Ephesians 6:23-24 New International Version – UK (NIVUK)
23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Tag Archives: God’s Word
Make No Provision For The Flesh
October 20, 2014 
2 Comments
Romans 13:14 New King James Version (NKJV)
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Following Jesus
October 3, 2014 5 Comments
“In teaching people what it means to be a Christian, we spend much of our time and effort bringing them to a point of belief without clearly calling them to follow. We have taken “believe” and we have written that in capital letters with bold print: BELIEVE. But everything that has to do with following has been put in small print: follow.”
“Jesus doesn’t hold back with Nicodemus.
Following Jesus would require a commitment that would cost Nicodemus a great deal….In fact, it’s true throughout all of Scripture….Following Jesus isn’t something you can do at night where no one notices. It’s a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will interfere with your life. That’s not the small-print–that’s a guarantee.”
Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus
Moral Benefits Of Wisdom
October 2, 2014 1 Comment
Proverbs 2:1-6 New International Version
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
True Beauty
September 30, 2014 2 Comments
Proverbs 31:30 New International Version
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
In Full View!
September 26, 2014 1 Comment
Proverbs 5:21 (NIVUK)
For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
and he examines all your paths.
This Proverb instantly reminded me of how alert Bruce used to be. If you tried to sneak anywhere (no matter how quiet you think you’re being) he’s stood watching you!
⇧ Bruce catching me thinking i’m sneaking up the stairs while he’s asleep! ⇧
The World’s Value System Or The Truth Of God’s Word
September 26, 2014 4 Comments
“What most of us do not realize is that we are being transformed in our thinking all the time—either by the world’s value system or by the truth of God’s Word. The world’s values bombard us daily with thousands of messages on billboards, in movies, songs, video games, and television programs that all reinforce a worldview that tells me life is about “me.” Life is about what I can get, what I can achieve, who I can impress, what I can possess, where I live, what I drive, how much education I have, how much money I make, who knows my name, and how successful I am . . . and the list goes on. By contrast, God uses His Spirit, His Word, nature, great books, and the authentic community of fellow believers to remind us that life is about “Him.” And life in Christ is all about what I can give, who I can love, how God can use me, how significant and accepted I am regardless of what I make, where I live, what I drive, or who knows my name.”
Chip Ingram, True Spirituality: Becoming a Romans 12 Christian
A Hot-Tempered Person
September 19, 2014 5 Comments
Proverbs 19:19 New International Version
A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;
rescue them, and you will have to do it again.
Gracious Words
September 16, 2014 5 Comments
Proverbs 16:24 New International Version
Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Biblical Truth
September 5, 2014 4 Comments
“Don’t believe something just because you want to, and don’t embrace an idea just because you’ve always believed it. Believe what is biblical. Test all your assumptions against the precious words God gave us in the Bible.”
Francis Chan, Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up
Members Of God’s Holy Family
August 27, 2014 0 Comments
Ephesians 2:17-22 The Voice
17 The Great Preacher of peace and love came for you, and His voice found those of you who were near and those who were far away. 18 By Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit. 19 And so you are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household. 20 You are being built on a solid foundation: the message of the prophets and the voices of God’s chosen emissaries with Jesus, the Anointed Himself, the precious cornerstone. 21 The building is joined together stone by stone—all of us chosen and sealed in Him, rising up to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In Him you are being built together, creating a sacred dwelling place among you where God can live in the Spirit.
The church is not a building constructed by humans but a divine institution, built on the living Stone, Jesus. He’s the strong, foundational building block of the church, and his followers are living stones who are being built into a spiritual house.
As one of the many little living stones in the church, remember that each diverse stone has great worth to Jesus and to his body. When you’re tempted to ignore your need for others or to discount those who aren’t like you, remember that each stone is balanced by all those around it, and all rest on the living Stone himself.
Quote from: “NIV Devotions“
A Few Birds & Sea Creatures
August 21, 2014 10 Comments
Genesis 1:21-22 The Voice
God: 20 Waters, swarm with fish and sea creatures. Let birds soar high above the earth in the broad expanse of sky.
