Resourced Out
Well in my last post I was heading off to the Christian resources exhibition at the Kings Hall, and overall I would say it was a beneficial experience. Came home from it laden down with information and sample resources from a number of organisations involved in a wide range of fields. Some people doing really cool stuff, some of it not my thing, but amazing to see how God is working through so many people and reaching so many lives in a number of different ways.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
A few things that have been catching my eye lately while surfing around the web :
The Make Poverty History campaign http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/home.html is a great opportunity to highlight poverty and trade justice issues on a global level, seeking to influence governments to act now on world poverty. As christians we should be concerned deeply about the world we live in, and the many injustices that exist in it, why? Because God cares, so we should also. We are to be his voice, his hands, his feet into all the world, so let's start being that!!
A number of sites have further info on all this stuff including :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
http://www.tearfund.org/Campaigning/
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/campaign/mph/index.htm
Tonight i'm heading to the following event: http://www.creonline.co.uk/frameset.asp?show=northernireland, i'm sure i'll write about it after
The Make Poverty History campaign http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/home.html is a great opportunity to highlight poverty and trade justice issues on a global level, seeking to influence governments to act now on world poverty. As christians we should be concerned deeply about the world we live in, and the many injustices that exist in it, why? Because God cares, so we should also. We are to be his voice, his hands, his feet into all the world, so let's start being that!!
A number of sites have further info on all this stuff including :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
http://www.tearfund.org/Campaigning/
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/campaign/mph/index.htm
Tonight i'm heading to the following event: http://www.creonline.co.uk/frameset.asp?show=northernireland, i'm sure i'll write about it after
And yet again I find another month has passed, and the intention of journaling on a regular basis has fallen by the wayside. Have thought about updating this on a number of occasions over the last month, but never really got round to it until now. So why now....... Well I guess i've come to realise it's importance in my spiritual journey, it's a means of recording what God's been placing on my heart since this journey began, so I guess i'm coming back afresh with the intention to journal more regularly once again. I'm sure it'll fall by the wayside again as different things eat into my time, but my intention now is to keep it regular.
So whats been happening in life recently, well pretty much the same stuff as always that has been the routine of life recently. Work, youthwork at church in its various forms, spending time with Helen and football(training and matches). On the spiritual side it's been abit of a rollercoaster-ride recently, some high's, some low's and plenty of bumps along the way. It's when you get close to God that Satan attacks you with the same temptations he knows you'll give in to, and brings you right down again, wedging the gulf between you and God with some form of sin.
So where do I go from here, well there's only one place I know, and thats back to the throne of grace to plead forgiveness, prayerfully crying out to God to empower me to resist the Devils temptations, and grow ever closer to Him.
On the youthwork front i've still a burning desire to reach out to the young people in our community and tell them of the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ, especially those on the fringes and outside of the body of the church. So often all I can see are barrier's and obstacles along the way, but that's because i'm looking at things from down here. It's only when I see things from God's perspective, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, that the obstacles and barriers fall into insignificance, and his perfect plan is revealed.
So my prayer is that I would feel the very heartbeat of God, that I would be directed along the path that He has laid out before me, that He would be my strength in times of weakness, placing Him at the centre of everything I do.
So whats been happening in life recently, well pretty much the same stuff as always that has been the routine of life recently. Work, youthwork at church in its various forms, spending time with Helen and football(training and matches). On the spiritual side it's been abit of a rollercoaster-ride recently, some high's, some low's and plenty of bumps along the way. It's when you get close to God that Satan attacks you with the same temptations he knows you'll give in to, and brings you right down again, wedging the gulf between you and God with some form of sin.
So where do I go from here, well there's only one place I know, and thats back to the throne of grace to plead forgiveness, prayerfully crying out to God to empower me to resist the Devils temptations, and grow ever closer to Him.
On the youthwork front i've still a burning desire to reach out to the young people in our community and tell them of the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ, especially those on the fringes and outside of the body of the church. So often all I can see are barrier's and obstacles along the way, but that's because i'm looking at things from down here. It's only when I see things from God's perspective, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, that the obstacles and barriers fall into insignificance, and his perfect plan is revealed.
