You’ll never walk alone

‘….I never once felt alone! I have the living spirit of Jesus in me and there was no way He was ever going to leave me on my own’

Source: Google+

Recently, through my work, God has sent me all over the World and I’ve been asking the question; why? I know that God does not do anything by chance, He has a plan and purpose for my life (and for your life too) but sometimes it can take us a little time for us to understand His purpose. Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’. In fact, sometimes, we may never understand, He may never reveal to us why He puts us in certain situations, however without a doubt, we can be certain that He has a purpose. God may be using us to plant some seeds for others to reap the harvest in the future and we will not know until one day when we are in heaven we might get a tap on the shoulder from a complete stranger, who might say ‘do you remember when……’, and relay an event that we vaguely remember and thought nothing of at the time. God is at work through us all the time and that is such an amazing thought. In addition, and an even more amazing thought is that He is always with us; Joshua 1:9 ‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’.

To many, travelling the World may seem to be very glamorous and exciting however the reality of my situation is that I have such busy schedules and I am required to move around from place to place regularly. All I really get to see are the insides of airports, taxis, hotel rooms and the venues where my events are being hosted. The absolute worst part is being away from my family for a week or two weeks at a time. I am very close to my Wife and we have been married for nearly 32 years and prior to this year we have never really spent anytime apart. Although both of my kids are grown up and have left home we still see them regularly and I really miss them as well. I also can’t forget my cheeky dog, Prince, who is also a big part of our family. I suppose what I am trying to say is that when you travel half way across the World it is very easy to feel isolated and alone. As I write this article I am currently part way through a trip to China and Hong Kong and I would like to share a short testimony which shows that having God with us wherever we go, as described above in Joshua 1:9 means that no matter how far away from home we may be or how isolated we may feel, that we are never alone.

Source: Etsy

I was travelling from Coventry to Heathrow Airport by coach to catch an eleven-hour flight to Shanghai and then a three-hour connecting flight to a place called Chongqing in South West China.  Halfway through the coach journey I received an email on my mobile phone which was in Chinese. I had no idea what it said and as the Wi-Fi on the coach was very poor I had to wait until I got to the airport to translate it. I copied the email into Google translate and to my horror it stated that my connecting flight to Chongqing had been cancelled. I tried to get some assistance at the airport however as the connecting flight was with a Chinese airline, the only advice was get to Shanghai and sort it out there!  ‘Brilliant’ I thought. Having been to China a few months earlier I was aware that Chinese flights are notorious for being late and there is a real language barrier at airports. I sat myself down said a quick prayer and eventually got on the plane to Shanghai.

After going through customs and retrieving my luggage at Shanghai Airport I then started looking for the information desk for the Chinese Airline. I landed at terminal two and for local flights across China I was told by someone who spoke very broken English to go to terminal one. Fifteen minutes later I arrived at terminal one and after being told to go to four different desks I eventually was told that the next available flight (with this airline) was in the late evening which would mean a wait of eight hours (remember I had just got off an eleven-hour flight and spent the last hour trying to find the right person to talk to). I insisted that I could not wait that long and that I wanted to be transferred to another airline. Anyway, after being directed back to terminal two, plus a further four information desks later, and leaving some very confused Chinese people behind, I finally managed to get a boarding pass for a different Chinese airline for a flight that was going to Chongqing and amazingly it would arrive only fifteen minutes later than my originally scheduled flight that had been cancelled. Throughout this whole situation where I was in a foreign land and very tired I managed to keep calm and I never once felt alone! I have the living spirit of Jesus in me and there was no way He was ever going to leave me on my own. Isaiah 41:10 ‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’. Praise God.

During my trip I also woke up one morning with a very painful sore throat. I felt a niggling pain in my throat the evening before but during the night the pain was severe, and it woke me up. I immediately felt God tell me to gently put my hand on the sore part of my throat and to pray for healing.  The moment I did this I felt the pain subside significantly and I managed get a few further hours’ sleep. When I woke up there was still some discomfort but nothing that stopped me having my breakfast and attending a local church service in Hong Kong. Psalm 30:2 ‘LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me’.

So back to the original question of why God has been sending me all over the World recently? Well, I believe it is because He wants me to depend on Him more in order to help deepen my relationship with Him. In the testimonies above I have learned to hold onto to Jesus, to ask for His help and to really trust that He will deliver. I’m aware that I do not need to be far away from home to depend on Jesus, however in my case maybe it was necessary to send me around the world in order to really get my attention to make me realise this. I just thank God that He loves me so much that He wants a deeper relationship with me.

Romans 8:38-39 ‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’

Author: Gary O’Neill

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Where your heart is, is where your treasure will be

The Bible is the most amazing gift ever, a book of Holy instructions on every situation you will ever have to face while living on Planet Earth.