21 So God created huge sea creatures, all the swarm of life in the waters, and every kind and species of flying birds—each able to reproduce its own kind. And God saw that His new creation was beautiful and good. 22 And God spoke this blessing over them:
God: Be fruitful and multiply. Let creatures fill the seas. Let birds reproduce and cover the earth.
See also Blind Photographer
Planting Seeds
August 19, 2014 8 Comments
⇧ Photo taken with iPhone 5s ⇧
The image above is a photo i’ve just taken of a mystery plant (i’m not sure what it is?) that was grown from a random seed that was given to each of us who attended our evening service about 2 months ago. Richard (one of our Ministers) was preaching about the sower and during the talk gave us a seed to hold and think about what beauty could lie within even though it seems like a dead seed at the moment. He then asked us to plant it when we got home and just see what happens. As i was playing guitar during the service, i just put the seed into one of my many pockets in my cargo shorts. By the time i got home i totally forgot it was there. It wasn’t until about a week later when i remembered and hoped it was still there, it was and Sarah & i quickly planted it into it’s own little pot.
After 4 weeks there was still no sign of life and just a pot filled with soil……..then overnight (to our amazement) it seemed to just shoot up and this is how it’s getting on now after about 5 weeks! 🙂
Parable Of The Sower
Matthew 13:3-23 The Voice
3 And so Jesus began to teach. On this day, He spoke in parables. Here is His first parable:
Jesus: Once there was a sower who scattered seeds. 4 One day he walked in a field scattering seeds as he went. Some seeds fell beside a road, and a flock of birds came and ate all those seeds. 5 So the sower scattered seeds in a field, one with shallow soil and strewn with rocks. But the seeds grew quickly amid all the rocks, 6 without rooting themselves in the shallow soil. Their roots got tangled up in all the stones. The sun scorched these seeds, and they died. 7 And so the sower scattered seeds near a path, this one covered with thorny vines. The seeds fared no better there—the thorns choked them, and they died. 8 And so finally the sower scattered his seeds in a patch of good earth. At home in the good earth, the seeds grew and grew. Eventually the seeds bore fruit, and the fruit grew ripe and was harvested. The harvest was immense—30, 60, 100 times what was sown.
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Disciples: 10 Why do You speak to the people in parables?
Jesus: 11 The knowledge of the secrets of heaven has been given to you, but it has not been given to them. 12 Those who have something will be given more—and they will have abundance. Those who have nothing will lose what they have—they will be destitute. 13 I teach in parables so the people may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand. 14 They are fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy:
You will listen, but you will not understand;
you will look, but you will not see.
15 The people’s hearts have turned to flab;
their ears are clogged;
their eyes are shut.
They will try to see, but they will not see;
they will try to hear, but they will not hear;
they will try to understand, but they will not comprehend.
If they, with their blindness and deafness, so choose, then I will heal them.
16-17 Many holy prophets and righteous men and women and people of prayer and doers of good have wanted to see but did not see, and have wanted to hear but did not hear. Your eyes and ears are blessed.
18 This is what the parable of the sower means. 19 It is about the kingdom of heaven. When someone hears the story of the Kingdom and cannot understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away whatever goodness and holiness had been sown in the heart. This is like the seeds sown beside the road. 20-21 You know people who hear the word of God and receive it joyfully—but then, somehow, the word fails to take root in their hearts. It is temporary. As soon as there is trouble for those people, they trip: those people are the seeds strewn on the rocky soil. 22 And you know people who hear the word, but it is choked inside them because they constantly worry and prefer the wealth and pleasures of the world: they prefer drunken dinner parties to prayer, power to piety, and riches to righteousness. Those people are like the seeds sown among thorns. 23 The people who hear the word and receive it and grow in it—those are like the seeds sown on good soil. They produce a bumper crop, 30 or 60 or 100 times what was sown.
Our Father in heaven plants many seeds in order to ensure that some seeds bear fruit. The final harvest, however, is worth any amount of hard work.
Bad Boys Of The Bible: Abimelech
August 18, 2014 1 Comment
Abimelech
Judges 9 The Voice
1 Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to the clan of his mother.
Abimelech (to his mother’s family): 2 Go, and say this so that all the leaders of Shechem can hear you: “Is it better that 70 sons of Jerubbaal should be your rulers, or only one of them?” And remember that I share your own bone and flesh.
