Is it time to trade our sorrows?

God’s love, compassion and faithfulness have been placed in an account that cannot be overdrawn, which we are not required to contribute to but will last as long as we live.  In a world that doesn’t seem to care, where only the fittest survive, this is good to know. Praise God.

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Are you going through a hard time at the moment? If you are then you are certainly not on your own. Things were so bad in Israel, that when Jeremiah wrote one of the books of the Old Testament he called it Lamentations. A dictionary definition of lamentation is; ‘the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping’. In a positive-thinking, feel good World, Lamentations is not exactly a best-selling title however it gives us an insight into the state of mind that Jeremiah would have been in when he wrote the book.

In Lamentations 1:2 Jeremiah, describes God’s people as a widow and a slave, and says that all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies; ‘Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies’. As we move through the book, verse by verse things just go from bad to worse, as God’s people reap what they have sown. However, suddenly in the middle of all of Jeremiah’s lamenting, when you think things can’t get any worse, Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3:22-23 ‘Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness’ isn't that wonderful!!!

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God’s love, compassion and faithfulness have been placed in an account that cannot be overdrawn, which we are not required to contribute to but will last as long as we live.  In a world that doesn’t seem to care, where only the fittest survive, this is good to know. Praise God. So next time someone says to you what's new?  Tell them about 'God's Love, Compassion and Faithfulness'. The dictionary defines Compassion as – ‘Tenderness of heart, that disposes a person to overlook injuries or to treat an offender better than he or she deserves’.  So when we wake up each day, let us be like the lady who prayed – ‘Lord I am glad your mercies are new every morning, because I’ve definitely used up all of yesterday’s’.

Acts 17:24-28 ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’.

Psalms 29:3-4 ‘The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic’

So whatever trials and tribulations we may be going through or troubles we may experience throughout our lives, whenever we feel the need to lament out lives like Jeremiah, let us take comfort in God’s love, compassion and faithfulness. However bad we think our situations are there in nothing, absolutely nothing that our God cannot resolve; Luke 1:37 ‘For nothing is impossible with God’. As the scripture in Acts 17 above states ‘God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us'. Amen.

Author: Inie Jean

May God bless and enrich your life

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Working for the Kingdom of God

The blessings of God are all around us and sometimes we are shown them in a very tangible way. Other times we don't fully understand the blessings or only see a small part of it until God reveals more to us.

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I do some work for a church near to where I live and help them out with a few things and have been in contact with them for a few years now. This is not my home church but I am glad to offer my services to any who are looking to further the kingdom of God. One evening a friend from the church popped around and presented me with a gift of money for the work I have been doing. This was completely unexpected and I was amazed. This was a couple of months before Christmas so the money would certainly have come in handy.

After a while I thought of all the good things I could do with the gift, however I had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that this gift would benefit the church it had come from more than it would benefit me. I decided to send the gift back to the church with thanks for the kind offer they had made. This was on a Friday evening.

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When I arrived at work on the following Monday I was told that my company would be announcing the employee of the quarter awards, that afternoon, and the prize for first place was a monetary gift of the same amount that the church had offered me. I felt an excitement in my spirit because I knew the amount of the prize was the same as the gift I had returned and felt that I would win, which I did! The excitement I felt wasn't for the money, although I was glad to receive it from work, it was because I could see the tangible blessings of God.

The blessings of God are all around us and sometimes we are shown them in a very tangible way. Other times we don't fully understand the blessings or only see a small part of it until God reveals more to us. 

Psalm 31:19 says ‘How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you’.

Author: Anonymous 

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Let Thy Will Be Done

This blog is two testimonies that both involve a set of lost keys. Both incidents happened within a week of one another and both families involved were Christians. One set of keys were found and one set of keys were not found. Please read on to find out why.

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In the summer of 2015 I received a phone call from my sister who asked me for some advice. I gave the advice as kindly as I could and backed up what I said with what is written in the Word of God. My sister hung the phone up and I knew in my heart she was upset and did not appreciate the advice I had given. I really wanted to say what she wanted to hear but I knew that I loved her too much not to speak the truth, it tells us in Proverbs 27:5-6 ‘Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses’. The book of Proverbs also teaches us to choose our friends wisely Proverbs 13:20 ‘Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm’. The Word of God also teaches us to seek the counsel of wise people in Psalm1 (Link). 

