Every few months I hope that I'm going to be able to blog a lot more regularly and then a few months later I'm still hoping ... and here I am today still hoping I'm going to be able to blog more. It sometimes just seems I have too much crammed into the week to find time to blog and just recently I got myself an ipad and for a while it took over my life. This is what I shared when I had to speak at church one Tuesday evening and I had nothing prepared, the reason being my iPad.
I haven't been prepared at all for tonight and after hearing Sue speak yesterday, I saw how things can keep us away from God and from really studying the word. It's surprising just how quickly things can get in the way and I've found it to be so true over the last few days. You see I got myself an iPad.
I love it! I've downloaded bible apps, Christian music, games for my grandchildren to play on, word games to keep my mind fresh and alert and games for myself like tennis and bowling but then I found NEMO.
Yes, a lovely little game for children, or so I thought. You can help Nemo build a reef and grow algae and marine plants all in the hope of attracting little fish to the reef. It's lovely, colourful, there's soothing music playing, the plants on the reef sway to the sound of the music and it is sooooooooo addictive. So much so that I spent 2 hours happily growing plants and adding beautiful things to my reef and really did forget the time on Saturday. If my grandchildren are on their ipods for any length of time I'm usually telling them they're antisocial or that it will fry their brain and make their eyes go funny .... and yet here I was hours later still building my reef. When my grandchildren asked if they could help collect the algae I said 'yes' but then proceeded to tell them what they could not press just in case they didn't collect the right things.
For 3 days the thing uppermost in my mind had been my reef and apart from church on Sunday I realised I hadn't spent any quality time with the Lord. In fact I hadn't spent much time with him at all, never mind quality time, and I certainly hadn't spent any time in the word.
When I realised I was speaking tonight I also realised that because of Nemo, I had nothing at all to share ... how could I, when, for the last 3 days, I had left out Him who I wanted to talk about.
As I searched for something to share my thoughts kept coming back to my iPad and I saw that it was a very useful piece of equipment but in the wrong hands it could be next to useless and not do anyone or anything any good.
A bit like with the, the word of God. It can calm a soul, help heal the sick, bring a sinner to repentance, it's like Proverbs 16:24 says but even more so ...Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.
The words of the bible are indeed health to the bones. We need to study it's truth because even Jesus himself knew the word of God. He quoted many times from what we know as the old testament.
2 Tim2:15 says study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman not easily ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to study, to memorise it so that it goes deep into the very fibre of our being so we can draw on the words in times of need.
I learned some verses of scripture when I was younger and also when I was a new Christian that I can still recall today and it seemed easier to do it then, it takes me much longer to memorise now.
Our own words too can heal or harm - Proverbs 25:11 says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. That's a beautiful verse.
I looked up the word 'fitly' in the dictionary and it said; in a proper or suitable manner'.
Our words, if spoken kindly or properly in a suitable manner can be like apples of gold in pictures of silver. When I thought about this I thought that apples of gold would be costly, can you imagine golden apples, very precious and most certainly costly ... so too our words. If we use scripture then very precious indeed because Jesus himself is the word of life and he is above all, precious to those who believe. Our own words too then need to be precious, we need to put a high price upon them and speak only good.
Pictures of silver ... reminded me of being pure and the refining process when it has taken place, all of the dross, the impurities have surfaced and been skimmed off to show the pure silver beneath. Our words, just like those of Christ, ought to be pure, ought to be truth.
John 14:6 Jesus said of himself that he was the truth ... I am the way the truth and the life ...his words were truth and all that we say must be truth too.
When his hour was come, Jesus spoke to the Father and one of the things he said in John 17:17 was Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth... He is the word of God He is truth.
Because of using my iPad the wrong way and putting it before the Lord, He really showed me that he wants me to use whatever I have to draw close to him, to put him first and in whatever I say to remember that 'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver'.
Needless to say my reef is not the centre of my days, Nemo has been deleted and I am using my iPad as it should be used and I am enjoying listening to some of the wonderful Christian music I have downloaded.
I haven't been prepared at all for tonight and after hearing Sue speak yesterday, I saw how things can keep us away from God and from really studying the word. It's surprising just how quickly things can get in the way and I've found it to be so true over the last few days. You see I got myself an iPad.
I love it! I've downloaded bible apps, Christian music, games for my grandchildren to play on, word games to keep my mind fresh and alert and games for myself like tennis and bowling but then I found NEMO.
Yes, a lovely little game for children, or so I thought. You can help Nemo build a reef and grow algae and marine plants all in the hope of attracting little fish to the reef. It's lovely, colourful, there's soothing music playing, the plants on the reef sway to the sound of the music and it is sooooooooo addictive. So much so that I spent 2 hours happily growing plants and adding beautiful things to my reef and really did forget the time on Saturday. If my grandchildren are on their ipods for any length of time I'm usually telling them they're antisocial or that it will fry their brain and make their eyes go funny .... and yet here I was hours later still building my reef. When my grandchildren asked if they could help collect the algae I said 'yes' but then proceeded to tell them what they could not press just in case they didn't collect the right things.
For 3 days the thing uppermost in my mind had been my reef and apart from church on Sunday I realised I hadn't spent any quality time with the Lord. In fact I hadn't spent much time with him at all, never mind quality time, and I certainly hadn't spent any time in the word.
When I realised I was speaking tonight I also realised that because of Nemo, I had nothing at all to share ... how could I, when, for the last 3 days, I had left out Him who I wanted to talk about.
As I searched for something to share my thoughts kept coming back to my iPad and I saw that it was a very useful piece of equipment but in the wrong hands it could be next to useless and not do anyone or anything any good.
A bit like with the, the word of God. It can calm a soul, help heal the sick, bring a sinner to repentance, it's like Proverbs 16:24 says but even more so ...Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.
The words of the bible are indeed health to the bones. We need to study it's truth because even Jesus himself knew the word of God. He quoted many times from what we know as the old testament.
2 Tim2:15 says study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman not easily ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to study, to memorise it so that it goes deep into the very fibre of our being so we can draw on the words in times of need.
I learned some verses of scripture when I was younger and also when I was a new Christian that I can still recall today and it seemed easier to do it then, it takes me much longer to memorise now.
Our own words too can heal or harm - Proverbs 25:11 says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. That's a beautiful verse.
I looked up the word 'fitly' in the dictionary and it said; in a proper or suitable manner'.
Our words, if spoken kindly or properly in a suitable manner can be like apples of gold in pictures of silver. When I thought about this I thought that apples of gold would be costly, can you imagine golden apples, very precious and most certainly costly ... so too our words. If we use scripture then very precious indeed because Jesus himself is the word of life and he is above all, precious to those who believe. Our own words too then need to be precious, we need to put a high price upon them and speak only good.
Pictures of silver ... reminded me of being pure and the refining process when it has taken place, all of the dross, the impurities have surfaced and been skimmed off to show the pure silver beneath. Our words, just like those of Christ, ought to be pure, ought to be truth.
John 14:6 Jesus said of himself that he was the truth ... I am the way the truth and the life ...his words were truth and all that we say must be truth too.
When his hour was come, Jesus spoke to the Father and one of the things he said in John 17:17 was Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth... He is the word of God He is truth.
Because of using my iPad the wrong way and putting it before the Lord, He really showed me that he wants me to use whatever I have to draw close to him, to put him first and in whatever I say to remember that 'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver'.
Needless to say my reef is not the centre of my days, Nemo has been deleted and I am using my iPad as it should be used and I am enjoying listening to some of the wonderful Christian music I have downloaded.