Source: PInterest

Our worship leader at MCF Life Church was recently due to go into to hospital for surgery on his knee. As his family in Christ Jesus we were confident that God will use the finest surgeon to carry out the procedure and we believe that the surgeon along with all his team will be educated to the highest standard possible. Every member of the medical team will all have gone to university for several years to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out the operation successfully and safely. This led me to think of how important education is (according to the world system).

Education helps to equip a person to do the task or job. For example, a Pilot to fly an aeroplane, a Surgeon to carry out an operation, a School Teacher to teach, a Police Officer to enforce the law etc. Many hours of our lives are invested into education; 0-2 years is stay and play, 2-4 years is nursery, 4-16 years is school, 16-18 higher education, 18- 21 can be university, currently costing a staggering £9,250 a year in the UK (which rules out the poor and the needy) and 21 onwards, Consultants, Lawyers, Architects etc. Basically, education is often ongoing throughout our lives. Most parents encourage their child’s education. Some parents will give their children time and space with no interruptions and some will offer incentives for good results. This made me think how awesome it would be if we spent as many hours studying the Word of God with parents encouraging their children to read their Bibles and to attend Sunday School. Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if learning about and forming a relationship with Jesus was seen as important as gaining knowledge and being educated for worldly things, that ‘spiritual education’ was given the same esteem as our ‘earthly education’.

Source: PInterest

When praying for our worship leader God led me to two scriptures; 1 Corinthians 1:27 ‘But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong’ and 1 Corinthians 3:18-19 ‘Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight’.  Many teachings in the Bible may seem to be back to front to our human way of thinking and God clearly states in the above scripture that the wisdom of this world is foolishness. God does not mind if people seek an education but it states clearly in the Bible that God is a jealous God and that He will not allow anything to come before him. We have been set apart for God and for his Glory. The Bible tells us over and over that to fear God is the beginning of wisdom.

In our fellowship at MCF life church we read three chapters of the Bible a day together.  We are currently in the book of 1 Thessalonians however you can find information about which chapters we are reading by visiting our website which is updated daily; https://www.mcflifechurch.com/ This may seem to be religious however it was initially set up to encourage those who have never read their Bibles before and for those who had tried to read the Bible on their own and had struggled. The idea was that by reading three chapters together the infant Christians would get the encouragement and support from the more mature Christians. We soon realised that God used this venture to bless everyone. There was a real sense of unity and God’s presence for all those participating.

As a fellowship, we would like to invite and encourage the body of Christ around the world to join with us and read the same three chapters of the Bible. The response I sometimes get is ‘I don’t have the time’. How sad that we don’t have five minutes for God and yet Jesus gave his life up for me and you, He was battered and beaten to death so that we might live. This really is not to make any one feel guilty because God has given us all free will to make our own choices.

I would challenge each of us to complete a one week ‘honest’ inventory of how we spend our time and then let the results speak for themselves. Reading the Bible will not get us into heaven. God is looking for ‘sold out’ hearts, however reading the bible gives us the weapons we need in these critical ‘end times’, in the chaotic, fast moving World we currently live in. The Bible teaches us to fix our eyes on God and to seek him in all things, it teaches us to stand firm and not to be afraid because the battle is God’s. It teaches us about the Holy Spirit who will help us to resist the temptations of this world. The Bible is the most amazing gift ever, a book of Holy instructions on every situation you will ever have to face while living on planet earth. The absolute ultimate teaching for me is found in 1 Corinthians 15:55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? Death has no hold over us’. Amen

Father God help us to never put anything before you. Everything we have you have given to us. Father God help us not to value or hold onto the temporal things of this world but to use every blessing you have given us to bring Glory to your Holy Name. Help us to be on fire with passion to commit to you Our Lord and Saviour. Help us to take the time to get get to know you more deeply by studying you and experiencing you by being in your presence in an intimate Holy relationship. Amen.

‘Each new day is God’s gift to you, what you do with it is your gift to him’ (T.D Jakes) Amen.

Please join us on this exciting adventure and read three chapters each day with us. (a reminder that they are posted on our website each day; https://www.mcflifechurch.com/

Author: Christina O’Neill

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Courage

We can have confidence in the knowledge that God is always with us to speak to us, encourage and guide us and that we can have courage even if we are normally timid

Source: Etsy

I have been reminded of how, many years ago when I faced a very difficult situation that I had to go through, I prayed to God and asked Him to give me the courage I needed. His answer was that I was not to pray for courage, but to ask him for the strength and His help to go through it. Having courage is something that we ‘do’. We might be frightened, but we go ahead and do it anyway.  Soldiers facing battle must be very scared and anxious but they still go into battle and fight, even when everything in them must be screaming to run in the opposite direction. 

Often when we face something difficult God speaks to us beforehand and gives us everything we need, but that does not stop us having to go ahead and do it. I think of Moses who kept arguing with God when he was told to return to Egypt. God equipped him with what he needed - the staff to show miraculous signs and Aaron to speak on his behalf.  Another example found in the Bible is Gideon. When the angel of the Lord told Gideon to defeat the Midianites, He reassured him and even gave him two signs that he would be successful (Judges 6). In Matthew 14:27 when Jesus walked upon the water, the disciples were terrified when they saw Him, but Jesus immediately said to them, ‘Take courage!  It is I.  Don't be afraid’.  In 1 Corinthians 16:13 we are told, ‘Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be men of courage, be strong’ and in Hebrews 3:6; ‘Christ is faithful as a son over God's house, if we hold onto our courage and the hope of which we boast’. In Acts 27:22, when the ship the Apostle Paul was travelling on found itself in a violent storm and was about to be shipwrecked He said to the men on board to ‘keep up your courage’ and was able to tell them that their lives would be spared; ‘But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed’.

Source: PInterest

The phrase 'take courage' - can mean to ‘grasp’, or ‘to get hold of’.  All the phrases mentioned above are what we used to call 'doing' words when learning grammar.  We ‘grasp courage’, ‘hold onto our courage’ and endeavour to be ‘men or people of courage’. It is not just a stance or an attitude, it’s an action. We can have confidence in the knowledge that God is always with us to speak to us, encourage and guide us and that we can have courage even if we are normally timid; 1 John 4:4 ‘You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’. I know that in my times of weakness and doubt that I can sometimes be a bit of a coward but I take comfort in the fact that I can have courage if I need it.  As I step out to do what needs to be done, He will give me everything I need to go through it; Philippians 4:19 ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus’. What a blessing this is.

The song I have selected below; ‘Oceans, where feet may fail’, for me is prophetic. When I sing this song, I mean every word of it. Why not take a bit of quiet time to listen carefully to the words for yourself? 

Love in Christ and blessings.

Author: Muriel Allen

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Please forgive me

We are all on our own personal spiritual journey and l ask Almighty God to forgive me and to help me to continue to see the best in people, for me to learn how to forgive and to try and change ‘me’

Source: PInterest

A few years ago, l was finding it very difficult, and even today l still wrestle with forgiveness, and it seemed that everywhere l went I witnessed great acts of forgiveness. I recently went to my local church and the fact that the Pastor was preaching on forgiveness really blew me away. During the sermon, the Pastor introduced a visiting Pastor from Rwanda who went onto explain the terrible conflict between the two warring factions, the Tutsi’s and the Hutu’s. The visiting Pastor explained that nine of his family members had been massacred by the opposition and went onto describe the terrible genocide that took place. When our Pastor asked him how he felt he said that he had forgiven those who carried out this atrocity to his family and many others; Colossians 3:13 ‘Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you’.

Eventually the opposition had managed to gain control of Rwanda but they couldn't bring the country together peacefully. The visiting Pastor explained that the leader of the opposition (now the ruling party), ask him to forgive him and to help him to unite the country, which he did. A few days earlier and by a pure coincidence l had watched the film Hotel Rwanda (a fantastic movie for which the two actors should have got Oscars). When the visiting Pastor was explaining his harrowing memories, the film became very raw in my mind. This all happened at a time when my ex-husband was being particularly nasty, needless to say, I was not in a particularly ‘holy’ frame of mind and I definitely did not feel very forgiving to say the least. However, while l sat there listening I felt as if Almighty God was talking directly to me through this Pastor who was giving his testimony.  l sat there and my conscience started to burn. I thought to myself ‘look at this man, he has lost so many family members and he was now helping the man who was responsible and the terrible genocide in Rwanda. He has embraced and forgiven him’. It really bought into question my own understanding of forgiveness.

Source: WordPress.com

To be honest I still find it hard to forgive certain things however l know l cannot do it by myself. l know that I need to be still and hand it over to the Lord; Psalm 46:10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God’. I need to listen to hear His voice. The testimony from the visiting Pastor was an amazing experience that really challenged me. God knew that I would be at that service on that day and at that time, it was no coincidence. He knew I needed to hear that particular message because God loves me and wanted to show me something about myself; Psalm 18:6 ‘In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears’. Praise God for the way He listens and communicates with us. All we need to do is be obedient and be open to hear what He has to say, even though it sometimes might highlight a human weakness in us, it actually helps and addresses a spiritual issue to help us develop our relationship with Him.

