love

Sing Your Own Song to God

Bethany Uncategorized

isPMK3SZJMMost of us love music and when we hear a song that touches our hearts in a tender or a passionate way in worshiping God, it cheers us up to great heights, depending how much we have given our heart to God in worship. I was searching high and low for my flute this early morning, just everywhere and couldn’t find it at all. God had a better plan for me. I wanted to be able to play a musical instrument for worship that was portable and that didn’t have to depend on electricity, for the days when our world will be griped in fear, through the disasters that will take place. We are going to need music to lift us up so that we will be strengthen and be able to endure what will take place during those days ahead. I thought of this woman’s advice that I read about singing, the day before and I thought that won’t do because I have a bad memory and won’t be able to remember the words. At this stage I couldn’t think of anything else to do. So I gave it a try but with a difference. I looked through my little Bible promises book and made up my own song using a verse that I found. Practise does make perfect. Just be child like.

If you are not a perfectionist and just want to have fun singing songs to God to worship Him with, this is a great way to do it. I believe God appreciates it even more, because it is not somebody else’s words but our very own, especially for Him.  First time I attempted it wasn’t so good, but I did get better. With more courage I tried out different ways of doing it. It got even better when I started to use my hands for clapping with the song that I made up.  The thing is, a beautiful surge of energy of joy filled me up. I believe that is a sure sign that God is letting me know He wants me to do this often. And I believe God would love all His children to give it ago, because I feel you can put your prayers to music and you don’t have to please anybody but God. And He is easy to please if you put your heart into it for Him. You don’t have to worry if you don’t have a good singing voice either. You not out to impress anybody but God.

Just imagine if your beloved small child composed a song to you out of their love and appreciation of you. How would you feel? Would you criticised it because it wasn’t perfect or that it wasn’t professionally done well? Or would you look at your child with sheer joy and affection for this child’s attempt in pleasing you. God loves you far more than you do your child. So give it ago. Spend time with God and minister to Him. I think it is odd how God wants us to minister to Him, but the truth of the matter He does and He needs us to do it. Love needs love. I am going to try to do this at least 30 minutes a day from now on. I believe God will be so delighted if you give it ago too, you get instant benefits from doing it. Joy is one of them, and it brings that wall down that some of us put up so we won’t get hurt and after a long time it becomes a habit and we even do this to God. So it is very healing and give us confidence that God does love us, it brings us so much closer to Him. And there are so many more benefits that we all can go on and on telling one another what we all get out of loving God through music.

 

God Has Made Us All Different

Bethany Christian Living ,

I was motivated to write this article in answering to a comment I receive on this blog. I am one of those people who have trouble communicating one to one, since my life is one of isolation due to excessive shyness when I was young and then followed by breakdowns and social phobias for many decades. Communicating is a very precious skill and those who are good at it, often do not realise what a wonderful gift God has given them. They take it for granted like we all do with our own gifts. I thank her very much for her comment, because it has led me to think more deeply about the different characters that God has created us all in. I believe we all reflect God differently. If we are true to God and love Him we all love one another, but show it differently. We show our love by the characteristics that have been given to us by Our Dear Lord. The thing I have noticed lately, there seems to be two major groups in God’s Kingdom. One are the lovers and the other group are the fighters. And God needs both in His Kingdom, to expand it and to protect it. To me that is one of the reasons in my opinion He created us this way. And I also believe since God is infinite each and every one of us reflect different parts of His nature. is(7)

If you look at the angles for example God has His messenger’s and healing angels and they are very beautiful I am told. Then you have the warrior angles and they are not beautiful but very dangerous looking. They all love God with their everything and they all love us, and willing to help us, because of their great love for God. They have different roles and characteristics in their way of showing it. I believe without a doubt in heaven everybody understands one another perfectly and there is no confusion what your role is in how you are called to serve and love God and one another. On earth we are still trying to figure one another out.

I read in ‘He and i’ where Jesus speaks to Gabrielle Bossis that God had chosen her to save a certain group of people that only she was basically called to reached. How I interpret that not everybody you are called to reach, others can, because of our different temperaments. My nature wouldn’t attract them, but only yours would and vice a versa. I have noticed since I was very young and of course this is not my doing but Our Lord’s, I find I attract leaders. They always notice me and I don’t make a point of drawing their attention to me either, I simply be me. It is just how things work out. They either love or hate me and very rarely are indifferent to me. I feel like I am a revolutionist and a reformer at heart that is why I believe they notice me. If they agree with me, they love me, if they see me as a threat they hate me. isZTIQ1EJF

My best friend is a lover and by her example I am learning to be thoughtful in the little things that makes a big difference in friendship and relating to other people. And she finds comfort in me, because of my strength as a fighter. The children of God all need each other, we all have something very important to give to one another that is how God made all of us. Once again I thank the young lady for her comment it has given me plenty to think about and I hope this article has given her some explanation on how I serve God and others who are also fighters in God’s Kingdom. We are all called to Love God with all our hearts, minds, body and strength and love one another as He loves us. And God is a God of war and love. The picture of the two dogs I love because their show of affection is so sweet and love is sure beautiful without any doubts.

