Seek and you shall find

We took some of the young people to Ignite last week and something came to me afterwards. At Ignite there are about 500 young people and leaders there and whilst some sit in the middle where they can listen and participate easily, a percentage will sit around the main part of the hall talking and not really listening...I mean some of them listen & participate and not everyone can sit in the main bit anyway.

What I noticed and have been noticing a lot recently is this...those who put themselves into the presence of God, experience Him.

Often those who complain that they don't see God work or that God is not in their lives or helping them with anything have never truly looked for Him.

The Bible says:-

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.


Luke 11:9
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.


There are several ways I find useful in knowing God in my life...

• Consistent and dedicated Bible reading - because faith comes from hearing the Word of God
• Concentrated, faithful prayer - because God is always with us and when we still everything else, only He is left
• Fixing my eyes upon Jesus - in all situations of the day, because He is there and wants to help us
• Making the right choices - such as choosing to do something for Him or spend time with Him instead of doing worldly things
• Worship - not just singing but living my life for Him...because God is in the praises of His people

If there is anything I have missed out, as I am far from perfect, please comment it in!

I encourage you all to really seek out God, and experience the fullness of life through Him. I guarantee He will not let you down.

Challenges

With difficult exams, a tough work schedule, developing relationships, mental, spiritual & physical exhaustion and busy times ahead all going on or coming ahead at the moment this is a time of real challenge.


I don't think a challenge is something we cannot do but something it takes an effort to do and my life is very challenging at the moment in that sense at least.


This is the verse that comes to mind, it is from the amazing chapter of faith in Hebrews 11...


 ¹ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.


I don't know how any of the things I am doing are going to work out. Some will not work out as I imagined or hoped, some will be everything I wished for & more. But I know that whatever happens, God is in control and I know He will do right by me and more importantly right by HIM, and He is a Just God :-)


My devotion this morning was really sweet it was based on Hebrews 12:1 which is...


¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,


It linked the verse up to this beautiful poem...


'When the powers of hell prevail,
O'er our weakness and unfitness,
Could we lift the fleshly veil,
could we for a moment witness
Those unnumbered hosts that stand
Calm and bright on either hand;


Oh, what joyful hope would cheer,
Oh, what serene faith would guide us!
Great may be the danger near,
Greater are the friends beside us.'


ANONYMOUS

Watch what you say

I was on twitter today and I saw the following tweet by what I assume is a celebrity on the main page of the site:-

'Don't say sorry for anything that made you smile' or something alone those lines!

I really dislike saying like this. I think it is completely out of touch with reality. Some may think I am being silly for blogging about what is, to some people, a throwaway comment but I believe that people truly take encouragement from such comments and go and do whatever you want and it doesn't matter who you hurt in the process.

Sayings like this have helped turn Britain into a temple of selfishness and despair.

Does it mean that Hitler shouldn't have said sorry for his crimes if it made him smile?
Is pedophilia right if it makes them smile?

Of course it isn't.

In today's world it is hard to define morality as there is so many different versions flying about, one opinion against another. My way of looking at it is that, as fellow humans, we cannot impose our opinions on each other because we are equal and does anyone know best?

So the way to define what is right goes back to the start, it goes to a higher power who does know better. It goes down to what God has said.

Jesus (who is God) summed up God's law in this:-

Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

His Plan

Having spoken to various good friends over various things the last few days the following thing has occured to me:-

Our best laid plans are often different to God's.

I think we all have an idea in our head of how we would like things to go. I often mistakenly take the idea in my head as perfection and what perfection would look like.

I suppose it is arrogance to assume that we know best and I'm guilty as charged.

I was thinking of what Joseph said to his brothers when God's Plan for Him came to fruition. Joseph had many hard times and confusing situations despite doing very little wrong.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

This world is a place full of evil, hate and selfishness. If you disagree with me just watch the News. Things will not always go as we have planned but God never loses control. As my pastor likes to say, 'The Trinity don't do emergency meetings'.

