Centrality of the Coss

23 Feb 2014 5 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Keeping what is sure and certain through our times of worship is essential. The Word is at the core of how we worship, but also the Cross of Christ.

Matthew 12 v 34. Out of the overflow of our hearts our mouths speak.

The more we take on the Word, the more it will flow not just out in our worship, but in our daily speaking. It affects the way we talk to our kids, fellow workers, our church family and strangers we meet on the bus. If we are taking in the Word and keeping the Cross central, what comes out of us will be based in the Word and the Cross. We will be bringing more and more of Christ into our daily lives.

Worship can lead us to keep the truths of God and His Word close to our hearts. Our minds will never be far away from praise if it full of His Word.

Who I am

30 Jan 2014 6 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Prayer Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know a lot of my failings, and there are many more that others can see in me or that God can see that I don’t recognise yet. They will be shown to me at the right time, or at Gods timing for my life. It amazes me that He uses me with all my failings, warts, sins and all. God loves me and uses me for His kingdom as I am right now, and not who I will be 10 years from now, because who I will be then will be a different person. I know I am on a journey, but if I stop learning and growing in God, then I won’t be any different, but will stand still. To be different, I have to grow, learn and change my attitudes and heart to be more like God, then I will change into a more Christ-like child of God.
When I look in the Old Testament at some of the old “heroes” of the faith like Samson, Solomon and perhaps David, they were never super spiritual. God used them as they were for His kingdom and His purposes. They didn’t change for God to use them, they didn’t change who they were in God. We have consequences of living a sinful life, but God made us because He loves us.
We need to pray and ask God what He wants us to do for Him; who He wants us to speak to; how He wants us to live for Him; how we follow Him.

God is Sovereign over all

29 Jan 2014 4 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

God gives us a calling on our lives, and what we do for Him is a calling. No one can hold God back, He is sovereign. He is love and His grace is new every morning.
What better reasons do we need to praise and worship our Lord and Heavenly Father?
We fail every day. Our lives get in the way, our pride, our minds. He never fails, never lets us down. How much of what we do is an offence to God? Maybe we need to sit and think about how we do things or how we speak to ourselves or others. Our flesh is strong, and we seem to battle all the time. Gods sovereignty is being watered down within our churches and how we view Him. He is God, He is our Maker.
Nothing can surprise God or shock Him. He knows all and knew us before we were born. He knows what we go through and weeps with us. He feels what we feel. He is there, and never goes away.
Praise is what I can bring. I can worship because I have nothing else to bring sometimes. I can praise when I am in a place where I am low, happy, content or in despair. Praise lifts us out of the mire.
Faith is believing when we dont see God, or dont know what to do. Keep your faith in Him who created dust into His child. He created you because He loves you.

The ancient ways

10 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Reflecting back to March, when on a very cold, snowy day, we travelled to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and the Priory with the kids to show them where Christianity was first lived out in our area. With the weak sunlight desperately trying to push through the freezing clouds which were heavy with unshed snow, we went to the old priory ruins.

As we walked round the old walls, its not hard to wonder what St Aiden or St Cuthbert would think of modern day Christianity. It is so different from the Celtic Christianity, based around fellowship and communion with God throughout the whole of their lives. Their prayer times were near constant as was their love of the poor and needy. The cutting themselves off from anything that would distract them from their Lord, meant that St Cuthbert went to live on an island all by himself. No one to talk to but his Lord, only his Lord to help him make the island liveable for himself, including sowing and reaping vegetables and corn.

How would we cope if everything was taken away from us? Would we know how to live, and to only live for God?

In some ways over time, the old Celtic ways of living and loving God have been watered down and weakened. Was it right in the first place to only live for God, and cut themselves off from everyone? I don’t know, but I do know that in a lot of ways, it would focus our attention and stop the life distractions from stealing the time away that we give to God.

I thank God for all the early Christians who gave their lives for what they believed.