It's been a while (again!)
But I will get back on track, and with God's help I will persevere .
Psalm 27:1
Light, space, zest - that's God!
So, with Him on my side I'm fearless,
afraid of no one and nothing.
Proverbs13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
'Disappointment really can make you ill. If you let it fester, it will eat away at you. I am not sure what the answer is except to take it to God, try to let it go and trust in the sovereignty of God - not always easy.' Pippa Gumbel
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Tuesday 15 May 2012
Faith in the midst of chaos
Psalm 60
1-2 God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits and stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come back! You shook earth to the foundations, ripped open huge crevasses. Heal the breaks! Everything's coming apart at the seams.
1-2 God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits and stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come back! You shook earth to the foundations, ripped open huge crevasses. Heal the breaks! Everything's coming apart at the seams.
3-5 You made your people look doom in the face, then gave us cheap wine to drown our troubles. Then you planted a flag to rally your people, an unfurled flag to look to for courage. Now do something quickly, answer right now, so the one you love best is saved.
6-8 That's when God spoke in holy splendour, "Bursting with joy, I make a present of Shechem, I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift. Gilead's in my pocket, to say nothing of Manasseh. Ephraim's my hard hat, Judah my hammer; Moab's a scrub bucket, I mop the floor with Moab, spit on Edom, rain fireworks all over Philistia."
9-10 Who will take me to the thick of the fight? Who'll show me the road to Edom? You aren't giving up on us, are you, God? Refusing to go out with our troops?
11-12 Give us help for the hard task; human help is worthless. In God we'll do our very best; he'll flatten the opposition for good.
Desperate times....when everything seems to go wrong. But still I trust in the Lord.
We should not trust our own strength....because in reality we are weak, we do not have strength.
'Trust in the Lord and lean NOT on your own understanding'
Love in the midst of condemnation, and faith in the midst of chaos....that is what God does. We cannot understand it by being rational or applying physics to it, but we should take this gift of Grace and hold it tight, when things get you down, remember it, and savour it, thank God for it and worship Him.
6-8 That's when God spoke in holy splendour, "Bursting with joy, I make a present of Shechem, I hand out Succoth Valley as a gift. Gilead's in my pocket, to say nothing of Manasseh. Ephraim's my hard hat, Judah my hammer; Moab's a scrub bucket, I mop the floor with Moab, spit on Edom, rain fireworks all over Philistia."
9-10 Who will take me to the thick of the fight? Who'll show me the road to Edom? You aren't giving up on us, are you, God? Refusing to go out with our troops?
11-12 Give us help for the hard task; human help is worthless. In God we'll do our very best; he'll flatten the opposition for good.
Desperate times....when everything seems to go wrong. But still I trust in the Lord.
We should not trust our own strength....because in reality we are weak, we do not have strength.
'Trust in the Lord and lean NOT on your own understanding'
Love in the midst of condemnation, and faith in the midst of chaos....that is what God does. We cannot understand it by being rational or applying physics to it, but we should take this gift of Grace and hold it tight, when things get you down, remember it, and savour it, thank God for it and worship Him.
Monday 7 May 2012
Sorry
So I've been a bit slack. Sorry God.
It was all going so well through lent, and then hitting night shifts last week, it's all gone to pot. Not that night shifts are any kind of excuse, in some ways Nights gives me far more time.
On reflection I've certainly noticed the difference when not having daily quiet reflection on God's Word. Life IS harder, temptations are easier to fall into. I've decided I DON'T like it. So why do I do it?!
Ever heard of the washing line effect?
Church or 'God Events' are the washing line poles propping the huge long washing line up, the washing line representing life in time. There are moments of highs and lows. But the more poles you have the less lows you'll have - simple physics.
Here is my resolve, a new day, and a new dawn, I will worship my God daily and learn from His word.
'God is never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers, never silent in your pain. He sees, He hears and He is right there with you.'
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
It was all going so well through lent, and then hitting night shifts last week, it's all gone to pot. Not that night shifts are any kind of excuse, in some ways Nights gives me far more time.
On reflection I've certainly noticed the difference when not having daily quiet reflection on God's Word. Life IS harder, temptations are easier to fall into. I've decided I DON'T like it. So why do I do it?!
Ever heard of the washing line effect?
Church or 'God Events' are the washing line poles propping the huge long washing line up, the washing line representing life in time. There are moments of highs and lows. But the more poles you have the less lows you'll have - simple physics.
Here is my resolve, a new day, and a new dawn, I will worship my God daily and learn from His word.
'God is never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers, never silent in your pain. He sees, He hears and He is right there with you.'
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
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