Helter Skelter and the rest of chaos

I went on a youth camp, week long, and to be honest wasn't expecting anything special rather I was expecting to be answering your usual atheist questions and the type of questions teenagers might ask. I was wrong. I was blessed by people who knew the Lord well, who taught me things and those who asked the questions I expected but you could also tell were searching in their hearts not just having an intellectual conversation. I can't begin to say what great experience it was for me, nor what God has done for me during that time, but it has left me questioning my views on youth in the church and where I am with God. I came back off a spiritual high and it's slowly dropping off. I am going to be trying to restore it but I know it's going to require prayer if I am going to keep it, also I given myself this week to recover and will set in place discipline next week so hopefully it will pick up then, on espere. I find this funny because recently I was given the verse Romans 7:21, and to be honest it worries how true that strikes for me. I hope that you lot reading this don't have that same problem and are blessed, like I am, by those around you who want to see you prosper and cherish your life. If you don't have those people then remember God whose love is abounding for each and every one of you.

God Bless

Adventureland

I know I said I was on a break but I was just watching Adventure land on BBC Iplayer and whilst I think Kristen Stewart shows a bit more emotion than she's given credit for, I also noticed a message given late on in the film. Joel, the main characters best friend, tells the main character (I've forgotten his name already, let's call him Max) that Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, was so poor and uncared about by the end of his life that he was called Henry in his obituary. Max then says he doesn't see some sad writer but rather someone who had the passion to write 700 pages about the whaling industry. This is what hit me, do I care about how people perceive me when I die or do put my all into something despite not being respect or honoured for it.
I believe every Christian should be someone who picks the second option. We should be constantly applying our all despite the possibility of no reward and be looking towards our reward in Heaven. I'm not completely that person, I'm happy to do work but I don't apply my all to it which I should do. I just thought I'd share this snippit from a film mainly about a weedy guy finding love in an adventure park, which to be honest isn't the most interesting film but the time does pass without you noticing which means something was done right but yeah, maybe you can use Henry Melville to help remind you about putting your passion into what you do.

God Bless

Inbetweener

So I'm not quite sure what to write now, after my last post being so big and honest and hopefully touching people to look at what's in their life. Well I'll start by saying what's happened recently with what is most notable to me. I'd say God is getting me out of my sexual immorality.  I haven't masturbated since Sunday and my view of girls is definitely moving more towards who they are rather than what they are, with the fact that when I start to look at what they are it feels more wrong than it has done ever before. So yeah I thought I'd share that with you.
Nextly I can't think of something grandiose to talk about but I am thinking of making apologetics my next string of things to talk about. It's a passion and I believe every Christian should be equipped with it but I hope to discuss apologetics and then look at the 10 questions Christians hope no one will ask according to a book of the same title.

So hope you'll be reading along for that, if not just trundle through the stuff in the rest of this blog. I'd like to think there are some crackers in there.

God Bless

rushing

So I want to write something here, but I don't know what to. I mainly have nothing else to do which leads to a dull life. Well not really, I have fun with my life because there is so little I prioritize to "have to do" and that leaves me to doing what I want to do, which is always good fun and hopefully sooner rather than later will also be what God wants me to do and would do. You see sometimes we rush around sorting out our own lives because there's a small part of us that thinks we should approach God when we are in a state of calm. Well, no. God doesn't care how you come to Him so long as your heart is in the right place. See whilst we run around, sorting out our lives as much as we can we tend to limit the amount of time we come before our God and we forget He has our lives planned out for us. I don't intend to say "Stop rushing", keep the lifestyle that suits but just remember to keep giving it up to God and live on the strength He gives you.
On that note I'm not saying I'm perfect since despite the fact I don't do much, I also forget to come before God a lot. So yep, that's my post of the day.

God Bless

Difficult questions

Oh my word did I not expect this today. I went along to my college's Alpha course and came up against some  of the hardest questions I have faced in a long time. I was completely out of my depths for most of it but luckily God had my back so I could answer some of them and attempt to bring about an understanding on others but I just want to encourage people now to really trust God with those difficult questions and not be afraid to say "I don't know." I said it a good four or five times tonight and  am planning on coming back with answers next week, which will probably lead to more and more questions but I'm praying on the matter and will be asking questions of those more experienced than me. So really finding where I struggle will help me be refined  and get better at bringing people to search for Jesus.

