Tag: Bible

~ A Story of Two Trees. ~

Here's a story I wrote about two Pine Trees who lived next to each other in a forest. 
One tree was Good, he was Nice and Kind and Always tried to help others. 
If any other tree had something wrong he'd send his Own Nutrients to Help the other trees get Better.

Now the other tree was bad, he followed worldly ways of living.
He was selfish, stubborn and arrogant. He wanted All the Nutrients for himself and didn't care about Anyone else.

One day the wind started to blow and the rain fell heavily.
The bad tree started moaning saying “I don't like this bad weather 
it's horrible, wind and rain, blowing us here and there”,
he went on and on, moan, moan, moan.
The Good tree said “This isn't 'bad weather' the rain waters our roots so we can Grow and the wind blows us to Strengthen our trunks and branches”.

As the wind and rain got stronger the Good tree stood there bending and swaying with the wind. He Enjoyed the Refreshing rain tickling his branches.
He was Enjoying dancing to the 'Rhythms of Nature'.

However the bad tree stood there stubbornly saying “I'm not moving, 
I'm getting wet and I don't like it'” 

Suddenly a Big gust of wind blew and with a Mighty Crack the bad tree fell to the ground, his trunk had Completely Snapped.

The Good tree blew in all directions with the wind.
A few of his dead branches blew off in the strong gusts, but the Good tree was Grateful as he needed to get rid of those branches.

When the storm had passed the Good tree stood still 
all Refreshed from the Lovely rain.

All that was left of the bad tree was a broken stump.
 
He had perished in the storm, 
his stubbornness didn't allow him to be flexible. 
The sad thing is, even when he was alive he was still dead as following worldly ways doesn't bring life.

However the Good tree was Full of Life 
because he knew where Life Truly comes from.
 
He greeted the storm with open branches
 as he knew God his Creator would Strengthen him 
and Protect him through Any storm.

~ Give God Your Best. (Part 5~Listening) ~

Listening is a Very Important part of how You Learn & Grow.

What You Listen to effects how You Think.
How You Think effects how You Behave.

The devil wants You to Listen to Negative Junk that the 'world' Talks about. 

But 'You' Don't have to Listen to it. 
God has Blessed You with Freedom of Choice, which means it's 'Your' Choice what You Listen to.

Worldly people will try to make You Think You're 'Missing Out' on something if You don't Listen to certain things like the News, social media, celebrity gossip, worldly music and the latest trends etc.

But It's a Trick.

The devil wants You to Listen to it, because that's where a Lot of his Followers are doing their Talking.

Switch It Off. Don't let is Corrupt You.

You're Worth More Than That.


Instead Listen to God. He's trying to Communicate with You.

If You feel You can't hear God Communicating to You, it's probably because You're Listening to the wrong things.

My Wife & I 'Wasted' years of our Lives Listening to 'worldly' Junk, and we 'Missed Out' on All the Loving & Wonderful things that God was trying to Communicate to us.

We couldn't hear the 'Still Small Voice of God' because we 'Chose' to Listen to the 'world'. We 'Missed Out' on what is Really Important & Meaningful.

But we No longer Waste our Time 'Listening' to the the 'world', and we've been Truly Amazed by what we can Now hear from God.

It's not a Sound that we hear in our ears, it's Something that comes from Deep Within. Sometimes it's like a Voice Inside. Sometimes it's a Deep Knowing.

The best way I can describe it is that it's like being Truly in Love with someone.
I can't put into words 'How' I know for Certain that I Truly Love my Wife, 
I just Simply Know it.
That's how it is when I hear from God. It's beyond words, I just Simply Know it's from God.

This only comes from being Completely Open to God so that I'm Receptive to Him when He Communicates to me.
It's by being 100% Faithful & Committed to God and 'Only' God.
I Don't want the 'world' anymore, or the 'worlds ways'.
I Only want God, and God's Ways.

Through this Way of being, God has Revealed things to me Personally that I could Never have known by Listening to the 'world'.

There are no words that are good enough to explain the Wonderful feeling it gives me to be able to hear from the Creator of the Universe. 
It's Simply beyond Anything I could ever have Imagined when I used to Listen to the 'world'.

And it's Available to You.

Simply Choose God over the 'world'.

You'll be Truly Amazed at what God will Reveal to You when You are Genuinely Open and Receptive to God, and 'Only' God.

He will Communicate to You in many Wonderful Ways.
'Be Open to them'.

If You think You can't hear from God, then You've been Misled.

If You're Capable of Listening to the Lies & Corruption that the 'world' tells You through it's Many Deceiving ways, and You Chose to Believe it, then You are Certainly Capable of Listening to the Truth that God is trying to Communicate to You, and You Can Chose to Believe it.

Simply be Open to God, like a Flower Opens to the Sun and is Receptive to the Wonderful Power that's transmitted through the air in Unseen Ways, to give Life to the Flower.

Give God Your Best Listening, and be Receptive to the Warmth of His Love, that Gives Wonderful Power to Your Life.

' YOU' are Worth far More than what the 'world' can give You.

Let God Nourish Your Soul.

Let Him 'Set You Free' from the Traps of the 'world'.

And Let God Reveal to You 
the Wonderful and Marvelous Person 
that He Originally Created in ' YOU'.

~ Give God Your Best. (Part 4~Talking) ~

God Blessed You with a Mouth to Talk, and a Mind to Think for Yourself what to Say. 
Let them work Together in Harmony for God's Glory.

'Worldly' people Talk a load of Nonsense. They Dramatise things, Over exaggerate, they Talk Doom & Gloom, Misery & Negative Rubbish.

Yet Non of it comes 'From' God. 
Non of it is 'For' God. 
And Non of it Leads people 'To' God.

And that's exactly why 'worldly' people do it.
The devil has his 'Followers' in the 'world' as 'worldly' people. And the devil uses his Followers to  try to Turn other people Away from God.

The Bible makes it clear that the Tongue is a Powerful Weapon. 
It can be used to Build Up, or to destroy. And the devil knows it.

So he uses his Followers to Talk 'destroying' words.

Then he uses his 'Trickery' to make it 'Seem' like it's ok to Say those things.
He 'Deceives' people into Thinking it's Funny to 'put people down' and call them 'nasty names'. 
The devil 'Tricks' people into Thinking it makes them feel good to 'moan and complain', to go in a rage, and to gossip about people.

But if You're Honest, You know that Non of that makes You feel Good. 
It just makes You feel Miserable. And that's the devils Plan.
He wants You and Everybody else to be 'depressed'. 

Simple Solution. Don't Do It.

Don't Talk 'Negative Nonsense'.

You Don't need to 'Repeat' the Junk that the' world' speaks.

'The words of the world, can Stop at You'.

Avoid Talking Doom & Gloom. Don't Exaggerate situations. And Don't Dramatise things.

Don't be like the 'world' by calling people nasty names and putting them down. Stay Firmly away from gossiping about people and spreading lies.
And Don't moan or complain.

Make a Clear & Firm Decision in Your Mind Not to be a Part of the devils Plan of Talking 'worldly Junk'

Instead Talk the Truth. 
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Talk in the Wonderful Ways of Jesus.

Speak Positive & Inspiring words.

Encourage people, and Talk about Happy things.

Talk about the Loving Lifestyle of Jesus.

The 'Joy of Jesus' is an Everlasting Fountain that Never runs dry.

Which means there's Always Something Good to Talk about.

Give God Your Best Talking.

~ Give God Your Best. (Part 3~Thinking) ~

Most people don't give much 'Thought' to their 'Thinking'.

A Lot of people don't even realise what they're 'Thinking' about most of the time, and they end up Thinking things they Don't even want to Think.

If You take Notice of  Your 'Thoughts', most people will realise that the Majority of their 'Thoughts' don't include God.

Far to many people spend Most of their time 'Thinking' things that other people have 'Told' them to Think.

The 'world' Tells You to Think this, Think that, Think the other. 
They Bombard You with Thousands of things to Think about, but Non of them include God.

The 'worlds way' Tells You to Think negative, doubtful Thoughts, they Tell You to put Yourself down so that you will look up to them, they Tell You to Think that You're a nobody and they're a somebody. (It's all Lies).

The 'world' Tells You to Think about revenge and to hold grudges, 'the world/society' Tells You to Think about the past and to dwell in it, they Tell You to 'Go Over' in Your Mind hurtful things that other people have done, and the 'world' Tells You to Think that You 'need them' to Achieve anything and to be Happy. (It's All Lies).   

All this is a Cunning Trick by the devil to keep 'Your Mind' away from God.

Be Careful what You Think, because it could be a Trap.

You Don't need the world, You Only Need God.

The Best way to avoid being Tricked & Deceived is to 
'Give God Your Best Thinking'.

