Human love - super romantic and amazing!

Sometimes it is hard to give up on something you love - especially when that impinges on your family or your life in so many different ways - even though you may love what you do, it may be detrimental to everything else.

I was so affected by family commitments and illnesses that I had to seriously reconsider what I should do to improve what I had and assist those I love when necessary.

Even though, I seemingly, enjoyed what I did - I feel God had other plans for my life - these plans came hurtling out of the blue, bowling me over and changing the direction of my life entirely.

But when God is in charge of your life, His plans are best.

How about you?

How has your life been?

Has your life been changed in any way at all? 

I can't help thinking about the war in Ukraine or what is happening in Iraq and Iran. Things again came hurtling out of the blue for these people changing their lives in so many ways.

Another horrible thing that has happened here in Australia is the flooding - through the long wet Autumn, the weather has been so so wet and so many people have lost their belongings, homes, and even family members - it's been heart-rending - it really has.

It seems to me that disaster strikes throughout the world in so many different ways it's mind-blowing, to say the least. Not sure about you but it makes me wonder where it is all going and whatever will happen in the immediate future of this planet!

You know not one of us can or ever will be able to think and act like our Creator God - he is omnipresent, omnipotent, and perfect in every way - again I repeat that not one of us will ever be able to fathom His greatness or plans for this wayward planet of ours.

I reckon it all goes back to the very of creation when Adam and Eve, our forebears, decided to bring sin into the world - up till then the world was a perfect place - humming along in all of its beauty.

Many will say then why didn't Creator God keep it like that?

Well, in my humble opinion, God wanted humankind to come to him in all openness, love, and faith, so He gave us all a will to decide what we were going to do with our lives - otherwise, we would have been like robots, waddling along doing as we were told and having no mind of our own.

That wasn't what our Lord had in mind at all.

He wanted us to come to Him of our own accord, bringing with us love, patience with one another, kindness, humility, and a genuine love of our Father God above all else.

So how do we go about loving God? - Do we just say we love God and wham! there we go?

I feel that to be truly in love with our Lord then the first thing we should do is let's see what it says in the Bible.

Jesus himself said - "you must love God the Father with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength." (Mark 12:30) 

We should be loving God more than we do our parents, and children, in fact, everything - God's love is an all-embracing, amazing, and powerful love - something that is unheard of here on earth. 

Our mortal love is great and wonderful and can be super romantic and amazing - yet God's love and our love for Him even surpass this - so hard to even put into words. His love for us never ever falters or fails. So unlike our human kind of love.

God IS love! I know we would like to think that well "so are we" but you and I both know that there is no way we can show others continual and eternal love constantly because we are just that - we are human.

God Himself became flesh in Jesus and was crucified for our sins and in so doing paid the price for our sins. 

Our lives are unfortunately sin-based but Jesus came to earth as a human and paid the ultimate price - through a hideous and torturous death to pay for our sins so that all of us who come to God in repentance and faith can accept Him as our Lord and God.

That love that Jesus showed that day far outstrips any human-type love that we show to others - His love is unconditional and absolutely something that no person here on earth can or ever could possess.

So what do we do to become a follower of Jesus, leaving all the yahoo of this crazy world behind and seeing Jesus for who He REALLY is - The only one who can wash us clean from all the yuk and dirt and bring us to His Creator Father. 

So what does repentance mean? It means being sorry for all the stupid things we have done - those times when we hurt someone - became vengeful, set out to "get our own back",  maybe even hit out in all sorts of unique and different ways. Even being adamant about how you live and will not be open to others' suggestions and ideas - after all, you are in charge of your life and will live it according to your rules - everyone else should follow your example!

All sorts of ways we can separate ourselves from God and all of these myriad ways are called sin. God is love and His love and mercy want us all, regardless of what we have done or who we have hurt, or even who we have slept with, to come to Him in unity and humility and of course repentance.

Once we have come to God and asked his amazing forgiveness, does that mean we will never fall into the same old traps again? Of course not! We are human after all and we will continue to make mistakes time and time again.

But the beautiful thing about asking God to lead us is that He will convict us of what we have done wrong and immediately we will need to put it right. That may even involve asking forgiveness and even apologising to whoever we have hurt in the meantime (even if we may feel we are well and truly in the right here).

In saying all of that, getting right with God gives us a freedom we never knew existed - His love amazingly overrules everything that ever stands in our way - we are free to come to our Lord with anything and everything. Even through the night, He stands with us regardless of what we have gone through, even the worries of the day that used to keep us awake at night - we can hand them over to our Lord.

Come to Him right now - it really doesn't matter what your past has been - He will accept and love you no matter what.