Growing in the Lord

Bethany Christian Living

isZJPOFTZOGrowing in the Lord is exciting, costly but so exciting. Every time you are willing to stretch yourself, and go out of your comfort zone, God always rewards you, even in this life. And it can be like a roller-coaster. Up and down all the time. We go through spiritual seasons. In the winter season nothing much seems to happen at all and you could complain sometimes everything is so slow and boring. Then along comes spring and there is so much growth all at once and movement that you don’t have the time to accomplish all that you want to for the Lord. It is acceleration time. It is that season for me and I believe most of us are in that season now. The enemy is always trying to steal my new treasure that God is giving me away. When you throw yourself into God’s arms, even the enemy is used by God to accelerate you. It is a case of sink or swim. And if you chose to swim there are many surprises waiting for you. Life seems to be full of contradictions, but little by little everything starts to make sense.

Our Authority In Jesus Christ

I am learning about my authority in Jesus Christ thanks to Kat Kerr. She has videos on our identity with God. Be careful if you looking for her YouTube shows on the internet. The enemy has been busy copycatting anybody who are successfully reaching out and educating people about God’s tender love for each and every one of us. So there is always somebody trying to confuse you in pretending they are the genuine person that you are looking for, but they are not. Like Jesus said you can tell if the person is a false prophet by their fruits. If their actions match up to Jesus Teachings or not, in other words does the fruit give out light or darkness. If it is darkness than it is not of God.

I have more confidence in using my authority in Christ in some areas more than others, but since I love learning, it makes life more fun and interesting. I encourage you in Jesus Name to try new things for Him. Ask Him to help you do this. He will reward you. I have been praying that God’s presence in me will overflow to the people who come in contact with me that they will be healed, delivered and saved. I know that may sound arrogant to some, but believe me God does do this. If He does it to other people I thought I will ask Him to do it to me also. You should learn to pray big and pray for what people consider impossible, because all things are possible to God and we are His children whom He loves so much.

God Works through Us

I was sitting in church one day, not so long ago. God has given me a new gift called the gift of tears and He is using it not just for me, but people who are near me and I think long distances too. When I do cry, out of love of God, healing does happen. When I am in the privacy of my own home and I feel it coming on me, I just let go and let God do His work in me. In public, I try to control it. I don’t like crying in public at all. During one service I was so touch by God’s love for me, I cried a little, because I couldn’t hold it back that well. The person sitting next to me who has been going to church for years, the Spirit of God entered in her and she was overcome by God’s love for her and revelation came to her of a little of what Jesus great love for her was like. Even a drop of Jesus’s love can melt a hardened heart. I have seen it, when they see Jesus their face has that melt away look of love. Getting back to what I was saying, this woman is so much more humble than me and she just broke down completely with tears and openly repented before all.

is(14)Some people might just think it is a coincidence. I truly don’t think so. I am starting to show strangers my love and compassion for them more than I have ever done. I have been so hurt by strangers it has taken me a long time to believe there was any good in people. So much healing has taken place in my own life. Once when I was at Mass many years ago God told me and showed me that as deep as my suffering was, He will fill me with Himself. Can you imagine that with you? What God said to me also applies to you. And we don’t not remember all our pain, if we did it would simply kill us, so we conveniently forget a great deal, but it is all recorded and God has even thanked me and showed me His appreciation on another occasion for my suffering that I endured for Him. More is going on than we realise.

I am very happily and confidently declaring in Jesus’s Name for the Host of Heaven to destroy strongholds in my town, country and then the whole world all the time. It lifts me up and it will you if you give it ago. It increases confidence in that area. I seem to be a fighter more than a healer, but both qualities do interacted with each other. Try it and find out for yourself. May God bless you and give you the courage to give it a go.

Sometimes there are Things We Should Pray About, but We Don’t think to Do it.

Bethany Christian Living ,

isIV8I3B4VSomebody I have known for a while. Her father had not long past away. He was not a believer and the rest of her family are not. She prayed over her father’s death and her prayers were answered. One day she was talking to me about it and then said, ‘I hope somebody prays for me when I die. That I will die in Our Lords peace’. I said to her, ‘why don’t you start praying now about your own death in preparation for when it comes? And she looked at me shocked, and then I became shocked that this was a new thought for her.

