Wisdom: A gift from God for Life

We don’t realise how useful wisdom can be to us. We don’t really think about it do we? That’s until God started to reveal to me how it can be used as a tool to help us and guide us in our troubles and dilemmas in life. God has given us his wisdom for the taking.

I was reading the scriptures a few months ago and came across a verse in proverbs that really “mademethink”. It spoke of how people must crave the wisdom of God and how it can save you from death. Then I really began to think about what God was trying to say to me and I got it. If you are wise, you will find life a lot clearer to you because wisdom is a likeness of God and in turn, will bring you peace because you will won’t be scrambling your brain thinking and worrying about how  you will solve your problems. God showed me then to ask for his grace and wisdom to help me grow and become more mature in him and he has opened my mind to the deeper meaning of his word and truth.

Having wisdom is really about trusting god in all and through all and adopting his mindset about everything. This is when we will begin to show wisdom. It’s about growing into maturity in Christ and conducting yourself. This is when we really begin to find Gods wisdom and we will see the benefits we can get from having faith and believing that God will provide us with his knowledge.

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Local Evangelising: Meeting with Daniel the Ex-Sniper

A few months ago, me and my mother were witnessing in our local area and came across a man who was openly against God, blaming him for what he had been through in his life. He was an ex armed sniper, someone who was trained to kill and take shot at threatening targets in Afghanistan, but was removed. Amazingly, by the wisdom of god, my mom managed to convert his whole way of thinking in just an hour of speaking about the love of Christ! I was totally amazed, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be witnessing something so life changing as someone realising their salvation and Gods incredible love for them, from having such a negative approach at first.

When we had finished talking, he was willing to allow God back into his life, (as his parents were Christians and were working as preachers overseas) and just became really optimistic and understanding about Gods intentions and love for him. A few weeks after this, we had heard that things had gone wrong for him, he had been having family problems and even worse, he was now homeless. We called and had a chat with him to see how he was and what exactly was happening…

We were really concerned for Daniel and started praying to God that he would support and look after him. He continued to stay in contact with us and let us know how he was doing, which was great and that just reassured us that he was still trying to seek God. After a month, we got a text from him saying that he had got a flat just around the corner from us and that he was okay and getting control of his life. We had arranged to meet him and he very kindly invited us to his house for a “cuppa” yesterday which was amazing. When we got in, he greeted us and shows us around his flat, offering us drinks which was also very nice. So we asked how he got the house so soon, we knew we were praying for him, but I honestly didn’t expect to see things sorted this quickly! We told him we were looking out and praying for him and he told us he knew that God had been working in the situation, which we were so pleased to hear! He told us he had also been praying that things would be okay and they were getting better. I was so interested to hear about his story in the army and what he was going through. The first time we met, he had been riddled with guilt because of the people he had taken the lives of, and that’s why he was angry at God because he thought he didn’t deserve forgiveness. He thought God was angry with him and would never forgive him for what he had done. He had also suffered with Post Traumatic Stress disorder, having nightmares about what happened and was almost relieved to hear that God wasn’t angry at him, but loved him and forgave him for his sin because he was at the stage of repentance. I could see he was shocked and surprised to hear of Gods beautiful mercy.

While we were at his house, he explained that he now knew what he needed to do and that he would do whatever it took to build on his relationship with God, which was great to hear. We were welcome to come around anytime and we agreed to give him a bible and carry on helping him through if he needed. The nightmares have stopped for about two months now, we all knew that God had done yet another amazing thing. It was so good to see God at work in someone’s life and that we had been a part of that. It was a really successful outcome! It’s a real encouragement to see this and I hope everyone gains the confidence to step out for Christ, including myself!

Thank you for reading this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to follow the blog and keep your eyes out for the next post coming soon. Thanks again guys xoxo

Modern Life: The Truth about our Generation

Modern life is changing. The way that we live and think is effecting us more than we know or could ever anticipate. What does this mean for us in the future and the society we will be forced to live in?

The morals and standards of people living today are dropping fast, homes have become divided, people no longer want to “get involved” to stand up for what is right anymore and general morals and standards are also becoming a thing of the past. Let’s take a look at some modern life statistics…

In the 1970’s just 8% of households were headed by a lone parent, but by 2011 that figure had reached 22 per cent. This was mirrored by a fall in the number of two-parent families – either those married or cohabiting – from 92 per cent at the beginning of the 1970s to 78 per cent in 2011. There are now almost twice as many people living alone than 40 years ago (The 2011 General Lifestyle Survey Overview from the Office for National Statistics.) Now I’m not saying that people who come from single parent homes are bad or that they are less valuable than others, not at all because I know what that feels like but the point Is that God intended a mother and father to raise a child to bring stability and happiness. Males without a father figure can suffer the effects of misguidance and  anger, due the fact they haven’t seen that positive male model in their lives. On the other hand, females without a decent mother figure can be more vulnerable to feelings of low self-esteem and loss of decency, not having seen that positive image of how to be a lady from a mother. The effects can be detrimental in young and later life, yet we are seeing more of this type of lifestyle.

Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body shape. Studies show that the more reality television a young girl watches, the more likely she is to find appearance important.More than 1/3 of the people who admit to “normal dieting,” will merge into pathological dieting. Roughly 1/4 of those will suffer from a partial or full-on eating disorder. 58% of college-aged girls feel pressured to be a certain weight. (Source, doomething.org) This is a perfect example of modern life. People are now judging others purely based on looks. The effects of vanity are having a really bad effect on young people today, and body image is now seen to be the most important thing, overriding personality, interests and other internal factors. Well, God said this would happen, “for in the last days, men shall be lovers of themselves…” 2 Timothy 3:2. The bible speaks of how people will get more vain and selfish leading up to his return.

I watched a show the other night about live crimes and how they were dealt with. The show did an experiment, they set up a woman getting robbed by a man, both were actors. They began with shouting and the man was shouting abuse at the woman. This was done in a busy town centre, so plenty of people were walking around at this time. By the time they were shouting, people just looked, but carried on. This is maybe understandable, my thoughts were I’d probably think they were a couple and wouldn’t want to get involved either, but things began to get a little heated in the next scenario… The man then began to grab quite aggressively at her bag openly. People this time took more notice, but instead of intervening, the scene began to gather a small crowd! I couldn’t believe it, I was literally shouting at the TV! This went on for a good 5 minutes, then the actor grabbed the bag off the other actor and started to run away. At this point a man came from nowhere and dived on the “thief”. He was later told it was an experiment, and was happy that he got involved. This shocked me, that and many other examples show how people are loosing natural affection and sympathy. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12 This is another perfect example of the scriptures revealing modern life and how people’s thought’s and feelings are changing around us.

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Those are just some of the ways modern life is effecting us and what we are living around. It’s good to know what we are facing day to day. We need to stay close to God and let him lead us through the tough times ahead. Thanks for reading this post, be sure to follow the blog. Bye for now guys xoxo

 

The Journey Of The Apostles Begins: Acts Chapter 3

 

The chapter begins with Peter and John going up to the temple at the ninth hour. The number nine in biblical terms mean to achieve something, so here’s where it links in. The next verse says “and a certain lame man from his mother’s womb was carried,” so this man was carried into the temple where Peter and John were, at the ninth hour, very important. As the lame came in to ask for charity, Peter said, “silver and gold I have none; but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ get up and walk.” The man was healed in the ninth hour, but more importantly, his soul was saved and salvation had been achieved in the ninth hour (Jesus died on the ninth hour, the hour of completion, “it is finished”) Can you see the significance here?

Peter then in verse 12 addressed the crowd and asked them why they were so shocked, “Ye men of Israel, why ye marvel at this,” he told them that these miracles and signs they were seeing were all part of the beginning of Gods glory on earth in the following verses. Peter was so humble, he showed Jesus to be the one who deserved all the credit in verse 13, “for this it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God of all our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this.” Peter was focused and totally understood where the power from these miracles were coming from and he didn’t let the praise of the locals change him. As  he continued to preach to the crowd, he confronts the issue of the death of Christ and the views of the people. He explains that he now understands that the people of Israel put Jesus to death through ignorance.

