Episodes
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Think Spot 31 August 2015
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Monday Aug 31, 2015
31st August 2015
I was in conversation recently with a knowledgeable chap who had seen an interesting programme on television about birds and was bursting with interesting facts to tell me of this amazing bird called a swift. He then passed on some interesting facts about them which I want to share with you today. Swifts are amazing birds, and here are some reasons why! We shall think about them and then learn some valuable truths from their habits.1. After leaving the nest where they hatched, they'll keep flying non-stop for three years! Isn't that amazing?
2, They even eat, mate (at high speed in what are known as screaming parties) and they even sleep in the air while flying! they can actually 'snooze' with one side of their brain resting while the other is working, and then switch to the other side. Isn't God's creation incredible?
3. Also some of 'our' swifts migrate from Great Britain as far as South Africa for winter. How fantastically strong they are though small. In addition they are the fastest bird at level flight. (up to 70mph). Sometimes they are mistaken for a swallow. Their shape is similar
4. The parent birds gather insect snacks for their chicks, carrying as many as 1,000 at one gulp! How dependant the chicks are upon their parents to care for them.
5. Swifts also choose to live in our houses and churches - they squeeze through tiny gaps to nest inside roofs. God has indeed provided for all his creatures.
I was astounded as I was being told of the incredible abilities of some of these smallest and the youngest of these creatures who fly with amazing strength and skill, do incredible things while flying with accuracy to distant parts and have utmost confidence in their parents to supply all their needs.
In case you didn't take it all in the first time let me repeat these amazing truths. Swifts neither touch the ground or tree or building for the first three years of their lives!. They keep flying eating, mating at high speed and even sleep in the air.
Summing up they can feed from their parents who gather insect snacks for their young carrying as many as 1,000 at one gulp. The young have absolute confidence in their regular meals being supplied to them. Neither do they worry about their living accommodation as to where they live or the size of their home. They slip between very narrow gaps contentedly.
What an example for us who believe in God and want to be active with and for God. Always we want to move forward making every moment count for God with the abilities He has given to us and not giving time to consider where our next meal is coming from, where we shall live or stay overnight etc.
In our Bibles we find Jesus certainly is the best example of this kind of life.(Matthew 8:20;) "The foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." "I must do the works of Him who sent me, while it is day said Jesus, the night comes when no one can work" Jesus never wasted a moment.
God has promised to meet all our needs as we 'fly' with Him and 'seek' to do his will. One day when Jesus was talking with a Samaritan woman which was surprising enough to his disciples for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, they said "you must be hungry" he replied that his food was to do the will of the Father who had sent Him and to accomplish His work." (John 4:32) He went on to say he had food the disciples knew nothing about.
As we look at these examples of God's extraordinary creation we are reminded that God is looking for a faithful people who will be diligent in service for Him. God's people should aim to be single minded in their lives putting God first in all things and desiring His will above their own in every instance. Following in His footsteps.
Jesus followed that maxim every day. He had no home to call his own but spoke of swallows, swifts and other birds having their nests but he had nowhere to lay his head. And although he never 'flew' he certainly was always on the move. He was up extremely early each day to pray for the needs of the day before going early in the morning to the temple to meet and talk with people and it wasn't to discuss the weather! He spoke of heavenly food he lived on when talking to his disciples when they were concerned about him missing a meal.
Like the swift getting through many miles in travel he must have covered a lot of ground in three years accomplishing enough to fill a library of books with his activities and the many transformed lives through his ministry. (Read John 21) The way we live our life is important but......Remember that Jesus has first to become our Saviour and only then our example.
Joy’s Prayer
Dear Lord,It is with wonder we look at your marvellous universe full of wonderful and so varied creation. From the splendour of mountain grandeur to grassy plains that can stretch for miles and miles to the small and larger animal kingdom as well as beautiful birds that fly across your majestic skies sometimes to be seen by the naked eye full of planets stars and moons.
You are an amazing God and we do glory in your name and your mighty power and wisdom and your own incredible design of earth and sky.
We praise and delight ourselves in your goodness to us and especially for Jesus our Saviour Lord and Friend. Thank you Lord for the privilege of living in your world and for all its benefits. We love and adore You! Amen.
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Sunday Aug 30, 2015
Sunday with Sammy
Sunday Aug 30, 2015
Sunday Aug 30, 2015
30th August 2015
Jesus Overcomes Temptation & satan
The temptation of Christ is detailed in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to these texts, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the Judaean Desert. During this time, Satan, old hairy legs himself, appeared to Jesus and tempted him. Jesus having refused each temptation, Satan departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus
Satan full well knew who Jesus was! There couldn't have been any doubt in Satan's mind as to Jesus' identity, as opposed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, who simply refused to believe. No, Satan isn't really asking Jesus to prove Himself. Rather, he has some other motive...
The recorded three temptations of Christ mirror the steps Satan used to bring sin into the world in the first place:
Lets compare Matthews gospel with Genesis for a moment.
Matthew 4:3 "If you are the Son of God..." the devil says vs Genesis 3 "Did God actually say you were not..." Which is what the serpent said to Eve... Also, like with the first sin, it is related to food.
Second:
“If you are the Son of God, jump off ...'throw yourself down'” Matthew 4:6 vs Genesis 3:5 “No! You will not die. God knows that the day you eat it you too will be like gods.”
And lastly:
"If you fall at my feet and do me homage", Matthew 4:10 vs Genesis 3:5 “you will be like God” Satan is again questioning God's authority. Oh how dare he!
Satan is questioning whether Jesus was who He said He was (and whom His Father had just attested to at the baptism) - He was trying to get Jesus to fail in His earthly life so He couldn't be our perfect sacrificial substitute
As the writer of the letter of Hebrews says: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Satan absolutely did know who Jesus was, and why he was there. And he also knew that Jesus had free will and the ability to make his own choices - just the same as you or I. (In fact, we have one recorded instance where Jesus directly stated that his will was in opposition to the will of the Father, in the Garden of Gethsemane, (Matthew 26:38-44,) but he still chose, knowing what was to come, to do his Father's will and not his own.) And the devil knew that Jesus needed to be perfect to complete the work that he had come to accomplish.
So if he could find any way of tempting Jesus to step off the path, even once, it would have destroyed God's plan, which is exactly what Satan wanted. So Satan tempted him, trying to get him to use his power for physical desires, for fame, and for wealth and earthly power
One of Satan's biggest tricks is to try and confuse you about who you are, and whose you are.
Satan will wait until you are at your weakest point in life and then come to you with questions about your life... your calling... and your ability to do for God the Father.
You must know that you have been given the power to become a son or daughter of God... Just as Jesus was his son in whom God was WELL PLEASED
Go this day with the love of Christ in your hearts... Amen.
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Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 01
Saturday Aug 29, 2015
Saturday Aug 29, 2015
John 1:1 - Jesus is God
This is the first of what is likely to be many thoughts on John’s Gospel. The very first verse of this Gospel is this, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’
That introduces two exceedingly powerful ideas in the two words ‘God’ and ‘Word’. So powerful that we need to take them one at a time, so ‘Word’ is left to next time.
What a way to start a Gospel! Matthew wanted to put Jesus in context so he gives us a genealogy going right back to Abraham. Mark was so excited by Jesus he plunges right in to what he did without bothering with an introduction. Luke wanted to be a very careful historian so to explain how Jesus fitted into his immediate surroundings he takes us back through a few months of family history. But John goes straight to telling us who Jesus is. He is GOD. That was some assertion in a world where pagans thought there were many gods but the Jewish people knew there was only one God. It is hard to say which is the more difficult idea to challenge head on, as John does. Of course it was the non-Jewish, the pagan, world that thought there were many gods. There were gods in the house, perhaps even one in every room; there were gods in the town, and the country. There was a god in Rome, called Caesar – and he was the most dangerous one of all since one could worship many gods, choose which ones to worship, but you could not choose to worship Caesar, or not to worship him - you had to worship him. No choice; if you were not prepared to say ‘Caesar is Lord’ you were an atheist, and you might die because of it. John was writing, probably about 60 years after Jesus died, for people he knew in the fellowship of which he was leader, and they were under threat. So it was important to say to them, ‘Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God’ very loudly, and very clearly.
And then there were the Jews, brought up to believe that there was only one God and to say every day, at least once, ‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’ John knew very well that Jesus was a man, he was human, but here he is saying he was God. Could he be both at the same time? The answer is yes – he was both man and God, but that is no easy thing to get your mind round so people have been struggling with the idea ever since. There is no point in me trying to argue in these brief notes how Jesus could be both God and man at one and the same time. What I am going to do is point out some of the main reasons the early Christians decided he was God as well as a man.
The first and probably main reason is that they found themselves having to worship him and you could not worship someone who was not God (the pagans did worship heroes who were human but that was not even a possibility for the many Jews who were in the early churches). Thus when he was healed the blind man said, ‘“Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.’ (Jn 9: 38). When they saw him go back to heaven it is said of the disciples, ‘they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy’. (Lk 24: 52). There are many praise statements scattered through the epistles such as 2 Pet 3: 18, ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever’. There is plenty of evidence that this is what happened and continued to happen in the early church after the New Testament was complete.
The second reason was the many things that he did and said which could only be said or done by God. Thus when Jesus said to the paralyzed man in Mk 2: 5 “Son, your sins are forgiven,” religious people watching immediately started to think and say, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus also had the ability to command the creation. When he and his disciples were caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee Mark reports that , ‘He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm’. Only God had control over the created world.
The third reason is perhaps best expressed in the words of a famous writer who said ‘he was either mad, bad or God’. He was pointing to the fact that no one could say the things that Jesus said unless he was indeed God. Otherwise it was the most extraordinary show of pompous self-promotion and blasphemy imaginable. He said, ‘Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ Really! Who could possibly say that of themselves? Jesus did.
Our God is that astonishing thing a Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: three persons but only one God. We shall never get our minds round that completely but that is what Scripture presents us with. We shall see the remarkable results of that in our next study. What an amazing Lord and God we follow and worship.
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Friday Aug 28, 2015
Friday Prayers 28 August 2015
Friday Aug 28, 2015
Friday Aug 28, 2015
Partakers Friday Prayers!
28th August 2015
A prayer of Praise!
We pray together and when Christians pray together, from different nations, different churches and different denominations - that reveals Church unity! Come! Let us pray together!
O God, you are the most beautiful and most priceless One!
O God, you are the most glorious and uncreated One!
O God, you are the eternal and holy One!
O God, you are the infinite and blessed One!
O God, you are the immense and Living One!
O God, you are the Everlasting and wise One!
Accept these words of praise from our mouth and our hearts!
O ever-loved & ever-loving One;
Make us, O holy God, your treasured one;
Make us, O glorious Lord, your precious one;
Make us, O highest Good, your longing one;
Make us, O blessed Word, your chosen one;
Make us forevermore your loving ones.
Amen
(Based on a prayer of Cardinal Newman)
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Wednesday Aug 26, 2015
Wednesday WOW Worship - 26 August 2015
Wednesday Aug 26, 2015
Wednesday Aug 26, 2015
Worship Wednesday
Order of Service
Welcome
Opening prayer
Bible Reading: Leviticus 22:31-33
Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:18
Song: Oh for a heart to praise my God
Bible Talk: God's Love for you reflected
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Cleansing
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Sanctified
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Transformed
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Your status
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Your practise
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Its devotion
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Its love reflected
Song: Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
Time of Silence for praise and prayer
Benediction Hebrews 13:20-21
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Monday Aug 24, 2015
Think Spot 24 August 2015
Monday Aug 24, 2015
Monday Aug 24, 2015
24th August 2015
G'day! Welcome to Partakers Monday Think Spot helping you into this new week! Come on in and listen!Job: a man of integrity
Whether you have read about Job in the Bible or not I am sure you must have heard some mention of his name in association with his sufferings or the term 'Job's comforters'. Job suffered immensely, losing his family, wealth and health but never lost his integrity with what he went through. Neither did he curse God for what he was put through.
He could even have lost his sanity as he had no warm hearted friends to console him, only those who were supposed to be friends but they certainly were not comforters to him in his distress. Instead they blamed him for what he suffered. They believed he must have done something wrong in order for the tragedies in his life. However if you read the very beginning of Job, in the very first chapter you will discover that Job is singled out by God as a righteous man. A man who loved and served God with all his heart.
Job was mystified for a while (we see this in the first twenty chapters) but then as his three so called comforters continually attack his righteousness assuming he was responsible for the suffering he was enduring, saying all manner of cruel things about him which were totally untrue, suddenly in replying to one of these three accusers he says “ I cannot see God and all the ways He takes “But He knows the way I take”. He sees me continually and knows all about me. Then Job having understood the intention of God in his ufferings says “When He has tested me I shall come forth as gold, fine gold.” Job knows there is a purpose to his sufferings.
If gold is being separated from impurities in a refining process the heat has to be intense for the separation to take place and for gold to emerge as fine gold. Perhaps you too are going through a testing time at the moment and asking why? Why? Why? The 'hospital visitors ' to Job had no knowledge of the purpose of Job's sufferings and counselled him without wisdom. Perhaps If grapes had been in a bowl beside him perhaps they would have eaten them and thought they were doing Job a favour.
How careful we need to be when helping someone who is going through some form of suffering that we take the time to do more listening than talking to the patient.
Compassion is something that Jesus certainly had and plenty of it. The lepers,the bereaved, poor, lame and those unjustly treated all became His concern and from morning to night he spent his hours ministering to their every need. His wisdom was not always listened to but when it was people were greatly benefited.
