First blank page

I'm one of those people who love journals. I'm about to start on my third and there is just something about putting pen to paper on that first blank page. It reminds me about my life in Christ. Before I knew Him my life was kind of ordinary. I had a family, friends went out to the pub for drinks but as ordinary as it was there was something not right. I'd given my life to the Lord at 12 years old and in a sense it changed but not where I had a real understanding of what had happened so as I grew I just did the normal things a young girl does. I did however read the John's gospel I'd been given and I prayed every night. As an adult the day came when a friend showed me scripture and then it was like a blank page in front of me, clean, new, refreshed. It's not all been rosy since then but I love the first blank page in my journal, knowing it will be filled, not just with my daily thoughts  but with the wonderful things my Saviour does and shows me in my daily walk with him.

If, like me, you love journals, keep writing, fill the pages with each step of your walk with Jesus. If you've never had a journal I'd encourage you to start one, for you, and as a legacy of what the Lord has accomplished in your life. The one I'm starting today has a lovely front page and is scattered with scripture and snippets of the author's thoughts but it will be filled with my own thoughts as we go through these strange times and hopefully come out of the mess stronger for it. 

15 April 2020

A little bit of shop talk

A few years ago I helped out in a quaint shop in the city centre so here I am only now sharing the thoughts I had some mornings.

As I look around the shop, I'm struck by the many lights and realise at this time of year people are fascinated by lights.  I wonder why then,  they aren't fascinated by him who said "I am the light of the world".

Jesus came to bring true light to a dark world, a world where sin abounded, and had done for years and years, but he came that we might be saved. Born in a manger where the animals were kept and 32 years later died the cruelest of deaths to take upon himself the sins of the world that we might be saved and have eternal life. What a Saviour.

He has called his followers to be a light too, a light in the darkest of days, to shine his light and love wherever we go.

For God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

122018

It Matters To God About You

I'm one of those people who have things tucked away in my bible case; tracts, poems, bible verses, little cards and I came across a tract I'd been given years ago when I was going through a really bad time and the storms of life were crowding in. 

I'd prayed on the way to the shops and asked the Lord "does it matter to anyone about me".  As I came out of one shop a lady handed me a tract which I tried to decline as someone might have needed it more but she was adamant it was for me. The front was entitled "It matters to God about you".

Wow, the Lord answered my prayer and let me see he was concerned about everything I was going through.

He impressed on me to that we often tuck things away, not just the paper things but we tuck things away in our mind; the trials, struggles we face, the storms of life, finances, marriage, children, work, the list is endless but I believe if you happen to read this "It matters to God about you" yes you.

Whatever you're facing, don't tuck the thoughts away, give them to Jesus. He might want you to bring them to the forefront of your mind so he can help you deal with them.

I get excited when I think of how much he cares. We might not have been around when he walked this earth or did miracles but one day he'll wipe the tears away, we will see him face to face and there will be no more pain, no more tears. Read what John says at the beginning of Revelation 21:1-7 - It really does matter to God about you.

May He bless your day. 

Wait on the Lord

I came across quite a few blogs I didn't get round to posting, so over the coming coming days I'll post as many as I can and hope they bless anyone who reads.

 Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he will strengthen your heart, wait I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:14)

There are lots of biblical references to waiting on the Lord and in life there are many things we have to wait for.  

I  had to learn to wait on the Lord when my grandson was taken into hospital as a youngster.

I had to wait to see if his temperature had returned to normal. 

I had to wait to see if he had meningitis or if he had just a virus.  

I had to wait for news while doctors decided whether to do a lumbar puncture and head scan and 

I had to wait on the Lord to see him answer mine and many others' prayers as we were told it was his adenoids that had caused the problems.

In all of this I began to see that waiting wasn't simply just expecting something to happen, it was much more than that, there had to be an action on my part.

There are many instances in the bible of 'waiting'.  

In Genesis 8 I found that Noah waited.  The Lord had told him to build an ark, had given him instructions on how to build it and instructions on how it was to be filled with animals of every kind.  

