Be Still and Know that I am God

Being still is the key that opens the door to the throne room of Heaven and God is waiting for us to come to that place of rest and reconciliation in His Presence

Source: Dreamstime.com

There is no doubt that this world is often chaotic, noisy and full of distraction, all of which denies us the chance to fully come into the Presence of God and anything that takes us away from the here and now, from this very moment is a distraction. There is however an invitation that can be found in the Word of God that can help us to step aside from the distractions of the world and come into God’s Presence in a way we may not have experienced very often or maybe not at all. The invitation is directly from the throne room of heaven, from Almighty God Himself and an invitation that is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. The invitation is so simple and one that you would have heard many times before, but maybe not have thought of as an invitation. It is an invitation we read in God's Word, we sing about, we pray about and an invitation that has been preached about many times before. The invitation is so powerful that it can change your relationship with God and ultimately change your life. The invitation can be found in Psalm 46:10 ‘Be Still and know that I am God’. The invitation is in two parts; the first part, 'Be Still', is the invitation (requiring an action) and the second part, 'and know that I am God', is the reward!

When we are invited to ‘Be Still and know that I am God’, God is also saying to us; ‘Be Still and rest in my Presence, Be Still and rest in my Sanctuary, Be Still and come to a place of peace, Be Still and leave everything else behind and focus on me, Be Still and cast your troubles aside, your health issues, your work and family problems, Be Still and know that I am your Redeemer and know that nothing is impossible for me, Be Still and know that I am God’. What an amazing invitation, one that if we choose to accept will allow us to rest in the Presence of Almighty God; Psalm 91:1-2 'Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust'. Wow, Almighty God is inviting us into His Presence whenever we want! Are you willing to accept the invitation? 

Source:Twitter

To receive the reward of coming into God’s Presence there is something we need to do, action is required; we need to be Still first! Now, this is not easy as our lives and particularly our minds are more often than not working in overdrive. There is so much going on in our lives and we constantly seem to be focusing on other things rather than enjoying the moment we are in right now, in fact we are often everywhere else but in the actual moment. Technology is a primary example of where people are texting or emailing or messaging others who are not currently with them. Next time you are walking down the High Street, or travelling on a train or in a coffee shop for example, take a moment to look around and see how many people are using smart phones, tablets, laptops or other mobile devices. All of these people are distracted from the moment and even though some of them may be in company, they are not really there, they are actually wherever their mind or their focus is choosing to be. In order for us to Be Still and allow us to come into God’s Presence, we need be aware of these distractions and to remove them from our minds. Only then will we truly come into the Presence of God and allow Him to communicate with us. So then, how can we stop ourselves being distracted? How can we Be Still in this fast paced and modern world we live in? 

Being still does not mean that we need to just sit like a statue, but to free our mind of everything so that we can come into God's Presence. Being still means coming back to the here and now, to this very moment and removing all thoughts from our mind of this world. Being Still means not thinking or worrying about rushing to the next event/meeting, not thinking 'did I turn the oven off?’, not thinking about the job Interview tomorrow, not thinking about 'how am I going to pay my bills?’, not thinking of 'my health problems', not thinking about 'that problem at work'; these are distractions that take us away from the here and now and prevent us from coming into God's Presence and knowing that He is God.

Being still means looking at our life and asking ourselves why we are always so busy, asking ourselves why God is not the priority in our life and why everything else comes first and why God only gets the leftovers. If we are too busy for God in our lives then we are just too busy and we really should take stock of what we are doing and question the priorities in our lives. I wonder if this is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 6:33 when He tells us to 'Seek First the Kingdom of God'. Being still means putting our hands down and giving up trying to figure it all out for ourselves, trying to work it all out by our own strength, saying to ourselves: ‘I am done trying to change my own life, I am done trying to chart my own course, I am done trying to change my own destiny, I'm putting my hands down because God is my strength and I know who He is! I know He will not fail me, I know He will not forsake me, I know He's not ashamed of me in the me midst of my struggles. I know I Know I know because He is God’.

Being still is the key that opens the door to the throne room of Heaven and God is waiting for us to come to that place of rest and reconciliation in His Presence; Lamentations 3:24-26 'I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him’. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord' and Habakkuk 2:20 'The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him'.