Are we too God centered?

admission: not really been following my challenge but bible reading and prayer are up compared to usual.
Right on to my main bit.
I went along to a "late" night worship earlier tonight, and I regularly do but I got royally annoyed with it tonight. I couldn't get into the music because I felt the whole thing just wasn't right. I actually left 30 minutes into the hour to sit outside and pray, got sidetracked by chatting to someone about and came into better songs but the annoyance just returned so I left again and sat outside until the end.
To clear a few things up, I love worship, I love song worship but I also pay attention to words. I'm not an English student but I hate it when a message isn't passed on well because the wording isn't quite there. That's why I prefer being Jesus-centered to Cross-centered and the such. There was a song I felt wasn't scripturally right tonight which set me off, in my understanding it was saying that my last hopes are in Christ ("counting on your name") and that I don't fully know He will save me ("i have faith in you"). That lyrics may not be exact, I am attempting to forget the song but those are both repeated in the chorus. I felt they were wrong and I'll explain why. My last hopes are in Jesus, sure, but you know what else is? All my other hopes. Jesus isn't somebody I go to in the end and say "I'm counting on you." He's someone you go up to and say "I put my everything in you, because I know you have already done what needs to be done." Screw counting on Him, He doesn't need us to believe He can save us so that He can save us on the last day. He needs us to believe He HAS saved us.
*excuse the french*
Secondly I don't have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) I'm not confident in hoping Jesus saved me, I'm confident in knowing Jesus saved me. Rant about song over.
The other part that put me off, I realized on my way home chatting to my housemate. There was too much of a "God has saved me. How great is that?" vibe. I'm not saying that's wrong but there wasn't any "because of this, I shall work for Him" if you  get me. There's a balance between faith and works, tonight didn't have it right, too much on the faith side really. This got me thinking, are we sometimes too God focused/centered?
I want to point out it's great if you are really focused on God, it means your life is pointing the right way but don't lose yourself. However don't get to caught up on you that God doesn't permeate through your life. See God demands it all, He deserves it all but He doesn't want all of you to be Him. This is a  bit risky and strong language but NEVER try and be God, ALWAYS be yourself. That's who God wants. So whilst we can center our lives around God, we shouldn't get too caught up in all that He's doing, has done and will do and miss what He is doing in our lives. I don't want to push the focus back on the I, but rather want it to be on God with a "what's He doing in my life" twist. He may be doing nothing at the moment, perhaps you are exactly where He wants you to be in life but there will probably always be a prompting in your life, a challenge in your life and something that God is doing around you.
I think I'm jumbling up my words, essentially don't be concentrating on God so much that you forget about what He commissioned you to do here on Earth. Always remember that whilst we should be daily offering up our lives to God, this means more than just giving the God the glory in everything you do, but means you should also be doing the things God would do (WWJD?).
I think my message comes through, if you are confused by it or think I'm wrong then comment. I believe you can.

God Bless

my day/challenge 4

Right I really didn't do what I intended to, I also really had no conversations with non-christians so, woops! To be honest though, I think something better happened today. I prayed on my way home for the first time in a  long time. I like praying on the way home because it really does reveal to me things on my heart as what I'm  praying is thought about it's just the first thing that I think of. I really do hope God's will comes to life through some of prayers and that I see Him moving more  in my life assuming I can pick  this habit back up. I just pray that you guys reading this can find encouragement to better your own prayer lives, mine's not great but let's be honest we can all keep doing better and hopefully we will always be trying to.
Well that's my quick post, I've got to sleep now since I have an exam tomorrow/today, so:

God Bless

challenge 3

So I didn't get God into all my conversations today, that said I didn't talk much today either. I am however starting to use the bible a lot more in my status and hopefully that will work some magic in itself. I have however noted that I feel a bit on the God ball as it were, I read my bible for a considerable amount of time and prayed more than I usually do during the day so perhaps my attitudes are in fact turning towards God more than I expect with just the notion of doing this. All I can say is that I kind of expect it to increase more if I actually succeed but we'll see. How are any of you doing, if you are trying this? Comment if you want, but hopefully my results already are encouraging you to do it yourself.