There are Plenty of Great and Wonderful things that You can Think about by Putting God First.
And these will Fill Your Mind with Peace, Love and Joy, which the 'worlds way' of Thinking Can Never Give You.

God's Way of Thinking will Give You a Sense of Worth, Self Belief, and Inner Confidence. It will Fill You with True Happiness and Motivate You to Achieve Great things for God. And it will Help You become the person who God Originally Created You to be.

If You find that Your Mind is full of 'worldly Junk', you Don't need to try to Fill your Mind with other Thoughts to get rid of it. That is the 'worlds' way of dealing with it and all it does is Clutters up Your Mind with Thousands of Things, and usually leads to Stress.

The Truth is, Thinking 'Nothing' is far Better than Thinking 'worldly Junk'.

God Gave You Your Mind, and the Ability to Think For Yourself. 
He didn't Create You to Think what others Tell You to Think.

God Created You as a Unique Individual ~ Think that way.

The things You Think about is one area of Your Life that 'You' and 
'Only You' have got 'Total Control' over.

Nobody can 'Make' You 'Think' Anything.

It's Entirely 'Your' Choice what 'You' Think about.

Take Responsibility for Your Own Thoughts.

Give God Your Best Thinking.

~ Give God Your Best. (Part 2~Enthusiasm) ~

People get Very Enthusiastic about things like sports, pop stars, celebrities, TV shows, getting drunk, gossip, the latest trends and many other 'worldly' things. Yet when it comes to God, they suddenly lose all their Enthusiasm.

Why does that happen ?

Because evil 'worldly' people have Corrupted other people with Deceiving Lies & Manipulation into thinking that God is boring.

Well if people choose to Believe that God is boring, then they obviously haven't spent Any time with Him.

From my own personal Experience of spending the first 24 years of my Life following the 'world' and doing 'worldly' things with 'worldly' people, compared to spending the next 20 years or so Following God & Jesus, I can Honestly say that even just one single minute spent With God is far More Exciting, Fun, Amazing & Enjoyable than an Entire Lifetime spent with the 'world'. 

God Created Joy.
Jesus Gives us 'Life to the Full'.

So don't let Anyone Deceive You into thinking God is boring, 
because He's Not.

Get Enthusiastic about God, and then You'll Truly understand what Life is Really about. 

Worldly people have also Deceived people into thinking God is very strict & bossy.

They've even made up Lies to make it seem like God is a dictator.

Well a 'dictator' by definition is someone who Forces their opinion onto someone and makes them feel that they have Not got any Choice but to do what they say.

That's Clearly NOT God's Way, because God has Lovingly Blessed us All with Freedom of Choice.

God has certainly got the Power to Make You do what He wants, but He Loves You so much that He Gives You 'Free Will'  (the Freedom to Choose).

Don't Believe the Lies by 'wicked worldly' people. They want to Turn You Away from God so that You will 'Do What They Say'.

Don't Fall into the Traps of the 'world'.

Instead, Ignore the 'worldly' Nonsense and Believe the Truth.
Jesus is “the Way the Truth and the Life”.

When You Believe the Truth about God,
Your Enthusiasm will Bubble up inside You
and Overflow like a Beautiful Fountain. 

Then You can Give God Your Best Enthusiasm.

~ Give God Your Best. (Part 1~Time) ~

The Best Way to Live Your Life is to 'Give God Your  Best' in Ever area of Your Life.
God Gives You His Best, so surely it's only Right that 
You Give God Your Best.

The next 5 writings will be based on Ways to Give God Your Best, starting with ' Your Time '.

Many people try to Squeeze God into their busy Time schedule, but the Truth is Your Time schedule should be based around God.
Without God You wouldn't have Any Time to do Anything.

Giving Your Best Time to God can be in many ways, such as, 
~ Praying.
~ Reading the Bible.
~ Doing something Good for God.
~ Guiding other people to the Joys of knowing God.
~ Spending Quiet Time with God.
~ And it can also be Not doing things that take Your Time away from God.

Some people say they've not got Time for God because they're too busy.
Well if You've got Time to watch TV, You've got Time for God.

Many people spend hours and hours on social media, and then say they haven't got Time for God.
Simple Solution ~ Stop 'Wasting' Time on social media Nonsense, and then You'll have Plenty of Time for God.

God is available to You Every moment of Every Day.
You don't need to wait till you go to bed to spend Time with God.

Spending an hour with God on a Sabbath morning doesn't mean You're Giving God Your Best Time. The Entire Sabbath Day is Gods Day.

Even if You spend a Day with God but then spend the rest of the week with the 'world', then that's certainly Not Giving God Your Best Time.

God should be at the Centre of Everything that You base Your Time around.

If while You're Giving Your Time to God, you find it's taking longer than You thought, then Everything & Everybody else should wait.
God should Never have Time Limits put on Him.

Avoid putting God into 'Time Slots', (eg. 5 mins of Prayer here, 10 mins of Bible reading there). 
If Your Life is so Hectic & Busy that You can only manage 5 or 10 mins with God, then You Need to make some Big Changes to Your Life. 

God doesn't give You Time Slots that He Squeezes You into and then spend the rest of His Time ignoring You. 
'God has Always got Time for You'.

Any Time of Any Day is the Right Time to spend With God.

Time with God should feel Completely Natural & Free.

Give God Your Best Time.

~ God Really Does Love You ~

One of the most well known Bible verses is (John 3:16) 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son'.

I've heard this said so many times that I have 'Very Wrongly' taken for granted the Huge Scale & Importance of God 'Giving' His Son to show us that He Loves us.

But while I was spending Quiet Time with God over Christmas time, I started thinking about just how much God Really Does Love us.

I looked for Bible verses that clearly say that God Loves us, and when I read (1 John 4:9) 'God showed how much he loves us by sending his one and only Son into the world', I suddenly realised what a Massive Task it was for God to actually 'Send' His Son.

It wasn't just a simple case of sending a box of chocolates through the post to tell someone you Love them, or sending a text with a love heart saying I Love You. This was the Biggest thing in the history of humankind.

Even though God's own Heart & Soul must have experienced Unimaginable Hurt & Pain when the Entire world had previously become evil in every way, and had turned their back on God, He still wanted to show us that He Loves us. WOW, that's Real Love.

When God decided to 'Send' His Son to show us that He Loves us, it required so much planning & organising that was so complex, that even the most advanced computer in the world would not be able to work it out.

Think about what God needed to Do just to actually 'Send' His Son,

~ First of all He needed to work out how to turn the Spirit form of Jesus into a Physical Human form, that is Entirely Human whilst still being Entirely the Son of God.
That in itself would have blown the circuit boards of Any computer trying to work it out.

~ Then He needed to find a Lady who Trusted God with Complete Faith & Belief , that she would be Willing to give birth to God's Son even though she didn't Understand How it could happen. 
She also needed to be Pure with No evil in her whatsoever, so that there would not be any conflict between Good and evil while Jesus was in her womb.

~ God then had the Huge task of finding Many people from different Places, different Backgrounds and different Ages, who would All put their Complete Trust in God, and be Willing to Change their 'Own Plans' so that they could Fulfil 'God's Plan'.

~ God Needed to find a man who was so Humble & Faithful to God, that he would Accept that he would not be the actual Father of Jesus, because he knew He had a Greater Father in Heaven.

~ God needed to find Shepherds who would Believe there was a far Better Shepherd than themselves.

~And God needed to find some of the Wisest Men in the world who would Humble themselves to Seek the One who is Wiser. 

These were just a few of the things that God needed to organise just for Jesus to actually be Born.

It's believed that the Nativity fulfilled over 350 Old Testament Prophesies. WOW, think about that. Things that had been Spoken about and Prophesied about Hundreds and maybe Thousands of years earlier, all took place when God 'Sent' His Son.

An examples is,
~ (Micah 5:2) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

 All of this was just the Beginning. 
30 years later God needed to find more people who were Willing to put their Trust & Belief in Jesus, so that God's Plan would be Achieved.

~ He needed to find 12 men who would leave Everything to Follow Jesus.
~ He needed to find men & women who would Turn from their sinful ways and Follow Jesus' Way.
~ And Many More things that God needed to Do for His Plan to be Fulfilled, to be able to show His Love for us.

Then after Everything that God had done to 'Send' His Son, He then Humbled Himself by sacrificing His Only Son on the Cross, so that He would take the place of 'Our Sins' so that He could Restore the broken Relationship between people and God.
That is Real Love.

Go did All that (and More) simply because He would like to Enjoy a Loving Relationship with You.

So if you ever feel that God doesn't Love You, think about the Amazing Huge scale of things that God did simply to 'Send' His Son.

The Birth of Jesus was the Beginning of all the 
Wonderful Ways that God Shows His Love for us. 
And He's got Many More Wonderful Ways
to keep showing us His Love,
because God's Love 'Keeps On Growing'.

God Really Does Love You.