Rooftops - Jesus Culture

Rooftops - Jesus Culture

Here I am before You, falling in love and seeking Your truth
Knowing that Your perfect grace has brought me to this place
Because of You I freely live, my life to You, oh God, I give
So I stand before You, God
I lift my voice cause You set me free

So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours

All the good You've done for me, I lift up my hands for all to see
You're the only one who brings me to my knees
To share this love across the earth, the beauty of Your holy worth
So I kneel before You, God
I lift my hands cause You set me free

So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours
All that I am, I place into Your loving hands
And I am Yours, I am Yours

Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open
To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God

I love this song, and it's message is simple... I am His. No matter what. I am His. 

Thankful for: Food

A very obvious thing to be thankful for again. Food, we need it to survive. I just had a bbq with the family, and the food was great but I know there are people who didn't get to eat tonight so it makes me more thankful for the food that I am able to eat. 

Don't Cut The Cord

I've been watching some Grey's Anatomy today and the episode that I was watching had a man with a giant tumour being fed by some sort of cord or something which they at one point believed they would need to cut to remove the tumour however, this would paralise the man. (I'm not a doctor so I'm not sure exactly what the situation was)

It made me start thinking about my relationship with Jesus. If Jesus were the tumour and I cut the cord, I would be paralised, I would pretty much die. But what does it mean to cut the cord to the tumour, or cut the cord to Jesus? Cutting the cord would mean cutting Him out of my life and not looking to Him for anything. Without Him in my life, my life would have no purpose or meaning, I would have paralised my life. 

Sometimes we may find things difficult but if we cut the cord to Jesus we lose the chance of finding our way through it. The good thing is this cord can be connected again. All we need to do is choose to have Him be a part of our lives. 

Thankful for: Animals

I have a pet dog, he is a rather funny dog. Strange really. But he brightens the day sometimes. God created the animals and they are such great entertainment for us. I love it!

Fitting In

Have you ever felt like you don't fit in? I know it may sound crazy but that's often how I feel when I come home to visit the family. I live a different life to them, I have different values, different ideas about everything. I use up the hours in my day differently, I often feel misunderstood like they don't get me and I don't belong. The funny thing is though... that I do belong, I do fit in because it doesn't matter what our differences are... WE ARE FAMILY!

It's the same in my church family. We are all so different, but we are family! And no matter how different we are, how much we feel like we don't fit in, the truth is we do fit in, because we have been made to fit. God made us different for a reason, and the only reason we would feel like we don't fit in would be because the devil is making us feel that way. 

Thankful for: Flowers

It's a part of God's creation. The flowers give us something pretty to look at and something beautiful to smell. His creation is amazing.  

New Day - Worship Central

Your love has opened my eyes,
In You I have come alive,
A new day, has come.
Your grace has turned me around,
Set my feet on solid ground,
A new day, has come.

It's a new day, it's a new life,
It's a new start for every heart that's found You,
Jesus we found You.
New hope, full of Your joy,
Iit's a new start for every heart that's found You,
Jesus we found you.

We have been healed and restored,
Everything we are is Yours,
We'll shine, for You.
We'll sing it loud, sing it strong,
Telling of the Fathers love,
We'll shine, for You.

Light the way, You lead me in Your perfect ways,
I'm not afraid, You're with me.
Light the way, with You in it's a brighter day.
I'm not afraid, You're with me.

It's a new day, it's a new life,
It's a new start for every heart that's found You,
Jesus we found You.

 

When we find Jesus, we are given a new life. We can live a new day, we no longer have to hold on to the past, we can let go and look towards the future with a new joy. We shouldn't keep this to ourselves, we need to spread the word, share His love and shine His light for Him!

Thankful for: A New Life

After that song I just couldn't be thankful for anything any more than I am thankful for the new life Jesus has given me. I have grown a lot since becoming Christian, I have leart a lot about myself and about the mistakes I have made and through having a new life, I am learning to be a better person for God.

Sunset

When you go outside it doesn't take long to notice all the amazing the tags God has placed in the world. I went to the beach the other day to watch the sun set and it was beautiful! I am just going to let the pictures do the talking... I'm not a photographer but they still show God's handy work!

Thankful for: Brains

God put a lot of effort into making us. All our organs work together to help us live. I'm thankful for the brain which is one very important organ. Without it, it would be impossible to live.