God Bless

challenge 2

So I thought it  would be wise to update you as I went along, for those who don't know or are too lazy to read the last blog I'm trying to get God into my conversations more and I invite others to do the same. Any how my days been pretty slow as I spent most of it in the presence of Christians and being the first conversation I've had with them it's pretty easy for me to talk about God as I can only assume it's Him who prompted me to do this. I sadly did not mention Him in a Facebook message conversation with my younger sister  but it was a concise chat about her visiting me so what can I say.
There is meaning behind me doing this, which I discovered in my thoughts today. I feel the more I turn my words and thereby my thoughts  to God the more I shall instinctively follow Him and so set my full sights on God and hopefully my flesh will follow as well. That's the plan at least.
Again pray that I can keep this up and don't shy away from it when talking to friends who don't know Jesus.

God Bless.

Step out and challenge 1

I should really be going to bed now, got church in the morning and I'm not a morning person usually. I'm not sure what I want to write about but I've been thinking about my testimony recently, mainly because I'm telling it to my CU on Tuesday. I am pretty sure I'm a testament  to what my campus's CU does since it's through them I am who I am today, obviously my  life beforehand has a lot to do with it as well but I owe some of it to the CU and the people I've met there as well. I'd just like to take this chance to encourage each and every one of you who read this to really be adamant in your mission in your life, God isn't small at all in fact He's probably bigger than this universe and we haven't finished discovering that yet, so  don't be afraid by people challenging what you do or questions you don't know the answer to. Be yourself! Be like Jesus! People will turn away from you, people will mock you and others will care and love you, Jesus is the prime example of that and we are to follow Him and  will suffer, to a lesser extent, like He did. Do not be afraid in this world because it is God's, the cross was reconciling the whole of creation. You are part of something so much greater than one man with intellect beyond yours, you are part of a kingdom that endures forever, take confidence in it and stand for what you believe in.
I'm going to set a challenge for myself over the next two weeks, that's until my exams are over. The challenge is thus; in ever conversation I have, I'll  try and get Jesus and/or the Gospel in it, with Christians talking about the blessing He has given me, with non-Christians the same but also introducing them to God's love as well. I know I can't expect any of you on the other side of the computer screen to keep directly accountable but I'll try and post each night about conversations I've had and how God has been moving.
I invite anyone else to join me in this, perhaps set your own time limit and do it with other friends who you might want to work with, build up in faith and encourage so that you can all know the goodness of Christ even more in your lives. I've just realised I will probably be leaving over the till small talk out of this for now since it doesn't quite seem the place but otherwise I shall try to put it in.
Best  of luck to those who embark on this with me and any prayers would be cool!

God Bless.

Evangelism?

How did you affect someone's life today? Not much to your knowledge, maybe you've done nothing evangelical today or you've just kept clammed shut about Jesus. Well done, because I think you've just done something amazing. No honestly, I do. I don't believe in actively announcing Jesus's arrival everyday, I think it's silly. I know it's important and that it's something we are called to; evangelism, but you know what taking a day to spend on yourself is also important, me time is probably more important than everyone else time. I don't mean that you should prioritise yourself over others, but we all need to take time out to make sure that we are in the right place with Jesus. Our day should simply be split into three parts, Jesus time, everyone else time and sleep. Sometimes though we put too much of an importance of making relationships with everyone that we forget about the most important one. I'm a prime example, I know a lot of people, I like getting to know people but if I'm honest I have a tendency to forget Jesus and it's not right, I should be able to put people down for Jesus not Jesus down for people.
Now I'm not going to make this one long but I want to emphasize that you should be leading lives for Jesus, that means He should be the most important thing in your live, in fact whilst you have Jesus time and everyone else time, Jesus should be in your everyone else time! He should be in every aspect of your life, that's how much He deserves from us, note that He doesn't require it, He DESERVES it! But I just wanted to draw away from the constant emphasis that our whole lives should be evangelising but in fact we can spend it sorting out our relationship with Jesus and God because being right with that relationship and working properly in it will be a thousand times more effective than any spoken word evangelism. However do not be afraid to speak up for what is right or neglect sharing your faith because if no word is spoken then how can we be messengers?
In summation work towards a good, working relationship with God and because of it evangelise, do not leave Jesus out of any part of your lives and don't be afraid to speak the Good News of Jesus Christ or stand up for His message. I am not saying this from the point of view of someone who's got it all down but from the view point of someone who knows where he is lacking and sees where the ideal might be. I don't want you to leave this blog thinking evangelism isn't important, it is but being right with God and your relationship with Him is more so.

