Ponders and Wonders

Church be off the hook these days

2009-09-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Once again I start with an apology that I have written in a while. I might just create a draft so I stop having to write sorry at the beginning of each blog.

Its been well over 2 and half months since my last post!!! I have been home for that amount of time, and although it was difficult to adjust at first I am now really enjoying it. Looking for jobs is my main objective at the moment, which can be quite frustrating at times. I know God will provide just waiting on his timing not mine.

Lets get straight on with because I need to fill out some application forms!

I've recently got back from Momentum, which is a Christian festival in Somerset. It was amazing! I went with over 20+ people from church and it was just amazing to spend time with them, as well really working on my relationship with God.

On the first evening of Momentum the evening talk discussed the growing problem in the 20-30's age gap. It was described as the church is 'hemorrhaging 20-30's', meaning there is a growing lack of this age group in church. There are some churches in the inner cities that are thriving with this age gap yet the church in local towns are noticing a distinct gap.
Whilst I was away at uni my home church was struggling quite badly however, there was one amazing thing that came out of that. The church pulled itself together by seeing a need and knowing that they could serve that using their own initiative. From these groups the church became stronger, and solid friendships were formed. One group that did this was the 18+, which is the group I am part of. I had absolutely nothing to do with this but it is something I am incredibly grateful for. For over a year now this group has been thriving and there are some really solid friendships that have come out of it. There is time to be challenged through bible studies, and in depth conversations but there is also time to laugh...incredibly hardly. I cannot thank God enough to be in such a comforting place.

** I am coming at this from the angle of the seminar not the talk**

However, from going to the follow-up seminar of the first talk at Momentum I begin to understand that this is not the case for most people. It was a seminar for the guys at Momentum to get a real understanding of what was going on in the local churches away from the Christian festival bubble. I think like I was they were shocked with the comments and reactions of some of the people.

There were some there that had clearly been hurt by people in their church, and others who wanted to express words of encouragement. I left feeling disheartened. Not by church but by those comments that were discussed in the meeting. I do understand being in the age group of 20-30's can be difficult particularly in church. You may have grown up in that church then gone away from uni having learnt and change loads but people still think of you as 15. Maybe you haven't left at all but still changing loads and getting people to understand you as an adult can be challenging.

Having said all this church is going to hurt at one point regardless of age. And do you know why? Because church has people in it. Yes it is difficult to be in your 20-30's and yes church can be a so frustrating that it affects your walk with God. But if church was perfect, fulfilling all our needs you would not be in it. And why is that? Because 'for we have all fallen short of the glory of God' Romans 2:23. Meaning church will never be perfect and we will never be completely satisfied because we fail.

Church is not about a building, or the style of worship or even the preach (although these are important). Church is always about the people. The word church originates from the Greek word Ekklesia, which means group of people. When Christ said 'on this rock I will build my church' he is pledging for a group of people. Christ didn't give up his life for some walls, a particular style of worship or a bunch of cell groups, he gave his life up for his people, THE CHURCH. Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her".
So when we have upset Jesus by sinning he doesn't give up on us. He preserves with us, and forgives us. If we have been upset by the people in the church we need to act like Christ and forgive them. Christ on the Cross ask for the forgiveness of those WHO were mocking him during the middle of his crucifixion (Luke 23:34). In the middle of his pain caused by his people he forgives them.

Church is also referred to as one body. Not segregated with individual groups occasionally saying hi on a Sunday morning. Paul writes in Ephesians to be united Eph 4: 3-6 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.here is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
We need to be united. We need to make every effort because if the church is broken how do we expect to reach the last, the least and the lost.
There should be no separation between ages as Christ accepts us all so the church accepts all. Ephesians 2:14,16 ' For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.....(16)Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death."

By Paul saying Jesus united Jews and Gentiles this is massive! Paul is saying he joined two opposite together by the crucifixion. If Jesus can do that with two opposites he can build that bridge between the 20-30s and the rest of the church.
With this in mind we need to make amends with those we have trouble with in the church because it is not God's purpose for his church, his people.

If we are united we will work more effectively, and we will see more saved. If we work in unity we will not see hemorrhaging of the 20-30's but people in that age group will see something attractive about church.

I do know that people come from different angles, and things have happened that are hurtful but sometimes being reminded of what God laid out for his people can be hard, and humbling but so worth it in the long run.

This is something on my heart! Massive stream of consciousness! Definitely something I need to work on to and I pray you will too.

x

Conversation bursting with Grace

2009-06-18T02:44:00.000-07:00

Once again its been a while, and once again I can only but apologise. I've been crazily busy over the last- Wait!- I just checked when I last wrote my blog and its been 2 months. ha! Thats crazy. I've completed uni, written 10,000 words on the 10th century English Church, and applied to many different jobs, with no avail as of yet. I think prayer would definitely be appreciated on that subject in particular.

Also, I think a shameless plug never hurts anyone! I am on twitter! follow me!! search me hollincross and if you write a little "@" message I'll respond. I have a really low follow count and I want more. Greedy yes...but its a little depressing how low my count is considering I've been on it since March!
Currently listening to Jason Mraz...one word: Amazing. Get involved.

Ok back to the actual blog rather than lame updates on my life. I've struggled with being inspired recently, and this means that I haven't been reading, praying etc. This has made me noticed that when I haven't been doing this I do lack inspiration, and the rest of my life seems to be a bit difficult. So I decided that I would do something about it, so last night I started to read 'Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren. This book had its peak a couple of years ago when I was 15/16, and at the time I thought it was self-help book and didn't really like it. As I started to read the first chapter last night it stated 'this is not a self-help book. It is not about finding the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life....Actually, it will teach you how to do less in life- by focusing on what maters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be' Rick Warren 'Purpose Driven Life' Zondervan Publishing 2002, pg 19.
From that point my theory was flawed. As I started to read I knew I was beginning an amazing journey, and I am excited about continuing to read.

Everyone has opinions one what type of person they want to be, how they want to live and be perceived yet it isn't something that can be changed with great ease. On Sunday I listened to a preach on being holy, and how this is a positive thing but can so often be negative. The bible calls us to be holy. It doesn't make much sense how we change that around. The problem is that we will never reach complete holiness because we are human, and we all fall short. What a pickle. How do we attempt to reach this holiness?

I've been challenged recently about the conversation I've been having. Being a girl it does seem to be natural to gossip and be negative towards other. I think one practical step at attempting holiness is our conversations. In Colossians 4: 5-6 it says this '⁵Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

The biggest thinking point here is when we think are our conversations filled with grace? Truthfully mine aren't and it is a massive challenge because how can we show God's grace if the words of our mouth are not graceful? This passage is mainly about evangelism but I think it holds some key pieces of information when it comes to our normal, every-day conversations. The personal challenge I face now is that my conversation should be bursting full of grace, and in this way I will be one step closer to holiness, and the purpose of my life will be the greatest honour in the eyes of my maker.

It is a massive challenge and not an easy one at all but I will try and one way that I was reminded on Sunday it to remember the act of Grace. This is to remember what Jesus did on the cross, not just physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Not only did it cause him physical pain but the amount of psychological pain as well is difficult to understand. I think everytime I sit down with my girlfriends and start to gossip if I remembered what he did, it may be difficult to sit comfortably continuing that conversation.

I'll keep you updated. I think this blog is a stream of consciousness rather than anything else.

Til next time...x

Beautiful one, I love you

2009-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Once again its been a while since I last wrote something properly, so apologies for that. I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend, and regardless of how many eggs you got, oh I got SIX by the way, you remembered the real reason of Easter.

I am not here to chat about all that jazzzz. What I really want to talk about is something that I've been thinking about a lot recently, and this it the wonderful issue of self-esteem.

This a vast topic affecting both women/men, old/young, skinny/big. With alarming statistics suggesting that 1 in 100 girls between 15-30 have anorexia, and pro-anorexia websites boasting 3 million posts. It is clear that we have an epidemic on our hands. Researching this blog I went on some pro-anorexia sites, which are basically message forums where girls/boys who are suffering with anorexia discuss weight loss tips, how "fat" they feel, or even their scarily low weight. I was on it for about 5 mins and had to stop reading because I couldn't see through my tears. I have never read something so heartbreaking and there is nothing I can do to get through to them straight away, or with any real success.

Granted anorexia is the extreme level of low self-esteem but around 8 out 10 girls are not happy with the way they look. I asked a few teenage girls I know about what they thought of the way they looked and this is what they said.

umm the way I look I dont really like it well I mean im constantly comparing myself to others like they are so much better

sometimes but most of the time not really

well I'm normally quite happy with the way I look, obv sometimes I think I look really good and then other days I look like crap but honestly I think I need to lose alot of weight, because I find skinny really attractive.

The saddest thing is these types of phrases and attitudes are so common amongst not only teenagers but adults, and younger children. When we look at magazines, watch films and music videos we are constantly comparing ourselves to those we see whos weight, hair, eyes, clothes are so much better than ours.

But who claims that to be beautiful? Surely beauty is the eye of the beholder? Of course it is, but that isn't enough. When Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales the Wife of Bath was suppose to be beautiful, and she had buck teeth and a big forehead, not exactly what you'd find gracing the covers of Glamour Magazine. I am not one of the 2 in every 10 who is happy with the way I look, so this message is for me as well as you. Where do we find real beauty? How can we look at ourselves in the mirror and think "yeah I like".

The bible teaches about the way we look at ourselves, and how we need to do this in a positive way.

In Genesis 1:26-31 God created man, making us in his image and what he say was VERY good...not just good but very good. So straight away God thinks that we are very good, we are above average, we are beautiful. As soon as we are created God knows how good we are, and how good we will be.

In Psalm 139:14-17 . This is one of my favourites because God is saying we were fearfully and wonderfully made. Not by chance, or half-hearted but we are wonderful, in other words AMAZINGLY made. God planned us well before we knew ourselves and he was happy with the way we were made.

Proverbs 30:31 says that charm, i.e flirting(!) and beauty will fade with age so someone who fears/loves their God needs to be praised.

We need to stop thinking we are ugly, fat, and unworthy. We need to remember this.

Zephaniah 3:17 (New International Version)

17 The LORD your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with his love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."

God rejoices over us with singing, and takes great delight in us. We need to start believing this about ourselves. That we are worthy and beautiful the way we are. The song beautiful one, "beautiful one, I love you" is something God is singing over us. Regardless of what anyone says to us because God rejoices over us with singing. He made it and he said it was VERY good.

Lets start believing it. Beauty is what God tells us is beauty and he tells us that we are beautiful, he is pleased and rejoices over us.

Songs of Solomon 4:7

All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

In God's Eyes we are flawless....from the top of heads to the tips of our toes and everything in between. We are beautiful beyond compare. Stop doubting and start believing.

If this rings home for you please email me. hollincross@gmail.com

blog count

2009-03-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just quickly:

I do a blog count just to see if anyone reads these. And surprisingly they do!

In 10 months 1500 people have read my lil blog, which is nice.

So a massive thank you to all of you who have read my blog, whether it be for the first time or you are a regular.

Thanks once again.

x

Prosperity...a load of....

2009-03-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Hey.

I am suppose to be writing an essay but I thought I would quickly write this. quickly I promise.

Prosperity Gospel. I hate the prosperity gospel. I hate that people think the prosperity gospel is correct. I hate that the prosperity gospel is being taught in churches across the UK. God hates the prosperity gospel. But God loves those who are following this so called "gospel".

Hate is a strong word to use so many times in one sentence, but I genuinely struggle with the idea that people think its is correct. There is NO teaching about the prosperity gospel in the bible, it is all man's conceived idea that they will adapt the gospel to reach their own potential and their own ideology.

The prosperity gospel is the idea that God wants us to prosper in success, whether this be in money, healthy, safety etc. As much as this is a lovely idea it is wrong. We all want to be successful, and we all want to make something of ourselves but sometimes this won't happen. This is not because God loves our richer friends more than us, this is simple down to God having a different plan for each individual.

If we look closely at 2 Corinthians 12 it says this:
1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I know it is a big chunk but there is so much to take from this, that simply disqualifies any fundamental "facts" about the prosperity gospel.

1) 'I will go on boasting although there is nothing to be gained"
Paul is clear that he knows that boasting about Christ is not about him and not about his gain. He knows that it is all for God and the advancement of God's kingdom. He is not boasting in himself and he is not for his own gain but he is boasting in CHRIST and for CHRIST'S GAIN.

2) I will not boast about myself- There is nothing that we can do here on Earth that is going to gain our salvation. There is nothing we can do that can better ourselves that will glorify God, which is something we should be aiming for.

3) My grace is sufficient enough for you, my power is made stronger in your weakness- This is the biggest fact. God' grace is enough. We do not NEED anything else but grace. When we are weak God is stronger. Why is that appealing? Through that we can be stronger but not through material things but through faith.

4) For Christ's sake I delight in my weakness- Through our weakness he is made strong. We delight in our weakness because it enables us to be clear and thankful for what God has already done.

Prosperity gospel is not evident in this at all. There is no place in God's kingdom for prosperity gospel. We are not saved so we can advance ourselves, we are saved through God's mercy and love. Nothing else.

If anything we should be asking God to be satisfied in him, as John Piper said God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. When we are most satisfied in him and not the progression of our successes.

Please take a couple of minutes to watch this quite harrowing, hard-hitting video on the prosperity gospel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGzqIcbvARw

If this is something that you in believe in then maybe you should consider looking back into the word and really try discover for yourself the true meaning of self-sacrificing faith.

Til next time

xx

update on facebook loss....

2009-03-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'd like to say that I am still not on facebook!!!

I have not once logged in. My status and picture changed because my housemate is running for union president, so my other housemate changed it for me to help Wood out!

Only a few more weeks to go!!!

Its going ok! woop!

Also, this updates my profile automatically without me logging on!!!

Lent...facebook....power in his name.

2009-03-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Firstly, I can not believe it is March already!!! Its mental. I know people say it a lot but time really does fly. Gosh! I really need to crack on with my uni work. Essays...dissertations (actually singular...imagine plural dissertations!!) its all crazy times.

So, its lent....I usually don't do anything for lent because it doesn't really have any significance in my life. However, I had decided that this year I would abstain from chocolate, swearing and fast food. Thus far, I am doing very well in the chocolate region...the others not so much. I ate Domino's last night (for a justified reason) and I swore when I hurt myself!! Bad times.

As I was in church this morning the sermon was on Acts 19, this is when they reach Ephesus and there is the chaos concerning the Goddess Artemis.
So, basically in short they are really worshipping this Goddess, practicing occults etc and when they see the power in the name of Jesus when it rids a demon, they publicly burn their stuff associated with the occult and Luke says 'in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew power'. (Act 19:20).
This got me thinking about my Lent actions and things that are in my life that can sometimes override the power of God in me. Unlike these people I am not bounded my witchcraft, occults or the worship of idols but there are things in my life that take up my time, effort and focus when it could be used something that is more beneficial. I am not necessarily saying that I am going to use this time to read my bible, pray etc, all of which I should do more of. However, I am very blessed to be at uni, getting a degree etc. Sometimes we think if we wasting our time we should be reading our bibles etc, which of course (I cannot stress enough) that we do need to be doing; but we need to look our lives and think am I putting in the effort in my school, uni, work that I should do. We are all so blessed to be where we are, in the west, with a house, food, clothes, job, education etc then why do we find it hard to get rid of things that aren't good for us?? Why do we put so much time in other things that distract us from reaching our potential that God has for us?
Like, this people we don't understand the power in the name of Jesus so we target our attention on other things. We forget the blessings we have around us and try our attention elsewhere. For me, its Facebook. I am terrible!!! I am literally on it all the time, for example I am logged in now and have been for the last three hours. Its not that I am logged on but when I am not doing anything I'll just look around!? This is not such a massive issue but when I am suppose to be doing uni work I'll open facebook every other minute...to the point its a little ridiculous. I need to metaphorically burn this addiction....it literally is an addiction. It sounds so trivial but I need to work hard at uni but something such as facebook is that hinderence. In Colossians 3:23 it says this
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"

And to be honest, I am not doing that. So going back to Acts 19: I am not understanding the power of Jesus' name and I am in uni for a reason and I need to achieve something that is good, like I am giving God a thanksgiving. So what I have decided to do is give up facebook!! Just at least til Easter just to see if I can do it. Its not biggy if I don't but I really want to work hard and test my self-control. It will start as of tomorrow (Monday 2nd) and I will only change my status if I do another blog so people can read it.

