christianity

Revitalize Your Prayer Life

June 22, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

I don’t know if you recall that a while back I was feeling distant from God due to all the changes we’ve been experiencing in our lives. I was feeling a real need to find a way to connect to God. Hubby suggested that I use an app called PrayerMate. It sends an reminder to pray which “isn’t all demandy or in my face” but just an encouragement to keep praying about the things that are important.

Let me walk you through how it works.

When you set Prayer Mate up it has a number of lists that you can join. I chose the following:

My Walk with God
My family
My church
Sharing my faith
World mission
Biblical Prayer
Praying for hubby
Praying for children
and others

You can choose others or create your own lists. Then each day a list to pray through is created for you. And a reminder is sent. My reminder comes at night around 8 p.m. Five items are chosen from my lists to pray for, never two from the same list. Today I would be praying with Paul, growing more like Jesus, praying for my lad, praying for the church, and for a missionary family. This list changes from day as you can see from my image below.

Swiping to the left starts you off with your first prayer

Some of the prayers are quite long, causing you to scroll down the page. They are all easily readable, and you can either pray them as is or reword as needed.

I really like that I can add things in that I want to remember to pray for. For instance I have days that I pray for my neighbours, people on the crew, my family of birth and so forth.

I can’t say it’s perfect, it isn’t.. because I (yes me) am so not perfect. It sends reminders and there are days I just don’t take the necessary time. BUT if I do choose to use it my prayer time can last as little as five minutes or as long as 20, all depending on what the Lord lays on my heart and how much I just need to talk to go about the good things and the hard things in life.

My hubby first learned of this app through Challies. You might wish to read his review of this helpful app as well.

You can also learn more about it here.

I encourage you to get this app, you will find it invaluable for helping you pray more effectively and also just to remind you to take the needed time to connect with him. Not just a “give me give me” but a thank you for all the many things the Lord provides us with. Find PrayerMate here.

The Fundamental Truth of the Christian Faith

May 24, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

I have to admit this chapter surprised me. Like many I thought it would be “justification by faith alone, by Christ alone”. But this truth is deeper than that even.

Now don’t misunderstand me, this is a VERY important truth of the church to understand that justification is by faith alone, through Christ alone. It is, churches have fallen for not understanding the fundamental nature of this truth.

By the basis of the Christian Faith is this… the triune God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Consider who God is: Truth, Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Lord. This Lord God who is always the initiator of relationship and beingness.

And then we have God the Son. Perfect servant of the Lord God, showing us who God is, doing what God does, never acting independently, always working in conjunction with the Lord God and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, working always with the Lord God and God the Son. Strengthening Jesus in his work on our behalf, working within as we live out our faith.

Throughout the whole of the bible we see the Triune nature of the Godhood. From Genesis 1 through to the book of Revelations. This eternal fellowship is what sustains the heart and soul of the believer.

And yet this question is begged. How often we pay attention to this pivotal truth of the church? How often do we pay attention to how the Triune God shapes our lives as believers? From how he forms the church visible and invisible, how he moulds our hearts and calls us his own?

This question is asked “What time do you give to pondering the revealed glory of our Triune, Saviour God? What honour do we ascribe, in our personal and corporate worship as the church, to the Persons, beings and actings of our Triune God?” (p21)

For something that is so deep, so pivotal to the Christian faith, do we really spend any time thinking of what this all means? I fear too often we don’t. We don’t strive to understand it as much as we should you know?

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

December 31, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

I grew up singing this hymn “Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven” frequently in the church I grew up. Sang it often enough that when people change the words (as they are apt to do nowadays) it completely throws me off unless I close my eyes and just belt out the words that I know. 🙂

Henry Francis Lyte is the author to this lovely hymn “Praise my Soul the King of Heaven”. This hymn was used in the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. It is quite the familiar hymn in the United Kingdom. Mr. Lyte grew up in England, he was a renown poet and hymn writer. He entered the clery (Anglican) before he truly knew the Lord and was profoundly affected when a fellow clergyman died. This clergyman died knowing that despite his sin, Christ death and suffering covered all his sin. This lead Mr. Lyte to study the bible for himself and changed his preaching dramatically. Throughout his life he wrote poetry and has a large number of hymns attributed to him.

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Lyrics

1. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
to his feet thy tribute bring;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

2. Praise him for grace and favor
to fathers in distress;
praise him still the same as ever,
slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in his faithfulness.

3. Fatherlike, He tends and spares us;
well our feeble frame God knows;
In His hands he gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Widely yet his mercy flows.

4. Angels help us to adore him,
ye behold him face to face;
Sun and moon bow down before him,
Dwellers all in time and space.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace.

Sometimes this verse is added:
Frail as summer’s flower we flourish,
Blows the wind and it is gone;
But while mortals rise and perish
God endures unchanging on,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the High Eternal One!

If you would like to follow along with other hymns of the week see here. HYMNS.

Hymn Study: Come to the Saviour

September 3, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

Last Sunday we sang this song at church. It’s been running through my head ALL WEEK LONG so I thought I should share that joy with you. (and yes, it actually HAS BEEN a joy).

So today.. enjoy Come to the Saviour.

Lyrics

Come to the Savior, make no delay;
Here in His Word He has shown us the way;
Here in our midst He’s standing today,
Tenderly saying, “Come!”

Refrain

Joyful, joyful will the meeting be,
When from sin our hearts are pure and free;
And we shall gather, Savior, with Thee,
In our eternal home.

“Suffer the children!” oh, hear His voice!
Let ev’ry heart leap forth and rejoice;
And let us freely make Him our choice;
Do not delay, but come.

Refrain

Think once again, He’s with us today;
Heed now His blest command, and obey;
Hear now His accents tenderly say,
“Will you, My children, come?”

Refrain

Written by George F. Root, a American man with a love of music. By age 13 he could play several different instruments, he played organ as an adult, and taught in the New York Institute for the blind. He wrote both sacred and secular music, both tunes and words. By the time of his death he had published more than 500 pieces of music. He sometimes used the German name Wurzel (Also meaning root) in his music.

Come to the Saviour is a simple invitational hymn. I read this story over at CyberHymnal

“In 1879 I was assisting in revival meetings in Danville,
California,” writes the pastor of a Presbyterian Church at
Oakland. “The meetings were well attended and good interest was
exhibited, but for a long time there were no conversions. In the
neighborhood there was a man who, with his wife and children,
attended the church regularly, and he was one of its liberal
supporters. They were most excellent people, but could not be
induced to profess Christ, and did not call themselves Christians.
One day, while the men were holding services in the church the women
were having a prayer-meeting in the manse near by. In the course of
the meeting they sang ‘Come to the Saviour, make no delay.’ The
singing over, they were about to engage in prayer, when the lady
above referred to asked them to sing the last verse of this hymn…The
lady was greatly affected and when the singing ceased she said with
deep emotion: ‘Yes, I will not stay away any longer.’ The women were
all deeply moved, and prayed and praised God with warm hearts. When
the word reached the men they were greatly encouraged at the good
news. A revival followed, …. This hymn seemed to have been the means of
reaching the wife’s heart, and of opening the way for the blessing
which followed.”

I love listening to men singing hymns. Enjoy this version from Guam. 🙂

Sources:
Cyber Hymnal
Wordwise Hymns.
Hymnary.
Hymntime.
PDMusic.

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Completely Protected

August 23, 2017 By Annette1 4 Comments

Today we are looking at Romans 8:31-39.

Do you remember that future hope that we need to wait for patiently? How God has foreknown us, called us, justified us and glorified us?

So Paul has this question for us… What do you say to these things?

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
If God is for us (and he is otherwise why do all these things for us?) So God, the greatest being in the universe, he is for us. Therefore.. think about this for a moment or three… WHO possibly could be against us? WHO?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God didn’t spare his own son, he willingly gave him up for all of us. So do you not think that he will ever so graciously give us all things? Don’t you think he would do that?

I read these words and I feel so humbled, so shamed by my lack in seeing God’s goodness to me. So brought low by my questionings and my doubts and my fears. God is ever so gracious… why can’t I see that more clearly all the time?

Check out these comparisons eh?

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Do you see it? Do you see how fully protected we are? No charges can be brought against God’s own people. God has us covered. No one can condemn us. Christ’s death has us covered. Can we be separated from God? NO! Not hardship, no sadness, no persecution, no hunger, no nakedness, no danger and no warfare.. NOTHING can separate us from God. We are his own.. always.

Ah.. this is comfort and a reality. See this, hear these words, know it to be so. We are so entwined with God that we are just so safe within his love and his graciousness toward us.

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Can you see how that makes us conquerors? If we have nothing to fear.. no judges, rulers, condemnation, hunger, warfare, danger, sadness, persecution, hardship.. if we don’t need to fear any of that… then we are conquerors in whatever situation we find ourselves in. Consider what that means. We should then have boldness in proclaiming who the Lord God is to us eh? To find the words and not worry on what people think of us.Just to say what the Lord is doing in our lives and how that matters to us. Trying, just trying to give a glimpse of the hope we have within us. Think on it. (I know it’s making me think!)

