Pray. Believe. Expect. Receive.

A few days ago I was just thinking back to a time at the church I used to go to. Every month or so we used to do a 24 hour continuous prayer session, where people would sign up in groups of about 3 or 4, to come and do a 2 hour slot. I remember my first session, me and my friend Alasdair went and did the 2am-4am slot. Man I was tired and so reluctant to get up and go pray at 2am!! But once I was down there them 2 hours just flew by! We were so caught up in prayer and we actually had fun praying at the small hours of the morning.

After a few months the pastors wife and close friend Evelyn announced we were going for something bigger... 7 days of continuous prayer. I wasn't sure if there would be enough people to sign up to doing 7 days of continuous prayer at our church, or even if people would be willing. But the sheet went round, and people signed up and sure enough the week was filled.

Towards the end of week it was announced that we were going to extend it for another week. And then towards the end of that week we were extending it to a month. I saw a pattern emerging!!

So days became weeks, weeks became months, then months turned into years. For over a year we had continuous prayer at our church 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!! We saw amazing things happen in this time, we heard of countless friends, family members, and co-workers coming to the Lord. We heard of healings, broken marriages being restored, debts being repaid, people being blessed beyond anything the world could have provided, and numerous other miracles.

The times I spent in the prayer room at church doing my slot in the 24 hour prayer were some of my best memories of being at Church of the Harvest.

I just wanted to share with you, that prayer changes things!! God does not ignore prayer.

I'm going to do a couple of follow up blogs in the coming 2 weeks all regarding prayer, so keep checking back.

Pray. Believe. Expect. Receive.

It's time not just to talk the talk but to walk the walk!

"Most of the time, we are part of the answer to our own prayers. Don't pray for souls but refuse to open your mouth; don't cry out out for your families but never tell them about Jesus; don't intercede for hours if you can't even preach for a minute, and don't attend prayer meetings if you won't even invite people to church! It's time not just to talk the talk but to walk the walk!"

- Matthew Murray

(Shake The Nations www.shakethenations.com)

As we travel along life's path...

As we travel along life's path

Nothing ever stays the same,

All things must change at some time

Whether it be for ill or be for gain.

Yet, the one unchanging factor-

The greatest one of all-

Is that there is a mighty

Power that listens

To every human call.

It will comfort and sustain you

Whenever things go wrong,

It will take your hand and guide you

As life's path you walk along.

So, when dark clouds descend

Upon the path you tread,

Call upon this power to guide you

And it will light the way ahead.

Check out this great song I've recently discovered through a new reader to my blog. I love the imagery used in the video, offering up all our broken pieces, which are all fixed and put together in the bigger picture. Kinda clever really :-) enjoy!

Who am I in Christ?

I am...

• A child of God - Rom 8:16
• Forgiven - Eph 1:7
• Saved by grace through faith - Eph 2:8
• Redeemed from the hand of the foe - Psalms 107:2
• An heir of eternal life - 1 John 5:11-12
• Led by the spirit of God - Rom 8:14
• A new creation - 2 Cor 5:17
• Redeemed from the curse of the law - Gal 3:13
• Justified - Rom 3:1
• Kept in safety wherever I go - Isa 46:4
• Strong in the Lord and His mighty power - Eph 6:10
• Living by faith and not by sight - 2 Cor 5:7
• Rescued from the dominion of darkness - Col 1:13
• An heir of God and co-heir with Christ - Rom 8:17
• The light of the world - Matt 5:14
• Doing all things through Christ who gives me strength - Phil 4:13
• An imitator of God - Eph 5:1
• Healed by his wounds - 1 Pet 2:24
• Heir to the blessings of Abraham - Gal 3:14
• Being transformed by the renewing of my mind - Rom 12:2
• More than a conqueror - Rom 8:37
• Blessed with every spiritual blessing - Eph 1:3
• An overcomer by the blood of the lamb and the word of my testimony - Rev 12:11

I AM a child of God, a co-heir with Christ, bought and paid for AND if I have faith the size of a mustard seed, I can do great things for God. Amen.

From a parent to a child

I gave you life, but I can’t live it for you.
I can teach you things, but I can’t make you learn it.
I can try to give you direction, but I can’t take responsibility for it.
I can take you to church, but I can’t make you believe.
I can teach you to decide between right and wrong, but I can’t make the decision for you.
I can buy you beautiful clothes, but I can’t make you beautiful from the inside.
I can give you advice, but I can’t force you to take it.
I can teach you to be charitable, but I can’t make you unselfish.
I can give you advice on friends, but I can’t choose them for you.
I can teach you to respect, but I can’t teach you how to show honour.
I can teach you on children, but I can’t keep you a child.
I can tell about the facts of life, but can’t keep your reputation.
I can tell you about alcohol, but I can’t say NO on your behalf.
I can warn you against drugs, but I can’t prevent you from using it.
I can tell you about high achievements, but I can’t achieve them for you.
I can tell you about goodness, but I can’t force you to be merciful.
I can warn you about sin, but I can’t set your standards for you.
I can love you as my child, but I can’t make you God’s child.
I can pray for you, but I can’t make you walk with God.
I can teach you about JESUS, but I can’t make JESUS your KING.
I can teach you about life, but I can’t give you eternal life

Site maintenance

Hi everyone, just to let you know the website will be undergoing a bit of maintenance this coming weekend so may be down for short periods of time. If you experience any trouble getting onto the website at any point this weekend please try it again in a few hours.

The main reason for the maintenance is moving my blog to a new blogging platform, so anyone who has previously subscribed to my RSS feed will need to re-subscribe in 4-5 days once the move is complete, as the old feed will no longer continue to be used.

Apart from that everything will remain the same (including the website address), and we should have a nice fresh new look coming to the website real soon :-)

Confused

Hey all, Just a quick update. There's been no posts on here for just over a week because I've had a bad case of tonsillitis and been in hospital for the last 4 days having antibiotics. I'm home now though so seem to be over the worst of it and I'm feeling better everyday.

Apart from that I've been pretty exhausted mentally and emotionally too these last few weeks. Can't really go into detail on the blog. I'm just really confused and don't know what to do, really need some direction and help.

Would really appreciate you guys keep me in your prayers at moment. God will find a way.

Love you all, God bless :-)

It Takes But a Moment to Find Salvation

This guest post is contributed by Karen Anderson, who writes on the topic of online christian colleges .  She welcomes your comments at her email: karen.anderson441@gmail.com

I come from a religious family, one that prays together and attends church regularly. But somewhere along the way, I lost my faith. It was not that I became a non-believer; rather, life took its own course and I drifted along in the direction that it took me. When I moved away to college, it was like discovering a hitherto new world that I had never seen before, and I guess the newness and excitement got to my head and changed me completely. I became a totally different person, someone who forgot all about religion and my connection with God and who just wanted to experience all that life had to offer.

And so it was that I partied and tried pretty much everything that had been missing from my life all these years. But then, after a year or so of this totally erratic and confusing behavior, I became disillusioned. I woke up one day and stood in front of the mirror with a heavy hangover, but I didn’t really recognize the person staring back at me. I was but a shadow of my formal self; the booze and the nightlife had taken its toll and left only a shell in place of my body and soul. I didn’t like what I saw, and I hated what I had become.

I didn’t go to class that day; instead, I curled up on my bed and cried my heart out. I cried for my boyfriend from high school who had broken up with me because he did not like the person I had become. I cried for my parents who were shocked and disappointed when they came to visit me the first time (which was also their last visit as I had ordered them to stay away). But most of all, I cried for myself because I knew I wanted to change but did not know if my loved ones would believe me and take me back.

It was late afternoon when a thought finally snuck into my head – my grandmother had once told me that reading a random verse from the Bible always helped calm her when she was mentally troubled. So I dug my untouched Bible from the back of my cupboard and opened it up. A piece of paper fell down; I picked it up and found a prayer written in my mom’s handwriting. The Bible was hers, one that she took to college as a teenager all those years ago.

The prayer was titled Footprints in the Sand and told the story of a person who was taking a look back at his life with God beside him. At every point of his life, he saw two sets of footprints in the sand, one his, and the other the Lord’s. He knew that God was walking beside him and supporting him as he went through life. But in his darkest hours and most troubling periods, he saw that there was only one set of footprints. He asked the Lord why He had forsaken him in his hours of greatest need. And God replied, “My son, I did not forsake you. I carried you on my shoulders when you were down and troubled because you did not have the strength to walk on your own”.

I burst into tears again when I reached the end, but they were tears that cleansed. And it was at that second that I knew I had found salvation.

Praying for patience...

"If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? ...If he prayed for courage, does God just 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?"

- God to Joan in the movie "Evan Almighty"

I watched the movie Evan Almighty the other day (a film I have seen many times before), and it is definitely a film I can recommend. Although the theme for the film is loosely based around a Christian bible story (Noah's Ark),  it isn't entirely a "Christian" film as such. But having said that, the above quote is an amazing inspirational message and comes at a point in the film where Evan's wife Joan has given up all hope and thinks her husband has completely lost the plot, so decides to move her and the kids out of the house and go away for a while. During this time God appears to her posing as a waiter and gives the above speech to her.

And although the above quote was ultimately written by the movie screen writers, it has a lot of truth behind it. When we are going through hard times in our life it isn't times when God is neglecting us. It's those times when God is paying more close attention to us than ever as he is working on us! I've been going through a lot the last 5-6 months or so and have been wondering "why", and found the answer while watching a movie!!! God is preparing me, building me up, equipping me with essential life skills that I need!!

"You don't become a skilled sailor by going out on calm waters"

...so although I feel like it hasn't been all smooth sailing recently, I'm thankful because I know that God is building me into who he needs me to be, and has an awesome plan for my life, just like each and every one of you :-)

Have an awesome week everyone!!