.
Just to let you know, I've started blogging at http://ryan4jesus.wordpress.com/
A New Season of Open Doors
11 years ago
The Vine and the Branches
.
ps... i know not everyone will understand this:
(this origonally was at the end, but i put it at the front because I think its important for people to know this)
Jesus loves you and wants you to give you life to Him... He loves you so much he came to earth only to be rejected, despised and spat upon and He did this all so He could save you and set you free from your sins and then He rose again so that we might live with Him. Our lives are transformed because we don't have someone who is dead and is not able to help us, but we have God who is alive and able to help us through any situation and bring us victory in Christ Jesus. Pray to Jesus and ask Him to be Lord, invite Him into your heart and repent of your sins, turn to Jesus and be free.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight I was just thinking about these verses, lately I've been learning that apart from Christ i can do nothing and everyday I need to put my trust and faith in Jesus and walk in Him.
(this is Jesus talking here)
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus is our vine, He's the whole point of being a Christian, we live for Christ, we suffer with Christ, we rejoic with Christ and we die with Christ, in all things we have Christ. We are never alone, we are part of Him, we have been grafted into Him out of His great love for us and we will live with Jesus for eternity praising and giving glory to God. Jesus holds everything together.
I know what its like to spend time out of the vine, not relying and abiding in Jesus, I felt lonely and isolated and afraid. Since I became a christian when I start to do things my own way its like I suffer, Its like I am not meant to live like that, if I move away from Christ I become insecure and it doesn't feel right to me. I know where I belong, its just who I am, I am Gods Child and I belong to Christ and when I am not trusting in Jesus I am open and vulnerable, but while I am with God I am secure. But I find that even while I fail at times to be perfect, I find Christ who is holding me up, and drawing me to Him. He is able to use these bad situations for His good. There is nothing better in the world then to be loved, and to be loved by God is truly amazing, to think that the one who created this all, who has power beyond my understand and can do all things, loves me... I just think wow.
ps... i know not everyone will understand this:
(this origonally was at the end, but i put it at the front because I think its important for people to know this)
Jesus loves you and wants you to give you life to Him... He loves you so much he came to earth only to be rejected, despised and spat upon and He did this all so He could save you and set you free from your sins and then He rose again so that we might live with Him. Our lives are transformed because we don't have someone who is dead and is not able to help us, but we have God who is alive and able to help us through any situation and bring us victory in Christ Jesus. Pray to Jesus and ask Him to be Lord, invite Him into your heart and repent of your sins, turn to Jesus and be free.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight I was just thinking about these verses, lately I've been learning that apart from Christ i can do nothing and everyday I need to put my trust and faith in Jesus and walk in Him.
(this is Jesus talking here)
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus is our vine, He's the whole point of being a Christian, we live for Christ, we suffer with Christ, we rejoic with Christ and we die with Christ, in all things we have Christ. We are never alone, we are part of Him, we have been grafted into Him out of His great love for us and we will live with Jesus for eternity praising and giving glory to God. Jesus holds everything together.
I know what its like to spend time out of the vine, not relying and abiding in Jesus, I felt lonely and isolated and afraid. Since I became a christian when I start to do things my own way its like I suffer, Its like I am not meant to live like that, if I move away from Christ I become insecure and it doesn't feel right to me. I know where I belong, its just who I am, I am Gods Child and I belong to Christ and when I am not trusting in Jesus I am open and vulnerable, but while I am with God I am secure. But I find that even while I fail at times to be perfect, I find Christ who is holding me up, and drawing me to Him. He is able to use these bad situations for His good. There is nothing better in the world then to be loved, and to be loved by God is truly amazing, to think that the one who created this all, who has power beyond my understand and can do all things, loves me... I just think wow.
break me
.