If you're reading this and a regular visiting of my facebook profile please continuing writing on it and tagging me in pictures but I won't reply until its Easter or I've cracked. If you want to contact me then email me hollincross@gmail.com or just text me haha! I don't know how I am going to get on with this but who knows!

I'll try and write another blog but I do have a lot of work to do!!! Please think about what I'v said

Till next time

.

paths, plans, life....argh?!

2009-01-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

'Ite,

It has been a while since I have written on here! Apologies to so many loyal people, haha! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. I am unsure about when it becomes a bit unacceptable to ask people if they had a nice Christmas. Although Christmas was only three works ago but it feels so much longer. Uni starts on Monday so its gonna be a week full of Christmas chat, which does feel slightly unnatural. Just a thought for you.

Anyways, enough rambling lets focus!! I am in my third year of university so currently the biggest questions I get asked (beside how my Christmas was) is what are you going to do after you leave? I have asked it to so many people because theoretically once you leave uni you're suppose to get on with your life and become a REAL grown-up. This is all well and good but to be honest not many students want to be real grown-ups. Unless there is a job where I can wake up at whatever time I want and check facebook every four minutes I am not that interested. Slowly I am coming to the conclusion that this is not going to become a reality, so because of this I need to start thinking seriously about my life, and more importantly what God wants for my life.

One of the most encouraging verses in the bible is 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"

I've heard this verse so many time before but it wasn't until I just copied it that I notice 'for I know the plans'. I know I love picking out words but here I am doing it again . When it says 'I know' the plans God has already decided, he has planned well before you even knew. Which is so amazing. However, this doesn't mean we can become lazy and just assume that opportunities are going to fall into our laps. God gives opportunities but we need to be ready to see and seize them.

Please check out this clip from Evan Almighty:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bkf-J9TjGPc

Like Morgan Freeman/God says we aren't just zapped with these things but we are presented with an opportunity to show them. This is exactly the same with God's plans, sadly we aren't presented with our life plan in 34 slide PowerPoint presentation. We are shown opportunities and ways to get there. As much has God opens doors he can close doors as well, so options that we might think are right maybe aren't. This isn't easy but we need to trust in God and believe him when he talks in Jeremiah that he has plans that give us hope and future.

I am not saying that once we trust God life is going to be easy and all our dreams are fulfilled, but what I am saying that with God we can ensure that he is going to keep us safe. With God there is hope and that hope is Jesus. Through trusting in him we can have the hope of grace, the hope of salvation and with that we can benefit the fullness of life. We do not need to worry about our future because if we have God in the centre he will clearly show our paths. We just need to be open to them and ready to take action.

Proverbs 16:9:
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps

We may have planned our lives out to the very small detail but this verse puts it in perspective. If our heart is with God's no matter what plans we have he decides our steps and will get us to that point he desires, with hope and safety.

Reassuring?

Til next time!

xx

Your Grace is Enough....

2008-11-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Firstly, I think it is wise to start off with an apology for the previous post as the majority of it made no grammatical sense! I hope you understood it regardless if not sorry! I am hoping this one will make more sense but who knows as it is 2.35 am and I should be writing an essay! Bad times!

I went to a wedding at the weekend which was amazing! During the signing of the register its tradition to have someone sing or a piece of music, well this is the case for the weddings I have been to. At this particular wedding they had 'I can only imagine' by MercyMe which is an awesome song. This got me thinking to my wedding and what song I would like to have. I don't often think about weddings (trust me) and what song I would have during this bit. Actually, I confess the only thing I think of when I think of my wedding is the music so I have all the important bits of music sorted and they aren't up for negotiation haha! Anyway...as I was walking to work I was thinking about this and wondering what song I would choose. I listed categories that the song would have to fit and these are as follows:

Mean something to me personally and preferably to the groom
Evangelistic but not overpowering
Thought provoking
Slightly emotional--- it is a wedding--I mean its the start of the end really isn't it?!
Show Love
Show God's awesomeness

Now to be honest this is quite a lot to ask of one song but it is a do-able, I am convinced. I was thinking of all the songs I can remember and actually accidentally singing out loud whilst walking, I came up with 'This is our God' by Hillsong. I am not the biggest Hillsong music fan when saying this I don't know all their songs and choose to listen to them as I do other Christian music. I first heard the song at Soul Survivor this year and it was my favourite because to me it just summed up God, what he did and continues to do for me. Below are listed the lyrics:

HillsongThis Is Our GodThis Is Our God

VERSE 1:

Your grace is enough more than I need. At Your word I will believe .I wait for You Draw near again Let Your Spirit make me new

CHORUS:I will fall at Your feet. I will fall at Your feet. And I will worship You here

VERSE 2:Your presence in me Jesus light the way. By the power of Your word I am restored I am redeemed. By Your Spirit I am free

BRIDGE:Freely You gave it all for us Surrendered Your life upon that cross. Great is the love Poured out for all. This is our God. Lifted on high from death to life. Forever our God is glorified. Servant and King Rescued the world. This is our God

Courtesy of: http://www.songlyrics.com/hillsong/this-is-our-god/277229/

The reason I think that this sums God up is just because it covers so much. It documents the trinity, talks about the act of grace, talks about worship, talks about God being glorified, talks the bible and finally how grace is all we need. It is so evangelistic it is unreal! If you listen to a recording of this song, particularly off the This is Our God album it is chilling (in a good way). The reason I want it at my wedding is because it covers everything in my list.

Mean something to me personally and preferably to the groom-- It had a massive impact on me
Evangelistic but not overpowering--It displays the gospel in a non-threatening way
Thought provoking--It provokes thought?! haha
Slightly emotional--- it is a wedding--I mean its the start of the end really isn't it?!-- I think its emotional
Show Love--Shows God's love
Show God's awesomeness---The bridge is a clear demonstration of this

God is glorified in this song as well which is something I adore.

One thing that I want to quickly focus on is right at the beginning when it says 'Your Grace is enough more than I need'. This refers to Paul's comments 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul is describing his thorn in his side which is the devil tormenting him. He cries out to God to get rid of it but God's reply is this v.9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". We try and fulfill out lives with so many things, materialistic, emotional, physical and everything else. We are asked what we want for our birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries. My entire wardrobe is full of things that I wanted. I was wondering through Asda searching for treacle for Mummy Cross and I was wondering passed all of these items thinking do we actually need any of this? I met a guy at a pub in Wales and he got his children to watch the adverts during Coronation Street one day and write down anything they saw that they needed. At the end of the break their papers were blank. We are told we need the latest fashion, the newest I-phone and car but do we really? Yes, they may make things easier or make us look good but do we need them? I haven't had a phone for 3 months, at this point it would be good to point out that this is not because of choice before you go think I am some amazing person. One thing I have realised that my phone isn't a necessity it is something that makes life that little bit easier but it is something I need. Ok, fair enough its irritating for my friends at times but it hasn't stopped friendships.

When God said to Paul 'my grace is sufficient for you' its like God saying 'It'll do'. We need nothing else but Grace. With Grace God will give us what we need and not always what we want. That's not because God wants to be unhappy but because if we had everything we wanted then we would be spoilt. Think about when your parents said no to things that you could of had, its not because they don't love you its because they want to make sure you grow up well-rounded and thankful. Paul had a massive problem but when God said his grace is enough it was because God was going to be glorified in Paul's weakness. So when we are struggling or we think we need that top from Topshop or the next I-phone and then we can't afford it or our struggles don't seem to be going away, remind yourself that His grace is sufficient and it will do. With this is mind we will able to 'fall at his feet' understanding how amazing Grace really is and he will be glorified.

Thanks...all done....apologises it was so long. I never intend it to be but once I get going you know.....

Until next time!!

How can I be sure of my faith

2008-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Sorry its been so long. Below is a LONG post 2737 words to be precise! I apologise. It is my talk for youth alpha so when I state ask the idea is that they ask me then and there. If you wanna asl then comment!

Hope you're all good! Also I didn't spell check because it has taken me 2 hours and I can't be bothered!!!

Til next time!
xx

How Can I be Sure of my Faith?

