Search Results for: blog patterns in the bible

Patterns of Prayer

My reservations regarding the 5 finger prayer pattern are it doesn’t incorporate two aspects that I consider essential. They are praise and confession. So I’d like to suggest another pattern for prayer – an ACTION prayer. This is: Adoration Confession Thanksgiving Intercession Outpouring Needs Adoration The first, and what to me should always be our starting point, is praise or adoration of God. We should praise God for who He is and for His unique qualities. Take time to really dwell on the fact that you are in the presence of Almighty God. Adore Him. We have only to think … Continue reading →

Patterns in the Bible

Don’t you love the way certain themes and ideas crop up again and again in the bible? Take the story of David and Goliath and the life of Jesus. Here are some of the similarities. It was 40 days that the Giant Goliath taunted the Israelites, 1 Samuel 17:16. Interestingly that is the same number of days that Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Matthew 4:1-2. The taunts of Goliath and temptations of Satan have a certain similarity too. Goliath insisted that Israel prove themselves and in a sense their God, by sending their champion to fight against him 1 … Continue reading →

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Sometimes we learn things from a totally unrelated topic that can be applied to marriage. One that I encountered recently was ‘don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes and things you can’t change.’ We all have those moments in our marriage we regret, where we wish we’d never said or done what we did. But once we have admitted our fault to our spouse and resolved to try and not do it again, then it is time to move on. Sadly many of us, women in particular, keep harking back and going on over the experience. Beating ourselves up like … Continue reading →

How Can You Tell a Cult?

One of the big problems in today’s world as it was even back in New Testament times and the early church is false teachers. Sometimes alarm bells seem to go off while you are listening to someone teaching but you’re not quite sure why. How can you tell if what you are hearing is false teaching and if it is a cult instead of real Biblical Christianity? Thanks to Footprints magazine here are some pointers to look out for and others I have added. A cult will invariably have a charismatic leader. You know the type of person I mean, … Continue reading →

Buying Mugs

Buying mugs for your house can be interesting, especially if working to a budget and needing them to be inexpensive. Also, a lot will depend on whether they are going to be tucked away in a cupboard when not in use or on display. Recently Mick and I went mug shopping. Every week we have a bible study group meets at our place and if they all turned up we did not have enough mugs. To my mind there’s nothing worse that standing around having tea or coffee and chat while trying to balance a cup of hot beverage in … Continue reading →

Love is Giving.

‘You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving,’ so says the positive thought in our local newsletter. Think about it. I believe it’s true. We can give and do things out of a sense of duty or because we think we’re supposed to. But it’s not love. But when we love someone we want to show it by giving. I don’t necessarily mean by giving gifts, though at times that may be appropriate. It might be more a case of giving your time to help your spouse or do something that they want. It might be giving … Continue reading →

‘Just in Case’ at Easter ?

Easter is a time for gifts of Easter eggs and chocolates. It is also the time to remember the greatest gift that was given – the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for your sins and mine. In a recent episode of Eli Stone when he was struggling with his gift of visions and querying why it had been given to him when sometimes it caused him nothing but trouble. he was told, ‘A gift is something that is given. You don’t own it. The world does.’ That’s basically the message of Easter. The gift Jesus gave at that first … Continue reading →

Prayer and Riches.

In Luke 6:12,after the confrontations with the Pharisees, Jesus went off alone and spent the whole night in prayer. Have you ever spent as long in concentrated prayer? I haven’t though I do find if I am awake at night, which happens fairly regularly to me, it is a good time to pray, right there where I am. We might wonder what Jesus was praying about. Was he praying about the opposition he was experiencing and the hardness of people’s hearts? Was he seeking the Father for strength for what he knew lay ahead of him? Maybe it was both. … Continue reading →

A Wedding Gift toTreasure

Is there a wedding coming up in your family? What about a unique wedding gift? In the marriage blog I wrote about a unique recipe book. This is adapted from that idea. What about giving the happy couple a book of the family’s favorite verses and those of family members? Each page could include a favorite bible verse or two as well as a few lines about why that verse is special to you. You might include an example of a situation or story of where that verse was a help to you in your life or a drawing, a … Continue reading →

Learning from Children

How often when you’ve given a gift does the person say,‘You shouldn’t have?’ But have you ever watched children when they receive a gift? They never say that! They don’t worry about whether they deserve the gift. They just can’t wait to rip open the paper and find out what’s inside. I watched my grandchildren doing just this on the weekend. Like children, we need to be willing to receive what God wants to give us. Yesterday we looked at what God wants us to pray for. But we need to be ready to receive God’s gifts when they come. … Continue reading →