Stand up and be counted

I was thinking this evening about stuff. This is what the stuff was...I can be appreciate at the moment how hard it is to stand up for something you believe in and how hard it can be after that first step as well. I genuinely believe there is a harvest out there and all of us have the potential to do so much for God. God created us with the ability to do amazing things for Him. After all, Jeremiah says that His Plans are 'to prosper us and not to harm us'.


In Isaiah 6, God asked 

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

Isaiah's reply is simple yet hugely challenging for us today. He stood up and was counted!

"Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah wasn't some great perfect man. He had messed up like we all have. In verse 5 he says, on thinking he had seen God,

"Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

GOD ISN'T LOOKING FOR PERFECT PEOPLE, HE IS LOOKING FOR WILLING PEOPLE. 


The challenge for me, and for all of us, is are we ready to respond to the call of God in our lives? 
If not, why not, and let's prepare ourselves for the massive plans God has. This country needs to know the Saviour and we can play a part in the greatest mission ever! Let's go!

A to Z of Christianity : 'D'

The Bible is pretty much all about God's Love for us, manifested through His faithfulness through the ages and most wonderfully seen in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.


If anyone was wondering about what Jesus dying for us actually meant, one man sums it up for us. Paul!


Paul persecuted and was involved in the murder of some of the early Christians, most infamously Stephen. But then he changed and become the persecuted. He became the symbolic apostle of the early Church, suffering persecution himself and eventually dying for his new found faith.


What caused Paul to do this? He had money, power and privilege as a Pharisee and he traded it all for persecution for Christ.


The answer is an experience Paul had at DAMASCUS.

Acts 9

Saul's Conversion

 ¹ Meanwhile, Saul* was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest    ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
    ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
    ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
    ⁵ Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied.
    ⁶ Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.
    ⁷ The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.
    ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing.** So they led him by the hand into Damascus.


*Paul's name used to be Saul
** Paul's eyesight was shortly restored by a man of God


Paul had an amazing experience with Jesus, he knew Jesus was real because Jesus had met him and changed his life. Billions of people have claimed the same change since then. I am one of them and maybe you are too.


Here are some of the stories that have appeared on the blog:-


http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-testimony.html - Me!


http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2010/12/testimony-of-week.html

http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2011/01/testimony-friday.html

http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2011/01/tv-testimony.html

http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2011/01/testimony.html

http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2011/06/testimony-from-friend.html

http://michaeljamesjourney.blogspot.com/2011/08/testimony-alistair-mcgrath.html

That's like basically nothing compared to all the amazing things God has done in this world. Not all testimonies are dramatic, but all are precious and amazing testimony to a God who exists are cares for us!

If you haven't a testimony, look to God tonight. I actually promise you won't be disappointed.

So D is for Damascus, a place that represents God's work in a life that seemed immune to it. God can do ANYTHING no matter who you are or where you are at!

A-Z of Christianity - "C"

CHURCH

I've heard the following phrase more times than I can remember, just about every Church preaches it, but it shouldn't take anything away from the truth of it.

'Going to Church makes you as much of a Christian as going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger!'

Viewing from the outside, it is easy to think that being a Christian is all about going to Church and this scares people off as it makes it appear religious and cult-like.

However, whilst being a Christian is about so much more than going to Church (a relationship with the God who created you and loves you!) going to Church is very important if you are serious about following Jesus. This is why.

• Encouragement. You have a guaranteed meeting with people who also testify that Christ is Lord. There might be times in the week where you are isolated as a Christian - in work, at home, amongst friends for example. But at least once a week (or more as most Churches have a few events you can go too) you will get to be people who share your views. It's really encouraging. Britain is a country that has slipped so much spiritually that people will make you feel like a fool for believing in God. Being amongst other Christians reminds you that Christ is HUGE as He has not just performed wonders in your life, but in the lives of others too!

• Teaching. When I became a Christian it was embarrassing sometimes how little I knew. I remember stuff I once believed and said and I cringe. God knew my heart and loved me all the same but it's definitely been big for me that I have learnt so much more about the Bible, about Jesus and about how God sees this world. It makes sense and I am now in a position where I can pretty much account for my faith in anyway before others. (If you ever want to challenge me with a question on here, please be my guest :D)

• Sung Worship. I really value the time to worship through singing. I would love to just go at it all the time but things like working with others, living at home with many people mean that a lot of people would be inconvienced by my rather terrible singing! I want to gain the courage to sing when I can but sometimes it just isn't reasonable to do so. So getting to sing, being led by people spiritually and musically gifted in those area, is a huge plus!

• Help. Church is a community and through it you can help others and also get help yourself if you have issues. In what should be a loving, caring environment issues like babysitters, relationship break downs and lack of necessities should be solved a lot more easily. Together the Church is much stronger to tackle issues in our country and our world than on our own.

• Jesus time! I love spending time with Jesus and Church is another opportunity to do so with less distractions!

So whether you go to a Church already, haven't been for a while or have never been before....Get excited about the things a Church can offer you this weekend! :-D

A to Z of Christianity : 'B'

When I was 17, God began to call me to Him. Before this point in my life I had never truly experienced the reality of a personal relationship with God before but I knew it was Him, and I knew I had to seek out the answers I needed from Him. I turned to a book, and that book changed my life. Every question I threw at God, I just happened to turn to the right page with the answer every time I looked. This book is well over a thousand pages big!! I was amazed and it was a part of my decision to become a follower of Jesus, the best decision I have ever made.

In case you are wondering what book I am talking about, I am talking about THE BIBLE!

A collection of 66 books, written by 40 different authors. It is amazing for correctly predicting a lot of things, most notably the coming of Jesus and the things that happened in His life. It also stated medical (water and blood in a body), scientific (the world had a beginning) and cosmic (the world is round) facts well before they officially became known!

Timothy describes the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16 as 'God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness'

Hebrews 4:12 states 'For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.'


Romans 10:17 says 'Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.'


If we need motivate to pick up your Bible, there it is...it changes life's, it is the truth, it is breathed by God, useful to us, living, convicting and inspires more faith in us!


Pick up your Bible today :-)

Objectivity

My Audit & Assurance exam revision today states that 'Objectivity is defined by the ACCA as being ' a state of mind which has regard to all considerations relevant to the task in hand but no other.'

In that case, I want to be objective about following Jesus :-)

A to Z of Christianity : 'A'

So I haven't blogged in some time and am wanting to get back on track so my idea to keep me on track the next month or two is this, Do an A-Z of Christianity! My aim is to hopefully cover a lot of the truth of my faith and encourage readers in it and maybe give new insights as well!

Obviously the first letter of the Alphabet is 'A' so that is what I will begin with :-)

I believe I can actually sum up a lot of the Bible in this letter..like all good preachers (I joke) I have three points!

ADAM - was the first man on the entire Universe. God gave him a wife called Eve and they were the first married couple in history. To begin, them and God walked together on the earth. However this lovely arrangement ended when they decided to disobey the only thing God told them not to do. Like when you put mud in a glass of water, the entire Universe became dirty and imperfect. This was because sin had entered it.

ATONEMENT - Not the 2007 film starring James McAvoy but the answer to the problem Adam introduced to the entire world. Sin has corrupted everything and this sin was separating the world from God. God loves us, He doesn't want to be separated from us and definitely doesn't want our sin to stop us entering Heaven like it otherwise would. So He came Himself to sort the problem. Jesus of Nazareth was God come to remind the world of His Love and desire to know all humankind and pay the price for all sin on the cross. This act of sacrifice atoned for our sin so that we can be in relationship with God again.

ASK - This is how we get that relationship with God. Just ask. Ask that God would come into your life, forgive your sins and help you live the life He has planned for you through the Holy Spirit.

Mark 9:23a - 'Anything is possible for the one who believes'