This is probably one of the most difficult topics that is covered in youth alpha. There is nothing that I am going to say that is going to make you be sure of your faith. There are things that are going to get you thinking and ideas that may help you on your way but nothing that is going to completely “prove” the existence of God. Before all the Christians in the room scream “heathen” at me I think it would be necessary to explain myself before I continue. It is the age old argument “you can’t disprove God” with the reply “yes but you can’t prove him either”, it is one that many Christian struggle with when trying to defend their faith. The only thing that is going to make you sure of your faith is God himself.
Faith is explained in the bible as “1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1. This is something that we will come back to later but I thought chucking a definition of faith would be a good idea to start off with.
It is slightly ironic that I, of all people have been chosen to speak on this particular topic. As far as I am aware it wasn’t intentional by the people running this course in choosing me to speak but as I was thinking and praying about doing this I realised that it is totally God. The reason it is so ironic/bizarre is because for the majority of my Christian life I have been ridden with doubt. I would measure, (not that you should measure) but I measured my faith on how many doubts I had. For example, if I had no doubts it was a good week for my faith, hurrah(!) but if I had loads of doubts it was a bad week. Firstly, this is ridiculous because we shouldn’t be measuring out faith because otherwise we’d be constantly feeling bad! Secondly, did I really have faith if I doubted? If you ask any Christian during their walk with God they have doubted one way or another. Whether that is for 20 minutes or 20 years there would have been so form of doubt. This doesn’t make them less of a Christian but what does matter is how they deal with their doubt.
The point of my talk is not to prove God because as I said only he can do that to you but simply to give you some background information that you can think and maybe pray over. There are a few things that I personally struggled with and I believe there are universal so they are not just attributed to me and me only. I have looked into many different non-biblical sources to try establish solid answers but of course I looked at the bible to see what it states about being sure of our faith.

Doubt is defined as something that you are uncertain about, a lack of confidence, some disbelief. There is some hope within these very negative definition if you look closely! Uncertainty and lack of confidence show hope because all is not lost, if you are uncertain it doesn’t mean you don’t agree you’re just not entirely sure. A lack of confidence can suggest that there needs to be a catalyst to trigger that significant confidence. I was speaking to someone about Christianity and they were saying that they were unsure, they weren’t Christian but they were still in the doubting stage. One thing that I said to them is that “It’s a good place to be but not a good place to dwell”. If this is you if you’re in that stage were your unsure this is obviously a good place because you’re in consideration but it’s a bad place to settle. It’s not only going to get you saved but it is also not healthy for your mentality as you there is a constant battle in your head.
Jesus himself discusses doubt and the dangers it can do to your faith. The famous story of doubting Thomas which I think is now a common phrase used here in the UK?! Anyway, this story takes place right at the end of John’s gospel when Jesus has died and resurrected and he is appearing to his disciples. John 20:24-30
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
Like many of us it is difficult to believe in something that isn’t physically there. So when we hear Christians banging on about the Love of Jesus and how we can be “saved” it is hard to understand because we haven’t seen it ourselves. Thomas was a massive doubter! He doubted more than anyone in history when you think about it because he had spend the last three years following Jesus around and being part of the miracles. You would think it would be hard for him to doubt when the disciples exclaim that they have seen Christ and Jesus has done what he came to do that Thomas would doubt unless he sees Jesus. When Jesus does present himself to Thomas he shows the holes in his hands he “says to him “stop doubting and believe” this is a cry to all of us. This was a cry to me! The biggest shout ever!! Stop doubting and believe! Jesus says we are blessed because we believe and have yet to see! This means we are highly favoured! This is good news! We doubt because we are uncertain but Jesus call to all of us is stop doubting and believe!
Another thing that we can learn from Thomas’ experience is his own personal experience of God. Like I said at the beginning there is nothing that I am going to say that will you convince you of your own faith it is something that you are going to need to explore and in time God will reveal himself to you. Thomas at the time was probably annoyed at God because his Messiah had died in front of him and it looked like the last three years of his life was wasted. It was such good timing when Jesus did reveal himself to Thomas because John records his anger and frustrating when he demands to see the wounds. At Christian events we learn of people’s testimonies, their stories about how they became Christians or how God has worked in their lives. These are often my favourite bits because they are so inspiring and relevant. In order to live as a Christian we need a personal relationship with God and in that personal relationship God will work in us. My second year of uni was by far the worst year in my life. It wasn’t overly dramatic in a sense that my life was threatened but everything that could of gone wrong went from. Financially, friends, uni work amd relationships was all going to pot. One thing that did stay true was my faith I just knew that God will take me out of this bigger and stronger. As the verse read at the beginning my faith showed me hope. Now a few months on my current friendship are so solid and strong, financially there is hope, uni is a lot better and relationship well lets not go there 4 out of 5 is not bad! My God through my faith carried me during this difficult times, I had hope that he was going to sort it out and he is still doing that now. That is my personal experience and I can look bad and stand here now being sure of my faith. Richard Dawkins, the guy who wrote “the God Delusion” states that this a ridiculous element of Christianity. The simple counter-argument to this is how can you know that unless you’ve experienced it! How can we be sure of our faith well we need to experience faith in order to be sure of it.
What about science and history? Aren’t them some inaccuracies about these in the bible? Just quickly science doesn’t disprove God. Science simply tells you how things work not how they were created. That is an argument that many non-christians try to argue but don’t often look at the bigger picture. In Max Lucado’s book ‘In the Grip of Grace’ he talks about the story of a cricket (I am no way going to explain it as amazingly as he does but I’ll give it a go!) in church. One day the cricket goes back to its whole in the wall with the other crickets and they start a discussion about where the light comes from. One cricket states “well its comes from that big light up there” but another cricket asks “but where does that light come from?”. They all sit there and ponder for weeks about this concern then one day another cricket had discovered a new idea! “It comes from the electricity” all the crickets are amazing by this but then another asks “but where does electricity come from?”. Once again they ponder this very big dilemma for another week. Finally after weeks of pondering a cricket watch a human turn on the light at the switch. We can go back and back and back trying to discover what created what but one thing that we have yet to discover is the original source. This direct quote from Lucado’s book is this “The loss in mystery has lead to the loss of majesty. Knowledge should negate wonder” simply meaning that because we think we know more we have lost sight of the creator. Just because we know more shouldn’t mean we wonder less. The bible has many examples of scientific accuracies and if you want to specifically then please ask me.
The bible wasn’t written as an historical document but does display many historical accuracies. It demonstrates the way of life during periods it was written. Whenever you open the bible you are likely to see a place name which can be traced back with archaeology. There is a lot of archaeology evidence in the bible and again if you want to know more ask me. We need to understand though that the bible was not written as an historical document but a spiritual handbook.

How about the authenticity of the bible? This simply means that many people have issues with the bible. The bible is one of the most important aspects of being a Christian. It teaches us about God’s character, it is a practical handbook to how to live and it tells us how we can get salvation! If we are unsure about the bible then this is a massive issue that needs to be addressed. Whether or not the bible could be the word of God, “the lost gospels” and how can it not be incorrect after years of copies?
All of these are very valid questions and ones that many question. Lets begin with the first question: could the bible be the word of God? The best place to start is to see what the bible suggests about the scripture being the word of God. In 2 Timothy 3-17 it states this “16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” This simply means that all scripture is from God and the reason that it is here is basically to act as practical guide on how to live like a Christian. How can God send what he thinks to the average human who physically wrote the bible? Throughout the old testament God spoke through prophets, we just need to simply look at Moses and the Ten Commandments where God gives him the laws to abide.
In the old testament “Then said the Lord” is mentioned over 400 times and when Jesus was preaching in Luke 24:44-45 he states “'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. " He references the old testament and stating his role that he played in the old testament calling them his words. Jesus never said they contain the word of God instead his says they ARE the word of God.