God Bless

Testimony

This isn't my testimony nor anyone else's, I thought I should mention this straight away.
Testimonies are a powerful thing and are our strongest weapon when we profess the good news of Christ. This is mainly because Jesus, God and the world of the Bible all seem far away from our lives now but the reality is they aren't and that's what we can show people through our testimonies. That the power of Christ is living today and can affect anyone no matter what situation they are in. Yesterday I heard one of the more powerful testimonies I have heard during my past year in the company of Christians. It was someone who had truly been into dark places, wrestled with God and come out with a much stronger faith than before. I couldn't ever understand that, I've led a blessed life without such trials and tribulations but no matter how far apart our stories are we both have a tale which somebody can relate to. If it's somebody looking to find why God let them suffer and how He could love them then my friends testimony is more relevant but if you are somebody who has lead an average life then mine could be better, either way your testimony is something unique to your relationship with God. It's how you came to know Him, and nobody can ever take that away from you.
I was intending to write a lot more about your testimony being a powerful weapon when evangelising but I think if we live with our testimonies and let the world see that God can act through any situation that will be all the greatness we need to have by our side.

God Bless

Digging Deeper

I apologize for the delays, important coursework and exams are underway in my university career. I've just taken up the book "Dig Deeper" again and thought as I went through it I could share my readings with you.
I was feeling quite out of it as I read the introduction again on if the Bible is a divinely inspired book what it means to me and the message was hitting home. What it was essentially saying was this, if the Bible is divinely inspired, and it is, then it doesn't have any mistakes, is alive and is our source of listening to God. Out of this though what struck me was the fact that it is how we hear from God. I like many others I'm sure find it hard to hear God saying anything to me, and I do believe we can hear from God through people, through our minds and thoughts and through everyday life, but I always make the mistake of making sure it's all biblically sound  afterwards rather than checking the Bible first. If you are trying to hear from God, check the Bible, it's always correct. You may not agree that it is but God doesn't make mistakes and so it's all correct, it's simply question of whether or not you accept it.
I hope this has helped whoever reads this, I thought I'd have more to write on but obviously that didn't happen.

God Bless

Reflecting God

So this is the second in the two part bit on the weekend away I went on which is essentially on how we should be reflecting the trinity. I'll be running through the 6 six points we were given and voila it's done. So how can we reflect God in our lives?
Firstly, by being certain in what we believe in. (Hebrews 11) As in the last blog we need to certain, confident and assured of what we believe in and through that we can start to live a life suited for it which is point two.
To be focused solely on the purpose to which we are called. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.

It's our duty to fear God and keep his commandments, now I don't mean fear as in "AAAAAAHHH!!" horror movie sort of fear but rather an awe or reverence fear, a fear of his almighty-ness which expresses in a form of awe. It's through focusing on our God like this and keeping the commandments He gave us that we can grow to know Him better and so be able to reflect His nature to this world better.
The next three points are quite tied in with one another but here's point three. Our thoughts match what we believe. (Proverbs 15:26)

The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked,
    but gracious words are pure in his sight.

(Philippians 4:8)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

The first is self explanatory and combines well with the second one to tells us to keep our thoughts on things that are pure, true, noble, right, admirable and lovely and not to think like the wicked do. Our thoughts aren't ever really thought about oddly, what I mean to say is we never really advise people to keep their thoughts pure but only their words and deeds, which I'll come to later. It's a challenge though to be more aware of what we are thinking and to set that thinking, that focus of our thoughts on God.
So on to point four, our words should match what we believe. Well this is more talked about and a bit more obvious as we want to portray God's love but here's the verses. (Colossians 3:17)

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

(Titus 2:7-8)

In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

So yep again I think the Bible talks for itself and really teaches us more than I could explain, but here's food for thought. Reflecting God is to be consistent with God, just as the Trinity is consistent with one another. Again to reiterate a point near to flogging a dead horse over and over again we need to reflect God and the only way we can do this is by focusing on Him more and more until we align our world view with His. On to point five though: Our deeds should match what we believe in (1 Corinthians 10:13)

No temptation^[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted^[b] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,^[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

(Colossians 3:17)

