with me to this day. She said that perhaps god allowed me to go through it so that I could help others who have been through similar  experiences.

so what does all this have to do with frustration?

When things go wrong our immediate response is quite often "God, why did you allow that to happen?"  or "Why me Lord?" a better response would be "What are you trying to teach me in this?" but I admit that's not the way we usually thinkand of course, that's not the way I reacted today. We have to learn, though it is hard, that God ordains our troubles and trials for his own purposes and he only lets us go through things when he knows there is a need, because this will teach us something important, cause us to depend more fully on himself, or any number of other reasons.

TRUSTING NOT REACTING

God will teach us, no matter if he needs to pound it into our brains, that his way is best. The more we trust him and believe that he has good plans for us, the more we will learn to put situations into perspective. What good did my anger at the computer do me? None at all. How could I have handled it better? by bringing it to God, telling him all about it, then asking him if there is something he is trying to teach or show me.

As the Bible says:
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

[Philippians 4:6-7 MSG]

I don't say that this sort of response is easy but we will learn to think this way in time. Jesus didn't let the little things frazzle him because he trusted the Father completely and knew that god has a reason for all he does.

FINAL THOUGHT

if our troubles trials and challenges, no matter how big or small they may be, are drawing us away from God and causing us to doubt, then we know we need to get into some serious prayer about it. If, on the other hand, they are drawing us nearer to god, then that just might be the reason why he is allowing them to happen.

Prayer:

Father, sometimes things happen that leave us angry, frustrated, annoyed, stressed or depressed. help us to take a step back and remind ourselves that you have a purpose for everything that happens to us and that this situation is in your control. Help us to accept it when we don't receive an answer about why this is happening to us. thank you that in your love you allow us to face hard things so that we can grow and become more dependent on you. teach me, teach us all, to trust you more and learn from the trials we face. amen.

Poem: One Prayer

 

This is something I just wrote, something I just experienced. I want to share it with you in the hope it might help someone, and also to testify of god’s goodness and faithfulness. If it wasn’t 4:41 am at the moment I think I would be singing right now, I feel so grateful and joyous.

 

I hope you like the poem. god bless you.

 

ONE PRAYER:

 

The darkness was thick around me,
No ray of light to be found.
Deeper I sank into misery,
Despair and shame did abound.

Feeling battered and bloody from battles i faced,
Feeling helpless and hopeless and weak,
I cried out to god with all of my heart ,
"One thing alone do I seek.

"I'm tired of fighting myself and you,
I long for the trouble to cease.
But one thing dear Lord that I desperately need,
Let me again feel your peace."

a soft gentle glow seemed to brighten the darkness;
A loving hand lifted me up
Washed me anew from the sin and the shame
and wrapped me in a blanket of love.

Peace gently fell on my aching heart
As sweet as the morning dew;
I felt free for the first time in a very long time,
And all I could say was "thank you!"

One single cry from the depths of my darkness
Then came my saviour and friend
An  ever-present help in difficult times,
To heal and restore me again.

What gratitude now fills my heart!
O Jesus my words can't express,
When I needed you, you came quickly to me.
When I called, your answer was yes!

why is it we don't think to pray?
We just flounder around on our own;
But god is so willing to help us
So we don't need to struggle alone.

If we ask in the name of Jesus
And believe that our prayer will be heard,
God is faithful, loving and kind,
he will do all he said in his word.

so don't give up believing
that god will answer your prayer,
He may not always act in a moment,
But at the right time his help will be there.

God’s wonderful grace

GOD'S WONDERFUL GRACE

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me

Amazing what?

what is grace anyway?
The bible says:

We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding.
[ephesians 1:7-8]

How much would it cost to save a single soul from going to hell?

All of us have failed to meet God's standard of absolute perfection. No matter how good we might be, we can never measure up to that! We all do things we shouldn't do and don't do things we should.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
[romans 3:23]

Our sins deserve to be punished.

We have broken God's law. Do you think there is anything we could give to god or do for him to pay the price for our sins and save us from going to hell?

Actually, if every person who ever lived gave all that they had and dedicated themselves to serving god all their lives long, they would come far short of being able to ransom even one soul from hell. Our situation was totally hopeless!

Jesus is our saviour.
Jesus came to this earth. He was  fully god and fully man and he gave his life for us when he died on the cross.

  For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[romans 6:24]

he took our place and took the punishment we deserve for our sins. He was raised from death on the third day
and in him we are made  new. We are part of his family now and he has given us a fresh start.

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 2:20b]

This is grace.

It is God's undeserved gift of forgiveness for our sins and new life, all because Jesus died for us.
No wonder why we sing
amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
was blind but now I see.

devotional: praying for our unsaved family and friends:

DEVOTIONAL

Marianne sat down in Pastor Johns  office and sighed.

"What's troubling you?"  he asked her.

"Well, I'm feeling a bit discouraged"  she admitted, "For years now I've been praying   for my family to become Christians and nothing has changed. Jack still gets drunk every weekend and Mum is talking about going to visit a Clairvoyant. are my prayers doing any good at all? Are they even getting through? Mum changes the subject whenever i talk about church and Jack just tells me to shut up talking about that god stuff. I wish I knew what to do!"

"It's hard not to be discouraged sometimes,"  he replied sympathetically, "Especially when you want something so much and nothing seems to be happening, I know I've felt that way too, that's when we have to trust that god knows what he's doing and keep on praying even though we don't feel like it. You know the story of Abraham and Isaac, how god gave him a son when he was 100 years old and Sarah was 90?  If he had given up praying for a son when he was 98 do you think Abraham would have gotten his miracle?"

"Probably not,"  she admitted thoughtfully.

"Anyway Marianne, it doesn't matter how far someone may be from accepting the truth, God can take the hardest of hearts and turn them around, look at what he did with the Apostle Paul. you remember we studied his story in the book of Acts? Before he became a Christian he actually persecuted the church. He believed that Christians were telling lies about god and so he tried to stop them but Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus road and stopped him in his tracks."

"So I guess if God could get through to someone like that, he can get through to my family, right?"

"Yes. Nothing is too hard for God, so just hold onto that. Keep Praying for wisdom about how and when to witness to them, look for opportunities to do good things for them   and most of all,keep praying for them. God will reach them at just the right time."

"I will,"  she said, feeling encouraged and much more hopeful, "Thank you."

All of us want to see our family and friends coming to know Christ. the most important thing we can do for them is pray for them and not give up even when we don't see results. We also need to ask God to show us what he wants us to do or say to them. We can show them the love of Christ by our actions, by doing things to help them, just like Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.   sometimes  God might tell us to say something, share a bible verse or talk about something we learned at church, while at other times the best thing we can do is drop the subject for a  while and pray that god will send someone else to speak to them, such as  a co-worker or friend whom they respect and would listen to.   

God wants our loved ones to be saved even more than we do, so we can trust them to him. the bible says:
The Lord isn't slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their
hearts and lives.
[2 Peter 3:9]

Prayer:
Dear god, we all have friends and family that we love and care about and we long to see them get saved and walk with you. We ask you will give us wisdom and show us what we can do, and help us to keep praying when we feel discouraged and remember that you love them much more than we could ever do. We commit them into your hands Lord, please do your will  in their lives. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

HOPE message about hope:

  Romans 5:3-5
This doesn't mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys-we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. Taken in the
right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady
hope, a hope that will never disappoint us. Already we have some experience of the love of God flooding through our hearts by [the Holy Spirit given to us.

I want to talk about hope today. Before we go any further, though, I thought it would be good to have a definition:
This is a definition I found on wikipedia:
"to cherish a desire with anticipation"; "to desire with expectation of obtainment"; or "to expect with confidence".

as Christians, our hope is not vague but it is certain. We hope to be with Jesus forever. that will happen. We  hope to escape the second death, if we hold onto our faith, that will happen. We hope to see our saved loved ones who have gone on before us. that will happen.

Why do we need hope?

Imagine you are going on a long journey. sometimes the road is bumpy, you have mountains to climb, rivers to ford,  valleys to get through. sometimes the difficulties of the journey make you forget why you started out in the first place. But, if you have in your mind where you are going and why you want to get there, you will keep plodding on because you know the result is going to justify all the struggles and effort you went through on the journey.

that's why God gave us hope. He knew life would be difficult, there would be persecutions and trials and the usual suffering that happens because we live in a fallen world of fallen people. He wanted us to keep our mind set on the goal, what we are aiming for, eternal life with God, so that we will keep on battling through until this life is over and we are in the presence of god.
This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.
[1 Thessalonians 1:3

the bible warns us not to lose our hope.
if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[
[Colossians 1:23]

To  see hope in action, we will have a brief look at some incidents from the life of Abraham. He is acknowledged as a man of great faith, which he was, but he was also a man of great hope, as the bible says:
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead ( since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

[Romans 4:18-20].
god also promised to give Abraham's descendants the land of Canaan, where Abraham lived as a semi-nomadic shepherd.

