Sunday, 5 August 2012

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.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

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?

Friday, 20 July 2012

a little prayer and praise

Hi readers:

This morning I was praying. sometimes I write down my prayers because it helps me to focus and I'm better at expressing myself in writing than in speech. Anyway I began praying for my unsaved relatives and friends and it turned into a praise time and I decided I would tidy it up and post it. I think sometimes we can all get so bogged down in the challenges and trials of life, and I'm talking to myself as much as anyone else here, that we don't look up and contemplate all the riches and joys and wonders that we have as Christians. The greatest of all is that we can know god. I hope this encourages someone. If anyone wants to share something encouraging along this line that they have written, email it to me at
rishie@dodo.com.au
and I will happily post it, giving you credit of course. Let us encourage each other,.
Here goes:

 

Father I pray for my family, I pray for all my unsaved  loved ones to come to Christ. you gave the prescription we all need to follow in Acts 16:31
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” [ESV]
I pray that my family and loved ones will believe in you Lord Jesus, in who you are and in all the wondrous, amazing, life-giving and praise-worthy things you have done for us, things for which the eternity of the eternities will not be sufficient time to thank you fully for! I pray they may know these things, put their faith and trust in you and be saved. i want them to know the security i know, I want them to know the love I know, Father I want them to know your omnipresense that you have shown me so far, that I am never alone, no matter where I am am! There is so much about you I want them to experience Lord,  what I've learned in my 32 years being  your child has just scratched the surface of all that there is to learn of you.

father knowing you is wonderful knowing you is awesome knowing you is incredible! It helps us get through our hardest times, gives us  a reason to get up in the morning, knowing you gives purpose and reason and direction to our lives. O the incomparable joy, the riches's and depths, the power and pleasure, the satisfaction invigoration and inspiration, the communion and fellowship involved in knowing you Jesus. O, Jesus thank you for the privilege of knowing you. Thank you that you reveal yourself to us. We will thank you forever for who you are and all you do. . dear Father, make us thankful people,  may we never let a day go by without saying "thank you" to you for at least a few of the vast array of blessings you give us. 
Lord our God, among all the blessings you have given us, having a relationship with you is the greatest. It is all because of the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to know you. Give us a hunger to know you more. Make us people that you can share more of yourself with. Help us remember Lord that as we draw near to you, you draw near to us. Teach us to seek you with our whole hearts, knowing that he who seeks shall find.
these things I pray in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name, the name of my blessed lord and saviour, the name of the lover of my soul, the name of my beloved king, O Jesus I love you Lord! amen.

 

I hope you were blessed by that. I certainly was. god bless you all and may you each have a wonderful day in the Lord!

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Rishie’s Ramblings: yes, it’s me again

Dear readers:

 

Well it’s been more than six months since i posted anything on this blog and I appologise for that. there have been a few reasons but mostly I’ve been lazy and haven’t posted the couple of things I have written.

 

I now have a new computer. While I was away at christmas time, someone got into my computer and messed with it. It has been in and out of the computer shop all year and finally I decided it was better to get a new one since they still had no idea what the problem actually was. So, I now have a netbook and I like it. I’ve spent the last week or so getting it set up with the programmes I want and so on.

 

Well I am going to try and post more regularly, I have a couple of teachings to put up here  and some  poems too. I am also going to write more regularly just about my life and the things I’m thinking or doing, that will be in this category of rishie’s ramblings.

 

I’m having issues with the blogger interface not being very accessible so I am using windows live writer. Let’s see how this works out.

 

Plese keep my cousin Karra in your prayers she has problems with her heart and may need a transplant. She is not a Christian so maybe the lord will use this experience to draw her to himself. I’m praying for that anyway.

 

god bless you all!

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Unity

today I want to look at the subject of unity: unity in our Church family and unity across denominational lines.
The scripture says:
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
[Psalm 133:1]
we all can see that when a Church is unified and working together it is a much more pleasant environment, a place of peace and harmony..
Divisions in the Church can cause heartache and may result in some members leaving the Church, but when the members of a Church make an effort to strengthen the bonds of unity and heal the hurts that have resulted from disunity, the church can be stronger and more able and willing to serve God, our master and blessed lord.
In my town we have interdenominational prayer meetings, where members of the different Churches get together at one church to pray about a variety of things. We also work together for a few events during the year such as the world day of prayer service and the carols service at the end of the year. The pastors of the Churches get together for discussion and prayer from time to time. We can do a lot for God when we all work together.
Here is an example of what unity can do:
In the time after the flood and before Abraham, all the people spoke one language and lived near each other. They decided that they
would build a tower that reached heaven, not to glorify God but as a show of what they were capable of doing, to glorify themselves.
Here is what God says:
" And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [Genesis 11:6]
That is what unity can accomplish. Of course, they were united in an act of rebellion against God, but they were united and God knew the best way to deal with this was to scatter them and give them separate languages.
 
Because the devil knows that we can accomplish a lot when united, he will do his level best to cause divisions in the Church.
Here is one example from Scripture of a divided, disunified Church.
Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: agree with each other and don't be divided into rival groups. Instead be restored with the same mind and the same purpose. My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you,
that you're fighting with each other. What I mean is this: that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," "I belong to Apollos," "I belong to Cephas," "I belong to Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name?
[1 Corinthians 1:10-16]
the group had splintered into 4 separate factions,for Paul, for Appolos
For Peter [Cephas] and for Christ. This division had caused arguing among the believers.
as each side argued for their chosen leader. I am sure you can imagine the sort of problems that would arise in a divided group like this, arguments between groups, divisions even in homes where people were for different leaders, each group trying to prove that the others were all wrong and they were in the right. you know how it goes,
when we know we are right our flesh nature wants to prove to everybody else that they are wrong in whatever it is we are arguing about ,and give detailed explanations as to why they are so wrong, we love to be proved right.
What a mess! Paul makes it clear to them that Christ is the leader of all and that himself, Appolos and peter were only servants through whom they learned about Christ and began to grow in the faith. What sort of example do you think this kind of Church group would be setting for non-believers?
Unity doesn't mean we necessarily totally agree with everything each other believes, but unity is when we agree to disagree and put our differences aside.
Of course, if someone's beliefs differ in a major area such as salvation by faith in Christ or salvation by works only, then we need to pray for the one who believes in a works based salvation to learn the truth, loving them, not looking down on them and, if God guides us to,gently and respectfully show them the truth from God's word.
An example of a doctrine that people disagree on is the doctrine of the rapture. some are pre-tribulationists [/That is, that Jesus will come for the Church before the Tribulation starts], some are mid-tribulationists and others are post-tribulationists. others don't believe in the rapture at all. The truth is we don't know, when Jesus is coming back. I personally am a pre-tribulationist, as I explain in another post here, but just because I think that way doesn't mean that if I had a friend who doesn't agree with me about that I need to argue with them about it and try to prove I'm in the right. Rather, since we don't really know anyway we can agree to disagree and focus on the things and beliefs we do have in common.
The Scripture says:
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. [2 Timothy 3:14]

Another thing that causes disunity in the Church is gossip. This is one I struggle with a bit. We have to think, when we are going to share some piece of information about another,
- is this true,
- is sharing this helpful,
and
- what is my motive for sharing it.
Let me show you how this works. Now, as an example, Imagine if you heard that I was taking drugs. NOW I don't and never have taken drugs but this is just an example. Then if you told your friends "Did you know that Rishie takes drugs, and she calls herself a Christian,don't you think that's terrible?"
even if it was true Jesus gives us very clear ways of dealing with sin in the Church and they don't include gossip. The way to handle it would be to confront me and if I didn't listen, to bring a couple of witnesses along, and if I still didn't pay attention to make it known to the Church and if I still didn't pay attention, to treat me like an outcast and hopefully I would be brought to a realisation of my sin.
Gossip doesn't do any good but it can do a lot of harm, especially if the things we are gossiping about aren't true, it can damage relationships and cause problems in the church.
Another thing that can be very hurtful is if someone treats us nicely but then says unkind things about us behind our backs and it gets back to us. Ouch!I had a friend, once who came to stay with us for a while and when she left she said it has been nice seeing me and she was looking forward to next time but she said to one of my friends that she would not come back to visit here as long as I was here. Now that person and i sorted things out and I'm not saying this to put her down just using it as an example. You can imagine how that hurt. now if we have a problem with someone the best thing to do is to lovingly speak to them about it and tell them how we feel.
So if there is disunity in the church, What can we do about it?
Firstly? pray. Take it before the lord, if possible get a group of people together and pray about it.
Secondly, if God leads, you may be able to intervene to help reunite the rival groups.
I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have laboured side by side
with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Sometimes one who isn't in the middle of the dispute can bring rivals together to try and sort things out or at the least, to agree to disagree. Jesus says this:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
[Matt 5:9]
we need to be guided by the Spirit because on our own we could end up doing more harm than good But with God's help we may be able to reconcile those who are at odds with each other.
If there is disunity in the Church it shouldn't be ignored but the members of the Church need to seek God about it and then do what he tells us to do.
 