Sometimes we have to go through painful to learn a lesson. I've just gone through a something with a friend that caused me lots of pain, I felt rejected, and I found it hard to think of other things and get my mood up. I remember I was started walking down the road and started to think things where not fair, anger started to make its way up, but just as it did that God told me to focus on Jesus. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I forced myself to obey, and thats when God gave me the verse Isaiah 53:3-6. My anger vanished completely. I learnt that God can understand our PAIN because He went through that pain when He came to earth to die for our sins:
Isaiah 53:3-6
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
right then I knew that I wasn't alone in how I was feeling, Jesus(God) felt the same even worse then what I was feeling. I know that Jesus can understand me in my times of weakness and needs because He too has suffered for me, with that I am comforted. I know I don't just have a God who is distant but one who is close and able to take care of all my needs. I've also learnt during this time about waiting and trusting in the Lord, some situations feel like they have no hope, but if you place your hope in God he will deliver you, but you will most likely have to wait on Him. God I find him like a loving father, the amount of bad things I have done makes me deserving of eternity in Hell, but I am grateful that in God's great love he has forgiven all my sins by taken them on Himself through Jesus Christ at the Cross. I am also thankful that through Jesus when I die I'll get to live with Him because He rose from the dead, and he has victory over death =).
Sometimes we have to go through painful to learn a lesson. I've just gone through a something with a friend that caused me lots of pain, I felt rejected, and I found it hard to think of other things and get my mood up. I remember I was started walking down the road and started to think things where not fair, anger started to make its way up, but just as it did that God told me to focus on Jesus. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I forced myself to obey, and thats when God gave me the verse Isaiah 53:3-6. My anger vanished completely. I learnt that God can understand our PAIN because He went through that pain when He came to earth to die for our sins:
Isaiah 53:3-6
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
right then I knew that I wasn't alone in how I was feeling, Jesus(God) felt the same even worse then what I was feeling. I know that Jesus can understand me in my times of weakness and needs because He too has suffered for me, with that I am comforted. I know I don't just have a God who is distant but one who is close and able to take care of all my needs. I've also learnt during this time about waiting and trusting in the Lord, some situations feel like they have no hope, but if you place your hope in God he will deliver you, but you will most likely have to wait on Him. God I find him like a loving father, the amount of bad things I have done makes me deserving of eternity in Hell, but I am grateful that in God's great love he has forgiven all my sins by taken them on Himself through Jesus Christ at the Cross. I am also thankful that through Jesus when I die I'll get to live with Him because He rose from the dead, and he has victory over death =).
Surrendering more
.
Mic 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Today God has been teaching me about surendering, I have had some things that have gone on in my life lately that has caused me a bit of internal pain. This morning I felt so depressed, and there was a pain in my heart. I remembered a couple of prayers I've said lately where I prayed to God about something and he was faithful and answered it. So I prayed to God about my pain asking God and trusting in Him to heal it, it was only 10 minutes after I prayed this prayer that I started to perk up. And ended up enjoying the rest of the day. Then this afternoon something else came along that could have brought about negative feelings, I dwelt in my head and played scenarios and then I thought to myself, hey Jesus knows best, I am thinking of all my own ways to handle this situation but i'm not asking Jesus. Jesus knows all and is much much wiser then me, I know I can trust Him with my problems, there is no one better. I'm learning lately how to rely on Jesus, and trust in Him more, its a process but I have the best teacher anyone could ask for... God. I'm also learning about how I need people in my life and the importance of other people.
Mic 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Today God has been teaching me about surendering, I have had some things that have gone on in my life lately that has caused me a bit of internal pain. This morning I felt so depressed, and there was a pain in my heart. I remembered a couple of prayers I've said lately where I prayed to God about something and he was faithful and answered it. So I prayed to God about my pain asking God and trusting in Him to heal it, it was only 10 minutes after I prayed this prayer that I started to perk up. And ended up enjoying the rest of the day. Then this afternoon something else came along that could have brought about negative feelings, I dwelt in my head and played scenarios and then I thought to myself, hey Jesus knows best, I am thinking of all my own ways to handle this situation but i'm not asking Jesus. Jesus knows all and is much much wiser then me, I know I can trust Him with my problems, there is no one better. I'm learning lately how to rely on Jesus, and trust in Him more, its a process but I have the best teacher anyone could ask for... God. I'm also learning about how I need people in my life and the importance of other people.
Free indeed
.