Acceptance

Last night the family all came and had dinner with me yesterday and so today I was thinking about the way that a family works. 

When you are part of a family, it doesn't matter how often you see them or how different you are, they still love you, they still accept you and nothing will ever stop that. I find that when I spend time with my family, I realise how different I am to most of them. I am the only completely devoted Christian in the family so my beliefs and ideals can be quite different from my brothers but this doesn't stop them from accepting me as part of the family. 

I believe this is how we as Christians should behave. No matter what a person believes or how different they tare, we need to be accepting of anyone regardless of their differences. This is how God is with us. No matter how different we are, He loves us and He accepts us.

Thankful for: The Sun

The sun is important in so many ways! I'm thankful for the light that it gives us, and the warmth. Without the sun the world wouldn't be the place we know it to be. 

 

God's Excitement

Have you ever wondered how excited God is when you come back to Him?

As I mentioned before, I'm currently visiting my family in WA and I arrived today. Now, most of my family greeted me as they always do... a smile and a hello. It's how my familly is... it's not much but it's enough. But then there is one member of my family that greets me very differently. My dog.

When I walk through the door, my dog goes crazy! He jumps up and down, his tail wags so much I think it's going to fall off, he barks when I don't acknowledge him, he follows me around for hours. That's a lot of excitement for a little dog. I imagine that Gods excitement when we come back to Him would be similar. I don't expect that He is going to wag a tail or bark but I do believe that He gets excited for us more than we can imagine.

In the story of the prodigals son, Luke 15:11-32, we read about how the father greeted his son when he returned. He gave him a whole lot of attention, and gave him all that was his, he also decided to throw a great celebration. God wants to celebrate our return to Him. Don't think that it's not a big deal... because it is to Him!

Thankful for: Family 

My first day back with my family was today and they great. They're a crazy bunch, but they're my family, and I love them! 

Rollercoaster Future

So... I'm going on holidays tomorrow. I leave early in the morning and am going to visit the family for 3 weeks and watching my little brother getting married. 

Packing for a three week trip is difficult! I don't know what I'm going to want to wear in three weeks. I don't know what the weather will be like. I don't know where I'll be going or what I'll be doing for a large portion of the time there. There are so many variables of what could happen. Packing, was quite a big task! 

It got me thinking about the future. We don't know what the future holds, three weeks is difficult... how do we know whats coming in the years to come! GOD KNOWS! 

Now I'm not really talking about holidays and asking God what to pack, but just our lives. When we don't know what's ahead of us, God knows what is waiting. He knows what the weather is going to be like for us, and He will help us prepare for that. You hear it said all the time, that life is a rollercoaster. The good thing is that God knows where this roller coaster is going, He knows exactly what you can take. I guess He is a little bit like the restraints that hold you in and keep you safe when you are on the rollercoaster.

Roller coasters go up, down and around... and they go fast! Life is like this sometimes, it goes by so fast, one minute its on the way up, then it's going down, then it feels like we're going around in circles. The truth is... we probably never know exactly where it's going... but as I said. God knows! We need to put all our trust in Him and know that He will give us all that we need. He will walk us through the ups, and the downs. He will help us be prepared for these moments. When we listen to Him, the roller coaster ride will seem less bumpy!

Thankful for: Choices

We all have choices in life, even as a Christian, God has still blessed me with the ability to choose. And when I make the wrong decision, He will forgive me, He will still love me, and He will help me to choose the right decision next time. 

 

Exalted One

Exalted One - Elevation Worship

In the midst of the darkness,
You're the light that guides me through.
Our eyes are on You.
You are near to the broken,
The weak find their strength in You.
Our eyes are on You.
When I'm lost in the madness,
Your peace, it calms my soul.
Our eyes are on You.
You bring hope to the hopeless,
Your the love that won't let go.
Our eyes are on You.

We lift our eyes to You,
Where our help comes from.
Our hope is found in You,
Jesus, Lord of all.
We lift our eyes to You,
Exalted One, Exalted One. 

Your promise stands
Your love Endures,
Nothing can shake us standing on Your word
We're not afraid,
We're full of hope
You'll never leave; You'll never let us go.

