Phileosophie

Lately I have been trying to learn how to slow down and wait. I haven't yet figured out why waiting is a good thing but it brings about patience, and patience is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit. I know God is working in my life this year. He's chiselling off those edges and it hurts and is uncomfortable but alls well that ends well. Here's a sermon about waiting.

Last night I was pondering over the notion of sin. We have all sinned - against God, against our friends, our family, our spouses. I thought back to some of my own transgressions and wondered if they would be held against me by God or by my fellow Christians. Romans chapter 4 speaks of how Abraham was justified by faith and not by law. Romans 5 goes on to extend this gift of forgiveness to the rest of us who believe in Christ. However, I suppose as people we are not as forgiving as our Father in Heaven, so perhaps my fellow man will not be as quick to let go of my past. Nonetheless, on my part, if I am trying to be more like God, then I myself must learn to forgive . And in the same way, I must have hope that my brothers and sisters in Christ are also on the same journey. Romans 5 1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  3. No

I spend a lot of my evenings watching YouTube sermons and I'm going to start sharing some here. This one is from Transformation Church. Here's the summary. Before a relationship, God gave us: 1) Place - God has placed you where you are for a reason. You are in your particular school, place of work, etc for a purpose. 2) Purpose 3) Provision 4) Identity - God made us in his image. The enemy's number one tactic for you, is to have you not know who you are. You will never be completely comfortable in the identity of someone who is not you. 5) Perimeters - If you don't have a standard before you get into relationships, then the relationship will create the standard by which you live by. I really like this sermon because when you're single it can be easy to think that having a partner in life would somehow make your life more exciting/more complete/more meaningful, but really, the only person who can provide all of that is Jesus Christ.

Do Not Judge Sometimes in life, people do things to us that seem, or are, unfair and the tendency is to try and get back at them - achieve some sort of poetic justice. I don't think that is what God wants us to do, for two reasons. Firstly, if we consider the reason we feel unhappy or wronged, it will often be due to our hurt pride, and God doesn't love pride. So even in these trials, we have an opportunity to grow in our identities as children, made after God's own image. We have a chance to learn humility, practice patience and work on forgiveness. The second reason, is because it is not our role to judge. We are not qualified to. Romans 2:1-4  You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.   Now we know that God's judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human, pass judge

I had a great day today. Was apprehensive about getting back to the ward after 3 months hiding out in Echo Land but it was a really nice day and I. Am. Pleased. :)

Finally made it through the book of Acts. As dry as it was, I felt encouraged by its ending. Paul faced a storm during his journey to Rome but God promised to spare the lives of all the men on his ship (albeit not the boat). Ironically, the journey appears to have been made so he can arrive in Rome to be judged (?) by Caesar but perhaps it is still better to live and be judged than to die at sea. I am now in the book of Romans and am excited. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jews, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith".  Romans 1:16-17 I have been feeling a bit anxious this past week - about work, and about some difficulties in my personal life. But I know that if I keep my eyes on Jesus I will walk on water and be saved. See you on t

Was chatting with Jono and Phil two or three weekends ago, and one of them said I should write a list of things I wanted in a future partner. I think the second part of that was to write down what I thought such a person would in turn want in a partner but that's for another day. Also how would I know what a man wants?! Anyway, this is my list. 1) He must love God deeply and have an intimate relationship with God. - Why? Because for him to be in the position to lead me and our family, he must himself be led by God. 2) He should be kind, generous and compassionate. 3) He should be intelligent and should engage in conversation. He should be willing to share his thoughts on life, goals, dreams and direction. 4) He should above all be loyal and faithful! 5) He should have a desire to participate in or achieve or work towards a goal that is greater than ourselves. 6) He must love me and want to know me, do life with me and explore everything the world has to offer. 7) H

For the past few weeks I have been trying to make my way through the book of Acts. I can't say it's been a riveting read but two things stood out to me. The first is that God often seems to choose the unlikeliest of people to do his work. Paul was chosen to go from city to city, preaching the word of God to the Jews and Gentiles but he was not even an "ordinary" believer - he was someone who had gone out of his way to persecute and torment Christians. And yet God chose him. I wonder what the other believers thought. I could hazard a guess, but then perhaps "ordinary" believers these days could be likened to the Pharisees and Jews in Paul's day. They abided by the usual customs and appeared to do things the "right" way but were also judgemental and rejected God's word through Paul. I was thinking about how perhaps this was also the case with celebrities like Kanye West. They have behaved in ways that seem contrary to what a lot of us would