It seems like the whole world has come to a standstill because of one volcano. The vast plumes of ash, and the molten lava spewing out are massive images that cameras struggle to reproduce. Yet when we worship Jesus, thinking of all this can help us:
These eruptions are just a fraction of God's power. They're a tiny glimpse of it. Just His voice sent billions of stars spinning into space! That same power is able to go to work through you too!
The effect of His truth can travel far beyond, and settle on loads more people than this cloud of ash.
God lasts forever- this volcano will run out... one day!
His fire can flow into and touch our hearts, changing us and giving us strength to serve Him.
By His will alone, all things live and move and have their being- including planes.
God can erupt, by his Spirit, wherever and whenever He wants. Are you ready and waiting for that in your life?
One day this world will all come to an end- involving what the Bible seems to suggest as a lot of earthquakes and volcanoes. Jesus told us to be ready. Are you?
Let every lake of lava, let every cloud of ash, let every disruption, and every image remind you that the God who made this volcano is the same God who is living in your heart, answering you when you pray and wanting to build His Church and advance His kingdom for His Glory! Do it Lord.
Have you guys been doing anything apart from sleep over the easter holidays? Personally i've been trying to learn somthing, after the weather picked up enough i've been slacklining quite a bit. Really good to try and learn somthing new and actually do somthing a bit more productive than staying in bed for weeks on end :P This is a lil vid of somone a lot better than me :)
Easter is a fantastic opportunity to remember all that God has done for us and worship Him for it.
As we approach Good Friday it's good to reflect on the suffering and punishment Jesus endured. He went through that for each one of us. It's also important to know that the cross is a place of victory. On the cross Jesus cries out "It is finished"! As He dies the curtain of the temple is torn in two. You see the story isn't finished there. On Easter Sunday we'll celebrate that our Saviour is risen! So remember the victory of the cross, and remember... Sunday's Comin:
Let me encourage you to take some time this holiday to reflect on the cross. Allow the Easter story to effect your heart once more. Worship your Saviour and let His death and resurrection impact and change your life.
There is currently a campaign to get Delirious to number 1 for Easter.
Whether you like these campaigns or not it's a great song with a peachy base line! I know I've sung it many times with a desire in my heart to be significant in God's purposes. Also the idea of a Christian worship song being played out to millions of people is pretty cool too.
If you do want to join in you can download the song for 69p here. But do it before Easter!
Your emotions are to your soul, what pain is to your body. They tell you how you're doing on the inside. Therefore emotions aren't a bad thing but they do need to be handled well. Particularly with negative emotions you can either cover them up or let things explode uncontrollably. Neither of those options allows the underlying problems to be sorted out!
God is able to handle us being honest with Him- Look at Psalm 109 for a great example of David's raw emotion being poured out to God. That means we can bring our emotions before God- be honest and admit there's a problem and allow him and others to help us work it all through.
Think about yourself: how can you bring your emotions and problems before God more honestly and more quickly?
Next Thursday the 18th March is A Passion for Life LIVE. This will be an amazing event including a gig by The Steels (see vid below) and a gospel speaker too. The night will be held at the Bedford Corn Exchange and kicks off at 7.30pm with tickets costing £2. Bring all your friends!
Check out this dude's version of Rihanna's "Umbrella"- full of gospel truth.
We would love it if anyone could come up with their own re-writes. Let me know if you do and we'll video it and post it here or let you perform it at Youth!
As Christians we are in a battle! We've seen how that struggle can be with the world and with the flesh (see below). This week we were reminded that Satan is also a very real enemy of ours. He tries to bring us down by tempting, accusing and deceiving us.
There is a danger of under-estimating Satan but also we need not be scared of him. He is nowhere near as powerful as Jesus; comparing Satan and God is like comparing an ant with an atom bomb!
Very often this battle can take place in our minds with Satan craftily feeding thoughts into us. Our defence against the Devil's schemes is God's truth. Knowing what the Bible says is the armour of God that protects us.
If you understand who you are in Christ it puts it all in perspective. Christ has conquered over sin, death and Satan! He has won the victory and Eph. 2: 6 says that we are seated with Christ. That means that we can resist the Devil and he must flee from us! (James 4: 7)