3 So Abimelech’s mother’s kinsmen went out and repeated these words to the leaders of Shechem, and they were favorably disposed toward him because they said, “He is our brother.” 4 They gave Abimelech 70 pieces of silver out of the treasury of Baal-berith, and he used the money to hire some reckless and worthless men who followed him and did his dirty work.
5 He went to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed all 70 of his half-brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. (Only Jotham, the youngest, was left alive, because he hid.) 6 Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo came together and crowned Abimelech king by the great oak tree at the pillar in Shechem.
7 When Jotham was told what had happened, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim.
Jotham: Listen to me, all you who are the leaders in Shechem, so that God may listen to you.
8 The trees once decided to go out
and anoint a king to rule them all.
They said to the olive tree,
“Reign over us.”
9 But the olive tree refused, saying,
“Should I stop producing the rich oil used to honor both gods and mortals so I can stand and sway over the trees?”
10 Then the trees went to the fig tree, saying,
“You come and reign over us.”
11 But the fig tree refused, saying,
“Should I give up my sweetness and stop producing my delicious fruit so I can stand and sway over the trees?”
12 Then the trees said to the grapevine,
“You come and reign over us.”
13 But the vine refused, saying,
“Should I stop producing the wine that cheers both gods and mortals so I can stand and sway over the trees?”
14 At last the trees came to the worthless thornbush, saying,
“You come and reign over us.”
15 And the thornbush said to the trees,
“If in good faith you want to anoint me as your king,
then come and take refuge in my shade (of which there was precious little).
But if you haven’t come in good faith, then let fire come from my brambles
and burn down the cedars of Lebanon.”
16 Now if you have made this decision to crown Abimelech king in good faith, with sincerity, have acted honorably toward my father Jerubbaal and his family, and have treated him as his actions toward you deserve; 17 you know how my father fought for you, risked his life for you, rescued you from the hand of the Midianites. 18 But now here you are, rising up against my father’s house, killing all of his sons, 70 of them, on one stone; and you have made Abimelech, the son of my father’s slave woman, king over all the leaders of Shechem, simply because he is your kinsman. 19 Well, I say, if you have acted honorably toward Jerubbaal and his family, then now may you take joy in Abimelech, and may he take joy in you.
20 But if you have not acted honorably, then may fire come out of Abimelech and burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo. May fire come from you and burn up Abimelech.
21 When he had said these words, Jotham fled for his life to Beer, where he stayed because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech.
22 Abimelech was king over Israel for three years. 23 Then the one True God sent an evil spirit to stir up dissension between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. Consequently the leaders of Shechem acted with treachery against Abimelech; 24 and all of this happened so that the brutal murder of Jerubbaal’s 70 sons might be avenged and their bloodguilt laid upon their brother Abimelech, who had ordered their deaths, and on the leaders of Shechem who had lent their strength to his cause.
25 As a result of their new hatred for Abimelech, the leaders of Shechem began to ambush travelers along the mountain roads, robbing everyone who passed by, and these robberies were reported to Abimelech.
26 When Gaal, the son of Ebed, arrived in Shechem with his family, the leaders of Shechem trusted him. 27 After they had been in the fields, gathered the grapes, and trampled them for wine, they celebrated a festival in the temple of their god. While they ate and drank, they insulted Abimelech.
Gaal: 28 Who is this Abimelech, and who are we here in Shechem that we should serve him? Didn’t the son of Jerubbaal and his deputy, Zebul, serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father? Why then should we serve him? 29 I wish this people were under my command! I would get rid of Abimelech. I would tell him, “Go ahead. Call out your army!”
30 When Zebul, who governed the city, heard what Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, he was furious. 31 Secretly he sent messengers to Abimelech.
Zebul’s Message: Here’s what’s happening: Gaal, son of Ebed, and his family have come to Shechem, and they are igniting the city against you. 32 You should go by night with your troops and lie in wait in the fields. 33 Then in the morning, when the sun comes up, march on the city; and when Gaal and his forces come out to defend it, you can deal with them.