What about contradictions within the bible? This is one massive problem when people try to defeat the Christian faith. One thing that we need to be sure of that the copies we have now of the bible are NOT inspired. The original documents were ones written by Peter, John, Matthew, Paul etc but the copies we have of those inspired documents are not inspired themselves. Does that mean we cannot trust the bible? No! The bible is 98.5% accurate which means on 1.5% of the bible is uncertain. The originals were inspired and inspiration comes from God so when he the bible was written it was perfect. Due to the high accuracy of the bible the inaccuracies are so small that it will not change the teaching of the bible. Inaccuracies such as Christ Jesus and not Jesus Christ, small grammatical errors. We would throw out a science textbook due to a some small spelling or grammatically errors? No, of course we wouldn’t so then why do that with the bible? There are many famous documents such as the work philosopher, playwright and author Plato which were written around 427 BC and it wasn’t until 900 AD around 1200 years after it was first written that the first copy was made and from that we only have around 9 copies to choose from.
The bible, however first copy was written around 130 years after the death and resurrection of Christ and we have over 24,000 copies that we can translate from. We would dismiss the bible as not being accurate but not Plato?
Another thing which TV programmes in particular have gone to town about are the supposed “lost gospels” or the “lost books of the bible” . I am not going to dwell on this but just to quickly say they were never lost. They were known by the Jews and Christians of the time but they were never considered inspired. They lack apostles authorship and were never claiming to be the word of God, one thing we understand to be important, they also contain serious historical inaccuracies which would deem them unreliable. There you go! Problem sorted!
I understand that is a lot information to take and a lot of numbers, dates and references but it is so important that if we doubt the bible then we need to ensure that we are corrected.
It is an age old question how can I be sure of my faith? I personally think it is down to you to answer that question. I just wanted to present some ideas that would hopefully clarify some issues you may have had with some elements of Christianity. Ask any Christian and they will be happy to tell you how they are sure of their faith. I am sure of my faith because of the amount of work he has done in my life.

When silence falls...

2008-08-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

I've had questions without answers
I've known sorrow, I have known pain
But there's one thing that I cling to
You are faithful, Jesus You're true

When hope is lost
I call You Saviour
When pain surrounds
I call You Healer
When silence falls
You'll be the song within my heart

In the lone hour of my sorrow
Through the darkest night of my soul
You surround me, You sustain me
My defender for ever more

When hope is lost
I call You Saviour
When pain surrounds
I call You Healer
When silence falls
You'll be the song within my heart

And I will praise You
I will Praise You
When the tears fall
Still I will sing to You
I will praise You
Jesus praise You
Through the suffering
Still I will sing to You

Tim Hughes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAu939MVORk&NR=1

Relationship status: Single and Dam Proud

2008-07-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey....

It was gonna be sooner rather than later when I dedicated an entire blog to relationships. I am going to be honest I do feel very Sex and the City right now.

Firstly, I believe a disclaimer is due because I am no real advocate of relationships. I am not in one nor am I close to being in one. However, I don't believe that gives me a disadvantage when talking about them; if anything I may be more objective.

When looking at both Christian and secular relationships there are moments of great comparasion but also one of great distance. I think so often Christian dismiss non-Christian's relationships not to be as "special" as Christian ones. That Christians have a better understanding on how to "do" relationships. The obvious missing element is God. No points for discovering that. However, one thing I admire in non-Christian relationships is the non-pressure attitude. With the majority of non-Christian relationships it very much like 'I like you and you like me' then there is a casual seeing each other stage and finally the stage just seeing where it is going. The final stage is my favourite because there is no pressure.

Before you continue to read. I understand there is no point being in a relationship unless you see a future and of course I am not suggesting you ditch the Christian values in your relationship. I am merely disputing the pressure.

I went to Luton to see a friend's film a few weeks ago, because I was seeing the late showing I had some time to kill so I decided to eat in Nando's. I don't particularly like Nando's at the best of the times and the scene which I am about to explain has confirmed by hatred towards the chicken restaurant. I was of course on my own and had a few disagreements in my head about eating there by myself but my stomach beat my head so I went in. Once in there the waiterman said how many? With a cheeky grin I said 'just me' he replied 'Just you? Are you sure?' I nervously laughed but then thought 'oh no I was joking I was waiting for my boyfriend of five years to come in a pay for my chicken then we can both skipped together hand in hand towards to sunset'. Obviously, I didn't say this to the man as he walked me to my seat. Ah ha! The seat I was shunned right in the corner of the restaurant completley out of "normal" people's view. As I was seating myself he then attempted to comfort me by saying 'its ok I am on my break in five if you want some company'. I didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or weep and ensured him it was fine and I was perfectly happy on my own. Being single in Nando's is like having leprosy. You are shunned to the corner and when you go to refill your single pepsi you get a sad/odd look from the smug couple who are out because they simple couldn't be bothered to cook.

Nando's was my Christians world in terms of anti-singleness pressure. If you're single and fancy chicken cook it at home! I beg you! For the love of everything good don't do Nando's on your own. Sadly, when I worked at Pizza Hut I was one of them people feeling sorry for the supposed lonely singletons, who had come in for a quick meat feast and a sneaky bottle of wine. Why is being single a bad thing?! Once we head towards our early twenties why is this sudden pressure that we are in search of our husbands/wives?
If I told my non-Christians friends that I they are to search for their husbands/wives they simple answer would be "Woah! Chill out! I am only 20". Why as Christians do we have this attitude. I mean my friend refers (in jest!) to Soul Survivor as wife provider. It just pokes at the fun that we head to any Christian event with the attitude that we are going to find our husbands. I am gonna hold up my hands and say that I have had this attitude. I do believe it is wrong to think this.

Paul chats so openly in 1 Corinthians 7 about the joys of being married but also the joys of being single. Paul was single. Paul didn't answer to anyone except God.
1 Corinthians 7 32 "I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord"
When we are single the only people that we are to please is God. The only person we are responsible for is ourselves so let us use that and remember that our sole purpose is to serve God. When we are in a relationship/marriage whatever then we serve God together but for now we are 'free from concern'. We don't have commitments to others all we have is our commitment to ourselves and God. Let us honour them. So next time I feel this pressure that it is wrong to be single and I shouldn't hate myself that I have yet to discover the perfect man; I should however rejoice that God is going to use me when I am single.
We need to remember this
1 Corinthians 17 " each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him"
Let us retain our positions as singletons and so next time we walk into Nandos and the waiter says 'just you? Are you sure?' we can turn and say 'Yes I am sure' with great confidence and pride.

Til next time. x

My new adventure...

2008-07-12T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Hope you're all ok! I have been working the last couple of weeks so been pretty busy so apologise its been a while!!!

My new adventure is that I am writing a book so basically I am gonna post a bit of it on here just to see what you guys think...The snippet is the beginning of one the chapters. Its a long working progress. Hope you enjoy it and any opinions would be good!

Much Love!!

Hollin

God is calling are you listening?

The phone has been ringing none stop all day and Sarah simply just did not want to answer it. She was sick of people asking what happened to her dream job. For the last three years she had worked for the right qualifications, spent countless hours revising and turned down many opportunities to have fun times with her friends. Finally in the autumn this all paid off as she landed her dream job, she didn’t expect it and was thankful for her blessing. Sadly three months into her job the company went through difficult financial times and had to make Sarah redundant. She was left broken, believing she was a failure and confused about what to do next. After falling asleep one evening she dreamt of a thousand phones ringing and she was unable to answer any of them. She caught the glimpse of a golden phone tucked away in the corner and could not stop staring as she never seen something so striking. She felt drawn to it as she slowly walked towards it the distinctive ringing she came to understand was her name being called. For the first time in ages it had not being about her failure but she felt needed and personally called. She picked up the phone and answered “Here I am”. She woke up changed.

God is calling all of us and like Moses we need to be ready and willing to listen. We sometimes face our failures and we feel that there is no purpose to carry on, Sarah definitely felt like this. Yet like Sarah God is calling us personally and it can become almost impossible not to respond. At the time of Moses the Israelites were under great oppression by the Egyptians so they knew very well what difficult times were like. God called Moses and his response was ‘Here I am’ if God calls us are we giving this response? Are we willing to listen?

Do any of these phrases sound remotely familiar to you?

“I’ve been trying to get through to you all day”

“Your phone is rubbish! Its always off!”

“Are you even listening?”

This is the story of my life?! I am so bad at listening, I know it is a terrible thing to say but if I am not interested then I will not listen. Even if I am listening it is unlikely that my brain has stored it! I was accused, quite fairly, that I had selective hearing. If I am not interested then I am unlikely to listen then switch off to relive an episode of Friends in my head. There are countless times on the phone to friends where they would be chatting away then ask my opinion and I would either have to think quickly or shamefully admit that I wasn’t listening. When I did confess to not listening the consequences were pretty dire and awkward. Thankfully it didn’t ruin any friendships but one friend did have to sit me down and explain how frustrating they found it. Just for the record, although I have not perfected the art of listening I like to believe I have improved!

