I am late in posting week 3 due to other commitments, however, there has been no week 4, this will be next week.
HOW CAN WE HAVE FAITH?
Those who become Christians become a new person. A new life has begun and they are not the same anymore.
The first part of Alpha invites us to ask questions and discover the answers we are looking for about God,Science and History.
Firstly the talk was about 'The magnificent 3' The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we know the son is Jesus and the Father is God, but what about this Holy Spirit? Well the Holy Spirit comes from within, it is a sense and a feeling within in you, born out of love, and then the 3 becomes 1.
Basically explained by taking the meaning of water, which can become ice and also steam, but esentially water is one and the same, so the Magnificent 3 are 1 and the same presented to you in all 3 ways.
People who become new Christians can do so because they have experienced a revelation and know immediately that they have found God, but it can come to us gradually and we can be led down a path that we do not understand, but eventually leading us to our conclusion.
Going back to the paragraph about asking the unanswered questions, we all have a need to know the truth, but what is the truth? How do we know Jesus actually came, how did he know what was right and what was to be expected of him? How do we actually know the theory of relativity was measured correctly? Did Einstein have a huge ruler that he poked right out into space and then calculated the measurements? How did the math come about to take these measurments in the first place?
Also I find that each religion has a different view of looking at things, which all religions would say are wrong, but I feel that in our search for the truth we can then decide our own religion in which we need to believe,because everyone needs to believe in something, a man,therefore, thousands of years ago may have decided that he believes in order to get closer to God we need to sacrifice animals or cross our legs and hum etc, the main point being that we all need to believe.
The discussion was lead to the fact that we can have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our lives,but we still need the basics? What are the basic foundations?
MY PERSONAL FEELING
I felt that I should be asking the questions, I always felt that something in my life was missing, I commited myself to work, and relationships and pushing myself into fitness etc etc, but something was always missing. I have now discovered that was God telling me what I needed to know and I was just looking in the wrong place. I still need ambition and exercise and love and family, but God too, and now that I have accepted that, I have lost this longing for something and strangely lost this longing to know the answers, because the answers are there within you.... The Holy Spirit
There was no Alpha course this week due to some people being away etc, but we had house group and prayer, and I realised how much I had missed it, with that in mind I had arranged to go to a 'girlie' prayer group on Friday morning, here we had breakfast and chatted about what had been going on in our lives for the past week, followed by prayer, during the prayer I had my hands clasped in my lap and my eyes closed. I was told there was no pressure for me to pray out loud as I am still a little nervous in doing so and have,on occasion prayed out loud,but in very small gestures. Anyway I digress, during prayer, I had an amazing amount of pressure on my arms and I felt like I was fighting to hold them down and clasped in my lap, to the extent that my muscles ached in my upper arms,I felt that I had prayer to give, but did it silently, still the fight continued with my arms and eventually I thought "what am I fighting for, just let go" and my arms relaxed and I raised them up with open hands and it felt so much better that I sat there for some time.
When I opened my eyes 'C' said that she had a picture in her mind during prayer, of me and I was rowing a boat against the current and putting up a mighty fight and did I know what it meant?
I was so overwhelmed by what had just happened that I was totally hyper for about two hours! It made me shakey and quite teary......what do you think?!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Friday, 13 February 2009
Alpha week 2
Last nights discussion was titled 'Why did Jesus die'
The talk was hosted by the 'lovely Claire' and she gave such a good account that so far, before I have read up any of the pieces from the bible that were discussed, I have no questions.
Basically we are all sinners, the bible said that if we sinned the payment was death and we would be partitioned from God, but God loved us all so much and unconditionally that he gave his only son for us.
An old ritual where by people sacrificed animals to God, helped explain that they put their hand on the animal and confessed their sins so that it passed into the animal and then it was sacrificed and so clearing the sin. In a way this is what God did for us, he allowed us to put our hand upon Jesus and confess our sins and he took them all and died for us removing the partition and giving us eternal life with God.
When I read passages from the bible I find it very difficult to understand the text, but the alpha course gives you the opportunity to see and hear things from other perspectives and add what you think yourself to give conclusion.