Today i helped Isaac and Jeremy with moving some stuff to Rays place. I really enojed the day and it was great to catch up with my brothers in Christ. Dinner was great, we went to sizzlers where we saw the prophets and the pastor eating as well, and also some others from another daniel, talk about coincidence..lol... anyway I was have been dweling on the grace of God this afternoon and how God has set me free from sin, I wrote the following in my journal and wanted to share it with everyone:
I was thinking this afternoon about my strugle with sin and thinking about a book called " victory over darkness" it says you can't be anything past what you believe. Then I realised God through Jesus Christ has provided a way for me to be free. Romans 6:11-12 (Amplified Bible)
11Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.12Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions
Through Jesus I acn believe because of waht Jesus did I am dead to sin and free from it (and alive to God). This is a promise of God whom we can certainly completely trust. God cannot lie!!! Sure I will still sin but I don't need to live as a slave to it, Christ has set me FREE!!!!
I know this is such a basic thing, but really start believing in yourself that you are dead to sin, you can because through Jesus God says you are!!!
Today i helped Isaac and Jeremy with moving some stuff to Rays place. I really enojed the day and it was great to catch up with my brothers in Christ. Dinner was great, we went to sizzlers where we saw the prophets and the pastor eating as well, and also some others from another daniel, talk about coincidence..lol... anyway I was have been dweling on the grace of God this afternoon and how God has set me free from sin, I wrote the following in my journal and wanted to share it with everyone:
I was thinking this afternoon about my strugle with sin and thinking about a book called " victory over darkness" it says you can't be anything past what you believe. Then I realised God through Jesus Christ has provided a way for me to be free. Romans 6:11-12 (Amplified Bible)
11Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.12Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions
Through Jesus I acn believe because of waht Jesus did I am dead to sin and free from it (and alive to God). This is a promise of God whom we can certainly completely trust. God cannot lie!!! Sure I will still sin but I don't need to live as a slave to it, Christ has set me FREE!!!!
I know this is such a basic thing, but really start believing in yourself that you are dead to sin, you can because through Jesus God says you are!!!
Psalm 103:1-22
.
ESV Psalm 103:1 OF DAVID. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!
ESV Psalm 103:1 OF DAVID. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Suffering in the flesh
.
Just a quick post, I've been reading 1 Peter and 2 Peter this week in my spare time and something that has really stood out to me has been 1 Peter 4:1-2:
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
It is your fleshly desires and fulfilling them in a manner that is seperate from God that often causes sin. The bible says that man is lead away with his desires, and when his desire grows this leads to sin and sin when its full grown leads to death. Not pleasing these desires is not always an easy thing, but we can know that we have Christ who suffered, and that He understands the suffering that we go through. Next time you are tempted and have to go through suffering know that Christ is there to suffer with you through it. Through Christ you can do all things.
Just a quick post, I've been reading 1 Peter and 2 Peter this week in my spare time and something that has really stood out to me has been 1 Peter 4:1-2:
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
It is your fleshly desires and fulfilling them in a manner that is seperate from God that often causes sin. The bible says that man is lead away with his desires, and when his desire grows this leads to sin and sin when its full grown leads to death. Not pleasing these desires is not always an easy thing, but we can know that we have Christ who suffered, and that He understands the suffering that we go through. Next time you are tempted and have to go through suffering know that Christ is there to suffer with you through it. Through Christ you can do all things.
Psalms 8
I just love psalms!!! so much praise is in it and it really shows a God of love, a God worthy to be praised. I used to read the old testament and think that the God in the old testament was different from the new testament, that the God in the old testament had war and such. But now I have come to understand the God in the old testament is the same as the new, He protected His people, He guided them, He was their victory, He forgave them, He loved them… We have this great God!!! This psalm is a praise in the old testament of God….
Psa 8:1 To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.
Psa 8:2 Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger. [Matt. 21:15, 16.]
Psa 8:3 When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,
Psa 8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?
Psa 8:5 Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Psa 8:6 You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet: [I Cor. 15:27; Eph. 1:22, 23; Heb. 2:6-8.]
Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,
Psa 8:8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Psa 8:9 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!
