Fighting Unfit

Well it's been such a long time since a post, heck I'm even surprised I am even writing this post as it has been so long and I thought this blog was behind me!

Today hasn't been a great day because I have been ill but I always find I am more reflective when I am ill.

A lot has happened since my last post, the most life changing of these things being my marriage to the wonderful Caitlin :)

With the marriage we moved to a new house in a place called Tremorfa. Tremorfa means 'sea town' in Welsh and it is in the south easterly part of Cardiff about a mile from the city centre. It has a reputation for being rough and sometimes peoples attitudes towards it remind me of the way the Jews spoke of Nazareth in the Bible. So far we have only found some of the loveliest people and had no problems whatsoever, our God is mighty.

We moved to Tremorfa to be a part of Belmont Baptist Church and Ignite's mission to bring the Gospel and God's blessing (for there are many blessings along with salvation!) to an area with 91% unemployment (according to one survey I read) and allegedly 2/3 illiteracy.

I can already see and, I truly believe, God's work in this area and it is such a blessing to be a part of it with such a wonderful group of brothers and sisters in Christ.

However because of this, the enemy is at work. Satan will hate nothing more than his strongholds that cause the awful things that have afflicted the world and particularly this area of it being demolished by God's work through us.

I realised today that the spiritual battle is alive within me, I realised that those moments of self doubt, temptation to do other things than be with God and unwise or fearful choices I have made have been, in part, Satan fighting against me.

There is a problem when you are in a fight but more so when you don't know you are in one.

Please pray for me that God's will shall be done in my life, in our lives as a married couple and in this lovely area that we now call home.

Christian brothers and sisters, know the battles you are fighting, give them to God and fight the good fight of faith.

Those who don't know God, know that you too are in a spiritual battle. Satan would hate nothing more than for God to be in your life and for you to be blessed beyond all recognition and bless others as a result.

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

John 3:16-17
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

A message

I just want to put something out there. I have it so easy in my life...I have the money to get everything I need, I have wonderful, loving parents who encourage me in my faith, I have a job (a blessing in these times), I have some awesome Christian friends and some awesome non-Christian friends as well. I have a roof over my head. I  know where my next meal is coming from. Even though Christianity generally appears to be disliked in this country, I won't be killed or stopped from expressing my faith in this country.

I just to want to express my admiration for those who don't enjoy all or some of these privileges and yet still keep their faith and keep fighting the good fight :-) You truly are beautiful people and God is storing up much riches for you in Eternity.

2 Corinthians 4

Present Weakness and Resurrection Life

 ¹ Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

 ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

 ¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

 ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

0.00000000001 % of our lives are on Earth. God has an amazing thing in mind for the other 99.9999999%. Keep fighting the good fight, you are incredible & I love you all so much!

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.