notes to self | in all your ways acknowledge Him

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I posted. Life has been busy, and whilst I've still had things to share, they've more been personal revelations for me, that I've scribbled down somewhere and never quite gotten round to sharing. I'd like to share them as I think they can bless for you too, so that's what I'm posting today, notes to self



If I've decided to trust God with my life, then I should be able to trust Him with every aspect of it; the really big things, but also and maybe especially the small things.

'In all your ways acknowledge (include) Him'

- Proverbs 3.6


So when I choose to do my own thing, knowing God has said to do otherwise, what I'm essentially saying is that I don't trust God with every aspect, and that I know better.

And a lot of the time maybe this is subconscious. We just do things the way we always do them...but there is gold to be found in asking God for His opinion, His knowledge and understanding are far greater than ours.

Psalm 16.8,9

"I always keep the Lord in front of me. When He is by my side, I cannot be moved. That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices. My body rests securely."

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Matthew 28.19

Hi all,

Hope you're well. Sorry it's been about two weeks since my last post, I have been here I promise! Just been a little busy.

In just under a month I'm moving to Stockholm (Sweden). I'm going because I have this overwhelming feeling that God wants me there to tell the inhabitants of Stockholm a little about Him.

As it stands I don't have a job, and I don't have a lot of money either but I really feel that now is time to take the leap of faith.

I've really struggled over the past few months, being blessed with my Internship in London and making some great friends, as well as struggling with the knowledge that moving would mean walking away from what could potentially be a real job into the unknown and uncertain future.

But God.

God has always been so so good to me, especially over the last few months. I've felt lost, I've felt lonely, I've felt up and down, clarity and confusion, but God has been my rock and my answer in everything.

So I'm off to Stockholm, I will appreciate all your prayers (I will still be blogging!), and am looking forward to the next part of this adventure in my walk with God.

He who has prepared a way for me in the wilderness is also the lifter of my head, He will not let me be ashamed.

God bless, have a lovely weekend, and enjoy the last of the Olympics!

x

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Psalm 46.10

This life is so crammed full of things to do, things to see, things to hear, chores, homework, friends to see, family to help, etc...that sometimes we get so busy we don't have time to know God.

Sometimes the best way to hear from God is to pause in the middle of our oh-so-busy lives and take the time to listen to Him.

Stop rushing for a second, pause and re-evaluate.

It's a simple thing that can be as easy as just taking a couple of minutes in your day. You can be anywhere; on the toilet, on the train, in the shower. I find it easiest to just 'be' for a couple of minutes, to stop thinking about everything around me or getting distracted by things/people/noise, and just take a second to thank God for where I am in the exact moment, to bless my day, to take time to zone out from the world and zone in to Him.

Find your way of doing it. I'm big into music, so I find the quickest and easiest way for me to get God centred is to put on a worship album and meditate (as in deeply think about - not necessarily chanting, but whatever you feel comfortable doing) on the words of the song.

It's just remembering God in my day-to-day, not allowing myself to get caught up in the trifling little issues I face each day, but to remember God, who He is and what He's done, and the real calling on my life.

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

- Psalm 46.10

Jeremiah 17.7 and Psalm 125.1

Yesterday the sermon in church was about hearing God; whether or not we understand Him to still be speaking today and if so how. There were many ways; the bible itself, things around us, a confidence 'I just know', other people, sometimes even an audible voice.

Anyway, as I go through this somewhat trialling time in my own life, I felt God drop the phrase 'but the man who trusts in the Lord is like...' in my head.

I googled it, the following two verses came up:

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord." - Jeremiah 17.7
"Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever." - Psalm 125.1

My hope is in Him who cannot be shaken, therefore no matter my circumstance, I will hope and trust in Him alone.

The earth may shake, my world might change, my circumstances will always change... but He will never change. The same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13.8).

♫ Jesus, You're my firm foundation, I know I can stand secure...♫

Our God Reigns - Chris Tomlin, David Crowder and Charlie Hall, Passion: Everything Glorious

 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!'

 - Zechariah 4.7

Psalm Sunday: Psalm 5.11

"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You."

Just a quick one! Throughout the Old Testament, satan is called our accuser [Job 1.6, Job 2.1]. He reminds us constantly when we fall short of God's standard. When Jesus died for our sins, Hebrews tell us that He became our High Priest, (standing in the gap between ourselves and God, pleading mercy and grace on our behalf). We can be joyful in hope for the future because God defends us. That's why the bible says this:

"[There is] therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

- Romans 8.1

God bless, have a great week.

