Tag Archives: Jesus

Your Essential Worship

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Romans 12:1-2Β The Voice

Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship. Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.

Paul urges those who read and hear his letter to respond to the good news by offering their bodiesβ€”eyes, ears, mouths, hands, feetβ€”to God as a β€œliving sacrifice.” Paul knows well enough that sacrifices end in death, not life. But the sacrifice of Jesus changes everything. His resurrection steals life from death and makes it possible for those who trust in Him to become a sacrifice and yet live. But how do we live? We do not live as before, wrapping ourselves in the world and its bankrupt values. We live in constant renewal and transformation of our minds.

Everlasting Life

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John 3:16-21Β The Voice

For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.

No one who believes in Him has to fear condemnation, yet condemnation is already the reality for everyone who refuses to believe because they reject the name of the only Son of God. Why does God allow for judgment and condemnation? Because the Light, sent from God, pierced through the world’s darkness to expose ill motives, hatred, gossip, greed, violence, and the like. Still some people preferred the darkness over the light because their actions were dark. Some of humankind hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes. Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God.

Jesus makes the point clear: stay connected to Him, and have no reason to fear. Jesus doesn’t mean that at the instant someone has faith, fear simply vanishes or only good things happen in that person’s life. In fact, the blessings that come with eternal life often have nothing to do with present or future circumstances, but they have everything to do with the individual’s connections to God and others. That is John’s message to his listeners. God came to earth embodied in flesh, and then He reached His greatest acclaim through a torturous death. If this is all true, then believers will find strength and beauty in places never imagined. Abiding in Jesus the Anointed is the good life, regardless of the external circumstances.

Update #1 On ‘Join Me In Prayer For Sarah’

Riding The Wave Of Prayers

Β First i have to thank all of you amazing loving people for the show of extravagant love to me and Sarah. We’ve been simply overwhelmed with your prayers, kindness and love through this journey.

The Plan…

The plan was set. Go to the chemist to get pain killers (Sarah is not allowed d to leave the house for a few days), nip into the doctors to sort out a sick note for the next two weeks, then go for a [Cortado’ coffee at Costa at the train station with half an hour to enjoy our new fave coffee (mainly keep Sarah as relaxed as possible), then Sarah can put her last eye drops in before we catch the 11:04 train that will get us to Kings College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London ready for the operation.Β 

The Hypo…

This was all going well up until Sarah had locked herself in the toilet by passing out with a hypo. The idea was that she went in to put in her eye drops as we still had 15 minutes until the train arrives (the platform is about 1 minute away from the coffee shop. As i was stood outside the door while staff kept walking past suspicious of the weird man lurking around the toilets. With 5 minutes left i knocked on the door, with the sound of the music and the coffee machines i could just make out what i thought was Sarah. Then as i realised too much time had passed and we’d missed our train i asked one of the passing staff if they could open the door as i think my wife is having a hypo. Sarah had know her blood was creeping down and she had a biscuit and sugar in her coffee but she felt and seemed ok.

I opened the door to find Sarah in a zombie like state (the only description i can find that closely resembles a hypo) not knowing where she was, what she was doing or where we were going! I’d like to state at this point that we only really had one must do for this morning, and that was to try and keep Sarah’s blood sugar stable as they won’t operate if it’s too high, low or on the move. I prayed:

β€œJesus, There is no way they can operate now, i did my best but i don’t know if there’s another train, if Sarah can even stand up, never mind walk, Β and Sarah’s blood sugar always ends up too high after a hypo and we always have a long struggle getting it back down. i hand it all to you, please help”.

I got Sarah to her feet and she could just about stand up without her knees giving way. We managed to leave the coffee shop and after catching Sarah from behind as she started to fall back down the platform steps (i was behind trying to push her up) we finally got to the platform. This is where Sarah normally guides me as she knows the trains. Usually the trains are announced, but today there were none, but a train arrived straight away and we got on anyway. I told Sarah to just sleep on my shoulder and hope that this train is going the right way! The inside train announcement only said which station it was pulling up to and not the stations of the full journey.Β 

Sarah woke and asked “where are we?” β€œI’m not sure, but i hope it stops at Clapham Junction”. Then a few minutes later we arrived at Clapham Junction. We then walked to the other platform and a train was waiting there too. We finally arrived at the day surgery unit a couple of minutes before the 12:30 appointment.

