The Power of Prayer

What a great way to start in my commitment in writing at least 2 times a week :) It's Friday and I haven't written anything yet.

On Sunday night, the youth of our church were given the wonderful opportunity to listen to a powerful speech on the topic of prayer. The message of the speech was simple yet powerful. Prayer has the power to change people. It changes the person who is praying and the person they are praying for. There was so much in the speech that I don't know where to start in outlining the amazing message which she had to tell us (which I'll use as my excuse for not posting all week).

At the beginning of the speech we were given the example of a GPS or Tomtom which needs a good strong signal in order to direct you to your destination accurately. A Christian who is too far away from Jesus, is like a Tomtom which is too far away from the signal. It is important that we spend time getting to know Jesus and reading our Bible so that our signal becomes stronger, and we don't get lost. God has given us his word in the Bible. We have to listen to God in order to grow in wisdom and knowledge of what to pray for.

If we study the Bible and learn more about God. If we continue to listen to God, then we will want to also have contact with him and talk to Him. We do this by prayer. The more we learn about God. The busier we are with his word each and every day, then the more we want to pray and talk to God. The Bible is full of promises, if we learn more about these promises then we will also want to pray for the fulfillment of these promises.


Each of the people who went to the speech were also given a bookmark outlining 5 questions to ask during our Bible study.

1. What does the passage say about the Lord Jesus, the Christ of the scriptures?
2. Is there a warning?
3. Is there a promise?
4. What part do you like the most?
5. What can you use as encouragement for your prayers?

That was only just a little bit of the amazing message which we received that night. I hope that I have shared enough of it so that it makes sense and that others feel inspired also.

Fix your eyes on Jesus

I slept in this morning. As in, I slept through my alarm and woke up an hour later when I was supposed to be leaving the house. 25 minutes later when I was actually on the road it was extremely tempting to speed all the way to uni so that I might just get to class on time. But, instead, in a weird attempt to wake up, I sat back, cranked to music and sang along. To tell the truth, I am a bit of a hoon. It is an extremely difficult task for me to keep the speed limit and for some reason, I regularly find myself going 90 to 100 in a 70 zone (kilometers that is). Yep, that's right. I am a hoon. But I have recently invested in a great way to keep the laws of this country and keep the speed limit. I listen to music. By listening I mean really concentrating on the music and taking it all in. Instead of my car trips being a means to get from A to B, they are now a wonderful opportunity for me to listen to and soak up the music. Now instead of speeding all the time, I am so absorbed in what I am listening to (and sometimes even go under the speed limit).

Many people see Christianity as a list of dos and don'ts. Even as Christians we can focus on what we can do and what we cant do in our life of service to God rather than dedicating our whole life to the service of God. We do what we have been taught is right but often it is like we go through the motions. Sometimes it could almost be like the people Malachi is talking to in Malachi 1, the people who are still bring their offerings to the temple of the Lord but the offerings are defiled, and their heart is not in it. When we are focusing on what we can and cannot do it is very easy to leave our heart out of it. no one wants a list of dos and don'ts. But, if we fix our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the focus shifts and our thankfulness to God for what he has done overflows. Then, we will think more about doing everything to the honour and glory of God, rather than what we can and cannot do. If we develop a hunger and thirst to know more about God and what he has done for us, if we fill our hearts and minds with Christ and his saving work, then the things which we do will be because they bring us closer to God. In our desire to learn more about God we will be doing our personal Bible study, we will go to Church each Sunday, we will attend weekly Bible Study sessions. We will be doing things which bring us closer to God and teach us more about him.

Keep cranking that music in your car. Instead of thinking about what you can and cannot do in your service to God, focus on Christ and in your desire to learn more about him and in doing so the way we live our life will not be seen as a burden, dictating what we can an cannot do, but rather we will be a joy because we want to do everything to the honour and glory of God.

Inspiration...

I have made the decision to post AT LEAST 2 times every week. I often use the excuse that I want my blog posts to be deep, meaningful and inspiring and because of that I have to wait for inspiration in order to write something.
NOW I am going to find inspiration. I am going to ensure that I am actively searching for words of wisdom so that I can share it with others and together we will be developing our knowledge and understanding of God and the world around us.

I am thankful for...

We have been blessed with so much. So many riches come to us each and every day yet how often do we sit down and think about what we have. How often do we sit down and think about what God has given us and how privileged we are.

I am thankful for:

• The faith which God has given me. This is probably the biggest blessing anyone would ever want to receive.
• My amazing family, who are currently not home and I really miss them but I am really, really thankful for who they are and the craziness which fills our house. I love you all xxx
• To add onto that: God fearing parents who have brought me up in a godly manner and provided a wonderful example of how to live in such a way that you do all to the glory and honor of God. (and God fearing grandparents...)
• My fantabulous friends. I love you guys too. We have so much fun together and the best part is that we don't have to see each other all the time to be able to pick up from last time and have loads of fun together.
• Also for the strong faith which my friends share and the conversations which we have regarding this faith and what we believe.
• My Job, and the people I care for. They are all so loving and full of life... even though I'm studying to become a professional, I love my job so much I wouldn't actually mind dropping out to work full time...
• The church we go to:
• The supportive church family and the communion of saints
• the strong youth connections so that there isn't temptation to find fun which is not to the honor and glory of God
• The confessions we have to ensure that the preaching and teaching has a scriptural basis.
• and the connections it has with the school I went to and the school my siblings still attend.
• The numerous financial and material blessings we have:
• Money to support myself
• A car which works and being able to buy fuel to make sure it continues to work
• a house over my head each night. Wait to add onto that... a big house with plenty of room, situated on land so that we can have horses and ride motorbikes (and everything we have on the land)
• Clothing and footwear in abundance.
• Food and drink with plenty to spare.
• 3 meals/day with plenty of food to eat in between
• clean, hygienic drinking water.
• abundant sources of food (the local IGA, Coles, Fresh Fruit and Vegie place, the farmer we get our meat from...)
• A computer with internet access so that I can write all my assignments and when inspired write blog posts.
• The rain we have received so far this winter. We have truly been blessed with so much rain, especially in comparison to what has fallen in previous years.
• the possibility to study and get a degree.
• opportunity to immerse myself in the creative mediums of music and art.
• opportunities for holidays. Although I am really hanging out for one of these, I am actually kinda planning a small escape in the near future. Some people do not have this opportunity at all so it is something that we can be thankful for.
• the political stability of Australia.
• the Freedom of religion in Australia - the opportunity to serve God without fear.
• sunny skies (even if it's raining the sun still manages to peek through)
• a sense of humor
• the ability to speak my mind without worrying about what others think
• the advances in technology so that so many things are possible without too much effort (how else could I talk to Mum this morning even thought she is 1300km away)
• electricity
• phones
• computers
•  Ipods (and music)
• internet
• and the list goes on... only I should get back to work. Which reminds me:
• Time. God has given us time to do things. We should even be thankful for that.

So what does your list look like?

Bubbles

I love bubbles. Soap bubbles that is. Weird as it may be, I could watch them all day. They are so fascinating. The perfect spherical shape; the way light is reflected off the surface; the colours of the rainbow which you can see; the way they float around; and even the way they pop. Before you doubt my sanity, as could be the case with such a fascination with these objects, think back to your younger days when playing with bubbles was so much fun. Think about how much you enjoyed the beauty of these objects as you tried to catch them in your mouth. I'm not that insane after all now am I. As simple as they are they are beautiful. And, wikipedia tells me that they have been around before 4 centuries (a 17th century painting shows children playing with bubbles apparently).

Bubbles are not the only beautiful thing that some of us may have forgotten about. How often do we stop in our busy lives to appreciate the beauty around us. It is there. God has revealed himself to us by his creation and we can see it in everything around us. But how often do we stop to appreciate this beauty. How often do we stop to take in the breath taking awesomeness of the sunset, or the power of the waves, or even the beauty in the the wild flowers along the roadside. We can see the power and awesomeness of God everywhere, we just have to remember to look.

On a little side note, have a look at this website: 1000awesomethings.com. It's really cool :D

LOVE

Love is, or at least should be, a big part of a Christian's life. My life is full of love and I want to share it with others. To do this I am going to endeavor to list 15 examples of love and explain why I chose it as an example.

1. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." That is the greatest example of love that I could think of and I don't think there is anything like that love.
2. Christian love. Because God has loved us we are required to "Love your neighbor as yourself." Sometimes this type of love can be hard, especially when we don't like our neighbor. But because we have recieved such a great love, there shouldn't be anything stopping us from sharing this love with others.
3. The love between brothers and sisters in the Lord. The church community is bound by the shared love of Christ and each and every church member has the common bond of a shared faith. In that way, church members are there for eachother, willing to lend a hand and show support when needed and sometimes even when not.
4. The love shared between husband and wife. My grandparents have been married 50 years yet it is still amazing to see the love which they share, and the blessing which they have recieved of a lifetime together and the stories which they can tell together.
5. The love between mother and child. The love and care a mother shows to her child even when they are older and don't always agree. My mum is the best mum in the world (yes I probably am biased when I say this) and the love she shows to each and everyone of us is wonderful, it's true when they say that a mothers love doesn't divide, it multiplies. Each child requires the love of a mother in a different way, yet a mother is able to show that to them.
6. The love between father and child. And yes I do think that this love is different. A father and mother show love in different ways, while a mother may be more caring a father will be more protective.
7. The love between old friends. The kind of love where there is no secrets and even if you don't see eachother  for ages, when you get together it is as if nothing has changed and you can still talk for hours.
8. The love between brothers and sisters. I'm sure not every family is like ours, but the love that is shared in the teasing, heckling, joking and other antics, is truely a blessing.
9. The love between sisters. Sisters are always there for you to talk to, to share your secrets with and to be a listening ear. When you begin to get older you really begin to appreciate it.
10. The love of life you can see in the eyes of a disabled child. Sometimes the most simple things are fogotten, as I work with people with disabilities it often makes you stop and think.
11. The love of new friends. I love making new friends and establishing new relatioships. There is something special about establishing friendships and finding more about another person.
12. The love and devotion a dog shows to it's master. It is true when they say that a dog is man's best friend. A dog will always be there to listen (not that they can talk back) and will be willing to shower you with love even when you are not in your best of moods.
13. The dedication and love of animals to their children. Living on a block of land we have had lots of animals, one example of this dedcation is the birds which nest under our back veranda, 2 pardelote birds nest in the bird box there each year, the amount of dedication these parents have to their little chicks is inspiring, once the little birds have hatched they are constantly running back and forth with more food.
14. The warmth of a hot chocolate in front of a wood fire on a cold wintery day. I know this is not really an example of love and devotion as the others are but I still think that it is something everyone loves.
15. and ummm.... I'm sure there is lot's more but lets just change the 15 to 14 :D

Food for thought

This weekend we had a youth camp, although I did not attend the whole time (due to work and extreme tiredness) it was a great weekend full of lots of fun and great discussion on the most important thing in the world. The word of God - centered mainly on the book of James.
Here is just some food for thought which I have taken away from the weekend and would like to impart to others also.

• James Ch 1: Perseverance
• Consider it JOY when you face trails - vs. 2
• Trails test our faith, and the testing of our faith produces perseverance.
• perseverance produces character and character hope - the hope that we have in God is a firm and steadfast hope which does not waver, it is a firm confidence.
• Do not just be hearers of the word but doers
• Are you really applying what you have heard and learnt?
• Do you practice what you preach? (to put in a cliched way)
• vs. 25 - But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
• It is a hard thing to do sometimes but we have to work at putting into action what we have heard and learnt.
• James Ch 2: Faith
• Do not show paritality.
• Favouritism is something which is very easy to show. It is easy to speak to certain people because they think like we do and they have the same interests as us.
• BUT vs. 9 says "if you show faviouritism you sin, convicted by the law as law breakers". We are not loving our neighbor.
• As Christians we are united by a common faith.
• SO, lets try step out of our comfort zone and reach out to others who we do not usually talk to.
• James Ch 3: Restraint
• Think before you speak. Are you words
• True?
• Helpful?
• Inspirational?
• Necessary?
• Kind?
• The tongue is impossible to control. We need to continually pray to God for the wisdom to control the tongue  because it is only be the power of the Holy Spirit that we will be able to do so.
• James Ch 4: Submission
• Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up vs. 10 
• It is very hard for us to be humble, but humliity with one another and before God is an important part of the life of a Christian vs 6 says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
• Draw near to God and he will draw near to you - vs. 8.
• Many people within our Church circle will react to this verse and state that in quoting this verse in such a way you are very 'evangelical' and taking responsibiltiy for your own faith. This is not what James means. We draw near to God in humility, with a contrite heart.
• James Ch 5: Patience
• The book of James comes round in a circle and the theme of Ch 1 is also related to the theme of Ch 5. James encourages and reminds the readers to be patient in their sufferings.

The book of James is FULL of great riches and what I've written here is only a brief summary.