God Has Qualified You
October 11, 2013 
5 Comments
Colossians 1:12-22 (NIV)
and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of the Son of God
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
Grace Is Power, Not Just Pardon
October 10, 2013 3 Comments
Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon. Therefore the effort we make to obey God is not an effort done in our own strength, but in the strength which God supplies.
John Piper
Come Together In Agreement
October 9, 2013 13 Comments
1 Corinthians 1:10-14 (VOICE)
My brothers and sisters, I urge you by the name of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, to come together in agreement. Do not allow anything or anyone to create division among you. Instead, be restored, completely fastened together with one mind and shared judgment. I have heard troubling reports from Chloe’s people that you, my siblings, are consumed by fighting and petty disagreements. What I have heard is that each of you is taking sides, saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with the Anointed One.” Has the Anointed One been split up into many small pieces? Do you think Paul was crucified for you? Were you ceremonially washed through baptism[a] into the name of Paul? Absolutely not!
Paul knows that if the work of Jesus’ gospel degenerates into a cult of personality, it will hardly resemble true Christianity. If the focus is on Paul, Cephas, Apollos, or any famous religious leader, then that distracts from the person and central message of Jesus. Any cult of personality is intoxicating, and it is often easier to claim to follow a person who can be seen and touched. But Christianity is founded upon the belief that Jesus is the head of the church and that all of His followers serve His will as a part of the royal priesthood.
See What He’s Been Looking At
October 8, 2013 5 Comments
You can’t tell what a man is like or what he is thinking when you are looking at him. You must get around behind him and see what he has been looking at.
Will Rogers
God Has No History
October 7, 2013 2 Comments
This human life in God is from our point of view a particular period in the history of our world (from His birth to His crucifixion). We therefore imagine it is also a period in the history of God’s own existence. But God has no history. He is too completely and utterly real to have one. For, of course, to have a history means losing part of your reality (because it has already slipped away into the past), and not yet having another part (because it is still in the future); in fact, having nothing but the tiny little present, which has gone before you can speak about it. God forbid we should think God was like that! Even we may hope not to be always rationed in that way.
C. S. Lewis
Courage Doesn’t Always Roar!
October 4, 2013 9 Comments
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, I’ll try again tomorrow.
Unknown
Spirit Levelling
October 4, 2013 2 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
Travelling back home on the train this morning, I was showing Sarah the new (but hidden) spirit level on iOS 7 on my iPhone (to get to it, just open the compass app and then swipe from right to left with one finger to reveal). As I was tilting my phone up and down and showing that when the surface is level the whole screen goes green, suddenly I had the thought….
This is the same with our spiritual lives. How balanced/instep am I with the Spirit that dwells within?!
Are you instep with the Spirit?
Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
More Thoughts 💭
At or around harvest time I like to think about my life and how much its changed from the fruitless dead tree and how God is healing me by his Love and Grace by trying to grow the fruits for his glory. I need to keep my roots deep in him and be in step with the Spirit so I don’t just wither and die.
$5 Bill
October 3, 2013 8 Comments
A few years ago I had managed to screw up my life so badly that I found myself without a home and without hope. I’m ashamed to admit it, but even then I was so absorbed by my own self-pity that all I could think of was begging enough money to buy the cheapest drink I could find. One day I was sitting in front of a store panhandling when a woman walked by with a small boy in tow. She ignored my pitch and hurried away. As I watched them go down the sidewalk the small boy broke free and came running back. He stood in front of me, fumbling in his coat pocket; he pulled out a five-dollar bill that was almost certainly more money than he had ever held before, and handed it to me. I was completely dumbstruck and just sat there staring at him with the money in my hand. By then his mother had returned and with tears in her eyes gently led the boy away. He turned back once to wave and they were gone. I don’t know how long I sat there, but I have not had another drink since then.
Unknown
Humility
October 2, 2013 6 Comments
1 Peter 5:1-9 (VOICE)
Now for the elders of the church. I want to encourage you. As you know, I am an elder, too, like you. I have witnessed firsthand the sufferings of the Anointed One as well as shared in the glories which are soon to be revealed. When you shepherd the flock God has given you, watch over them not because you have to but because you want to. For this is how God would want it not because you’re being compensated somehow but because you are eager to watch over them. Don’t lead them as if you were a dictator, but lead your flock by example; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will be crowned with honor that will shine brightly forever. You who are younger in the faith: do as your elders and leaders ask. All of you should treat each other with humility, for as it says in Proverbs,
God opposes the proud
but offers grace to the humble.
So bow down under God’s strong hand; then when the time comes, God will lift you up. Since God cares for you, let Him carry all your burdens and worries.
Humility is rarely a virtue that our culture values. We’re trained from an early age to show our strengths and hide our weaknesses. This type of thinking also spills over into our models of leadership, as we learn to dictate to others how they should perform. Peter, however, says that we should be humble in our relationships with one another and not lead as dictators. In fact, this humility before one another and God is actually the position of the greatest strength. Our enemy desires to consume us, but we find strength to resist him when we are dependent upon God for His strength.