When I say the Rosary; each Hail Mary at the end we say, ‘pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death’. So praying for my death is something I do each day. This is just an example. Everything that concerns us we must remember, because of God’s great eternal love for us, it also concerns God. Even looking for a pen that you have misplaced is of concern for God. He cares about us. God wants you not to make a move without Him. To be completely dependent on Him, gives Him great joy.

Moving House

I use to live with my mother for many years. My mother and I have both had breakdowns and so we were feeling very helpless when we were in the middle of moving house by ourselves. The furniture was taken care of, but the problems was how are we going to get all our animals and a few other things there as well? I beg God to help us. I said to Him that we are like babes in the woods. To my greatest surprise yet, God the Father made His Presence Felt. I know many people will have difficulty in believing this. Even though God is to be feared, because He is so powerful. And no one in their right mind would want to cross God if they only knew His Sovereignty is absolute and exceedingly powerful. And of course words can’t describe God, He is just too big for us to imagine.

Of all things He came to me as a very vulnerable baby. Now God could of come to me as the All Mighty God if had chosen. I have experience Him big and powerful before. The thing is God has many sides to His nature. And yes He is so vulnerable. His feelings towards us is so tender, that He is extremely easily hurt by us when we don’t respond to His unimaginable love for each and every one of us. Not one of us has any idea how vulnerable Our Great Almighty God really is.

The next big surprise came to me, He showed me and I felt His feelings towards me also, of His Great and overwhelming honour He had towards me, because I asked Him for His help. I was stunned and then I said partly to myself and to Him, ‘who else can I turn to, You are God, there is no other I can turn to’. It reminded me of what Saint Peter said.

John 6: 68-69…Simon Peter answered him,”Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.

Saint Peter was experiencing something completely different from what I was, but the answer is the same. Who can we turn to but You; there is no one higher!!!

God is Full of Surprises

God is full of surprises. And they are beautiful surprises that makes you love Him more. I can’t wait to finish this race. And I do pray every day that I will make it and not just me. I am always praying for us to make it. Because the enemy of our souls, will try to break us and do his best to destroy our love and faith in God. By keeping our attention on our troubles and not on God who can solve them. Fear and Pride I believe are his most powerful weapons. If it takes a miracle that is not an issue with God. God is a God of miracles. There is no miracle God can’t handle. But we must keep our eyes on Him all the time, especially during hardships, and pray without ceasing. And you must trust Him. God sees all, the whole picture. We only see such a tiny little portion and we act as if we know what to do, because we really think we see the whole picture. God’s ways are not our ways to. He is incredibly smarter than we are.

Many people make the mistake of blaming God for what Satan has done. People forget we have all been given a free will and it comes with responsibilities that we have to face sooner or later. We should love one another and back one another up by talking to each other in an uplifting manner. If we just see all the bad stuff then it leads to despair and that is not how you handle life issues, if you put your trust in Our Lord Jesus. If we read all the promises of the bible that lift you up and if you do things like that God will not let go of you. Ask for wisdom and discernment they are great and handy tools to have in every circumstances. I was once enlightened by God’s Holy Spirit that if we lose the fear of death the devil has no power over us. If you are truly sold out to God, you will trust Him completely and know He is with us in every situation. With God we can do all things. He has the power to make it so.

John 6: 38-39…For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last days.’

“Love One Another As I Have Love You”

Bethany Christian Living, Women's rights

Brutality against women in the western society is on the increase. As the society moves further away from the belief of a loving God.  Humans left to their own, are very selfish creatures to the extreme. It is Jesus example in particular that teaches us how to love one another and be merciful with one another, especially towards the ones who are the most vulnerable in society. I remember once I was meditating on that men do not really have good role models on how to treat their wives and women in general. I was thinking to myself the only true role model they do have is in fact Jesus Himself. Men treat women by how they have been taught by their father’s examples and their fathers were taught by their fathers and so on. Even in Christian society’s men have treated women less important than a man. Women for example were not allowed to learn how to read and write, if they did people considered it was the work of the devil. And later in the Middle Ages when women were finally allowed to read and write, they were not to write down anything to do with the bible. In another time in history a minster of God was allowed to beat his wife with a thicker rod than most men. Now what kind of example of love and mercy is that?

Sins Against Women

I thought to myself one day that most men’s sins against women is through ignorance and at that moment I then felt God’s presence come down towards my head and He repeated to me ‘most men’s sins against women is through ignorance’. I believe He wanted me to really understand that, so I could find it easier to forgive them. You hear some horrific stories how many men have treated their wives throughout history. It is easy to hate them for it, but it is not God’s way. I haven’t met many people especially men, throughout my life. Mainly because I had suffered social phobias for nearly forty years. So it has curbed greatly my ability to mix with strangers. From time to time I have met some very charming Christlike men that reminded me not all men are brutes. Most people even many who call themselves Christians, do not follow Christ teachings. So there is very little true love in this world. To say you a Christian and not obey His commandments you are lying to yourself and others. Giving everybody who do not know Jesus the wrong impression of what Christ is really like.

1 Corinthians 13: 7-8. (Love) always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

1 Peter 1:22. Love one another deeply from the heart.

The Bible is All About God’s Love is

There is plenty of evidence of what love is and how to treat one another in the Holy Bible. So many people read it, but do not even attempt to practise it and they think they are going to go heaven after they die. What an illusion. Jesus said ‘if you love me, obey my commandments.’ Another time I was really being upset with men who treated their wives with such cruelty, I use to pray a certain prayer that asked God let those men know they will have to face His wrath over their cruelty towards women. Once again God made His presence felt and He assured me those men will. So it is a huge warning for men who think themselves as little gods and who think they can treat women how they please. God is also a God of Justice and we are all answerable to Him. Nothing else matters in this life and in the next, but how you please God. The way to please God is to obey His commandments, which is love.

Matthew 5: 7-8. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

If you are not merciful you can’t expect mercy from God. You will receive the same measure you give out to others. Don’t live a lie, it is important to wake up and practise the faith as God intends you to.

1 John 4:15-17. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love of God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus.

There have been times when I have met certain men in a group situation such as retreats and so on. We may never had said a word to each other, or in some cases only a few words to one another and yet with God who can do all things, has bonded us. We have felt very sad saying goodbye to one another.  God had allowed us to experience the spiritual connection that we were indeed brother and sister in God’s sight. When men and women do connect with one another as God originally planned for us, we complement one another. We both have something that only our gender can give and if we exchange this gift God has us to give, it is a very beautiful experience. When we don’t love one another as God wills us, we rob ourselves of God’s precious gift that we were meant to share. It is to our loss, not gain when we disobey God.

 

Having a Real Relationship with God

Bethany Christian Living

I watch a lot of YouTube videos and for some reason I am very interested in Muslims converting to Christ. One of the things they keep stressing with the Muslim religion, they can’t be sure if they will go to heaven or not. They say if their god is willing. (We do not serve the same God and it is easy proven).  When they become Christians they find not only has Jesus paid for all their sins, but if they believe in Him they will go to heaven. There is no if’s or maybe’s. It is the promise of God. We Christians who are born again, know Jesus has made a place for us in heaven, but we must first believe He is who He says He is. And that is He is the true Messiah who came down from heaven as the son of man and the son of God. And we also believe He died for our sins and rose again on the third day, so that we may be made worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. If we believe in Him we are going to follow Him on His terms, which is to Love God with all our hearts, and with all our mind and with all our strength. And also to love one another as He loves us. How can you love a god who has no relationship with you or you him? Who you can only visualise as being right up there in the heavens as being superior to you and all you have is nothing but fear of him. I don’t believe you can. To love Him truly you first need to know Him so that you can have a real loving relationship with Him.

Who are the Real ChristiansisNQHK1W8I

Many people call themselves Christians, but will have a shock on Judgement day. If you do not have a relationship with Him it is because you do not know Him, nor are you obeying Him. Some people know Him but refuse to follow Him that is ‘the unforgiveable sin’, if you die in that state you will go to hell. Some people are truly looking for Him and they will find Him if they keep asking Jesus. It is a promise Jesus has made to us. ‘ask you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be open to you.’  The big secret is keep asking, seeking and knocking. The more you do it the more you are going to see your prayers will be answered so powerfully, because you have waited.  You will get back pay and you will find God will give you interest on the interest, because of your faithfulness in waiting. God does test us to see how we will behave. In other words how much do we really want what we are asking for? He is so generous, that He will always rewards us when we are willing to stay faithful to Him. God is not a hostile God for one thing. There are so many people who see Him as a judgemental God. They may not say so out loud, but they do from within. So how can you love such a God whom you think doesn’t love you? There are plenty of people who call themselves Christian who do think this way, because they do not know Him.

I am not ignoring the fact that God is not only a God of Mercy but also a God of Justice. We need to be balanced how we see God. If we make ourselves His enemy by denying His right to be treated like a sovereign God and so therefore do not honour Him and Respect Him and go our own way, we are going to experience the God of Justice sooner or later. And God is to be feared if you disobey Him and have no intention of repenting from a humble contrite heart, with the only true desire is to love Him as He deserves to be. If you are for Him you will receive such love from Him that it makes you desire to worship Him above all else, because there is no other god like Him. He is truly wonderful to those who serve Him above all else.

You can be a Christian in name only and their numbers far outweigh the numbers of true Christians that do really love God with all their hearts and with all their minds and with all their strength and love their neighbour as Jesus loves us.  Don’t be alarm in that there are many levels of knowing Him. Like the way happy married couples do. People’s love for each other grow as they become to know one another better. As in happy marriage couples who have been married over long periods of time. Their love for one another is growing constantly. So much so that, what they use to call love for one another, now doesn’t look like love to them, because their love not only grows stronger but purer. That is how it works with the love we have for our God. The longer we serve Him from love, and the more we do as He says, we become to know Him even more. The more we know Him the more we discover how much more beautiful He really is.  There are many marriages that do not do the hard work to make their marriages successful, they are not willing to make sacrifices for one another graciously from love, so how can it work.

God Created Marriage so that We Understand Our Relationship With Him

God has created things on earth as to reflect upon, so we can see similarities with Him. Marriage is one of the most important things that God has created so that we may know and understand how our relationship with Him works. If there is no love in the marriage, it is not holy and so does not resemble the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride. One person may be doing all they can to make the marriage work, but it takes both to make it work. And the one who is not putting an effort into the marriage to make it work as God desires them to, will be very answerable to God. Because God is sovereign and we need to understand that. We shouldn’t take things so lightly. We are either for God or we are against Him. It is not easy serving God. Only because we are such sinners and we keep messing things up, but if we keep turning to Him in humility and repent. God will not turn His back on us. We also should ask God for the grace to overcome our weaknesses and put everything into His hands. God will help and He will always forgive and forget our sins if we are truly are repented from our hearts, thanks to Jesus sacrifice of atonement.

What exactly is an Idol?

Bethany Christian Living

I think most Christians are drinking only milk as St. Paul will say. Very few in my mind are mature enough in the Lord that they are ready to eat meat. The rare Adult Christians in my eyes are the ones that are so humble and loving that they are truly Christ-like. They got that way by truly obeying and trusting in God through the severest trials imaginable. They can carry a very heavy weight of the cross of Jesus. I personally believe Jesus doesn’t intend us to remain babies for very long. If we want to survive the last of the last days we have to toughen up. And we can only be able to do that if we completely surrender and trust God and be prepared to give up all our comfort, reputations, friends, family, whatever it takes to accomplish God’s Will. The higher you climb the mountain of the Lord the more you are going to resemble Jesus Christ. You have to travel light if you really are going to climb high up the mountain. In heaven there are ranks, some people have lived more fully and have suffered more for Christ than others. So depending on how much you have lived to please God, will determined your reward in heaven.

What is an Idol?

What is an idol? Most people think of statures that are being worshiped. Not all Christian’s religious statures are worshiped, despite of what some think. The act of worshiping something other than the one true God is offensive to Him and will land you in serious trouble with God on Judgement day. I believe most good Christians struggle daily fighting the temptation of putting something before God in importance. Have a closer look at some of the common idols that many Christians worship unknowing and sometime knowingly. What about your career would you be willing to give that up for God in a moment’s notice? What about your family, country, car, boat, sports, trophies, bank account, good looks, health, comfort, garden, opinions and so on. You can see where I am going can’t you? If you are honestly looking at yourself what is your idol that you have to discard or at least put it in its rightful place. We all struggle with something. The more you can discipline yourself, the freer you actually are. What did Jesus say ‘It is harder to get a rich man into heaven, then threading a camel through the eye of a needle!’ It sure worried the apostles, because we all know that is impossible. Jesus simply replied to the apostles, ‘with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible.’

1 Chronicles 16:26..For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

We are taught in our society to idolise movie stars, musicians, and sports people, furniture, homes, modern philosophises and even some preachers are now being idolise and what about fashions, the young in particular want to look like models. Even adults have to all dress alike, look alike, and think alike, you name it, it is all idol worshiping and it is dangerous, because God is truly a jealous God. I have personally felt twice in my life God’s jealousy, once towards me and another time when I was praying for some people asking Him to let them know that He is a jealous God and I felt His jealousy towards them and also His anger. People are going to be most answerable to God for making Him that way. We do not fear God enough. We should see God in a balance way. He is both a God of Justice and of Mercy.

The fear of God in a healthy way, stops you from being careless. Sometimes it is the fear of God that will be your only hope of not straying. There have been times in my life if it wasn’t for the fear of God I would have been lost to Him by now. Of course God prefers you to serve Him out of love, but I am afraid being the creatures we are, we do need to know there is a very steep penalty when we cross the line. Falsely believing we can get away with it, is not be very wise, realistic or a mature way of thinking. OK this is not a popular article, I am always warning people there is serious danger for those who listen to the foolishness of the world.

is(1)The Kingdom of God

There is so much to look forwarded to living in His Kingdom. And God is so sweet and loving. I look forwarded leaving this horrible world of selfishness and instead living and reigning with Jesus for the whole of eternity. Forever living in His presence and experiencing His never ending love for me as if I am the only person He ever thinks about. That is what it is going to be like for all us. No words can explain the love He has shown me and I know it is only a drop in the ocean, it is a very poor description of His love, but it is the best I can do. I want to climb trees in heaven with my cats, and dance, play music and I have asked God I want to have a very good singing voice and the list just goes on and on. If I remain true to Him until the end, it is going to be the happiest day of my life to leave this place and meet Jesus in the air. No more devils to attend to. What paradise in itself. No more wars, just a beautiful exciting new wonderful world that love, peace and joy will reign forever more. People who have been to heaven have told us that heaven is like earth (before man destroys it beauty) but so much better of course and it is cleaner and more beautiful. I was surprise to hear that there is technology there too and all sorts of things. It be silly to miss it.

