I know the future (day 3)

During this time of fasting I have been seeking the Lord about many things, most of which have to do with my future.

This morning as I was praying, I was given this verse 

"Remember the things I have done in the past.For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.

10 Only I can tell you the future before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish"(Isaiah 46:9-10) 

and I just felt at peace, that even though I don't have all the answers or know what is yet to come, I know the God that has kept me and made a way for me in the past. 

The old song says ' count your blessing name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done'. When things in life are not going to plan it can be hard to have hope or to think God is even listening to your prayer. But when you start thinking on all the good that has gone before or the amazing things that you know have happened in your life that only God could have done, then it gives you hope to trust God to bring you through this storm. 

In the storm it can be hard to see or even stayed focused but when you see the light from the Lighthouse you know where to focus to find safety and it is the same thing with us and us. We may be in a storm of life right now but God is our Lighthouse guiding us through 

The way I have been living (day 2)

So day 1 was a little hard, but day 2 started off a lot better my mind felt more focused and this was evident in my day as I didn't think about food that much but spent a little more time in prayer and in reading my Bible. 

I was studying Haggai 1 today. This chapter looks at the call to rebuild the temple after the 70 years in captivity. The Israelites had returned to their own land and had started returning to normal life, build their own homes and making sure life was comfortable. But yet they had not even started work  on the Lord's house. 

Verses 5-7 really struck me as it really made me think about the way I had been living recently and how I had gotten into a really selfish mindset. 

I had gotten into the habit of giving in to my food cravings and focusing my mind on my problems, when I knew better. 

Throughout the rest of the day I was just meditating on this Chapter and reflecting upon my life

Sometimes reflection is key!

I can't (day 1)

Today was the 1st day of the fast and I realised that I was focusing on all the "I can't".

I kept thinking and saying that I can't eat this or I can't eat that and it was starting to get to me already because in my mind I already thought that I wouldn't be able to go the 10 days.

However I remembered that this fast wasn't about what I couldn't have but it was about focusing my time and my thoughts on the Lord and spending more time seeking the Lord.

So going forward in this fast I am going to forget about my craving, but instead pray and praise my way through.
:-)

Daniel fast

Happy New Month‼ I can't believe that we are in February already.

So I am starting my month a lil differently, I am doing the Daniel Fast for the next 10 days I started yesterday (2nd Feb) and I have decided that I am going to try to blog everyday of this fast.

For those who don't know Daniel in the bible fasted twice in his book, in Daniel chapter 1 and 10.
I have decided to follow the principles of the fast in chapter 1.

So the next few days will be interesting.
:-)

Baby it's cold outside

Ok so this is a random post I had a New Year's post already but felt to share this one instead, interesting thing is I wrote part of this post ages ago and reading it today taught me something I had forgotten.  

I don't know if its only me but once its winter I like staying in and curling up on the sofa, out of the cold and damp air.

Now this post is not about weather but it is inspired by it.

When life is looking horrible and things just don't seem to be going right, it can be easy to sit at home with a tub of ice cream and chocolate bars and watch movies all day, but doing that doesn't make any thing better.  

Its like listening to sad songs when you are already sad its not gonna make you feel better; but allows you to wallow in that state.

The disciples had a moment like this after the death of Jesus, some went back to what they knew before as their leader was now gone.  Many of them may have thought that that was the end but it wasn't. 

When the weather of life gets rough its not the time to get cosy or retreat to the familiar but it is the time to face them. God can and will give you more than you can handle(1 Corinthians 13:10) but He gives you the tools to deal with it as Matthew 7:7(NLT) says 'keep on' .

Test and trails are not to try and see if we make the cut, they are there to draw us closer to the heart of God and build us up in faith. 

If everything in life right now seem dark and grey, don't give up hope, winter only lasts for a season. :)

Come thou long expected Jesus

Merry Christmas !!! Blessing and goodwill to all. 

Just thought to share something that came to me while reading about the Birth of Christ this morning. 

I wanted to quickly share a I thought I had about the birth of Christ,  Luke 2:7 says 
"And she gave birth to her Son, her Firstborn; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room or place for them in the inn."

In most nativity plays you see, there are always inn keepers who say " sorry there is no room in the inn", but this is never stated in the Bible. That aside, the point I wanted to make it is, that as the Saviour of the world was about to be born there was no room anywhere for him to enter, and this made me think of Revelation 3:20  'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me' 

When the Saviour of the world was about to be born, Joseph stood knocking looking for room but no one received them for they did not know who what about to be birthed into this world, and we see here at the end of the Bible, that Christ says he is standing and waiting for us to receive Him. 

My mind then went to the wise men who were travelling they were seeking what they had been hoping for, this was faith in action, they had studied the stars and the words of the prophets and were now seeking " the Child born King of the Jews" (Matthew 2:2)
And  we see in Matthew 7 that if you seek you shall find, the wise men could have given up on their Journey when it got hard travelling in the desert but the kept going till the found Jesus (not in the manger,  have a look look at Matthew 2:11) 

So... this Christmas time, take another look at the story of the birth of our Saviour, and as you read think about, what are you seeking after in your life; is it your Christmas gift and possessions, a Husband, Mum's home cooking etc. Whatever it is where does seeking after Christ come on that list. Christ was born to bring salvation to heal the broken, helpless and the poor, we should be seeking after the heart of God. 

Think about how far have you let Christ into your heart, is He knocking at the door and you are just a little scared to let him into your life or into all areas of your life, don't be afraid because Christ comes with love and as the hymn, O little town of Bethlehem states; "Where meek souls will receive Him still, The dear Christ enters in. 

However you celebrate the birth of Christ I hope you have fun and enjoy this festive time of year :)  Merry Christmas

These walls I've built

As humans we create ways to cope with life and for the most part it is through create the person we want other to see us as and this often means that we build up walls to stop people seeing whats really in our hearts and what we are really about.

Like Shakespeare said  "All the world's a stage and we are all mere actors", To some extent this is true as on a day to day basis you have a routine that builds you up to face the world such as never leaving the house without your make-up being on. Also when you enter different sphere of life you alter your behave , for example how you speak at work may not be how you talk when you are out with your friends or when you are at church.

In general we tend to compartmentalise our lives in to section, so in a way putting everything in to box so we keep order. and there is nothing wrong with order but sometimes orders blocks us from having the relationships we should or from reaching the dreams we had.

A very popular example I have seen time and time again, is when I person gets hurt in one relationship, they take that hurt into the next relationship but they build up a little wall around their heart to stop them getting hurt again. But they still get hurt and that wall gets higher and higher. Until they can't love or show emotions any more.

the problems with walls you build yourself is that once you build all four sides than how do you get out, you can't run through them, can't climb over them and the cement has dried so you can't just tear them down

we say people label us and people fence us into boxes; but we do it to ourselves, because we don't want to be hurt any more.
Well the truth is we have to start by looking at ourselves and asking the harder questions of why we have closed ourselves of from others. And I know this can hurt, I have personally been through this but when you let Jesus in, He will be with you and help you break down those walls.

A video that sums up what I have been saying: