Are you washed?

Romans 3:23 (NIV)
     For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
     For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

I was having a hard job writing today, I could not think of anything to write and after the last two days at work I am drained and struggling for inspiration. So as I always do on the days when I have little or no inspiration, I went to the internet and ran a search. The search led me to the two verses above, at first I was going to just go with Romans 3:23 but as that verse alone seemed to be a little depressive I thought about looking for another and saw the verse just below was Ephesians 2:8.

I thought that this was a good pairing with the one verse telling us that we all are sinners and will never measure up to the glory of God. Then we have the second verse which tells us that through the grace of God and our faith in Him that God has given us the gift of being saved.

As someone who has spent his life growing up in and around the Church I know that we will never be anything but sinful. But I also know that this is not the problem that it first seems, I believe that through the saving grace of Christ we have all been washed clean of our sins. Through Jesus God has given us the greatest gift we could ever receive, eternal life with Him in Heaven. 

When I was thinking about what to write one thought I had and then discounted was about a song. But as I have been writing I have realised that it is relevant to what I have written and is something I should share with you guys. It is a song that I was introduced to by the young peoples band I have played in since I was 7 years old and continue to assist with now I am back living at home, they are still playing the same song 17 years on. The song is by Elisha A. Hoffman and is called are you washed;

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

Yes we will always be sinful and we will always continually to fall short of the glory of God but we have been given the gift from God of being washed by the blood of our Lord Jesus. 

Losing my connection

This post I have to begin with an apology, Hannah, please forgive me, I am a complete clutz. As some of you may have noticed I have made a few small changes to the site recently and included a chat function. To be honest I didn't actually think anyone would ever use the function and just added it in the hope that one day it may be of some use.

Lo and behold after only a couple of days I received my first message from Hannah (who I hope by this point in the post has forgiven me for my lack of technical grace). The thing is I have set the chat function to be linked with my lovely new netbook which I am still coming to grips with (Windows 7 and I do not agree) and I press a wrong button and lose my connection.

While I was fiddling about with the netbook to try and re-establish the connection I began thinking about our connection with God and how our actions can sometimes strain the link. Sometimes the things that we do can cause us to think we have "lost" our connection with God.

Fortunately for us, the connection with God is not like my net connection, which after its demonstration last night can only be a good thing. No matter what we have done, or how much we think we have offended God, there is nothing that can sever this connection. Jesus came to Earth, lived as a man and died for our sins to give us this connection that can not be "lost".

Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)

    For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
     Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


So as for technical difficulties I think I have solved them, for now at least, and believe everything on the site is up and running once again. I hope that if you have time and you see the little green light on the chat box I hope you can pop in to say a quick hello.

Advent Challenge Day 11

This challenge is now complete, please feel free to browse all of the 

completed tasks via the Advent Challenge tab.

Yesterday my challenge was to pray for those people who I know who do not know Christ. Rather than praying for everyone that I know who does not know God and His son Jesus as that would be a considerable number of people to pray for individually. I will pray for everyone in time and do spend time as it is at the moment but for me this challenge I decided to be specific and lift up some specific people to God.

I don't want to embarrass the people who I have selected for this task but I chose two people who are close to me and who have a real need for Christ in their lives for very different reasons. When I prayed I asked God to reveal Himself to them this Christmas time, that something in their lives will shine through and in some small way show them that you are present in their lives.

Romans 8 tells us that there is nothing that can possibly separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. And the poem Footprints is a fantastic example of how even when we feel as though we are on our own God is always there supporting us, and when necessary carrying us. I try to show this in my day to day life, knowing that I will never know quite who is watching me and how my actions in life portray Christianity to them. But these two people who I have uplifted to God I feel are ready for that little extra push, to be challenged that little bit more in order for them to start making the steps towards God that I can see they are ready for.

Today the task that has been chosen is task number 21. Google St Nicholas. This is a fairly simple task that wont take much time at the end of the day but it is something interesting to look at and think on about how this man has become the symbol of Christmas yet people do not knw how or why he is linked to Christmas and Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. I am going to have a very Christmassy day today and spend time with some friends I have not seen for a while, I hope you guys all have a great day today too. Until next time, Merry Christmas.

Never be lazy

Romans 12:11-13 (NLT)
Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Its not easy is it? How do we wake up each morning prepared to work hard for the Lord, and not just work but work enthusiastically. Confidence, hope and patience are not easy to practice, and for many people they are rare commodities. Are we ready to help God's people when they need it, are we able to provide the hospitality they need? It does seem sometimes that God asks a lot of us, that He may even be asking too much of us. We have to remember what He has already done for us though, what He continues to do. That whenever He asks something of us He is not like a CEO of God Inc. He is here with us, helping us, working in the mud with us. We need to be praying always, non stop in and about all things. Praying is not just pleading with God for help or to do things for us. It is about rejoicing in all that we do, celebrating the work He has asked us to do however hard it is. It is looking at the world and seeing the wonder He has created, listening for His voice in all the moments of the day. Prayer does not just happen at the beginning or end of the day, in Church or on your knees. Prayer is your whole life live properly as God would want it. Like I said at the beginning, its not easy is it? But don't forget, you are never on your own, you do not have to battle on alone. The God who created the universe, the God of the ages, of Abraham and Jacob, Father of Jesus is the same God who walks with you every day, remember that and do not worry.

Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
                      (Carolyn Joyce Carty)

I know this is a very commonly known poem, it is used frequently amongst Christians. It is a fantastic image for life, whether we are Christian or not God walks beside us daily ready for any time we may need him. Even if we can't or won't see Him, He is there. Carrying us when we are unable to walk any further or ready to collapse beneath the weight of the world.

Psalm 23:4 (KJV)  

    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

This verse says almost exactly the same as the poem Footprints but from a different angle. If we know we have God then not even the worst things in life should worry us. Yet being human we will struggle to allow God to be there for us, we will struggle against Him as he carries us.

I want at this point to apologise for posting another dark and depressing post. I have much to be thankful and happy for right now, but I am feeling very isolated and cut off at the moment. Due to circumstances I am not able to attend the Church I wish to be at regularly and I am not able to spend time with the friends that I want to see very often. These two things have been fantastic anchors for me this past year, providing me with support as and when I have needed it. If it was not for this support I can honestly say I would not be here writing this post. I have no idea what route my life would have taken but it would not have been the positive path that it has been. 

It is our lot in life as humans to face dark periods, it is the nature of the enemy to try and drag us down when we feel our highest. But remember we have the best defence in the world, Prayer. It is our link to God, it is our weapon and it is our defence. As I mentioned in the post on Genesis 22 God has his plans, it has always been planned out. And it is the best plan there is, there could be non better. We may not understand it, we may not understand why we have to suffer or struggle as we do but be sure God will use it all to his advantage. 

Romans 8:28 (NLT)
     And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Whatever the reasons for things being the way they are, you can be guarantee that God will be working through it to produce something good. In my post on painting with dark colours I talk about how God can bring happiness, joy and goodness from bad situations. We just need to learn to fully rely on God in all things and for all things.

To finish I would like to backtrack into this post a little bit. Earlier I mentioned the fact that I am currently a long way from my friends and Church who have done so much for me over the last year. There are two friends who I feel I should thank especially. Despite the fact that I am not always the easiest person to deal with or be around, the fact that I am far from perfect, they seem to always have time to help, listen and talk when I need it. So for that reason I am saying a public thanks to them, I won't name them as they will know who they are and I know they don't do it for the thanks or to "play" the part. At the same time I would like to thank anyone who reads this, I use this as an outlet to pour out the rubbish in my mind yet it appears some people do read it and possibly even like it, although I am not sure on the second point. Please feel free to leave comments or message me on jerrathorn@gmail.com.

Episode 2 - The one where Abraham tops Isaac (almost)

Ok, so I decided that I would like to look at Genesis 22 for the second linked post. If you want to read the corresponding post from Caron click here.

There is loads that can be said about Genesis 22, I could talk about sacrifice, following God's plans even if we don't like them or even look at how Isaac might have felt because of his Father's actions. But for me the reason that Genesis 22 is so important are the parallels between this and the sacrifice God made through Jesus.

Through all of this story there are a number of events or circumstances which foreshadow what is to occur in the New Testament. To begin with Moriah the place where the sacrifice is to occur is the eventual site where Solomon built the temple which is in close proximity to Calvary. God chose the site for the sacrifice and therefore the setting is not accidental. For me this is the first indication not only of what is to come but also the fact that God does not ask of us more than He Himself is willing to give. Because this site was not close to Abraham he had to travel a significant distance in order to follow God's direction. Numbers are important in the Bible, they hold meaning and are representative of God's actions, plans and thoughts. Because of this the length of time Abraham journeyed is also significant, the journey Abraham went on took him 3 days. The number 3 in the Bible is used to denote God's will or His divine purpose.

We see before the sacrifice that Isaac was laden with the wood for the offering, that he struggled up the mountain bearing the device for his sacrifice. This is a striking resemblance to the fact that Jesus bore his cross to Calvary. Both struggled to carry the load that they had to carry, for Isaac it was only the wood but Jesus carried not only the weight of the cross but the sin of all mankind too.

Abraham had already been promised that his ancestors though Isaac would be an untold number and he trusted God in this. Therefore when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac he knew that though he could not understand the plan God would ensure that His promise would not be broken. He believed that God could resurrect Isaac after the sacrifice, that he would be given back to Abraham from the dead. In a certain sense this did happen, when Abraham lifted his arms to kill Isaac in his head his son was dead. In stopping the sacrifice God was raising Isaac from "death" and saving him for His use.

In what I find to be a moment of great foreshadowing after the sacrifice was stopped God then provided the sacrifice that would be made. The animal that was sacrificed that day was representative of the huge sacrifice God was going to make for us all. The blood of the ram that was sacrificed was significant in sealing the deal between God and mankind that one day the blood of the Lamb would be spilled which would cleanse us all.

One of my great loves of the Bible is how it is all connected, while any one book in the Bible is capable of standing alone, when it is viewed in its complete form the nature and plans of God can be glimpsed. This story is from the beginning of the Bible and yet we can already see that God's plan was in place.

Romans 8:29
     God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.

 The New Testament is not separate from the Old Testament, they form one book, one story. I know that this is far from being a comprehensive look at Genesis 22 and that there is much more that could be learned from it. I do hope though that this may spark an interest to go back and look at the Bible stories we all know so well and consider them in relation to each other. It's an amazing book the Bible, you could read it for an entire lifetime and still not learn all there is to learn from it. You could read it 10, 20, 30 years or more in the future having read it every day and still find something new.

Thoughts or comments please leave below, thanks.

Romans 8:38-39

    For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
           Romans 8:38-39 (KJV)