However, one thing I do pride myself on is being quick to answer my name! For some reason if my name is being mentioned my ears prick up and I am straight there asking why I am being spoken about. Sadly, I don’t believe this is a unique attribute because most people are quick to their names! One of the first things I noticed when reading Exodus 3 was Moses’ answer to God’s calling.

“God called to him from within the bush “Moses! Moses” and Moses said “here I am”’ (Exodus 3:4)

Let’s be honest when we are called replying with “Here I am” is an unlikely response. The answer is one that you would expect in the army, don’t you think? Imagine yourself in the army and you’re waiting to be called, which could be at any given moment if we were to respond “Alright Already, I am coming!!!” I am pretty sure there would be countless hours of toilet cleaning with our own personal toothbrushes. At this point I believe it is necessary to point out that I have never been in the army so this is pretty much speculation. So you’re sleeping in your army bunk and its four in the morning when suddenly the bells ring and you have someone calling you to get up, it is likely that your response is one of readiness and devotion. In the army you are trained to be disciplined and always ready to respond. They’ll expect nothing less, and if there was you would be punished or chucked out, simply as! Well thankfully God won’t punish or throw us out of his grace but I do believe he expects the same reaction. This wanted response is one of readiness when saying “here I am” Moses was ready to do God’s will. In all honesty I find this quite awe inspiring, don’t you? If we were to learn anything from Moses it would be his readiness to obey. From these three simple words we can take great example and can challenge our responses to God.

Proverbs puts it beautifully when it states:

“Blessed is the man who listens to me, awake and ready for me in the morning, alert and responsive as I start my days work”- (Proverbs 8:34 The Message)

When being called by God we need to be awake (obviously!) and ready. My question is are you ready?

Coincidence, Einstein said, is God's Way of Remaining Anonymous

2008-06-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I am back in Essex now for the summer, which is nice! I like being home having everyone around its nice. Looking for jobs which isn't as nice but hey! God will provide....and he has with interviews which is a blessing, so I am thankful.

Anyhoo....back to my blog. I hope you enjoyed the last one as I enjoyed writing it. This blog is probably the only blog that I have really struggled with, in a sense that I don't know the answer. Its not something that has shaken my faith or something that I have struggled with spiritually but it is it something that confuses me.

I have asked so many people about this topic of coincidences, whether they exist therefore meaning that God has a hand in everything or whether they do not in fact exist at all. There is one friend who I have had the biggest discussion with and he basically concluded that "he didn't care" which I feel maybe the right attitude towards this topic. However, I do think it should be given some thought. Before we begin properly I have already come to the conclusion that I am not going to find the answer, as there is absolute answer.

With this is mind I want to start by apologising, however hopefully this blog will raise some interesting questions in your head and I pray through this you will seek to know God's will and purpose. For this blog in particular I have undertaken some immense research! I asked about twenty people, this is market research and my solid research I have gone through and read about six other people's blogs hoping this will shed some light but as of yet it hasn't, and the little in voice inside of me is saying that it isn't going to. Sad times.

So, there types of definition of coincidences according to Google, one quite positive and one negative.
"an apparently chance or unlikely event which creates an unexpected and significant situation"
"an event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental"

The first definition is the nice meaning that coincidences have some positive or purposeful meaning, however the second suggests that could be seen as pre arranged but they weren't it was just one big accident.

One thing that the same friend suggested that I thought was pretty good, was that due to the fall and the consequences of sin things do happen that are out of God's plan, which could therefore be seen as coincidences. Yet situations which that have an effect on us spiritually or may advance the kingdom then they are God.

This is a good opinion and no he isn't going to get a shout out, but thanks anyway. I would have stolen it as my own but I know he reads these so I wouldn't be able to get away with it. It is an interesting concept, maybe at the time we see it as a coincidence but later on we realise a purpose. We have to remember coincidence is a man made concept there is no where in the bible that suggests coincidence as everything was perfectly crafted by God.

It is becoming clear to me now that the term coincidences doesn't really affect a Christian but when asking a non-christian their responses are interesting. Quotes such as "well I think everything happens for a reason" or "yeh somethings are coincidences". It is pretty obvious they are not going to say well I believe if it advances God's kingdom.... but it is important that they note some events are unexplainable. I think as Christians its these events are opportunity for us to share our opinions i.e. evangelise!

Coincidence does run parralle with God's plan and I believe that we can determine a difference we to stick close to him and constantly seek his purpose and will.
I am going to leave you with a verse from proverbs that hopefully will make you think. I pray that you draw close to God so his will is evident.

"In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps" **---Proverbs 16:9---**

Til next time!
xx

Listening to God

2008-06-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh!! It has been so long since I have written on here!!! Crazy stuff!!!

I have just (FINALLY!) bought a laptop cable, which means my laptop is now working! Yay! Tis exciting times!

Man! So much has been going on in the last two months, God has been really working. I think what I want to talk about is how to listen to God. I have recently been thinking a lot about the power of the mind and the power of suggestion, and how this can sometimes lead us to think this is God's will or this is isn't what God wants. We can get caught up in our own desires or fears so something which may seem good at the time can get caught up with what God really wants.

There are so many encounters throughout the old testament in which people listening or did not listen to God. Moses, David, Abraham etc etc....
As then, it still so important that we are craving for God to speak to us and with that we need to ensure we are softening our hearts so our ears can listen.
One of my favourite books in the Bible is Ecclesiastes (I would like it to be known that at the moment my i-tunes is not changing songs, so I was listening to Saviour but now its stuck on Shayne Ward's Hang Up. Bad times!!! I don't even know how this is on my i pod. For the record its a really bad song!!!!! Argh!! Oh wait its working!! Change songs!!! Woop!)

Anyhooo...back the the issue...Ecclesiastes. Yeh! I love it. Although it is very morbid, for example " Everything is meaningless" Eccles 4:21. However, if you delve into the scripture it has some amazing points about how we need to live our lives, notice I didn't say should be how we need to lead our lives.

The area that I am going to look at is Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. Titled "Stand in Awe of God", so you're already expecting some heavy stuff. I am going copy and past this part of scripture just because I am cool like that!

"Stand in Awe of God
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
3 As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God."

I added the emphasis for efftect. Just incase you wondered!

Wow! There is a lot here and to be honest sometimes this can be hard to understand. It is very easy to read the bible and take it the way you you want and not what God wants. I know I do that a lot.

We are told that when we enter the presence of God that we should be careful. We should be waiting and willing to listen to God. The first step to listening to God is the act of submission. If we stroll right in there with our own ideas and preceptions then it is very unlikely that what we are in the right frame of mind to listen. It is the same with any form of listening, in an arguement with your girlfriend/boyfriend, if you're convinced already and have your set attitude you're never going to listen to what they have to say, as your mind is already made up. When listening to God we need to become objective, the one thing I have learnt at uni is that everything is subjective. Every piece of literature I have read or lecture I have listened to has had somewhere someones opinion inflicted upon it. This is why it is so important to become submissive when attempting to listen to God so our own subjective self is not imparted upon God's words.
I do love it when it says "go near to listen" because its like a beckoning call to us. If we are not near to God then we are not going to be able to listen to him. We do this by spending time with him, starting changing areas so our lives become God honouring.

Maybe the writer himself struggled with keeping his mouth shut! As he instructs us that we shouldn't be "quick with your mouth, do not be hasty with your heart". The human emotions are an powerful force, especially girls! Man! Sometimes being a girl is awesome but sometimes it sucks a little! Althought we don't like to admit it we are a lot more emotional than guys. Fact. Sometimes our emotions can overcome what God wants, however, I do believe that emotions are a good indicator to the workings of God. There has been a number of times in which I have prayed for certain emotions to go away and thankfully God has blessed that, but the times where God didn't take away the emotion and in hindsight there was a purpose for that. So please don't dismiss emotions, God wouldn't bless us with emotions if they weren't to be used. The writer is simply saying be careful because sometimes we say things that are not exactly what God is pressing on our hearts.

It is pretty cool how the writer reminds you that God is in Heaven, although you may simply being thinking "well der!" he continues by stating "and you are on Earth so let you words be few" meaning that God is a higher being than you and somtimes it is essential just to listen. Not kinda sit there with a massive list of thank yous, asks and guidance requests but simply just sit there and be reminded that God is God.

It is pretty awesome stuff.