I am still currently reading the gospels from last week, I could quite easily just scan over them, but now feel the need to look more in depth to the meaning....for example
The Cost of following Jesus
Now when Jesus saw the great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side. A scribe came to him and said "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go" Jesus said to him " the foxes have wholes and the birds of the sky have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head"
Another of his disciples said to him "Lord allow me to first go and bury my Father" But Jesus said to him " follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead" Matthew 8:18
This I found quite harsh and hard to understand. I felt it sounded bad, but upon discussion last night - even though it was right off topic, Clare said that she felt the meaning was that the deciples father hadn't yet died and was living a healthy life, but the man was making excuses for not following Jesus just yet because he had other commitments. Which when looked up in the study bible said exactly that.
I am thus far intrigued and am hungry to understand more.
We are going to Church on Sunday and this week, Kristie will be joining us, I am really looking forward to it, infact I can't wait!
The talk was hosted by the 'lovely Claire' and she gave such a good account that so far, before I have read up any of the pieces from the bible that were discussed, I have no questions.
Basically we are all sinners, the bible said that if we sinned the payment was death and we would be partitioned from God, but God loved us all so much and unconditionally that he gave his only son for us.
An old ritual where by people sacrificed animals to God, helped explain that they put their hand on the animal and confessed their sins so that it passed into the animal and then it was sacrificed and so clearing the sin. In a way this is what God did for us, he allowed us to put our hand upon Jesus and confess our sins and he took them all and died for us removing the partition and giving us eternal life with God.
When I read passages from the bible I find it very difficult to understand the text, but the alpha course gives you the opportunity to see and hear things from other perspectives and add what you think yourself to give conclusion.
I am still currently reading the gospels from last week, I could quite easily just scan over them, but now feel the need to look more in depth to the meaning....for example
The Cost of following Jesus
Now when Jesus saw the great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side. A scribe came to him and said "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go" Jesus said to him " the foxes have wholes and the birds of the sky have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head"
Another of his disciples said to him "Lord allow me to first go and bury my Father" But Jesus said to him " follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead" Matthew 8:18
This I found quite harsh and hard to understand. I felt it sounded bad, but upon discussion last night - even though it was right off topic, Clare said that she felt the meaning was that the deciples father hadn't yet died and was living a healthy life, but the man was making excuses for not following Jesus just yet because he had other commitments. Which when looked up in the study bible said exactly that.
I am thus far intrigued and am hungry to understand more.
We are going to Church on Sunday and this week, Kristie will be joining us, I am really looking forward to it, infact I can't wait!
Monday, 9 February 2009
The first week of Alpha was as gripping as I expected it to be, the discussion was titled 'Who was Jesus' basically discussing his background and where he came from and then we were invited to ask questions on anything about the discussion or otherwise.
One visitor to the course questioned the names of the Gospels and how could they have such 'English names' if they originated in Judeah
So here goes
MATTHEW
English form or Matthaios which was Greek form of the Hebrew name Mattityahu meaning 'gift of Yahweh' (Jewish) meaning Jehovah- and was also known as Levi. The name Matthew has been used since the middle ages.
MARK
English and Russian form of Marcus originating from 1st century BC Roman (Marcus Antonius) - Marks account was probably written for Romans
LUKE
From the Greek origin Loukas meaing Lucania - from Italy. Luke was a Greek travelled Dr and the only non-jewish testament writer.
JOHN
Latin form of Greek - Joannes derived from Hebrew name Yochanen meaning 'Yahweh' or Jehovah. Yahweh is gracious
12 Apostles were re-named by Roman translators when edited and re-copied.
So that is my extensive research- it doesn't look much, but I put a lot of time into the research and I half expected to come up with those kind of answers because generally when you hear those names, they are more often than not referred to as biblical names.......what do you think?
One visitor to the course questioned the names of the Gospels and how could they have such 'English names' if they originated in Judeah
So here goes
MATTHEW
English form or Matthaios which was Greek form of the Hebrew name Mattityahu meaning 'gift of Yahweh' (Jewish) meaning Jehovah- and was also known as Levi. The name Matthew has been used since the middle ages.
MARK
English and Russian form of Marcus originating from 1st century BC Roman (Marcus Antonius) - Marks account was probably written for Romans
LUKE
From the Greek origin Loukas meaing Lucania - from Italy. Luke was a Greek travelled Dr and the only non-jewish testament writer.
JOHN
Latin form of Greek - Joannes derived from Hebrew name Yochanen meaning 'Yahweh' or Jehovah. Yahweh is gracious
12 Apostles were re-named by Roman translators when edited and re-copied.
So that is my extensive research- it doesn't look much, but I put a lot of time into the research and I half expected to come up with those kind of answers because generally when you hear those names, they are more often than not referred to as biblical names.......what do you think?
Thursday, 8 January 2009
I went to Church house group this evening. I have been before, but with the build up to Christmas, it was slightly different to the norm.
I enjoyed the discussion and prayer but I have still not plucked up the courage to give prayer for others myself. I listen carefully to the words and always feel that 'I would like to say that' but cannot begin to speak. Other members have said "just speak-God will not judge you for not being eloquent" but so far I am still nervous.
During house group plans were made for the months ahead, one of them being the Alpha Group, which I am greatly looking forward to. Its around a 12 week course with the informal meeting and the away day. Its sort of an introduction to religion course and a chance for discussion and asking lots of questions (which I am good at.
At the end of the course we have the option of being Baptised!!
Wre also discussed projects to help in the community, the plans are to visit Elderly peoples homes as the Carol singing service around the community went so well, but we are still in the process of thinking what to do this time, maybe just visit and chat with them or maybe play games?? We need to give it more thought.
During the discussion of baptism, I took the opportunity of mentioning that Grace has never been christened and I would like perhaps a dedication for her.....we saw a dedication in a service before Christmas and it was lovely and Grace was pretty impressed too, and that way it means that she still has the option of being baptised herself when she is of an age to decide for herself.
I enjoyed the discussion and prayer but I have still not plucked up the courage to give prayer for others myself. I listen carefully to the words and always feel that 'I would like to say that' but cannot begin to speak. Other members have said "just speak-God will not judge you for not being eloquent" but so far I am still nervous.
During house group plans were made for the months ahead, one of them being the Alpha Group, which I am greatly looking forward to. Its around a 12 week course with the informal meeting and the away day. Its sort of an introduction to religion course and a chance for discussion and asking lots of questions (which I am good at.
At the end of the course we have the option of being Baptised!!
Wre also discussed projects to help in the community, the plans are to visit Elderly peoples homes as the Carol singing service around the community went so well, but we are still in the process of thinking what to do this time, maybe just visit and chat with them or maybe play games?? We need to give it more thought.
During the discussion of baptism, I took the opportunity of mentioning that Grace has never been christened and I would like perhaps a dedication for her.....we saw a dedication in a service before Christmas and it was lovely and Grace was pretty impressed too, and that way it means that she still has the option of being baptised herself when she is of an age to decide for herself.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
A READING FROM PROVERBS - THE POWER OF THE TONGUE
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. King James Version
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. New International Version
Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose. The Message
The tongue has power over life and death; those who indulge it must eat its fruit. The Complete Jewish Bible
Your tongue has the power of life and death. Those who love to talk will eat the fruit of their words. New International Reader's Version
What you say can mean life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded. New Century Version
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version
Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life.
New Living Translation
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. Amplified Bible
Grace and I went to Church on Sunday, we met up with friends that we have known for some time and have been going to Church regularly forever. Faye joined us shortly afterwards.
It started off very informaly with coffee and pastries, followed by songs (which was a little different to what I had been used to) any church I have previously been to has been very traditional. I must admit that I was a little aprehensive and unsure whether traditional or this new modern look to religion (in my opinion) was the way to go.
Grace stayed for the first two hymns (songs) and then went off with the other children to the 'Kids club' or Sunday School as I formerly had known it. My very good friend 'S' had told me that she found it all a bit daunting on her first visit,and it more than prepared me, for how people around me reacted to Gods presence when singing. I sang, and I sang out loud, it is very uplifting and whats more it was uplifting to see that Faye and Grace were as equally impressed by it also.
The above proverb reading was the sermon, the Church Leader spoke of using the tongue badly was likened to a guns bullets shooting you down and keeping on until your body could not take anymore, she then went on to mention the word sniping as in sniping remarks at people and in the dictionary it is described as cutting and hurtful remarks and also 'sniper' as in being gunned down.
I actually hung on every word and have given it much thought this week..............the power of the tongue heh?
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. King James Version
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. New International Version
Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose. The Message
The tongue has power over life and death; those who indulge it must eat its fruit. The Complete Jewish Bible
Your tongue has the power of life and death. Those who love to talk will eat the fruit of their words. New International Reader's Version
What you say can mean life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded. New Century Version
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version
Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life.
New Living Translation
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. Amplified Bible
Grace and I went to Church on Sunday, we met up with friends that we have known for some time and have been going to Church regularly forever. Faye joined us shortly afterwards.
It started off very informaly with coffee and pastries, followed by songs (which was a little different to what I had been used to) any church I have previously been to has been very traditional. I must admit that I was a little aprehensive and unsure whether traditional or this new modern look to religion (in my opinion) was the way to go.
Grace stayed for the first two hymns (songs) and then went off with the other children to the 'Kids club' or Sunday School as I formerly had known it. My very good friend 'S' had told me that she found it all a bit daunting on her first visit,and it more than prepared me, for how people around me reacted to Gods presence when singing. I sang, and I sang out loud, it is very uplifting and whats more it was uplifting to see that Faye and Grace were as equally impressed by it also.
The above proverb reading was the sermon, the Church Leader spoke of using the tongue badly was likened to a guns bullets shooting you down and keeping on until your body could not take anymore, she then went on to mention the word sniping as in sniping remarks at people and in the dictionary it is described as cutting and hurtful remarks and also 'sniper' as in being gunned down.
I actually hung on every word and have given it much thought this week..............the power of the tongue heh?
Monday, 10 November 2008
Going to Church
My friend 'R' goes to church, she has been gently trying to coax me into trying it for some time. We have had a very busy schedule for the last few weeks with wedding plans and dance festivals, but after next Sunday 16 Nov we have Sundays free again!!
So we are off to Church. The service varies from week to week, and luckily for us this will take us to the very informal meeting in the Church hall where we get to meet everyone and discuss all aspects first....so greatly looking forward to it.
On Saturday, Marks brother got married............ I was greatly looking forward to the wedding, but St James Church where they were married was very special to me.
The last time I went to St James was for a funeral, it was my very good friend Mr Nicholas Dombeys funeral..........and It was a very difficult time for me. I didn't get to see Nick before he died as I had concerns, one because Grace had grown MRSA at the time and I was worried that I may take it with me and Two because I thought what I might also carry back could be harmful to Grace.
Unfortunately whilst I was battling in my head with the decision, Nick passed away. I've never felt so bad in my life and was very distraught at the funeral. Something very strange happened in the church and I am almost sure that I felt Nicks presence.
He was probably saying " I'm a planning engineer you know" I still miss Nick very much, he is a great friend, and great friends are what everyone needs. I do still feel I have let him down,so it was a poigniant day for me going into the church for the first time since that day, and do you know what? I can't begin to tell you how uplifted I felt, I thought that it would be awful,but it was completely the opposite, I think I might have been forgiven??
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lombard, it was a beautiful wedding...........
So we are off to Church. The service varies from week to week, and luckily for us this will take us to the very informal meeting in the Church hall where we get to meet everyone and discuss all aspects first....so greatly looking forward to it.
On Saturday, Marks brother got married............ I was greatly looking forward to the wedding, but St James Church where they were married was very special to me.
The last time I went to St James was for a funeral, it was my very good friend Mr Nicholas Dombeys funeral..........and It was a very difficult time for me. I didn't get to see Nick before he died as I had concerns, one because Grace had grown MRSA at the time and I was worried that I may take it with me and Two because I thought what I might also carry back could be harmful to Grace.
Unfortunately whilst I was battling in my head with the decision, Nick passed away. I've never felt so bad in my life and was very distraught at the funeral. Something very strange happened in the church and I am almost sure that I felt Nicks presence.
He was probably saying " I'm a planning engineer you know" I still miss Nick very much, he is a great friend, and great friends are what everyone needs. I do still feel I have let him down,so it was a poigniant day for me going into the church for the first time since that day, and do you know what? I can't begin to tell you how uplifted I felt, I thought that it would be awful,but it was completely the opposite, I think I might have been forgiven??
Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lombard, it was a beautiful wedding...........
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
For Pauline................
A GET WELL PRAYER
This get well prayer is sent with love
A special request to Father God above
That his healing touch soon be on the way
Bringing for you well and brighter days
May from your loving heart once again
There flow with happiness a joyous song
May all the days ahead of you be kind
Blessing you with a healthy body soul and mind
Please know my dear special Friend
That for you with love i'm always here
God bless you abundantly, is my prayer
Always safely to be kept, in my loving care.
A GET WELL PRAYER
This get well prayer is sent with love
A special request to Father God above
That his healing touch soon be on the way
Bringing for you well and brighter days
May from your loving heart once again
There flow with happiness a joyous song
May all the days ahead of you be kind
Blessing you with a healthy body soul and mind
Please know my dear special Friend
That for you with love i'm always here
God bless you abundantly, is my prayer
Always safely to be kept, in my loving care.
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