In defence of the bible
just found this youtube video.. i think its by a relatively new church in brisbane called… new hope brisbane, i found it while trying to look for the hope brisbane bookstore and had a look at their youtube videos'… check it out :)
so inspiring
I was looking up Jewish Christians because I’m hoping to get to know some Jewish people. Anyway I came across these Youtube testimonies, and they are totally inspiring… SO GREAT IS OUR GOD!!! GLORY AND HONOR TO YESHUA! First is a testimony of a Muslim, I just love Muslim testimonies…
This is a Jewish one… its really nice too, to see them talk about Yeshua their messiah!!!
God My Best Friend
This time I just want to share something I wrote some time ago, during unit advance.. I wrote this on Sunday the last day of it. Sometimes I got allot of things going on inside of me (I'm sure everyone can relate to that at times), this is about how close God is to each of us, we might not always feel like he is, but I can assure you he see’s everything. So he knows :D, you can be assured he is never far away…
God my Best Friend
who is there whenever I feel lonely?
who is it that hears all my cries?
who is it that knows all the sorrows of my heart?
who has counted all my tears and put them in a bottle?
who knows the number of hairs on my head?
who is it that listens to my every word?
who is it that loves me this much?
who is it that would sacrifice his place in heaven for me?
who is it that took my just punishment for the wrongs I have done?
who is it that was willing to give His life in place for my sins?
who is it that rose from the dead so that I have new life in Him?
who is it that made such a sacrifice so that I may be with Him for all eternity?
Who is it? who is it? Its Jesus that’s who!!!
wow just reading this really makes me think about what Jesus did for us, such great love, I really wish I could explain the amazement when I think about this… God coming to earth, God!! coming to earth!!!! I mean God!! the one who made everything!!! humbled himself, man this is totally the most awe-striking thing you could ever think about! and dyeing for my sins… God really shows his love to us, doing this for us sinners. So Amazing!!!! lol… I was just looking up the word awe-striking to see if the spelling was correct and came across this:
Therefore, He paid, "for what He had not stolen," and the just suffered for the unjust, both in His soul and body, so while sensing the awe-striking debt for our sins, He sweated blood and water and He even finally cried out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"
— Against Heresies
I put this verse to emphasise how much Christ Jesus did for us!!!!
Php 2:5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]
Php 2:6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,
Php 2:7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.
Php 2:8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
Php 2:9 Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,
Php 2:10 That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Php 2:11 And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Emmanuel – God with us
Today I am heading into uni to meet Emmanuel (will try get a photo of him to show), I think this is an answer to my prayers earlier, this is in conjunction with my last post. What I was thinking in my last was also answers to this prayer I had prayed, one day when going through all this turmoil wondering where God was I prayed, “God please prove to me beyond doubt that you are with me”. I prayed this with a sincere heart and just trusted it to God that he would be able to do this, I believed that God knows me best and can in his own way, without me asking how, would do this. Well all the things in the last post happened, out of all of them the most comforting was being told “I am with you always”.
But God didn’t just leave it there, just last week on Monday I left my camera in the toilet by mistake (I kind of think that God blinded me to it so as to test me), I walked out leaving it above the sinks, and thought the whole time during the first half of my lecture that the camera was with me. During my lectures break (1 hour after the lecture started) I realised I didn’t have my camera, but I knew where I left it because I could recall at what points I did have it. So I ran back to the toilet to find it was gone, I had thought someone from uni had decided that it was a nice cam and was going to keep it. So I went back to my lecture and prayed about it, after the lecture I went to lost property hoping they would have it but no one had turned it in. After that I remember walking home questioning things, but I thought to myself, I’m going to trust God in this and I’m going to keep praying, I even thought I should thank God, so I did my best to thank him for the times I did have my camera and said to myself, God gives and God takes we should be thankful in all circumstances (it was tough thanking God when I felt at loss).