I truly believe in happy endings. It's only because I believe in a God who loves us and works the best for us in every situation, no matter how gloomy it looks. I believe in looking back at hard times smiling at how God helped us through it and worked in us through it. I believe living exciting, uncomfortable lives where our security is in God alone. I believe in Heaven and no matter how horrible life on earth is that we will have a perfect eternity with God if we trust in Jesus Christ.

Once my hope was in earthly things such as girls, football matches & money. The problem with those things are that girls can dump you, your football team can lose and money runs out.

My hope now is in the God who will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5), can never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8a, Romans 8:31), and whose love will never run out (Romans 8:38-39).

Praise the LORD!

A Big Price!

Today is a very crazy day in European football. Transfer Deadline Day! The final day in which major football clubs can sign players this season. You can have really boring Deadline Days where nothing happens. But occasionally you get a real gem of a day where clubs keep you guessing right up until the final hour.

Today is one of those days. The main players are Liverpool's Fernando Torres, one of my favourite players (left), and Newcastle United's Andrew Carroll (right). At the time of writing they appear to be leaving for Chelsea & Liverpool (Carroll to replace Torres!) for £50,000,000 and £35,000,000 respectively.

I have read much concern over the amount of money being spent by football clubs. One work colleague suggested that those kind of sums could help feed some of Africa and that is certainly something to think about when we see such frivolity in our world on seemingly needless expenditure.

Many others have suggested that these players are not good enough to warrant those sums being spent on them, and this is what I am going to make a point about in this post.

In Football you are worth what somebody is willing to spend on you. Carroll could be one of the top strikers in the world in the next ten years and every penny spent would be worth it. Torres is one of the best strikers in the world already and if his goals fire Chelsea into the Champions League next season and to victory in it this year, he will have paid back the price already (especially as prize money is equally as exorbitant in football!).

Let's turn this around, if we are worth how much someone is willing to spend on us then how much are we worth?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God considers us so valuable to Him that He was prepared to sacrifice 'his one and ONLY Son' to ensure we have the chance to have our sins forgiven and thus go to Heaven to be with Him.

The price paid for us was God Himself. This is how Jesus is described by the prophet Isaiah:-

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

I have been down on myself a lot recently but knowing God's Great Love for me has helped me through it. If you are feeling down about yourself don't forget HOW VALUABLE YOU ARE TO HIM.

Thank you Jesus!

Running the Race

I have agreed to do a half marathon for charity in September. It will be an experience for sure, I will explain more about it in a future post, but what a half marathon forces you to do is RUN!

So tonight I went for a jog around my local park. I thought I had done two couple of mile runs recently but according to Mum my idea of a mile is slightly out so I hadn't really done as much as I'd thought. I had also not long had dinner, and my shoes are not really running shoes so my feet really ache.

So here I am running and struggling. I want to give up, the excuses are on a plate. I could say I want to protect my feet, I could point to a back pain I've had recently. I could say I'll try again once my stomach isn't full of beans on toast and WeightWatchers chocolate.

I lifted my eyes up to the sky and asked God for the strength and help I needed to achieve my target for the night. 12 laps of the local park which equals about two miles. It used to be nothing to me but Christmas and the bad weather has taken its toll on my fitness. If you had told me I would do 12 laps at that point I would have laughed. When I started running again after the quick prayer session I passed the gate and was tempted to just run straight on out of there. But I didn't, completed my aim and felt so enthused.

Here is the point, running is a wonderful analogy for life as a Christian. There are many verses that use running as the analogy in the Bible and here are a few I've picked out:-

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (ETERNITY!!)

Hebrews 12:1
[ God Disciplines His Sons ] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
 (GOD HAS A PLAN - JEREMIAH 29:11)

In our lives we face lots of obstacles to our faith. The enemy feeds us plenty of excuses. The enemy wants us to fail, he wants us to give up so God's Will is not done in our lives. I want to urge you to keep going, God WILL give you the strength. He never gives you anything you can't handle, why would he? He loves you.