Once we've listened to God what then, I hear you cry! Well thankfully the writer answers this quite sweetly. Well kinda?! He starts to discuss vows we make to God. According to my study bible, at the time a vow was MASSIVE! Once a vow has been made it shouldn't be broken. So once we believe we have listened to God we then to ensure the instructions we've recieved need to be carried out. There is no point listening if we have no intention of carrying it out!

There are words of caution through this message. Just because the message we may have heard is strong and seems good, we need to to ensure and persue. Just as quickly we enter something we shouldn't ask quickly leave it. Like the writer says "do not be hasty" and this needs to be taken into consideration when we believe we've heard God, as sometimes the Devil's words can become louder and seem easier.

I encourage you to seek God's guidance and just simply listen to what he has to say.

Til next time!!

xx

Younguns!

2008-04-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

'Ight!

Currently I am sitting in the library with the burden of a 10,000 word dissertation about mass popular religion in the Middle Ages...so what to I do I write a blog. It is clearly my LAST distraction. I have been at this computer since 10am and its now 1.11pm...I have achieved nothing. Meh!? I'll get it done.

I was watching a Soul Survivor behind the scenes video on their website and it had clips from their summer festivals. Was interesting to watch what goes on behind the scenes to be honest but the bit that really got me *not lying* near tears was this clip, where the camera did a sweep of the front row. The kids in it must of been about 13-15 years old and it got to the chorus of love came down and this one boy just threw both hands in the air as a praise, thanksgiving to his saviour. It was just so beautiful.

I have seen so many more youth get passionate that I have adults. I think personally in one sense that is amazing but in another it is sad. It maybe because of the current society we live in that its it "cool" or "common" to be passionate and events like SS encouraging it, to many of our young people it is encouraged to raise our hands and go mental! Is this a bad thing? It certain situations no! Not at all...I think SS have a good balance of both loud going mental to beign quiet and reflective.
1 John 2:28 "[ Children of God ] And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming"

Here it is clear that it is saying that when Jesus returns we will be unshamed and confident in him. There is nothing wrong with starting that in our daily lives and this includes in our worship.

I think christians struggle with the constant change in trying to keep church contemporary and dare I say it fasionable! Especially concerning youth, in all honesty there are so many "fun" things for teenagers to consume themselves with that the church needs to look as "fun" in order God to save them. I think this is a huge burden upon the modern church of today the need to constantly change in order to accomodate the everchanging society. The most amazing thing about this though is that although society changes God never does.
In Isaiah 40:28 it says this.
""Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom."

This amazing. So no matter how much we change and how much society change God never does. This is inspiring. So we need to keep changing in order to keep up with the current society but our God will always be the same and our God will always save.

What does this mean to our young people? I think sometimes the older people in the body of Christ look down upon on the youth and maybe think they are slightly incapable?! Obviously, I am slightly bias as a youth leader and kinda pretty young myself, however(!) there are churches were the youth are a separate organisation and may not be consider to be part of the church. I think it is really sad because firstly, its not good relationships for the people themselves and secondly, its not biblical at all. There is no where in the bible that it states to keep the young and old separate (if I am wrong please prove to me).

Paul writes Timothy 4:11-13
"11Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching."

The key part I take from this is but set an example. It says don't let people look down on you but doesn't say get in a mood or dislike them for it but it says set an example. We can do this by devoting ourselves and showing this example in our speech, life, love, faith and purity. Showing this in all aspects of our lives. Just because we are young does not mean we are incapable of being a person going for God. Paul understand this and God knows this otherwise we wouldn't be blessed with opportunities to use our god-given gifts.

Thats all because its lunch time!!! woop!!

Til next time!

xx

Oit You! Believe in Jesus or Else?!

2008-04-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Heyhey!

I thought the title itself might cause a bit controversy but is the wrong way to evangelise?

Sooo I am on the topic of evangelism. A word which scares some and excites others. Is there a correct way to evangelise?

I have friends who would only ever mention they go to church if asked and some who try to inject Jesus into pretty much every sentence. Which one is advancing the kingdom? Are they both or are they both pushing people further and further away?

Questions, Questions, Questions...Answers, Answers, Answers.

In Matthew 28 it is titled as the Great Commission. The words commission can also mean assignment. Its like Jesus is our MI5 boss giving us a mission, if we chose to accept. He says in Matt28

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations"

Firstly, 'therefore go' is like an immediate start. It doesn't say ok wait and if you fancy it. Its a command. The therefore is after Jesus tells his disciples that he has the authority and power of Heaven and Earth so therefore go. If Jesus was our MI5 its like them saying I have the authority of Gordon Brown and the whole of the house of commons. The authority of heaven and earth so because he has that authority he has the right to tell us what to do now. Now that his physical presence is no longer there what do we do while we wait for him to return.

The next think Jesus wants his disciples to do is to baptise them. This is to make sure people show a public declaration of their faith, a genuine faith.

Finally he tells them to teach them. Often we too often think that as long as they say that little prayer our job is done! Woohoo! Thats 6 converts this week! Beat that J John! Jesus says that we need to make sure that the people we are evangelise to we are teaching them as well not just saying that prayer. If it means become their discipler or making sure they know what they are confirming to.

I am currently reading Acts because I have never fully read it and I am interested in the early church. I think the people who started the early church were the ultimate post-Jesus evangelist. I think the key thing they achieved when Evangelising was adapting to their surroundings. They used the circumstances, they seized their opportunities. When Peter heals a beggar in the early part of the book he uses that to glorify god and to make known why they are doing what they are doing in a apt way. when offered money they refuse as they are doing it for God not for money. (Acts 3). Straight after he gives the J John evangelistic preach the crowd. Even in the face of persecution they are proclaiming Jesus' name.
To make sure we are ensuring that we are good evangelists we need to ensure we are seizing opportunities and adapting to our surroundings.

Do we ignore or not notice opportunities?

There are so many times that I could have explored the gospel with someone but not because I didn't notice or I simply couldn't be bothered. It is shameful to think that I could have helped the conversion of someone but didn't because I was worried what they would think or because I wasn't in the mood to express the work of Christ.
Jesus says in Luke 9:26 says that 'if anyone is ashamed of me and my words the son of man will be ashamed of them'
Even as we get older we can be ashamed of what we believe in, maybe due to the fear of not being accepted or simply because people might laugh at you. I honestly believe them people that we fear are those that need to be evangelised to the most.

I think that sometimes we ignore and are ignorant to opportunities but I challenge you to be more aware of these situations and opportunities because you maybe the only Jesus they will ever see.

What makes a good evangelism?

Is the day of the street preacher over? What about door knocking?
I personally think street preachers are not very successful. However, I may be wrong! Please prove to me that I am. Sometimes Christian get a bad rep from street preachers. Especially the guys that stand in London, I once got told that I was going to hell because I had ignored him. Then another time when I replied preaching to the converted I got a massive hallelujah screamed at me, so I have learnt a friendly nod is all that is needed. There are some street preachers who work very hard and seem to get a very keen audience and Jesus often spoke to big groups about his work as did the apostles in Acts.
However, Jesus often just hung out with people. Just loving them and I personally believe this is the best form of evangelism. Just to love. The gospel and the act of salvation is love and the reason Jesus died was to satisfy God's wrath, he was annoyed because he loves us so much, so why not just show that. If we show love it leads to questions. If we just share at the beginning of friendships that we are Christian people will be respectful and we can just love them hoping God will one day lead to an opportunity.

Ephesians 5:1
'1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us'

This is a long blog so I am going to go but I don't think I am finished on Evangelism..
I think I just need to be more aware of the opportunities and not be afraid to evangelise.

Till next time! xxx

p.s. I haven't proof read because its 2am so apologises for any grammar mistake!

Love Blove Dove McNuv

2008-04-03T05:08:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey!

Its been a while but I honestly haven't had the time to write these bad boys but I have a spare bit of time before I crack on with my essay!

Since my last blog I have bought a rabbit called Hiliary and she is the little light of my life. haha! I will post a picture and maybe you'll understand why. I am going to become one of the crazy people who love their pets too much but hey! All she does is eat and run around not very exciting, except the other day I thought I could trust her in the room on her own whilst I slept but nope she ran into my face just before I feel asleep sooo that isn't happen again. As I write she is smelling everything. As these blogs progress in years to come I might one day end up writing about a baby and hopefully the baby is a little more exciting that a rabbit. Who knows?!

Anyways, lets get on because I have given myself til half past to write this and its now 13:16 sooo lets go.