 

True Love has Power

Bethany Christian Living

1 Peter 1:22. Love one another deeply, from the heart.

Very few people really have experience true love in this world. Not all come from happy and close families. If you were born in a family where your parents were always fighting one another all the time, you will need a special grace to resist following in their footsteps. Jesus never rejects anyone who begs for the grace to overcome their faults. And as you get closer to God, He then reveals even more of your faults as you advance. He also shows His Spirit living in you, where you are one with Him and that reminds you that you are very special to Him. If God was to show all our faults all at once we would be horrid stricken and die. The old saints use to call themselves things like ‘the vile worm of the earth.’ I never understood them that well, but I am beginning to now. God is so loving and patient with us, and is always willing to help us, but we must persist in our asking. Sometimes we have to beg and beg for something to happen. The reason being I believe is so that when He does give it to us, we won’t let it out of our fingers that easily. We will fight to keep it and I also believe we are fighting for other people to receive the grace who wouldn’t receive it otherwise.

What saddens me so much is seeing Christians hating other Christians the way they do. Matthew 5:7-8. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

The Importance of Mercy

We all need mercy and the only way for sure to get mercy is to give it to each other. We will be reward accordingly to how closely we follow Jesus. And as Christians we are called to love one another even our enemies. We have to remember most people who live evil lives do so, because they were brought up to hate, not love. Christians have the advantage of knowing Jesus and therefore know what brings eternal happiness. We can even experience joy while suffering trials, if we keep our eyes not on ourselves but Jesus. When your eyes are on Jesus what are you going to see? His love and mercy towards you, which never ends, it is infinite. And then you see Him in Heaven with you, never to suffer pain of any description again.

There is a favourite YouTube channel I love where Jesus talks to this visionary so as to past it onto us. I trust this person is a genuine visionary so I listen. And the thing that really intrigued me was when Jesus tells her, that there are many Christian Denominations in Heaven and ask “Are you surprise by that?” I definitely was, aren’t you? I was just thinking about it the day before and thought that we would be just be one big family, but apparently there are other branches of the Christian faith present in Heaven. Something for us to think about. The way I am thinking about it at the moment is the body of Christ has many parts and we all need one another to function properly, maybe that applies to Churches also.is(7)

We Have all Sinned

Since we all have sinned, it would be no surprise to you, if I said hate, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, self-righteous, being judgemental, fighting, dominating others, greed and so on cannot give you lasting peace or happiness. Far from it, instead it gives you torment. We all been there and we know what it feels like. There may be a moment of pleasure and a sick pleasure at that. The pleasure only last for a little while and then it eats us up and we are then filled with anger for others or ourselves. There is no lasting pleasure in the kingdom of darkness only sorrow, confusion and hatred. One of my favourite saints went down to hell and this young women of fifteen years said to her, she was in hell, because she lived only to please herself and she said despite of all the torture in hell, if they could only love, they wouldn’t call it hell. So when we are going through a hard time think about that, we are only experience a very light taste of hell on earth. Some people who have committed suicide reported when they came back to life, they committed suicide because they didn’t think anything could get worse than what they were experiencing. Once in hell they knew their pain on earth was nothing compared to what they were suffering in hell.

There are so many people who think hate is more powerful than love and even more glorious. I remember hearing of one ex-Muslim who converted into Christianity and said ‘it is easy to hate and seek out revenge, but it is so much harder to love and forgive.’ Does that come as a surprise to any of us? I don’t think so, but is nice to hear it said from a person who lived by hate, who now is in love with Jesus and following Him instead. Praying for your enemies so that they may come to know Jesus as He really is, keeps your heart from hardening up into unforgiveness and hatred. And we know we are forgiven as we forgive others.

 

Being Misunderstood

Bethany Christian Living

1 John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

In heaven there is no misunderstanding of one another what soever. And absolutely no fear present in heaven, can you imagine such a place? How truly beautiful to be able to express yourself the way that is natural for you. Without any fear of being misunderstood and being truly appreciated at the same time. One women was told by Jesus the worst suffering is being misunderstood. At first I didn’t appreciate what He said to her. I went away and had a thought about it. Then I realised most of my sufferings was caused through misunderstanding.

