Faithful service rewarded...

Here on earth we all have the responsibility to serve God in some way or another.  Service for God comes in all shapes and sizes.  Serving God can be as simple as spending time with a person in school who most people wouldn’t talk to.  This is serving God as if we think of the times when Jesus was here on earth he reached out to the lepers, the poor and the tax collectors which the Jews and other people would have given a wide birth.  By us spending time serving God by spending time with people who are lonely we will be faithful to him and we will be doing a pleasing work for God.  Although we need to make sure that we don’t make a whole scene out of this service for God, as he doesn’t want us drawing attention to ourselves, as it looks like we are doing it just to be noticed.  We need to do it subtly making the person feel special and not humiliated.

In Romans 12v6 “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to us” and when I read this I think how God has given each one of us unique qualities and gifts that each of us can use when serving him.  I know this summer that some of us girls have had the call upon our hearts to serve God in children’s work through Generation Next and another holiday bible club.  I believe that God has given us the qualities and gifts that we need to be the witnesses to these children.  God is so proud of his children when they say yes to his calling.  When we are serving him in whatever way he has called he won’t leave us, he will be there every step of the way! He will never fail his children J. this week at Generation Next we have really been pushed out of our comfort zones to relate to these children.  this week we have had seeked God before every meeting praying that God will move in a powerful way. one night that stands out so much was Wednesday night when we just saw so many kids standing with their arms towards God, looking to receive the Holy Spirit and also how we had to pray individually with these kids and it was so amazing and emotional.  it just shows that God uses ordinary people to extraordinary things for him! God has blew all expectations we had for this week out the window! They have been way more! What an AWESOME GOD we SERVE!

In the bible it talks about how when Jesus calls all his children home on the day of Judgement that we will all go to a new earth.  Here on this new earth we will have the responsibility to serve our Father once again.  The bible also speaks of the service for God here on earth and it tells us how that what we do here on earth for him will be evaluated to determine what we will do for him on the new earth.  The Humble servant will be put in charge of much, whereas the one who lords it over others in the present world will have power taken away: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” – Luke 14v11. If we serve faithfully on the present earth, God will give us permanent management positions on the New Earth. “Those who can be trusted with little, can be trusted with much” – Luke 16v10.  The Owner (God) has his watchful eye over us – if we prove faithful, he’ll be pleased to entrust us with more.

If God wants us to do something, we’ll be wired and equipped to do it.  Our service will bring Him glory as well as us being filled with joy.

Always going to be another mountain....

This title for this blog is quite ironic for what has been happening in my life over the last couple of weeks.  I recently have finished my Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition in Scotland. It was an experience which I look back on and reflect.  Some of these reflections I am going to share with you.

Whilst we were walking in the beautiful mountain ranges around Glencoe we faced many challenges.  Although each day that we started out we had renewed strength from God which helped to make the first half of the day bearable! But once our heavy rucksacks and our feet began to get sore we found that each step got harder and harder, and it just felt like we would never reach camp for that night.  When looking at the scenery it just seemed like there was so many mountains that were obstacles for us to reach our goal of camp.  Looking back at times it just felt like we needed to stop and set up camp there and then, yet we didn’t, we kept going to reach camp.  I know relate this to my faith with God, as during our walks with God we face many trials and tribulations that we feel like we are never going to get through, and it feel like the mountain in your way will never move. I found that during Duke of Edinburgh when I prayed out to God for help, he gave me the courage and strength to keep on going, and it is the same when we go through trials and tribulations as he is there by our sides at all times and he is waiting for his children to cry out to him for help. He wants to help you because he LOVES you with and everlasting love and because he created you.  I was once told God leads us into hardship to see how much we will trust him, and through this we become a stronger person, it is God moulding us into the person he wants us to be.  The times of hardship helps to prepare us to go out and serve God with our whole lives.

Another thing I found was that it was so easy to get lost whilst doing Duke of Edinburgh, and on a number of occasions this happened to me and my team. Our first day we got lost due to a sign that made us think that our judgements were wrong, yet after two hours of walking the wrong way we found out that we were meant to  go up the other path.  This is like us in our faith, sometimes we tend to wander away from God as we think that we can do everything else better on our own, and then we begin to wander into sin.  When I think of the sign that we saw, it now makes me think of the devil that is constantly battling with us trying to get us to stop following our Father in Heaven.  I then remember the moment when we realised that we were indeed lost in the mountains, this is like when we realise that we are lost in sin and we have wandered away from God, and this realisation can come in all shapes and forms.  It can be something that is said in church or yf, or something that we sing in worship songs or simply feeling God speaking to us and telling us to come home and he wants to protect us and make us whole again.

The whole way through Duke of Edinburgh the verses that really helped me was.....

“I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me” – Philippians 4v13

“The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever, do not abandon the works of your hands.” –Psalm 138v8

I found that these verses were such a blessing as they gave me the courage and the strength to continue on as I knew God was there with me, strengthening me all along the way.  And I knew that if I completed in that it was all in God’s plan for my life.

Love you girlies

xxx