Posts Tagged ‘Christ Jesus’

Effective Prayer #5

Posted: April 24, 2013 in bible, family, friendship, life, love, music, pray, prayer, religion, words
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When your friends or family do something for you, I bet you always say thank you to them for their help, so why treat God any differently? Therefore, as well as talking to God about things that are worrying you, and things you especially need His help with, please remember to say thank you to Him for all He does for you.

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)

Expressing gratitude to God is an essential part of our prayer life, as it reminds us of what He has been and is doing within our lives, bringing us peace, comfort, and joy.

So give thanks with a grateful heart…

WIP

Posted: April 7, 2013 in bible, family, friendship, heaven, life, love, music, religion
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We are all works-in-progress

Philippians 1:6 (NLT) says:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

So as you can see, God tells us in Philippians, that was we are works in progress, by reminding us that although He has been working in us from the moment we were born, He has promised to keep working in us until either Jesus returns to earth or He calls us home to heaven.

Therefore, today I want to say to you, never think God has given up on you as a lost cause because He will keep working in your life.

Zero Tolerance #2 of 2

Posted: March 14, 2013 in alcohol, blogging, Crime, family, friendship, Health, life, love, religion, UK, words
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Zero-toleranceYesterday in Zero Tolerance #1 of 2 I spoke about how many zero tolerance posters I’ve noticed in different places over the last few weeks. This in turn got me thinking about what these zero tolerance posters usually relate to. i.e. racism, verbal or physical abuse, sexism, bullying or harassment, alcohol abuse, drug abuse.

This in turn got me wondering about whether we should have a zero tolerance poster to indicate that Christ has a zero tolerance policy towards sin. I know this is slightly different from the zero tolerance posters we’ve all seen in that we cannot be prosecuted for disobeying the directives on the poster…or can we?

1 Timothy 15-17 (NLT)

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.  But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honour and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

If we believe in Christ and repent, by giving our whole life to God, we will be rewarded with the gift of eternal life with God. What greater promise is there than that?

Let’s make sure there is zero tolerance for sin in our lives, and those we come into contact with.

One Week On

Posted: February 28, 2013 in bereavement, bible, blogging, death, dementia, family, Father's Day, friendship, Health, heaven, life, love, music, religion, Salvation Army
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check listAt 7.13am last Thursday morning, about 15 minutes before my alarm was due to go off, our phone rang – Phone calls at that time in the morning are never good news, and sure enough this particular phone call was to let me know that just a couple of minutes earlier, my Dad had passed away.

So it’s now one week one since that phone call we all dread, and to be honest, I’m only now beginning the grieving process having spent most of the last week supporting Mum, letting people know about Dad’s passing and when the funeral was, as well as actually getting everything sorted for the funeral. So this last week has really been a bit of a blur leading up to yesterday, Dad’s funeral, so it’s probably no surprise that today I’ve been feeling very emotional, shedding a lot of tears, and thinking about Dad a lot.

As I said in Stress and Strain a couple of days ago, Dad professed no faith, however he was always supportive of Mum and me as we attended the Salvation Army. I have certainly found great strength from my faith in these last days, and can only reiterate to you words which I have said many time before…God is more than just enough to get us through everything.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Please listen closely to the beautiful words of the song More Than Just Enough by Sara Luneack:

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Grow In Grace

Posted: July 26, 2012 in Bellshill, Bellshill, bible, friendship, life, love, music, religion, Salvation Army
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Grace is a free gift from God!

It can be easy to think at times that just because we love Christ and profess to be Christians, that we will automatically grow in grace, but I’m afraid that’s not how it works!

Weakness is not your biggest problem, God’s grace is sufficient, but it’s delusions of strength that get in the way of your growth in grace

As the above statement says, sometimes I think we are guilty of forgetting just how much we need God, particularly when life is going well for us. We must be true to God during our happiest times as well as our darkest of times, because in doing so we will grow in grace.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

My Best Friend

Posted: March 26, 2012 in blogging, friendship, life, love, music, religion
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In yesterday’s blog post Always Special I asked you to think about the special people in your life who have had a big impact on your life.

How many special people have you had in your life? Personally I’ve had a few.

However there is one person who has been a very special friend to me for many years now, and despite all my faults and the many times I’ve let them down or disappointed them, they still love me, support me and help me, and even better than that, they are always there for me no matter where I am or what time of day or night it is.

You may know my special friend…it is Jesus!

Yes, I’ve turned away from Jesus many times and refused to do what He’s asked me to do, but He keeps on loving me, and He never lets me down. I can honestly say I have never had another friend like Him, and I know I will never find anyone else just as loving and forgiving as Him.