The people didn’t understand who they were putting to death and that was the problem, their lack of knowledge and faith that Jesus was who he said he was, even though the prophecy was written in their holy books, they still didn’t believe. Peter knew this and he felt no revenge or need to avenge Jesus’ death because he knew the people were spiritually immature, they didn’t understand. What they needed, was teaching, they needed to understand Gods laws and Jesus’ life, although they were a part of it. Peter seized this opportunity to teach and speak to the people in the temple here and thoroughly explain Gods plans, “now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away…” Now was the time for teaching to be done, so that the gospel of Christ could be spread throughout the world.

 

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Thanks for reading this post, keep a look our for the next one in this Apostles edition. Be sure to follow the blog too, thanks again for reading!

What kind of Person are you? The effects of experiences

The world is filled with all types of people with different upbringings, pasts, opinions and views. How does this effect society and the world we live in today and more importantly the future lives we live?

God created us all different, but the one thing he gave us is the freedom of choice, or in psychological terms, “free will”. He enabled each one of us to think for ourselves and have our own views and opinions on everything from morals even to religion and Christianity. We were made with our own unique personalities, shaped by what we learnt through our childhood. This is known as the Psychodynamic approach- psychological terms. But what kind of person are you? Here’s a discussion on different behavioural approaches…

What were your past experiences like? Were they good or bad? Having good past experiences can affect you in two different ways, for example, lets say you had everything you wanted as a child. From this you could turn out as quite a spoilt, selfish person or having seen the positive effect of having the things you wanted could make you a happy and generous person, wanting to see others have what you did. God wants us to learn from what we have lived in our younger years and overcome any damaging experiences, using his strength to guide and protect us. I get this one quite a lot when I speak to people about God. They say that they have had bad past experiences in the church or relating to a bereavement and they are quite abrupt and bitter, because they haven’t been able to accept that God could allow this to happen and they blame him for how they react. Things happen to us to make us better people, for example, if we overcome something really bad that’s happened, we will be much stronger and susceptive Christians. Being angry at God will not get us anywhere, in times like these we need to draw closer to God for comfort and not push him further away.

The importance of living a healthy Junior life
It’s so important that we are careful what Is fed into our own minds and the minds of our younger generation. It can cause major characteristics to form in us like being dominate, aggressive and uncaring. I watched a show the other night about offending teens. There were two brothers that grew up together in the Wolverhampton town of Birmingham, UK and they had been the recipients of watching violence between their parents. They later by the age of around 8 began to cause havoc on the streets, being violent, using and selling drugs, committing burglaries and robberies and setting things on fire. Violence can effect us growing up. This can also effect you in two ways, one, you could project that hurt and anger onto others, a or seeing this could make you a person who always makes peace. However, these behaviours from the young brothers were likely to be caused by having such a bad example of relationships and interaction through their parents, this is not ignoring that young people with good role models can also be capable of this.

The truth is, because we are all different, we all react differently to things that happen to us, even though some behaviours are similar. our behaviours as a whole group or society can either damage or benefit us. If people begin or continue to behave in ways that cause negative and harmful effects on others, this will cause behaviours on a whole to be more negative. Or if we choose to behave in ways that are benefitting others, this will ultimately make an improvements in ourselves and others. If you find an experience has effected you in a negative way, its important that we take this to God through prayer and reading his word to overcome this feeling. keeping it will be harmful to you, effecting future relationships thoughts and feelings.

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Thanks for reading this post, I hope you found it interesting and it made you look into your own experiences and how you’ve been effected personally. Keep your eyes open for the next post guys!! xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having a Personal, Reliant Relationship with God

Have you ever really thought about your relationship you have with God? Have you ever thought about how valuable it is to you? Could you go for days or weeks without speaking to God?

If so, I want to you to think about the kind of relationship you are maintaining with your heavenly father. In these times, we must learn to draw even nearer to God and speak/pray to him on a daily basis; “give us this day our daily bread” Luke 11:3. This scripture refers to God being a part of our daily lives. Think of this as an ongoing partnership, don’t think God is just for Sundays and the rest of the week is for me. This is how we must live to survive, especially in these last days. God doesn’t want us to be the kind of christians that go to church on Sunday and then forget about him the rest of the week, or pray to him only when something bad happens to us. He wants us to learn to depend on him for everything, from what we wear to what we say, to what we think. If you continue to live without sincerity and faithfulness towards him, you will lose the opportunity to be called into heaven when the time comes.

