PEACE - SHALOM

I have recently been thinking about the 'peace of God' and wanted to do a Bible study on it.  Last night, very unusually, I was sat listening to Premier Christian radio and heard a sermon which really helped.  It is really highlighting several verses which direct us how we can have this peace:

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.Psalm 68:19

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

The key points were not to be anxious but to cast our burdens on the Lord, who daily bears our burdens.  To live a life of prayer at all times so that when times of difficulty come prayer is natural for us.  To trust in God for He is in control of all things.  So when difficulties come in order to enjoy the peace of God we should immediately cast our burden on the Lord and pray.  We can think of past situations where He has helped and be thankful and trust Him for help in this.  If we focus on the trouble that consumes us but if we focus on God, He upholds us and we can enjoy peace and so keep things in perspective.  This is a way I would love to live but have already failed today, so must continue to keep it as an aim to follow this guide and enjoy the peace of God.

Resurrection

I heard on the radio the other day about a new piece of modern art which is being commissioned to go in a UK cathedral. The subject is to be 'the resurrection' and 5 people are putting forward proposals. One of the proposals was to hang two words from the ceiling:

I AM

I thought how amazing, and what depth there is in these two words. Jesus said 'I am the resurrection and the life' God called Himself 'I AM'. Many times in John's gospel Jesus refers to Himself as 'I am'. It is true to refer to Him as 'I am', it is not 'I was' because He still is, He has been raised from the dead and is in eternal glory and lives on today both in the church and in the world. 'I AM' hanging in the cathedral should be a reminder that He is there present, seeing all that happens and that He is the one true, living God.

Waiting patiently

Taught about Noah in Sunday school last week. In my studies it was really interesting to see how long Noah was on board the boat and some other facts about Noah.

1) Noah was 500 when he first had children, that is about 300 years later than other men at that time.

2) The ark was floating for 150 days, that is 110 days after the rain stopped. I wonder how Noah and his family felt as they were just floating in the ark, wondering when they would be able to get out.

3) They were on board the ark for over a year.

Noah had great faith trusting God and obediently following his instructions, building the ark and entering it with all the animals and being safely kept for all that time. Reminded me how patient we need to be, our timing is not God's timing, we often want to rush ahead but God has everything in His control.

All our times....

Went to Cheltenham for the weekends, had a lovely time, walking in the beautiful countryside, surrounded by beautiful Autumn colours. Wonderful to see the greatness of God in creation.

We went to the chip shop a different one from normal because we had been delivering leaflets for the church creation weekend. Whilst we were waiting for our order we were wondering whether to leave the rest of our leaflets there when we saw a poster for Cheltenham Male Voice Praise concert, that evening. So we rushed home, ate our food and got there just as it started. It was fantastic. Beautiful singing, bringing together Christians form many different walks of life, praising the Lord in song, a foretaste of Heaven. The chairman was very good. One of the things he said was about every day being a gift from God and how we should try to make the most of it, like squeezing the juice from fruit, every last drop. I like that picture.

This is a song I really liked: (imagine a male voice choir singing!) Beautiful words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ms-gxEOtLA&feature=related

If at first you don't succeed........

Loaf #2 Disaster #1

Yes, this is a loaf of bread!! Tastes as terrible as it looks - a winner for the bin!

Quote from the calendar

As promised, here is the message for yesterday from the calendar:

'For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. Matthew 11:30'

A yoke to be effective, must be worn correctly, positioned properly and secured. The Lord knows exactly how much we are able to bear and places His yoke upon us perfectly. What binds it to us though is our love for Him. So if His yoke feels uncomfortable and cumbersome, we need to check that our love for Him is strong. The yoke is simply doing what it was designed to do. It is helping us bear spiritual responsibilities and making us useful for His glory. Let Jesus dasten His yoke on your hear today. Then wear it in measure to the grace He so freely gives anew each morning.

Take my yoke upon you

Yesterday we had a sermon from Matthew 11:28-31, a familiar passage but a wonderful message. It was just what I needed, in particular, the section that we are yoked to Christ when we have come to Him. He will not let us go, we are yoked to Him for the rest of life's journey and whatever we have to pass through He is with us, He is the experienced one, guiding and teaching us.

And, even better, when I turned the calendar this morning there was that verse again - 'Take my yoke'. I love it when that happens! Will share the message from the calendar tomorrow.

Update

Life has been very busy, but now my schedule is different so there is more time for blogging!

I am in training... for a 10K race on October 17th. Running is deifinitely not my natural sport but with perseverance I am improving and even enjoying the challenge. I can run over 5K now which is a good achievement but need to push on to get near to the 10K mark before the race!

In God's providence it seems I may be about to take a big step in my work and take on a two room clinic premises. I am really looking forward to it but also apprehensive in many ways. Hopefully will be up and running in November, but we'll see...

Heard several good sermons and lectures recently, particularly last week. God gives us just the food and encouragement we need in His perfect timing. I have been made conscious recently that there are so many different things we are supposed to do and be as Christians and feel a long way short of the mark. I am so glad that our salvation is not dependent on us.

Been a long time...

Oh, dear, it has been a long time since I posted but I haven't forgotten about my blog completely! Had a week of holiday and been otherwise occupied with work and coursework. Will be posting more frequently hopefully in 3 weeks when the coursework is handed in.

Thought I'd share this lovely verse I read the other day in my quiet time, found it a real encouragement to me:

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. Psalm 17:15

How lovely to be satisfied with the likeness of Christ.

Always disappointing when you look up a verse in another version and it seems to say something completely different. The ESV version of this verse was the one for me!