 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 Looking at the Corinthians verse we can see that God will not allow us to fall into temptation because of Him but rather by our own choice, we act badly because we choose to. We cannot be excused but through the blood of Christ for the sinful choices we make. If you really can't stop making those wrong choices, and some choices you just repeatedly make wrongly, then bring them all before God and ask Him to help you seek out the right choice, ask Him to help you reflect Him here on Earth. To tie them all together though point six, everything we do, think of and say is consistent with who we are in Christ. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

(1 Thessalonians 4:7)

 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

Boom! I think it's a great verse to end on. We are called to live  a pure and holy life, to be consistent with one another in Christ. It's in the unity of Christ we stand. We spend a lot of time bickering and discussing the differences in denominations and I respect that but there is something much greater at the center of our faith that means those don't actually matter. Obviously going off scripture is wrong and unholy but when people squabble over styles of worship it's not love compelling them to my mind, it's comfort in what we are used to. We aren't called to complacency butt we are called to reflect Christ in all we do and to encourage one another in our mission on Earth. I hope I've given a small insight into how we can reflect the Trinity, I realize there aren't any practical explanations written by me here but I think reading the Bible and getting to know God is the only way forward.

God Bless.

 

Faith

I went on a weekend away recently which is where this and the following post draw their inspiration from.
So what is faith? Well amazingly the Bible answers that for us in Hebrews 11:1

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

This isn't saying if your really, really believe in something it is true, which I think is what some people take a faith in God as but rather it's a confidence and assurance about immaterial things. It's quite simply something stronger than a simple belief. In a Christian context it is God we hope for and who we don't see and through or faith we are confident and certain that He is there. We were given this analogy of our certainty in Christ through faith

You know how when you meet a rickety bridge on a walk and because of the uncertainties you choose to walk on to a safer crossing point. Now imagine being chased by a pack of wolves and coming across the same bridge, you'll take your chances won't you. Well that's not what we do when we walk with Christ, when we walk with Christ we can step on that bridge no matter the circumstance or dangers because of certainty in Him.

Now I think our faith is amazing because it allows us to be certain in Christ and His protection over us. You see we normally won't upset the status quo because we fear the repercussions but our certainty in Christ allows us to overcome those fears. In fact if you continue looking through Hebrews 11 then you find that we are called to be faithful and match our view on life with Gods, rather by matching our views with Gods we can grow further in faith.
So let's begin with Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 

God made this world and is perfect so it logically succeeds that God's view of the world is perfect. As His creation then we should try and make our world view the same as God's, quite probably impossible but sure a task we should attempt to obtain. Our thinking should always be influenced by God, I don't think it's a simple case of "What Would Jesus Do?" but rather it's also "How Would God Act?" and "What Are God's Thoughts On This?" We have God's thoughts and ideas written out for us, The Bible, and yet we spend most of our time trying to fit it in to our modern world, we dilute it sometimes in this attempt. We should stop this, read the Bible for what it is, God's word, and try and fit our world into the Bible, if it doesn't work then we've got to sacrifice something on our part. So really to understands God's view we need to understand the Bible. We need to wrestle with the Bible, search out people's alternate understanding and find the full truth of it all. It's a daunting task to understand the Bible and no one will ever understand it all but start where you are comfortable and move on from there, as with moving down God's river we start paddling and move to deeper waters as go on.
So from there we  move onward in chapter 11 where there are many examples of people having faith in God and reaping the reward because of it. So then 11:7:

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Noah's a great example of acting on our faith, God came to Noah and said essentially said this "I'm going to do something that I have never done before, here's what I want you to do." Noah had no reason to believe that it was really going to happen but by faith he made the ark. What happened was this, Noah had faith in God thereby he trusted God with his life and believed with all his heart that God would keep to His word. It's because of this that Noah moved in faith and built the ark despite the consequences, this comes from a deep knowledge of  God  and having  his world view in line with God's, causing obedience to God.
Hebrews 11:11 is another case of trusting God to deliver on His promises.

 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she^[a] considered him faithful who had made the promise.

Sarah, Abraham's wife, really wanted a child and knew she would get one because God promised her one. When she started to realize she was past childbearing age she offered her servant to Abraham so that he could have a child. Yet despite the fact she wasn't fully trusting in God, He kept His promise to her and gave her a child of her own. He keeps His promises so perhaps we should be more trusting and faithful in waiting on the Lord to act. Hebrews 11:26 next.