But I kept praying about it and checking lost property thinking to myself, God can change the heart of the person if they did steal it and they will turn it into lost property. I prayed everyday until Thursday but I had this feeling like I hadn’t lost it, yet I saw in no way how I was going to get it back. it wasn’t till Friday that the breakthrough happened, I had organised to meet up with my mate and thought he was coming over to my place, but because of a miss understanding he thought I was going to meet him at uni. I decided since I was going to life group that night that its pointless for him to come to my place and then we go back out. So I went into uni, up to his room but I was told he was waiting for me in the botanicals. As I was walking to the botanicals I had to walk past the library, at this point the thought came to me to ask about the camera in the library, by this time it was 4 days since I had lost it. Upon inquiring the librarian remembered about a notice on the white board, and when I went to the white board it said, compact camera found in o-block, I was pretty sure this would be my camera as I had lost it in that building.
I rang the guy straight away and explained to him the camera, he was like yes, yes, and I started to get excited because I knew he had it. But he wanted proof that I was really the owner so he asked me what the last few photos where but I had no clue. I told him I don’t remember the order of the photographs, so he gave me a hint telling me it was an animal and at that point I remembered that the day I lost it, a kookaburra decided to swoop my mate and myself and I started to take photos of it (which I’ll post up here after I get my cam). After telling him what animal it was he knew I was the owner and met me down in the library. He didn’t have the came on him but gave me his business card and got my contact details, when I saw the card I saw Emmanuel written on it, which was his name. The whole time, God had managed to answer a previous prayer by sending someone with a name meaning “God with us” to pick up my camera, he orchestrated the whole thing so that I may know that God is with us, and we can trust him with all our heart. From my own understanding, before I had found it, I had no idea how this camera would have been found. Now I have an experience that proves this verse:
Pro 3:5 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
Pro 3:7 Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil. [Prov. 8:13.]
we are human an don’t know everything, but God knows all. Sometimes God does things we don’t understand, and sometimes we question God. But God knows all and all his ways are righteous and just and love. He is someone that we can always trust!!! do you trust God with all your heart? will you trust Him in times when things don’t seem to be going the way you want them to? will you trust Jesus even when things seem bad? and will you remember Jesus even when times are good? will you give thanks to Jesus in all circumstances whether good or bad, in sickness and in health? (yes I purposefully am implying marriage here)
What a year, What a week
I thank God so much for brining me to Daniels 2 and Hope Brisbane, its been quite a journey this year for me. I’ve never cried so much(you won’t see it cause I do when no one is around) and had so much joy at the same time, I’ve also gone through times when I really questioned things. But through it all God has kept me, and has been building me up.
This year has been a year of change for me, and with this change has come pains, the changes are sure to keep coming. This week I’ve learnt some very good lessons, but they are also very basic ones. I had learnt many things from God during the year, but then I’d have times where I would start to doubt that I was good enough, or wonder if God was really with me. I started to ask, where are you God I really wanted to hear him, I wondered to myself, how can i tell the difference between my own thought and what God is telling me?? This started to bother me because then I thought, well if I’m not hearing from God then he mustn’t be with me… you can see how these kind of thoughts would make a Christian feel uncomfortable. So I brought them before God and asked Him why I was having these times of doubt and other times where things where all good, cause I really felt like I was being tossed back and forth at times. I got the answer “My Promises” to which I knew God was telling me, your like this because your not putting full faith in my promises, trust in my word ( i knew them but I’d often count myself unworthy or for some reason think I was excluded). You know all during this time I still had the desire to spread the gospel so I went to word book store and got myself a eband and I saw this book called “victory in Christ”, I purchased the book and found that it confirmed that part of victory is trusting in His promises.
You know what is amazing about this whole experience, I found God proved to be true to me even when I had doubts, so much grace abounds. I even went up to the front to be prayed for two weeks ago and Gerald was telling me that God see’s my heart, knows my doubts and that he is also pleased with my heart (I wondered what’s there to be pleased about). That week I’d also asked God to give me a verse to comfort me and It was Isaiah 43 which was on the board in the last prayer meeting, not to mention Ray talking about someone asking the very same questions I was asking that very week in my head. I had also prayed at some point asking God where he was and he told me “I Am with you always”. So now instead of always trying to much, I am trusting more. I’ve learnt to trust God more this week, and to trust Him even in times when He doesn’t seem close because I take him at His word and he told me “I Am with you always”. This seems like such a basic thing to me, I’ve know all along about faith, but now I’ve been taught about it.
