Are You Leaving Room For Faith?

There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.
John Calvin
Inherit A Blessing Today

1 Peter 3:8-9Β (VOICE)
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and show sympathy, love, compassion, and humility to and for each other, not paying back evil with evil or insult with insult, but repaying the bad with a blessing. It was this you were called to do, so that you might inherit a blessing.
Love People!

Love people and use things. Donβt love things and use people.
For Those Who Love Him

Romans 8:28Β (NIVUK)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Little Things

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things- I am tempted to think- there are no little things.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
You Were Deliberately Planned

You aren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.
Max Lucado
Praise His Holy Name

Psalm 103:1-5Β (VOICE)
O my soul, come, praise the EternalΒ with all that is in meβbody, emotions, mind, and willβevery part of who I amΒ praise His holy name.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal;Β sing a song from a grateful heart;Β sing and never forget all the good He has done.
Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you.Β More than any doctor, He heals your diseases.Β He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death.Β He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king.
When your soul is famished and withering,Β He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live.Β He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth.
Don’t Forget God!

We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God.
D. L. Moody
Step By Step

“He [Satan] will take away your prayer life little by little, and cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. He will make you feel somewhat cleverer than before. Step by step, you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step by step your heart is enticed away from the Lord.”
Stay Connected

John 15:1-9Β (VOICE)
Jesus: I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. My Father examines every branch in Me and cuts away those who do not bear fruit. He leaves those bearing fruit and carefully prunes them so that they will bear more fruit; already you are clean because you have heard My voice. Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. A branch cannot bear fruit if it is disconnected from the vine, and neither will you if you are not connected to Me.
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit. Without Me, you will accomplish nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is like a branch that is tossed out and shrivels up and is later gathered to be tossed into the fire to burn. If you abide in Me and My voice abides in you, anything you ask will come to pass for you. Your abundant growth and your faithfulness as My followers will bring glory to the Father.
At a time when all of His disciples are feeling as if they are about to be uprooted, Jesus sketches a picture of this new life as a flourishing vineyardβa labyrinth of vines and strong branches steeped in rich soil, abundant grapes hanging from their vines ripening in the sun. Jesus sculpts a new garden of Eden in their imaginationsβone that is bustling with fruit, sustenance, and satisfying aromas. This is the Kingdom life. It is all about connection, sustenance, and beauty. But within this promise of life is the warning that people must be in Christ or they will not experience these blessings.
Show Me…

Lord, I want to show the kindness of YourΒ heart today. Please show me who I can helpΒ and in what way. I want my words and deedsΒ to convey Your love. Amen.
The First Job Each Morning

The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life coming flowing in.
C. S. Lewis
Unfailing love

Psalm 89:1-2Β (VOICE)
I will sing of Your unfailing love, Eternal One, forever.
I will speak of Your faithfulness to all generations.
I will tell how Your unfailing love will always stand strong;
and how Your faithfulness is established in the heavens above.
God Wants To Use You

There are times when God wants to use you in someone else’s life; it may not be pretty or comfortable, but they need to see Jesus!
Are You Carrying A Grudge?

To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one wasp!
In Perfect Sync With Godβs Spirit

Galatians 5:13-26Β (VOICE)
Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love. For the whole law comes down to this one instruction: βLove your neighbor as yourself,β so why all this vicious gnawing on each other? If you are not careful, you will find youβve eaten each other alive!
Hereβs my instruction: walk in the Spirit, and let the Spirit bring order to your life. If you do, you will never give in to your selfish and sinful cravings. For everything the flesh desires goes against the Spirit, and everything the Spirit desires goes against the flesh. There is a constant battle raging between them that prevents you from doing the good you want to do. But when you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
Itβs clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, envy of othersβ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul has been preaching about the call of God to freedom, and so he now spells it out: we are done with the demands of the law; now we are free to live in the Spirit and to be truly right with God. As free people, the Spirit gives us the characteristics of Jesus; we, too, can freely love in joy and peace. We can have patience along with kindness and faithfulness that can only come from the Father. We can reflect the goodness of God while being gentle in operating with self-control. For those who follow Him and live in the Spirit, these characteristics or fruits are a gift from God. As we grow in the faith, we find that we belong to God and can walk daily in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You wonβt find any law opposed to fruit like this. Those of us who belong to the Anointed One have crucified our old lives and put to death the flesh and all the lusts and desires that plague us.
Now since we have chosen to walk with the Spirit, letβs keep each step in perfect sync with Godβs Spirit. This will happen when we set aside our self-interests and work together to create true community instead of a culture consumed by provocation, pride, and envy.
Real Rebellion

‘Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion.’
Alice Cooper
Ask God For It!