34 Abimelech and his troops prepared to do just as Zebul suggested. Four companies of men waited for morning. 35 When Gaal, the son of Ebed, went outside, stood in the gate of the city, and looked out, Abimelech and his troops rose from their hiding places to attack.
Gaal (seeing them): 36 Look, Zebul, people are coming down from the mountaintops!
Zebul: It’s just the shadows on the mountains. They must look like men to you.
Gaal: 37 No, look! One company is coming right down the center, and another company is coming from the direction of the fortune-teller’s tree!
Zebul: 38 Where are your big words now? Where is the loudmouth who said, “Who is this Abimelech, that we should serve him?” Aren’t these the men you insulted? Go on, fight them!
39 So Gaal gathered the leaders of Shechem, and they fought against Abimelech’s forces. 40 Abimelech overwhelmed Gaal and chased him and his men, many of whom were wounded and fell along the way as they retreated, all the way to the gate. 41 Abimelech remained in Arumah, and Zebul threw Gaal and his people out of Shechem.
42 The next day the people of Shechem went out to work the fields. After hearing this news, Abimelech 43 took his troops, divided them into three groups, and set an ambush in the fields.
When he saw the people emerge from Shechem, he ordered his troops to attack them. 44 Abimelech and his men captured a forward position at the city gate, cutting off any retreat. Then the other two companies of Abimelech’s men swept down on the people trapped in the fields and cut them down. 45 Abimelech continued his attack all day long, until he had captured Shechem and killed everyone in it. Then he demolished the city and scattered salt over the place where it had once stood.
Abimelech here carries out a devastating act in antiquity that ensures the death of an agricultural area, both food and water sources, for subsequent generations.
46 When those leaders inside the tower of Shechem heard this news, all of them entered into the stronghold of the temple of El-berith. 47 Abimelech learned that all the leaders were in the tower, and 48 he took his men up Mount Zalmon. There he took an ax, cut a bundle of firewood, and hoisted it atop his shoulders, ordering his men to quickly do the same. 49 When they had all cut and loaded their wood, they followed Abimelech back to the stronghold, where they piled the wood against the walls and set fire to it, killing about 1,000 men and women inside the tower of Shechem.
50 Next, Abimelech went on to Thebez. He laid siege to it, captured it, and 51 discovered that in the city was a strong tower where the leaders and men and women of the city had locked themselves in to escape and had climbed onto the roof. 52 So he stormed the tower, ready to burn this tower as he had the other. 53 But this time as he approached the entrance, a woman dropped an upper millstone upon him, crushing his skull.
Abimelech (to his armor-bearer): 54 Take your sword and kill me. I won’t have anyone say that I died like this—killed by a woman.
The young man killed Abimelech with the sword.
55 When the people of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went back home.
56 So God avenged the evil that Abimelech had committed against his father by murdering his 70 brothers, 57 and the evil of the leaders of Shechem God brought back on their heads; everything happened just as Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, had prophesied when he cursed them all.
Bad Boys Of The Bible: Doeg
August 12, 2014 4 Comments
Doeg
1 Samuel 22 The Voice
9 Doeg the Edomite stood among Saul’s servants.
Doeg: I saw the son of Jesse when he came to Nob to speak with the priest, Ahimelech son of Ahitub. 10 Ahimelech asked the Eternal One questions on David’s behalf, gave him provisions, and even gave him the legendary sword of Goliath the Philistine.
Saul (to Doeg): 18 Carry out my orders. Turn around, and kill these priests.
So Doeg the Edomite attacked them. That day he turned and killed 85 men who wore the priestly linen garment. 19 Then he went after Nob, the city of the priests, with his sword and utterly destroyed everything he found there—all the men, women, children, and infants. Doeg even turned his blade against the oxen, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, escaped, and he fled to David for protection. 21 He informed David that Saul had massacred the priests of the Eternal.
Psalm 52 The Voice
Psalm 52 recalls the callous way Doeg and Saul put to death the 85 priests of Nob (1 Samuel 22:6–19). The psalm ends with a memorable image: the one who keeps faith with God is like a lush olive tree cared for in His garden. While those who do not trust in Him are snatched up and torn away, those who do right will flourish under His care.