Ask Him into your life and hand it over to Him.

God bless you this week.

Download the app

We live in a world of "apps".

Up until just a few years ago the word  APP was probably never used - it is amazing how it has taken over.

Today in the 2020s and beyond it has become the normality - it has taken over entirely.

All these fantastic search engines are available "Free Christian apps - Christian apps for Bible studies - Christian apps for adults - Best free Christian apps for adults" - and the list goes on Infinitum. Of course, all the thousands of others covering a myriad of subjects are mind-blowing. Who would ever have thought it?

There's an app pretty much for everything these days so it makes perfect sense that there would also be some very helpful apps for Christians.

Well, in Jesus's time here on earth there were no apps. He (Jesus) preached the word, and healed the sick and dying. He caused a lot of ruckuses but most people flocked to Him. he was the most amazing person to come out of the lowly town of Nazareth ever.

Our God is a mighty God - and He didn't even have a mobile phone - His attributes and His Word are still broadcast today in a million different ways across the globe. God does not change. Who He is never changes. His attributes are the same from before the beginning of time into eternity.

Before creation, God was already there - before even time God was already there. He is mighty, self-sufficient, independent, loving, righteous and the list goes on.

Phil Wickham sang this amazing song - his version of Amazing Grace. Love this verse:-

"Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?

Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?

The King of Glory, the king above all kings"

No matter what you have done or who you are or how guilty you feel, God isn't mad at you.

He is SO willing to forgive you, He died for you to pay the ultimate price for your sins and mine - all you have to do is hand your life over to Him,- the change in your life will be absolutely astronomical - I know - believe me! - I was so lost in sin - you just couldn't take it in! 

Forget what the world is saying about God and also forget what you are telling yourself about your failures and what a complete mess you have made of your life. Tune into His word and believe what He says.

It is so easy to listen to what others say about you and it is so easy to believe them. Your feelings can change from moment to moment - and the world out there will love to tell you you're just not good enough for God - you are way too "out there" for Him.

Well, believe me when I say that God has seen it all there is absolutely nothing he hasn't seen, heard, or dealt with. My personal life can jump up and scream how true that is - If He can forgive me then He can forgive anyone!

Well, saying all of that - Just how are we able to even come close to God?

In Romans 3:22 - "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are."

That's pretty awesome if you ask me - NO MATTER WHO WE ARE OR EVEN WHAT WE HAVE DONE!!

And it all revolves around what Jesus did on that cross all those years ago. He took the scourging, the nails, the sword in the side, the crown of thorns, the mocking, the jeering, the spitting, the insults!

WHY? Because of His love for YOU! - Yes YOU!

God will forgive you completely and freely if you come to Him, confess your sin and accept His Son Jesus's amazing gift of freedom that He paid on that wicked cross all those years ago.

In Romans 8:38-39 "For I am sure that neither death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth or anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord"

How incredible is this verse? Read it again and again - take it into your very soul and let it take your life and mold it to our everlasting father.

Then how about this in Jeremiah 29: 11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil. To give you hope and a future. CALL UPON ME AND COME AND PRAY TO ME AND I WILL HEAR YOU. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with ALL of your heart."

How about that for a promise! I will hear you says our Lord and God - seek Him with all of your heart.

If you accept Jesus into your life and heart everything you have ever done wrong will be forgiven at that time.

What a great honour it is to write this blog. Being a child of the Great King Jesus I have had this honour to share my faith here in my blog to you my readers.

If you are in pain, if you are suffering with huge regretfulness in your life (like I was) or maybe overloaded with guilt or shame can I in all sincerity point you to the one who can heal you of all of this - Jesus Christ!

When you read this blog may you get a huge taste of God's never dying never ending love for you. May you reach out to His love and take into your life His unflinching and undying grace that saves.

May God go with you this week and, personally, I look so forward to writing more and more blogs as I share with you just How God is working in my life.

If you can, please share with me your own thoughts and maybe too if you have any questions that I may be able to assist with, please contact me.

God's richest blessings be with you this coming week

I Can Only Imagine

 MERCY ME  - What a group - how amazing are they - love their songs and the group is so devoted to our God - How tremendous!

Love the lyrics of their original I CAN ONLY IMAGINE - makes me really wonder what it will be like when we come before the Lord or Glory - the very Majesty of God, I feel, will be enough for us to almost melt in His presence.

Just listening to this song by MERCY ME got me thinking about how really mesmerizing and majestic is our Lord God - and really what sort of reverence we pay Him while we are here on this very earth that He created. Bit mind-blowing isn't it.