How we need to look at Jesus life more in the gospels and see how He talked and listened to people and responded to their cries. He never ever passed by on the other side when he saw a need. When someone cried out he responded.
Joy’s Prayer
Lord, we are often complaining when we have nothing like the experiences of Job or others like Gladys Aylward to compare with. Forgive us for our moaning and grumbling. Help us to see as the scriptures say our 'light afflictions are but for a moment '.
When we think of Jesus and His sufferings for us we are put to shame. Thank you we have such a wonderful God as indeed You are to comfort us in our afflictions. “Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits who forgives our iniquities, heals all of our sicknesses and diseases and whose mercy ,reaches unto the heavens. ... Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, serve the Lord with gladness”.
Lord help us to do this for Your names sake.
Amen
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Sunday Aug 23, 2015
Sunday with Sammy
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
23rd August 2015
The word God's people wrote,
It's in the bible,
Where Noah built a boat.
And it rained and rained!
Chorus: The rainbows in the sky,
To show God's promises are true,
The rainbows in the sky to show the world,
He's the only way,
For your everyday.
It’s a simple ditty, and if you search for Hillsong Kids and The Rainbow song you’ll hear what I mean. Well is certainly has been raining. A lot. Even the most hardened European cannot help but to comment on it – the Europeans think it is a very strange British trait to always be discussing the weather! The rainbow IS in the sky to show God’s promises are true. For some I know this is small comfort when all they can see for miles is water.
Way back in Genesis 9:11 God says “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And in verse 13 He continues, “I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” His bow, the rainbow.
There is a lot of anger of the recent flooding, understandably from people affected; but also from people who are fairly unaffected by rising water levels and waves breaking over sea defences. There is blame being bandied about. Who could be to blame? The Government for not doing more to strengthen the sea defences? How about the local authorities for allowing houses and dwellings to be built and sited on at risk areas… I’m sure they are called flood plains for a reason! How about the building companies, or the solicitor’s and estate agents, or the people themselves for buying properties in such areas??? And, of course, God is being blamed. I have heard that He is punishing Britain for allowing same sex marriages to take place.
So, what do we do now?? Pick one, appoint the blame where we feel it is most prevalent and then just get on with our own lives? Sell everything we have to financially support people who are in dire straits? Neither of those are very sensible or Christian. Yes, we are to give our talents to God, but we still need to pay our own bills! Talents. Our gifts. Physical and tangible. These people don’t need sympathy they need empathy, and they need your prayers. Of course if you’re in a position to help financially and that’s what you wish to do then don’t let me stop you.
But first, ask God what it is HE wants you to do. Just throwing money at a situation and then burying your head in the sand can sometimes be worse than accepting there is nothing you can do and just praying God sends the right people to what is needed. Prayer won’t stop the rain, or the floods just as it won’t stop the sun rising or Earth turning. But prayer is such a wonderfully powerful tool that we all possess. No one thinks they pray well. No one ever says, oh yes I’m brilliant at prayer, it just rolls off my tongue and I have the right words for any situation at hand. Never! But God does hear you when you speak to Him. Sometimes a prayer is answered straight away with a resounding yes, sometimes it’s a straight no, and sometimes it’s a ‘maybe’. These are the hardest to hear and these are the times when you have to put your trust in God more.
I pray that when water levels start to subside, and people can return to their homes, that they can still rely on others to lend a hand, and hug, or a give a loaf of bread, and that the community spirit that we seem so easily to lose sight of when the media tell us it’s ok to, will still warm their hearts, and those from whom they are receiving their gifts, and that they and we ALL may continue to love our neighbour as Jesus asks us to.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, send comfort to those who are sad and lonely this day. To those who feel there is no end to the misery they are encountering. Send your holy angels to dwell with them, to drive away all negative thoughts that the enemy fills their heads and hearts with. Send people to them who can really make a difference and help them in the ways they need. Protect them and bless them and all those who care for them. In Jesus’ name we ask this.Amen.
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Wednesday WOW Worship - 19 August 2015
Wednesday Aug 19, 2015
Wednesday Aug 19, 2015
Worship Wednesday
19 August 2015
Order of Service
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Prayer
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Bible Reading 1 - Matthew19:24-27
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Bible Reading 2 - Philippians 3:8-9
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Bible Talk - What have you given up?
