Tag: Darkness

Trials and Temptations

James 1 New International Version

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

⁹Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

¹²Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

His Power

A night full of His Power,

Birds nestling, lamplight shining,

The rooms, so full of His Love,

Silence falls, and all is well,

He lays us down to rest,

His presence ever keeping,

Only in darkness can illumination come, Spiritual understanding.

The night is His.

Finding your Life in Jesus

Matthew 16 New International Version

Jesus predicts his death

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save their life^[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

²⁸‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’

You Love Me? |

Malachi 1:1-5 New International Version – UK (NIVUK)
1 A prophecy: the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.^[^a^]
Israel doubts God’s love
²‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.
‘But you ask, “How have you loved us?”
‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, ³but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.’
⁴Edom may say, ‘Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.’
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. ⁵You will see it with your own eyes and say, “Great is the Lord – even beyond the borders of Israel!”
We all go through difficult seasons in life. We may be tempted to question God’s love for us during those times. Let’s recall the many ways He’s shown us His unfailing love. When we stop to consider His goodness, we find that He is indeed a loving Father. Let us all remember that in times of darkness there is a light telling us God loves you

Obey God and he will provide

Deuteronomy 11 New Living Translation

The Blessings of Obedience

⁸“Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. ⁹If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey! ¹⁰For the land you are about to enter and take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your seed and made irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain— ¹²a land that the Lord your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!

¹³“If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, ¹⁴then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. ¹⁵He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

¹⁶“But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. ¹⁷If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸“So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ¹⁹Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. ²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

²²“Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him. ²³Then the Lord will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land. ²⁴Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.^[b] ²⁵No one will be able to stand against you, for the Lord your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.

²⁶“Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! ²⁷You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. ²⁸But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.

²⁹“When the Lord your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal. ³⁰(These two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Jordan Valley,^[c] near the town of Gilgal, not far from the oaks of Moreh.) ³¹For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it, ³²you must be careful to obey all the decrees and regulations I am giving you today.

Thinking of Jesus

Related image

Philippians 2:5-11

5 In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.

6 Christ himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit.

7 But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant.

8And when he was living as a man, he humbled himself and was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death — death on a cross.

9 So God raised him to the highest place. God made his name greater than every other name

10 so that every knee will bow to the name of Jesus — everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

11 And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and bring glory to God the Father.

The first time I sung this song I was a young teen and still ‘XX’ amount of years on the words still have that meaning and power behind them.

Baptized with the Spirit

Acts 9 New International Version (NIV)

Saul’s Conversion

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. ¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. ¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

¹⁷Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Oh What A Wonderful Wonderful Day
Day I Will Never Forget
After I’d Wandered In Darkness Away
Jesus My Savior I Met
Oh What A Tender Compassionate Friend
He Met The Need Of My Heart
Shadows Dispelling With Joy I Am Telling
He Made All The Darkness Depart

Chorus
Heaven Came Down And Glory Filled My Soul
When At The Cross The Savior Made Me Whole
My Sins Were Washed Away
And My Night Was Turned To Day
Heaven Came Down And Glory Filled My Soul

Born Of The Spirit With Life From Above
Into God’s Fam’ly Divine
Justified Fully Thru Calvary’s Love
Oh What A Standing Is Mine
And The Transaction So Quickly Was Made
When As A Sinner I Came
Took Of The Offer Of Grace
He Did Proffer He Saved Me
Oh Praise His Dear Name

Now I’ve A Hope That Will Surely Endure
After The Passing Of Time
I Have A Future In Heaven For Sure
There In Those Mansions Sublime
And It’s Because Of That Wonderful Day
When At The Cross I Believed
Riches Eternal And Blessings Supernal
From His Precious Hand I Received

The Wrong Road

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Proverbs 4:18

Today’s Scripture & Insight: Proverbs 4:10–19

“We went to a nudist colony!” my school-aged daughter announced upon returning home from holiday with a friend’s family.

“We were looking for a park,” her friend’s dad mumbled with embarrassment. “The worst thing was I couldn’t find a place to turn round. We passed more and more naked people before I finally found somewhere!” Clearly mortified, he apologised several times for exposing our child to rather more than we had expected.

My friend had unintentionally driven down the wrong road. This is something the book of Proverbs warns us about frequently. We can travel two roads in life: the “the path of the righteous,” which “shines ever brighter” or “the way of the wicked,” which is like “deep darkness” (Proverbs 4:18–19). Sometimes it’s obvious which road we are choosing to travel. Other times, like for my friend, we only realise we’re on the wrong road when it’s already too late.

We can ask ourselves, are my pursuits bringing me closer to Jesus, the light of the world? Or are they getting in the way? Our paths either lead to greater light or to more darkness. Ask yourself, where are you heading?

It’s never too late to seek Jesus’ guidance. This is the wisdom that will “lead you along straight paths” (v. 11). Bring your desires and goals to Him; He will lead you along the road that’s filled with His shining light.

Serving Christ

Matthew 16: 21-28 New International Version

Jesus Predicts His Death

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save their life^[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

The words and music of this song written by two former General’s of The Salvation Army mean so much to me that I find myself somehow returning to it quite a lot. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a simple tune with such true and earnest words to it

Standing Firm

Matthew 24 New International Version

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ²“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.