We have a lonely banner in my office. It is fairly big and was tied outside the With Love weekend at the entrance of the Pioneer Centre. It would make a great memory stuck up somewhere!! If you or your youth group want to win the with banner competition please answer the following question in the comment box below.

What were the two jingle verses for the With Love weekend?

I am amazed at how many people struggle to sleep at night. The exam period can be especially difficult for some to rest and relax with so much pressure on. The trouble is as you grow up the pressure of life does not slow down - so it is essential to learn to deal with it and stay feeling great.

I love this verse from Psalms 8:4

  I will lie down and sleep in peace,
       for you alone, O LORD,
       make me dwell in safety.

If we trust in him we will not worry about tommorrow. He wants the best for us and will do all he can to accomplish it. Even if the worst happened worry will not solve the issues or make them go away.

Here are some practical ways in which you can get some sleep. (CLICK ON SLEEEEEP!)

We are nearly finished on our write in down series.

If we write things down we will be more likely to do something about them. If we keep ideas and words in our head they remain fluffly and dreamlike. When we write stuff down they become solid and real. If we speak them out to someone then they become cemented in to our life and our friends will check up on us to see if we are doing something about it.

The bible says the man who build on the sand is he who hears the word but does nothing about it. Hearing is not the important thing - it is what we do that really counts!!!

When God speaks we know he doesn’t lie. If he says something about us or a situation we are in we know whatever he says will happen.

Let’s take  Abraham for example. God said to him that he would have a baby. He looked at his shrivelled 100 year old body, looked at his shrivelled wife who was past the menopause and thought mmmm looks like this will be a challenge! Although the situation looked extreemly difficult - it was not impossible. Because God had said it would happen Abraham chose to believe him and it did happen. Issaac was born!

We have a choice in life to believe the things we see with our eyes or to believe what God says is true. Isaac wasn’t born instantly - sometimes we have to wait in faith believing that what God said would happen is still going to happen. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean that there is no hope for it.

If we have a word from God we can stand in prayer before God knowing that it is truth. Some folk call it standing on the word - it is when you know the words from God are solid and true and it is everything elsewhere that is false. Faith is not believing what you see but being certain of what we can’t see. We pray, then, calling on God to do what he has promised: to save those friends that he has promised to, to heal that person he said he would and to change the situation he said he would.

The key to having a word - is listening. Have you heard God speak about things to you? It might be through other people or to you personally. Have you got God promises over your life? If not ask God for some - he doesn’t hide his plans from you, you are his friends.

We have been thinking about writing prophecies and words from God down and the the benifits of doing it. Today’s thought is how writing stuff down builds up our faith. Every time we have a prophecy and a word fulfilled it adds one more brick to our house of faith. We become taller, stonger, firmer and more mature.

In Jude’s letter verse 20 he shows us that it is our responsiblity to build ourself up. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (NIV) Although faith is a gift from God we also have a responsiblity to build our faith up in our lives. The Amplified version puts it like this “make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher”.  I don’t know about you - but I certainly want to go higher! To go higher I need to build my faith up, by hearing the word, by obedience and by reminding myself what God has done. What better way to remind yourself than by writing it down - that way you will never forget his greatness or goodness to you.

A man who was sent to jail 27 years ago for a murder he did not commit was released from prison today. Mr Hodgson said he was ecstatic at being freed.

Sean Hodgson, who is now 57, was charged for killing Teresa De Simone, 22, in Southampton 30 years ago and has paid for it with half of his life. Tests prove DNA from the scene was not his and police have now reopened the case. (click here for more)

Sean has been behind lock and key for more than half his life. He could not live his life free and full like the rest of us. It has made me think about my own life. I am free and can do as I please. Am I going to make my life count or waste it? It is my responsiblity to make the most of now.

God’s word is like onions (to quote Shrek) it has layers!! Just when you think a prophecy has been fulfilled you find it becomes relevant again at a later date.

Isaiah 45

 ² I will go before you
       and will level the mountains ;
       I will break down gates of bronze
       and cut through bars of iron.

 ³ I will give you the treasures of darkness,

       riches stored in secret places,
       so that you may know that I am the LORD,
       the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

This prophecy was given to Cyrus - the celebrated king of Persia. He magnificantly defeated the Babylonians, released the Isralites and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. He was saviour to the Israelites and released them back to their home towns. God fulfilled everything in this prophecy to him - he rode against the Babylonians breaking their bars of captivity.

I see this prophecy also fulfilled in all Jesus did. He was the chosen saviour who broke through the bonds of death and hades and brought freedom for his people.

I have also had this verse prophecied over my life - that I will break chains and release people from bondage and oppression by my words and actions. There are many other Christains who will have also had this prophecy spoken into their lives.

One prophecy - but because it is the living word of God it is still alive and relevant today. I have prophecies given to me in my personal life that were relevant for the weeks and months after the prophecy was given, but then I have come back to them years later and found that they have spoken to me in a completely different way or a great level than I had first experienced. If I hadn’t written them down I would have missed out on all God wanted to say to me.Â

Yesterday is history. Tommorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift - that is why it is called the present.

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This was a prophecy given by Keri Jones on a series of tapes about home groups. I remember listening to the tapes in 1996. I wrote the prophecy down as it really touched me at the time. It still challenges and excites me even today and would like to share it with you.

“For I am going to do a great thing. For everything that I do will be speak of my greatness and power. Therefore, want you to begin your asking. Be great in your asking because I am going to do great things. Do not ask for small things. I want you to ask me for big things because I want you to know what I have made you to become.

For you will be surprised in what I am going to do in the world. For many times you’ve looked out and said “Lord how can these things be”, but in the moment of time I will perform a wonder and a miracle-a sign that will amaze you because I’ve chosen you to display my power in the age that you live, that you will be surprised.

You say “Lord, but we’ve held to believe to see some of the great things that we’ve read about.” But I say you shall not write them you will see them for I am going to display my heart and my hand to this world in a greater way than I have ever displayed it. That the house that you belong to and it’s glory will be greater than its former glory. For I’ve not called you for a small thing, but I’ve called you to be part of what I’m doing and what I am doing is a great thing.For I shall amaze the world and I shall cause amazement in my house for my people shall truly say God is at work amongst us. (more…)

When God talks to us for our good. It may be for our direction, healing, guidance, understanding but always for our good. How tragic it would be that the words he leant out of heaven to whisper so lovingly into our ear were forgotten.

The words whispered to Isaiah and Jeremiah have lasted over thousands of years because they have been written down and not forgotten. Millions of people have benefitted from the treasure and revelation held in these books even though the words were not written specifically for them at the time. The words brought to you by God are for your help and strengthening. Meditate on them, remember them, do as Mary did by treasuring them up and storing them in your heart (Luke2:9) and above all act on them - but in case you forget them in 50 years time write them down!

There are a fair few times when God asks people in the bible to write things down. He asks them to write down his instructions/commands (Ex 34:24), for a reminder (Ex 17:14), the date (Ez 24:2), a song (Deut 12:19), people’s names (Jug 8:4), prophecies (Is 30:8, Jer 30:2), specifications of the temple plans (Ezekiel 43:11) and what they have seen in a vision (Rev 1:10). I think there are a few reasons why God asks us to write things down:

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Because we forget things
God can speak to us at any time of day or night. Sometimes it is hard to remember what he has said into our lives a few years down the line – sometimes even the next day. We may remember only half the prophecy/word and it could become distorted - or we could forget it altogether. The word of God is living and active and any word spoken into our lives is for purpose. As we meditate on the words given to us they can only bring fruit and fulfilment into our lives.

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Because his word can be fulfilled at different levels
I look back at words to the church and to me personally and I see that some of them have been fulfilled more than once. They were fulfilled at the immediate time for that situation - but then on a completely different level they have been fulfilled in an even greater dimension at a later date – maybe years later. How sad it would have been if I had forgotten these prophecies and not seen this miracle take place.

(more…)

Today I have been looking at all the prophecies I have had throughout my life. It has been interesting to see all God has spoken to me and all those words that have already been fulfilled.

Joshua 4:6-8 speaks about how after the Israelites cross the read sea they were asked by God to put up memorial stones. If their children ever were to ask why the stones were there (as children do!) the people were to tell them of the miracle of the the waters stopping so the people could cross over.

It is important in our own lives we do not forget all that God has done for us. It is our testimony to God’s goodness, faithfulness and power. Our testimony to many is life and salvation and to ourselves is a way of building up our faith and trust in God. Our life story and all our memories of God’s goodness are far from worthless - they are a means of power and release - especially for all our children who follow in our footsteps.