He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 

So this is all about Moses just to give you some context. Moses had it right, he saw doing anything for the sake of Christ greater in value than the best the Earth could offer. We've lost that slightly today in my eyes, it's probably the reason we can fall into sin with the most ease because we forget the value, the worth of what Jesus Christ is in our lives. I want to be able to do what Moses did, leave a position of power, authority and wealth to follow Christ. I don't mean I want to get it all and make a point of following Christ, but rather I'd like to have the courage and strength of faith to give up everything and do what God has asked of me. As in getting our world view to match God's world view, we also need to be at the point where God say something and we act on it. We can only reach that point as we grow in faith and grapple with who God is more and more. Finally Hebrews 11:17

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,

If you don't know who this one and only son is, well it's the one Sarah had just a couple paragraphs ago. You know the one that God had promised Abraham and delivered after Sarah had past child bearing age. Well God asked Abraham to sacrifice that same son, and you know what Abraham trusted that God had a good plan for him since God had also promised that Abraham's descendants be as numerous as the grains of sand. It's a testament to Abraham's faith in God, and an example to us all. We all suffer hard times of testing, and yes we complain and moan but I don't think that's the way about it at all. Sure it may tear at our heart to sacrifice, or lose, something dear to us but we have to firm in our faith knowing that God has promised us something even better. So whilst we may get depressed due to hard times, remain strong in the knowledge God has promised good to you. Trust that God is easily enough to fulfill His promises even though you may be tested in this life!
So I encourage you all to grow in faith and strive to understand the word of God more.

God Bless!  

Prayer

It's been mentioned to me that prayer can be included in the armour of God which is why I am doing this now. I was trying to figure out how to go about this and thought about; why we pray? How we pray? The power of prayer? And so decided I would go through them all.
So I thought it would be prudent to talk about why we pray first. Prayer is us talking to God to discern His will in our life, we don't pray for an easier life, for great fortune. We pray to know what God's will is. It's as simple as really, we don't pray for any other reason if we pray properly. Sometimes we stick our selfishness in and ask for something good to happen to us but God will give you what is good, and if it's God giving you know you're in for something amazing. I've never done it myself but some people say prayer helps organize your thoughts which is a novel idea in my mind because we describe prayer as talking to God and I know I'd prefer to talk to someone who has their thoughts in check rather than  all over the place, especially if I'm going to try and make them work in my will. I don't claim to know God's mind but I'd want someone who has their thoughts in line and so I doubt we pray to get our thoughts organized but rather perhaps instead to get God to tell us which thought is more important to follow or which thought should be dropped.
Anyhow I think the main thing is that we pray to know God's will in matters and to see it manifest in our lives, but then how do we pray? Well we kneel down, clasp our hands together and recite memorized verses and prayers, pretty simple really isn't it. Well it would be if that was all there was to it but it's actually easier, just talk. Not the mindless babbling type of talking but from your heart and to God, I like to imagine Him as a mate who has a day like any other person and I'm just chatting away to them. Sometimes you present arguments, other times see what His view on a favour might be. Prayers not something that's taught, it's just you being yourself to the one who created you and it's a free-ness to speak your heart.
However the power of  prayer is all together different, it's power is amazing. When we pray, God acts. He doesn't always give us what we want or what we think is best but He gives us what He knows is best for us in any given situation, sometimes it is what you prayed for, sometimes the opposite and even sometimes it's something all together unimaginable. I've seen this written somewhere before:

When we pray God answers in three ways:

1. He gives it to you straight away and it's what you expect

2. He says "No" and gives you something better

3. He says "Wait" and gives you the best.

 I think it is always a good lesson to be patient in our prayers, all to much in this modern society we want things done quickly but why? So we can move on to the next thing? God's not moving, nor are His promises and we've got our lives and eternity to collect on them so why should we want all our prayers answered now?

I hope I've left some readers with a new insight into prayer, for others who read nothing new then I can only ask that you pray for those of us who need to tackle our attitudes towards prayer and that we can pray diligently in our God's presence.

God Bless

 

Sword of the Spirit

Which is the word of God.

