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My Bible Verse Journal

I've been keeping a journal of bible verses over the last few years and stopped for a while. Having all of this time during lockdown and having a good sort out I came across my journal again so thought I'd post a few of the pages I do. I am by no means an artist so these are just my simple thoughts and drawings

When Jesus Passed By

When Jesus passed by.  Have you ever wondered just what you would have done had Jesus passed by.

Jesus passed by Samaria and Galilee and entered a village and ten men's lives were changed.  They stood afar off as he came into the village.  Perhaps someone had run on ahead to say that the master was coming.  Perhaps they'd just simply come to see what he looked like or to hear him speak or maybe they'd heard about the miracles he'd done.  Ten men coming together on this particular day, at this particular hour, for such a time as this.  Ostracized by society, living on the outskirts of town, their faces marred and disfigured by the tumours.  These ten men had leprosy.  They knew only God could heal such a disease as the one they had.

Had they perhaps heard how Namaan of old was healed of leprosy by the prophet Elisha.  You can read the account in 2 kings 5.  There were very strict levitical laws surrounding leprosy. 

 Lev 13:46 says  And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

These men would have known that they couldn't get too close, there would be the fear that the disease would be passed on to others, so from afar they watched.

Ten men living in conditions that would not be good, ten men who, when Jesus passed by would never be the same again.  Ten men who literally cried out to God on that road,  "Jesus, master, have mercy upon us".  Jesus did have mercy he simply looked at them and said, go and show yourself to the priests and as they went they were cleansed. 

The fear, the hurts, the tumours gone, they surely would have gone leaping and praising God at such a miracle.  But we don't hear anymore about them, did they go to the priest, the priest would have been the one who declared them clean and free of the disease.  Even though Jesus had done the healing he didn't prevent the work of the priest being done. 

Nine of these men just went on their way, changed completely because Jesus passed by but the tenth,a Samaritan, he came back to give thanks and to praise God. Now normally the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans but it didn't matter to Jesus. As the man fell at Jesus feet  Jesus said  "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."

And he said unto him, "Arise, go your way: your faith has made you whole".

You know friends Jesus didn't even have to touch these ten men, he only had to speak the words and today we still have those very words of Jesus that can be spoken to every disease there is .. We have his word in the bible .. Words that have been spoken to many people throughout the ages .. Go your way, your faith has made you whole.  The same words were spoken to the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5

Here was someone else ostracised by those in the community because of her uncleanness, makes you wonder how she coped all those years.  She'd been put outside of the camp, In her need to go and fetch water from the well for her daily needs, did her friends and family cross to the other side of the road to avoid touching her.

But now today, she heard and saw the crowd,

Here was the master physician himself, hadn't she heard how he'd healed the sick.  Just earlier in the day he had cast out demons from the mad man and now he was on his way to heal the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, if only she dared, if only she dared follow and touch him, she had been treated as unclean these 12 years, oh to be free from this infirmity, this plague that had been with her all these years, oh to be like her friends and the other women in her family, to be able to feel clean again, Did she think in those moments if I can just get near, just touch the hem of his garment.  She did just that as Jesus passed by, she drew closer until she could reach out and touch the hem of his garment and immediately the issue of blood stopped.

When Jesus turned and spoke to her he didn't condemn her, didn't tell her she was unclean, didn't move to avoid her, he simply said 'daughter' your faith has made you well, go in peace and be whole from your plague.

And as As Jesus went throughout galilee preaching  ...

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  Here again another man cast out from society, from friends, family life having to live a life of misery having to walk around shouting unclean unclean if anyone was to cross his path.  Not only the pain of having a disease, but the pain of knowing you might not see your family again, living in conditions that not even the dogs would like. And now here he was falling to his knees in front of Jesus asking the master to heal him, to make him clean.

41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;

44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

We always tell someone

Jesus passed by and this mans life was changed, no longer an outcast by society, no longer having to hide away.  He'd be able to spend time with his family tomorrow, be able to walk the road and not shout unclean. Perhaps just shout hello to the people he met. 

Whenever Jesus passed by men and women's lives were changed, the woman at the well living in sin, the young boy whose loaves and fishes fed five thousand, the woman taken in adultery about to be stoned. These people were all changed in some way when Jesus passed by. 

Some commentaries say that leprosy is a metaphor for one of the greatest diseases of all time ... That of sin ... If that's the case then we were all lepers at one time or another.

Leprosy is truly an awful disease, it's an infection that damages the nerve endings and so in time the leper feels no pain, areas on his hands and feet become numb and because of this if he hurts his foot or hand he wouldn't really know it hurt and the wound would become infected so badly that it may have to be amputated

and just as the leper cried out for God to have mercy so too have we cried out for the very same thing.  Mercy from a saviour who cleansed us and healed us from the ugliness of sin.

Jesus passed by and turned the ugliness of our life into something beautiful, we were cleansed, made whole and like the one leper who went back we too fall at the Saviour's feet, giving glory to God for the changes in our life.

 When I think of the scars of leprosy, how gross a disease it is, I am reminded of my life before Jesus passed by. 

My sin must have been as ugly as that disease, if not uglier and yet Jesus reached out as he passed by and he touched me.

Most of us can say that we were changed and our lives were never the same when Jesus passed by.  Do you know that moment in my life when I was born again is something I'll never forget. I was clean, really clean, every horrible thing I'd ever done had been washed away, every lie I'd told, every swear word I'd uttered every single thing was gone and I was clean and made whole.  The leper and the woman with the issue of blood had been told your faith has made you well. Is that what had made me whole and clean, my faith.  Well it certainly wasn't faith in anything I could do and I don't think I really had that much faith then either I just knew Jesus was who he said he was and I knew he'd forgiven me.

I think  he wants to remind us of who we were and wants us to know who we are and who we can be in him.  He came to save that which was lost.  We were lost and he found us.

He's here just waiting to touch lives once again, lives that have been marred by sin, lives that have been broken by harsh words that have hurt and scarred, lives that seem empty and unused or old and unneeded, lives that are in pain from disease, illness, addiction, lives saddened by loss, lives that are just hurting.

Today Jesus can and does still pass by, but he doesn't just pass by and do nothing, He stops and does everything. He stops and touches and changes so many lives, whatever the need. 

If you have a need don't miss out on a touch from The Saviour.

I have finally been able to access my blog again and so thought I'd start writing in these very strange and difficult times. So much of the news is scary and there's an eerie silence outside as I type and we are into our second week of lockdown.
In all of this there is one thing as a Christian I know, the Lord is going through it with us. He is and always will be in complete control  I need not fear with him by my side. He will never leave me nor forsake me (Heb 13:5) and He has not given me a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).
My prayer today is that we all stay safe and look to Him who sees the beginning and the end.  

Nemo and Pictures of gold in apples of silver

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.

Zoe Challenge - Hope for Justice

This was the month of the Zoe Challenge with Hope for Justice (check out their web site).

 

Hope for Justice exists to see the end of human trafficking and slavery in the UK, in our generation. 

 

This group of guys are cycling from Latvia to Southampton - they hit the UK today - day 16 -  and have 4 days of cycling still ahead of them before they can rest.  They have gone through so much to raise money so that people like Zoe can be set free.   Take a look at the web site or check out their facebook page by typing Hope for Justice into the search box.

 

http://vimeo.com/67104952

 

The Source Youth Club decided to to help - HOW? by doing a sponsored exercise bike ride covering the 345miles of the UK leg of the journey. 

 

We are a small church with a big heart.  Our Youth Club, made up of young people from the community, who are not particularly church goers, cycled, sponsored, baked cakes, painted nails, and cheered on others who were cycling during a 2 hour youth club session and a 4 hour Zoe Challenge event.  They gave up their time and raised over £800 to help end Human trafficking.  I'm not able to put pics of the young people on here but here are some of the leaders of the Youth Club and also the Act for Justice team all doing there bit.

 

Please support this fantastic charity and if you can give please go to facebook or the web site and see what these amazing guys have gone through in their  bid to end Human Trafficking and to make your donation.  It isn'tjust happening in the UK it's in your country too. Thanks

 

Mark and Ruth (leaders of Act for Justice, Cannock) about to start the group off on their sponsored exercise bike ride.

Jean doing her 5 miles

Gary and Ruth (leader of the Source Youth Club) doing their bit

Gary and Mark still cycling

Pastor John happy to be taking part



Ruth has had her nails painted inbetween cycling

Keith giving Vikki a few words of encouragement

Rebekah feeling the heat

Andy having a great time

'We're just about there Ruth, keep going' says Mark



Ruth knows we've made the 345 miles

Source Youth Club leaders -we made it and we're still smiling



Yeah we did it - Act for Justice Team



Sandra (Pastor's wife) came along to encourage and help serve the tea and cake

Mary, Chris, Marlene and Gary enjoying the tea and cakes

Marlene and Gary came along to cheer everyone on


I know I speak for everyone when I say a Huge Thank you to all who took part, especially to the young people who gave their time and, a special thanks to Josh, Sasha, Olivia, Hannah, Steven, Elliot, Tom, Joe, Shannon Charlie, and a whole host of others.  Thanks everyone.