A Dose of Encouragement centred around a fountain and Jesus.
I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship" Righteousness is the state of moral perfection God requires of us to be able to enter Heaven. The Ten Commandments show us how far we are from reaching this standard that God has set us. We know we could never keep all His laws completely. because He is SINLESS But we are SINFUL. So it would seem there is no way that we can enter Heaven. However God has a solution for our problem. Jesus is God and is also Righteous because He is Sinless. God has told us in the Bible that He will apply Christ's perfect righteousness to us imperfect human beings when we believe that Jesus is Lord and trust fully in Him. The only way that God cannot punish us for our sinfulness is if we have someone to be our substitute and take on our sin and punishment which is what Jesus has done for us on the cross. This is God's Plan of Salvation for all of us and it is a free Gift. We just need to accept that Jesus has stepped in to be our Saviour. So Salvation for us is not through anything we can do for ourselves but through the righteousness of Jesus. Christ's righteousness is accredited to us and makes us holy before God. I am thankful that there was a way for me to be acceptable to God because Jesus bore my sins on the cross and gave me His Righteousness. I am also thankful that my Father in Heaven is Righteous and can never be found at fault. Have you accepted this gift of Salvation through Jesus? Can you worship God because He is Righteous and has made you righteous?
I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship" Oh I have such a problem this week! There are just too many verses in the Bible that I want to share because today I'm thinking about how good God is. I will pick this one especially as I featured another one of them a few months ago in an earlier post Thankfulness, Goodness, Love. When we think about this we probably tend to compare the goodness we see in the acts of others toward us or toward other people, with the Goodness of God. But we really cannot do this as the goodness of God is perfection because He knows what is best for everyone and our goodness toward each other can never be perfect. Thankfully, because we learn from God then we can reflect some of His Goodness in the acts we do too. Thank you God! We see almost the identical sentiment spoken in Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good;His mercy is everlasting,And His truth endures to all generations. and we can all shout together
A Dose of Encouragement centred around a fountain and Jesus.
A Dose of Encouragement about what to do in our busy daily lives and to do lists.
One Sunday afternoon we went to visit Fred’s aunt in hospital. As we were sitting chatting Fred’s uncle nodded off to sleep for a few minutes, later that afternoon his dad nodded off sitting in our house and in the early evening Fred himself nodded off. Does it run in the family or what? Well I remember when my dad used to nod off on occasions too, so is it a “Man” thing? We usually laugh about it but sometimes I get annoyed at Fred because I don’t think I’m that boring really. The next morning when I sat down to read my bible, I found I had got to Psalm 121. Well because it’s rather well known I immediately thought I’ll read this one quickly and get on to the next one. However, verses 3 & 4 made me sit up and take notice. It says God will neither slumber nor sleep and I of course thought back to the day before. This was now much more meaningful because suddenly I felt that I had the proof that I’m not boring to God, He is always interested in what I’m doing and is always listening and attentive to my needs and fears and anything else I’m thinking about. We may sometimes think things are boring or uneventful or going on the same, day after day, but God doesn’t. He doesn't find us boring because He loves us. So remember that you, yes you are loved by God and you are so important to Him that He isn’t nodding off at any moment at all. I am so thankful that God doesn't slumber or sleep, are you? Have you read Psalm 121 recently? If not maybe you could just take a little moment to read it now and be encouraged.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
A Dose of Encouragement about a good kind of fear that we don't need to be afraid of.
Encouragement to thank and Praise God by considering 10 things including His Plan for Salvation in our Coffee & Conversation Series at Sandra's Ark.
A Dose of Encouragement around family memories and loving your children wisely.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
One Sunday afternoon we went to visit Fred’s aunt in hospital. As we were sitting chatting Fred’s uncle nodded off to sleep for a few minutes, later that afternoon his dad nodded off sitting in our house and in the early evening Fred himself nodded off. Does it run in the family or what? Well I remember when my dad used to nod off on occasions too, so is it a “Man” thing? We usually laugh about it but sometimes I get annoyed at Fred because I don’t think I’m that boring really. The next morning when I sat down to read my bible, I found I had got to Psalm 121. Well because it’s rather well known I immediately thought I’ll read this one quickly and get on to the next one. However, verses 3 & 4 made me sit up and take notice. It says God will neither slumber nor sleep and I of course thought back to the day before. This was now much more meaningful because suddenly I felt that I had the proof that I’m not boring to God, He is always interested in what I’m doing and is always listening and attentive to my needs and fears and anything else I’m thinking about. We may sometimes think things are boring or uneventful or going on the same, day after day, but God doesn’t. He doesn't find us boring because He loves us. So remember that you, yes you are loved by God and you are so important to Him that He isn’t nodding off at any moment at all. I am so thankful that God doesn't slumber or sleep, are you? Have you read Psalm 121 recently? If not maybe you could just take a little moment to read it now and be encouraged.
Pondering Psalm 98 about the hows and whys of our praise to God.
A Dose of Encouragement because none of us are perfect but we have to remember we cannot be perfect.