Noah then had to wait for the rains to come and then wait for the waters to subside.  In all this time of Noah waiting the thing that struck me most was .... Noah TRUSTED. It wasn't just about the waiting, it was trusting the Lord, he had to continually trust the Lord. He trusted the instructions the Lord gave him, trusted Him to keep him and his family safe, trusted when the Lord said he would establish a covenant with him and trusted He would not destroy the earth again when the Lord said he would set his rainbow in the cloud.

I saw how we are meant to trust the Lord in all of our waiting. He has given us a blue print for the kind of person he wants us to be. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says 

for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

As we wait and trust Him, the Lord has thoughts of peace for our life.  In his grace and mercy, he thinks only good things of us, thinks of our wellbeing, plans to give us a future filled with hope, but we need to trust him as Noah did.  

No matter how long it takes, no matter what it is whether difficulties, storms, trials or just leading our ordinary, everyday lives, we need to trust, to wait on the Lord, to be of good courage and he will strengthen us.

In Genesis 18 we read of someone else who waited. It would seem Sarah, after waiting so long, thought she was too old to conceive a child and in her long wait she took matters into her own hands when she came up with the plan to give Abraham a son through her maid Hagar, and Ishmael was born.  

I wonder if Sarah ever regretted her plan because when she and Abraham were very old she was told she would give birth to a son.  She laughed when she heard the news and despite seeming to doubt what God could do through her, Sarah is mentioned in Hebrews 11:11 where it says "through faith,  Sarah herself received strength to conceive and bear a child even when she was past child bearing age because she judged him faithful who had promised". Sarah had faith in the Lord, sh trysted Him..

 In Jeremiah 32:27  The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah saying behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me and 

In Luke 1 when Mary is told her cousin Elizabeth was with child when she was barren, the angel says for with God nothing shall be impossible. 

Sarah became somebody despite her old age, she became a mother despite her doubt about what God could do through her. She had faith and trusted in Him who said nothing was too hard for Him. 

So what is it today that you think is too hard for God to do in your life. Nothing, absolutely nothing in your life is too hard for God, no matter what you think he can't do through you or in you. 

I read somewhere that the Lord responds to faith even in the midst of failures, he isn't bound by anything and can cause unheard of events to happen.

Faith my friends can remove mountains, Jesus himself said so and if you wait upon the Lord, exercising your faith in Him, and trusting Him, then just look at what He might do in your life.

Sent from my iPad 14.7.15

Jacob's Well

 This is something I shared with our Sunday School Class. I love how children are eager to hear about Jesus.

1Jesus sat on the wall of Jacob's well.  He and his disciples had been travelling from Jerusalem to Galilee and they took the quickest route through Samaria. It took them hours and sometimes days to go from one town to the next.  

Tired and thirsty Jesus stopped in Sychar while his disciples went into the city to buy food.  

One of the Samaritan women came to get water from the well, lowering her water pot down into the well and drawing it back up again.  As she did so Jesus asked her for a drink.  

The woman was shocked because Jews had no dealings with Samaritans and she told Jesus this, wondering why he had spoken to her.  Jesus told her that if she knew the gift of God and who it was that asked her for water she would have asked and he would have given her living water. (Read John 1:10-14) 

The woman then asked Jesus to give her that water so she wouldn't be thirsty again and wouldn't have to come to the well. Jesus went on to talk to the woman telling her things about her life that only she knew and wondered how he could know.   (Read John 1:22-24)

The woman told Jesus that she knew when the Christ came he would tell them all things and Jesus said to her "I am he".

The disciples came back at this point and were surprised to see Jesus talking to this woman but none of them said anything and she went off into the city and told the people who she had met and that he knew everything.  The people started coming to Jesus to hear what he had to say.  

Jesus knew he had to talk to these people because they needed to hear the truth about God.  The people wanted Jesus to stay and he taught them for 2 days.  They all said to the woman, "we believe now because we've heard what he had to say with our own ears and we know he is the Saviour of the world",  and many Samaritans accepted the gift of God which is eternal life in Jesus. 

The woman at the well was changed.  She met Jesus and her life was never going to be the same.   

