Tag Archives: life

Take up your Cross – Luke 9:23

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A blog entry isn’t enough space to fill all the things I want to say about the following, and I will more than likely post a commentary about this verse in the near future.  In the meantime here are some of the home truths I learnt and was reminded of today;

23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

(NIV)

A hard verse to stomach perhaps?  Jumped out at me!  Jesus foretells his own death, then invites His disciples (and us) to pick up their own crosses and follow Him.  I really wasnt all together what picking up your own cross meant so I did some digging around.

From what I have read, in a nutshell, taking up your cross is to lead your life as Jesus would live.  We should therefore not indulge  in our selfish desires, thinking only of our own gain, but live a selfless life just as Jesus led.  This is in no way easy, and we can face many oppositions, many conflicting feelings, attacks and stumbling blocks that will try to steer us off the right path.

To gain life, you need to loose it!  That means putting your old life behind you!  Turning 180 degrees, so our backs are to it, and begin walking with Jesus.  Only then will we begin to experience real life!  A life that is given completely and utterly is a life that is guaranteed to succeed!  After all with God in the driving seat we can lean on Him and trust his direction.

When I say guaranteed to succeed, I don’t mean promotions at work, and riches beyond your wildest dreams, but treasures in heaven, spiritual gifts, blessings, a quenched thirst, a fulfilled life.  The persecution you could receive for living for the Lord is but a small price to pay for the rewards we will get from our Saviour.  The reward of life.

An earthly lifetime of truth, and an eternal life with Him.

The Holy Spirit – Romans 8:11-18

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Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen.  Hallelujah!  He has defeated sin and death and is sat at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.  In the mean time it is our duty to go make disciples of ALL nations.  Our saviour didn’t expect us to do this on our own of course as human nature is weak and quick to give in!  He has poured His Holy Spirit into us so that we may have the necessary strength to witness.

On this Easter Sunday morning I am so encouraged and overjoyed as I remember that Christ rose again and ascended into heaven having completed His work on earth….  The exciting thing is, although he completed that part of Gods plan, He is still working in the lives of countless Christians around the world through the power of His Holy Spirit.  It wasn’t the plan to die on the cross, tell a few people then disappear and wait for people to react! It was His plan to unleash power to those who believe that they may grow strong in faith and wisdom, and be a shining light to the lost to guide them home.

As Christians we need to embrace the full power of the Holy Spirit!  The Holy Spirit is real and so important to the Christian life!  The Spirit is not something we should avoid talking about in church, nor is it something we should assume is a taboo subject.  We are talking about Gods OWN Holy Spirit that he has poured out to give you and me strength!  Not only did He give His life, but He is here among us and in our hearts continuing His works in our lives.

16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

I remember when this finally dawned on me that I was a child of God!  My first words were WOW!  Of course wow doesn’t even do the honour justice!  Because of Jesus death and resurrection, we as believers are adopted into God’s family!  In the UK, and adopted child becomes a lawful son or daughter, and legaly inherits an equal share of their adopted parents estate.  We are His Sons and Daugthers.  Heirs to the Kingdom.  We will inherit eternal life with Him.   WOW!

With that we need to rid ourselves of things that would cause us to sin, things that would enslave us.  For we need to be living each day by the Spirit.  For just as Jesus was raised from the dead, the Spirit will raise us from the dead (the depths of Sin) and bring us new life!  Amen

Get Ready – Luke 19:29-40

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31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ (NIV)

The Lord has plans for our lives.  What an exciting thought.  Be it something small that will still have impact or be it something that takes up many years, there are still plans that the Lord has for you and me.  Of course we don’t always know what these plans are going to be, so our responsibility is to get ready, to be prepared for whatever it is that the Lord has planned

for us next!

There are so many ways we can serve including sharing our faith with others, hospitality, discipleship, teaching, worship, the list is endless.  So whatever our calling, if you are already doing it, you should continue to throw yourself into it, continuing to seek the Lords guidance through prayer, His word and fellowship with other. If on the other hand you are waiting to know what it is the Lord has planned for you, then its time to get ready!

How can we get ready, especially if we have no idea what His plan is?

It is so important to regularly spend time with the Lord.  We need to read His word as often as we can, as He can and will speak to us through His word.  We also need to ensure we spend regular time in prayer.  I myself struggle with this often and have to remind myself that a marriage will struggle with no communication, therefore my relationship with the Lord will not always be as strong as I would like without me regularly communicating with Him!  The amazing thing about prayer is, if you listen, there are times the Lord speaks back!  If and when he does write it down!!  I could kick myself for forgetting some things I have heard in prayer.

Being part of the Church is also important.  Using whatever skills you have to benefit the church is not only wonderful service to the Lord, but you will find opportunities to grow and learn, all fantastic preparation for the things the Lord wants from us.

It is so exciting that our Lord and Saviour wants us to do things to glorify His Kingdom!  It is an honour and a privilege to serve Him.  I pray that the Lord will continue to use us all, and will bless everything we do for Him.

Get Ready….  Already doing it?  Keep Going…!

Through Christ – Philippians 4:10-19

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13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Just a couple of days ago, I was researching worry.  The passage was Matthew 6:25-34 in which Jesus gets us to ask questions about why we are worrying to help us see the pointlessness of worrying.  He emphasises that point with Matthew 6:27;

27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

…you will gain no extra hours in life by worrying! The conclusion of it was to seek His Kingdom and to trust in the Lord for all our needs.

Strength is also one of our needs.  I think back to the times when I have needed strength and yet not turned to Christ.  I can remember many failures, and many times I ran away from a situation.  Equally however, I am encouraged firstly by this verse, but also secondly by memories of when I have turned to Him, and he has never let me down.  When we do give your worries and our problems to Christ, he will give us the strength to get through.

Two are always better than one, so we shouldn’t always try “going it alone”.  With the creator on our side who else can be against us

?

New Living – 2 Corinthians 5:12-21

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When you become a Christian, you have taken a huge step of faith and asked for the Lord Jesus forgiveness of your sins, and for him to come into your heart so that you can live for him. Read more about becoming a Christian here. The moment you do that your life immediately is changed. For many people there is no flash of light, and BANG everything is different, but over the next few days and weeks, as they grow to learn more about Jesus, their lives are transformed.

Once we become a Christian, we wonder what the next steps are. Do we need to follow a set of rules? Can I eat certain foods

? Must I wear certain clothes? Speak in a certain way

?

Remember, to be saved, you need to have taken the step and asked Jesus into your life, you have accepted that he died for you, and you wish to be forgiven. Its a FREE gift, a gift of Grace. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. You don’t earn this gift because we as humans would never be good/holy enough to earn salvation. Therefore you don’t follow a set of rules to earn salvation, you have it!

How to live as a Christian is your living “thank you” to the Lord for saving you. He sacrificed his Son to die in our place so that we may have eternal life and that we may have a relationship with him. Therefore once we accept his as our saviour, we want to live our lives in a way that says “thank you” to the Lord for what he has done.

Therefore, by imitating how Jesus lived, by reading the Bible, Praying and through your relationships with other Christians at church and in groups you learn how to grow and live as Jesus lived, thus breaking free from any sin that’s in your life and being a changed person.

If you have asked him in, then you already have the gift, so the next steps are to learn to live a “thank you” for him. If you are a new Christian then make sure you join a Bible orientated church and make Christian friends so that you will have support in growing as a Christian and fixing anything in your life that you need help with.

Also please contact me if you want more information or have any questions.