Most importantly, be disciplined and stay on guard. Your enemy the devil is prowling around outside like a roaring lion, just waiting and hoping for the chance to devour someone. Resist him and be strong in your faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are fellow sufferers with you.
Lay A Firm Foundation
October 1, 2013 4 Comments
A wise person can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at them.
Walk out Your Faith
September 30, 2013 2 Comments
Paul continues to tell the people about the kinds of behavior they need to rid themselves of and closes off the passage with ways they should behave instead.
Ephesians 4:28-32
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
As Paul closes out this fourth chapter of Ephesians…
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The Lives We Touch
September 30, 2013 3 Comments
If Christ lives in us, controlling our personalities, we will leave glorious marks on the lives we touch. Not because of our lovely characters, but because of his.
Eugenia Price
Daily Prompt: A Bend in Time
September 27, 2013 12 Comments
Spreading a Fragrance of God’s Grace
September 27, 2013 1 Comment
Some time ago when my parents returned from their business trip, they bought me some perfumes from various brands. I really love perfume. Every day I always use it and I think every woman likes and use perfume too so that always smelled fragrant wherever she is. When I tried one perfume, don’t know why suddenly I remembered a bible story about a woman who poured a most expensive perfume to Jesus’ head.
Mark 14:3: “While He was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.”
This is a beautiful act of love towards Jesus. This woman took her best; she gave a most expensive perfume to Jesus as an expression her love to Jesus. What prompted…
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The Special Ox
September 27, 2013 3 Comments
There was a man who heard about a very special ox and determined to have it for his own. He traveled all over the world. He spent his entire fortune. He gave his whole life to the search for this ox. At last, just moments before he died, he realized he had been riding it all the time.
Thomas Aquinas
Don’t You Know, Havn’t You Heard?
September 26, 2013 8 Comments
Isaiah 40:21-31 (VOICE)
Don’t you know, haven’t you heard or even been told from your earliest memories how the earth came to be? Who else could have done it except God, enthroned high above the earth? From such a vantage people seem like grasshoppers to Him. Who else but God could stretch out the skies as if they were a curtain, draw them tight, suspend them over our heads like the roof of a tent?
God reduces the rulers and judges, the rich and powerful of the earth, to nothing; They scarcely are planted, take root and start growing, before God blows a withering breath, And storm winds carry them away like chaff. The Holy One asks, “Do you really think you can find someone or something to compare to Me? My equal?” Look at the myriad of stars and constellations above you. Who set them to burning, each in its place? Who knows those countless lights each by name? They obediently shine, each in its place, because God has the great strength and strong power to make it so.
Why, then, do you, Jacob, inheritors of God’s promise, you, Israel, chosen of God—Why do you say, “My troubled path is hidden from the Eternal; God has lost all interest in My cause”? Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The Eternal, the Everlasting God, The Creator of the whole world, never gets tired or weary. His wisdom is beyond understanding. God strengthens the weary and gives vitality to those worn down by age and care. Young people will get tired; strapping young men will stumble and fall.
But those who trust in the Eternal One will regain their strength. They will soar on wings as eagles. They will run—never winded, never weary.
They will walk—never tired, never faint.
Smile From The Heart Out
September 25, 2013 5 Comments
A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody until it is given away. Keep smiling- and let your smile be one of sincerity. Don’t just force it out to make a sale, to keep out of a fight, or for similar reasons. But smile from the heart out, making those who see you smile do likewise in a feeling of good fellowship.
James M. Tulloch
Prayer #1
September 24, 2013 0 Comments
PRAYER. (I) by George Herbert
PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner’s towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood.
My Thoughts 💭
A visiting minister read this poem to us on sunday and I thought I’d share it with you. I’ve never heard it before but i’m sure some of you will know it! 🙂
Source Of Great Comfort
September 24, 2013 1 Comment
The fact that the bible is full of murderers, cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me. Now, it’s a source of great comfort.
Bono
Give Us Grace
September 23, 2013 3 Comments
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Yay, I’m Back!
September 23, 2013 20 Comments
Yay, I’m back!!! I can finally use my computer again after a couple of months of intermitant computer failure. It became impossible to use and I thought it was the hard drive giving up, but after I reinstalled the operating system it is back to being well fast! 🙂
I’m sorry to everyone who follows my blog (I havn’t abandoned you) and I now have a few emails of your amazing posts to catch up on (see image above)
Loving Perfectly
September 17, 2013 5 Comments
Every single person in our lives will disappoint us at some level. Some days they’ll be busy when we need them to be still; other days they’ll be self-centered when we need them to concentrate on us. Sometimes they’ll bruise us with hard words aimed right for the soft places in our soul. They won’t meet all our emotional needs. They can’t; they have too many needs of their own. They’re sinners just like us. Only our Creator can love us perfectly, the way He created us to be loved. His love is the only thing that can define us without destroying us.
