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- Written by: DJ Dave
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Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’
How many times have you looked back on things and wondered why you doubted in the first place?
Can you remember facing a difficult task, doubting, having fear only to put it all behind you when you realised you could actually do it after all?
Jesus is calling us to do things which we may not have thought about. He is asking us to do things by trusting in Him.
Not just in part, but fully and without fear.
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Matthew 14:27 But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’
So many times in our lives Jesus is calling out to us and saying “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
So many times we take our eyes off of the Lord and fixate on the world, losing sight of His power and might!
Every time we feel on edge or ill at ease we should be calling out to Jesus and asking for His courage to sustain us in our time of distress.
And when we are feeling good, we need to call out to Him and praise Him for our comfort!
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Matthew 14:20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Our imaginations are limited to what we know and what we see. It is often very difficult to think beyond what we know and see…
God has no limitations because He knows and sees everything already!
When the disciples who were following Jesus saw the abundance of provision at times like this, they must have wondered how it was possible.
When we ask God for help, it should not be within the limits of what we can do but without any limits because God can do everything!
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- Written by: DJ Dave
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1 Kings 19:20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’ ‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’
Is God calling you into a difficult position, or in a position which seems totally alien to you?
I know when I first was called into youth ministry I could not imagine anything worse than having to try and control a bunch of teenagers!
But God called me to love them and show them a different way of living by allowing them insight into God’s ways.
We may find it hard to think people can change because we see them do terrible things – but God can change hearts more than we realise!
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- Written by: DJ Dave
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Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
One of the things you learn from being a parent is you are able to forgive your children no matter what they do.
When you child comes to you and is truly sorry for what they have done, your heart melts and forgiveness flows out of your heart.
I expect God is like that with us, though the older I get, the more I try not to do the things wrong in the first place… that comes from being a parent and seeing the same things happen with your children which you got up to as a child…
God sees beyond that and His love does not end… ever!
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Exodus 35:3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.
When God was speaking to Moses and giving him all the commandment they should follow, he made sure there should be no doubt.
Take this sentence for instance. He commanded them not to light a fire in their dwellings on the Sabbath. He said this so they would not have an excuse to make a quick meal whilst nobody was watching!
God wanted them to rest in Him on the Sabbath. That meant stopping everything and relying on God for a day.
Yes, they could pre-prepare meals and things, but He wanted them to make a point about keeping the Sabbath for Him.
What is He asking you to stop?
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Exodus 34:1 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
“God is the God of second chances!” How many times have you heard that said by others?
Well, it continues to be said because it is true time and time again, over and over again!
We may think something like destroying God’s commandments, burning a bible or trashing God’s name may exclude us from heaven… not so!
God wants us to remember our mistakes but to put them behind us and move on in His love!
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Psalm 99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name - he is holy.
One of the greatest things I miss during these times is meeting together with a crowd of people and praising God in song!
It doesn’t stop me from singing to myself and listening to worship songs, but it is not quite the same.
We should be continuing to praise God, allow people to see we praise Him and better still, allow them to join in with our praise.
Praise can take many forms and does not need to be sung liturgy.
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John 5:47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?
One of the things I was taught which has stuck with me is the bible holds the truth about God… not just parts of it but the whole of it!
We have many scholars who have come before us who have gone over the scriptures and made sure they all agree with each other and have upheld them as the truth.
We need to read more and believe more so God can use us to continue spreading the gospel to those who need it most!
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Romans 8:10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
No matter how tangled up in the world we get, if we know God, we are able to break free from the world and live with Christ.
Yes, its hard. Yes we give in and do things we ought not to. Yes we break the rules… because we are human and we have sin in our lives.
But because we also have Christ in our lives, we can depend on Him and allow Him to strengthen us in the fight against the worldly things.
Because God made it so!
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Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Where is your heart set at? Where is your mind set at? Are you constantly worrying about earthly matters?
It may be easy for a Christian to say “think of spiritual things” but when you are drowning in earthly matters, all you can focus on are those things.
God wants you to stop thinking you have to do it all and give more to Him to manage and to release you from.
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John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done.’
What you say matters! Yes it does! People actually listen to what you say, especially when you tell them of the things which have happened in your life.
When you are honest with people and share your personal life with them, they will respect what you say and think about it.
Sharing what Jesus has done in your life is going to make a difference to the people around you because they will start to think about what Jesus can do for them.
The invitation is open!
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Luke 5:33 They said to him, ‘John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.’
OK, how often do you compare what you do as a church to how other churches do it, and how many of those times are you saying “but they don’t do it right!”?
Far too often we try to make the rest of the church/world behave how we want them to behave and not how God wants them to behave.
We use the literal words in the bible to show how others are doing it wrong instead of using what the Holy Spirit wants us to say to them.
Listening to the Holy Spirit is hardest when you are stuck in your own habits!
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Luke 5:31 Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill.’
Too often we look at our lives and we focus on the way we live rather than the way God wants us to live.
We take what we know and we run with it because it is what we know.
We don’t rock the boat because that would be harder to do, so we continue to do what we think is just ok to do…
God wants us to step forward in faith and to full grasp of what he has given us in our lives and use it to the full extent He has described for us to do!
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Romans 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ - I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit
No matter how down we feel or how oppressed we think our lives are, we need to remember loud and clear that God is with us every step of the way.
The Holy Spirit confirms this in your heart when you live your life with Him.
I don’t get tired of saying it because I know God wants more people to know He is with us.
I want people to know I have great joy in my life even when I have great sorrow!
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Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Whilst we should know that God has got our backs, we always worry when things loom over our heads...
We should know God is going to work things out for the best in the long run, but we still panic for the here and now things…
As long as we continue to love God and trust Him, He is faithful and Just to continue looking out for us and supplying our needs in a timely fashion.
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Psalm 119:149 Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
God will answer your prayers, not according to you wants, but according to your needs.
He has promised this to us and always keeps His promises. We can depend on that!
Lift up your prayers with a deep-set knowledge He is listening and He will answer them.
Don’t put conditions on your prayers but accept whatever God does for you, because that is what you need!
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Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.
The more we entangle ourselves with this world, the more we lose track of what God is doing in our lives and the lives of people around us.
The more we allow ourselves to rest in God’s grace and power, the more we see how much He does for us and how much He cares for us.
No matter how many things we do wrong, His love will continue to endure it all. No matter how much we push Him away, He is always there waiting for us to lift up our hand for help!
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Psalm 52:3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
When you look back on your life before you go to know Jesus, how much of it was filled with lies and other bad things?
I can honestly look back in my life and wonder what I was thinking of when I got into trouble walking away from God.
It all looks so simple when we know God and live with Him in our lives, but when we don’t know Him, we don’t have the foresight to see what is evil and what is good.
God wants you to know the difference by living with Him in your life.
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Psalm 52:1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
What do you boast about? What are the things which you want other people to know about you? Are they Godly or worldly?
God doesn’t want to hear all about your worldly gains and prowess because He has to watch you doing that all day long; things which are building yourself up instead of praising and glorifying God!
You may well be a worldly celebrity or hero, but that counts as nought compared to what you can do for God!