Tag Archives: Violence

Cry With Us

August 4, 2014 by Steve 1 Comment

This powerful poem was read out yesterday at our morning service as we prayed and reflected on the situation in Gaza. It was deeply moving.

Yohanna has written a poem, Cry with us (see below), which he is happy for churches to use as they pray for the situation and cry with them at this difficult time. He believes people in the UK and around the world can help change the situation in Israel-Palestine… read more

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Cry With Us

This is a season of weeping and mourning, but it is not void of hope.

Our tears are the bridge between brutality and humanity;

our tears are the salty gates for seeing a different reality;

our tears are facing soulless nations and a parched mentality;

our tears are the dam preventing rivers of animosity.

For the sake of the mourning men, cry with us to reflect your amity.

For the sake of the poor children, cry with us demanding sanity.

For the sake of lamenting mothers, refuse violence and stupidity.

Love your enemies and cry with them is the advice of divinity.

Bless those who curse is the path to genuine spirituality.

Pour tears of mercy; compassion is true piety.

Pray with tears, for the sake of spreading equity.

Followers of Jesus: crying is now our responsibility.

But don’t cry for your friends only;

but also for your Enemy.

Yohanna Kanatacho

Article 4 2day
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Everlasting Life

November 22, 2013 by Steve 3 Comments

Verse Logo

John 3:16-21 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.

Verse 4 2day!
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Called To Become

November 5, 2013 by Steve 5 Comments

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Called to become

You are called to become a perfect creation.
No-one is called to become who you are called to be.
It does not matter how short or tall or thick set or slow you may be.
It does not matter whether you sparkle with life or are silent as a still pool,
Whether you sing your song aloud or weep alone in the darkness.
It does not matter whether you feel loved and admired or unloved and alone.
For you are called to become a perfect creation.
This becoming may be gentle or harsh, subtle or violent.
But it never ceases, never pauses or hesitates, only is –
Creative force – calling you.
Calling you to become a perfect creation

Edwina Gateley
Psalms of a Laywoman.

My Thoughts 💭

One of our ministers (Nik) just emailed me this amazing poem which was read out whilst on her retreat. Thought it would speak to some of you too! 🙂

Inspired
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Let Us Pray

November 3, 2013 by Steve 2 Comments

Prayer Logo

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 💭

Tonight at our café style evening service we were lead through this lovely prayer above. Thought you might want to join in with us. 🙂

My Thoughts, Prayer 4 2day!
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War And Violence Are Not Entertainment!

June 27, 2013 by Steve 19 Comments

Machine Gun

“War And Violence should not be entertainment!”

These were the words I received from a spirit nudge yesterday whilst trying to find PS3 games suitable for Vini (12 years old) to play at my home when he visits with my brother Ben and his wife Rosie.

My background with video games…

I’ve played video games my whole life, starting with ‘Pong’, then my Dad bought a ‘ZX80’ & a ‘Video Genie System’ and all I remember playing on it was ‘Space Invaders’. Then came the ‘Commodore 64’ and we broke many joysticks playing ‘Way Of The Exploding Fist’ and many more fighting and shooting games, then the ‘Commodore Amiga!’ This was a fantastic games machine in the late 80’s & 90’s and really stepped up the quality and quantity of these genres.

Now The PlayStation…

Since I was a boy i’ve always wanted the most violent and brutal shooting and fighting games but nothing could be made as there just wasn’t enough processor speed or memory to do the job. 

I’ve always thought playStations are amazing, I’ve owned a ‘PlayStation 1 & 2’ and I currently own a ‘PlayStation 3’ used as my DVD player for bible studies (this still makes me smile).

Since the release of the ‘PlayStation 1’ I’ve loved playing ‘Tomb Raider’, ‘Resident Evil’, ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto’, GTA was especially brutal and pushed the boundries of just how wrong can we make a game, but I loved it!

📖 Verse 4 2day! 

Romans 12:2 (NIV)
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.

Back to childhood…

For the last couple of years, God’s been cleaning out over 36 years of pollution that controls my thoughts, actions and tongue. Now with this latest message I hope to put the final nail in this huge coffin and be free of this addiction.

War and violence are horrific, brutal, destructive and uncaring, it leaves a trail of devastation through generations. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on, it still kills husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and on, and on, and on….

Are we that tangled up in the worldly culture that we have been deceived and we don’t even know it?

Is God trying to steer you away from something you know you shouldn’t really be doing?

Are you just a fan of Jesus? Or do you know him? Do you trust him to transform your life with the renewing of your mind, and turn you into the person that God wants you to be, and not the person the world wants you to be?!

🙏 Prayer 4 2day! 

Father, please help us to be aware of the world and its destructive popular cultures. Help us to be the people you want us to be and not the people that blindly put idols on the throne where you belong, Amen.

My Thoughts, Prayer 4 2day!, Teaching, Verse 4 2day!
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