Jesus first miracle was to give plenty of good wine to the guests at the end of a wedding feast. These people had had enough to drink and Jesus encouraged them to drink more. John 2 One way of looking at this is that Jesus provided the means for a binge. Jesus always had a purpose in what he did on this occasion he was fulfilling the scriptures at Proverbs 31 where it says; 'Give strong drink to the one who is perishing'. As he turned water into wine Jesus was telling the Jewish people that they were perishing and needed a Saviour. Jesus knew that he was that Saviour and that God had sent him to save God's people.
Today if you find you are drinking too much then it is Gods gift to you so you can forget that you have no faith and no idea what will happen to you after your death. Also you are at the constant push and pull of events no one is in control of your life. My advice to you is to acknowledge that Jesus really did come from God and learn the Lords Prayer so that you can always remember that God want his will to be done on earth just like it is in heaven. You will find that you will want to drink less and less as you think about God and his Kingdom.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Religion under threat says Baroness Warsi
The Tory's are afraid for the future of religion in public life. Last week the High Court ruled against the Mayor of Bideford having prayers at the beginning of council meetings. Richard Dawkins, the well publicised secularist, thinks that mankind has out grown its need of the religion. Ah, I get fed up with this lot. The Christian faith is not about what happens in public but about what happens in the heart. For too long religion has held faith in Jesus captive, perhaps in this electronic millennium faith can come of age. Let's explore this:
For me these two are separate, Faith is what I believe and how I organise my life, Religion is what I do publicly, on organised occasions. It is possible to go to Church and not have faith and it is possible to have faith and not go to Church. I do not murder, steal, commit adultery because I love God and love my neighbour, Matthew 22 and the most important part of this is to love my neighbour Romans 13. This faith is the building block of a simple life and a secure future. It is something that goes on day after day, it is simple as we learned in the Lords Prayer we forgive, as we have learned from these scriptures we love. The only person who is watching is God himself, he is not worried if you go to Church or Synagogue, he wants us to love and forgive and if we can do these things we are OK with him. Some might attend public worship and get a lot from it but we will only be judged on our loving and forgiving faith.
Click where the text is in pink and the verses I'm thinking about will appear in a new tab.
For me these two are separate, Faith is what I believe and how I organise my life, Religion is what I do publicly, on organised occasions. It is possible to go to Church and not have faith and it is possible to have faith and not go to Church. I do not murder, steal, commit adultery because I love God and love my neighbour, Matthew 22 and the most important part of this is to love my neighbour Romans 13. This faith is the building block of a simple life and a secure future. It is something that goes on day after day, it is simple as we learned in the Lords Prayer we forgive, as we have learned from these scriptures we love. The only person who is watching is God himself, he is not worried if you go to Church or Synagogue, he wants us to love and forgive and if we can do these things we are OK with him. Some might attend public worship and get a lot from it but we will only be judged on our loving and forgiving faith.
Click where the text is in pink and the verses I'm thinking about will appear in a new tab.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Our Father
I am Gods child, his son, because I believe in the name of Jesus. John 1 v 11-13 The name of Jesus means God saves, so the challenge to us all is to believe in the God who saves, delivers, rescues, helps. The thing is that we have to actively believe this, it is a dynamic relationship. Anyone who does not believe calls God a liar 1 John 5 v 10 it really is very serious.
This is a matter of life or death, I believe that God will save me whenever I am in trouble is my essential armour. Psalm 46 v 1-3 This changes my life: I want to live in a way that is Gods kingdom and will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Gods will is that we experience his kingdom on earth, that will be very good.
It is in this relationship that I have the confidence to ask for help at all times.
This is a matter of life or death, I believe that God will save me whenever I am in trouble is my essential armour. Psalm 46 v 1-3 This changes my life: I want to live in a way that is Gods kingdom and will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Gods will is that we experience his kingdom on earth, that will be very good.
It is in this relationship that I have the confidence to ask for help at all times.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Cyber Bullying
Last night I watched a program on cyber bullying on British TV. Two things were obvious it had disastrous effects on the victims and no-one had any idea what to do about it! Victims and those fearful of becoming victims need to believe that Jesus came from God and need to pray the Lords prayer. verse They especially need the last line "deliver us from evil". Trusting that God will sort things out is the only answer to the things that mankind finds impossible. Jesus tells believers to "pray for those who persecute you". verse This passage ends with the promise that God is the avenger of wrongs done to his people, verse "I will repay says the Lord". We are called on to forgive and trust that God himself will act on our behalf, it seems difficult but it is what Jesus did when he was crucified. He trusted God and because he did this in the face of the vilest persecution he is a able to sympathise with us when we are face with our own weakness. verse more than that if we draw near to him we will find grace and help in our time of need.
We may be persecuted if we are Christians but we we have faith and peace that comes from knowing that God will sort it all out. I have to be honest and say this has never happened to me, and I can only hope that I will remember my own words if I find myself in the situation of being bullied. Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute you before the writer to the Hebrews promises us that God is the avenger of the wrongs done to his people. Jesus knew what a terrible thing it is to fall into Gods hands, and he does not desire the death of any sinner but that all people would 'repent and live'. verse Repent means turn or rethink and reassess you lives, get sorted out so you are ready to face the living God. Now we all have to do this but somehow it is more important that we pray that our persecutors have a chance to do this before they fall foul of the vengeance of God.
We may be persecuted if we are Christians but we we have faith and peace that comes from knowing that God will sort it all out. I have to be honest and say this has never happened to me, and I can only hope that I will remember my own words if I find myself in the situation of being bullied. Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute you before the writer to the Hebrews promises us that God is the avenger of the wrongs done to his people. Jesus knew what a terrible thing it is to fall into Gods hands, and he does not desire the death of any sinner but that all people would 'repent and live'. verse Repent means turn or rethink and reassess you lives, get sorted out so you are ready to face the living God. Now we all have to do this but somehow it is more important that we pray that our persecutors have a chance to do this before they fall foul of the vengeance of God.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
What would Jesus do? - 2
We seem to have come a long way from our original headline but the question remains. What would Jesus do? In all circumstances he would remember that he was dependant on our Father God and that he had already prayed. Soon after the Lords Prayer he taught them to be persistent in prayer. verse No one can be persistent in prayer if they can only pray when concentrating in Church, the important habit to adopt and to work on is the ability to pray with half of the mind. I am certain that as Jesus went about he was going through the Lord's prayer in his mind, he was concentrating on God so that when something crossed his path he was zoned in in Gods will and was able to do it.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Our Father - Creator
God is not stupid as many and he didn't dictate the Bible but he inspired men to write it. Traditionally Moses wrote the first 5 books and he began at the beginning of time as he could imagine it. He began with the story of the seven days of creation is swiftly followed by the story of Adam and Eve. chapter We read two separate stories or myths of the creation of heaven and Earth. God never ever intended for us to take these stories literally, that is why there are two accounts. They were the current understanding of early man, there are two stories so we shouldn't get confused when new myths were told, many other myths were told in the ancient world. Today we have the theory of evolution which is a modern myth. Our scientists do not know how the development from one species into another took place, just that all species are related in one way or another. I am a watcher of television programs that go into the origins of the planet and the whole of creation, what they have come up with is utterly fantastic, but no-one knows the how it all took place. To my mind science does not dismiss God, he remains almighty and at 4.5 billion years the longer they make the process of the creation of earth or the 13.5 billion years since the big bang the greater he seems to become.
The two stories have one thing in common with each other; they both give mankind responsibility to look after the things that God made. verse and verse. I wonder did you notice that in the first story God is called God and in the second story he is called Lord God. This is because if you were reading in the original Hebrew you would see that God has different names, these names came from different oral traditions that is different groups of people who came together to make up the people of God.
The important thing for us as we look at the Lords prayer is that this eternal God wants us men to know him as Father, this is a fact. He says it in many times and in many ways. verse Jesus says that our Father knows what we need before we ask. In an Old Testament passage where the prophet Isaiah is lamenting that God has punished his chosen people because they have forgotten him verse but he is still their Father. This can be a warning to us all, if his chosen people ignore God, God ignores them. He does not interfere or influence the affairs of men until he is spoken to and asked for the help we need. He tells us to pray; "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, the work of a true father is to forgive his children and encourage them to forgive each other.
There are other promises made about the Fatherhood of God verse he will be a Father to the fatherless, and puts the lonely in Families. but there is the warning again; the ungodly, those who ignore God will suffer and perish. The fact that God knows us and what we think and say is remarkable and to the sensitive could be worrying but should be an encouragement to stick with God no matter what.
We will comeback to this.
The two stories have one thing in common with each other; they both give mankind responsibility to look after the things that God made. verse and verse. I wonder did you notice that in the first story God is called God and in the second story he is called Lord God. This is because if you were reading in the original Hebrew you would see that God has different names, these names came from different oral traditions that is different groups of people who came together to make up the people of God.
The important thing for us as we look at the Lords prayer is that this eternal God wants us men to know him as Father, this is a fact. He says it in many times and in many ways. verse Jesus says that our Father knows what we need before we ask. In an Old Testament passage where the prophet Isaiah is lamenting that God has punished his chosen people because they have forgotten him verse but he is still their Father. This can be a warning to us all, if his chosen people ignore God, God ignores them. He does not interfere or influence the affairs of men until he is spoken to and asked for the help we need. He tells us to pray; "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, the work of a true father is to forgive his children and encourage them to forgive each other.
There are other promises made about the Fatherhood of God verse he will be a Father to the fatherless, and puts the lonely in Families. but there is the warning again; the ungodly, those who ignore God will suffer and perish. The fact that God knows us and what we think and say is remarkable and to the sensitive could be worrying but should be an encouragement to stick with God no matter what.
We will comeback to this.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Pray in Secret
Jesus taught us to pray in secret, verse I think that this is great it means that Jesus knew about the reality of peoples lives. He knew that we would have time to ourselves, in fact most of the time we would be on our own, even when we are in a crowd we can be alone and praying. This works while we are doing anything that doesn't require 100% concentration. We could be waking up in the morning, cleaning our teeth, or getting dressed, or riding a bus to work, or sitting at our desk. You have imagination to put your life here, all the while you could be praying this simple prayer that God has given us: Your will be done now.
Do you know that God is so fantastic that he says that even those who don't know him but who turn to him and under their breath ask for a way out of their problems will please him. verse Even those times when we have thought "if there is a God please help me" he has heard and is pleased that we have, in our ignorance, done what it right.
If you have never lived with the confidence that God is real and has a will and purpose for your life be encouraged. You are not alone many people live as if there is no God but God is wonderful he says turn to me and live. verse
A note for you if you are wondering what verse means; if you clink on it you will find a link to a passage from the Bible just to show you that this is not my idea but that the ideas have a real foundation.
Do you know that God is so fantastic that he says that even those who don't know him but who turn to him and under their breath ask for a way out of their problems will please him. verse Even those times when we have thought "if there is a God please help me" he has heard and is pleased that we have, in our ignorance, done what it right.
If you have never lived with the confidence that God is real and has a will and purpose for your life be encouraged. You are not alone many people live as if there is no God but God is wonderful he says turn to me and live. verse
A note for you if you are wondering what verse means; if you clink on it you will find a link to a passage from the Bible just to show you that this is not my idea but that the ideas have a real foundation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)