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Time for your own prayers
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Benediction
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Monday Aug 17, 2015
Think Spot 17 August 2015
Monday Aug 17, 2015
Monday Aug 17, 2015
17th August 2015
John Bunyan
Amazingly expanding ministry
Pilgrims Progress is a fantastic book to accompany the Bible on your bookshelf at home. With amazing dexterity John paints word picture after picture of the Christian life from the seeker to the finder, to the sharer of his faith to the persecuted for his faith. It is full of the adventurers of a man who begins his journey leaving his home and family with a heavy load on his back representing sin and his deep longing to be rid of it.
In his hands he has the Book. He comes to Evangelist who points to the house of the Interpreter (The Holy Spirit) who shows him the way to the Cross where there is a bottomless pit in front of it where when Pilgrim looks to the cross, his heavy load disappears down the hole gone for ever. Then the journey really begins with all kinds of people to be met on the road to death and glory. Some are planted by God and some by Satan. Now his name is changed from pilgrim to Christian for he is transformed.
This book is still a best seller today and multitudes have been helped by this incredible dream translated to paper so we can read it and benefit from it.
His ministry was amazingly extended by prohibition. The point I am making again this week is that if you are a Christian and your path to Christian service has been hindered or you are pushed aside for another to take your place or because of your age don't think your ministry is finished.
Again, If Satan isn't opposing your ministry then you probably are not where you are meant to be. Sometimes what appears to be a blocking of your path or something evil happening in your life may well turn out to be an amazing step forward for you into another more meaningful and fruitful ministry.
Remember God is sovereign over all. We should never forget that. Satan has power, but God is way over the top of Satan and even uses Satan's actions to eventually further His own glory. He alone is Almighty. Keep your eyes fixed upon The Lord. He will never, no never be thwarted by our enemies.
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Sunday Aug 16, 2015
Sunday with Sammy
Sunday Aug 16, 2015
Sunday Aug 16, 2015
16th August 2015
Not only are there dozen of bible verses to back this up, there are even more quotes from people highlighting and underlining this fact. Yes, fact. It is a fact that God loves us, but it is hard to comprehend, accept and acknowledge at times. God is love, He didn’t need us, but he wanted us and he made us, and whatever we do, he will always love us because he is love. WOW this is SO powerful. Almost too powerful. We are to believe that God made us and He will love us, no-matter what we do? And to prove it He sent Jesus to take away all our sins and to suffer, be humiliated and die for US?! All we have to do is love him in return? There must be a catch! There’s always a catch…isn’t there?
I have twin boys. One is away during the week at boarding school, the other is autistic and attends a local special needs school as a day boy. I love them. I love them so much. It is out of love that my elder twin attends boarding school because that is what is best for him. Do I enjoy him being away? NO! But he ‘loves’ it. My younger twin struggles with life and communication and social graces that the rest of us take for granted. But I love him. I love him so much it hurts and I cry some days. When he struggles and can’t get the words out and all he can do is say ‘go away I want you to leave’ or ‘that’s it, I don’t love you, cry!’ I do cry. But once he calms himself, and gathers the right words, he will apologise and come and find me and ask for a hug. Then I love him even more for his struggles, and my need to protect him means I would give my life to know he will be safe for the rest of his life. I’m sure many parents will understand this and empathise.
My boy at boarding school is turning into a teenager, the ‘strops’ are just starting to emerge. At the moment we find them amusing, I don’t know how much longer for though! But still, after a day of sniping comments from him, he only has to say, ‘I love you Mama’ and it all melts away.
This is how God feels towards us. We all snipe, we all shout, we turn against him, either willingly or without realising it, but he still loves us. Loves us so much that he was willing to send the most precious thing he could to save us. To give us a new start. To prove how much he loves us! How often have I thought ‘How can I show God how much I do love Him?’ I just need to tell him. To thank Him for the day, it might not have been the best, but He was there, waiting for you to ask for the hug after the shouting. He is always with us, talk to Him.
One person I read about used to make God a cup of coffee at the same time every day when she had hers and she would talk to Him as if He were there. She said it was the best therapy ever! Next time you get that feeling of love so deep and strong that you might burst, remember that is how God feels about you. He is there, go and find Him, ask Him, thank Him and love him because He loves you more than you will ever know. Our doubts cannot destroy that nor our faith create it, it is there, it always has been and always will be. Just as the love for your children will never cease.
Romans 5:8 - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:7-8 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
And as I close, the words from the hymn “In the Bleak Midwinter” resonate through me…
but what can I give?
I give my heart’
Prayer
Lord, I thank for creating me and making me your child. Guide me in your ways, and teach me each day how to be a better person for you. Give me strength to deal with life’s woes and remind me that my strength is in you alone. Bless everyone who reads and hears these words and may they bring them another step closer to you and your Kingdom… Amen.