Lisa Harper
The Sermon Of Your Life
September 16, 2013 7 Comments
The sermon of your life in tough times ministers to people more powerfully than the most eloquent speaker.
Bill Bright
God Is With Me
September 14, 2013 6 Comments
One of the most powerful concepts, one which is a sure cure for lack of confidence, is the thought that God is with you and helping you. This is one of the simplest teachings in religion, namely, that Almighty God will be your companion, will stand by you, help you, and see you through. No other idea is so powerful in developing self-confidence as this simple belief when practiced. To practice it simply affirm “God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Spend several minutes each day visualizing his presence. Then practice believing that affirmation.
Norman Vincent Peale
What Other People Think
September 13, 2013 4 Comments
What other people think of me is becoming less and less important; what they think of Jesus because of me is critical.
Cliff Richard
Praise The One Who Gives Us Life
September 12, 2013 1 Comment
Psalm 66:9 (VOICE)
Praise the One who gives us life and keeps us safe, who does not allow us to stumble in the darkness.
Be Swift To Love
September 11, 2013 0 Comments
Life’s short and we never have enough time for the hearts of those who travel the way with us. O, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.
Henri-Frederic Amiel
Alpha & Omega
September 10, 2013 4 Comments
Revelation 21:5-9 (VOICE)
And the One who sat on the throne announced to His creation,
The One: See, I am making all things new. (turning to me) Write what you hear and see, for these words are faithful and true. It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will see to it that the thirsty drink freely from the fountain of the water of life. To the victors will go this inheritance: I will be their God, and they will be My children. It will not be so for the cowards, the faithless, the sacrilegious, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all those who deal in deception. They will inherit an eternity in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
John sees an amazing sight. It is something no one had ever seen nor will ever see until that day arrives. Scene by blessed scene passes before the prophet. Finally he is transported to the end of history only to discover it is no end at all; it is a new beginning. The prophecies—every last one of them—are coming true. God’s plan will be accomplished on earth as it is in heaven when the new Jerusalem comes down and He lives among His people. All things will become new.
Love to Die For
September 9, 2013 0 Comments
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NRSV)
“Love” is one of those words which can have a range of meanings in English. We make the one word serve a multiplicity of circumstances. For example, “I love my wife and I love my children” use the term in a different sense from “I love football” or “I just loved that holiday in Malta. There are many more instances we could use, and we understand the meaning of the word “love” by the way it is used.
But what do we mean when we apply the word to Jesus? The Bible…
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Incredible Beauty
September 9, 2013 5 Comments
We give thanks this morning for the incredible beauty of this day, for the magnificence of life, and for our own individual potential still untapped. As we reflect on these blessings, we praise God for the good signs in our own lives- good signs of the past and good signs ahead.
Richard G. Capen, Jr.
The Right Route
September 7, 2013 6 Comments
Take those road hazards- the potholes, ruts, detours, and all the rest- as evidence that you were on the right route. It’s when you find yourself on that big, broad, easy road that you ought to worry.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Anger
September 3, 2013 4 Comments
There is nothing that can be done with anger that cannot be done better without it.
Dallas Willard
How Horrible
September 2, 2013 18 Comments
Oh, how horrible our sins look when they are committed by someone else.
Charles Swindoll
When Temptation Comes
September 1, 2013 2 Comments
Loving Father, please help me to say the right words of love and affection to those whom I love so that when temptation comes, or when others try to draw them away from me, they will not doubt my love for them. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Great Tranquility Of Heart
September 1, 2013 10 Comments
He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with.
Thomas Kempis
Make The Many Righteous
August 31, 2013 4 Comments
Daniel 12:3 (VOICE)
Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky at midday, and those who make the many righteous will shine as the stars forever and ever.
A Mass Of Dancing Dirt
August 31, 2013 2 Comments
Only as man brings his life into harmony with God does that life have balance and meaning. Then man finds that he is not simply a mass of dancing dirt, coming from nowhere and going nowhere.
Henry Schmidt
Just Wait In His Presence
August 27, 2013 12 Comments
The whole duty and blessedness of waiting on God has its root in this, that He is such a blessed Being, full, to overflowing, of goodness and power and life and joy, that we, however wretched, cannot for any time come into contact with Him, without that life and power secretly, silently, beginning to enter into us and blessing us. God is Love! God’s love is just His delight to impart Himself and His blessedness to His children. Come, and however feeble you feel, just wait in His presence. As a feeble invalid is brought out into the sunshine to let its warmth go through him, come with all that is dark and cold in you into the sunshine of God’s holy, omnipotent love, and sit and wait there, with the one thought: Here I am, in the sunshine of His love. As the sun does its work in the weak one who seeks its rays, God will do His work in you.
Andrew Murray
Stumble Over The Truth
August 24, 2013 7 Comments
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry on as if nothing happened.
Winston Churchill
Instilling A Foundation Of Values
August 23, 2013 8 Comments
Children are not casual guests in our home. They have been loaned to us temporarily for the purpose of loving them and instilling a foundation of values on which their future lives will be built.
James Dobson
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