People Don’t put Themselves in Another Shoes

Even when my father died, I was still living at home when he died. I was twenty two years old and this was my first closest death I had ever experienced. I would go to work and everybody expected me to get back to normal as if nothing happened to me. Some gave me a couple of months and thought that was being generous. It actually took me a couple of decades to get over his death. Life being what it is you have one crisis on your hands, only to receive a couple more on top of that one. So it takes even longer to get over things. And when you are young you don’t have any experiences to know how to handle things like that. Not all counsellors are helpful. Without my faith in Jesus I and my entire family’s faith, we would not have survived it, because our family was extremely close.

Words mean different things to different people. For example who would think the word love would mean so many different things to different people. I had one friend that didn’t like getting close to people, because she said every time she did, they either would die or leave. So the word love for her meant getting hurt and being left alone. We have very different experiences from each other and we have to take that in account with other people. Even the ones we think we know well. I was told by my younger sister of twelve years, that she always thought my name was Sue. She said she was sixteen before she realised that my real name was Susan. I said to her what did you think when people called me Susan? She just shrugged her shoulders and said she thought it was my nick name. How’s that for misunderstanding? We are sisters and living in the same house. And I might add we were very close.

A Good Relationship Book

There is a very interesting book I think it is called ‘5 love languages in relationships,’ by Gary Chapman and I think Rose Campbell. The thing he found by so called accident, (I don’t believe in accidents, especially on the subject on love) that people feel loved differently. For example some feel the need (mostly men) for their love ones to make affirmation of appreciation, (saying out loud that you appreciate them and why). Mostly for women they tend to like quality time. Meaning they love to talk to their love one’s just about on anything. They need to communicate, not things like ‘what is for tea?’ Some feel loved when somebody does a kind act (a sacrifice) a service of some sort, like helping with the housework or the lawns etc. Others like little notes or gifts from time to time saying that they are loved and appreciated. The last group needs to be hugged and touched for the sake of being hugged and touched and for no other reason.

He suggest that we find out what the other person needs to feel loved. And of course sometimes it is not natural for you. For example my friends when they want to show their appreciation of me, they will give me a hug and a kiss. That is not how I show my affections, but it is how they show theirs. So I go with it and try to do it with a generous heart. I am more intellectual, so I love to talk. The more I open up to you, the more I will talk freely on all subjects. That is a very good sign that I feel comfortable with you. Otherwise it is just polite talk and I am trying to think up what else to say next.

No MisunderstandingisI2TNE013

In heaven nobody judges you. I had a vision decades ago and never forgot it. I had a friend back then that got extremely angry with me every time I was in one of my quiet moods, which happens often. I couldn’t work out what was going on for a while. Then light dawn on me and I realised, either she or somebody in her family, when they go quiet it means they are angry with you and she naturally thought other people who go quiet, do it for the same reason. I was so frustrated that naturally our friendship didn’t last, because I couldn’t get through to her that I was not angry, I just needed to re-charge my batteries.

I had a vision that I was in heaven not long after. In my vision I felt the need to go somewhere far from people, so in this vision I apparently left heaven to find such a place. I found a cave and it was all dark. I stayed there for a while and when I was ready to go back to heaven, I did. The thing that was so important in this vision, everybody in heaven was so happy to see me again, and not one person questioned me ‘why I was away or what took me so long.’ I was totally accepted for what I was. Can you imagine such a place that you don’t ever have to explain yourself, because everybody understands naturally who you are and what your needs are.

I am not suggesting here that we just up and leave and not tell anybody, because we know full well that is being irresponsible, we need to tell people so they won’t worry about us. However the vision was really about accepting everybody as they are. If they seem odd to you, they do not seem odd to Jesus. Jesus knows where they are coming from. And it might be some very simple explanation that you haven’t thought about. Have you notice more a person suffers and remain true to Jesus the more humble and accepting they are of all people, even the ones that have severely hurt them. Suffering can be used by God to mould you into becoming another Christ like figure.

Praying for Forgivness to those that Hurt You

Bethany Christian Living

is(19)I believe most of us have problems with forgiveness. The important thing is to remember we are not on our own. God will help if we call on Him, sometimes day and night we need to call on Him before we get this breakthrough. He will definitely hear that prayer, because He desires it from us more than we do. Praying for His Will to be accomplish in us, said in all humility and a great desire to please Him, will never ever be refused. The thing is God might have to teach us some pointers first. Like we are not fighting flesh but evil spirits, powers, principalities and wickedness in high places, like St. Pauls talks about in the New Testament. Have you ever had a friend that was once your arch enemy? I did when I was very young. And I also remember when I was young I had an enemy name Julie and I vowed to God that I will never ever have a friend name Julie. God heard that and guess what my best friend’s name happens to be? And we have been friends for many years now. God is always listening in and I have to always eat my words, because God is always teaching me to live according to His truth.