We have to be careful that we are not “lukewarm” christians. You’ve probably heard the phrase, this is when christians go on and off God, they lack consistency. The bible says in Revelation 3:16 “But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”As this verse in found in Revelation, it highlights the relevance to the time period. This scripture is relating to people who are lukewarm in these times, (although it was a warning for people in the past too). When you think about it, are you truly a christian? If you are not sure, here’s how you can check yourself…

i. do you pray/speak to god everyday?

ii. do you read you bible everyday?

iii. do you praise god regularly?

iiii. do you tell others about god?

If the answer to these questions is no, then you NEED to change this as soon as possible! This is a dangerous place to be in, as you are not living depending on God. But don’t worry, you can get to that place you need to be with discipline and commitment! Personally, I was previously like this, I was a christian all my life, but I didn’t fully understand that being a christian is about your personal link with God. I’m 18 now but in my younger years, my mother explained to me the importance of having a personal dependence on God day-to-day, not week to week or month to month. I then began to understand, around the age of 15 how I had to live as an individual living in unison with God. It took time, but now I understand that I can’t go a day without praising him, thanking him, praying or speaking with him.

When God comes, he will hold you accountable for what you have done, not for what you and your family have done, or what you’ve done with the church. It’s just you and him and you need to be confident in what you have done and how you’ve performed in this life. Concerned that you haven’t done enough? Well start now! It’s time to show God that we are committed, trustworthy and faithful to him, like he has always been to us.

Learning to Live With Jesus

Do talk in your mind? We all do it don’t we? The difference is I speak to Jesus everyday about everything. This is a way you can begin your lifelong personal and regular relationship with him. Let him know that you need his input for everything and that you care about his word in your life. You might think, I have some silly things to say, it doesn’t matter, God is always open to what his children have to say because he loves and cares for us and what we think.

Use the bible as a daily Guide

God has given us the most valuable tool he could have given to us, the bible! His words are recorded for us to read whenever we want! Just think about how lucky we are to have every word Jesus spoke in a book. Can you imagine how much power that holds? God knows this, that’s why he left it to us, to help and empower us. Don’t take it for granted, start reading daily. If you are unsure where to begin, start reading Matthew or Psalms and ask God to open your mind to understand his word. The only way we can get where we want to be is by being cleansed as it were, by the holy word of God. We have to have in word in our minds and hearts, blocking the evil and unholy thoughts we have from day-to-day. “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” Romans 12:2.

The key to growth is consistency
Imagine you are knitting a hat, you knit one day, then leave it for weeks, then start again. Over time, you forget how to do it right? It’s the same with god. If you keep stopping and starting your relationship with him you will lose the skills and power you have. It’s time my friends to make a solid join to the father and it needs to get stronger as we get closer to his coming. Now is not the time to be playing with your life, wondering if you should pray or read today or not. Now is the time to be on fire for god, the time for our spiritual walk to advance on a personal level!

Being reliant links with being watchful
In these last times it is imperative that we are watchful. We need to be watchful of everything, how we behave, the news and media, the signs in the way the world behaves. “For in the last days, men shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revelers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy” 2 Timothy 3:2 He always gives us guidance and things to look out for, he encourages us to keep our eyes peeled. Mark 13:33 says “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.” If you’re not sure what I mean, Jesus is eager for us to get it, to understand the times we are living in and what it means. If we are not watchful, we will slip into the easy, deadly slumber of the devil. The devil wants us to not think about the times we are living in and how close the father is to returning for us. He wants us to say “we have loads of time, God isn’t coming any time soon!” My friend, that is the worst possible mistake to make, time is too short to make any time to look back at the temporary meaningless offers this world gives. Being watchful shows our diligence and willingness to follow and stay close to god.

Where do we start?
If you believe that Jesus died for you but you’re feeling like you don’t really have a place, or know what to do, I want you to know that you are valuable and precious to God. He sees the amazing potential in all his children, including you. You might think God hates you for all the sins you have committed, well that’s where you are wrong! Think of the apostles and the people they were to what they had become when they surrendered their lives to God. Even if you are already a christian, but don’t know you are supposed to have a personal walk with him, now is the time to have a real connection with him, let god know about your commitment to him starting from now. He has already forgiven, it’s now up to you.

God Bless All

Manassa