Sarah did a blood test and it was 8.6 which is really good for her, but we knew that it often goes into the 20’s after a hypo and there’s no way they’ll operate if it goes any higher or continues to rise. Sarah went in around 13:00 but there were 4 people before her, I stayed in the waiting room.

The Waiting Room

I wanted to update everyone but i’d never used the mobile WordPress app to post before, so i kept the post β€œPraying in waiting room for Sarah” short so i could begin praying. I started with my voiceover reading all of your prayers, i prayed through each comment individually about 2 times each from the 1st post “Please Join Me In Prayer For Sarah” then i had about an hour of personal prayer before loving sister Janet would arrive to drive us home.

The Operation

Sarah’s op happened around 16:30, her blood sugar stayed perfectly stable at 6.8 the whole time! (Amazing!) Her main worry was the really painful needle that she sees going into her eye and it feels like her eyeball is bursting out of her face! I need to quote Sarah at this point:

β€œI felt a real peace i’d not felt before, i knew everyone was praying for me and i knew God was with me the whole time. I felt no pain at all with the needle and the surgeon was surprised how well the operation went. I also heard him say:

β€˜There are always bubbles in this (not sure what he was talking about) always bubbles, but there aren’t any at all, i can’t explain it?!’ 

The Next Morning

I’m typing this post Saturday morning Β at 11am while Sarah is sleeping. I’d like to thank you all once again for giving time in prayer and the loving encouraging comments that helped us through this amazing journey (and still help us as we read back through them). I’ll update again soon.

Sarah said to me this morning:

I felt like the whole day you had your arms around me, and God had his arms around both of us!

Please Join Me In Prayer For Sarah

Sarah Sunflower Rounded

My Thoughts πŸ’­Β 

Β Dear readers, please could you pray for my lovely wife Sarah. We’ve just received the date for her eye surgery (Friday 15th Nov 12:00 UK time) and Sarah’s worried as this eye has lots of other complications from previous operations. So i’d like to gather as many brothers & sisters together to pray for her!Β 

I’m posting this a week early as i thought if you only get weekly notifications then you still have time to join us in prayer! πŸ™‚

Matthew 18:20Β The Voice

For when two or three gather together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

✞ Music “Start Over” by Flame (feat NF)


β€œStart Over”
(feat. NF)

Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over

Don’t let your heart be troubled
Don’t be afraid
To the broken hearted that wished that they’d
Never been born, never been torn, never sinned, never disobeyed
I know you think there’s no hope, but that ain’t true
I know you feelin’ regret
(Like I) brought this all on myself
(Like I) messed it up big time, and this time I don’t deserve God’s help
(Thinking) how can God forgive me after knowin’ what I did (can He?)
After knowin’ that I hid from Him, and I stayed away and backslid
Jesus came for the sick (so true)
Jesus came for the weak (amen)
Jesus came to give good news and have set the captives free (amen)
Jesus came for the poor (amen)
Jesus came with the keys
Jesus came to remove the chains so the prisoners are released

Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over

See, His love is deeper than the ocean floor
Run to His arms like an open door
God the Father sent the Son
So men can come and be free and ain’t gotta run no more
Come to me, all who are weary; with heavy burdens, I’ll give you rest
Separated you from the sin, as far as the east is from the west
Thrown in the sea of forgetfulness
What sin? What offense?
And when them waves come crashing in, I’ll calm the winds in your defense
So, whatever it is that you’ve done
He put that punishment on His Son
You’ll never come under His condemnation… Satan and his accusations
So, dry your eyes, lift up your head
Hallelujah! God is not dead!
Plus He gave us His peace, and He took our guilt on the cross instead
Took our place and now we embrace
A clean slate with the eyes of faith
We know unfailing love, unfailing love, it’s not too late, start over

Everybody’s got a blank page
A story they’re writing today
A wall that they’re climbing
You can’t carry the past on their shoulders
But you can start over
Regrets, no matter what you goin’ through
Jesus, He gave it all to save you
He carried the cross on His shoulders
So you can start over

Let Us Pray

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Let us pray for the Church and for the world, and let us thank God for his goodness:

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, you promised through your Son Jesus Christ to hear us when we pray with faith.