Troubles With Neighbours

I had neighbours way back who really hated me, because of my dog. He hated them, so every time they were outside and sometimes I think they did this deliberately so that they could be all righteous and complain. My dog would growl at them and so forth. I did keep my dog in my house for the most part, which I certainly didn’t mind. But the thing is I tried and tried to bless her and think no evil towards her. I remember I came in after her shouting out sometime to me that was hurtful and I shouted out to God, full of passion ‘I hate her.’ God of course knew the battle I had to forgive her every day and He said nothing, but the moment I said ‘I hate her’ He chastise me straight away. By chastising me I mean I felt His presence and He showed me how displeased He was with me for saying that. And I feared the Lord, who wouldn’t if you experience His anger. Now St. Peter in the Gospel reassures us never to go weary when God does chastise us, because basically good fathers who love their children will do it for the good of their children sake.

Lesson One

From this experience I realised that God didn’t mind me having troubles with forgiveness, because He could see that I was fighting the fight to please Him, but the moment I gave into temptation to give up fighting to do the right thing, that is when I got into trouble with Him. I believe that was a very important lesson for me, not just in forgiveness but in all areas of disciplining my flesh. Then the next thing He taught me, which was a major breakthrough for me, was that person I am having trouble forgiving was made in the image of God. In other words doesn’t matter how much they are not living up to it, they are still God’s very special child that He hopes to bring home with Him one day.

Lesson Two and Three

So then I realised when a person receives Christ into their lives they will no longer resemble the devil that they do now. They will be the person more and more each day resembling the beautiful Jesus that we are all called to resemble. Then at last the final lesson we are not fighting the person but evil spirits. Sure we all have a free will, and some choose to use it the wrong way for whatever reason, but we all in this world being attacked by the devil and his fallen angels, who are pouring down onto us all sorts of lies on a daily basis. So we won’t experience the love we are called to experience from each other, nor be open to experiencing love from our God in a tangible way like the great saints do.  And we need to know we should be uniting and fighting the evil one together, not each other. God confirmed it to me with another neighbour of years past. I saw in him very ugly evil spirits. This person was being control by evil spirits, because he didn’t see the danger that he was in and so I could see that I had to pray for him. I realised that I could well be the only person praying for him and if I don’t do it, I would indeed let God down.

Knowing The Real Jesus

It is so sad that many people do not know who the real Jesus is. Satan will use everybody he can to spoil the real image of God, so that we will never know Him. Because the moment we do and stay faithful to God and really believe in our redemption in Jesus, we will be eternally blessed. But if Satan can convince us to live according to our flesh and reasoning with us, using our intellect that there is no Judgement, we will be dammed forever instead. So really call on God that you will have a real revelation of God of what He is really like and go so far and ask Him to visit you, ask Him to let you feel His presence, keep at it in all humility and He will. Don’t do it in arrogance or you will get Satan disguising himself as God instead. You will know the difference if you are very humble. Some people get spooked when they think that God will appear to them, because they look at all their sins and see God as a vengeful God instead of a loving Daddy. He is very cuddly, would you believe! For those who give their lives to Him. He is not the God many churches in the past painted Him to be. We all need a good healthy fear of Him for our protection, to remind us we can’t enter in heaven any other way but through Jesus Christ. If you do this then you are then free to enjoy His great love and mercy.

Pray for Your Love Ones

I have met people with tears in their eyes when they find their beautiful son or daughter, mother or father will not go to heaven if they refuse to acknowledge Jesus is Lord. But one great thing is that Jesus reassures us if we keep our prayers up for them, most people loves ones will make it to heaven. Because through your constant prayers He will give them grace to repent. Maybe not in your timely but He will answer those prayers. But unfortunately some people doesn’t matter how many graces they receive to repent, will keep refusing the grace. Not many people are so stubborn, so don’t give up on your love ones, and keep praying for them.

Hell

People who experience death and enter hell for a little while and then come back, they have a desperate need to warn people there is a place called hell. There are children in hell, because they are not childlike in their behaviour. They are so disobedient they do not resemble the child Jesus points out that the kingdom of heaven is like. Good people are in hell as well Christians who didn’t truly committed themselves to Christ. There are no good Buddas, Hindus, and Muslims and so on in heaven. One women’s experience in hell taught her that everybody knew the only reason they were in hell was, because they did not receive Jesus as their Lord. I believe there are many people who made it to heaven who have committed far more serious crimes then a great many in hell, but because they turn away from their evil ways and accepted Jesus as their Lord, they are now enjoying heaven as if they have never done any wrong.