We are all on our own personal spiritual journey and l ask Almighty God to forgive me and to help me to continue to see the best in people, for me to learn how to forgive and to try and change ‘me’.

I pray blessings on everyone who reads this testimony. God bless.

Author: Jackie Peacock

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Don’t forget the Children

If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will tell them not to.

Source: Pinterest

In the early 1900’s, Emily Pannal taught many students to read and write, including bible readings and prayers. Memorizing bible readings were all part of the school curriculum. Emily had taught a young farm boy who as a soldier served as a tunneller, digging trench ‘fox-holes’ in France, and she often wondered what had become of him. Years later he stopped by to see her and told her that when he was in the fox holes, he could not think or remember very much but he did remember the 23rd Psalm that Emily had taught him. He explained that he kept saying the Psalm over and over again. Proverbs 22:6 ‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it’. When I read that story, I thought about the painful times in my life, when I, and I’m sure all of us have been too hurt or scarred or numb to think of much or remember much, but at these times the Word of God would flood our soul and we would repeat comforting verses over and over again. If only we could go back and thank all those who taught us God’s Word long ago when we were young.

We should let those bible stories that we may have learned in Sunday School or elsewhere, burn in our hearts and to ‘live these stories out in our own lives! 2 Timothy 3:14 ‘…..continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it’. The Sunday Schools that I used to attend were mostly run by women although men were sometimes also used for this ministry. One such example is Pastor Bill Wilson who is one of the World’s most loved and respected children’s workers and his testimony is amazing. He was born in 1948 in South Boston and is the founder and Senior Pastor of Metro World Child which is America’s largest children’s ministry, however there are also branches in South Africa, Kenya, Romania, India and the Philippines. Pastor Wilson and his ministry act as an advocate for poor inner-city children. Bill was abandoned on a street corner in Florida, by his mother when he was a young child. Before she abandoned him, she told him ‘I can’t do this anymore, wait here’. That was the last time he ever saw his mother. The young child stayed on that street comer for three days and as you could imagine he could have been picked up by a gang member or a paedophile, however thankfully, God had other plans for him.

David Rudenis was a local car mechanic and a committed Christian who noticed this young boy on the street corner. He walked up to him and asked him if he was alright, an encounter that was about to change both of their lives forever. Even though David’s own son was in hospital at the time dying of leukaemia, and with his own world falling apart, he took the time to help a poor little boy that nobody else wanted. Out of hundreds of people who had passed him by, only one person stopped. Not the hot shot evangelist, but an ordinary man who by his act of kindness that day, God used to bring about a Worldwide Global Ministry and allow many thousands of children to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. David paid for the young boy to go to a Christian Summer camp, where he came to faith in Jesus Christ. This is a great example of how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Hebrews 6:10 ‘God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them’.

Source: Metro World Child

Bill Wilson later graduated with a degree from South Eastern University of the Assemblies of God and then returned to his church and pioneered one of the first Bus Ministries in the United States. Each week he and his team picked-up thousands of children from a variety of projects in Florida to participate in games, music and a gospel message. He decided to take his children’s ministry to Brooklyn New York, which was one of the rougher areas, and moved there himself. In Brooklyn, he took his children’s work onto the streets and called it ‘Sidewalk Sunday School’. The ministry also continued to work in other dangerous neighbourhoods. Bill has been shot, beaten, stabbed and hospitalised numerous times yet he remains committed to his work. His children’s ministry has been extended to urban areas around the world and he has raised millions to support his ministry and he has met Presidents.

Source: Metro Hope For Kids

God helped Bill to channel all the hurt and pain that he felt by being abandoned as a child into an amazing worldwide children’s ministry; ‘who said men don’t do children’s work’? Bill brought Jesus Christ into the hearts of abandoned and hurting children from the most dangerous and deprived urban areas that many people would not venture into. Matthew 18:10 ‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven’; and Matthew 9:37 ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me’. Today Bill Wilson and David Rudenis have remained firm friends, although David is quite elderly now and with failing health. One day Bill took David to a Street corner in Brooklyn New York and as they stood on that corner Bill showed him all of the buses going past to collect the City’s deprived Children for Sunday School. David was able to see the results of his single act of kindness, on that fateful day.

During church service, every week you may not notice your Sunday School teachers and others involved in children’s ministry, slip out of the service and later slip back in again. What they do may appear to go unnoticed by the majority of the congregation however it does not go unnoticed by God. This ministry is close to God’s heart and all those involved in children’s ministry are precious to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain’.

So, let’s end as we started this article: Don’t forget the children and remember this; ‘If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will tell them not to’.

Author: Eileen Greaves

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