The following day I was rushing around Kings Heath High Street in Birmingham (England). As always I was trying to do too many jobs at one time.  It was 1.15pm and the afternoon hospital visiting time for my mom was from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and visiting times were very strict and rigid because of the nature of the ward. That gave me a total of 15 minutes to get to the hospital, to get parked up and run across the grounds with my mom’s clean washing in hand. To my horror when I got to my car I could not find my car keys. I had to go back to the High Street and retrace my steps which meant going back to every shop I had been in before. Alarm bells started to ring when I was heading towards the final shop, because as yet the car keys had not been found. I was praying with everything I had that they would be found in the last shop but sadly they were not! It was now 1.30pm. I stood right in the middle of the High Street, lifted my eyes to the heavens and prayed with everything I had, I cried out to God to direct me to where the car keys were, but nothing, still no keys.

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I had to decide what to do next. I choose to run from the High Street to the hospital wearing the most unsuitable footwear, a pair of flimsy flip flops that kept falling off my feet as I sprinted through the streets. It was a painful experience both mentally and physically. I eventually got to the hospital with only 15 minutes of visiting time remaining.  When I arrived in my mom’s room, siting in the chair was my sister, the one I had upset the day before and I could see that she was not happy to see me. Then to top things off my mom started crying because I was late and she was anxious about her clean clothes, the ones that were sitting on the back seat of my car! Due to the nature of my mom’s illness it was difficult for her to understand the most simple of things, so trying to explain why her clothes were sitting on the back seat of my car proved to be very difficult. 

My sister could see the difficult situation I was in and even though I had upset her the day before, she managed to put her own hurt to one side and offered to take me all the way home to get my spare car keys. Initially I said ‘no thank you’ because I planned to ask my son to pick me up after he finished work, but she insisted on taking me. I was really moved by her kindness because I knew she was hurt from the telephone conversation the day before but she was willing to put her own pain to one side to help me out. The drive home and back was a difficult one, it took 40 minutes there and about 50 minutes back.  In wisdom we did not talk about the telephone conversation until we were nearly back at my car, she said that I had really hurt her and she had spent most of yesterday afternoon crying.

The long and short of it is that the keys were never found because God knew that we would reconcile our relationship by putting us together for nearly two hours. We said we loved each other and said goodbye with a big hug and a kiss. Praise God. On reflection I also learned the importance of not rushing around and trying to do too many things at one time. The Word of God tells us that God will never give us a load greater than we can bear Matthew 11:28-29 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’, it also tells us to enter God’s rest Hebrews 4:3 ‘Now we who have believed enter that rest’. The Word of God also encourages us to be still and know that I am God Psalm 46:10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God'.

Approximately one week after I lost my car keys, an Elder at our church and his wife gave this testimony: 

Our daughter usually calls us at least twice every day. She calls on her way to work in the morning, and on her way back home from work. On this particular day, having already called us as she was on her way to get a train home from work, she had told us that she would be going back out jogging after getting home. We were not expecting another call from her, so we were surprised that evening when she phoned all distressed and upset. The explained that, donned in her jogging outfit with flat keys in pocket along with her earphones and mobile phone she had returned to her flat and could not find her keys. She had frantically retraced her steps with no success and them called her husband who was not going to be getting back home for a while.  

We listened to her anguish, had a prayer time with her, then told her to go back and retrace her steps again.  We assured her to believe in faith that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the keys to her. A neighbour gave her entrance into the building where she waited for her husband to arrive telling him all that had happened.  Also telling him that she had spoken to us and what we had told her to do, he said ‘is there any point in going back to retrace steps again’, to which she replied by saying ‘I just feel I want to give it another chance to find them’, especially in light of the conversation she had with us, and was she was feeling much calmer now.
      
Well the next call from her was ‘mom, dad I found them!’ The keys had been placed on a wall outside someone’s house. Our daughter told us that she could hardly believe her eyes, she thought ‘are they really mine?’, and she was even hesitant picking them up. Another amazing thing was that it had been raining, but the little woolly dog on the key ring was not wet. He was smiling at her as if saying ‘I’m here I knew you would come back for me’.  Thank You Father, thank You Jesus, thank You Holy Spirit. Amen.   