¹² For ^(B)the word of God is living and ^(C)active, ^(D)sharper than any ^(E)two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and ^(F)discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

  

^(A)Beat your plowshares into swords,    and ^(B)your pruning hooks into spears;    let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” -Joel 3:10

I thought I'd splash out some verses at the beginning this time. The sword of the Spirit does both of those, it cuts like nothing else and causes the weak to say "I am a warrior."
Now if we take a look at the first passage, what we can see from it is that the word of God can cut anything and pierce anything even the smallest joints and your thoughts as well. I think it's a statement saying the word of God can pierce through anything but knowing God it is also saying no matter how small you think your sin is, no matter how little you turn away from Him there will always be a rebuking from the bible, there will always be something correcting you, because if you aren't perfect then you aren't worthy of being with God. Yet that is the amazing thing about Jesus, He gives us His righteousness, His perfectness which means that the word of God doesn't deem us unworthy but rather causes us to maintain our righteousness and see where we are failing. It also means that if we constantly read the Bible we can keep Satan away and stop Him entering our minds.
The second passage I wanted to share because of the last line and I think that really sums up the whole armour of  God, I think this really encompasses what the armour does, by wearing this we can stand in the army of God and cause the evil on to run.

God Bless

Helmet of Salvation

Well this is going to be a short one, I'm not sure why but this one seems to stump people a bit more than most of the other ones do and I agree with that. I don't whether it's because we have a hard time imagining a helmet as doing more than protecting our head or not, but I would like to think that's the main issue. What's interesting is Paul isn't the first to use this imagery linking a helmet and salvation in fact Isaiah 59:17 contains the same imagery which means that this salvation was put to the helmet for the sake of completing the armour although I can tell you why it really is. My assumption is that it is because salvation through Christ is a choice and one which whilst made with the heart begins very much as a mental decision to follow the truth that you know.
Well I've not entirely made my mind up on the whole matter, I think it will need some more mulling over and discussion with others but if I do ever find a decent answer which holds scripturally true then I will share it here and update this post as well, so keep your eyes peeled on the future.

God Bless

Shield of Faith

So then what is the shield of faith? Well according to Paul it extinguishes the flaming arrows of the evil one, it's certainly a part of equipment that we shall, or should, always have on us. It's our first defence against the attacks, it's in our faith in God and the truth of the Gospel that defends us most against the attacks of the enemy. In fact by extinguishing the arrows it stops the fire burning us and spreading, in a way our faith in Christ Jesus mitigates, if not stops, the attacks on us.
If we were to take the armour of the time, Roman armour, then we should take a gander at the Roman shield which is a big old thing. Well anyway, my point is along the lines that our faith doesn't just defend one part of our body but all of it and that we are so much stronger in fellowship. As in the box formation of Roman armies so can our faith be as we grow, and have fellowship, with other Christians.
It can only be assumed then that our faith and our righteousness are our defence against attacks and it brings forth a challenge in some ways to always be strong in our faith, to grow in our faith, to keep our righteousness at its best and to maintain fellowship with other Christians as much as we can.
Well that's it for a short look at the shield of faith, I feel it should have been longer, I don't know why but there's a nagging feeling of "something is missing" but I can't see what so if you read this and know me and know what's missing then please tell me.

God Bless

The Shoes on your Feet

Put on your feet shoes that are the readiness of the Gospel of Peace, or thereabouts is the third piece of equipment Paul tells us about. In many ways what we are being told to do through this is to constantly walk with the gospel of peace ready and always be ready due to the gospel of peace.
I thought about what the readiness of the gospel of peace might be and decided this is two fold, being ready in it and being ready with it. Being ready in the gospel of peace would entail being set with the gospel, knowing it and the fact that it is true and finally working in that knowledge, whilst being read with the gospel of peace is more about being prepared to evangelise and being prepared to go out with the gospel. I suppose it sums up in the fact we should be ready to move for the gospel of peace and that's a challenging aspect of the armour of God. In many ways we are prepared to confess our sins daily because we know we need to, we know the Truth of Christ, we have faith and salvation. Yet being ready to move for the Gospel, for God. That can be really daunting because you're stepping out with only God to catch you and He's not immediately tangible so we can get scared then. Despite this we have the armour of God to remind us daily that He is there, the armour is what defends from attacks, stops falls from hurting, gives us confidence to move forward in God. The shoes merely gives us the capacity to do so in Christ, in the gospel of peace.
Our shoes now a days aren't always on our feet but I'd expect when the letter to the churches in Ephesus was first written they were so really don't just have the readiness every now and again when we step outside or, in the spiritual sense, out into the battlefield but rather we should be constantly ready. I think the same applies for all the different parts of the armour of God, so be constantly equipped.

God Bless