God has great things in store for you and you can do them (Luke 18:27) and one day we will stand before God knowing the same as Paul did:-

 Timothy 4:7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Birds In A Bush

'A bird in the hand is worth two birds in a bush'

I never knew what this statement meant...until today!
In my third lecture at University, Financial Management, the tutor explained it in the sense of business dividends. Some businessmen feel it is better to have a cash inflow every year in the form of dividends rather than wait on the company growing and getting a better price for their shares when they sell them.

The idea is it is better to have money in your hand than to wait on something happening that will make your investment even more worthwhile in the future.

You are probably losing interest now but I will try and win you back with a thought I had.

Heaven is a bird in the hand. God GUARANTEES Salvation for all of those who confess Christ and believe in what He has done, asking for forgiveness of sins. (Christianity is the only faith to know they are going to Heaven)

Acts 10:43
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I think there are lots people counting on the birds in the bush, maybe thinking that if they wait something better will happen than what will happen if they do it the Jesus way.

Jesus dispels this by saying that HE is the only way to the Father in John 14:6:-

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I encourage everyone to stop waiting  for something else to happen and do something about it now. God Loves you no matter what you have done or where you are at and He is delighted to receive all who come to Him.

Ironically, in this case, the bird in the hand can't actually be bettered. I can testify to it. If you have any questions or want to talk about this, don't hesitate to facebook me, formspring me (the link is below) or comment on here, you can be anonymous if you want.

Dark times

Yesterday I received some tragic news. I didn't really know the family that well, but the nature of the news was the most shocking part. A local family had been involved in a car crash and the husband, son and son's fiancee all had died. The mother and the son's baby survived.

The son was two years younger than me, he was in my brothers year at school.

Events like this always lead me to remember how short life can be and how we can never know what will happen tomorrow.

That's why it is so important to have a sure hope for the future. This is the verse that has really helped me as I have dwelt on this.

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Because I believe in Jesus I know that even if I die tomorrow, I will live forever in Eternity (this knowledge is emphasised through the title of the blog). Jesus said I will never die. He isn't wrong, my body will pass away but my soul that occupies my body will indeed never die.

Do you have this comfort? Please talk to me if you don't and you want to know more/have any questions.

Living out great stories...

I have absolutely loved the advert that Sky are showing for their new channel at the moment. The advert is Dustin Hoffman talking about great stories and although I really love the backing track I have also been thinking about the idea of great stories.

I had a late Christmas present about two weeks ago from a very dear and much missed friend and part of it was a book by a Christian author Donald Miller called 'A Millions Miles In A Thousand Years'. In brief Miller speaks about how he realised he was living a boring life and was only writing stories and not living them. The book (haven't finished it yet so can only go so far!) then goes into some of his efforts to live 'great stories'. I think this is a challenge for all of us because God put us all on this earth to achieve something. He put us here to tell the story of a beautiful relationship with Him, with us realising our sin and humbling ourselves before Him and God being faithful through it all and forgiving us, ultimately seeing us rejoice with Him. God also has wonderful plans for us in our relationships, our career and in our dreams. He isn't a party pooper, He wants us to live out the great story He has written for us. What great stories do you think you are waiting to write?

^{JEREMIAH 29:11} For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I don't know

I think as a human being there are a lot of things we all don't understand. Why Cardiff can't have a quiet, peaceful, consistent season (Probably would rather they didn't to be honest, so fun to support them!), why certain things happen, why people cannot see the obvious, Women! (It isn't the great mystery people make it out to be. I don't understand because I am not one and vice versa. Simples Personally we could both learn a lot from each other as well.) Anyway I am rambling just like a dear friend of mine does so wonderfully.

I had a tough day today, lots of stuff going through my head and bringing me down and this is the point of this post. How do people manage in these times without God?

I felt so terrible but the only thing keeping me from losing it completely was God. When I was weak He was strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

And now after a great time of prayer I am feeling good again. Things don't fix themselves right away, but it is in God's Hands and He always Delivers!