We pray for your Church today, gathering all around the world in tiny churches and great cathedrals, to praise you, to hear your holy word, and to meet with you in bread and wine. Give us a sense of expectation as we come and inspiration as we go. Help us to put our differences behind us and to behind the great commission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations.

We pray for a world which struggles to live justly and in peace. We pray for those who have to search for daily food or walk long distances for clean water. We remember with sadness those whose live are cut short by preventable diseases and malnutrition, and those who have fled their homes for fear of violence. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done as it is in the heavenly places.

We thank you God for your forgiveness and for revealing that you are Love. Thank you for those people who sustain us by sharing this love to us. Thank you for the network of people with whom our lives are inextricably linked and who make up the fabric of our family and community life. Make us alert to each other’s needs and quick to serve and encourage one another. May our gentleness with each other reflect your gentleness with us.

We pray for those who are laid low by suffering and those who are experiencing the outrageous assault of pain. We trust your love for us and for all people, and your deep desire for our well-being. As we name in our hearts those who are in the grip of suffering, help us so to pray and to act that they may know your comfort and healing, both now and in the coming days.

We thank you for those people who have tonight given us examples and models by which we try to live. We thank you for those who have lived and died in quiet holiness and whose prayers have helped to sustain the world. Help us to live in the light be which they lived, and to worship the source of that light, Jesus Christ our risen Lord.

Rejoicing in the fellowship of all people, we commend ourselves to your unfailing love. Merciful Father, accept these prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

My Thoughts πŸ’­

Tonight at our cafΓ© style evening service we were lead through this lovely prayer above. Thought you might want to join in with us. πŸ™‚

Spiritual Family

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1 John 5:1-6Β The Voice

It’s easy to say β€œI love God,” but genuine love reflects God’s love. If we belong to God, then we will love each other regardless of how hard love is.

Everyone who trusts Jesus as the long-awaited Anointed One is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father cannot help but love the child fathered by Him. Then how do we know if we truly love God’s children? We love them if we love God and keep His commands. You see, to love God means that we keep His commands, and His commands don’t weigh us down. Everything that has been fathered by God overcomes the corrupt world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.

Who is the person conquering the world? It is the one who truly trusts that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus the Anointed is the One who came by water and bloodβ€”not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.

Just as we do not get to choose our biological brothers and sisters, we do not get to choose our spiritual brothers and sisters either. But what comes along with loving the Father is loving all His other childrenβ€”even the really annoying ones! While it might seem to be easier to go off and live in isolation rather than put up with those we are not naturally attracted to, there are responsibilities that come with living in a spiritual family. We reflect our worship of God by living in respect with our Christian brothers and sisters. How we treat the people around us on a daily basis is the real test of our love for God.

The Means To New Life For Others

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2 Corinthians 4:1-12Β The Voice

Drawing from Exodus 32–34, Paul uses Moses as a model of one who has been transformed by God’s glory, but in a limited way. Moses encountered God (the Lord) through the Spirit on that mountain, but the Spirit nowβ€”as a fulfillment of the new covenantβ€”dwells in the hearts of believers and continually transforms them. This transformation is based on a new way of understanding God’s revelation: Jesus Himself, the One who reveals God’s glory, is the very image of God. Through this Spirit-enabled encounter, believers experience a new way of living and therefore come to resemble the Anointed One as they reflect His glory.

Since we are joined together in this ministry as a result of the mercy shown to all of us by God, we do not become discouraged. Instead, we have renounced all the things that hide in shame; we refuse to live deceptively or use trickery; we do not pollute God’s Word with any other agenda. Instead, we aim to tell the truth plainly, appealing to the conscience of every person under God’s watchful eye. Now if our gospel remains veiled, it is only veiled from those who are lost and dying, because the evil god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. As a result the light of the good news, the radiant glory of the Anointedβ€”who is the very image of Godβ€”cannot shine down on them. We do not preach about ourselves. The subject of all our sermons is Jesus, the Anointed One. He is Lord and Master of all. For Jesus’ sake we are here to serve you. The God who spoke light into existence, saying, β€œLet light shine from the darkness,”[a] is the very One who sets our hearts ablaze to shed light on the knowledge of God’s glory revealed in the face of Jesus, the Anointed One.