Romans 4.18

"When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said He would do."

- Romans 4.18 (The Message)

I love this verse SO much. Our circumstances always seem so hopeless. Let me share something with you for a second.

I believe with ALL my heart, that God wants me to go to Sweden and live there and help start a church, so that those that don't know Him yet can do. We hope to start churching from this summer, and considering the fact that Swedish summertime pretty much begins in early June, that's fairly soon.

As yet, I have no job over there, I haven't got a place of my own to live in, and I don't know the language as fluently as I wish I did (although I am making massive headway - praise God for that!).

The situation looks pretty grim. How can I still plan to move this summer with no job and nowhere to live, especially when I don't speak the language?

YET, what does the verse say? "When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway." Why was Abraham's faith so big? How could he have confidence in a situation that in all human terms, was practically hopeless?

In order to have faith and hope in a hopeless situation, Abraham had to look beyond himself, and beyond his capabilities and the capabilities of his wife. Abraham looked beyond the situation, toward God.

God had made a promise to him, therefore God would make it happen.

In the same way, I know God has told me to be a part of this church in Sweden this summer. God will make it happen, despite the current circumstances. So I am going to look beyond what I see, and look to God, and all He has said and done so far in my life and in the lives of those around me, and trust Him, that even though as of right now I have no clue where I'll be working or who I'll be living with, He's got it covered. He will make it happen.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

- Hebrews 11.1 (NKJV)

Psalm Sunday: Psalm 118.24

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

- Psalm 118.24

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Psalm Sunday: Psalm 18.6

"In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears."

- Psalm 18.6 NKJV

Who is Jesus?

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth - Psalm 145.18

I never once heard of a person who earnestly inquired after Jesus and was left feeling disappointed. Ask Jesus into your life today and He will make His presence known in your life.

God bless

†

Luke 24.26-27 and The Gospel of Jesus Christ

'He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem..."'

The gospel of Jesus Christ is repentance and forgiveness:

Not condemnation, but hope.

Not death, but life.

Not lawfulness, but relationship.

One of the things the scribes took issue with was Jesus forgiving sins (Matthew 9.1-6), because they believed only God had power to forgive sins, but if Jesus was who He claimed to be, the son of God (Luke 22.70) and the Christ (Matthew 16.16-17), then He had full right to forgive sins.

And that's what He came to earth to do. He came to bridge the gap between the sinful and the sinless. So He came to Earth, still God, in the form of a man, so that He could walk among us and make God real to us, make God personal. He came to Earth to save us.

Do you know where something similar happened? Joseph.

Joseph was fully human (you can tell by his behaviour), and when he dreamt of his future and all that was to come, instead of keeping it hush-hush as Jesus did (Matthew 16.20, Mark 8.30, Luke 9.21), he went around boasting about it.

He wasn't lying though. His brothers were going to bow down to him (Genesis 37.7-11). So after he told them all that he had dreamt they 'disposed of him', rather like what happened to Jesus with his crucifixion. And they thought that was the end of it.

"But what they didn't know was that what they had meant for evil, God had meant to be their own salvation (Genesis 50.20)."

You see without Joseph being thrown in a well, he wouldn't have been sold to Ishmaelites, which would have meant he wouldn't have been a slave in Potiphar's house in Egypt, which in turn would mean that he wouldn't have been accused of rape, which would mean he wouldn't have ended up in jail, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been there to decipher the meanings of the dreams of the baker and cupbearer, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been able to decipher the King's dream, which would mean that he wouldn't have been able to save Egypt and the surrounding lands (including the land of Canaan where all his brother's lived), which would have meant that his whole family would have died.

In much the same way, if God was not merciful, then He would not have sent His son Jesus (who was both God and man) to be crucified, which would mean He (Jesus) wouldn't have taken the cost of all our sins, and if He hadn't taken the penalty for all our sins which is death (Romans 6.23a), we would all be facing eternity without God, Hell, rather than having what we now have (should we want it), the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6.23b).

Hey guys, use this website http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.cfm to look up all the verses that I have mentioned. Just type each of them into the search bar at the top and choose a version you think you will find easiest to understand. The version I have used for my quotes here is the NIV.

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You Are My Strength - Hillsong United, Saviour King

[Philippians 4.13]

Hosea 2.14-15

"But then I will win her back once again.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there,
as she did long ago when she was young,
when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt."

With You, Always

"...And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

- Matthew 28.20