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

GOD MAKES GOOD FROM ALL OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

GOD HAS A GREAT PLAN FOR US. WE DON'T KNOW IT YET BUT KNOWING GOD IS TRUSTING HIM. WE'LL BE THANKING HIM ONEDAY!

Keep the faith, it'll work out :)

Which life to do you want?

Most of my days contain a look at the sports section of the BBC Website. As an avid Football & Formula One fan I like to keep up with all the latest news and particularly enjoy reading the blogs and articles on there.

Today a certain blog lept out at me. It was Jake Humphries' blog. I have a soft spot for Jake and not just because he presents the Formula One on BBC but also because he used to present Children's BBC in his younger days and I remember him from that. I think anything that brings you back to your childhood, before you fully understand this fascinating but dark world, is something we treasure.

There was a quote on his blog that I really liked. It was from one of the commentators who had recently been replaced and whom Jake was saying farewell too. He said this when Jake confided in him about his worry about being the new presenter when the BBC started showing the F1 two years ago.

"We can both either have an easy life or an exciting life and I know which one I want!"

Jonathan Legard

This totally related to how I had been feeling today. My life is not perfect because I am a Christian. Yes, it is much better than it was before but bad things still happen and I am just as susceptible to sin as any other human.

God was Speaking to me about stuff I had been doing wrong and also about something that happened a few years ago which I still haven't fully dealt with.

I realised that in a lot of my mistakes it is down to me thinking I know better than God. Me choosing my own path and thinking that because I feel good about it and it feels right that it is therefore the right thing to do.

The problem with that is this:-

Jeremiah 17:9
 The heart is deceitful above all things
 and beyond cure.
 Who can understand it?

Because of the sin that is in us all because we are imperfect people, our hearts are selfish and want what is best for us. God thinks differently than us because He is totally unselfish and wants what is truly best for us. You see, selfishness blinds our hearts to the long term consequences of our actions. We want what is best now but thankfully we can be sure that when we trust God with our lives He gives what is the best in every way.


Matthew 7:11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

This post has dragged on but my final point goes back to the quote. Often our selfish choices are simply us choosing the easy way. But the exciting way is so much better! I believe it is totally worth it to sacrifice a bit of comfort & security to go into the unknown and maybe be blessed from it.

We have this choice when it comes to Salvation. The easy way is to do nothing and just hope you will go to Heaven. The exciting way is to trust God and give our lives to Him, accepting our way is wrong.

And we can be sure it is worth it because as Jesus says in John 10:10

'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.'

Matthew 6:33

I was speaking to a dear friend last night and I read Matthew 6:26-34. Here in Matthew 6 Jesus makes a wonderful challenge to us to not worry in our lives. He cites how God provides for the birds of the air and the flowers on the ground and says this:-

^{Matthew 6:33}
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I am such an idiot sometimes. No exaggerating, I genuinely am stupid. When trouble comes I try and solve it myself and often fail. God comes into my mind way too late or not at all. The times where I do put Him first He delivers and yet I still forget.

I just want to say to everybody:

If something bad has happened in your life and you are hurting and/or struggling - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are worried about something that is going to happen - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are having doubts about yourself or God or anything - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & RIGHTEOSNESS.

If you are happy and enjoying your life right now - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are seeking His Kingdom & His Righteousness but are like me and forget - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Because as the prophet Jeremiah says ^'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.' (29:13)

and as Paul says 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31b)

Style!

This is something people would say I don't have a lot of!

Christmas time brings a lot of great things best of all a timely reminder of what God has done for us. It also brings us presents, and lots of them!

This year I mainly got clothes, chocolate and a couple of computer games.

It's the clothes I want to talk about. Christmas and birthdays are a rare time for me. I don't buy clothes during the year and Christmas. I just get them on these occassions!

