Tag: temptation

~ New Growth ~ Nature's Inspiration ~

A few years ago I discovered Prayer Walks, which are basically a Peaceful, Quiet Walk with the Intention of being Open to Whatever God would like to Communicate to You whilst you walk.  

I decided to give it a try whilst walking around our Tree Collection in our garden. (My Wife and I collect Tree saplings from Inspiring Places, and we're Growing them with a vision to Plant a Peaceful Pinetum). 

Before I started my Prayer Walk, I said a short Prayer to God and asked Him to please 'Open my Eyes' and my 'Whole Being' to take in whatever ' He' would like to Communicate to me. 
Then I 'Cleared my Mind' and Quietly Walked around our Tree Collection with Complete Openness to God.

 As I walked around God gave me this Wonderful & Inspiring message.

~ The Trees in our collection had spent the past few months Absorbing as much Nutrients as they could from the soil ready for their New Growth.
 (It was Springtime as I did the Prayer Walk).

They've been Nourished & Watered through their Amazing Root System, 
'Now it's their Time to Grow'.

Gods message to me was that it's the same with All of us.

We have All been Absorbing Gods Wonderful Nourishment in many different ways throughout our Lives.

We've All been Nourished with Gods Wisdom, Encouragement, Support, Creative Opportunities, Teachings and Lots of His Love and Care. 

  We have All been Absorbing this Wonderful, Life Giving, Powerful and Loving Nourishment through our Amazing Root System of our Minds, Hearts and Souls.
Now its Our Time for 'New Growth'.

Just as the Trees have Stored up their Nourishment ready to Bloom into Action, 'Now' its Our time to put All our Nourishment into Action. 

My Wife and I are always Fascinated at seeing how the Trees in our collection Grow in 'Different Ways' and at 'Different Times' and 'Stages'.

Some of them start as Tiny Buds that get Bigger and Bigger until they Burst out of their protective shell to reveal their Beautiful and Intricate Pines.

Some of them Very Gently send New Growth on the end of their existing foliage, which is not always noticeable, but it's Still New Growth and Very Beautiful.

Some Trees only Grow by a few cm, yet others Grow a lot more.
One of our Trees shot up by 2 foot within a few months. 

Some are Early Growers and some Grow later in the year.

But No matter How they Grow, they are All Beautiful, Unique and 
Very Special to us. We Love them All.

That's how God Sees All of us.

We're All Unique, All at Different Stages,

 but He Loves Each One of us 'Individually',

 and we are All Very Special to Him.

~ Connect with a Creative God through Nature ~

God has Created many Beautiful & Inspiring things in Nature, and they can Help us to Connect with Him.

Think about the many types of Flowers and the Wonderful variety of Colours and Shapes.

Think how Creative God is to Design the Beautiful Patterns of a Butterfly.

There is a Huge variety of Tree's, all with different Shapes, Sizes and Colours, God Created every one of them.
Look at the Beautiful Patterns and Intricate Details of a single leaf.

My Wife and I Believe that God Created Nature in such a Beautiful way so that we can All Enjoy it.
Take time to 'Look Around' and Really 'Experience' the Amazing and Beautiful Nature that God has Blessed us with.

There are Billions of Tree's in the world, yet none of them are identical. Every Tree Grows slightly different so that each one is Unique. 

That's the same with people, God Created us All to be Unique.

God is a Creative God and because He made us in 'His own Image', that means we are Creative as well.
Every one of us has got our own 'Unique Creative Talents' that God has Blessed us with and we can use them 'Creatively' to Help Spread Gods Love.

We feel Closest to God when we're surrounded by Beautiful Nature.
We feel more Peaceful and Relaxed when we're away from all the noise and distraction of modern life.

We can 'Connect Better With God' when we're surrounded by Nature.
We Believe this is because God Created us All to be part of Nature.

God made Adam & Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden Surrounded by Tree's, Flowers and all of His Beautiful Nature.   

God Knew what He was doing when He Surrounded them with Nature, and He did it for a reason.
When you spend time In Nature With God, you Understand why.

A Great way to Grow in your Faith is to 'Get Back To Nature'.

Trees are Very Inspiring and we can all Learn a Lot from them.
How does a tiny Tree Saplings Grow and become so Tall and Strong ?

Well they need to do 3 Very Important things:

1. They need to develop a Good Strong Root System.
 ~ And that's the same for us all. To Grow in our Faith we need to 
develop a Good Strong Root System by forming a Close Relationship with Jesus, Deeply Rooted in Gods Love.