Are you willing to accept God’s invitation today? Are you ready to come into God’s Presence? Are you willing to Be Still and know that He is God? God will never walk away, He is continually waiting for us to come to Him. It is us who do not truly come into His presence because distractions prevent us from true and real surrender. Let it all go, and experience His Real Presence. Let the peace that transcends all understanding fill your every being. Let us always take time to truly come into God's Presence: Be Still and know that I am God and let’s see how He will use us and what He will do in our lives. Praise God.

Author: Anonymous

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The King of Kings lives in me

Does your heart not burn to believe in the Wind of my God? His name is Jesus, He is my God, King, Prophet and my Lord. Jesus is the Son of God and God is the Creator of all things

Source: YouTube

You can bring numbers to mock me and to come against me, you can bring many accusing voices before me, you can beat me up, you can spit in my face, you can hurt me with words, you can bring shame upon me, But…… You can NEVER EVER touch where the King of my heart resides, the King of Kings lives in me, Praise God.

You have no power to take away my faith and belief, Amen. My faith and belief are like the wind you cannot see it or touch it, yet it touches and affects me. You cannot catch it but it catches me and makes me wonder, you can get angry with it and mad because of it. You cannot beat it but it beats you up with an everlasting love and kindness, you cannot understand it but it understands you more than you could ever understand yourself.

Source: Main Street UMC - Kernersville, NC

Does your heart not burn to believe in the Wind of my God? His Name is Jesus, He is my God, King, Prophet and my Lord. Jesus is the Son of God and God is the Creator of all things. Don’t ever be ashamed of God, if you are a Christian then always lift-up his Majestic Name the Name above all Names, Jesus Christ. The Name where by every knee will bow.

What an honour to be the beautiful hands and feet that bring the Good News, Ambassadors for Christ Jesus, created by God with a plan and purpose for our lives, created for a time such as this, Amen, Praise God.

Author: Anonymous

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It’s time to be Humble, to Pray and to seek God

The onus is firmly on the Church, that is those who are called by His Name, to humble themselves, to pray, and to seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, and if the Church is prepared to do that, then do it now

Source: Looking for the Blessed Hope

Have you ever heard the saying; ‘First the physical then the spiritual’? Well, I was thinking about the things that are currently happening in the World, the very long bad winter with all the none-stop rain, then the hot summer with all the sunshine and bush fires going on all around the World including the UK and it struck me that maybe God was trying to show us something, especially His Church. I was talking with a friend about these things when he told me about a prophesy that had been given this year regarding the things that have been going on, and the warning that God had given through it. When I read it, I realised that unless we take heed and act quickly, the church especially, then we could find ourselves in a great deal of trouble. Before I continue here’s the prophesy that was given:

‘I am sharing this word (12/13 March 2018) with you for your information, prayers and support. Now, prepare for a drought. This will be the worst since 1976. There will be very high temperatures and prolonged periods of heat. There will be water shortages and restrictions. This will have most impact on farmers, the elderly, infirm and unwell’.

‘You will recall last year I brought a word about a bad winter and I am sure you will agree that we have had a bad winter. The key elements for me were the bad weather and illnesses. Were people prepared? – no, and did they heed the warnings? – no. So, the word now is important since it signifies that the drought follows on from the previous trial, the bad winter. What is this all about? God said to me that it was; another trial for the nation. Brexit was the first trial, the bad winter the second and this drought is now the third. God asks, ‘are you ready to repent and turn to him?’. Deuteronomy 11:13-17 and 2 Chronicles 7:14 are relevant especially the phrase ‘if my people’ in 2 Chronicles 7:14’.