So I'm in fashion only a short period of time during the year. The problem I always find is that when I feel fashionable, I get very vain. I'll walk past shops and stare in the windows to make sure my hair is okay. It is stupid and I want to stop. Vanity is when we are wanting to be seen well in the eyes of the world and whilst we have to keep some sort of fashion to avoid giving a bad witness to others it shouldn't be as important as I make it in these kind of times.

I want to live for Him and know His Love and Grace however I look!

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Testimony Friday

This is a wonderful testimony I found online by a woman called Victoria. It moved me and I hope it blesses you as well :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jesus Always Loved Me” I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. “

[Galatians 2:20 CEV]

I wanted to share with you my story I was born again 19 years ago, you may use my story how you wish or just read and delete.

Adopted at 12 months old, to parents who were more dysfunctional then most. My father was a career drug addict and my mom would tell me how much she didn’t like me. My father did love me till I was about 7 then he delved more and more into his drug cocoon to escape the wife he did not love. There was a lot of emotional, mental and physical abuse. They adopted another child a boy and a year later she gave birth to a son. I ran away the first time when I was 11 years old.

At 12 I was taken away and put in a foster home, at 13 I ran away and lived on the streets of Oceanside California, where at 13 I was raped by 7 men, became a drug addict and drank whenever possible. At 16 I tried to commit suicide, at 17 I got married to get off the streets we moved to Maine. Unfortunately he was an abusive madman, so again I ran away. I joined a traveling carnival to escape certain death.

At 19 I was strangled and left for dead, at 20 I was locked up in the house of a drug dealer who striped me of any self esteem I ever had……I wanted to die………..at 22 I ran off with a man and found myself in Washington where again I was surrounded by drugs. The mother of my boyfriend at that time invited me to go to church with her, I agreed to go, I can’t tell you what the singers sang nor what the sermon was about but I remember as soon as the preacher started preaching I started uncontrollably crying and I didn’t know why. In my life I had tried everything from white Magic, Buddhism, and Jehovah Witness. In Washington I met a man named John, who like me was just as lost, but boy was he the most handsome man I ever met.

At the age of 23 I hated the life I was living and I knew there had to be more to this life then what I was living! So John and I set out with nothing but the clothes on our backs…We bid farewell to the lies, the drugs, the pit of emptiness that we lived in, and we had a plan we were going to hitch hike to California then to New York and start a new life…………Well we made our way to a lil town in Northern California by Redding, and while waiting for our next ride we noticed an elderly couple sitting in a car marked “Caution Wide Load” we thought nothing of it.

The old man got out of the car came over to us and asked us if we knew Jesus. I told him “I’m cool with Jesus” and John said “I’m mad at God for letting my father die in my arms.” He told us God loves us and cares about us, the old man introduced himself as Russell Mc Connell and his wife he told us was named Carol. We told him our story and our plans, he asked us to come to his house for a home cooked meal before we left town (John wanted to visit his Grandpa that lived not to far from where we were at) We told him we may do that. Russell gave us some money to eat so we went to the dinner near by ate then caught our next ride.

Things did not go well with John’s grandpa, so we left and slept under a bridge and the next day decided to call Russell and Carole, they took us in and fed us, they shared the gospel with us and that night we went to church with them. I was so into what I heard, like my heart was drinking in all that was said, but John was not comfortable he walked out and I noticed that 3 or 4 of the young men about our age followed John out of the church, later I found out they talked to John and prayed with him and ministered to him. The next thing I knew both John and I were kneeling and asking God to forgive us of our sins and to accept us as His own. I totally believed that Jesus was who they said He was.

Two days later John and I were married and then we were baptized. We were like little sponges soaking up Gods word. Three months later Johns’ bronchiolar tube clasped and he went into cardiac arrest, John was 23 years old. He was rushed to the hospital were he was D.O.A., but they revived him and he was on life support where he laid for 3 days. On the third day they stopped the machine and I watched him die for the last time, as he breathed his last breath, a peace flooded me and I knew he was in the arms of the Savior.

Later I spoke to Russell and as we looked back on everything we could see God’s hand everywhere, Russell told me that the day he met us he was called out for a job that’s why he was there, but the load never showed at the meeting area, and the night before he met us he was at church where he heard the Pastor preach on reaching out to strangers…….I am a child of the Living God washed and cleaned by the shed blood of Jesus and set apart. God is so amazing and He loved me before I ever knew Him. I am now part of a family that will never let me go or turn their back on me. I am so thankful to be part of God’s amazing saving grace.

Hard times

Today was one of those days where I just feel really down about myself. Wasn't sure what exactly caused it but I had a few ideas and was hoping it wasn't a mix of all of them as that would be a mess to sort out!

My only hope was God, and it's a wonderful thing that all I have is Him as He is all I need. He blessed me with the most wonderful verse, softly spoken to my heart in a time of reflection in His Presence.

James 1:2-4 

Trials and Temptations

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

 

Sometimes I fill my life up with so much sin that I need to be emptied and to be built up again and I realised that is what God was doing today. Perfect timing too, as my ministries begin tonight with Football training and an extra long PCY tomorrow!

 

I think if I died and got to choose what my gravestone would say I would have, 'He rocked my world'...because of the way God has changed my life, keeps changing my life and helps me when I am in need :)

Love is Faithful!

Since starting this blog I haven't been able to write about football much but in today's post I will at last but there is a much deeper point so keep reading!

Dave Jones has been the manager of Cardiff City, my favourite team, since May 2005. He has done an admirable job keeping the club competitive in one of the top leagues in the world during times of extreme financial difficulty, which has left him having to sell his best players and constantly have to scrape around for bargains in the transfer market. He also got the club to the FA Cup Final for the first time in 81 years in 2008. Many fans regard him as the best manager the club has ever had.

However recently fans have been calling for him to be sacked from his position. Strange eh?
There were changes at the club before this seasons. New billionaire owners came in and have eased the financial constraints and enabled the signing Welsh superstar Craig Bellamy. Expectations have risen and a recent bad run of form (which the club has never dropped lower than 5th and is currently 2nd, on course for automatic promotion) has seen previous unconvinced supporters and newly unconvinced fans call for his head.

I'm constantly amazed at the fickleness & lack of loyalty by people. Not just in sport but in life. Divorce rates are higher than ever before in Britain, for example.

The description of what love is in 1 Corinthians 13 starts with 'Love is patient' and ends with 'It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.'

Whilst many supporters of Cardiff City, husbands & wives are not faithful, God is perfectly faithful.

I amazed by His faithfulness. I mess up so often every day and He could just end my life right now and doesn't. He could have ended Creation right when Adam & Eve messed it all up but didn't. He could have wiped out the moaning & groaning Israelites time & time in the desert for their lack of faithfulness and affront to Him with their golden calve...but led them to the Promised Land eventually. What about the Pharisees, the people Jesus described as 'vipers' and 'sons of hell'. Why didn't God just give up?

I realise it is because God believes in us...even when we don't believe in Him.

2 Timothy 2:13 - if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

How cool is that? Even we really mess up & really lose track of our faith, God never stops believing in us.

1 John 2:1 - My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Just as cool, Jesus stands up for us before God when we mess up. The conclusion from this is that God doesn't want to condemn us, He wants to know us and for us to be with Him forever.

John 3:16 is a very well known verse, John 3:17 I find just as amazing and it says this:-

'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.'

My closing question is....are you saved? I want to say that nothing is really stopping you from making that choice :)

Crazy Love!

"Love makes you do crazy things, insane things, things in a million years you wouldn't see yourself doing, but there you are doing them."


 Wicker Park

I would imagine we are all well acquainted with the though that love makes you do crazy things. As my challenge for the Church for 2011 was to love more, it would be great to see if loving people crazily has Biblical basis.

Sometimes our problem is that we love, but we give people only a certain percentage of our love, and it involves so many conditions!