When Jesus touches our lives something inside changes and we want other people to know who he is, this is what happened to the woman of Samaria.  She was touched by Jesus when he spoke to her at the well and she went into the city to tell everyone about him. 

Sometimes Jesus asks us to do that, to go and talk to our friends to tell them about how much he loves and cares for us all.  If you hear Jesus in your heart asking you to tell your friends, don't be afraid ... Just tell them.  He will do the rest.

30.1.14

WALLS

I sat in my favourite cafe and as I looked around one of the first things to catch my eye was the word 'walls' written on the side of an icecream cabinet. As I looked at it I was reminded of another wall in the bible;  the wall in Jerusalem, that half a century after the rebuilding of the temple, we see Nehemiah weeping over, weeping, fasting and praying before God because the wall of Jerusalem was still broken down.

Here in Nehemiah the fact that the city wall was broken down meant there was no protection from marauders / robbers. The people were at risk of being attacked and without a wall for protection even the temple was at risk of being ransacked or worse and if there was no temple the presence of God would have nowhere to dwell, so it was on Nehemiah's heart to rebuild the broken down wall.

Walls seem to represent safety and I wondered can we relate any of this to our spiritual walk?.  Is there a wall in our life that we've built to help us get through the day.  Did we build a wall to keep others at arms length or perhaps to hide behind to prevent us being hurt. 

When a wall has been built there's a tendency to want it knocked down but that isn't always easy because the wall helps us feel safe.

Now just say we've pushed through, we've managed to knock down some walls but we're feeling a little exposed, we don't feel quite as safe as we did with the wall there, what do we do?  

I'm going to suggest that we quite simply trust, trust the Lord to keep us safe and that perhaps he wants us to rebuild some of those broken down places in our life because he wants his presence to have a place to dwell. 

"Do you not know", Paul says,  "you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16). 

Nehemiah was about rebuilding a literal broken down wall: with the Lord's help should we be about rebuilding a spiritual broken down wall. .

I don't know if you've already knocked down a few walls:

I don't know if you're still hiding behind a wall of years of hurt or broken relationships and still have a sense of dread, distress, disappointment:

I don't know if you can't even name the reason you built a wall in the first place but it's still there and it's never coming down.

I don't know,  but I do know the God who loves us and wants what's best for us. He wants those walls to come down and he will help us rebuild those broken down places of hurt, disappointment, sadness, addictions and many more and his presence will really be seen in our life.

I cried when I read Nehemiah. I saw his sadness as he wept then spoke to the king about what was troubling him,  but I also saw his heart as he set about restoring and rebuilding the broken down walls of the city after talking with the Lord.

Is it time to be asking "which walls need to come down Lord, which ones are preventing your presence to be really seen in my life" and then to ask "where do I start the rebuilding".

God turns a negative into a positive.

I shared this with my Life Group and thought I'd share it again on my blog as its a long time since I shared anything so here goes ...

I wanted to bring something today that could have given us a nice discussion. I looked at the suffering servant but nothing came together, I don't know how many times I looked at Genesis but again it didn't seem to be coming together and I thought, well we'll just sit and chat, but then I came across something I'd spoken on at my old church and I think the Lord wants me to share part of it with you. I'm hoping if I heard right it will encourage you so I'm sorry if its more of a "preach" than a discussion. It came about from two words. I spoke at my other church on 'God turns a negative into a positive'.  It was a good 20 minutes talk but this bit isn't that long phew I hear you say. Within those 20 minutes I mentioned a card I'd received years ago from a very ageing uncle in Canada.
I can't remember how long I'd been a Christian or even if I was going through a tough time but I'd never had a card off Uncle George before, it may even have been a birthday card and I still have it somewhere I'm sure but can't remember when I got it.  He had though, for some reason, chosen to send me this card and he'd written on the back of the card, you know where you usually get the who made it bit, well he'd written ... two words ... Only believe ... I've never forgotten those two words because there was something meaninful in them.
Only believe .... In God? ... in love? ... for me, in those 2 words alone there was a bible study in the making but I didn't know what he was wanting me to believe  'Only believe' ...  in something so precious, maybe; in the greatest treasure on this earth the Word of God.  I chose to think this is what he meant.
So many positives, so many promises in it because that's what Gods positives are, promises. The Lord impressed on me as I read through my notes that He doesn't want us to dwell on the negatives and believe me  we often have so many to contend with but

You say: “I can’t do it.”
God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

You say: “It’s impossible.”
God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27).                                                                 
And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

You say: “I can’t go on.”
God says: My grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me

You say: “Nobody really loves me.”
God says: I love you (John 3:16; 13:34) 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

You say: “I’m too tired.”
God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul.