But this beautiful treasure is contained in usβ€”cracked pots made of earth and clayβ€”so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us. We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair. We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed. We always carry around in our bodies the reality of the brutal death and suffering of Jesus. As a result, His resurrection life rises and reveals its wondrous power in our bodies as well. For while we live, we are constantly handed over to death on account of Jesus so that His life may be revealed even in our mortal bodies of flesh. So death is constantly at work in us, but life is working in you.

Jesus’ death is the means to new life for others. Similarly when believers suffer for others as Jesus did, their suffering is an avenue for God’s life to transform situations.

Find Rest For Your Soul

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Matthew 11:28-29Β ~Β The Voice

Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shouldersβ€”it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest.

How Great Is The Contrast?

Β 

How great is the contrast between that forgiveness to which we lay claim from God towards us, and our temper towards others!Β  God, we expect, will forgive us great offences, offences many times repeated; and will forgive them freely, liberally, and from the heart.Β  But we are offended at our neighbor, perhaps, for the merest trifles, and for an injury only once offered; and we are but half reconciled when we deem to forgive.Β  Even an uncertain humor, an ambiguous word, or a suspected look, will inflame our anger; and hardly any persuasion will induce us for a long time to relent.

Β 

Henry W. Thornton

Above All, Put On Love

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Colossians 3:12-17Β (VOICE)

Paul tells them the key to remain unified is to show compassion and forgiveness toward one another.

Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind. But above all these, put on love! Love is the perfect tie to bind these together. Let your hearts fall under the rule of the Anointed’s peace (the peace you were called to as one body), and be thankful.

Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singingβ€”sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness. Surely, no matter what you are doing (speaking, writing, or working), do it all in the name of Jesus our Master, sending thanks through Him to God our Father.

For Paul it isn’t enough just to believe the right things. Right belief always produces right living. The gift of salvation demands that we put into practice the character of our King. Just as we take off and throw away old, worn-out clothes, we must strip off certain attitudes and actions of our old selves. Since our lives have been made new in Him, things like sexual immorality, greed, anger, lies, and the rest must find no place in us. But it is not enough to strip off the old; we must put on the new. And that new creation has many qualities of Jesus: compassion, gentleness, and humility; putting up with each other, forgiving each other, and above all, loving each other. These are the ways of Jesus, so they must be our ways too.

β€œI am loved”

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My Thoughts πŸ’­Β 

Last night during the evening service at our church, Nik our Minister read the following and asked us to discuss which one from the bullet list really stood out to us, and why?:

β€œI am loved”

but what does this mean to you?

β€’ The whole of me my body, mind heart and soul, that is my strength, my thoughts my deepest longings and all my emotions are loved by God.
β€’ God knows me AND loves me (not God knows me but loves me)
β€’ I am loved for who I am. Completely, Utterly, For Ever.
β€’ Others may dislike me, but God loves me
β€’ I may hate myself, but God continues to love me
β€’ He loves me for what I am and what I will be.
β€’ He loves me because he understands me.

it was really interesting hearing the different answers from the diverse brothers and sisters in our congragation.

So I wondered if you could comment with your answers/thoughts to the same question above?

God Has Qualified You

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Colossians 1:12-22Β (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

Humility

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1 Peter 5:1-9Β (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.

God Is With Me

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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

Walk Wisely

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Ephesians 5:15-20Β (VOICE)

So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.

Wisdom is a rare commodity. Paul urges believers, then and now, to walk wisely. It involves living well every day. Time itself seems to be co-opted by dark forces. But when believers understand God’s will, avoid drunkenness, and allow God to fill them with His Spirit, they are able to walk wisely and live well. The Spirit-filled life is not just for a special few; it is the normal Christian life, and it affects everything, including how we live in community and how we treat others at home.

Awaken A Slumbering Conscience

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Proverbs 25:21-22Β (VOICE)

If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat;Β if he is thirsty, give him something to drink,Β For your kind treatment will be like heaping hot coals on his head,Β it may cause a change in heart,Β and the Eternal will repay you.

Acts of kindness, especially when we know they are undeserved, awaken a slumbering conscience, stimulate sorrow, and perhaps even effect a change. They are the best ways to turn an enemy into a friend.