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When those around us dismiss God and tell us we’re crazy to believe in his existence, we must stay strong, and keep on believing in Him.
We need God’s strength and courage to help us in those situations, so stay strong.
To the ends of the earth we will go
Fill us with power
For the truth of Your word we will stand
Give us Your courage
Isolated; Stranded; Separate; Marooned; Cut off; Set apart
…all words that describe what the phrase “out on a limb” means.
All these words are quite scary aren’t they, they give a real sense of being alone, and that is never nice.
There is a positive in this though, as being “set apart” for Christ is what God wants us to be, because we must stand out from the crowd, and stand up for who and what we believe in…set apart for our God.
Set Apart by Tim Hughes
Back to our first love
Nothing between us
Back to Your heart to the start of it all
Where we found You
Out of the ashes
Into the fire
You are refining our hearts in the flames
Of Your presence
Set apart for our God above
Set apart for the One we love
Set apart for Your glory
We are Yours Yours
Everything for You alone
Everything to make You known
Set apart for Your glory
We are Yours Yours
Sacred and holy
Your Name is worthy
Jesus awaken our hearts now to be
Your revival
Oh how great You are
Oh how great You are
Yesterday in Quiet Moments I spoke about how we need to spend quiet time with God away from the busyness of everyday life, so that we can simply prayer and read the bible.
However I’m conscious that sometimes it can be incredibly difficult to actually say a prayer, particularly when we’re going through a difficult period in our life. And sometimes, instead of praying all we can do is cry…but that too is ok, because He sees our tears and knows what’s in our heart.
A parent shows their love for their child by putting their arms around their child and holding them close. Holding the child close shows the parent will protect the child from all harm or danger that may come their way.
In the same way as a parent protects their child, God reaches out His arms of love to each of us to protect and help us through life.
Have you experienced God’s “arms of love” and accepted Him into your life?
Empty handed here I come,
I have nothing left to give You
Take my heart and all I am;
Who else, Lord can I run to?
Every part of me You see
I’m an open book before You
Jesus, take me as I am;
I can come no other way
Your arms are big enough for me
Your arms are big enough for me
Years of pain are washed away
in the beauty of Your presence
In this moment, everyday
Perfect love will carry me
Your arms are big enough for me
Your arms are big enough for me
Your grace is strong enough for me
Your grace is strong enough for me
I lay my life down here
I give it all to You
It’s all for You
Nothing can keep me from Your love
Oh, the love of Jesus
We all say we’ve no time, or we’re too busy, but are we too busy for everything?
If you judge people, you have no time to love them. ~ Mother Teresa
I’m sure we’re all guilty of judging others sometimes, even if we’re doing it subconsciously, but are we guilty of loving others subconsciously too?
Love of others, consciously or subconsciously, is what we need to find time for, so stop judging and start loving!
I’ve had questions without answers
I’ve known sorrow, I have known pain
But there’s one thing that I cling to
You are faithful, Jesus You’re true
When hope is lost, I call You Saviour
When pain surrounds, I call You Healer
When silence falls
You’ll be the song within my heart
In the lone hour of my sorrow
Through the darkest night of my soul
You surround me, and sustain me
My defender for ever more
When hope is lost, I call You Saviour
When pain surrounds, I call You Healer
When silence falls
You’ll be the song within my heart
And I will praise You, I will praise You
When the tears fall still I will sing to You
I will praise You, Jesus praise You
Through the suffering still I will sing to You
When hope is lost, I call You Saviour
When pain surrounds, I call You Healer
When silence falls
You’ll be the song within my heart
I will praise You, I will praise You
When the tears fall still I will sing to you
I will praise You, Jesus I will praise You
Through the suffering still I will sing to You
I will sing to You, Jesus I’ll sing to You
When the laughter fails to comfort
When my heart aches, Lord are You be there
When confusion is all around me
And the darkness is my closest friend
Still I’ll praise You, Jesus praise You
Theses are the words from Tim Hughes’ song When the Tears Fall. I love this song, as the words are just so personal to me, as I have felt exactly the way this song describes.
I am just grateful that my faith in God has been strong so that I could put my full trust in Him to see me through those darkest of days.
How about you, do you still praise Jesus even when your heart is aching?
Saw this recently and was struck by how true this is
Sadly most people never go to church so never see or hear a minister or church leader, so how can we expect them to see God unless they see Him through us!
Let’s make sure we are a walking sermon letting others see Christ is alive through the way we live our life.
In this last week I’ve been thinking a lot about faith, and how at different points in our life, we can find our faith stronger than at other times. In thinking about this I remembered a number of years ago, there were a couple of folk at Rutherglen Salvation Army who when they said hello to you on a Sunday, used to ask you “How’s your faith?”
I must be honest and say, I hated when I was asked that, and would just say nod and say “fine” without really considering whether this was the truth or not!
Anyone else been faced with that question in the past or more recently? If so, how did you feel and did you answer honestly?
Thinking now about how my faith is today, I can honestly respond to the question “How’s your faith?”, by saying it my faith is strong. I may be going through some difficult and stressful times just now, but, I know God is with me every minute of each day, giving me the strength to get through each day.
So in finishing, I want to challenge you to think about how you would answer this question, “How’s your faith?”
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
If we are strong we can stand up against anything. To stand strong, we must put our full trust in God to guide and direct us especially when we’re frightened of what lies ahead of us.
Be strong, and keep the faith!
Keep the faith by Tim Hughes
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
If not us who will shout Your song of praise?
For every soul to be saved in Jesus name
So we must keep the faith, not backing down
We must live this faith, this is our time, oh
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
We believe in God Almighty
We believe in You
We will trust in God Almighty
We will trust in You
We believe in God Almighty
We believe in You
We will trust in God Almighty
We will trust in You
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
We will overcome
When You are with us we are strong
And love will be our greatest song
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
We’ll keep the faith and stand forever
We’ll live the faith and stand forever
God is my everything because as it says in Philippians 4:1:
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me
I prayed yesterday that God would be my everything.
I’ve prayed today that God will be my everything.
I’ll pray tomorrow that God will continue to be my everything.
God is in everything I do and say, and with me everywhere, He is my Everything:
