Better Communication

22 Jan 2016 2 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, Christianity Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good communication is needed in every relationship, but I feel more so now that a lot of our words are typed through text messages or emails. We have lost most face to face communication, and since there is a high percentage of how we speak is done by body language or facial and vocal expressions, there is much more of a chance to get the wrong message from the one that was meant.

Our relationships thrive on good communication, and I feel it is the nutrient needed for a healthy relationship, whoever that is with. It could be your Pastor, spouse, friends, shop staff, employees, postman, the list is endless.

Norman Wright explains that when people communicate there are at least 6 messages that come through.

What you mean to say

What you actually say

What the other person hears

What the other person thinks they hear

What the other person says about what you said

What you think the other person said about what you said

This shows how important it is to think and work on how we communicate with everyone we have contact with. By spending more time working on what and how we say to others, we can make sure more of what we say is clear and helps us to smooth out any weaknesses we may have in this area.

If we want a relationship to go deeper, then we need to grasp how to communicate with that person, not just in what we say but in how our body and  vocal languages come across. We all have some hang ups in this area. We may have a fear of opening up to others for fear of rejection, fear of being hurt, low self esteem or image. All these factor in when we open up to anyone. The relationship will only ever go as deep as you are willing to communicate with openness and honesty. Say what you mean, and work hard to say it in the way you would want it to be received. Try to put yourself in the other persons shoes for a minute and think about how you would want that sentence, greeting, criticism, word of encouragement to be said. How would we want to receive that spoken and unspoken communication?

Try to be constructive and focus on the positives of the other person or group.

Proverbs 18:21,” your tongue has the power of life or death.”

Bring life and love to our relationships.

 

Teams

18 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Church, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Church life depends on groups of teams who give time and energy to making sure church life runs as smooth as possible. It is a group of two or more people ideally. It usually has some sort of leader or a nominated person who takes on board creating the rotas or creating jobs for individuals within the role of the team they are involved in.

“But most other church ministries would be far more effective if they worked as a team: a pastoral group rather than just a pastor; an eldership in harness with a minister; a music group to reinforce the organist; a finance committee assisting a treasurer. Harmonious teamwork doesn’t just add to the effectiveness; it multiplies it. It brings fulfilment and personal growth to each team member. And it’s a working model of Christianity in action to the people the team is serving.”

In the steps of Timothy, Lance Pierson

 

What do you want to show?

27 Oct 2015 1 Comment

by Minstrels wife in Christianity, Church Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

All churches are full of culture, personality, vision and character. Church is a living, breathing organism of people from all different backgrounds, jobs, ages, and even old age “social classes”. We all bring something with us and each member has their own talents and gifts to enrich their church family.

But what do we look like from the outside? What do we show the local area?

Every church has a vision, and a statement of how they want to fulfill that vision. When was the last time your vision statement was updated? Is it still a valid vision for your area? Has there been a change to housing, new estates been built or knocked down? Has there been a big drop in the local economy, a loss of jobs, a number of jobs created? Has the number of families increased or decreased since your statement was created? Has your church grown or seen a number of people left? Has the leadership changed? These will all have some affect on the vision of the church in some way, even if the change is a positive one.

Does your church want to be relevant to the local community? Then from leadership down, it must been shown and lived out. Devotion? Be devoted. Live what you preach and teach, live and breathe the Word.

St Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words”.

Actions speak louder than words, so what we live and communicate is vitally important. We can be watched by our communities, and if we are living different to our vision and teaching, then how do we differ from the world? How do we show ourselves to be the Bride of Christ in a world that lives the opposite of what we see in the Bible.

Think about how our fellowships are coming across to the outside unchurched locality. Welcoming? Accepting? Bible believing? Christ filled? Empowering? Devoted? Loving? Teaching?

continual worship

06 Oct 2015 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 34 vs 1

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 146 vs 1-2

Praise the Lord.

Praise the, O my soul.

I will praise the Lord all my life,

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

The Bible is full of praise to the Lord. And it’s not just the 2 hours we manage on a Sunday morning. Its more than trying to do the right thing in church, it’s an attitude of life. It comes from our hearts. The Psalms tell us to praise with everything, and at all times. It is constant.

Psalm 145 is a whole song of us recognising and worshipping God because we can see how He is full of love and what >He has done for us through the giving of His most treasured Son. We can trust God and know His love will never fail. Doesn’t that make us want to praise at all times? How hard are our hearts when we read how much He loves us, created us, cherished us, died for us, defeated death for us.

Praise doesn’t have to be only when we are with other people, only for when we are at church or a meeting. It is something we can do in our private times, the same as our private times of reading the Word and praying.

LaMar Boschman says in his book A heart for worship

“How do you know you are a worshipper? Worshippers spend time in Gods prescence. They like to linger thwere. They are not in a hurry to leave His prescence. They worship often because they delight in Gods prescence and in giving Him honour, reverence and exaltation”.

I want to spend more time just sitting and being in the prescence of God. To feel Him with me and sitting in silence together. That level of intimacy is what  I myself am aiming for. I want to be there, and know its up to me to get there through worship in my life

Commission

30 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Luke 4:18-19

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lords favour.

Matthew 28:19-20

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Soirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

This is very clear in the New Testament. This is our mission. Jesus came with this mission and fulfilled it, along with the wonderful work of reconcilliation He finished on the Cross. We exist yo worship God and to proclaim Him to the Earth with  a purpose.

Most churches have mission statements, and can be long and detailed with many words. Do they contain within them, no matter how ling or short, the mission they exist for? Does the church operate within the mission given by Christ?

The Church is a growing, living thing and changes all the time. Each church changes by generation to generation, Pastor to Pastor, Elder to Elder. As a church grows, it might need to look again at its mission statement, it might need changing or rewriting. Above all, I feel a church needs a mission statement, and it needs to be known by every member and followed from Leadership down. It has to be taken on by all as a personal mission within the community and local areas, and within its own walls. If we start with the words of Jesus and try to follow His ways, we wont be far short of the right paths at any time, but only if we stay as close to Him as we can.

Reliance

15 Sep 2015 2 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

I don’t know about you, but there are those weeks I am tempted to wish would go quicker, that there could be nothing else that could possibly be thrown at me! Surely!! Those weeks that are super busy, with no time for relaxation or even I feel quality times with God. Those weeks that feel like you are squarely in the fire line of the devil and that he must have sent all available bad stuff to be aimed at me! Those weeks!

In those times, I know I am probably in the wrong frame of mind, and having a wrong attitude to the things that are going on around me and what I feel are happening to me. In those times, I can feel God’s presence and voice calling me to just take 5 minutes to be with Him, and it is then that I know He is always there with me, always my Rock. In those times, I know I can rely on my God. He shows me even in the quick verse I read on my way to the next meeting, the word that is given by a stranger, the prayers that are answered daily, that He never leaves us in those places where we might feel He is too far away.

My husband read recently,

“Don’t be scared when the devil attacks you,

Be scared when he doesn’t”

I know this is just a quick saying, but it says so much to me. I know more scary stuff, more bad things happen on weeks when our church is praying for revival, when there is an important service we are part of, a prayer for Israel meeting. I know those times are coming now, and so know thst my God is there, and helping me to be stronger in Him, and that He is always Reliable.

I hope you know how Reliable God is too in those times.

Captivated

12 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 113:4-6 says,

“The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high

Who humbles Himself to behold

The things that are in heaven and the earth?”

LaMar Boschman says in his book A heart for worship, that he wanted to look for new words to describe the Lord. Words we don’t use normally, that we havn’t repeated so many times we forget how awesome our God is. He found these words, and I think they truly do describe God in new and exciting ways. LaMar uses them before services and shouts the to the Lord as part of his worship.

Lord, You are unrivalled, unparalleled, unequalled and unsurpassed.

You are peerless, matchless, faultless and flawless.

God, you are choice, fine, elite splendid,

marvellous, glorious, fabulous and wondrous.

Phenomenal, sensational, spectacular, majestic, fantastic and terrific is my King.

Your presence is amazing, awe-inspiring, astonishing, outstanding, stirring, stimulating and electrifying.

You are so large, grand, great, immense and massive.

You are magnificent, brilliant, radiant, resplendent and transcendent.

Your Person is superior, superb  and sublime.

I have discovered you to be excellent,  exquisite, exceptional, extraordinary, remarkable, incomparable,

impeccable, irreproachable and unimpeachable.

There is absolutely none like You.

You stand alone.

How good is it to be able to recognise the Living God in all of those words. He does indeed stand alone as the only One worthy of these descriptions. Thank you God.

Pray or not?

08 Sep 2015 1 Comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Leonard Ravenhill in his book Why Revival Tarries says,

“The Cinderella of the church today is the prayer meeting. This handmaid of the Lord is unloved and unwooed because she is not dripping with the pearls of intellectualism, nor glamorous with the silks of philosophy; neither is she enchanting with the tiara of psychology. She wears the homespuns of sincerity and humility and so is not afraid to kneel!”

I find it incredible that across most of the Western world, prayer meetings are the least attended meeting in the whole church calendar. It is the forgotten hours during the week, not given much thought and quickly cancelled. I believe that you can gauge the spiritual life of a church by the prayer meeting numbers and quality of prayers given.

How can we expect to see revival in our community when we can’t be bothered to go to prayer meetings and not see that we are in a battle to see souls saved. If our prayers are dead, then what are we?

Ravenhill goes on to say, “Victory is not won in the pulpit by firing intellectual bullets or wisecracks, but in the prayer closet.”

D.M. McIntyre,D.D. has been quoted “Before the great revival in Gallneukirchen broke out, Martin Boos spent hours and days and often nights in lonely agonies of intercession. Afterwards, when he preached, his words were as flame, and the hearts of the people as grass.”

How much more could be done in the spiritual if we spent more time on our knees, pressing into God and His Word. How much would our lives be changed, to become more like Him.

Be still my soul

27 Aug 2015 4 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Be still my soul

The Lord is on thy side

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain

Leave to thy God to order and provide

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still my soul: thy best, the heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still my soul

Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still my soul; the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still my soul

The hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, loves purest joys restored.

Be still my soul; when change and tears are past

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

1752 Katharina A. von Schlegel

Apologies

11 Aug 2015 4 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

I am so sorry for how long it has been since I last wrote anything. It has been so crazy busy in our home and I just havnt had time to think.

Our church are looking at revival, and it has been a burning prayer for some of us for a while now. We are not interested in the numbers game, but desperately want to see souls saved, especially those around us within our friends and family circle. It is a cry from our hearts, but is it something we are willing to get our hands dirty for? It is a question I have been asking myself and this is not aimed at anyone but me first. What am I willing to do or say to bring those I love to Gods mercy seat? Am I willing to be laughed at, to be derided, to be a fool for Christ? Am I willing to put the hard work in place to be there whenever anyone needs me to be? These are very serious questions I am asking myself, because I need to make sure I am not putting my own needs first, not putting my feelings or fears before telling those around me the gospel.

I see a worrying trend within the Church of allowing the World in. Our conversations are full of it, our love of things, of money, of power, of position. It is on our lips more than God and His Word are. We are getting to the point of more interest in the world than seeing our loved ones saved. Can this really be true? Can all our topics of conversation be that lacking in heavenly things?

Watchman Nee says in his book, Love not the World, “Never in this sphere of things have we needed to know the power of the Cross of Christ to deliver us as we do at the present time”. And he goes on to say, “When we are faced with alternatives and a choice of way confronts us, the question is not: Is this good or evil? >Is this helpful or hurtful? No, the question we must ask ourselves is: Is it of this world, or of God? For since there is only this one conflict in the universe, then whenever two conflicting courses lie open to us, the choice at issue is never a lesser one than: God…or Satan”.

Now Watchman Nee wrote this a long time ago, and my book of it was copywritten 1968. It seems to us that he lived in a different time than the 21st century, but if so, then how is it that what he wrote is so relevant to us today? He could have written those words this week! We need to ground ourselves in Christ and His Word to us. Do we want to see more souls saved and if so how much? Do we long to see it? Is it something we are desperate for? Is it our hearts cry? If not, then why not?

I feel it is time for the Church to be seen in communities, to make ourselves visible. I think it is a wrong attitude to expect the community to come to us for answers. We need to show that we have the answers already within us, our changed lived are the proof we need. With God on our side, what do we have to fear? Living for God is our answer to any question.

Amen Lord, come Lord!!!

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