- I will do many things for you but not this, this and definitely not that!
- I will love you when I can be bothered
- I love you but I don't like showing it
- I will love you more when you do nice things to me.

Our problem is that our love is selfish and lazy and we need to kick ourselves hard to put this right in 2011!


- I will do many things for you but not this, this and definitely not that!

Acts 2:44-47

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Do you have any possessions, time, rituals that you just won't give up to or for anyone? The example of Jesus' disciples is that they shared and gave everything to each other and to others. They put others above themselves. This highlights the Biblical teaching of serving others -

Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

- I will love you when I can be bothered

Luke 10:30-35

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.

So helping this man was clearly an inconvenience, because the Priest & Levite couldn't be bothered. These were people who should have helped the man. Not the Samaritan, enemies of the Jews! But this Samaritan went to a great expense to help someone with no promise of repayment or anything in return. Jesus used this as an example of loving a neighbour. To love like Jesus did, we should be making crazy efforts for those who may never repay us or even care about what we have done.

- I love you but I don't like showing it
Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
John 11:35
Jesus wept. (at Lazarus' death and seeing the grief of his friends, he then went and brought him back to life!)

Don't believe the lie that it is soppy or sad to show people how you feel. Sometimes it is just what people need to be shown that someone cares and that they are loved. Some people have never felt such things. It is very hard sometimes and it isn't always wise to declare your feelings but keep on the lookout for any opportunity you get to bless someone :)

- I will love you more when you do nice things to me.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Need I say more?

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year to everyone! 2011 feels good!

I'd like to start by saying that I don't believe in making New Years Resolutions. I believe that if something is important enough then you should do it straight away rather than delay and give yourself excuses for not doing it.

However, I'd like to issue a challenge to everyone for 2011. Let's make 2011 the year of Love.

Love is very important in the Bible. The Bible actually goes very far in declaring its importance:-

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

This is a feeling I have, and feel free to disagree or agree in the comments section, that Britain is neglecting loving each other so much these days. I even feel it is missing in the Church as a whole to an extent.

The greatest commandments in the Bible concern love:-

Luke 10:27

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

After saying this Jesus was asked who the neighbor was and Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. I love this parable because the Israelites & Samaritans were enemies. Yet when the Israelites was hurt, the Samaritan was the only who would help him. Love in Great Britain is so selfish. People help others for their own gain, or just help those who love them and they might not help them at all (in the parable, people just walked past the Samaritan).

Let's be unselfish with our love this year. Let's help and bless the people who have hurt us, who don't care about us. If we need an example to look too let's look at Jesus. We hurt God so much with our sin, yet He gave His life so we could live.

Let's be liberal with the love in 2011!

A Different Name

Last night I had the pleasure of going to see the new Narnia movie with a few close friends. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone reading. It was very, very good! Lots of actions interspersed with some amazing character development and deep spiritual truths that you would expect with a film based on a CS Lewis book. Personally, I found God speaking to me through this film. It has been a difficult week being stuck in the house ill and it was lovely to feel God reaching out to me after all of this.

One of the most memorable bits for me is something Aslan says at the end:-

Lucy asks Aslan if they'll see him again before they go back to their normal lives at the end to which Aslan replies that he is with them also in their world but he has a different name there.

Being a Christian, CS Lewis wrote the character of Aslan to represent God.

So many people are missing the presence of God in their lives today. No human being is better than another, we have all made our mistakes, had our triumphs and good times also. But how much easier would the hard times be if you knew the all powerful, omnipresent Lord God Almighty who calls Himself the 'Light of the World', 'The Holy of Holies' and 'Everlasting Father'?

Jeremiah 29:13 promises that those who seek the Father with all their hearts will find Him.

I'd like to share a well known poem to finish this blog post, Leona Lewis actually sung this poem on one of her albums.

http://www.sapphyr.net/largegems/footprints.htm

I tried to get the words up on here but for some reason it wouldn't work so follow the link to see the poem. Apologies!