You say: “It’s not worth it.”
God says: It will be worth it (Romans 8:28)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

You say: “I’m not able.”
God says: I am able (2 Corinthians 9:8)
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work

You say: “I can’t forgive myself.”
God says: I forgive you (1 John 1:9; Romans 8:1)
*If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
*There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

You say: “I can’t manage.”
God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

You say: “I’m afraid.”
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

You say: “I’m always worried and frustrated.” Peter says of the Lord (1 Peter 5:7)
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

You say: “I don’t have enough faith.”
The word says: I’ve given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

You say: “I’m not smart enough.” God says: I’ll give you wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30)
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

You say: “I feel all alone.” God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)
Every negative thought you have  can be turned into a positive by the Word.

Being victorious and being positive are probably 2 of the hardest things to be.  But they are very much intertwined.  How can we not be positive or victorious when we know the God of the bible, the creator of the universe.

Christ died, how negative must that have seemed. Crucified between two thieves; followers and family devastated because they'd seen in him something positive and yet now, well, I can't begin to imagine how lost and afraid they must have felt, negative thoughts running through their mind. All the positive things Jesus said, perhaps forgotten in that moment in time when they saw him on the cross. When they saw him die.  But what appeared negative God turned into something positive and on the 3rd day Jesus rose again victorious. Positivity in action, victory over the grave.
I did a bible study and I'd like to read something to you that David Wilkerson wrote  ...

We are warriors -- blood-bought, blood-saved, more than conquerors through Jesus Christ! We are not in a courtroom with the devil, pleading a case. No -- we are victors! Jesus has won the victory for us; His blood has prevailed. And I believe our battle cry should be, "I proclaim the victory of the blood of Jesus! I am blood-washed, blood-bought, blood-justified, blood- safe, blood-ransomed. And I proclaim the victory of the blood of Jesus!"

Positive words indeed. We don't need the name it and claim it positive confessions some preachers tell us about, our positive confessions are rooted in Christ, in His death and resurrection and in the Word he has given us.

Sometimes we can have a head knowledge of God but we need to have much more than that, we need heart knowledge too and that is true of scripture we need heart knowledge as well as a head knowledge of the truth of the word, we need it to dwell in our innermost being.

Bible positives are more often than not bible promises .. we need to 'Only Believe'.

God is building his church, we are his church and the gates of hell can not, will not prevail against it as long as we stand on the word of God.  When those negative thoughts come in, remember God can turn every one of them into a positive.

In Luke 18 Jesus talks to the 'rich young ruler'. When he went away those who heard asked "who then can be saved" he answered "The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God".

Did you notice that ... Jesus doesn't say are possible for God, Jesus said the things which are impossible with men are possible WITH God - and that takes on a whole new meaning.  We often say, with God all things are possible and to be honest I've just thought yes, everything is possible for God, he's God after all so he can do anything but only now have I looked at this differently ... Only now can I see something a little different in this verse ... The word with ... With God - there are lots of meanings for the word 'with' and I'm sure in the Greek it means something different but in the good old English dictionary one of the meanings is 'to be accompanied by' so what this said to me was that if we are WITH God then everything is possible. On our own things are impossible, and maybe it's where negative thoughts creep in but with God, accompanied by him, then everything is possible

I read somewhere that We go through 60,000 thoughts each day and 80% is negative, well, I'm saying to you  remember you are, accompanied by God, so of those 60,000 thoughts don't even let 1% of them be a negative. Remember who you are in Christ, stand fast and proclaim that you are blood bought, blood saved, and more than conquerors.  Let God turn your negatives into positives and Only Believe