Like in the second verse of their song, the guys from MERCY ME ask "what will it be like when we get to Heaven? - How will my heart feel? - Will I dance? Will I be still standing in Awe of God almighty or will I fall on my knees? Will I sing? Will I be able to talk at all?"

A thousand different questions but in my mind, the thing that stands out for me is that we will be in the presence of the Creator God and Jesus His son who died for us. The very thought makes me consider just how much reverence I am showing to God while I am here on earth?

So these things considered what does the Bible say about showing reverence to God and just how much will it affect our living?  And how about going about our daily activities? Does reverence for God have or should have some sort of impact on our lives?

The Bible uses the word FEAR a lot when talking about our relationship with God and many times over the years I have heard people say "Oh No! We shouldn't fear God - He is our friend and Buddy". 

To revere God (have reverence for Him) is in fact, in my opinion, fearing Him - having a horrible fear of displeasing Him. We should be standing in awe of God, of His sheer holiness, not wanting to disappoint Him in our lives. Honestly, I seem to do that enough, going through my personal life and never considering our God, the very Holiest of Holiest.

I/we need to get a grip here! God is the very essence of Holiness. So very holy in fact that we mere mortals can never get into the presence of God. His awesome holiness says that He cannot even look at sin. Not sure about you, but I seem to be the very essence of sin.

The only way we can come into the presence of God is by accepting the very gift of Jesus - who took our sins on Himself and dealt with them on that hill all those years ago.

This means that when we as Christians, who have accepted Jesus into our lives, finally come before the Lord God Almighty, His very holiness will look at us, and rather than seeing the horrible mess we have made throughout our lives, He will see Jesus. The one spotless and sinless only Son of God. Whose very sacrifice on Calvary covered our sin-drenched lives but, again, only if we decide in our waywardness to accept the perfect gift of salvation he offers.

So in lots of ways, how can we show any reverence for God while we are stuck here in this old bullet-flying, fire-starting, drought-stricken, flood-prone, crazy, mixed-up world when all around us everything seems to be going out of control?

I feel our very humility in the fact that we, while we are here on earth before that great day comes when we either pass from life to death or when Jesus comes again in all His amazing glory, is the time when we are so privileged to be able to be fully aware of being reverent to our God.

Psalm 89 verse 7 says (from the New Living Translation)

"The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. he is far more awesome than all who surround his throne"

So if the very angelic powers in Heaven stand in amazing awe of God, surely we sin-bound mere mortals can do the same. Mind you, it will take some doing!

It won't come easy for us, because every single day we are confronted with this mixed-up world of ours - we constantly need to be putting bread on the table - constantly having to pay the bills - constantly hearing of the atrocities of so-called world powers fighting and bombing other countries - constantly being confronted with murder, rape, brutality, and thieving - constantly dealing with death, illness and family crisis.

That is why it is so essential to FIX our eyes on God at all times no matter what comes barging into our lives. Keeping our eyes on God gives us control over our reactions which in itself is pretty extraordinary.

God can give us a fantastic arm to lean on in THE most horrendous times we ever go through. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 it says:- "For God gave us a spirit NOT of fear but of power and love and self-control."

If God is prepared to do that for us, surely we can accept His amazing gifts with fortitude, gratitude, and utmost love and appreciation.

I truly believe that if for some reason I lose the very essence of reverence and in fact awe of God then I really do put in jeopardy my faith which would eventually dwindle away - God is far more to me than singing love songs and becoming besties.

My amazing Saviour, friend and awesome (in the true sense of the word AWESOME) King is continually there for me and is near me even when I am oppressed and weak. 

I doubt I would be able to stand up to the world today in all of its conflicts and strange happenings if not for the steadfast and continual support of my amazing King and Savior. He is with me constantly even on the nights when things often go pearshaped for me

If I am constantly not in awe of God and His amazing mercies towards me, probably one of THE more terrible sinners, I will not be able to proceed with the ongoing journey through this maze we call life.

Trusting in God for strength and relying constantly on his love brings me an appreciation and a real reverence for Him. All of this only adds to my constant awe of God.

I am so undeserving of His love - The fact that He died for me and sinners just like me is the very sole reason I stand in awe of His holy name.

Heaven, Jesus, Almighty God, and Hell are all real - please DO NOT realize this fact too late! The opportunity to hand our lives over to Jesus and trust Him is right here right now and is open to you. Accept and trust Him today.

Proverbs Chapter 3 verses 5 & 6:-

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight

God bless you and may you have a real encounter with our Lord and Saviour.

In The Eye of the Storm

Well, it's been quite a few years since updating my blog, and God has worked in my life in numerous ways since then.