‘I have to say that I did hesitate with this word because it seemed to me to be going against what others have said about the year 2018 and that there are people actively praying for revival and for a time of turning for our nation. So, I inquired of God, ‘will your people not be discouraged by this word?’ God said to me firstly that the people had not thanked him for the abundance of water he had sent over the winter. Secondly, he had heard people’s prayers but it was not enough. So, what can we do? Well, 2 Chronicles 7:14 is clear ‘If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways…..’. I also think it is time to spread the word. God Bless’ - Paul

Source: Quotes Daily

The thing that saddened me about the prophesy was the fact that no one had thanked God, and that our prayers were not enough. In this country, we are good at moaning about the weather, ‘It’s too hot, It’s too cold’ it’s too wet’ etc. We are all so caught up in our own little World at times, thinking about what we want, what makes us happy, what gives us pleasure that we forget that without God we would have nothing. We often don’t think about those less fortunate than ourselves and what we could do to help them, our attitude is that we want to be served, but we’re not willing to serve. We are called as Christians to Serve God first and then one another, to love God first and then one another, as He loved us. We are called to live as bond servants of Christ. You see prayers are not enough, we need to follow our prayers with actions. James 2:18-20 says; ‘But someone will say, You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?’

From the prophesy above it is quite clear that the onus is firmly on the Church, that is those who are called by His Name, to humble themselves, to pray, and to seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, and if the Church is prepared to do that, then do it now, Then the promise that follows in that same scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is this; ‘then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land’. If not, then the Church will be held accountable and who knows what the outcome of that will be? It’s not a question of ‘should we humble ourselves, seek His face, turn and repent’, it’s a call by God Himself for us to do so, it’s a command. We could therefore say, that if we don’t we will be walking in disobedience to His call, and that will bring with it devastating consequences. So, if you’ve read this far then you can’t say you didn’t know, and the question then is, what are you going to do about it? I guess that another question we could ask ourselves is, ‘Do we really love God?’ John 14:21 ‘Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’

God is showing us the signs, He is giving us the prophesies, He is crying out to us through all His creation and I believe He is saying, ‘Let them that have ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches’. We are living in a time of great blessing, a time like never before in history and I believe God is about to do something in our land that has never been seen before, but with it comes great responsibility. So, are we ready?

Whatever happens; to God be all the Glory, Honour and Praise now and forevermore. Amen.

May God bless you, and give you eyes to see and ears to hear.

Author: Kevin Hunt

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All Creatures Great and Small

God’s love and tenderness is for all of His creation and importantly we can see a new dimension to God’s love through His wider creation and especially through animals

Source: SlidePlayer

This is a question that you may have never really thought about in church, Christians don't talk about it, and it’s very rarely preached about; ‘What does God think about animals?’ In Luke 12:6 Jesus says; ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God’. God created all things including animals and the aim of this blog is to open our eyes to see animals in a new light and to see how much God loves them. 

God looks ahead and He created animals because He knew that animals would appreciate the Earth more than people would. God knew that people would pollute the Earth, using the sea as a dustbin, and as we know, too much plastic in the ocean is killing the sea life. Man continues to destroy the Brazilian Rain Forest, effecting the survival of the indigenous people and the wild-life who live there. Large numbers of elephants are shot every day for their ivory tusks, all for man’s selfish gain. These are a few examples where God foreknew that animals would appreciate the Earth more than man. Think about that for a moment?  

Birds - Look how peaceful the birds are when they are flying, think how the eagle glides so gracefully, they love the air God has given them, they appreciate the air.

Dolphins - Watch the dolphins and whales as they play in the sea, they love the water God has provided for them, they appreciate the water.

Monkeys -  Watch the monkeys as they climb the tree so proudly and swing on the branches. They love the trees that God has provided for them, the monkeys appreciate the trees.

Lions -  See how the lions rest on the grass and roam in the Jungle, they love the jungle God has provided for them, they appreciate the Jungle.

Above are just a few examples of how animals appreciate what God has provided for them. Next time you watch nature around you or on the television, look with an open eye and see how they appreciate the earth that God has given them.

Let’s look at what the Bible says about animals; Most people know the story of the great flood and Noah’s Ark in the book of Genesis:6-9, where God told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth because of the wickedness and disobedience of the people of that time. He also told Noah that He was going to save the animals and bring them into the Ark along with Noah and his family. God already knew that the animals would appreciate the earth more than people. I can imagine God looking at the animals and thinking ‘I can’t destroy the animals they were not the problem, but man is’.