1 Why do you boast of all the trouble you stir up, O mighty one, when the constant, unfailing love of God is what truly lasts? 2 Have you listened to yourself? Your tongue is like a sharp razor, full of lies that slash and tear right to the soul. 3 You’ve fallen in love with evil and have no interest in what He calls good. You prefer your own lies to speaking what is true.
4 You love words that destroy people, don’t you, lying tongue? 5 You won’t be smiling when the True God brings His justice and destroys you forever. He will come into your home, snatch you away, and pull you from the land of the living.
6 Those who are just will see what happens to you and be afraid. And some of them will laugh and say, 7 “Hey, look! Over there is the one who didn’t take shelter in the True God; Instead, he trusted in his great wealth and got what he wanted by destroying others!”
8 But my life is abundant—like a lush olive tree cared for at the house of the one True God. I put my trust in His kind love forever and ever; it will never fail. 9 Because of all You have done, I will humble myself and thank You forever. With Your faithful people at my side, I will put my hope in our good reputation.
My Commitment To What Is Right
August 7, 2014 1 Comment
Unless I understand the Cross, I cannot understand why my commitment to what is right must be precedence over what I prefer.
Ravi Zacharias
We Aren’t Trying To Please Everybody, But God
August 1, 2014 2 Comments
1 Thessalonians 2:4 The Voice
but as we have been approved by God and entrusted with the good news, that’s how we are telling the world. We aren’t trying to please everybody, but God, the only One who can truly examine our motives.
Nourishes The Bones
July 24, 2014 5 Comments
Proverbs 15:30 Amplified Bible
The light in the eyes [of him whose heart is joyful] rejoices the hearts of others, and good news nourishes the bones.
Macro Message: The Flower Fades
June 5, 2014 5 Comments
Thought i would try another attempt at the ColorStrokes app!
Isaiah 40:8 English Standard Version Anglicised
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
More 🌻Flowers & Objects
My 7Cubed Interview!
May 27, 2014 19 Comments
by Heather Mertens ~ 40YearWanderer
Blind Photographer – Steve Rebus {Worshipping through his art, his music, and his writings.}
Meet Steve Rebus. You can read on his website how he breaks the ice about who he is: Blind Photographer. But we’ve gotten to know Steve as so much more than that – although he is a fabulous photographer! He is a writer, a musician, and most importantly he is a follower of Christ. In every sense, he seeks to be like and love like Jesus. WHAT A POWERFUL testimony he has!
7Cubed: Hi Steve. Tell us about your life, your music, and your photography.
Steve: Two Souls Entwine…..
I‘ve been married to Sarah for nearly six years now and I’m really struggling to put how I feel into words! My heart overflows with love for her. She has encouraged, inspired and loved me and is the sunshine that warms me along my journey.
My love of music….
Since being registered blind I’ve learned to play the drums and guitar. This is amazing in itself but being able to play alongside Sarah every Sunday to assist myself and others in worship is just mind blowing. I play in two churches – drumming in the morning and playing guitar in the evening and I feel so blessed to be able to come before God and thank him with the gifts he’s given me. Gifts that give me great joy too!
Blind Photographer??
“You don’t need sight to see, you need vision“
“I strongly believe that Disability doesn’t have to mean inability or lack of creative talent!”
I used to enjoy photography when I was sighted, taking and developing photos in my dad’s darkroom, When I lost most my sight 13 years ago I thought this would put a stop to my hobby, but I have learned that my camera can act as my eyes allowing me to see what my own eyes will not. I am proud of the fact that I have been able to produce photographs despite my visual impairment– and like to think that although I may have lost my useful sight I have not lost my vision and instinct for a good photograph. (see Blind Photographer).
7Cubed: In what ways has life changed for you and your relationship with God because of your blindness?
Steve: When I was fully sighted I never had a relationship with God, nor was ever taught about him. We didn’t go to church and he was never part of my life. In my early twenties I was really into body building, football, driving, and night clubbing. I judged people on looks alone; if they didn’t look fit, they were nothing! My fuel was pride and vanity. Since I have been blind and the eyes of my heart have been forced open by God’s amazing grace I’ve found my identity in Him, and as He is continually transforming me into the person He knew I could be. I simply just love people without any preconceptions of what the world thinks is beautiful.