I have surely missed my time here and I hope to be able to maybe spend more time getting back to drawing closer to God and maybe getting my experiences with Him down in my blog on a more regular basis than I have in these last few years (before going off to work that is).

My life changed quite a bit when my son-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and my daughter had to make a decision to become the wage earner of the family. 

It was very much like being in the Eye of the Storm - waiting for the inevitable - praying and hoping that things would work out for the good.

Through all of the unknown and in an amazing turnaround and through all of the turmoil, she went into her own business, and unbeknown to me I was suddenly caught up in the whirlpool of her business ventures hence the postponement of my blog each couple of weeks.

Isn't it amazing how God works! - who would have thought my 'very loved' son-in-law going through those horrendous times would have had such a marked effect on so many of our lives - his diagnosis was truly horrible and yet at the same time, such changes have marked such a turning point in so many of our lives.

When you consider what is happening in our topsy-turvy world, our problems sort of fade into insignificance yet God overall continues to work in countless people's lives - so praise to our wonderful King. Sometimes it takes a disaster on a scale we hadn't even thought possible to jolt us into a continuing walk with God - our Creator and wonderful Lord.

Continuing pain, ignorance, and obvious discomfort can really throw us off the mat so many times - we can be walking through life feeling so comfortable and everything seems so rosy in our gardens then WHAM! we are thrown into the deep end of life  - so you really never know when a curved ball is coming your way.

Talking personally, I can become so engrossed in my own life, my own self and unfortunately I can become quite selfish. Alarming really when it comes right down to it - isn't it?

So having a bit of a sit-down and taking life a tad more seriously, and really thinking about it, it is far more important, that no matter how difficult things in life can be, it is NEVER EVER an excuse for being disrespectful, or can I add presumptuous with God. 

I have probably been THE most presumptuous person that God has ever come into contact with - I have just presumed he will always forgive me whatever happens - so it is good to sit down just for a tad and rethink where I am and where we are with God right at this minute.

So where are you with God? Where am I?

Certainly, in my opinion, we can be frank with God and we can pour out our troubles our confusion, and our struggles in life to Him. 

But always keep in mind that God deserves our utmost reverence, always standing in awe of who He is and what He deserves of us.

In other words - quite frankly - with God, we need to remember our place!

God is our Father, our friend, and our Confidant, and our ever-companion, He is the source of all wisdom - so we need to get to know God for who He is, respect, and show our love to Him in many numerous ways.

The very highlight of God's wisdom was the very fact that He showed His great love to us in that He sent His only son Jesus into our mixed-up world. It is through Jesus that we can fully know God.

I reckon the way to negotiate our way through this funny old life is to get to know Jesus in a very personal and individual way.

When a disaster hits us, and it will, we can throw our hands up in the air and cry out "why is this happening to me?" Or we can take huge deep breaths, get a grip on life, start trusting God, and instead of blaming Him, realise that since this is happening, how can I use it to know Him better?

Through all of my own personal struggles, I have realised that life in general, no matter what it throws at you is all about staying close to God, and trusting Him even in the bad times and when disaster hits us.

I reckon that staying close to God is far more valuable than giving up or blaming Him.

With those thoughts firmly in our minds, it's with such sadness that I recall one of our clients who recently gave birth six weeks prematurely. The child has spent the last seven weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, only being discharged just a few days ago.

Seriously cute, the baby seems to be thriving but Mum who has been through a horrible time is now suffering from Postnatal Depression - the whole situation is so sad.

All of us are so susceptible we are so open to the world's pressures, and we all can experience grief, intense sadness, and emptiness on more and more profound levels. We may begin to withdraw from any social activities and from the activities we normally participate in during our daily lives.

Sounds terrible, doesn't it. but in many ways being separate or on one's own for a while, in my opinion, can often help in times of intense stress.

Through all of this and I believe not just PND but all sorts of depressive illnesses God never ever lets you go if you have given your life to Him.

Getting professional help in times like this is very very necessary and certainly can bump us out of the deepest pit of depression and sadness. It may take quite some time but through sheer perseverance and hopefully, with the continued prayers, support, and love of family, friends, and other people, we can survive this. 

We don't need to suffer in silence, firstly we need to pray and keep on praying. Then we really do need help - talking to professional people or even our friends and relatives can often be of great assistance.

I guess the great news is that there are all sorts of medical and psychological help out there, It may not happen immediately but depression can be helped. Keep your eyes firmly on Jesus - he is the Author and finisher of our faith.

I am so reminded of this verse in Deuteronomy 31:8

"The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Keep looking to Jesus, friends - May God go with you this week, and may His richest blessings be with you and yours.