Ladies Do you Believe This? Coffee & Conversation

We believe a lot of things about ourselves.

Many are things we have decided about ourselves from the past or things we have decided for us for the future.

Many are things that family, or friends or workmates have decided about us and those things stick with us.

Do you believe all these things that have often been descriptors of you for years or months or weeks or even just the last few days?

We should not judge or describe ourselves by what others think or even by what we feel we have experienced.

We need to describe ourselves by what God says about us.

So ladies

Do you believe this list of personal things that God has declared in His Word?


You are HIS.


You are ALIVE in CHRIST.
You are a CHILD of GOD.
You are CHOSEN.
You are a CROWN of SPLENDOUR.
You are DEAD to SIN.
You are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE.
You are FORGIVEN.
You are GOD'S WORKMANSHIP.
You are HEALED by His STRIPES.
You are HIS.
You are an HEIR to the KINGDOM.
You are MADE for HIS GLORY. 
You are a NEW CREATION.
You are an OVERCOMER. 
You are REDEEMED.
You are the SALT and the LIGHT.
You are SET FREE from bondage.
You are a TEMPLE of the HOLY SPIRIT.
You are WHOLE.
You are WRITTEN on the PALM of HIS HAND.
You are WORTH MORE than MANY SPARROWS.
You are WORTH MORE than RUBIES.




You are MADE for HIS GLORY.   
     

You are WORTH MORE than MANY SPARROWS.
You are WORTH MORE than RUBIES.



You are MORE than a CONQUEROR.
You are MORE than YOUR PAST.
You are MORE than WHAT YOU WEAR.
You are MORE than WHO PEOPLE SAY YOU ARE.


You are ........
You are ........


You are so many things in God's eyes but most importantly you are His creation and He has a plan for your life which starts with

 Salvation

You are FORGIVEN

followed by

 Assurance

You are WRITTEN on the PALM of HIS HAND.

and then let's finish where we started

You are HIS.

from the words of Jesus

Ladies Do you Believe This?

Smile God Loves YOU! Romans 5:8 - Sunday Scripture

This Sunday's Scripture on God's Love is Romans 5:8

As I read through this one I thought of the 6 Question Words as I call them when teaching English as a second language.

Who, Where, What, When, Why & How.

So that's how I want to look at this verse today.

Who's Love?        It's God's Love.


Who to?      Us.  Everyone because all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.


How?       By giving His Son to die in our place.


When?        While we were in our sin.     When we were separated from God.


Why?       There was no other way.      No other substitute would have been good enough.


Where?      On the cross at Calvary.


What does it show?      The perfect Love.    The perfect sacrifice.


Who is it for?         The Imperfect People.

The Perfect for the Imperfect.

The Perfect Father 

because of His Perfect Love 

gave the Perfect Son 

as the sacrifice for the Imperfect People.

A Good Kind of Fear - A Dose of Encouragement

I have never forgotten that day.

The day when I asked the question and my mother didn't really know how to answer me.

Have you ever been afraid?

I was lying in bed supposed to be going to sleep, younger than 9 years old (but not sure how much younger), when I decided to call her.

In my memory it was not dark in the bedroom because she didn't need to put the light on when she opened the door, so it must have been springtime or summertime when it stays lighter later in the evenings in Northern Ireland even up until 11pm.

So darkness had nothing to do with my fear.

It was a simple question I wanted to ask her but she did not find the answer so simple.

I was the youngest in the family, although in saying that there were only the two siblings, my sister and I, and she was 10 years older than me so I was always referred to as the wee one and often (I felt) not taken too seriously by my parents, sister and grandmother who lived with us.

You see that evening as I lay there I was afraid, there was something I just did not want to happen, something I could not imagine happening but I needed to know more about it.

I was thinking about death,

but it was not "death" that scared me.  

Possibly I wasn't really old enough to consider how people died and that there may be tragic events or illnesses to lead up to their deaths because none of that was on my mind.

The fear I had was not about my body but about that part of me, that part inside, the part I could not imagine ever not being in existence.  You know the part of me that was actually doing this thinking. The part that could experience this fear.  The part that could understand some things but not all things.

When I asked her what would happen to that part of me when I would die she was quiet with no immediate reply. Then she told me not to worry about anything to do with death because I was "too young" to be thinking about it.

Now I don't remember all the details or how much time elapsed from then until the time when I knew I wanted/needed to get saved but I do know that my sister always got bible notes to read each day and she decided to get a children's version so that she could read the bible passage to me and then the notes.  To make sure that I was paying attention she would then ask me questions about the passage.  However even though she was taking care of a need I had to know about Jesus and read God's Word she also declared I was "too young" when I told her I wanted to get saved.

Thankfully I was not overcome by this fear of what would happen to what I felt was the "real me" after death, however it was always there drawing me in to ponder over it.

We need to be thankful for the fear that leads us in the right direction

I may not even have known to pray about this but God knew the "real me" and He was in control and not too long after this He led me to the night when I was not told I was "too young" but instead I was encouraged to pray asking forgiveness and accepting that Jesus had died in my place so that I could live.

Yes me the "real me" could live forever.

I was afraid when I was young, but I didn't remain afraid, God has taken that fear away.

I still do not understand everything about what it will be like after death but I have no need to fear because I know for a certainty that the "real me" will remain and be transformed in the presence of Jesus.  Because I have come to realise that not all fear is bad.

I came to realise that not all fear is bad

We need to be thankful for the fear that leads us 

in the right direction

 because

 it's a good kind of fear.

Acts Chapter 26 - Paul Comes Before the King

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What would you say if you were to speak to a king?   

In Chapter 25 - The Big Appeal  we were brought to the point where Paul would be allowed to appeal to Caesar and then King Agrippa comes into the story and we were left wondering how this might affect Festus and his decision.

verses 1 - 3     A greeting to King Agrippa.


So the king wants to hear from Paul and Paul doesn't just blurt out "I've been accused ...." and how wrong it is.
Instead Paul greets and recognises the King as an authority in Jewish customs and asks him to listen patiently.

Yes we all (according to scripture) have the right to be heard when we are accused of something but that does not mean we get abusive about it or forget to be respectful to others.


verses 4 - 11     Short Personal story of early life.

Paul explains how he was a devout Jew and that he was well-known among all Jews.

Now the Jews should be well acquainted with the promises of God as they are always exhorted to memorise the scriptures but they do have disagreements among themselves about the resurrection.  Paul believes in the resurrection because of having been a Pharisee  as opposed to the Sadducees who do not.

We found that several times the resurrection is mentioned and disagreements happen as is Chapter 17 - Knowing God

Here he talks about the hope of the Promise that God gave originally to Abraham and all Jews should be in agreement about that.

He then goes on to the part of his life when he persecuted those who followed Jesus because he saw them as going against what Jews believed and even blaspheming.



verses 12 - 18       Conversion Experience.

Yet again Paul has the opportunity to relay the story of his conversion.

In other times when he had an audience of Jews he had bad reactions such as in Chapter 13 - A Specific Job for the Kingdom  but with the difference that there he was invited by the Jewish Leaders to speak and now they don't want him to speak at all.

Another time he had the opportunity to speak to the Jews of Jesus in Chapter 18 - Reactions of People  he found that the Jews were so angry against him that they blasphemed.

What will be the reaction of this King?

verses 19 - 23             New life and Attitude.

Paul tells the King of his new life and what that entailed.

It meant a change in his behaviour from hounding the Christians to

• obedience to Jesus from the meeting on the Damascus Road  verse 19
• speaking of repentence first to the Jews and then also to the gentiles  verse 20

It also meant a change in his physical and practical lifestyle

• arrests and threats of death from his own people  verse 21
• help and miracles from God  verse 22

It also meant a strong and unwavering stance for God

• speaking the same as the prophets had about how Jesus would come and die and rise again  verse 22-23

verses 24 - 33            Reaction to Paul.

First Festus is upset and turns on Paul.

Then Paul turns it directly to the King because he knows the King has heard a lot about him already.
He asks Agrippa a very important question in verse 27

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? 

I know that you do believe.

Paul did what many times we fail to do.

Paul after testifying about Jesus then asked a direct question which demands thoughtful consideration and a response.

Salvation is a personal thing not just something we hear about but something we need to make a decision about and respond to either accepting or rejecting there is no other option.

So what was King Agrippa's response in verse 28?

It was about the saddest one we will ever hear.

Then Agrippa said to Paul, 

“You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Almost is not enough, in fact almost is as far away as an outright rejection.

When faced with the Gospel it is a matter of acceptance or rejection, there just is no in-between. 

Paul stood before his earthly king but but some day we will all stand before our heavenly King Jesus and we need to have made our decision now, not waiting until then when it will be too late.

It is acceptance or rejection NOW there just is no in between.










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3 Christmas Stockings - A Dose of Encouragement

Something that has come out each year to decorate our home at Christmas are 3 red & white Christmas Stockings.

I can't remember exactly when we got them (it may have been during our three years living in the US) but it was a long long time ago and even though our 3 children are all grown up and living in various countries Fred & I would still hang them up and fill them.


The kids laughed at us for doing this but I have never seen them refuse the little bits and pieces that were placed inside for them like Toblerone bars,  boxes of Maltesers,  Smarties,  etc.

Yes we all like chocolate in this family.

They also think we are very predictable because of what would be shaken out of these stockings except for the couple of different little non-edible surprises each year but as I said before - We all like chocolate in this family.

Of course now we have added a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law to the family so they get the same treatment as our two sons and daughter but we use Gift Bags instead of the three stockings which now are hung up simply as decorations.  Hung up mostly to remind us of the old days as we can be a sentimental lot in our family too - okay - I can be sentimental.

It is good to look back and think of previous Christmases, about the happy times and the family as it grew and the coming together with others at that special time and to look now at these three stockings and say "Yes, once we were a family with 3 children and now we have grown."

Of course when we say grown we don't just mean in number from 5 to 10 because of the three grandchildren or in size because yes our boys are tall like their dad but also grown in maturity.

When we look back at these 3 stockings now we thank God for how our children have matured in their relationships with God as well.

So often Christmas is a time of what we want NOW when we think of presents and food but we need to focus back on Why we actually have Christmas each year.

We do need to be predictable and think about the same things each Christmas.

Why do we actually have Christmas each Year?

Christmas is the remembering back to Who came to earth and Why He came.

Jesus came as a baby to live and grow to be the man who was also God, the only one who could then take on our sin and punishment to be our Saviour.

Looking at our 3 stockings our prayer is that our three children and all their families (even those yet to come) will know Who came to earth that first Christmas and Why He came.

Empowering People's Lives - 31 Days in Acts

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Day 27 and we are more than halfway through the book of Acts.

Yesterday we reached chapter 16 but just concentrated on one verse (Acts ch. 16 v. 31) and talked about how we need to  Believe in the Right Thing.

Today we are looking at two people we meet for the first time.

Timothy  (verses 1 - 5)

• Paul met him when he and Silas came to Derbe and Lystra.
• He is referred to as a disciple. 
• His mother is a Jewish believer.
• His father is Greek.
• There is a good report given of him by the believers in Lystra and Iconium.
• Paul wanted him to travel on with him and Silas.
• Paul had Timothy circumcised.

Lydia   (verses 11 - 15)

• Paul meets her in Philippi.
• She was a seller of purple cloth. 
• She was from Thyatira.
• She worshipped God.
• She met Paul at a prayer meeting.
• She listened to Paul speaking.
• She and her household were baptized.
• She persuaded Paul, Silas and Timothy to go and stay at her home.

Two believers of different backgrounds, genders and ages.

Both believers and Paul obviously thought highly of each of them.

Looking at the points above this chapter indicates that Timothy was probably young, well-brought up and had been influenced by his mother toward believing in God but because he is described as a disciple it seems that he was devout and wanted to learn more and grow in his faith.  Other believers had taken notice of him and spoken well of him so this would indicate his behaviour, attitude and commitment was good.

Paul obviously trusted Timothy and saw good potential in him because he wanted to take him on with them in their journey.

Paul decided that Timothy should be circumcised which may seem strange due to the decisions made in the previous chapter about the circumcising of Gentiles not being necessary when they became believers.  However although Timothy's father was Greek, his mother was a Jewish believer and hence Timothy was probably considered a Jew who would be travelling with Jews.  Or perhaps there was another explanation but obviously not important for us to know exactly why.

Not all believers are the same, we are all unique.

From what we read about Lydia we see that she was an older woman who had her own business and purple was a colour reserved more for a regal or well-to-do society.  

It states that Lydia worshipped God which reminds us of Day ??  chapter ?? where we read about Cornelius because he was described in a similar way.  As with him and now with Lydia they both needed to meet with someone who could teach them more about following Jesus and influencing their whole household to the full message of the Gospel.  Then we see she was obedient to this message and they were baptized.

She was hospitable and willing to open her home to 3 people to come and not only have a meal but to stay there.

Looking back now to verses 6 - 10 which come between these two meetings with Timothy and Lydia, we see what happened between the two encounters.

Apparently they had hoped to go to preach the Word in Asia but The Holy Spirit stepped in to change their plans.  Instead Paul then had a vision where their new destination was revealed, Macedonia.

“Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So we can see that meeting up with certain people was done by the leading of The Holy Spirit and not just a casual happening.  God can still lead us to people today even though we may not recognize that happening.

We all need to come to know God and follow Him and let the message of the Gospel empower our lives.

The main thing to see about these two encounters is that even though we are all different and unique we all need to come to know God and follow Him and let the message of the Gospel empower our lives.

Tomorrow we will continue in chapter 16 and see more about why that call came for Paul to go to Macedonia.

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
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Believe in the Right Thing! - 31 Days in Acts

It is Day 26 of 31 Days in Acts and I'm realising how close to the end of this month we are.


Again we have come to one of my favourite chapters of Acts.
So much happens in this chapter and a clear Gospel message for us all to use.

We meet some important characters that do help with the advancement of the Gospel.

But for right now I would just like to look at one verse in this chapter which is where all the focus of this chapter should really go.

I have worked with Kids Groups and Sunday Schools for over 40 years and one of the best ways to help children to memorize scripture is through song.

One of the first visualized kids songs I bought was the one that taught this verse.  

The song is called

"S A L V A T I O N"

and the first verse of it goes

(spelling out the letters of the word Salvation)

which is just the truth of the Gospel and we should not water it down but remember that it simple and clear - we will not enter God's Presence without His Salvation.

Then the second verse brings in the action we need to take

which is to receive His gift of Salvation because we cannot work to earn it; it is freely offered to us through the death of His son Jesus.  

Then the reference of the verse this is all based on and the instruction to 

Believe

but not just believe in anything,  believe in the Lord Jesus.

Even though this may have been a song for children to learn from the message is still the same for all of us no matter what age and throughout all time the message will never change.  It is the only way to Heaven, it is the only way to have your sins forgiven as you repent before God and accept His gift of Salvation.

It is the only way, Believe!

Check out my other posts about the Book of Acts

The 31 Days in Acts Page

It's Not about Us, it's all about God! - 31 Days in Acts

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After the last 3 days on chapter 9 we now move to a whole new chapter in just 1 day.

We are still seeing the work God was doing through Peter but yet another city is involved this time.

Yesterday we left Peter in Joppa after 2 miracles, he had remained for a while as a guest of a man called Simon.

Now at the start of chapter 10 we meet another man called Cornelius who was a Roman Centurion, and some things about him immediately jumped out at me as I read the first paragraph.

He was  (from verse 2)

• a devout man
• a man who feared God
• a man who shared his feelings with the whole family and servants
• a charitable man
• a man who believed in prayer

This is a man who because of the qualities written about him would have no doubt earned people's respect and love.

God spoke to him and told him to send for Peter giving directions about where Peter was and Cornelius did not question what he was told to do but acted on it straight away (see verse 7)


Now the focus of our story goes back to Peter in Joppa and it is the day after the event we just read about Cornelius.

Peter goes up to the rooftop to pray and sees a vision from God where something like a large sheet comes down to the space in front of him bringing us to verses 12 - 16

12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. 

We do not know how long Peter thought about the vision but The Holy Spirit then tells him that 3 men are there to talk to him and he must go down and talk with them not doubting anything about why they have come there.

Peter obeys immediately, hears about Cornelius' invitation and the following day he leaves with the men to go to Caesarea even though he does not know why Cornelius wants to see him

In verses 24 - 33 Peter arrives in Caesarea and  meets Cornelius.

We notice two things here

• Cornelius acts in a worshipful way towards Peter
• Peter does not accept worship for himself

Cornelius knows Peter is a man of God but Peter does not want acknowledgement and I think Peter is like this because he truly is a man of God and hence all honour must go to God and he requires none for himself.

When we pray for someone and we see the answer to that prayer it is nothing to do with us it is all to do with God, there is no need for anyone to know that we have prayed because that draws attention to the person and not to God.

It's not about us, it's all about God!

It was not right culturally for Jews to visit non-Jews like this but Peter knew this invitation was from God and not just from Cornelius.  So now he wants to know what God and Cornelius require of him.  Just a simple answer from Cornelius ends in verse 33 with

33 So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.

Now Peter is ready to teach the whole household what they do not yet know and that results in a brief summary of the life of Jesus

which ends with the message of salvation - this is what the invitation was all about.

The Holy Spirit was at work among them all while Peter spoke and they were saved, baptised in the Holy spirit and baptised in water.

The man (Peter) who was sent by God to speak to these Gentiles was not the important person he was simply the person who trusted in God and was obedient allowing God to use him.  All the work is done by God not by man.

It's not about us, it's all about God!

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Darkness! Now the True Light! - 31 Days in Acts

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We are in our 16th day and continuing on from the story of Saul we looked at yesterday in Acts ch. 9

Yesterday we had Important Questions and Simple Answers
and today we have more questions and more answers.

Verses 10-16 introduce us to another person who heard the Lord speak to him - Ananias.

This time questions and answers are from both sides in this conversation and in a way it feels like it was a comfortable conversation between friends with no surprise and no question of who Ananias was hearing from, he knew it was the Lord.

Although bad news had gone around about Saul here was a good recommendation from Jesus in verses 15 & 16 because He knew the potential in Saul for the spread of the Gospel and the growth of the church.

Looking back to verses 8 & 9 it is clear that Saul after meeting with the Lord was left sightless so he was in darkness and remained that way for 3 days.  No distraction, so presumably he had all that time to think on who he had heard from and what was said.

But verses 17 & 18 make the difference.

Ananias goes straight away as the Lord directed him to the exact house, finds Saul and tells him who sent him and the reason why he was sent and the darkness Saul was in disappears and he experiences the true light and the cleansing of his sin.

 No doubt, no hesitation, just action on the part of Ananias 

and also 

no doubt, just acceptance on the part of Saul.

Our last verse for today is verse 19 which is often overlooked in this passage but should not be as it shows us something very important that Saul did.

"So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus."

Saul spent time with the disciples before anything else.
Yes the first thing he did was to stay with the people who were already believers and he could learn from them.

Saul may have had this dramatic & dynamic conversion and was now a believer but he also needed to know more about Jesus and become a disciple.

Discipleship is the next step after conversion to ensure the spread of the Good News.

Conversion and Discipleship lead to growth.

I'm trying to read and write about the Book of Acts for 31 Days so please come back and join me for some notes & some thoughts each day. 

As the month goes on each Day's Link will be added in 

The 31 Days in Acts Page

Interested to know more about the Book of Acts?
Then Try these commentaries




Or this Bible Study



Disclaimer:
If buying through Amazon I get a little commission but that does not mean any extra expense to you.

Responses to the Gospel - 31 Days in Acts

Welcome to my 8th Day of 31 Days in Acts.

We are continuing on from the previous post.


Verses 5-12 of chapter 4 are very encouraging and should stand as a good example for us to follow.

First chance to speak and the Gospel is the first thing to be shared.

Why?

Because The Gospel is the most important thing.

The Gospel is the key point of everything we as Christians are called to say and do.

Everything should point us and others to Jesus.


Do we fail in this?

This is probably one of the hardest things for any of us to do but how do we get past that and learn how to share the Gospel in as many situations as we can?

We may not all be natural preachers but we don't need to be to tell others of Jesus.  We can use other people that are more gifted in that way or we can use videos, booklets, songs, poems to introduce the grace and mercy of God to others and to the Bible.

We can also make it a goal in our lives to learn from others how to present the Gospel in a conversation.

The Gospel is what the whole Bible points to & the Gospel is Jesus!

In my sidebar I have a short video called 3,2,1 and it is one way to help us 

to share the Gospel.  

Please click on the video and investigate the simple method shown there.

Verses 13 - 22

The rulers, elders & scribes saw from the way Peter & John talked that they were men who had been with Jesus.

They marvelled at the boldness of Peter & John.

They saw the healed man

They could not deny the miracle

They worried that word would spread


The response of the rulers, elders & scribes:

They commanded Peter & John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus


The response of the people:

They glorified God


The response of Peter and John:

They could not keep silent.

verses  23 - 31

After being set free Peter & John went to join other companions (other followers of Jesus) and tell them of the day's event.


The response of their companions:

Prayer for more boldness to speak God's Word and to be used in more healings.

Prayer for signs and wonders be done in the Name of Jesus.


God's Response:

Immediate filling of the Holy Spirit.

Do we have a positive or negative response to the message of the Bible?

You can find all the other posts in this series at

The Book of Acts Page