Be Cheerful, Always!

Posted: January 12, 2012 in bible, blogging, family, friendship, life, love, music, prayer, religion
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Today I’m continuing to looking at how, as Christians, we should live our lives. Once again using words from the bible for guidance.

The text for today is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (The Message):

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

So we’ve to be cheerful all the time! Wow that’s going to be a tough call isn’t it!

Earlier this week in my two Healer of My Heart blog posts (Healer of My Heart #1 and Healer of My Heart #2) I mentioned some of the things that can happen in life, that make us struggle to cope sometimes. Based on the bible passage above, even in times of deep despair or depression when life really sucks, we’re supposed to “be cheerful”. How?

God never said life would be easy for any of us, but as a Christian I believe that whatever difficulties I may face in life, God is with me, and it’s therefore that knowledge that should enable me to “be cheerful no matter what”. I will be honest now and say that, just because I know God is with me in all situations I often still think I can do better on my own, and strangely enough, that’s when I find life gets me down and I’m not cheerful all the time!

Can I just remind you that, even though others may seem cheerful to you, you can never know for certain how they are really feeling and what problems they may be having to deal with in their life (see my blog post A Day In The Life Of…). Therefore as well as always being cheerful, we must also follow the instructions I passed to you yesterday in Get Along, Always.

In summary The Way He Wants You To Live #3 - no matter what life throws your way, be happy and pray.

My Everything

Posted: November 11, 2011 in family, friendship, life, love, music, pray, religion
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The last few days I’ve talked about how we need to give the whole of our lives to God. Today I want to think about how in addition to giving God our all, God must be our everything in every situation…

 

God is always with us, so it’s up to us to make sure He really is our everything.

Everything by Tim Hughes

God in my living, there in my breathing
God in my waking, God in my sleeping
God in my resting, there in my working
God in my thinking, God in my speaking

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

God in my hoping, there in my dreaming
God in my watching, God in my waiting
God in my laughing, there in my weeping
God in my hurting, God in my healing

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

Christ in me, Christ in me
Christ in me, the hope of glory
You are everything

Christ in me, Christ in me
Christ in me, the hope of glory
Be my everything

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

God in my hoping, there in my dreaming
God in my watching, God in my waiting
God in my laughing, there in my weeping
God in my hurting, God in my healing

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

Christ in me, Christ in me
Christ in me, the hope of glory
You are everything

You are everything, You are everything
You are everything, You are everything
Jesus, everything, Jesus, everything
Jesus, everything, Jesus everything

An Act Of Worship

Posted: October 20, 2011 in bible, life, love, music, pray, prayer, religion
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What do you think of when you hear the word “worship”?

Church, praise meeting, singing…?

How about prayer? Does that strike you as being an act of worship?

At first when I getting my thoughts together for this blog post, I had to say I didn’t really think prayer was a true act of worship. However we’re reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. (The Message)

God wants us to pray, to rejoice in Him and thank Him for all He does for us. By praying to God we are showing Him just how much we love and adore Him.

God tells us to “pray without ceasing”, but He doesn’t mean we should pray continually all the time, as that would be unachievable. However He does expect us to pray daily and thus worship Him on a daily basis.

Worship God today, pray!

Nail Them!

Posted: August 30, 2011 in Bellshill, church, family, friendship, life, love, music, religion, Rutherglen, Salvation Army
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Galatians 5:24-25 (New Living Translation)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

This bible passage fits in very well both with what I said in yesterday’s blog post One Life, and also with my thoughts for today…

Since last Thursday I’ve found myself spending a lot of time contemplating where I am in my spiritual journey…Has my life stagnated, or am I more eager than ever to learn more about God, and pull the whole of my life into His hands?

My spiritual life has definitely not stagnated in the last few years, but has grown in strength during some very difficult times in my life. Though having said that, I was in the depths of despair for a long time, I thought God had deserted me…but unsurprisingly, He proved to me that He was there, He had always been there, and He always would be there for me.

But have I really nailed all my sins to the cross and left them there? Have I really given Him my whole life?

Truthfully, my answer must be “no”. However I believe God has helped me recognised this fact so that I can move forward in my relationship with Him by giving everything I have to Him.

How about you, have you nailed all your sinful passions and desires to the cross and left them there? Are you living every part of your life for Jesus, and Jesus alone?

Now is the time for you, and me, to start anew, and give our all to God.

I pray you will find blessing and inspiration to take your all to the cross, as you listen to the following song, To Thy Cross I Come, Lord by The International Staff Songsters of The Salvation Army:


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