Freedom Church

Freedom church is a relevant church for the 21st century, they are innovative, energetic and creative!

They have two locations; Hereford and Cardiff.  I would 100% recommend you to visit them, or check out the website:

http://www.freedomchurch.co.uk/

Go to their creative page to watch awesome videos...

http://www.freedomchurch.co.uk/index.cfm?blogCall&blogID=242

Enjoy!

Will you pass the test?..

What does it mean to be tested? To be tempted?..
..We often find ourselves being lured by things.. Ever walked past a garden when your neighbours are having a BBQ and felt like you just wanted to follow the smell of tasty burgers?.. Or maybe your mum has just pulled out brownies from the oven.. you can already taste them in your mouth.. you follow the smell, just to have a look.. until you think if I eat just one it won't matter.. then one turns into one more..
But whether it be one bite or the whole tray of brownies, God will always know how many you ate.  And in life, everyday, we face these temptations.. we get lured into things.. things that we know aren't what God wants us to do.  Smelling these enticing flavours is just the start, it leads us to curiosity and desire, until we get closer and closer to the smell, and eventually our actions turn into sin.  Its very easy to let ourselves get distracted by these desires, but by resisting them, we can start to resist sin and we become stronger in God.
When we are faced with the temptations of earthly desires, we are being tested, not tested by God.. but tested by the evil in our world.  And most of the time these tests are more than sneaking a chocolate brownie out of the kitchen before your mum sees!  These tests are hard!  They can be frustrating, heartbreaking, upsetting.. and you can be crying out to God to get you through!  Sometimes you even ask God, 'Why?!.. Why me?!..Why now?!'.  But 'When tempted, no-one should say "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed' (James 1:13-14).  You need to remember God isn't the one testing you, putting you through the misery, he is the one pleading for you to get through it.. to get through it and come out stronger and undefeated!
Its when you pull through tests that you understand the answer to your own question 'why?!'.  'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.' ( James 1:2-3 ).  These tests shape you into who you are today, God is always building you up to become stronger as a christian and closer in your relationship with him.
To face these trials he provides you with 'the armour of God'.. the 'Belt of truth', the Breastplate of Righteousness', the 'shoes fitted with readiness that comes with the gospel of peace', the 'shield of faith', the 'helmet of salvation' and the 'sword of the spirit' (Ephesians 6).  You must 'be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.' (Ephesians 6:10-11).  When you are tested with evil, put on God's armour and together get ready to fight!
Even if sometimes you give in to those evil desires and you sin, if you repent those sins truthfully from your heart.. God will always forgive you because, He loves you unconditionally.  But this doesn't mean that we should always give in to temptations, for 'he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.' (1 Peter 4:2).
Remember God will never let you be tested past your limits.. he knows everything your going through because, he is there with you every step of the way!

James 1:12
'Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial'
1 Peter 4:12-13
'Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.'

Going through a storm..?

Such an AMAZING video, sometimes we go through storms and bad times and we just cry out to God.  We need to remember, he's Always there, he's Always listening and he Always Loves Us.  This video is so moving and something you could watch over and over..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4W6a0Ig0Zc

Jesus, Here I am.

(this is my testimony of how I said Jesus, Here I am. -it's also on the side of my blog but its probably easier to read on here, enjoy :D)

I often had discussions with a very close Christian friend of mine about her views and beliefs, I would always argue the non-believer side of things, and I never thought I would believe it any other way. Until a night spent questioning another close friend, after his decision to suddenly become a christian.  While talking I began to see cracks in my own thinking instead of his. Over the next week I couldn't get those thoughts out of my head, and I couldn't understand why those beliefs I had so firmly built were starting to crack and crumble.

After a few days I went to church with both friends to try and understand more of the sudden uncertainty I was feeling. The first day at church blew me away, it overwhelmed me and completely knocked me sideways. I had a lot going on in my life at that time.. a relationship I wanted to work out hadn't,  I'd just got back from 5months of being in other countries, my family were all away, and I just felt lost- not knowing where I should be headed next.

During worship I was looking round at these people reaching their hands into the air, and was just taken aback by the passion and energy in the music and worship.  I stood, not singing and just watching, and I couldn't help but think they all had something I didn't.  In this time I couldn't shake the feeling and thought that something needed to change in my life.  This thought kept coming and coming...I couldn't work out where it had come from because until I realised it was true I had thought everything was fine...It was so clear, almost as if someone was speaking to me saying, something needs to change in your life and there will be someone to show you what...

worship ended and we sat down...all the while I was thinking what needs to change then? and who's going to tell me? I seemed in a sudden state of confusion...and all from just hearing a couple songs and seeing people jump up and down?! ...really?!

The pastor Gary then came onto the stage to give a preach, focused on the last week of the Freedoms' 'DNA series'.  About half way through Gary started speaking about change!  We all needed change in our life, guidance and how to do it...It was like someone was going into my head and then giving me the exact answer to all that I was thinking, through the preach... I put this down to a big coincidence! 

The end of the talk came and the pastor told us all to bow our heads and as he gave the chance to anyone who hadn't got Jesus in their life, to just raise there hand and make that first step to say 'Jesus here I am'.  I held my hands tightly together making sure they didn't even raise an inch!...My heart was just pounding, I thought it was going to beat right out of my chest, it was a feeling like I was just about to get arrested or something really big was about to happen.  I was convincing myself that in a minute the prayer would be over and I could get the heck out of there!... But I suddenly became very aware that Gary's prayer was speaking to me.  I knew it was impossible but I just got this strange feeling that he was looking directly into my thoughts and hearing my heart beat at 100miles per hour.  ...I then convinced myself I was being paranoid and stupid!  ...Until he said 'there's a young lady in here, maybe theres a lot going on or she's scared of making a change but I just sense that she is struggling and holding back from saying, here am I'.  This boiling flush ran over me and I'm sure if anyone could have seen my cheeks they would have been the colour of tomatoes.  But still I kept my hands firmly placed in my lap.

At the end of the prayer I turned to my friend and said something along the lines of 'get me out of here'!  She walked with me out of the building and we sat down in some small park place, where I sat down and burst into tears.  I didn't really know why I was crying, but felt very overwhelmed -it was like everything had been shaken and turned upside-down.  Once we'd talked and I'd calmed down we walked back inside, after getting some water and speaking to a few people I thought it was all over and I could just relax and go home saying that the day was an experience.  But no.  Again I was knocked sideways, just when I thought I could stand straight on solid ground...I was asked if I would like to speak to Gary!  I was torn a big part of me wanted to say "no, I've heard enough today.", but that part of me lost because deep inside I think I was desperate to talk to him.  And so the things that I had convinced myself were coincidences or paranoia seemed very much the opposite, the one thing I was desperate that they wouldn't be... the truth.  Gary was able to tell me everything that I was dealing with at that time, he mentioned the relationship that hadn't worked out, and things that I only knew myself... it really was as if he had jumped inside my mind and heart and picked out things, some of which I hadn't even realised I was thinking.  And at the end he just said, "God knows what you're going through and He wants you to know, He loves you."  I always thought this was a load of rubbish when I heard people say it.  But after the events of the day I wasn't shocked to find that I didn't stand there thinking- this guy is an airy fairy lovey christian, instead I stood there completely touched and moved at those words, "He loves you" and "He wants you to know that He loves you".  I guess after everything that had happened that day, the truth in those words seemed to far outweigh the explanation of extreme coinsidence and guess work.  

The next couple of weeks I went across to Ireland and my family also returned, I was still unsure and doubtful yet I couldn't stop thinking about it.  So the following week I went to the church for my second visit, this time I decided to go against all my fears, my reservations, my doubt and instead run with my heart...I raised my hand.

Its been about 8months since then, I can't say its all been easy and a piece of cake, but I can say its worth every minute!  Because of going to church and finding God, having faith, I got my life back on track, everything just seemed to focus and suddenly I not only didn't feel lost, but I knew exactly where I was.  I scrapped plans of not going to uni and travelling more, instead I was completely happy and content with heading up to huddersfield, and everything felt right again.  I said at the top of this blog, I wasn't someone who needed drastic change in my life, yet my life has changed a lot.  I'm still me and that won't ever change, but I'm filled with even more happiness, confidence, contentment and love- more than I could imagine.  Everyday is a new exciting journey with God, and the old me can't believe I'm saying that, but believe the new me it's true!!

God shows you the way when your lost, He knows exactly who you are inside and He loves you when other people might not.  He's close to the broken hearted-becuase sometimes thats the only way you can open up or look for the possibility that there is truth to Him and that He does love YOU.  So all that I would say to anyone reading this, is... just be open to the possibility that God could be the answer... take a small jump of faith, because you might just land on solid ground!

Choosing the right Path to follow..

We have to understand that we can't be an effective worker of God if we are struggling between the spirit and the flesh.. we have to walk with the spirit and walk in the reflection of Jesus.  God has a plan for every one of us, he has a Path he wants us to follow, but we often find it hard to choose the right path.  Sometimes it is difficult to determine what God wants us to do, we have a fear of doing the wrong thing because all we want to do is please him and we don't want to go off track ..so we begin to over-think the choices we've been given.  Sometimes we need to just let go of the doubts and fears, give up the fight and let God take over, because when we reach a challenging crossroad he will be there and he will point us down the right road.  Life is full of these turning points and decisions, it can be a lot like walking through a maze, we can find ourselves asking the constant question of where next?

Where next? With barriers and paths leading in all directions a maze can be very difficult and frustrating to solve at times, but essentially there is a centre finishing point where there is complete satisfaction and reward for getting to the end.  That is what we have to remember, we are working our way through this maze but the end is the reward, so any dead-ends we hit, or wrong paths we walk down we have to keep heading for the same finish line.  And sometimes God will purposely lead us to a dead-end but he will always lead us back and open a new, better path for us to walk down.  If we could walk through the maze, through the barriers and straight to the finish it would be to easy!..Where would the satisfaction and reward be?

When the maze gets to difficult we sometimes have to stop and ask someone for help, and we can advise each other on which route to go down, but the only real person in the maze that can see the path you have to follow to get to the finish, is God.  Thats why its important to constantly be asking him to guide us, constantly seek advice and keep praying because he is the one who can get you there.  And he will answer you, for 'Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21)' so we just need to be sure that we are listening..

So pray for guidance and strength to follow the right paths we have to walk down, but also pray that God will help us listen to his voice as he gives us direction.

Proverbs 3:5-6

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.'

10 Prayers God will always say Yes to....

If you have time to watch and read this, it is such an inspirational video and will relate to everyone.
The song, by Casting Crowns is also amazing :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EV42LVJ3GM

No Rules...Just Jesus!

One of the things we get stereotyped for as christians is that we are another religion following a set of Rules and obeying orders...
The Law, otherwise known as the 10 commandments and other rules set out in the Old Testament, was given to people by God before Jesus arrived on earth.  These rules were put to us to act as guidelines, to childmind us and show us God's standards of how we lead our lives.  The Law shows us what our sins are and the temptations we should not fall to.  But the Law has flaws, nobody on earth is perfect and to follow all these standards to the full without a single sin is virtually impossible.
Those people who followed the Law with such strong dedication were so focused on living by these guidelines that they didn't stop to think why they were following them and what the reason was that God wanted us to live in this way.  The Law was in charge...until Jesus came.
Jesus showed us the reasons for these rules, he was the perfect person without sin, but he showed the love and compassion behind the Law God had set.  'Christ redeemed us from living the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13).  He gave us FAITH, with faith we have been set free from the supervision of the Law, we no longer need to dedicate our lives to following strict rules.  Jesus provided us with forgiveness of our sins and through him we can get to God, we can live eternally, we are FREE.  Because of Jesus God blessed us with the Holy Spirit.  He lives within us, He guides us to the right ways to live, He shows us the paths to follow, He directs us away from sin.  Through Jesus the Law was given meaning and complete love for God, we are no longer childminded by the Law but instead we become Children Of God.

Galatians 3:5 and 3:11
'Does God give you his spirit and work miracles amoung you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?'
'Clearly no-one is justified before God by the law, because, "the righteous will live by faith"