Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category

Tell them, show them

Posted: December 6, 2018 in belief, blogging, family, friendship, life, love, music, Relationships, religion
Tags: , ,
0

Over the last few days I’ve been talking about how we need to live a Christ-like life so others will be able to see God through our words and our actions.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about spreading God’s message, I tend to think about people I don’t know, rather than family and friends who don’t believe in God. I know that’s wrong, as the people I’m closest to, who see and interact with me on a regular basis, are far more likely to see the real me and how I act and talk on a daily basis than someone I don’t know but our paths cross once or twice over a period of time.

My challenge for me and for you today, is to make sure those I love know I love God, and what He means to me, and what He can do for them. Because if I don’t tell them and show them, how can I expect someone else to convince them?!

For the right reason #3

Posted: November 14, 2018 in belief, blogging, church, faith, life, love, music, Relationships, religion
Tags: , ,
0

On Monday I asked you a few questions about whether you go to church, and if you became a member of your church for the right reasons.

I hope by now you’ve had time to consider your answer to those questions.

As I said yesterday, it’s ok if you became a member of your church for the wrong reasons, but now realise you did it for the wrong reasons.

Having realised you joined for the wrong reasons, what have you done about it? Are you still attending and still taking your place as a member? Is there a chance you’re still a member because part of you still believes it’s what you should do?

Maybe deep down you believe in God. If so, why not give church another chance, but go with your mind and heart open and receptive to what God has to say to you, you never know what might happen – God has reached out to, and been accepted into the hearts of people you’d never expect, so He would love you to do the same.

Let God speak to you so you truly get to know him, for the right reasons.

At the heart of life #3

Posted: October 31, 2018 in blogging, friendship, Health, heart, life, love, personnel characteristics, Relationships, religion
Tags: , ,
0

In the previous parts of this blog post (At the heart of life #1 and At the heart of life #2) I spoke about how the heart is an important organ in our body to keep us alive and functioning and then how the heart is at the centre of our relationship with God. Today it’s all about love, ahh!

When you fall in love, there are your heart is physically affected in a few ways:

  1. When we first realise we‘re attracted to someone, there is a chemical reaction starts in your body, which pumps through your body by your heart, making you more alert. When you show affection to one another this apparently lowers your cholesterol level because hormones are released which is good for your heart.
  2. When we fall in love it triggers a ‘fight or flight’ reaction in us, which in turn makes our heart beat faster which is why we get that feeling of our heart pumping when we’re attracted to someone. This also means blood gets diverted to our essential organs, like our heart, and explains why sometimes we lose our appetite at these times as well.
  3. Lots of hormones are released when we’re in love, and this surprisingly lowers your blood pressure – Maybe it’s just me, but I would have thought it would increase your blood pressure, but apparently not! It’s actually the unhealthy relationships that increase your blood pressure!
  4. Those who are socially isolated or lonely are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular problems such as the hardening of the arteries and plaque formation. It also leads to raised blood pressure, which can result in a stroke or heart disease. The action of hugging helps reduce blood pressure and is an excellent reason to nurture a special relationship.

The positive physical effects on the heart and circulation when you are falling in love go way beyond a simple attraction to someone as they actually help us live healthier lifestyles.

So look after your heart, find your sole-mate, and fall in love, not only will it make you happy, it’s great for your heart too!

At the heart of life #2

Posted: October 30, 2018 in bible, blogging, faith, heart, life, love, music, quotes, religion, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
1

In the first part of this blog post (At the heart of life #1) I spoke about how the heart is an important organ in our body to keep us alive and functioning. Today I want to continue to talk about the heart, but this time about how important the heart is in our relationship with God.

There are many bible verses about how our heart is so important in our relationship with God.

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.  ~ Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. ~ Psalm 73:26 (NLT)

“I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous! ~ John 14:27 (TPT)

God wants us to give Him our heart – Yesterday we discovered that the heart is one of the most important organs in our body, so it should be no surprise to us that God considers our heart to be so important in our relationship with Him. If we don’t give him our all – all our feels and emotions, which come from our heart, how can we truly say we’ve given our all to God?

When our heart is full of God’s love, we are capable of anything because God is in control. So give God your heart and He can give you the love and strength to get through any situation or circumstances. Let God be your guide and strength by giving him your heart today.

Distractions

Posted: October 28, 2018 in belief, blogging, faith, family, friendship, Health, life, music, personnel characteristics, prayer, quotes, religion, trust
Tags: , , ,
0

Distractions come in all shapes and sizes.

Have you noticed though that the shape and size of the distraction is often dependent on how interested you are in what you should be focusing on?

These days we have even more things to distract us, we our friends and family can contact us 24/7 using all sorts of available apps on our phone or on our laptop or tablet. There’s also still plenty of other distractions around us that require no phone and no technology, and they can be just as distracting.

