God knows you intimately. He knows you better than anyone does, and even knows you better than yourself. This scripture in the book of Luke pretty much sums it up, specifically Luke 12v6-7.

When we are in the loving Fathers arms then you are worth a great deal more than a group of sparrows. God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. Just imagine that the creator of the entire universe, in all his power and goodness wants to have a deep and meaningful relationship with you. Yes you.

When we confess Jesus is Lord of our lives, he comes into our hearts to take up residence and helps us in our lives. Just imagine that. A God who is all powerful, who healed people, who provided for people comes into our lives wanting a deep and intimate relationship with us.

Know that you are loved by God, and he wants to come into our lives to help us. He wants to guide you through all of the tough challenges you have to face in this world, whether that be paying bills, bringing up your children, ensuring the family is provided for, and also to take care of you.

So why not come along and learn more about the Lord Jesus, a God who loves you, cares about you deeply and wants the best for you. Visit us at a family service that takes place every Sunday at Church in the Avenue, doors open at 10.45am where we serve hot drinks and a few treats, the service starts at 11.15am.

We have recently written about how God wants to have a relationship with us, He loves us deeply and wants to help us in our lives. It is important to maintain a balance. We must be careful not to accept a false message, instead we must accept the Bible with all it’s challenging parts too, being a Christian is not just a walk where you are blessed all of the time with good things, if it was then it would be a prosperity Gospel, a false Gospel!

When you come to know God, this promise is true, He will never leave us or forsake us. God comes into our lives to forgive us, and then help us along the pathway. Because God is in our lives it does not mean that we will not have trouble and challenges from time to time; but now we will face them with Him at our side, with all His Wisdom & Power to help us succeed.

When we accept Christ as our Lord and our God, He takes permanent residence in our heart, and that means He is there for us, to guide us through the storms of life so that they will not overtake us. Jesus came into the world to serve us, to take away our sins by bearing the punishment for them on the Cross.

It could be that we have an addiction that nobody knows about and that is our trouble to overcome, or you may well have consequences to face because of undealt with sin in your life. Trouble can come in a form of safeguarding people and you need to campaign and risk a great deal to make the change in the world to protect people. Whatever it is Jesus our Lord and Saviour is there for us to help us through every challenge so that we may experience the peace of him in any situation.

Challenges in life can also be a part of your walk because God wants to establish you, he wants to develop character in you. Look at this scripture from the book of 1 Peter, specifically 1 Peter 5v10.

The scripture mentions suffering, so there can be suffering from time to time, the Bible confirms this. But after you have suffered for a little while, God will restore us making us strong, firm, and steadfast. So, consider this, storms of life and difficult challenges, can they not be good for us? They can make us stronger and more resilient, see it as a positive thing.

Above all remember that through any storm or difficult challenge God is with us. He will never leave or forsake us. Storms are where you will see God, so be expectant and be diligent, a storm can help you have even more faith and confidence in God so look at it as a good thing.

Do you need a break through in life? Have you ever considered what forgiving someone can do? Jesus gives us clear guidelines of what we are to do in this world, one is outlined in the book of Matthew, specifically Matthew 5v44 displayed below.

It could be that you are holding unforgiveness against someone. It could be that you are not loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. The breakthrough has not come because you hold hate or harbour ill feeling towards people who have hurt you in your life.

The Christian walk is a tough one from time to time. It is full of challenges and forgiving people is one of them. But the good news is Jesus came to die on the cross so that we maybe forgiven of our own sins, and that is true for the people who have sinned against you, they to need that forgiveness and your forgiveness.

So if you have ill feeling toward a person who has hurt you, why not look at it with a different mindset and do what Jesus tells us to do. To love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. You are not alone and in Jesus’s strength residing in your heart he can help you genuinely forgive.

Once you start thinking and acting more like Jesus obeying scripture that breakthrough could be just around the corner.

Sometimes you do not need to search far to work out the will of God for our lives. Sometimes it is right there in front of you. Sometimes Christians can often think that God’s will in your life is some complicated thing you have to work out, when in fact it is also written in the Bible what Gods will is for us, let’s look at an example.

Here is a scripture displayed below taken from the book of Hebrews, specifically Hebrews 13v16.

Hebrews 13:16

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

This is God telling us that his will for us is to do good and to share what we have with others, in doing this God is pleased. There you go. A very simple scripture telling us what God’s will is for our lives.

There are many more scriptures like this one in the Bible that tell us God’s will. Let’s look at another scripture. In the book of Matthew in chapter 28 v 19 it clearly shows one will the Lord has for our lives.

Matthew 28:19

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

God is saying his will for us is to reach out to people, to share our faith so they to can come onboard the journey with us. So, they too can be saved. The the Lord is saying make disciples of people. What are disciples? It sounds complicated but it really isn’t, when people are saved, they become students of the Lord, and are free to learn more about Jesus every day.

So, lets conclude. If you are wondering what Gods will is for your life sometimes it is right there in front of us in scripture. Yes we need to spend time with God in prayer so he can reveal more about his will for us, but in a lot of cases we can also find it in the word of God. So, if you need a little help finding more scriptures from the Bible that tell us Gods will for our lives then join us this Sunday for our family service and we’ll have a talk with you, doors open at 10.45am.

The Bible is full of scripture telling us to praise God and to glorify him. There are two ways in which we can praise God, one in private and two, publicly. Lets look at examples starting in the book of Matthew looking at secret prayer and praise.

Matthew 6:6

6 “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

In your prayers you can thank God for good things he brings you to help you in your life, this sort of praise is what God looks for from a secret place. It is good to praise God in secret to ensure our motives are correct, if we praise God just to be seen by other people then there is a problem, our praises have to be genuine.

Next up we look at public praise in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22:22

“I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.”

This shows that it is perfectly fine to praise God in public as David did and as it says in Psalm 22v22 above.

Singing praises to God can also release spiritual blessings that can help you in your life. Lets look at an example of praises being given in the Bible and how it helped people, such as Paul and Silas who ended up in Prison as stated in the book of Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16v25-26

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

This is an extreme example, but it shows how praising God can deliver a miracle like it did for Paul and Silas. So, if you’re in an impossible situation start praising God, and if done authentically and with the correct motives a miracle could find you as well.

Let’s conclude

It is important that our praises to God are authentic. We do not praise God for the sake of wanting him to lavish us with material wealth. We praise God for who he is, a Holy God.