We lift our eyes to You,
Where our help comes from.
Our hope is found in You,
Jesus, Lord of all.
We lift our eyes to You,
Exalted One, Exalted One 

This is another song with some great lyrics. Just the first two lines are filled with truth. "In the midst of the darkness, You're the light that guides me through."

We all face dark moments in our lives, troubles are ahead of all of us, but when we have Jesus, when God is a part of our lives. He lights up those moments and gives us a reason and a hope to go on! Do you put all yoru hope in Christ? Do you look to Him in all you do? He is the one that guides us through the storm, He is the light that leads us. He is our help!

Thankful for: Support

Imagine living life without the support of those around you. Support of family, support of friends, support from teachers and peers. It would make things quite difficult. The biggest of all supporters in our lives is God. 

Trust, Faith and Love

Have you ever thought of trust being the same as faith? I hadn't really thought about it until just now. I was thinking about the idea of trust and I realised... trusting in something is having faith in something. Believing in what we don't see. Believing that someone will come through for us even when we are not sure about it ourselves. 

So thinking about it, when we say we have faith in God, we are saying that we trust that He will look out for us. We trust that He knows what's best for us. We trust that He will never leave us. Trust is faith. Faith is trust. And with faith and trust comes love. 

When we love someone we develop a trust in them. We trust that they wont hurt us. Sometimes we can love someone so much that, even when they do hurt us, the love remains and the trust also stays. This is how God sees us. He loves us so much that He trusts that we wont hurt Him, but as the humans of the world that we are, and sinners, we probably hurt Him more than we realised. But does that stop Him from loving us. No! God loves us no matter what. He trusts us. Not only do we have faith in Him, but He has faith and trust in us. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The Bible tells us to trust the Lord with everything that we have. Love Him, and trust Him and know that He will show you the best path to follow. 

Thankful for: Houses

It's raining outside and I am safely inside. I'm thankful for the shelter that I have. Thankful for the house that I am able to live in. Thankful for the home that I have. 

Fruits of the Spirit - Self-Control

Each of the fruits of the Spirit should be big in our lives, but for me right now this is the one that speaks to me the most. The one that I often need to look to God to ask for more. I find there are times in my life where I need more self-control but then I give up too easily. 

Self-Control is the ability to exercise restraint or control over our feelings, emotions and reactions. 

Everything that we do in life required a level of self control. Sometimes it's in the small choices we make, sometimes the large. The choice whether to buy chocolate or not can come down to whether you have self-control. I caved today, I knew I didn't need it, but I bought it anyway. But there are much bigger choices in life where we need to exercise our self control. There are choices that need to be made that can affect our future.

An example of where we need to use our self-control or ask God to help us with our self-control is maybe when we are meeting up with a person of the opposite sex. If we are interested in them it can take a lot of self-control not to do anything stupid. If we made the wrong move, or let go of our self-control we could find ourselves in an awkward situation or making mistakes that we cannot take back. 

I know there are areas in my own life where I need to exercise self-control more. My problem a lot of the time is that I don't turn to God for help until afterwards... and then it's too late to change the choice that has been made. It's important to seek God's wisdom and ask for the control before making any decision or making moves. 

"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control" (Proverbs 25:28) When we have no self-control there is no stopping things from breaking through. There is no stopping things from coming into our lives that do not belong. 

Thankful for: Fans

It has been quite hot the past couple of days, so I'm thankful for having a fan that keeps me cool at night. Without it, I would probably be too hot to get to sleep, and without sleep, I get very emotional. 

Fruits of the Spirit - Gentleness

Gentleness is another fruit of the Spirit. To be gentle is to be kind. Again, this is a fruit that doesn't go without another. 

I guess gentleness can be seen as the way that we deal with situations. In a case where we could be harsh, the Holy Spirit will guide us to being gentle.

I'm not actually sure that I have a lot to say about gentleness, so I've found some more bible verses. 

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." (Philippians 4:5)

We shouldn't hide the fruits of the Spirit from others. He gives us these gifts for us to show others His power and love. 

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience" (Colossians 3:12)

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," (1 Peter 3:15)

I don't have a lot to say about gentleness, but I know I will be thinking more about whether I am showing gentleness in my everyday life. 

Thankful for: Transportation

Imagine if we had no way of getting anywhere except for on our feet. I know there was a time when we didn't have the same transportation as we do now so I'm thankful for the transportation that we have now. Even though it can often be expensive, it's great to know that we can go from place to place in a number of ways.  