2. The Trees need to Absorb as much Nutrients as they can from the soil.
 ~ We need to Absorb all the Nutrients we can from God. We can do this by Reading the Bible, Praying, and Spending time With God in Nature.
The more Nutrients you Absorb, the more you will Grow.

3. The Trees need to Reach up to the sky and spread out their Branches & Leaves to Absorb as much sunlight as they can.
 ~ We need to Reach up to God with our Arm's Open Wide in Complete Trust, ready to Receive the Warmth of His Amazing and Wonderful Love.

You are One of God's Beautiful Creations.

Connect with God in Nature,
and Grow into the Wonderful Person He Created You to Be.

~ Let Your Gift Glorify God ~

God has given us All a Gift that is Unique & Individual to each one of us.
That Gift might be a Talent, a Skill, an Idea, a Passion for a Good Cause etc.

Some peoples Gifts might seem big while others might seem small, but the Truth is that to God they are All Equally Important.

Over the years my Wife & I have been Very Inspired by different people who have used their Gifts to 'Give Glory' to God.   Here are a few of them:

~ The great artist Bob Ross used his Gift of 'Teaching How To Paint' to Inspire people to See & Enjoy the Beauty that God has Created in Nature. He also used his Gift to Encourage people to Believe in themselves and in what they are capable of Achieving.
His Calming TV Painting program Inspired Millions of people with his Happy & Positive Attitude, which is how God Created us All to Live.

~ Wintley Phipps uses the Gift of his Truly Beautiful Singing voice to Glorify God (and Only God). His Steadfast Faith strengthened him to devote his Entire singing career to songs that Give Glory to God, even when he had Many offers & opportunities to sings in 'worldly' music.
By saying No to the 'world' and Yes to God, Wintley has led Millions of people to God through his singing, and Filled their Ears & Souls with Joy.

~ A Wonderful Lady called Jean that we were Blessed with being friends with used her Gift of 'Love & Care' for people to Glorify God. 
She was part of a Luncheon Club that provided a monthly meal & get together for a Residential Home. Jean would bake Delicious cakes & biscuits for the people to Enjoy and she would give Fun & Inspiring talks and sing songs with the people, all based around God's Wonderful Love & Care.
At the age of 80 Jean had cancer yet she Continued to Give her Love & Care to others. Even when she was in a lot of pain & discomfort she was more concerned about other people.
Jean was a True Inspiration of God's Love & Care and she will be Forever Singing with the Angels in Heaven and giving Glory to God. 

These are just a few of the Many people who have Inspired us by letting their Gifts Glorify God.

We All have Gifts from God. 
These might be ~ Creativity, Singing, Writing, the Gift of Listening, Caring for people, Art, a Passion for Nature, Poetry, it might be a Gift of Baking, Inspiring Talks, Being their for people, Helping people to relax etc, etc.

There are Many different forms of Gifts that God Gives to us.

Whatever ' Your' Gift is, use it in a Positive Way to Give Glory to God. Whether Your Gift is big or small, it's Very Important to God and He will Truly Appreciate it when You use Your Gift for God.

If You use Your Gift to Lead someone to God and help 'Save a Soul',
then You will have Achieved More than All of the 
'accomplishments' of 'worldly' people put together.

God gave ' You'  Your Personal Gift for a reason.

Let Your Gift Glorify God.

~ Blessing ~

May Your Heart, Mind and Soul 

be Blessed with God's

 Peace that Goes Beyond Understanding,

Pure Everlasting Love that Never fails,

And Exceedingly Great Joy

as 'You Journey with Jesus'

~ Breakfast ~

Breakfast literally means the 'First Meal of the Day'.
The  word Breakfast explains itself perfectly – the First thing you eat is 'Breaking' the 'Fast' that your body has been in whilst you sleep.

There are 2 types of Breakfast that we all have.

The most obvious one is 'The Food we Eat'. 
I Enjoy a nice bowl of Porridge with a good handful of Raisins, a spoonful of Peanut Butter and a selection of Seeds such as Sunflower, Flax, Hemp and Sesame, all topped with a drizzle of Honey. All 100% Organic & Natural.

This Breakfast is full of Good Nutrients to set my body up for a Good Day. Because there are No 'Artificial Chemicals' or 'Junk' in it, then my body is Not being Polluted with things God did Not intend to be In our bodies.

By simply eating a Good Nutritious Breakfast I'm giving my body the Best Start to the day, and therefore the Best opportunity to Function how God 'Intended' it to Function. 

The other type of Breakfast that we all have is one that's often overlooked.
That is the 'First' things we 'Feed our Minds' at the Beginning of each day.

This includes a number of things such as what we 'Watch', 'Listen To', 'Read', what we 'Say' and 'Who' we talk with, and very Importantly what we 'Think'. All these are what we 'Feed our Minds' with at the Start of each day.

Many people turn the TV on to Watch 'The News'. Their Minds are Bombarded with Negative stories and 'doom & gloom' that the news reporters Dramatise to make it sound even worse than it is.

Many people Feed their Minds a Breakfast of 'Social Media', and their Minds are Polluted with 'Gossip', 'Childish Name Calling', 'Fakeness', 'Deceit',
'Lies and Manipulation'.

The Radio Pollutes peoples Minds with a concoction of sounds that our ears were Not designed to listen to, along with Strategically planed cunning Adverts to trick people into buying things they don't even want. 

Some people 'Check their emails' for Breakfast and Overload their Minds with 'Things To Do' before their Minds have even had chance to warm up.

And one of the most Dangerous types of Breakfast that people Pollute their Minds with is 'Their Own Negative Thoughts'. Dwelling on the past, Holding grudges, Plotting revenge, Worrying, Assuming the worst and Not Believing in themselves as the Wonderful Person God Created them to be. 

All of the above Artificial Worldly Rubbish will 'Pollute Your Mind' before your day has even Started. It will 'Set You Up' for a bad day. You'll be more prone to making mistakes, Your Mind will be less receptive to Helpful Advice, and it will make you more likely to lack in concentration. 

Non of this is how God Created You to be.

I prefer to spend Quiet Time with God saying a Prayer of Thankfulness when I wake up. 
The TV, Radio, Internet, Emails, Phone etc are Not a Priority for me, and they're often not even second, third, forth etc in my Priorities. There's Much Better and more Interesting things I prefer to 'Think' about and 'Do'.
I Read God's Wonderful and Nourishing Word in the Bible whilst eating my Breakfast. Then I sit Quietly and Relax for a while to give my body chance to Adsorb my 'Food Breakfast' and my Mind a chance to Adsorb the Breakfast I've just 'Fed my Mind'. 
By spending Quality Quiet Time with God when I First wake up and the First things I Do & Think about, then it 'Sets me up' for a Day with my Body & Mind Ready & Prepared to Function in the Best Possible Way ~ God's Way.

Feed 'Your Mind' with a Positive Breakfast. 

You Don't Need to know the 'TV News'. 
~ You 'Do' Need to know the 'Good News' of Jesus.

You Don't Need 'Social Media Gossip'. 
~ You 'Do' Need a Loving Relationship with God's Wonderful Son.

If you like listening to Music, then Treat Your Ears & Mind to a Breakfast of Inspiring & Uplifting music by Godly people.

Let Your smart Phone have a 'lie in', so Your Mind is Not Overloaded with a Polluted Breakfast of emails, texts and internet Junk.

And the Best Way to Stop your Own 'negative thoughts' from entering Your Mind, is to keep Your Mind 'Focused' on the Most Important thought of all, that is that 'God Loves You'.

God wants You to Enjoy a Wonderful Relationship in Your Mind with His Loving Son Jesus Christ.

Feed Your Mind a Healthy Positive Breakfast of God's Truth & Love. 

It will 'Set you up' for a Great Day where Your Mind can 
'Function at it's Best', just how God Intended it to.

The Greatest Breakfast of all is 'God's Love for You'. 

~ Preparing Your Time ~

Time management is not something that I'm good at , I usually end up running late for things.

Something I have learned that helps me with timing is to 'Prepare' my time. 

This involves a simple bit of planning ahead.

If you think about a chef making a top class meal in a restaurant. 
They prepare in advance the ingredients to go into the meal so that when the customer orders something, the chef has everything ready that they need so they can put it all together in an efficient way. 

If the chef waited until the order came in before they started even peeling the veg etc, then it would take a lot longer and would probably be a rushed job to get the meal made, resulting in the end product not being as good as what it could have been.

When you 'Prepare' your time in advance, you usually end up with more time to do whatever it is you are doing and you can be more relaxed. 
This helps reduce your stress levels and become more efficient. 
And then the end result of whatever you are doing will be a Lot Better.

By just taking a little time to plan ahead you can 
improve your lifestyle and also Enjoy your time a lot more. 

Prepare Your Time, so You can Enjoy Your Time.

~ A Full Loaf ~

My Wife and I have been making our own Home Made Bread for many years. We've made it By Hand and we've also been Blessed with a bread machine, which makes it a lot easier to make.

We use Wholemeal flour and 100% Organic Ingredients, (just how God Intended food to be). ~ The Bread tastes Delicious.

We always set the machine on the Largest Loaf size, and we still find it Fascinating how the dough Rises into Double its size.

Last year during the summer we put the ingredients in the machine and turned it on large size as usual.
When we came to take it out, it was only half the size it usually is.

We tried making another loaf on a different setting in case the machine was faulty, but it did the same.

We tested the dried yeast by leaving some in warm water, and it it produced bubbles so we thought it can't be the yeast.

We adjusted the quantities to see if that worked, but still only half a loaf.

We used a different bag of flour, but still the same. 

We tried all sorts of things but it just kept coming out as half a loaf.

After Many weeks of eating Dumpy loaves of bread, we tried some New yeast. 

We used the Original Recipe and set the machine on Large loaf size.

The dough Rose so much that it Rose above the bread tin and touched the top of the machine.

By using New yeast, the bread not only Rose to a Full size, it Overflowed.

We discovered that the old yeast had got too hot in the cupboard during the summer and it killed some of the yeast.

There was enough Life in the yeast to produce some bubbles in the water, but not enough to make the bread Rise. 

~  ~  ~

If you feel Your Life is only Half Full, or if You're merely existing on a Dumpy Lifestyle, or maybe Your Life isn't Rising like you had Hoped, then there is One Vital ingredient that You Need to Renew ~ Your Spirit.

Your Spirit is the Life Source of Your entire being.

There might be just enough Life in Your Spirit to produce some bubbles, but if You want to Enjoy a Full Life then there is only 'One Way'.

Renew Your Spirit with the True Source of Life ~ Jesus Christ.

The Bible verse (John 10:10), Jesus said 
“I have come to Give You Life, and Life to the Full”.

Only Jesus can make Your Spirit Rise so much that it Overflows.

Pray this simple yet Powerful Prayer.

“Lord Jesus, Renew my Spirit,
so that I can Live a Full Life with You,
Amen”.

~ Enjoy a Great Week ~

Here's how to Enjoy a Great week.

~ Avoid Moaning, and your Mondays will be Marvellous..

~ Resist the devils Temptations, and your Tuesdays will be Tremendous.

~ Stay Away from Wickedness, and your Wednesdays will be Wonderful.

~ Turn Off the TV, and your Thursdays will be Terrific

~ Don't be Frantic, and your Fridays will be Fantastic.

~ Switch off Social Media, and your Saturdays will be Sensational.

~ Spend Quiet, Quality & Specific Time with God, and your Sundays 
    will be Sanctified and Soulful.


When You put these Together in Your Life,

You Will 

Enjoy a Great Week.

~ God's Masterpiece ~

There was two men walking through a forest and one of them was a Wood Carver. As they looked at all the Beautiful Trees, they spoke to each other about how God had Created the Trees so Wonderfully and about all the Amazing things that Trees do. 

They were Inspired by God's Wonderful Creations.

Then they noticed a 'Fallen Tree' lying on the floor. It had clearly been there a Long Time and had died.

The man said to the Wood Carver: 
“What a shame it is that this Tree is no longer doing the 
Amazing things that God Created it to do.”

The Wood Carver looked at the 'Fallen Tree' and without hesitation said:
“I see a Masterpiece.”

He Immediately got to work turning the 'Fallen Tree' into the Wonderful Vision that he had for it.

He 'Pruned Off' the Dead Branches, 'Stripped Away' the Decaying Bark and started to Shape the Inner Core.

He 'Chipped Away' all the parts that were 'Not Needed', and 'Smoothed Off'  the Rough Edges.

Once the Shape started to emerge, he started to 'Refine' it into Detailed Crisp & Clear Beauty until the Vision he had for it was Fully Revealed. 

The Masterpiece had been Created.

Everyone who saw the New Creation was Inspired by the fact that such a Beautiful & Wonderful Masterpiece was made from a 'Fallen Tree'.

The Tree once again became a Very Important part of the Forest.

~  ~  ~

If You are feeling that You have 'Fallen' from the Wonderful Creation that God 'Originally' Created You to Be, then simply let God turn You into the Masterpiece that ' He Sees ' in You.

~ There might be some parts of Your Life that needs 'Pruning' and 'Stripping Away.'
~ There might be a few 'Rough Edges' that God needs to Smooth Off.
~ And when the things that are 'Not Needed' in your Life have been 'Chipped Away' then God can 'Refine' Your 'Inner Core' to reveal the Glorious Masterpiece in You.

Then You will become a Wonderful Inspiration to others, 
and a Very Important part of God's Kingdom.

Allow the Master Creator to do 'His Work' in Your Life,
and You will become

God's Masterpiece.

~ Simply Be Who God Created You To Be ~

   God Created You a Specific Way for a Purpose.

Some people Loose Sight of 'Who They Really Are'.

 Here's a story that Illustrates the Importance of Not just 'Fitting In' with other people and 'Copying' them, but Being 'Who God Originally Created You To Be'.

~   ~   ~

   There was a farm that was near a Beautiful Forest and some Mighty Mountains.
The farmer kept Chickens in the farmyard and one day he found an Eagles Egg in the Chickens nest. Nobody knew how it got there but the farmer didn't want the Eagle to perish so he left it with the Chickens so it could hatch.

The Chickens eggs hatched and after a while they started to do what Chickens do, they were running around the farmyard and pecking at things.

The Eagle hatched (named Ernie) and seeing the Chickens all around him he just 'Assumed' that he was supposed to do the same thing, so he started running around pecking at things.

Every day he did the 'Same Thing'. He hadn't seen anything else other than the Chickens Way of Living, so he Thought that must be 'What Life is All About'.

After a while though Ernie became Very Unhappy. 
His Instinct told him there was Something Missing in his life, but he didn't know what it was. As he looked around all he saw was the Farmyard and Chickens.

He had a Feeling there was 'Something More' for his Life than this. 
But as he didn't know what it was he just kept Copying the Chickens.

Ernie tried to 'Fit In' with the Chickens but no matter what he did, his Instinct kept telling him there was 'Something Better' for him.

    Then one day he looked up and saw an Amazing Bird Flying High in the Sky. 

 It circled overhead and Swooped Up and Down with Amazing Speed and Agility.
 'It was an Eagle'.

The Eagle Soared High on it's Wings, and flew far into the distance heading towards the Beautiful Mountains.

 As Ernie looked up from the farmyard he thought:
'Wow, I wish I was Free like that'.

Then he heard the Chickens calling and went back to his daily routine of running around and pecking at things.

The next day he saw the Eagle Flying over the farm and land in a field near by. 
He noticed that the Eagles Wings looked Very Similar to his Own Wings. 
After a while the Eagle Spread out his wings and with a Powerful Thrust took off into the Sky. Flying High the Eagle headed towards the Glow of a Beautiful Sunset.

 Ernie looked at his wings and a Burst of Enthusiasm Rose within him. He thought:
 'Could I be an Eagle' ?
Was I Created to be Flying High in the Sky and not just running around here ?

 That night he spent some Quiet Time by 'Himself' and he thought Long and Hard about 'Who He Is'. 
He 'Searched Deep Within His Soul'.

 He 'Imagined' himself Flying High over the Mighty Mountains and landing in the Branches of a Beautiful Pine Tree.
It Filled Him with Excitement and Enthusiasm.

Ernie Wondered How he will Know if he's actually an Eagle. How will he know the 'Truth' about 'Who He Is'.  Will he ever know if he can Fly.

 He decided: 
'The Only Way to Find Out is to Try'.

   As the Sun rose the next day Ernie looked up into the Sky with a New Sense of Excitement.  He thought about all the Places he could go to and all the things he could see if he could Fly.

As he looked around the farmyard at all the Chickens pecking away, he thought to himself:
'I was Created to Fly'.

 He Stretched Out his Wings and Started Flapping them. 
Not much seemed to happen at first, but his Excitement about all the Possibilities that lay Ahead of him gave him the Strength to Keep Trying.

 He took a Gentle Run, Spread Out his Wings and Flapped them with All His Strength.
'With his head Held High, he Flew Up Into The Sky'.
WOW, He was Flying.
 He felt a Sense of Freedom like Never Before.

As he looked down he saw the Tiny farmyard where he had spent so much of his life. Then he looked around and saw Lakes & Forests, Mountains & Valleys.
 It Filled his Heart with Joy.

He was Amazed at what he could Achieve with His Wonderful Wings High Up in the Sky.
He spent All day Enjoying His Natural Ability to Fly and he found a New Sense of Purpose for his Life.
 Then he looked towards the Horizon and saw the Sun Setting over the 
Mighty Mountains with the Beautiful Pine Trees Glowing in the Sun.

 Now he knew 'Who He was Created To Be', 
and he could Look Forward to a Wonderful Life Full of 
New Possibilities and Exciting Adventures.

 He Became Free by 
Simply Being Who God Created Him To Be.