As for disunity between members of different denominations, We need to pray about that too and God may show us something that we can do, such as starting a morning tea for Christian ladies in the town or area you live in,
or having a men's breakfast or a picnic or something every so often.
We need to be careful that we are not critical of people in other denominations I know someone who sometimes makes negative generalisations about members of a different denomination, and i have been guilty of negative thoughts about people from another denomination, all this should definitely be avoided. If we know that we are feeling this way or doing this sort of thing we need to pray about it. In one of her books Beth Moore talks about making friends with a Christian lady she met and then discovering that this lady belonged to a denomination that was looked down on by the members of Beth's Church. She explained that this friendship helped open her eyes and that God used it to deal with this prejudice she had against members of the other Church. God can do the same in our lives too, if he sees we have a prejudice against members of other denominations or other races or people of different colour or whatever our prejudices might be. Prejudice has no place in the body of Christ and if we are prejudiced God is not likely to allow you to stay that way.
In closing I want to leave you with a scripture from the book of Ephesians chapter 4 :3-6:
and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is over all, through all, and in all.
Do you notice what stands out in this passage?
1 ... 1.... 1 ... 1....
He couldn't have made it clearer. As the song says:
Father make us one
that the world may know
you have sent your son
father make us one."
May this be our prayer.
I hope I have given you all something to think about. May God bless each of you!

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Insight: a few Questions to Prayerfully Consider

Here are a few thoughts to prayerfully consider. I haven't written this to judge anyone but in the spirit of Hebrews 10:24 I thought I would share them.
 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
[Hebrews  10:24]

Did I have a time of prayer and bible study today?

Are there things God has done for me today that I need to thank him for?

Are there sins in my life I haven't asked God's forgiveness for?

Do I know anyone who needs a hug, a kind word or a helping hand?

Is there anyone I know who needs encouragement in their Christian walk?
Is there someone I should call or visit or email to let them know I care?

Am I using the gifts and talents God has given me?

Have I taken a few quiet moments to allow God to speak to me?

Have I told God today that I love him?

Is there anyone in my life I need to ask forgiveness of?

Is there anyone in my life I need to forgive?

Are there relationships in my life that need mending?

have I told my loved ones recently that I love them?

Have I shown my loved ones recently that I love them? Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

Are there things I need to talk to God about?

Do I know someone who is sad or hurting that I can comfort?

Is God telling me to do something and I haven't done it yet?

Have  I prayed for my Church  and pastor this week?

Have I prayed for Christians who are suffering for their faith?

Am I being a wise steward of the money God gives me?

Am I becoming more like Jesus?

Am I a doer of the word or just a hearer only?

do I set my mind on things above, not things of this world? [col 3:2]


Here are a few thoughts to prayerfully consider. I haven't written this to judge anyone but in the spirit of Hebrews 10:24 I thought I would share them.
 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
[Hebrews  10:24]

Did I have a time of prayer and bible study today?

Are there things God has done for me today that I need to thank him for?

Are there sins in my life I haven't asked God's forgiveness for?

Do I know anyone who needs a hug, a kind word or a helping hand?

Is there anyone I know who needs encouragement in their Christian walk?
Is there someone I should call or visit or email to let them know I care?

Am I using the gifts and talents God has given me?

Have I taken a few quiet moments to allow God to speak to me?

Have I told God today that I love him?

Is there anyone in my life I need to ask forgiveness of?

Is there anyone in my life I need to forgive?

Are there relationships in my life that need mending?

have I told my loved ones recently that I love them?

Have I shown my loved ones recently that I love them? Sometimes actions speak louder than words.

Are there things I need to talk to God about?

Do I know someone who is sad or hurting that I can comfort?

Is God telling me to do something and I haven't done it yet?

Have  I prayed for my Church  and pastor this week?

Have I prayed for Christians who are suffering for their faith?

Am I being a wise steward of the money God gives me?

Am I becoming more like Jesus?

Am I a doer of the word or just a hearer only?

do I set my mind on things above, not things of this world? [col 3:2]