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram [Abraham] in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look towards heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
[Genesis 15:1-8 ESV]

So,  one of the things Abraham was hoping and praying for [that is, the birth of a son] happened in his lifetime. In fact, Abraham had several sons, Ishmael by Hagar, Isaac by Sarah and Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah by Keturah. The other promise, that he and his descendants would have the land of Canaan, didn't come true for 400 or more years! Even so, Abraham, Isaac and the rest of the Patriarchs hoped expectantly for this thing to happen and at last it did happen when the Israelites, under Joshua,  took the land.

My point is this: some of the things we hope for will happen in our lifetime, but most of what we as Christians hope for won't happen till after this life is over,yet we still need to hope.

Abraham's faith and hope were tested in about the strongest possible way when God ordered him to offer  up Isaac as a whole burnt offering:

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
god called Isaac Abraham's only son because it was Isaac with whom God would  make his covenant and his descendants would inherit the land. We don't know why God asked Abraham to do this thing, some suggest that Abraham and Isaac were acting out a prophecy that would be fulfilled when God gave his only begotten son, that is, when Jesus died for us on the cross.  Others suggest that Abraham's love for his son was bordering on worship and God needed to correct him. We don't know. Anyway, here is what the writer to the Hebrews says about this event:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

The point is, Abraham's faith and hope didn't waver even during this most difficult time. Our hope and faith should not waver either, no matter how difficult life gets or how unlikely it seems that we will ever get what we hope for.

Another example of hope in action is David. He was a young man and at the time he was first anointed as king by Samuel, he was keeping his father's sheep.  it was years before he actually became king of all Israel. At the time he was anointed, Saul was the king. God had rejected him from being king because of Saul's disobedience. Initially, David was welcomed at the king's court because he was a gifted harpist and his  music soothed the king, who was tormented with an evil spirit. however, when David killed Goliath, Saul began to be jealous of David. he gave his daughter to David as a wife, but Saul began plotting to have him killed until David had to flee for his life. For years he lived in the desert, hiding from Saul who was pursuing him, wanting him dead. At last David escaped to the enemy of  his people, the Philistines. He had plenty of reasons to despair and give up hoping but he never did.

when Saul was killed in battle David reigned over Judah for 6.5 years and one of Saul's sons ruled Israel, until Abner, Saul's uncle, switched sides and encouraged the whole nation to make David king. David was finally made king after Saul's son Ishbosheth was murdered.

All the Israelite tribes came to David at Hebron and said, “Listen: We are your very own flesh and bone. In the past, when Saul ruled over us, you were
the one who led Israel out to war and back. What’s more, the Lord told you, You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be Israel’s leader.
So all the Israelite elders came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over
Israel.
[2 Samuel 5:1-3]

This took place years after David's first anointing by Samuel, yet David never gave up believing and expecting god to do what he had promised. he never lost hope. In fact, he encouraged Israel to hope in their god:
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.
But I have calmed and quietened my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
[Psalm 131]
So, be encouraged and hope in god.  Your hope is like a fire, if it isn't tended to it goes out. Spending time with god in prayer and bible study and reminding ourselves what God has done for us keeps that fire burning. We can encourage each other to keep hoping, just like Saul's son Jonathan encouraged David:

Saul’s son Jonathan came to David at Horesh and encouraged him with God. Jonathan said to him, “Don't be afraid! My father Saul’s hand won't touch you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be your second in command. Even my father Saul knows this.” Then the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David stayed at Horesh, but Jonathan went back home.
[1 Samuel 23:16-18
Jonathan was half right. Saul didn't touch David, but Jonathan died on Mount Gilboa and was never David's second in command. Still he encouraged David at a  time when Jonathan's own father was doing his utmost to kill David. we can encourage each other too. We all have challenges in life but we know it's going to get better.

, thinking about the future keeps our hope alive. 
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
[Hebrews 12:12-13]

Let me leave you with this blessing from romans 15:13.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

amen.
questions to ponder:
These questions are just for you to think about and answer in your time alone with god.
1. what things are you hoping for?
2. can you think of other reasons why we need to keep our hope strong?
3. how do you keep your hope strong when you are going through hard times?
4. Do you know anyone you can encourage to keep hoping in God today?