So my prayer is that I would feel the very heartbeat of God, that I would be directed along the path that He has laid out before me, that He would be my strength in times of weakness, placing Him at the centre of everything I do.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Get Informed
With the advance in worldwide communications, the "global village" of which we are a part has never been more accessible. The worldwide web, and numerous other technological advances, have brought the world to our living rooms. As Christians this presents numerous benefits if used wisely, and should inform and enthuse us into action about the injustices that exist in the world that we live in. No longer should we have the attitude that we "keep our own house right" and thats all we need to do. We need to be God's hands, feet and voice in whatever situations God is placing on our hearts regarding the state of the world we inhabit. We now have the ability to get informed specifically about situations throughout the world, and as a result pray and give specifically to causes worldwide. So get informed and get active !!
With the advance in worldwide communications, the "global village" of which we are a part has never been more accessible. The worldwide web, and numerous other technological advances, have brought the world to our living rooms. As Christians this presents numerous benefits if used wisely, and should inform and enthuse us into action about the injustices that exist in the world that we live in. No longer should we have the attitude that we "keep our own house right" and thats all we need to do. We need to be God's hands, feet and voice in whatever situations God is placing on our hearts regarding the state of the world we inhabit. We now have the ability to get informed specifically about situations throughout the world, and as a result pray and give specifically to causes worldwide. So get informed and get active !!
Saturday, January 08, 2005
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
This should be the soul aim of our lives, and everything else will fall into place. God has created us in His image, and he has created us to be in relationship with him. That’s what life’s all about, and that’s the only way we’ll find fulfillment in life. If our relationship with God is healthy then our relationships with others (friends, family, loved ones) are healthy also. The reverse is true also of course, and if we let our relationship with God suffer, relationships with those around us suffer also.
Relationships are an integral part of our lives, and maintaining good relationships is a big part of our daily lives. Indeed as we look at creation, God created mankind to be in close relationship with fellow man, and indeed with God himself. And until sin entered the world, relationships with God and fellow man existed in perfect harmony. But since man’s fall into sin, the breakdown of these relationships has been a big part of the fall of mankind.
So then, following Jesus example, surely a major part of our lives today as Christians should be that of developing, maintaining and restoring relationships with fellow mankind. This may take many forms : reaching out in love, offering the hand of friendship or forgiveness, helping brothers in their time of need. Often this will involve laying aside self in order to put others first, and this is where the difficulty comes. But in Jesus Christ we have the perfect role model, and as we see the priority He gave to maintaining His relationship with God the Father, and how that transpired into His boundary-breaking relationships with fellow man, that should show us how to go about it today.Heavenly Father, help me to remain close to you and to cut out the sin that breaks and separates my closeness to you. Help me to develop characteristics that will enable me to be like Christ in the relationships I have in this life. In the busyness and whirlwind pace of life, enable me to keep you at the center, making my relationship to you that I entered by the blood of your Son, and seek to maintain by your Spirit, the priority of my life. And by this I pray that the relationships I have with others daily would develop and deepen as I grow closer to you.
This should be the soul aim of our lives, and everything else will fall into place. God has created us in His image, and he has created us to be in relationship with him. That’s what life’s all about, and that’s the only way we’ll find fulfillment in life. If our relationship with God is healthy then our relationships with others (friends, family, loved ones) are healthy also. The reverse is true also of course, and if we let our relationship with God suffer, relationships with those around us suffer also.
Relationships are an integral part of our lives, and maintaining good relationships is a big part of our daily lives. Indeed as we look at creation, God created mankind to be in close relationship with fellow man, and indeed with God himself. And until sin entered the world, relationships with God and fellow man existed in perfect harmony. But since man’s fall into sin, the breakdown of these relationships has been a big part of the fall of mankind.
So then, following Jesus example, surely a major part of our lives today as Christians should be that of developing, maintaining and restoring relationships with fellow mankind. This may take many forms : reaching out in love, offering the hand of friendship or forgiveness, helping brothers in their time of need. Often this will involve laying aside self in order to put others first, and this is where the difficulty comes. But in Jesus Christ we have the perfect role model, and as we see the priority He gave to maintaining His relationship with God the Father, and how that transpired into His boundary-breaking relationships with fellow man, that should show us how to go about it today.Heavenly Father, help me to remain close to you and to cut out the sin that breaks and separates my closeness to you. Help me to develop characteristics that will enable me to be like Christ in the relationships I have in this life. In the busyness and whirlwind pace of life, enable me to keep you at the center, making my relationship to you that I entered by the blood of your Son, and seek to maintain by your Spirit, the priority of my life. And by this I pray that the relationships I have with others daily would develop and deepen as I grow closer to you.
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