If I were to ask you what your greatest weakness is, what would your answer be?
Thomas Alva Edisononce said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.” – Would you agree with that statement?
I certainly think there’s a fair element of truth in that statement, as I can think of situations in my own life where I gave up just because things were getting a bit difficult. I’ve also seen friends and colleagues give up on their dreams and aims, because they haven’t had the confidence in their own ability or they’ve listened to some people around them who think they know better and have told them not to be so daft trying to do x or y as they’ll never do it!
That surely is a good example of how not to encourage or motivate others!
The greatest motivator you will ever find is God, as He believes in you always, no matter how ridiculous or far-fetched others may think your dreams are. So don’t give up, trust the great motivator, God, to keep you going and reach your goals.
When we talk about rain, we think about wet stuff falling on us which isn’t a great experience. However when we talk about God‘s reign, yes we want God’s love to fall down on us, but unlike rain that will be a wonderful experience .
As a Christian, my desire is that God will reign over all the world and that the whole world will rise as one and praise His name. So let’s get started today by spreading God’s message to the people we meet, so that one day soon He will reign victorious over all of us!
I don’t know what your life is like or how you feel on a daily basis, but for me, life can be a bit of a struggle physically and emotionally a lot of the time. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that over the last few years I’ve sometimes considered life to be hopeless.
Hopeless…a word which when I hear it, makes my heart go out to those who use it, as I know and understand their pain when they feel life is that bad. I know compared to many my life has been fabulous, but we’re all human, and we all feel differently and react differently to every situation, so I can only tell you that yes, life did feel hopeless at times to me.
But from hopeless we can pull out the word “hope“, and just as the word hope can be found in the word hopeless, so we can find hope when life seems hopeless. Indeed this very weekend, on Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the greatest hope for the world, all because…Jesus is alive.
As I’ve just said, this coming Sunday, Easter Sunday celebrate and commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, isn’t that what we do every Sunday when we go to church, celebrate the hope that Christ’s resurrection gives us!
I hope you enjoy this wonderful song, His Glory Appearsby Darlene Zschech, it means a lot to me as it talks about the hope that Christ gives us, and therefore fits perfectly with my thoughts for today:
Many things come along to tempt us to do things we shouldn’t do…some we shouldn’t do because they are bad physically for us, others because we don’t believe in them, others because they go against our Christian beliefs…and then there are those that would simply take us to an even darker place than we are already in.
Sometimes when everything seems to be going wrong for you and things seem hopeless, it can seem as if the best option is to give up. However we must resist the temptation to give up, because however bad it gets, God can and will help you get through it!
You’re the comforter to the lonely The lifter of my head I see You veiled in majesty We cry glory, glory We cry glory to the King
Lord,my heart cries out Glory to the King My greatest love in life I hand You everything Glory,glory I hear the angels sing.
Open my ears Let me hear Your voice To know that sweet sound Oh my soul rejoice Glory,glory I hear the angels sing
You’re the Father to the fatherless The answer to my dreams I see you crowned in righteousness We cry glory to the King Comforter to the lonely The lifter of my head I see You veiled in majesty We cry glory,glory We cry glory to the King
We cry glory glory We cry glory to the King
God is there in the depth of our despair and in the heights of our joy - Who else is there like that?
God is there for the lonely and gives them comfort – Who else is there like that?
God loves us unconditionally – Who else is there like that?
So how should we repay Him?We should give Him glory…Glory to the King!
Even that word “rejection” fills me with an awful feeling of foreboding and upset…
Rejection is not a very nice thing to experience, although I think the impact the reject has on you can vary greatly depending on the reason for the reject and your relationship with the person or people who reject you.
There are many reasons why people are rejected, here are some examples:
rejected for a job or promotion
not invited to events friends/family attending or organised
marriage breakdown
abused by parents/other family members/partner
a child rejected by a parent
a child put up for adoption by parents
rejection due to your beliefs or faith
rejected by family for something you’ve done
a friend who doesn’t want to know you when you’re most in need of their friendship
phone calls/texts/emails etc to friends are ignored
betrayal of a close friend
Can you relate to any of these examples, or do you have other experiences of rejection?
Personally I have experienced several of those situations myself, and I can truthfully say they hurt – they leave you feeling empty, unloved, unwanted and of course upset.
When we suffer rejection it’s painful. It’s so painful that in the days/weeks that follow, we constantly try to some kind of sense of our pain, a reason why we’ve been rejected.
During these painful days, we may start to feel that the rejection is all our own doing. i.e. We wonder, what is it about ourselves that has caused someone to reject us. We doubt our value as a person, our ability to do the job in question or our ability to have a healthy relationship with someone.