Christmas Night

Tonight I participated in a Christmas carol service at the Vale of Glamorgan Hotel. Our Church was tasked with singing 13 Christmas carols and performing several other items in front of the people at a Christmas Fayre the Hotel was holding. It was a lovely night and everyone sung really well and the items were fantastic.

One of the items was a reading of a short story by Max Lucado called 'Christmas Night' and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you all :)

It’s Christmas night. The house is quiet. Even the crackle is gone from the fireplace. Warm coals issue a lighthouse glow in the darkened den. Stockings hang empty on the mantle. The tree stands naked in the corner. Christmas cards, tinsel, and memories remind Christmas night of Christmas day.


It’s Christmas night. What a day it has been! Spiced tea. Santa Claus. Cranberry sauce. “Thank you, so much.” “You shouldn’t have!” “Grandma is on the phone.” Knee-deep wrapping paper. “It just fits.” Flashing cameras. It’s Christmas night. The girls are in bed. Jenna dreams of her talking Big Bird and clutches her new purse. Andrea sleeps in her new Santa pajamas.


It’s Christmas night. The tree that only yesterday grew from soil made of gifts, again grows from the Christmas tree stand. Presents are now possessions. Wrapping paper is bagged and in the dumpsite. The dishes are washed and leftover turkey awaits next week’s sandwiches.


It’s Christmas night. The last of the carolers appeared on the ten o’clock news. The last of the apple pie was eaten by my brother-in-law. And the last of the Christmas albums have been stored away having dutifully performed their annual rendition of chestnuts, white Christmases, and red-nosed reindeer.


It’s Christmas night. The midnight hour has chimed and I should be asleep, but I’m awake. I’m kept awake by one stunning thought. The world was different this week. It was temporarily transformed. The magical dust of Christmas glittered on the cheeks of humanity ever so briefly, reminding us of what is worth having and what we were intended to be. We forgot our compulsion with winning, wooing, and warring. We put away our ladders and ledgers, we hung up our stop watches and weapons. We stepped off our racetracks and roller coasters and looked outward toward the star of Bethlehem.


It’s the season to be jolly because, more than at any other time, we think of him. More than in any other season, his name is on our lips. And the result? For a few precious hours our heavenly yearnings intermesh and we become a chorus. A ragtag chorus of longshoremen, Boston lawyers, illegal immigrants, housewives, and a thousand other peculiar persons who are banking that Bethlehem’s mystery is in reality, a reality. “Come and behold him” we sing, stirring even the sleepiest of shepherds and pointing them toward the Christ-child.
For a few precious hours, he is beheld. Christ the Lord. Those who pass the year without seeing him, suddenly see him. People who have been accustomed to using his name in vain, pause to use it in praise. Eyes, now free of the blinders of self, marvel at his majesty. All of a sudden he’s everywhere. In the grin of the policeman as he drives his paddy wagon full of presents to the orphanage.
In the twinkle in the eyes of the Taiwanese waiter as he tells of his upcoming Christmas trip to see his children. In the emotion of the father who is too thankful to finish the dinner table prayer. He’s in the tears of the mother as she welcomes home her son from overseas. He’s in the heart of the man who spent Christmas morning on skid row giving away cold baloney sandwiches and warm wishes. And he’s in the solemn silence of the crowd of shopping mall shoppers as the elementary school chorus sings “Away in a Manger.” Emmanuel. He is with us. God came near.


It’s Christmas night. In a few hours the cleanup will begin — lights will come down, trees will be thrown out. Size 36 will be exchanged for size 40, eggnog will be on sale for half-price. Soon life will be normal again. December’s generosity will become January’s payments and the magic will begin to fade. But for the moment, the magic is still in the air. Maybe that’s why I’m still awake. I want to savor the spirit just a bit more. I want to pray that those who beheld him today will look for him next August. And I can’t help but linger on one fanciful thought: if he can do so much with such timid prayers lamely offered in December, how much more could he do if we thought of him every day?


Max Lucado