To be honest I wasn't going to write one today I was going to wait to the weekend but I was on Facebook (what else would I have been doing?!) and wishing someone a happy birthday. On this person page was the daily bible verse application. I have it too but mine never changes so I might change mine to the same as this persons. Anyway! This person has so much "rubbish" on their page so it takes four days to scroll to the bottom to find their wall, but I did come across this bible verse.

..:::.. Proverbs 19:22 ..:::..

What a man desires is an unfailing love

Last night at our youth group we were talking about Love and what it means. In the society we live in today the word is used so easily, and sadly so is the word hate. We say we love our families but we also we love that song. We say we love our boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband but we also so we love this tv show. We say we love our God but we also say we love chocolate. When we say love what do we mean? It is obvious when we say we love chocolate we don't mean we would die for a piece of chocolate or we would go to the ends of the earth for the last rolo, of course not! We merely mean that we do enjoy a good bit of cadburys dairy milk!

I think what proverbs is saying is true for everyone! Secular songs today are all about love, I mean all you need to do is listening to the first 3 songs of James Blunt's album! (To be honest I don't like James Blunt and don't have his album but I am going by what he has released). As a human race we are made to be loved, we are made to love others and we are made to love our God. The word that strikes me there is the word unfailing.

1 Corinthians 13: 8

Love never fails.

So no matter what happens true love never fails. I think it is hard to understand that if we think about everything!!! It NEVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER fails. Then question begs are we as human capable of true love? The act of salvation is unfailing love. If we understand the salvation then I think we have the capability to understand love. I am not saying that those who aren't christians don't understand love and can't experience love. I think as a Christian that you have a better understanding on love.

Love never fails means that nothing can stop it. God's love for us means that nothing can stop it. Nothing! Not one single act! Not a collection of acts! I don't know but that just amazes me!
As christians we are bombarded with Jesus loves you and God loves you but sometime we don't take in exactly what this means!

Paul says in Corinthians if we have all prophecy, tongues and faith but not love we are nothing. He explains that we should have faith, hope and love but the greatest needs to be love. How can we be a Christian without loving the people around us? This is one I struggle with because there are people that I don't like and Jesus is calling me to love our enemies! Meaning that we should love them like we love our friends. That is a challenge and one that I am still trying to achieve not very well but trying. It is easy to love people we care about but Jesus calls us to love those who as Peter from Family Guy says grind our gears.

The bible is quite specific to what love is and here is a list which I have taken from 1 corinthians 13

patient
Kind
does not envy
does not boast
is not proud
not rude
is not self seeking
not easily angered
keeps no records of wrongs
Love does not delight in Evil but rejoices in the truth
always protects
always trust
Never fails

These qualities is exactly how God thinks about us. Amazing.

I can't wait to meet that person in which I can show these qualities to but for now I want to show these to the people in my life already. This includes people who I struggle with which is such a convinction. I challenge you to do the same. To love God means we have to love others.

Jesus gave us a new command in John 13:34

Love one another as I have loved you

That is the challenge for you. Love each other as Jesus loves you and the world will be transformed.

If Christians loved as Jesus lived the world would be turned upside down. (Tearfund)

Til next time!

Hollin

Worship---my first blog!

2008-03-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hello and Welcome to my Blog?!

This is my first official blog! How exciting! I started doing them on myspace but myspace then kinda fizzled out and its all about Facebook! I sometimes don't think Facebook is the way forward for blogs but who knows I may import them onto it!

I love writing my thoughts its kinda like a diary but for general view. My previous blogs were God blogs and I think I am going to continue that because I get so passionate that I have to express it somehow and I think this is the way to channel that excitement! haha!

Firstly, I think it would be best to explain who I am! My name is Hollin (like Colin with a H!). I am 19 and I am at uni studying history. I am youth leader for my church at uni and loving it! I work with the best youth team and God is working hard there, which is amazing. I am originally from Romford, Essex but studying in Canterbury (HUGE culture shock!haha!). I have amazing family and friends! One random fact: I love lemon curd but don't buy as much as I should. I am a devout christian and love my God more than life itself. I want to praise his name and I want everything I do to be for his glory.

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Okkkk! Lets get going! I'll try not to rabbit on too much!

I thought what can I write my first blog on? I was listening to 'Here I am to Worship' by Tim Huges earlier on today and now again because I tried to listen to 'Shout to the Lord' but it was a really bad version so I couldn't. This particular song gets me so passionate to praise my God and live my life as a worship to him.

Worship is becoming a bit of a taboo word as people are unsure what it means and scared of using in case its taking in the wrong context etc etc...
The definition of Worship (thanks to Google!):

a feeling of profound love and admiration
giving reverent attention to God
The paying of religious reverence, as in prayer, praise

In these definitions alone there are a so much we can take as what worship is. The biggest problem with people's confusion about worship is that it is just singing. Something we do at the beginning of church or when we attend something like Soul Survivor. This isn't what the bible teaches. We will go onto that later.

There is the praise which is something I will go onto later but then there is reverence element, which can be overlooked by some but the over used by others. God is something that we should be in awe of and with awe comes respect and with respect comes reverence. The act of stillness and of admiration is one that could bring as much glory to him than as if we screamed I LOVE JESUS at the top of a hill. Often God will speak through the quiet moments. 1 Peter 3:4 says this it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight'. He is talking about women in this passage but I do think it is relevant for everyone.

To me worship is our whole lives. From waking up in the morning to saying nightly prayers and everything in between. The conversations we have, the help with gives friends or family and the unseen kind acts we do. Of course, worship through song is still worship and is not a separate act from the others.

In terms of worship through song it is often referred to as praise because it is an obvious outward sign of worship. Praise means giving glory, gratification and thanks. I love worshipping God through this way because it can be a time that you completely lose yourself and completely submit yourself to God. The bible has a lot to say about this type of worship. The obvious example is the Pslam, a complete book of lyrics! There are so many acts of praise through the old testament and the new testament.

In Nehemiah, Ezra the scribe was asked bring the book of Law of Moses and this is what happened as he went to read it:

Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:5)

This event in the bible is amazing because it was a time when they were realising their mistakes and Nehemiah having Ezra re-read the God's word just reaffirmed their love for God. So much so that they just wanted to repent and praise him. The two contrast of lifting their hands then falling facedown just proved how they wanted to present themselves physically to God. Its two acts of submission, reaching to God then becoming reverent by bowing. I think that it doesn't mean you're worshipping God better if you raise your hands or bow but I find it hard to justify true praise when there is no outward passion. I am not one to say ooo he is not worshipping because his hands are in his pocket or she isn't praising the Lord because her hands are not waving like banners. Jesus says in John 4 that the true worshippers worship in spirit and truth, so as long as our praise is like that it is glorifying to God. The people in Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah were broken and God needed to break them by reading his word and in response it was an outlash of physical praise, something in which I believe most Christians will experience.

The pslams tell us worship the Lord, with joyful songs. (pslam 100:2) which is something that as a church body we need to do more of. I think some churches there is too much Joy and not enough reflection, but in others there isn't enough Joy. I think people worry to much about their outward appearence, what the music will sound like or what will I sound like. If we let go of our inhabitions then joyful song will flourish and become natural.

In the new church is Acts there are constant references to their act of worship of them falling facedown, bowing and praising God.

In Romans 12:1 Paul says Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

This is God saying by siging praising to me isn't enough, our bodies are our everything. By offering our bodies as a living sacrifice it means giving our everything. This is making our outward appearance and acts pleasing to God but also our inner thoughts as a worship. By daily laying our desires down to ensure that we follow him. Putting in all our energy and trust into to let him guide us. This isn't easy and we are pretty sure that we are going to screw up. However, God is constantly there by putting people in our path to ensure that this is possible. We just have to submit and God's plan will soon be made clear.

This is the ultimate test of worship, it is very easy to go to church or a Christian festivals and sing a nice little song, in order to get the warm fuzzy feeling inside. Acting what we are siging is hard there is no doubt but if we continue that in our everyday lives that is gloryifying God. Worship is never to benefit us but fos God's. Psalm 115:1 Not for us, Lord Not for us but for your glory because of your love and faithfullness. If our lives are a worship then it is all for his glory which is exactly what worship is.

For his glory and his glory alone because everything we have is because of him.

Thanks for reading!

xxxx