Alternatively we might begin to feel the blame for our rejection lies firmly with someone else. As a result we may become more of an introvert as we feel we can trust no one, so keep our distance from other people so they can’t get close to us.
The other person who often gets the blame when we feel rejected, is God. After all God’s supposed to be in control of our lives and loves us, so why does He let us feel such pain. Rejection and loss makes to doubt that God loves us because we are angry with Him for not protecting us and allowing the rejection to happen.
Whoever we blame for our rejection and pain, it stops us from letting anyone else get too close to us again, just in case they also reject us because we feel we could not go through that deep sense of loss again. We are desperately afraid because to love, trust or hope again we must risk being vulnerable and admit that we do care, no matter how hard we try to numb our hearts.
It can take a long time to get over being rejected, however as our hurt heals we gradually begin to restore our faith in God and our hope and trust in others.
It may not feel like it at first, but healing begins when we face the sadness and disappointment of the loss of our hopes and dreams. We tend to avoid our feelings because we are afraid that they will consume us, that we will never find comfort. But if we act in faith and “throw ourselves” on the Lord in dependence and cry out to Him, He will be the rock that saves us from the overwhelming waves of pain.
God’s comfort gives us hope – hope for a brighter future and for love again. Life without hope is not worth living.
Psalm 34:18 (The Message)
If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.
One week today it will be Christmas Day, when for many of us we will spend the day celebrating Christmas with our family.
Although Christmas can be a time of happiness and togetherness for everyone, that can’t be further from reality for many.
Today I’d therefore like you to take a few minutes out of your preparations for Christmas, and spend a few moments thinking about those who will find this Christmas difficult. e.g.:
the unemployed
the ill, and their families/friends
the lonely
the homeless
the elderly
those who have been bereaved, particularly those bereaved in the last year
those separated by many miles, from loved ones this Christmas
If you are finding/will find this Christmas difficult, I pray you will some happiness this Christmas.
If you know of anyone who is struggling/will struggle this Christmas, please pray for them that they will find peace and happiness this Christmas.
The sixth piece of music I listed in Music to Touch Our Hearts is the song Lord I Come To You (The Power of Your Love).
This song first really touched me when I was away with Bellshill Band in 2003 on our tour of the Netherland, Germany and Belgium. It particularly reminds me of the service we did in Seraing (Belgium) on the Sunday – In the afternoon we had a march of witness and then in the evening we played in a packed and overflowing hall. What sticks in my mind is the atmosphere in the hall during the meeting, it was electric – We were all very much aware of God’s presence with us that day. Despite the obvious language barriers we faced, the message of God‘s unquestioning love for all of us no matter what our background.
Even after the meeting as we headed back to our base on the coach, we were all still very aware of God’s presence. We all joined together in singing a number of songs/choruses, of which this was one…and again it really moved me.
The few months leading up to the band tour had been difficult for me and little did I know at that time, the few years to follow weren’t going to be any easier. This song became even more special to me over those years as it reminded me of God’s constant presence in my life and His constant love for me.
Even now, every time I hear this song am still get very emotional as it continue to give me reassurance of God’s presence and His love for me.
Lord I come to You Let my heart be changed, renewed Flowing from the grace That I’ve found in You Lord I’ve come to know The weaknesses I see in me Will be stripped away By the power of Your love
~ chorus ~ Hold me close Let Your love surround me Bring me near Draw me to Your side And as I wait I’ll rise up like the eagle And I will soar with You Your Spirit leads me on By the power of Your love
Lord unveil my eyes Let me see You face to face The knowledge of Your love As You live in me Lord renew my mind As Your will unfolds in my life In living every day By the power of Your love
(repeat chorus twice)
And I will soar with You Your Spirit leads me on By the power of Your love (repeat)
Sometimes, life’s filled with disappointments,
shattered dreams which have created great pain;
There are times we have to lose it all,
But those are the times when we can gain!
When we have learned to be content
and let God have control;
Then we’ll have gained that which will bring,
peace and contentment to heart and soul!
We tend to want to hold on to that
which we have always known;
It may be that we fear the thought
of having to face the future alone!
But our God will never forsake us
He’s faithful and He’s just;
He’ll see us through the darkest night,
if in Him we will place our trust!
He is One Whom we can depend on
and He’ll never leave our side;
In Him we’ll find the strength we need
when at times we are sorely tempted and tried!
When we’ve reached a place
where we can’t seem to cope,
We want to give up, for we’ve lost all hope;
If we’ll call on His name, He will hear our plea
And will cause all the darkness of despair to flee!
by Pastor Janette Stewart
Faith is something we can always rely on. When life is tough and we’re struggling to face each new day, just ask God and He’ll give you just what you need to get you through.
But from hopeless we can pull out the word “