Throughout the Bible there are numerous examples where God gave animals assignments:

Elijah fed by the Ravens – 1 Kings 17:4-6 ‘You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook’

Jonah and the Whale – Jonah 1:17 ‘Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights’ and Jonah 2:10 ‘And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land’

Daniel in the Lion’s Den – Daniel 6:22 ‘My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions’

God also created animals for us to love and learn from:

Proverbs 6:6-8 ‘Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest

Job 12:7-8 ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you’

Jesus Himself advises us to watch how the birds live; Matthew 6:26 ‘Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them’.

Prince as a puppy - Source: Own

Animals have always been a great comfort and help to people particularly those who are lonely after bereavement. Having a pet to look after can bring much comfort as well as helping to heal a broken heart. People who are blind or partially sighted can be been given a new lease of life by specially trained guide dogs who help and enhance their lives greatly. Several years ago, a puppy named Prince came into the lives of a family in our fellowship. I have met Prince on many occasions and I must say He is probably the most loving dog I have ever met. God has used Prince to help one of the owners overcome her fear of dogs which came about after being attacked by a dog when she was young. She once told me that it is difficult to put into words how God has blessed her life through Prince and also that the unconditional love that Prince shows to everyone who comes to their home just blows everyone away.

Throughout the Bible we read many instances where God surrounds people with animals; when Adam was created, God surrounded him with animals, when Noah was protected from the flood God made a covenant with Noah who was surrounded by animals. Abraham was led to the promised land accompanied by animals. Moses and the children of Israel were led through the Red Sea accompanied by animals. When our Lord Jesus Christ was born, He was surrounded by animals in a stable, He rode a donkey for His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-40) and when Jesus returns to establish the new Heaven and new Earth we have every expectation that He will again be surrounded by animals.

End time prophecies also involve animals:

Revelation 6 refers to four horses appearing as the first four seals are broken. The horses represent God’s judgment of the people's sin and rebellion.

Source: PInterest

Isaiah 11:6-9 ‘The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea’

God also instructs us to be kind to animals; Proverbs 12:10 ‘The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel’ and Proverbs 27:23 ‘Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds’.

In conclusion, humans are uniquely special in comparison to all of God’s Creation however this does not mean that the rest of creation has no value to God and one day we will have to answer to God for any unkindness we may have committed against animals. God’s love and tenderness is for all of His creation and importantly we can see a new dimension to God’s love through His wider creation and especially through animals.

Author: Eileen Greaves

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God’s Word is my Personal Bank Account

My wealth is greater than all the money in the World because I possess in abundance the glorious wonderful Pearls of Peace, Love and Joy

Source: Tell the Lord Thank You

God our Father’s Word is our personal cheque book and our faith is our personal credit card, God our Father’s Power and Authority is our bank balance. God’s wonderful Heavenly Kingdom Word guarantees all purchases.

Faith with God is an agreement that guarantees the power of our cheque book and we don’t need a loan to boost our bank balance. Our Father owns the bank and as His children our account is always guaranteed to be in credit. Amen.

Our credit is God’s Pearls which is the wealth of the Fruit of the Holy Heavenly Kingdom Spirit of God. Our wealth is greater than all the money in the World because we possess in abundance the glorious wonderful Pearls of Peace, Love and Joy. Amen.

Source: Christ Central Church Fredericton - WordPress.com

God our Father has a credit of long suffering towards us and for us. We are rich with God’s affection, love and gentleness.

God our Father dresses us in white, which speaks of purity and the affection that He has towards us. God’s Pearls are the Spirit of His Heart and He gives them to us. 

I ask you, the reader, in whom do you bank? Where is your account? Open your account with God Almighty and He will make you spiritually wealthy beyond your human ability to comprehend. You may own all the carnal riches of this world but you will still remain poor beyond belief. True lasting wealth can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our treasures are not of this world, our treasures are stored in heaven where we will spend all eternity. Praise God.

Our God, Our Abba Father, You are our true and only wealth. You are our luxury and our indulgence. Your Heart is the Glorious ring of wealth upon our finger Amen.

Thank you, God, with all our hearts, minds and spirits for Your agape love that offers and encourages all mankind to bank with you and know that one day soon and very soon we will be the bride at the greatest wedding feast ever Amen and Amen.

Author: Anonymous 

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