James 1:2-11Β (VOICE)
Donβt run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish lineβmature, complete, and wanting nothing. If you donβt have all the wisdom needed for this journey, then all you have to do is ask God for it; and God will grant all that you need. He gives lavishly and never scolds you for asking.
Wisdom, as James understands it, is the ability to live life well and make good decisions. Wisdom doesnβt come from old age or hard knocks. Wisdom begins with knowing and depending absolutely on God, who is never stingy when it comes to wisdom for those who seek it. He supplies all the wisdom we need when we ask. But when we try to go it aloneβwithout Godβtrouble is around the corner.
The key is that your request be anchored by your single-minded commitment to God. Those who depend only on their own judgment are like those lost on the seas, carried away by any wave or picked up by any wind. Those adrift on their own wisdom shouldnβt assume the Lord will rescue them or bring them anything. The splinter of divided loyalty shatters your compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.
God’s Love Is Greater Than Our Doubts

1 John 3:2-3Β (VOICE)
My loved ones, we have been adopted into Godβs family; and we are officially His children now. The full picture of our destiny is not yet clear, but we know this much: when Jesus appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. All those who focus their hopes on Him and His coming seek to purify themselves just as He is pure.
When we feel like we are not good enough to be loved by God, we should remember that Godβs love is greater than our doubts. We must silence the sounds of condemnation so we can hear the voice of Godβs loving assurance and remember that He has selected us to be part of His family.
Donβt Undervalue Yourself!

Do Not Fear, Only Believe

Mark 5:35-36
While he was still speaking, there came from the rulerβs house some who said, βYour daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?β But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, βDo not fear, only believe.β
πΈ Song 4 2day!Β
A Book That Understands Me

Father, I thank You for giving me a book that understands me.” By the power of your Spirit in me, stir up these words of yours in my mind and heart so that my life might naturally reflect who I am in you and who you are in me. Amen.
The Tragedy Of Life

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
W. M. Lewis
The Bridge Of Forgiveness

He who doesn’t forgive another, Breaks down the bridge over which he must cross himself!
Spiritual Fullness In Christ

Colossians 2:6-7Β (NIVUK)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
The Person You Made Me To Be

Father, we both know that the selfish pleasures of the world will spoil and ruin the body You’ve given me. Help me to stop choosing things that will wear me down. Give me strength to choose the things that will build me up so that I can be the person you made me to be. Amen.
Are You Paying Interest?

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength. It does not enable us to escape evil. It makes us unfit to face evil when it comes. It is the interest you pay on trouble before it comes.
Corrie ten Boom
“The way to worry about nothing is to pray about everything”
Experience

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.Β C S Lewis
Blessed Is The One Whoβ¦..
Psalms 1:1-6Β (NIV)
Β
Blessed is the oneΒ who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners takeΒ or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,Β and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in seasonΒ and whose leaf does not witherβ
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!Β They are like chaffΒ that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,Β nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Are You Being Robbed Of The Truth

1 Timothy 6:3-10
False Teachers and the Love of Money
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
β Music “I Wish I Knew Then” by Carlene Davis
We’re in the middle of a heat wave here in the UK, so i thought this would be a great summer song! π
Find Worth

God, thank You SO much for holding us to a different standard than the world. Releasing me from the constantly changing expectations that are unachievable is relieving. Help me to focus on Your gift, a salvation I cannot earn, and find worth in that above anything else! Amen.
My Thoughts πΒ
Judge your worth and value by what God says about you in His Word, not by how somebody else treats you!
Blesson: A Blessing In A Painful Lesson

My new word: “Blesson.” It’s when you’re able to view painful lessons as blessings. A blesson is what happens when you see the blessing in the lesson that your challenge taught you.
Karen Salmansohn
Flesh V’s Spirit: Which One Is Winning In Your Life?

Galatians 5:13-26Β (NIV)
Life by the Spirit
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: βLove your neighbor as yourself.β If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Is Your Church Showing Unity?

John 17:20-26Β Β (NIV)
Jesus Prays for All Believers
βMy prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are oneβ I in them and you in meβso that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
βFather, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
βRighteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.β
My Thoughts πΒ
How united is your church body?
Unity Is vital for us to carry out God’s will to be one united body. The world is watching us, so lets make known the unity and love of Jesus and show the world that they have a saviour and he loves them.
Helpless & Weak
Sometimes I feel so helpless and weak. I think that is why God uses me’. β Mother Teresa
β Music “Everything” by Tim Hughes
Its so important to put God in everything! Please don’t fall away and put your little god in a box for maybe one morning a week.
Are Your Fruits Growing?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. – Galatians 5:22-25
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Become The Right Person!
The first command in Ephesians 5 tells us to be imitators of God by reflecting the way he loves us. Our love for others flows out of our sense of being deeply loved. Instead of constantly looking for the right person, God tells us to become the right person. Instead of looking for love, God tells us to realise that love has already found us! God loves as no one else ever can.
Chip Ingram
Good Friends

Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.
Our Gifts Of Service

Father, thank you for making me a part of something so precious, so awesome, as the bodily presence of the Lord. Please help each person in our church family to find his or her gifts of service and to use those gifts in ways that touch others with your grace and that bring you glory. In Jesusβ name. Amen.
Choose Joy Today

Image via BibleLockScreens
Dead Bones

Father, please open my heart! Allow me to see that we’re a vast army of formerly dead bones, brought back to life through forgiveness and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Help us to stand strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, protected by the full armor of God, taking our stand against the devil’s schemes, in Jesus name, Amen.
He’s Building A Palace

βImagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of β throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.β
C S Lewis

August 13, 2013 








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