7Cubed: Obviously, God blesses your music, your writing, and your photography! They are all wonderful. At what point in your life did you really understand that Christ wanted to work through your adverse situations?
Steve: I think it was when I wrote my testimony at the beginning of this year when God started to show me what he can do through me. I posted it onto iChristian and my blog seemed to explode with blessings. I realised that my little story can actually help connect, encourage, and inspire people on a few different levels, and I will share His good news for the rest of my life.
7Cubed: We’ve seen some cool pictures of you playing your guitar! Do you play any other instruments? When did you first learn how to play your instruments?
Steve: Yes, I also play the drums. I first started playing 13 years ago when a teacher at the college I reluctantly attended (as it was only a few months after I’d lost my sight and I was in a real dark place) asked me, “Steve, is there anything you would like to learn?” I said I would like to play the drums, so she found a local drum shop called “Rattle & Drum” that also had teaching rooms upstairs and that’s where I started my lessons. Dave, my drum teacher, was fantastic and worked around my struggles, and playing the drums to my favourite songs quickly became my therapy and still helps to this day.
I didn’t start playing guitar until 2005 when I had met Sarah and had to sell my drum kit to be able to move into her flat. As I’ve been a Metal fan for most of my life, I’ve always played the air guitar, but never really tried to play a real one. Harry, my fantastic guitar teacher, recorded our lessons with my video camera so I could sit for hours with my guitar in front of my huge TV to try and figure out what finger went where. As I can’t see to read sheet music or guitar tabs, I have to play from memory. I now have quite a few beautiful guitars that I love playing, and I’m truly blessed to be able to play my chords for the Lord on such amazing instruments.
7Cubed: You take some awesome photographs! What kind of camera do you use? Do you have any specialized equipment that assists you when taking these amazing photos?
Steve: I have bought 5 cameras over the 8 years of digital photography. I have 2 DSLR cameras. My main camera is a Nikon D2Xs and my second is a SONY Alpha a100. I also use a Canon Powershot SX40 HS which is a bridge camera, and my compact camera is a Samsung WB550. Oh and my iPhone! As you can imagine there is not much in the way of assistive technology for blind photographers as it’s not something that many would think of. The only piece of adapted tech is a 2x magnifier that is screwed onto the Nikon’s viewfinder, which doesn’t help me at all, but I can’t get it off! lol Having said that, my iPhone is the only camera that’s accessible for me. It speaks to me when it has focused, and when I take a portrait it will tell me where the face is on the screen and if its a big face or a small face so I can get the right distance. This feature is fantastic and also standard on the iPhone, and I’d love to see this software on other cameras!
7Cubed: What advice and encouragement would you give to others who have been through a similar situation? 
Steve: If there is someone reading this who is experiencing the creeping death called depression, then I’d just like to give them hope. The hope that although you may feel that no one cares and that there’s nothing to live for anymore, there’s no pit too deep that God won’t reach down and lift you out of. He wants a living relationship with you starting right now! He loves you no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been; He loves you completely and he wants to bless your life and bring you that peace inside that you’re craving for.
7Cubed: How did you became a Believer and Follower of Jesus?
Steve: I hope you don’t mind but I’ve answered this question using the text from my iChristian blog.
Broken, Psalm 116:3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Another day, another attempt! …. Oct – Nov 2000
I kneel down in the centre of my living room. Tears stain the blade I hold to my chest. “Come on Steve, don’t fail again! All you need to do is throw yourself forwards and thats it!” I’d been doing this every morning for the last couple of months and still I waited, willing myself to do it. Then nudge…nudge.. my three month old Boxer dog “Bruce” pushed against my leg with his nose. His whimpering cries pierced my very soul. “He relied on me for everything and I had no idea I would be relying on a furry angel to help me through this dark period in my life.”
After three months of failed attempts I felt more useless than ever …. I couldn’t even manage the task of killing myself. I realised I didn’t even have the strength to do this properly. I just didn’t know how I could get lower than this!!! – I’d been registered blind at 25, after loosing my sight quite suddenly. in the same month my mum finally died after a 12 year debilitating and demoralizing struggle with progressive MS. Missing her added misery to my own struggle to come to terms with the isolation and insecurities of managing life with sight loss – I’d lost my job, my custom car, the ability to drive, my girlfriend and nearly all of my so called friends!
