Hi there,
So asking God what He says about us is pretty easy to do if we're feeling like we could believe Him. Know what I mean? Maybe you've had a really good success at something, you feel like you look great today etc.
But I think the hard thing is, is to ask Him what He thinks when you feel like at your absolute worst. It's the small quiet voice that just whispers truth in your ear that really breaks me when I'm feeling low.
God tells me "You're amazing, you're precious, you're beautiful, you're kind, you're joyful" when I might not be feeling ANY of those things!
I thought a good thing to do perhaps would be to write some of these down on some post-its (gotta love post-its!) and stick them on the side of my desk near my bed so I would see them every morning.
To be honest this was really hard because often people hate to big themselves up. And I sat there with a pen in my hand thinking "I just don't know what to write without sounding big headed" but then God said, in the way that He does, you know, :P
"You're not being big headed, you're writing truth, do you really want to alter that for the sake of seeming modest?"
So HI I was challenged. But yeah, He just gave me words and phrases about myself and I wrote them down. This was actually really encouraging and I would reccommend you do something similar :)
The crazy thing is that little list was barely a handful of the things God says about me! I cannot even comprehend xD but I think I've said this before....
ANYWAY, be encouraged, God has lots of things to say about you too!
E.C.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Sweeter
Hey, so one of my friends who was leading worship at a camp I was at (yep, yet another story!) introduced the band to a song called Sweeter by David Fitzgerald (check it out!) and I immediately loved the melody and everything but didn't really pay attention to the words.
But recently the song was brought back to my mind and I listened to the words and it's been stuck in my head for the past couple of days XD
Basically what I was thinking through it is how God is teaching me things and he brought it to me in a sort of picture.
So I imagine God as a LOT taller than me as you would imagine, and I'm in a crowd of people, all of whom are taller than me but not as tall as God. I'm at some form of music concert but I'm right near the back of the crowd but desperately wanting to get to the front. I begin to push my way through the crowd creating a path for myself. Now, I think that by going between these people would be the best way to get to the front. However, God who is taller and with a "higher perspective" can see that actually if I go this way I'll get to the front a better way. It's just up to me to trust Him :)
E.C.
But recently the song was brought back to my mind and I listened to the words and it's been stuck in my head for the past couple of days XD
Basically what I was thinking through it is how God is teaching me things and he brought it to me in a sort of picture.
So I imagine God as a LOT taller than me as you would imagine, and I'm in a crowd of people, all of whom are taller than me but not as tall as God. I'm at some form of music concert but I'm right near the back of the crowd but desperately wanting to get to the front. I begin to push my way through the crowd creating a path for myself. Now, I think that by going between these people would be the best way to get to the front. However, God who is taller and with a "higher perspective" can see that actually if I go this way I'll get to the front a better way. It's just up to me to trust Him :)
E.C.
Friday, 2 September 2011
He Gives Us What We Need
Hi!
This one is about God's provision so I'm going to tell you a few stories :D woop!
1. So I don't know if you've ever seen Evan Almighty? Basically there's a scene where the main character's wife is sitting in a restaurant with her three children having left her husband because he has seemingly gone a bit mad trying to build some ark. The waiter comes over and starts talking to her. She talks about her situation a little bit and they start talking about God. What she doesn't realise is, that the guy she is talking to actually is God. He says this awesome quote,
"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"
Such an opportunity came to me and my friend the other day to be patient. We had just made the most delicious looking carrot cake and once we had made a lot of butter icing ready to put on the cake. We knew we should wait until the cake had coolled down to put the icing on it otherwise the icing would melt, but the cake just looked so inviting and after a while we decided to put the icing on it. The cake looked nice for all of about 10 seconds until we realised that the icing was beginning to slide off the top of the cake and pool around the outside of the plate xD it didn't look so delicious then! We definitely should have waited :S
But the good thing that came out of that experience was that we would learn for next time to wait for the cake to cool down. God gave us the experience to equip us for the future! How cool??!
2. Changing the type of story now to a quick one from the Bible. I've not actually got one with me now but I will try and tell it the best I can.
There are SO MANY stories of God's provision in the Bible but I've chosen this one, not because it's better or anything but just because I really like it and it's the first one I thought of :P
It's the story of Esther. To cut a long story short, the king is looking for a wife and asks that all the beautiful "maidens" are brought to him so he can consider them to marry. Esther's uncle Mordecai, sends her forward as she is beautiful and has a gentle and intelligent personality. As you can guess Esther is picked and becomes queen. Unfortunately there is a man called Haman who is an advisor of the king. Haman has a quarrel with Mordecai and plots to get rid of him. Haman appeals to the king and asks that all the people that are the same religion to this man should be killed. Haman said that the group of people were against the king and in those days to kill people that were against the king was totally acceptable. So the King agreed unaware that it also included his wife, Esther. Mordecai got word of this plot and told Esther that she needed to do something! So Esther arranged a banquet and invited Haman along to the King and Queen's dinner table. It was there that she revealed to the King, Haman's wicked plot and that the order included killing her! In the end, Haman ended up being hung in the same gallows he had built for Mordecai.