I must admit, I can be easily distracted at times. And as I suggested earlier, for me, I get easily distracted when I’m supposed to be doing something that I’m not really wanting to do, or I need inspiration for the task, but am lacking in inspiration.

Two things I can be easily distracted from are, yes, writing this blog when I’m lacking inspiration for something to blog about. The other I’m sorry to say is, spending quality time with God – That tends to happen when I’m tired, or feel I have nothing particular I want to talk to God about, but I forget I need to leave time for Him to talk to me too. i.e. I should always be ready and willing to listen to God, not just put aside time for me to talk to God.

Are you being easily distracted from God? Make time just to listen to God because He always has something to say to us.

Innocence

Posted: October 11, 2018 in bible, blogging, children, life, love, personnel characteristics, quotes, Relationships, religion
Tags:
0

Have you noticed how whenever there are young children about, they always seem to be at the centre of everyone’s attention. We all want a cuddle from the child, or the child to reach out to us for help or guidance.

So maybe today’s bible verses that relate to the ‘faith of a child’, are more about our faith than actually the faith of a child. Today’s verses are from Mark 9:36-37 (TPT)

He wrapped the child in his arms and said to them, “Whoever welcomes a little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes not only me, but the one who sent me.”

We we can’t accept the innocence of a child with open arms, how can we accept other who have life experiences behind them, and therefore have their failures and flaws. So we are expected to treat everyone as a child, in other words, accept them unconditionally, ignoring anything that may distract us from accepting them.

Nourishment

Posted: October 10, 2018 in baby, bible, blogging, children, faith, Food, Health, life, quotes, Relationships, religion
Tags:
0

I want to look at another verse from scripture today that relates to the ‘faith of a child’.

 In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life ~ 1 Peter 2 (TPT)

Babies need nourish of milk from their mothers to flourish and grow physically. So comparing how we grow spiritually, to how babies need nourishment is such a great way to remind us that just as a baby must receive nourishment to grow, so we must receive spiritual nourishment so our faith will grow.

Also what better time to learn about God than when we are young children. When we learn young, these life lessons and directions are more likely to stay with us throughout our life, so again we need to have the ‘faith of a child’.

Stick

Posted: October 9, 2018 in bible, blogging, children, education, faith, life, personnel characteristics, Relationships, religion, words
Tags: , ,
0

Once again today, I want to look at another verse from scripture that relates to the ‘faith of a child’. Today’s verse is from Proverbs 22:6 (TPT):

Dedicate your children to God and point them in the way that they should go, and the values they’ve learned from you will be with them for life.

We sometimes forget that children see and hear everything we do, and that they learn from that. Therefore we must be sure that what say and do is appropriate for our children, and does teach them the values and a of life we want them to follow. After all, as this verse from Proverbs says, what we teach our children is what sticks with them, so make sure what they see and hear is what we want to stick with them!

Welcome them

Posted: October 8, 2018 in bible, blogging, children, church, friendship, Health, life, love, music, quotes, Relationships, religion, Salvation Army
Tags: , , ,
0

After seeing the photo I shared in yesterday’s blog post (Faith of a child), I have found myself looking at the bible for instances where the ‘faith of a child’ is mentioned or inferred. So I want to share a few of these with you over the next few days.

Matthew 19:14 (TPT)

Jesus overheard them and said, “I want little children to come to me, so never interfere with them when they want to come, for heaven’s kingdom realm is composed of beloved ones like these! Listen to this truth: No one will enter the kingdom realm of heaven unless he becomes like one of these!”

This is a bible verse I’m sure we’ve all heard a number of times, so I hope you still realise how important it is. The disciples scolded the people who tried to bring children to Christ, claiming Jesus didn’t want to be bothered. It seems the disciples never actually asked Jesus if he was ok to see the children, before scolding those who brought them. I wonder what made them think Jesus wouldn’t want to welcome the children?

Jesus was always willing to welcome anyone who wanted to come to him. We must we welcoming to those who want to seek God, so let’s make sure our church is open and welcoming to all who come through the door, regardless of their need, their background or indeed their past.

Look at the heart

Posted: October 3, 2018 in bible, blogging, depression, friendship, Health, life, personnel characteristics, quotes, Relationships, religion
Tags: ,
0

I’ve spoken before about how at times, we are all guilty of judging others based, either on what we see or the little bit of their life that we actual know about. Can you imagine what life would really be like if no-one judged anyone else because of their outward appearance?

As 1 Samuel reminds us, even although we look at others outward appearances, God looks inside us. God see the real us, he sees our true feelings and emotions, feelings we try our best to hide from others – scared, insecure, alone, angry, hurt, desperate etc.

Let’s not judge others by their outward appearance, but instead get to know them, so that we too can find out more about their true feelings and emotions.

Older Entries