Fruits of the Spirit - Faithfulness

Faith is a belief in something, and faithfulness is staying true to this belief. 

Faithfulness is another fruit of the Holy Spirit. The ability to be faithful is given to us from God. Thinking about it, it would be difficult to be faithful if you've got nothing to be faithful for. My belief in God is what makes me have faith and it's what makes me faithful. Without God, I would have no faithfulness. 

"Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me" (Psalm 40:11)

Faithfulness is not just a fruit we show but it can also be a gift that God gives to us in the way that He is faithful to us. He never lets us down. 

Thankful for: New Beginnings

I have a friend who is leaving tomorrow to live 6 hours away which is why I'm thankful for new beginnings. She is starting a new life, not that there was anything wrong with her current life, but now she is starting a new journey with her family. She will be going to share the love of God with new people and sharing her story with new friends. It's a great opportunity, and I'm thankful for the new beginnings we are all given in life. 

Fruits of the Spirit - Goodness

I've always been a little bit unsure about exactly what "goodness" is. I know good and evil, but is goodness just meaning the "good"? Is goodness from the Holy Spirit just the idea of all the good things in life? 

The dictionary defines "goodness" as the following:
1. the state or quality of being good.
2. moral excellence; virtue.
3. kindly feeling; kindness; generosity.
4. excellence of quality; goodness of workmanship.
5. the best part of anything; essence; strength.

I believe the goodness that is the gift of the Holy Spirit is the good that we can see in people. The good that comes out showing love and kindness and all of the other great things that we are given. I'm not sure that goodness can really be shown without showing any of the other gifts of the Holy Spirit with it. 

I also thought I would look at some other Bible verses that contain the word goodness to see if I could find anything further on the subject. 

Psalm 69:16 says, "Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me." Of course if the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of goodness, He must possess this goodness. And here we see that the Lord goodness in love. Goodness is shown through love.

"And the Lord said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion'." (Exodus 33:19) The Lord doesn't just show goodness through love. He shows it through mercy and compassion. This is how it passes onto us, and we can pass His goodness onto others.

"...make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;" (2 Peter 1:4-6) Goodness is definitely not something we can have on it's own, we need to grow in our goodness and help it to become more becoming more and more like Christ.

Thankful for: Education

I just spent the evening with some friends and for some of the time was feeling a little bit stupid. I don't have the biggest vocabulary, I like to keep things simple so sometimes when people use words I don't understand I feel a little dumb around them. But I soon realise that although I do not use big words, I am intelligent in other ways. I'm thankful for the education that I was able to receive. I know that if I had not had this education, there are a lot of things I would not be able to do. Reading the Bible would be a difficult task if I had never learnt to read.

Fruits of the Spirit - Kindness

It's interesting to think that kindness is a fruit of the spirit. So many people today would think that kindness is just something that we have. Even those who do not believe in Christ or the Holy Spirit can be kind. And yes, that is true... so what does it mean to have the kindness from the Holy Spirit?

This is just my thoughts on it, I may not be correct, but I believe that the kindness from the Holy Spirit is the kindness that comes no matter how we are feeling. When we allow our emotions to take control of us, it can become difficult for some people to remain kind. We find that we take all our emotions out on others and find ourselves being rude or hurtful. I believe that when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His kindness, when we are upset about something someone has done to us, we are still able to respond to them, and to all those around us, with kindness. 

Thinking of times in my life, I know there was a time where I had a friend who was extremely horrible to me, and had said some nasty things. Without the Holy Spirit to guide me I responded with horrible and nasty words myself. I wanted revenge and I responded with anger. This then transfered onto the people around me, I wasn't able to respond with kindness because I wasn't letting the kindness in. 

I guess its a lesson that we are all continually learning from. And we will be tested in it from time to time. We are not going to go through life without being hurt or let down, but when we are we need to remember to allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our heart. We shouldn't block off our hearts to the gift of kindness because someone has been unkind to us. 

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Luke 6:27-31)

Thankful for: Days of restorations

It was a public holiday today, and I was able to use this as a day of restoration. I seriously spent the entire day on my bed watching tv... Was that lazy? Maybe it was.... but sometimes we need these days just to recover from the busy-ness that can come into our lives. It's nice to put everything aside and put everything into perspective.