In summary we have two similar situations, Two Christian families who both within one week of each other lost keys. Both situations involved prayer and faith. One could question why was only one of the sets of keys found? Did the person in the first testimony have less faith? The answer is no, God is awesome and he always works all things out for the Good of everyone; Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’. The first lost keys were not found so that reconciliation could take place between two sisters. The lengthy car journey taught them both the most important thing about their relationship and that is that they both loved each other very much, Praise God. The second keys had to be found so the daughter and son in law of the Elder and his wife would see the power of God and His Awesomeness due to the faith they demonstrated, and the absolute conviction in their voices when they told their daughter that the keys would be there if she retraced her steps.  Amen

Authors: Christina O’Neill, Herbert & Inie Jean

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Jesus at the Centre of it all

I find that it is in my darkest times that God really reveals himself to me, through his amazing compassion, forgiveness and unfailing love, Amen.

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I have always thought of myself as a work in progress in my walk with Jesus but if I am honest I believed I had a strong, intimate, relationship with Him and by that I mean I prayed every day, I read my bible, I went to bible study groups and I even fasted. That is until I met this awesome guy, we started dating and shortly after became a couple. I wholeheartedly know that God put him in my life as a blessing but in my human form I started to put him and our relationship before my relationship with God. I wanted to be with him all the time and without even realizing it, I was letting my prayer life slip, my bible readings became less and less and I stopped attending my mid-week meetings. Before I knew it I had fallen in love with him however in all of this and with hindsight I had to ask myself, where was Jesus?  Before meeting this man Jesus was my first love before anyone else. I loved no one more than Jesus but I realised sadly that this was no longer evident in my actions or my behaviour. The scripture that comes to mind as I write this is Revelation 2:4 ‘Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first’.

God had blessed me with this great guy so surely one would expect me to be praying and praising even more. Sadly, through my ignorance, I gave the devil a foothold and became disobedient to God. I very sadly admit that I put God on the back burner and put my love for this man ahead of my love for God. Through my sin the relationship was short lived and came to a very abrupt end.

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I find that it is in my darkest times that God really reveals himself to me, through his amazing compassion, forgiveness and unfailing love, Amen. I now understand that all relationships must overcome obstacles and the only way for the relationships to be successful and blessed is to have God at the centre ALWAYS. This will help to ensure that the relationship will be covered and protected under God’s anointing when the two people have their hearts sold out for God, first and foremost.

God is SO amazing that as I surrendered myself to him and poured out my heart He CLEARLY spoke to me not once, not twice but FOUR times about the same thing and even sent a Godly counsel with a word confirming everything I had read, prayed and asked about. Then to top it off the next day at service four people gave words all confirming everything. What a blessing, how amazing is the Lord!  One of those blessings was the following prophetic Word given in service; ‘I want a people who are surrendered to me. My heart jumps for joy when I see my children obeying me in spirit and in truth. There is nothing I will withhold from you when you breakthrough in the areas that bind you and make you captives’ AMEN.

The amazing thing is that through my loss I have gained so much. Jesus loves me and He forgives me of all of my sins even after I pushed him aside and put other priorities and people in front of him. Thanks to the mercy and grace of God’s love and teaching I know that any relationship with Jesus at the centre with two people equalled, yoked and focused on the most important thing (Jesus) will be wholly blessed. I am not saying that there will be no hard times but with two people having one focus there is nothing they can’t overcome.

Once I repented and surrendered to Jesus there was a huge transformation in my life and I experienced a peace that I never knew was possible.  Jesus NEVER lets me down.  In fact through surrendering and changing my focus I can have all the things I had and wanted but instead they will now be blessed. I must remain vigilant at all times and keep focused on Jesus; 2 Corinthians 2:11 ‘in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes’. In all things I hold onto the truth and no matter what I do God always loves me and He will never leave me even when I leave him. One of my favourite Scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, remember the Lord in all you do and he will make your paths straight’  Amen.

A life without Jesus at the centre is a life not worth living and not a life I chose to live. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for your AMAZING love, forgiveness and understanding. I love you ALWAYS.

The beautiful words of the song I have chosen are ‘From my heart to the heavens Jesus be the centre, it's all about you’ Amen.

Author: Anonymous

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