My answer….
To throw myself into binge drinking, womanising, dark depression, and raw anger. I felt that this was what I had to look forwards to for the rest of my life.
Then I met Sarah…… July 2004
She wasn’t like the other girls I’d met. Sarah too had suffered sight loss and depression because of her uncontrollable diabetes but no matter how bad things got for her, she always had comfort in someone called “Jesus”. Oh no I thought not a Christian! She suffered all of my taunts, jibes and nasty comments but worst of all my coldness and my inability to show love. I made it a personal challenge to show her that everyone will let you down and no one can be trusted or faithful! I felt that if I could make her hurt as much as I did then she’d hate this Jesus and know that he wasn’t real!
Then HE came to visit ME….
Hope, Psalm 116:4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”
I’d seen a guitarist called Eric Bibb on the music show ‘Later with Jooles Holland’ and called Sarah up to see if she had heard of him too. She hadn’t but as a lovely gift she booked tickets to go and see him in London. I’d only ever been to Metal concerts before so i didn’t know what to expect. It was Eric Bibb’s “Friends” tour and when Eric started the song “Needed Time” and sang the words.
“I’m down on my bended knees, I’m on my knees, praying want you come back, come back here?
Even if you don’t stay long, oh my Jesus, If you don’t stay long, I’m praying, Come back here.
Singing Right now is the needed time, I know you feel the needed time right now. Bless us!”
This was the moment when I asked Jesus to save me saying “I can’t fight any more. Please help me!” From that moment something happened inside me and I just felt an outpouring of my entire being. My heart seemed to clear itself of all the darkness, hatred and anger I’d filled it with replacing this with pure love. I couldn’t stop my river of tears for the rest of the show.
February 2013 – Now and into the future….
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
My eyes are filling with tears as I write this section. I just can’t believe I’m sitting here typing this. If it was up to me than I’d be dead. I’d have missed God’s amazing grace and a living relationship with Jesus along with the countless blessings I simply didn’t know existed! He’s transformed me in so many ways and I’m no longer held captive by drinking, swearing, anger, lack of compassion and self loathing, along with much much more. I’m also getting a long way to overcoming my ever big struggle with over eating.
7Cubed: Steve, we agree with what you said “there’s no pit too deep that God won’t reach down and lift you out of.” Praise God for that Truth! Thank you for taking a moment to share your beautiful life with us and may God bless your work and vision throughout the mission He has laid on your heart!
Don’t miss Steve’s beautiful photography on his blog!
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We Must Receive His Grace
May 27, 2014 2 Comments
2 Peter 1:3-4 The Voice
His divine power has given us everything we need to experience life and to reflect God’s true nature through the knowledge of the One who called us by His glory and virtue. Through these things, we have received God’s great and valuable promises, so we might escape the corruption of worldly desires and share in the divine nature.
God took the first step to rescue us from this corrupt world. He has granted us His power, revealed to us true knowledge, and spoken to us great promises. He has done all this for a reason: that we might participate in His own nature and reflect His own life. But we are not passive observers of God’s saving actions. We must receive His grace, grow in knowledge, and join Him in this work of redemption.
Faith Comes By Hearing
May 16, 2014 2 Comments
I prayed for faith and thought it would strike me like lightening. But faith did not come. One day I read, “Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now began to study my Bible and faith has been growing ever since.
Dwight L. Moody
✞ Promise: Rejoice and Exult
May 8, 2014 0 Comments
Romans 5:2 Amplified Bible
Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.
We Aren’t Here By Accident
March 25, 2014 3 Comments
God leaves us here because He has a mission for us to fulfill. We aren’t here by accident; neither are we here simply to enjoy the good things life has to offer. We are here because God put us here, and He has a sovereign purpose in keeping us here. It’s true for us as individuals, and it’s true for His body, the Church, in all of its fullness. As Jesus prayed just before His arrest and trial, “I am not praying that You take them out of the world…As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15,18)
Billy Graham
Be Joyful & Do Good
March 21, 2014 2 Comments
Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 The Voice
What good comes to anyone who works so hard, all to gain a few possessions? I have seen the kinds of tasks God has given each of us to do to keep one busy, and I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God. I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives; to eat and drink and see the good in all of our hard work is a gift from God. I know everything God does endures for all time. Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be taken away from it. We humans can only stand in awe of all God has done. What has been and what is to be—already is. And God holds accountable all the pursuits of humanity.