The point is that, to do what she was called to do: save her people, Esther needed to be queen. To be queen she needed to have the right qualities for the king to want to marry her. God's plan was in it right down to the fine details. This is so comforting to know in the world today that God knows what we need and he provides us with it.
3. Again, at this camp I went to, there was a moment when I left the meeting and went to sit outside on a swing. I'd been feeling pretty emotional what with various things that had come up during the week and I just felt like I needed to sing it out. So after considering it for a while and thoroughly checking no one else was around! I started to sing my heart song to God. It was a really precious time but I didn't really feel like I was making much difference until my mind started wandering back to the meeting I was missing, There had been talk of angels and I wondered if I was missing amazing stuff happening. But then as I closed my eyes I felt God saying why to do you need to be in a meeting? I continued to worship God and as I did I felt the presence of an also worshipping angel on the swing next to me. It may have been the wind or even me having nudged it but when I opened my eyes I saw that the opposite swing was also swinging.
It was the cue I needed to keep on worshipping my Father and after it I felt completely at peace and like I had really let some things out and found a special place with God. God sent the worshipping angel down so that I would be spurred on to continue worship and just generally be with God. Perhaps if I hadn't felt that presence I may have walked away sooner?
I don't know why God sometimes does things but I can trust in Him that he totally has my back and uses it for the better :)
Just conisder any times like that in your life, you may be surprised!
E.C
This one is about God's provision so I'm going to tell you a few stories :D woop!
1. So I don't know if you've ever seen Evan Almighty? Basically there's a scene where the main character's wife is sitting in a restaurant with her three children having left her husband because he has seemingly gone a bit mad trying to build some ark. The waiter comes over and starts talking to her. She talks about her situation a little bit and they start talking about God. What she doesn't realise is, that the guy she is talking to actually is God. He says this awesome quote,
"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"
Such an opportunity came to me and my friend the other day to be patient. We had just made the most delicious looking carrot cake and once we had made a lot of butter icing ready to put on the cake. We knew we should wait until the cake had coolled down to put the icing on it otherwise the icing would melt, but the cake just looked so inviting and after a while we decided to put the icing on it. The cake looked nice for all of about 10 seconds until we realised that the icing was beginning to slide off the top of the cake and pool around the outside of the plate xD it didn't look so delicious then! We definitely should have waited :S
But the good thing that came out of that experience was that we would learn for next time to wait for the cake to cool down. God gave us the experience to equip us for the future! How cool??!
2. Changing the type of story now to a quick one from the Bible. I've not actually got one with me now but I will try and tell it the best I can.
There are SO MANY stories of God's provision in the Bible but I've chosen this one, not because it's better or anything but just because I really like it and it's the first one I thought of :P
It's the story of Esther. To cut a long story short, the king is looking for a wife and asks that all the beautiful "maidens" are brought to him so he can consider them to marry. Esther's uncle Mordecai, sends her forward as she is beautiful and has a gentle and intelligent personality. As you can guess Esther is picked and becomes queen. Unfortunately there is a man called Haman who is an advisor of the king. Haman has a quarrel with Mordecai and plots to get rid of him. Haman appeals to the king and asks that all the people that are the same religion to this man should be killed. Haman said that the group of people were against the king and in those days to kill people that were against the king was totally acceptable. So the King agreed unaware that it also included his wife, Esther. Mordecai got word of this plot and told Esther that she needed to do something! So Esther arranged a banquet and invited Haman along to the King and Queen's dinner table. It was there that she revealed to the King, Haman's wicked plot and that the order included killing her! In the end, Haman ended up being hung in the same gallows he had built for Mordecai.
The point is that, to do what she was called to do: save her people, Esther needed to be queen. To be queen she needed to have the right qualities for the king to want to marry her. God's plan was in it right down to the fine details. This is so comforting to know in the world today that God knows what we need and he provides us with it.
3. Again, at this camp I went to, there was a moment when I left the meeting and went to sit outside on a swing. I'd been feeling pretty emotional what with various things that had come up during the week and I just felt like I needed to sing it out. So after considering it for a while and thoroughly checking no one else was around! I started to sing my heart song to God. It was a really precious time but I didn't really feel like I was making much difference until my mind started wandering back to the meeting I was missing, There had been talk of angels and I wondered if I was missing amazing stuff happening. But then as I closed my eyes I felt God saying why to do you need to be in a meeting? I continued to worship God and as I did I felt the presence of an also worshipping angel on the swing next to me. It may have been the wind or even me having nudged it but when I opened my eyes I saw that the opposite swing was also swinging.
It was the cue I needed to keep on worshipping my Father and after it I felt completely at peace and like I had really let some things out and found a special place with God. God sent the worshipping angel down so that I would be spurred on to continue worship and just generally be with God. Perhaps if I hadn't felt that presence I may have walked away sooner?
I don't know why God sometimes does things but I can trust in Him that he totally has my back and uses it for the better :)
Just conisder any times like that in your life, you may be surprised!
E.C
Prophetic Singing
Hey there :D
So recently I've been on yet another camp but this time I was a leader, which was exciting :) I love to sing and it's something I've always been encouraged in to practise so I can worship God with it but the prophetic (basically hearing from God what He tells us to do or what is coming next) it is something I have always been a bit fearful of if I'm honest. Mainly just, "what if it's wrong, and everyone thinks I'm ungodlyor something.." etc. It sounds a bit silly but subconsicously that's what I'd be thinking and so I would hold back. Also, there's the worry that I would sound really out of tune xD which would be EMBARRASSING!
But anyway,
through various camps and stuff I would meet people and older girs/women would really challenge me to open up my mouth and just sing. It actually was really intense when you'd be closing your eyes in worship and would open them to find one of the girls with a mike under my nose ordering me to "SING!" So I was pretty scared of it xD but despite it being scary at the time I actually learnt through it not to be scared of needing to share something but just see it as God singing through me. This year was the first year I've really taken my own initiative to just get up and sing what God is telling me to sing it. And when I really listened and obeyed that's when the song would touch people and they would hear God. Also, the whole out of tune thing, doesn't really matter! One time I sang out I thought I sounded horrendous but turns out that I didn't actually sound as bad as I thought. Even if I did, it wouldn't really matter just as long as God's message had got across :)
This isn't to boast it's to encourage anyone else with a similar gifting, or even a completely different one, not to hold back because God's word is never wrong and you are definitely more than likely to bring healing to a person with the prophetic. Another example of the prophetic was, at the camp I went to, quite a few of the leaders, myself included at some points, got into the habit of prophesying over each other every night. I think it's so incredbile to get into this "culture" of prophesy. I got some words that were so spot on and you can just TELL when something is from God. Yeah to begin with its a bit scary incase you're totally wrong but most of the time you won't be, and if you are, fair enough! We learn from our mistakes :)
Happy prophesying :D
E.C.
So recently I've been on yet another camp but this time I was a leader, which was exciting :) I love to sing and it's something I've always been encouraged in to practise so I can worship God with it but the prophetic (basically hearing from God what He tells us to do or what is coming next) it is something I have always been a bit fearful of if I'm honest. Mainly just, "what if it's wrong, and everyone thinks I'm ungodlyor something.." etc. It sounds a bit silly but subconsicously that's what I'd be thinking and so I would hold back. Also, there's the worry that I would sound really out of tune xD which would be EMBARRASSING!
But anyway,
through various camps and stuff I would meet people and older girs/women would really challenge me to open up my mouth and just sing. It actually was really intense when you'd be closing your eyes in worship and would open them to find one of the girls with a mike under my nose ordering me to "SING!" So I was pretty scared of it xD but despite it being scary at the time I actually learnt through it not to be scared of needing to share something but just see it as God singing through me. This year was the first year I've really taken my own initiative to just get up and sing what God is telling me to sing it. And when I really listened and obeyed that's when the song would touch people and they would hear God. Also, the whole out of tune thing, doesn't really matter! One time I sang out I thought I sounded horrendous but turns out that I didn't actually sound as bad as I thought. Even if I did, it wouldn't really matter just as long as God's message had got across :)
This isn't to boast it's to encourage anyone else with a similar gifting, or even a completely different one, not to hold back because God's word is never wrong and you are definitely more than likely to bring healing to a person with the prophetic. Another example of the prophetic was, at the camp I went to, quite a few of the leaders, myself included at some points, got into the habit of prophesying over each other every night. I think it's so incredbile to get into this "culture" of prophesy. I got some words that were so spot on and you can just TELL when something is from God. Yeah to begin with its a bit scary incase you're totally wrong but most of the time you won't be, and if you are, fair enough! We learn from our mistakes :)
Happy prophesying :D
E.C.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)