Found

My world was changed
When Your love You gave for me

Do you ever find yourself thinking about how different your life would be if God hadn't sent Jesus to earth to die a painful death on the cross, just so we could be forgiven?

I've found myself thinking about that quite a lot in the last while. If I'm honest I'm not sure my life would be recognisable if I had never known God. Why? Because so many of the experiences and situations I've found myself in have been because of my faith - I've attended the Salvation Army all my life and having been part of the junior choir and band and subsequently the senior choir and band, many of my "life" experiences have been as part of these.

All that said, God did send Jesus into our world, and he did die so our sins could be forgiven. Even so, God still requires us to accept Him into our lives...we must let Him find us.

Found (by Hillsong United)

Amazing love

Now what else shall I need

Your name brings life

It's more than the air I breathe

My world was changed

When Your love You gave for me

My purpose found

And all that You want for me

And I found myself in You

And I found myself in You

Amazing love

Now what else shall I need

Your name brings life

It's more than the air I breathe

Take me to a place

Where I can see You face to face

And all I want to do

All I want to do

Is worship You

First Impressions

It's said that first impressions last. Sometimes it can be very difficult to overcome our first impressions of people simply because of the situation or circumstance in which we first met them.

Have you ever stopped and thought about what kind of first impression you give to others?

As Christians, God requires us to lead sin free lives. If we do this the first impression we give others would be one of joy, happiness, love and contentment. Does this sound like you?

First impressions can last forever, and are often way off the mark. Make sure you give others the right first impression of you!

Is there anyone in your life who you've "rejected" because of the first impression you had of them? If so, put that aside and give them a second chance today!

Image of God
When my beauty fades away and all I see is gone
Reflection in my mirror doesn’t please you anymore
What will be left within me
You promise me eternal bliss
Never ending happiness
If I’d only look and play the right part
But, Now look what’s been left in me

Tell me why do I Why do I try
try so hard to please you
Can you promise me, In a few years
You will even remember my name

And I am made in the image of God
I am loved for who I am

Your flashy Magazines & & billboards always scream
Your worth don’t lie within, Its how you look it’s how you dress
It’s who you know
But, That’s a deadly trap
I’m breaking all your rules and getting off your path
cause I have come to see that where it leads is only heartbreak and shame
and who could be satisfied with that.
Tell me why do I Why do I try
try so hard to please you (Yeah)
Can you promise me, In a few years
You will even remember my name

And I am made in the image of God
I am loved for who I am
And though I may not please your eyes But always know, that
It’s in me that God takes delight

Takes delight (la la la)

Let Go and Let God

Are you willing to let go of your past sins? Loving and serving God is a learned art and that's why we all have many failures along the way.

Allow God to forgive you, cleanse you from your sins, and fill you with the Holy Spirit. This will allow you to then serve the Lord more powerfully, so let go and let God.

Let Go Let God (Olivia Newton John)
When you can't find
your direction
And your heart won't
guide you home Let Go
Let God
When your dreams
are broken in the dust
And you've lost the
will to trust Let Go
Let God

Let the signs remind you
We are passengers
Let the signs remind you
To surrender
To surrender
Let Go and Let God

When faith's a dying fire
And there's no spark
to feed the flame
Let Go and Let God
When your courage fails you
And the well of hope runs dry
Let Go and Let God

Let the signs remind you
We are passengers
Let the signs remind you
To surrender
To surrender
Let Go and Let God

Let the signs remind you
We are passengers
Let the signs remind you
To surrender
To surrender
Let Go and Let God
Let Go and Let God Let Go
And let God.

Majesty

What do you think of when you hear the word "majesty"?
Here are some dictionary definitions:

• The greatness and dignity of a sovereign.
• The sovereignty and power of God.
• Supreme authority or power

In other words, something awesome and wonderful, more powerful and mighty than man. All of which makes "majesty" a fantastic word to describe God and Jesus as they are greater than any other and certainly greater than anyone here on earth.

But despite being so awesome, God loves us unconditionally and is more than willing to forgive us of our sins, if only we'd ask Him to. Accept God's unconditional love today, it's a far greater love than you'll ever find from anyone else.

Sydney Staff Songsters sing Majesty (Here I am)

Majesty (Here I Am)

Here I am humbled by your Majesty
Covered by your grace so free
Here I am, knowing I'm a sinful man
Covered by the blood of the Lamb

Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

Majesty, Majesty
Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in your hands
Majesty, Majesty
Forever I am changed by your love
In the presence of your Majesty

Here I am humbled by the love that you give
Forgiven so that I can forgive
Here I stand, knowing that I'm your desire
Sanctified by glory and fire

Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine
Since you laid down your life
The greatest sacrifice

Saved!

We often hear Christians talking about being saved, but what does that mean?
And what are they talking about being saved from?

Put simply, it means we are saved from our sins.

When God created the world, everything was perfect. However as we all know, it didn't take long after God created man, before things became spoiled and sin first occurred - Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

Sin spoiled the relationship God had with man. In Romans 5:12 we learn that the whole world was affected because Adam sinned:
You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in— first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone (The Message)

Every person born after Adam was then born into a sinful world - that means everyone, including you and me!

So we're all sinful, so how can we be saved (free from sin)? We can do that by accepting God into your life and recognising that God sent Jesus here to earth where He died just so each one of us could be forgiven of all our sins.

Pray to God today and ask Him to save you today!

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Forgive Me

"Be good" - how many times to we say that to our children or hear others saying that to their children?

Put those words into a different scenario...God telling you to "Be good". God wants us to be like Jesus and that means we must be good and we must do good.

Do you consider yourself to be a "good" person?

If you've answered "yes" to that question, I'd urge you to reconsider your answer! Even if we are nice, law abiding people who do our best in all we do, we are not good enough to get into heaven unless we ask God to forgive us of all our sins.

Jesus said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 18:3). Once we are willing to change our ways, Jesus said a childlike trust and humility will help us become great people on earth and wonderful citizens of heaven.

Don't think you're good enough, or too good to have to ask God to forgive you. It's easy, just ask God to forgive you, He is waiting and willing you to do so.

Forgive Me
Written by Scott Dyer and Rebecca St. James
For all the times I’ve failed You, Lord
Forgive me
For all the ways I’ve fallen short
Lord, forgive me now
God, I’m so in need of grace
I fall upon my face
Forgive me

You see the tears fall down my face
Forgive me
Take my fear, Lord, take my shame
Lord, forgive me now
Purify me, make me new
Like only You can do
Forgive me now

Lord, we come to honor You
We are forgiven
We bring our love and thanks to You
We are forgiven now

God we praise You for Your grace
Before You we are raised
Forgiven
God we praise You for Your grace
Before You we are raised
Forgiven
Forgiven

Keeping Joyful

"Joy is the infallible evidence of the presence of God!" - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Wow, what a statement, but what a true statement! The joy of the presence of God is a joy that lasts, not just for a few moments, but forever. It's easy to get happiness and joy mixed up, I know I do at times, but they are in fact very different things.

Happiness depends on happenings while joy does not. Happiness doesn't last well and often relies on "pressure feelings" to fuel it. The pleasures of this world and the pleasures of sin only last for a few moments. Sin wants us to believe that it's flowers and sunshine, but while sin might be fun, it's always fleeting.

Psalm 16:11 (King James Version)
In they presence is fullness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Real joy can only be found in the presence of God. Our God is a God of joy, so we need to find and acknowledge God as our friend and get to know Him. Keeping our joy means realising that the pleasures of sin are only temporary and that true joy is only available through God.

Choose to side with the people of God today, rather than those who enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. We may have to become very different people from who we are just now if we are to be able to turn away from certain activities and obey God. We may find we lose some of our friends in doing this, but we we'll certainly keep our joy!

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Singing With Joy

Isn't it great when God sets your heart singing with joy. But how can we keep in tune and not go off-key? One ways of doing this is to realise that a singing heart is a separated heart. Separation in this way does not mean isolation, it simply means separate from sin but will to be friends with sinners.

There is joy in separating ourselves to God. We must stand apart from sin, while still standing up for others, committing ourselves, as Jesus did, to be a friend to those who don't know our Saviour, but still abstaining from activities that Jesus wouldn't take part in if he we here with us today.

We may find when we try to separate ourselves from sin, those we're trying to help, may not understand. However don't let this bring you down, as we will bring joy to the Lord, and that joy will be reflected and experienced in our own hearts.

Go on, try and separate yourself from sin!

His Provision

At our morning service we had the retirement of two officers (ministers) who have served as Salvation Army officers (minister) for 38.5 years! We celebrated there many years of faithful service and the love and teaching they have passed on to all they met during their service.

This all got me to thinking about my own service, obviously not as a Salvation Army officer (minister), but simply as a follower of Christ who is serving Him as a soldier in the Salvation Army at Bellshill. What I started thinking about was my own service. If this were my "retirement" today, would I be celebrating my service to God, confident I had served Him well all my life?

This is a very tough question, and an even tougher one to answer honestly! So what's my answer? Well, I could tell you that I have served God as well as I possibly could and done everything He's asked of me, but I'm afraid that would not be the truth. I have done something in my life that I am not proud of, I've done some things in my life that gone against God's plan for me and I've said and done some things which I am ashamed of.

However, I am so thankful to God that despite all of this, He has forgiven me for all my sins, because He still loves me and cares for me and wants me to serve Him.
So how about you - If this were your"retirement" today, would you be celebrating your service to God, confident that you had served Him well all your life?

Whether your answer is positive or negative, rejoice, because God still loves you, and will always love you no matter what your sins.

On Thursday night at our band practice we practiced the beautiful Ivor Bosanko piece "His Provision" which was originally published in in the 1985 Musical Salvationist as a songster (senior choir) piece. The words of that piece are very relevant to where my thoughts have been today, and in fact we played this piece during our morning service.

Please consider the words of this song, and try to see how they fit with your life:

His Provision (Ivor Bosanko)
At the moment of my weakness,
When my need for pow'r is plain,
And my own strength is exhausted once again,
Then my Lord has made provision
For the day of my despair,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
Then my Lord has made provision
For the day of my despair,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

Holy Spirit! Promised Presence fall on me.
Holy Spirit! Make me all I long to be.
Holy Spirit! Holy Spirit!
Give your pow'r to me,
O Holy Spirit.

When the darkness falls around me,
When bewildered and afraid,
When I feel the most deserted and betrayed,
Then my ev'ry need is answered
By God's providential care,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
Then my ev'ry need in answered
BY God's providential care,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

Nothing now can rob God's servant
Of the peace that He bequeaths,
Nothing take away the strength His presence breathes,
Of the EVERLASTING ARMS OF LOVE I'M DAILY MADE AWARE,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
of the everlasting arms of love I'm daily made aware,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

In conclusion I just want to leave the highlight me favourite words in this song:

When the darkness falls around me,
When bewildered and afraid,
When I feel the most deserted and betrayed,
Then my ev'ry need is answered
By God's providential care,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

These words are so reassuring to me, I hope they are reassuring to you too.

Humble

"This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word."
Isaiah 66:2 (NIV)

Humble and contrite, not two words we tend to use very often, but ones we must fully understand and emulate, to please God. Understanding what these words mean is actually the easy part, living these words is so much harder.

Humble
1. conscious of one's failings
2. modest and unpretentious
3. ordinary or not very important

Contrite
1. feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses
2. penitent

Just because we can find it difficult to be humble or contrite, we must not stop from striving to live these words fully.

Sinful pride is often what destroys any hope we have of helping ourselves to be humble and contrite. Only God can break through our pride and sin, and create the right spirit within us to accept the grace we need to be humble.

Humble King (by Benton Brown)
Oh kneel me down again
Here at Your feet
Show me how much You love
Humility

Oh spirit be the star
That leads me to
The humble heart of love
I see in You

Cuz You are the God of the broken
The friend of the weak
You wash the feet of the weary
Embrace the ones in need
And I want to be like you Jesus
To have this heart in me
You are the God of the humble
You are the humble King


Oh kneel me down again
Here at Your feet
Show me how much You love
Humility

Oh spirit be the star
That leads me to
The humble heart of love
I see in You

You are the God of the broken
The friend of the weak
You wash the feet of the weary
Embrace the ones in need
And I want to be like You Jesus
To have this heart in me
You are the God of the humble
You are the humble King
You are the humble King

You are the God of the humble
You are the humble King

That word..."Sin"

Do you cringe whenever someone says the word "sin"? For a long time I admit, I did! I, probably like you, wondered what was coming next, and if I'm honest I'd would switch off before I heard/read any more!

But I now understand that we should not be put off by talking about sin or sinning, as it's something every single one of us does, we all sin. During our lifetime we all commit thousands/millions of sins in God's eyes.

So what exactly is sin. Here is the dictionary definition of sin:

• A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.
• Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God

Galatians 5:24-25

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

So in God's eyes, no matter what our sins, no matter how severe our sins, God will forgive us of every one of them. All we have to do is ask him to forgive us and then let God take control of our lives.

I pray that you will ask God into your live so he can forgive your sins, and help you lead the kind of life he wants you to.