The contrast between God and humanity could not be starker. The teacher drives this point home by reminding his reader that human lives and earthly accomplishments are fleeting. Nothing tangible is permanent. No work lasts. It all slips away and vanishes into thin air. Compare that to God. Everything God does is substantial. Everything God accomplishes lasts forever. Every word God speaks makes a difference. And so, God places within every person a sense of eternity to know yet not understand Him. This world with all its goodness and beauty is not as good as it gets. There is more, so much more, and we are made for that reality too. But not now, not yet.
Jesus Said, Obey My Teaching
March 17, 2014 3 Comments
Don’t put a question mark where God put a period.
John 14:23 New Life Version
Jesus said, “The one who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love him. We will come to him and live with him.
Living & Active Sword
March 11, 2014 3 Comments
Holy Spirit, unless You move in my heart and in my mind, the Bible will be little more than words on a page. Guide my thoughts, lead me in my prayers, so that these words might become Your living and active sword in my hand. Amen.
From Death To Life
March 7, 2014 0 Comments
Ephesians 2:1-10 Easy-to-Read Version
From Death to Life
In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.
But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.
I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
The Way You Should Live
March 5, 2014 1 Comment
Ephesians 4:17-32 Easy-to-Read Version
The Way You Should Live
17 I have something from the Lord to tell you. I warn you: Don’t continue living like those who don’t believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. 18 They have no understanding, and they know nothing because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. 19 They have lost their feeling of shame and use their lives to do what is morally wrong. More and more they want to do all kinds of evil. 20 But that way of life is nothing like what you learned when you came to know Christ. 21 I know that you heard about him, and in him you were taught the truth. Yes, the truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. 23 You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. 24 Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him.
25 So you must stop telling lies. “You must always speak the truth to each other,”[a] because we all belong to each other in the same body. 26 “When you are angry, don’t let that anger make you sin,”[b] and don’t stay angry all day. 27 Don’t give the devil a way to defeat you. 28 Whoever has been stealing must stop it and start working. They must use their hands for doing something good. Then they will have something to share with those who are poor.
29 When you talk, don’t say anything bad. But say the good things that people need—whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you. 30 And don’t make the Holy Spirit sad. God gave you his Spirit as proof that you belong to him and that he will keep you safe until the day he makes you free. 31 Never be bitter, angry, or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. 32 Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ.
Temptation Does Not Come From God
February 23, 2014 3 Comments
James 1:12-18 Easy-to-Read Version
Temptation Does Not Come From God
Great blessings belong to those who are tempted and remain faithful! After they have proved their faith, God will give them the reward of eternal life. God promised this to all people who love him. Whenever you feel tempted to do something bad, you should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. You are tempted by the evil things you want. Your own desire leads you away and traps you. 15 Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death.
My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled about this. Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same. God decided to give us life through the true message he sent to us. He wanted us to be the most important of all that he created.
Study The Word Of God
November 25, 2013 4 Comments
Study the word of God daily. You will sense Him speaking to you directly – refreshing your heart, feeding your mind and changing your life.
Truth From The Heart
November 21, 2013 2 Comments
Psalm 15 The Voice
A recurring theme in the psalms is the dwelling place of God and its importance in worship. This Davidic psalm considers the moral qualities of the person who wishes to approach God.
Eternal One, who is invited to stay in Your dwelling? Who is granted passage to Your holy mountain?
Here is the answer: The one who lives with integrity, does what is right, and speaks honestly with truth from the heart. The one who doesn’t speak evil against others or wrong his neighbour, or slander his friends. The one who loathes the loathsome, honours those who fear the Eternal, And keeps all promises no matter the cost. The one who does not lend money with gain in mind and cannot be bought to harm an innocent name.
If you live this way, you will not be shaken and will live together with the Lord.
iChristian 
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