Last month I wrote about God bringing my attention to a special song to share about His Mercy in the post You're Not Guilty Anymore. Then last week I started this short series on looking at God's Mercy in more detail and covered the question What is Mercy? Today I would like to come back to look again at this subject and consider when God's Mercy is shown upon us. When Can I receive Mercy? On Salvation God is shows mercy to us as sinners and extends His mercy so deliberately at the point of Salvation. In fact isn't He so merciful that He wants to draw us to Salvation and has provided His perfect plan in Jesus to be our substitute at the cross. This is the obvious time in our lives for us to witness His mercy towards us and to understand partly what His mercy entails because suddenly we truly know we are being treated with Love and not rejection and death as we really deserve. From Creation Right from the start of mankind God’s mercy is shown. All the way through the Old Testament. All the way through the New Testament. His mercy was not just produced at the cross although it is His greatest sign of mercy. Mercy is an attribute of God so has always been part of Him, and always will be part of Him. For Evermore Every Day God is merciful to us every day at all times it does not stop at Salvation. This is the part that is hard for many Christians to fully understand, often we do not feel that God can possibly continue to show His mercy to us once He has Saved us. Even though we will read about it and sing about it and speak about it we still deep down do not accept that He is always a merciful God. It is one of His attributes and He doesn’t change so He is still merciful. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3 v 22-23 New Every Morning what a blessing! 1. Each day we can start afresh knowing that He is still merciful. 2. Can we even experience new different examples of His mercy on a daily basis? Yes God is infinite so His Ways are infinite Edith McNeil wrote the words of this song based on Lamentations 3 v 22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, They are new every morning, new every morning, Great is Thy faithfulness O Lord, Great is Thy faithfulness. She was leaving us with a great prompt to help us remember that God extends His mercy to us on a daily basis. Not only that but this song should be on our lips each morning as we rise to face the day with the new mercies He will extend in that new day. We need to accept His mercy that is given so freely to us and be thankful for it daily. Even when we do not feel worthy of it. He has not put any conditions on it. Let's be thankful for His Mercy even when we do not feel worthy of it. And the last & most important comment is Right Now Aren't we thankful for that! Enjoy this version of the song today and then go on to enjoy His Mercy. The Other Blog Posts in this mini Mercy Series are: What is Mercy Where, Why, Who of Mercy The How of Mercy
Encouragement about thankfulness, happiness and Love with the effects in our lives and the lives of others
A Dose of Encouragement around family memories and loving your children wisely.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
Pondering Psalm 98 about the hows and whys of our praise to God.
A Dose of Encouragement about a good kind of fear that we don't need to be afraid of.
A Coffee & Conversation post about laughter, being thankful about silly things and about our relationship with God.
Pondering Psalm 32 to see the way to going from ungodly to godly and praise and thankfulness.
This Sunday Series is all about God's Love. There will be a simple, short post each week consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of God's Love and I would be very pleased if you would join me each Sunday. (Just go to the sidebar if you would like to sign up for an email reminder of my posts.) As the Children of God we have a lot to be thankful for. One of the specific things to be thankful for is God's Love Steadfast Dependable Faithful Unmoving Unchanging Unfailing is the Love of God So as the verse says Let's GIVE THANKS
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
A brief look at true happiness and joy - what it is and where it comes from at Sandra's Ark
A Coffee & Conversation post about laughter, being thankful about silly things and about our relationship with God.
The first thing I thought as I wrote the title for today's post was "okay that will probably put some people off reading this post" But I really hope that it would do the opposite and entice people in because what is better to write about than something which makes you say "Thank you God" It all started with me wanting to do this online graphics course and with all that I had learned so far I decided it was time to create a unique picture for my Facebook Timeline. So that was my little project yesterday. I had already found a nice picture free to use by anyone from a site called Pixabay a few days ago and had downloaded it to my computer knowing I would use it for something. So today I thought of it and set to work to resize it to be the right size for a timeline pic and crop it to get rid of a piece I didn't want in it. Then I had to think what I wanted to write on it and where to put this text etc. Well looking at the picture just one thing came to mind and so I proceeded to finish my creation which you can see below. To me it was obvious with the rainbow reminding me of the promises of God and His love, that the only thing I could write was "Thank you God" What do you think of when you see a rainbow? Maybe it's because I collect things to do with arks (if you don't believe me see I Love Arks). Maybe it's because I have led children's meetings for many years and we would often sing the song "Mr Noah built an Ark" which has as the end of the chorus the words "So whenever you see a rainbow, remember God is Love" Or Maybe it's because I believe the Bible story of Noah and the Ark with the rainbow as a sign of God's promise to the world. But whenever I see a rainbow I see the beautiful creation of God and know that He loves me and I believe that He keeps His promises. And there in that alone I have 3 reasons why I say "Thank you God"
The other day I saw a kindle ebook titled "In Pursuit" advertised for Free. Now I will always give an ebook a second glance if it is free but sometimes on my iPad the picture of the book is quite small so as this was the case I enlarged the picture and then ended up laughing out loud (no one heard me as Fred was resting in front of the TV in the lounge after having a tooth extracted and I was in my study). