So tonight was amazing, when I finally made it back to college after a very diverted
walk home, it was making it on for midnight, which is far past my exam-term bed
time. But I thought I would do some work, which quickly turned to worship, and
the discovery of this song:
So when you
decide worship is more important than sleep, a lot of things seem to happen,
but I am pretty sure some of them weren’t meant just for me.
So after a
rather intense few hours of writing, praying and God answering a prayer right
in front of my eyes (come on), he directed me to three bible verses. Two of
which really linked to some of the things I was discussing with people about
last night. So, as they seem to explain stuff to me and convince me of quite a
few things, I thought it might be good to share them.
---
Firstly (well
it was the second one but you get me): Thessalonians
1: 2-10.
From verse 3:
“We continually recall before God our
father the things you have done because of your faith and the work you have
done because of your love. And we thank
him that you continue to be strong because of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother and sisters, God loves you,
and we know he has chosen you, because the Good
News we brought to you came not only with words, but with power, with the Holy
Spirit and with sure knowledge that it is true. Also you know how we lived
when we were with you in order to help you. And you became like us and like the
Lord. You suffered much, but still you
accepted the teaching with the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. So you
became an example to all the believers..”
I think this
is now one of my favourite chapters in the bible. I think it is really powerful
for all growing Christians, not only for me, but I can see bits relevant to so
many of the people (including myself) I have spoken to tonight.
So I focused
in on four particular sections:
Firstly I
think that when you see someone remain strong in Christ it is really inspiring,
it also what we aspire to do. It is so hard to put God above all our pain and
stress at big things, or other little things like exam term, but if we can
trust and remain in God then life is so much better and we can strive to do so
much more.
Secondly, I
must have spent hours talking to a really amazing girl yesterday about how we
were both searching for love in Christ. You can have so much love from him but
sometimes something is missing, and we were speculating what that was. Now the
rest of that conversation will stay private but a reminder that he loves you is
never a bad thing for either of us, or any of you, because hey he does love
every one of us like crazy.
Thirdly, the
power of the Holy Spirit is absolutely amazing. Last night he was working like
crazy in the service and in the prayer, it was absolutely insane to watch. I
don’t know if many of you have been asked “how do you know it is all true?” and
I think this can tell us why. It is true because we can feel the Holy Spirit in
it, and we can just pray that other people can feel that too.
Finally, a
lot of people I know at church have suffered a lot, yet they look so happy
while worshipping, which is really cool. So whether the suffering is really big
things, or just quite small problems that crop up, finding the Holy Spirit is a
sure way to bring a smile to your face and strength to your heart. It is also
what we hope can come to those of our friends who are really struggling right
now in situations far out of our depth, so this felt like a pretty cool
direction for prayer.
So that verse
provided me with a lot of comfort, but I also think it can provide a lot of
comfort and inspiration for a lot of us out there.
And finally: Philippians: 3: 13-21:
“I do not mean that I am already as
God wants me to be. I have not yet
reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. …
there is one thing I always do. Forgetting
the past and straining towards what is ahead. I keep trying to reach the
goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life
above. All of us who are spiritually mature should think this way too. And if there are things you do not agree
with, God will make them clear to you. But we should continue following the
truth we already have. … But our homeland is heaven, and we are waiting for our
Saviour..”
Now in the
service today I realised the importance of living in the present, and to try
and stop dreaming about plans God may have for me. But this has reminded me to
also stop living in the past. As well as being a dreamer, I am also a massive hoarder,
so that is pretty good advice.
It is also
really hard in our lives to forget human desires and truly focus on living to
get to heaven. However much we want to do this, there will always be those
temptations surrounding us. This was another topic of conversation tonight and
this is truly a verse which just reminds us why this is so important. It also
says God will explain why certain things are so important, so whatever the
things that are troubling us that is really comforting.
I also think,
as linked to the last blog, this is just a reminder that even the spiritually mature
are still not perfect. Everyone is on a long journey to heaven and they will
have good days, and bad days with God.
While talking
about this yesterday, I used an analogy to try and explain my rather jumbled
brain. I am not sure if it is spiritually accurate, and I do believe in unity
with Christian friends but: If you were in a relationship with a boy, and
someone sat in on every date it wouldn’t be okay. If that person then continued
to analyse every part of your relationship and to tell you what you were doing
right or wrong, that wouldn’t be cool. So why do we think it is with God? Yes
we can provide advice but our relationship with God is private and unique
(hence the very small proportion shared in this), and not to be compared with
others.
Now I am
almost certain that this verse wasn't meant for me alone, and I am also pretty
sure that the sections I took from it aren’t exactly what suits to others. So I
really hope someone out there has got something else from this.
Finally
(really finally), I think that it is really important to look outside Christian-specific stuff for inspiration, and this song came up in a totally non-Christian natter
yesterday, but then I realised it is actually a REALLY COOL COMING TO GOD SONG.
I am sorry if I have missed an inappropriate lyric somewhere but I think it is
AWESOME, I also love Rudimental so that probably helps:
--
So last night’s
worship session was beyond intense and some prayer to understand and follow the
other stuff he threw would be amazing, but I hope that I was right in thinking
that maybe not all those bible verses were directed just at me. Otherwise
writing this all up at some ridiculous hour in the morning would feel rather
pointless HA. God Bless xo.
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