Life is a living example

Sep20

Our life is a living example of God, we should be reflecting God in our actions and words. If we have him inside of us then our  fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and  self control. These are revealed through our character to our friends, family, colleagues and others we meet.

So live a godly life and reveal Jesus.

Vine and the branches

Sep20

If I do not remain in God then I am producing no fruit and it will be cut off. So if I remain in God then I will produce fruit. My fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and  self control, which God is developing and honing in our lives all of the time if we remain in him.

Fruit is brought about by God using different situations, so God can mould, melt, break and bend us into the final product which we were created for. He is our master and Lord. He is the master craftsman who has full control of what happens and is changing us and creating a very special and precious thing.

Psalm

Sep20

Lord lift me out of this pit of despair

and set me feet on a firm solid ground.

Lord turn my sadness into joy,

my lifelessness to abounding enthusiasm,

and my tiredness into unknown energy

that lifts me to a higher place.

Set me free from the things that want to pull me down

and let me be much closer to you.

You are my source of joy and happiness,

my peace and love  when we choose to spend the time to be with you.

Let me find that deeper relationship with you and the strength so I can face the day.

Lord you are there for us when we choose to follow you and be on the right path that you have chosen for us.

Declaration

Aug24

Exodus 33:14 (New International Version)

14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

I will personally go with you, and I will give you rest, everything will be fine for you.

So wherever I go and whatever I do God is with me. When we go through tough times that seems like I am on my own God is with me.

Deuteronomy 31:6-8 (New International Version)

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Be strong and courageous. I don’t need to be afraid or panic for God is going ahead of me. He is not ever going to leave me or abandon me. God calls us to lead people to him. To lead people to have a closer relationship with God.

We need to show and live our life for God, so that others  get to know God.

Dry and barren land

Aug24

Why do we go through when we seem to be very much away from God.
Our relationship with God seems to be nill.
We struggle to put the effort in to see what God wants for our life. We feel lost and abandoned.

What is a dry and barren land?

It its where nothing grows,  lifeless, wilderness and it its thirsty land.
So if we are in the dry, barren land we need to feed and water ourselves.  By feeding on the word of God. By drinking at the well of Gods living waterand getting ourselves soaked in Gods presence.
We need to constantly fill ourself up

What causes dry and barren times in our life?

It is when have stopped staying so close to God and think we can  manage on our own we stop reading his word and soaking in his presence. We are not feeding our mind and body with what God has for our life.We may be to focused on friendships with others than seeking God for what he has for us.

Where have we gone wrong to go  through a dry time?

We have not spent time with God and his people so our minds are more on worldly ideas  and thinking. We have not built our relationship with God he have stopped talking to him and reading his word. We may be still going to church and being with God’s people but in our private walk with God we are falling short.

How can we get out of try is period of time?

Easy, now that I understand why I was going through a dry,barren time. We need to feed our mind and body and soul with God’s gifts for us and to read his word and to soak in his presences and talk with him.

Who is responsible to sort out getting out of the dry time and enter fruitfulness?
We are , because it is our personal walk with God that keeps us from being in that place where we in a dry, barren wilderness .

God’s Guidance on Life

Feb23

Proverbs 3: 1-12

There are 6 main area to focus on in this passage which gives us guidance on our life.

  • Teaching and commands
  • Love and faithfulness
  • Trust
  • Wisdom and respect
  • Honour
  • Discipline and correction

Teaching and Commands

In verse 1 and 2 it talks about not forgetting my teaching and to keep his commands in your heart. God’s teaching on life is all through His word which gives instructions how to live. There are numerous commands that God gave his people especially in the old testament. There are ten main commandments in the old and a few in the new testament. These are some of his laws we as Christians still keep.

God asks us to keep them in our mind which is a good place to keep them, which helps us to walk closer and have a deeper relationship with Him. When we don’t walk in God’s ways that’s when things don’t go well.

If we live with God’s commands and teachings then we will live long time and you will be successful. How we see being successful can mean different to other people.

I see to have successful life is:-

  • To have a good relationship with God
  • To show the love of God to others through our actions and words
  • To get through the trials we face which develops our character and walk with God
  • To accomplish our hopes and dreams.
  • To achieve some of these things we will we will be successful.

Love and faithfulness

In verse 3 and 4 God tells us let love and faithfulness at he will never leave us. Since God is love and he lives in our lives then we should be showing love and compassion just the same way God does for us.

God reminds us that we are to stay faithful to him. He is always faithful to us even through our trials and we don’t think he is there, he is always there.

Where it says bind them on your neck and write them on your heart it reminds me of putting on the armour of God ,so we are ready to do God’s work. Like a soldier we need the right equipment for battle , we also need to have the armour of God on us.

When we have faithfulness and love it helps us to win people who do not know the lord. But we are also prepared for any other trial that comes our way.

Trust the Lord

We see Trust is another characteristic we need to have, it comes in our relationship with God and with others. When we trust in God he gives us more responsibility which helps us to feel satisfied but also yearn for more.

There is plenty of things to put our trust in but they will not give a reward and a feeling of achievement, like when we do the work Gods gives us.

In life we can lean on God to help us to understand what we need to do in any circumstance or situation we find ourselves in.

When we acknowledge that God is in control he will direct the path we take. How he gets us from A to B but also what happens between those places.

Wisdom and fear/ respect

In v 7 and 8 this talks about wisdom and fear or respect of God depend on your bible translation.

God gives us enough wisdom and information for the task at hand. If God would give us more information than we need we do not know what to do and we can not comprehend what is to be done.

When we rely on our own wisdom then we are sure to fall like Solomon, he had all wisdom but did not choose the right things to do. He got himself into all sorts of mess.

When God says fear the Lord in this passage this means to show God respect and reverence to who he is.

To shun or turn away from evil as this offend God as this is not what he had chosen for us when he first created us.

Honour

9 is about showing the lord honour. God asks for us to honour him because he gave us everything. He could of chosen not to give us anything when he created us, but he loved us so much that he wanted to give us gifts.

To show we honour someone we give show them love and give them something back.

When we honour God we give back a portion of what he gives to us, which enables more fruit to be sown and his work can continue in other lives and others.

Discipline and Correction

We need discipline and correction so that we can grow into a more mature person. Where there is no discipline, there is disorder and no peace. Unless we are corrected we never learn that it is not allowed and will continue to go along the wrong path.

Summary

If God ask us for all of these qualities to be shown to him and he shows them to us, we should be showing them to everyone else. Since we are a child of God and know how to give good gifts, then there is a hurt world out there that needs to be shown that there is a better way to be living.

Psalms

Feb15

Here is a psalm I wrote at church when we were doing a teaching session on worship. We had been experimenting with different ways to worship.

Lord I come before you as you are a great and mighty God,
Who holds everything in your hand.
You know the beginning from the end.
You are my strength and my comforter.
You are a faithful and holy God.
You set my feet on a solid place and hold my hand.
You never leave me even when I leave you at times.
Lord you know all about me.
You know my struggles and you carry me.

Planting and growing

Feb15

1 Cor 3:6-9
Paul planted seeds and Apolos watered then God made it grow.
We see the same principles in our lives. During our lives as christians we are to show and teach others how to get to know God.
We have friends who we see and when we are going about our daily business, hopefully sharing the love of God through our actions and words. When we do this we are planting the seed in their life.
We could also be watering the seed if they have already been shown and headed about the love of God.
We have a purpose in our life to share out faith with others so that God can make the person grow. From reading these verses we see we have a responsibility to serve God but ultimately it is in God’s timing when the person becomes one of his followers.