Because we have to remember this stated promise that Paul gives us:
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NOTHING! Not one single thing can separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord. NOT ONE SINGLE THING. Isn’t that just the single coolest thing you have read today? Imagine how very safe that makes you.

So safe you probably can’t even put it into words if you are like me. Just overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s care and protection of me, his child. Not even death can separate me. I am his… tell me.. are you? Don’t you want that extreme care and protection that will last forever? Remember.. death can’t separate us from God. It just can’t. It doesn’t have the power to do so.

If you want to know how you can have this eternal protection and care extended toward, drop me a line, I’d be happy to talk with you.

What say you?

To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

Review: My Great Big God

August 22, 2017 By Annette1 6 Comments

I suppose it’s odd of me, but I like reviewing these hardcover children’s bible story books. Perhaps it’s because I have a wee niece (what do you call a niece of a niece?) and her mom is dating a fellow who has a wee lad around the same age. So I have these two little people in my life so these books make me smile. I want them to have good books that help show them who God is.

This book makes the cut, let me tell you why.

1. The bright, colourful pictures draw you in.

Don’t you just love how the colours come out of the one page leading into the story on the other? The fish jumping out of this page just causing you to want to read the story that goes along with it. Aren’t you curious about why a man would be holding his hands up and has fishing jumping out all around him?

2. The text rhymes making it really readable. The heading for each story makes it really clear where in the bible the story comes from. Each story closes with a point to take home about “my great big God”.

I thoroughly appreciated those “points about My Great Big God”. A simple truth for the child to take home and learn to think more about how God helps us to be people he calls us to be.

3. Variety in the stories. A good mix from the old and new testament.

Stories such as: creation, God’s promise to Abraham, Joseph’s dream, Samson and the Philistines, Esther, Jesus’ birth, parable of the Samaritan, Jesus’ triumphal entry and more. 20 Stories in all.

And throughout it, these full colour illustrations to delight the eye and initiate questions, just what you want in a book for littles. To sit cozy up on a couch and point and tell a story and get little hearts wondering after the things of God.

Book: My Great Big God
Author: Andy Holmes
Illustrator: Marta Alvarez Miguens
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Pages: 40
Type: Boardbook
Age: preschooler

Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: My Great Big God: 20 Bible Stories to Build a Great Big Faith.
Amazon.com: My Great Big God Bible Stories.

Linking up at the following

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

We are Heirs of God.

August 15, 2017 By Annette1 4 Comments

Today we are reading from Romans 8:12-17.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

I read these words and you know what my first thought was…would I rather be a slave or a debtor? Then I wondered where that thought came from.

Cause I got to thinking about some cultures if you save a person’s life they are indebted to you and must serve you. I wonder if that came from the seed that God plants in our hearts about him?

But Christ died for us. Freeing us from the bond we had, the having to follow the path of sin. So he in essence saved our lives.

ERGO we owe him a great debt.

Since we owe him a great debt, should we therefore continue in the path of the flesh? Of course not! We owe him a debt, we should live to the life that he has brought us to.

The life we are brought to was that of being a child of God. An heir of God in essence and reality. To be a CHILD to God. That’s what happened when he saved us.

Should a child of God himself fall back into slavery?

Hold to that. Believe it. Listen to the Spirit of God as he whispers it in your heart. YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD. An adopted, for real, child of God.

These words caught my eye:
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
You know how good families stick together through thick and thin? Minding each other, watching each other’s back, going through the good and the bad with each other? This happens in God’s family too. Hard things will happen.. times of suffering and pain. Don’t run away from it. Stick through it.

When our brothers and sisters in Islamic countries suffer… pray for them, care about what happens to them. When Christian business owners are attacked, send them letters of encouragement. We are family regardless of where we live, what colour our skin is, our size, shape, national dialect. So if we know that one of us is suffering, we suffer to along with them. So be an encouragement and help!

Together, let us be glorified with Christ!

What say you?

To follow along with the rest of this devotional series in Romans Click Here.

The image I used for the graphic was originally this, and came from my brothers’ portfolio. You can see more of his images here. I just love the bird looking out of the hole looking for protected and safe and yet curious about what’s going on outside.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

christianity

Revitalize Your Prayer Life

The Fundamental Truth of the Christian Faith

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

Lyrics

Hymn Study: Come to the Saviour

Completely Protected

Review: My Great Big God

We are Heirs of God.

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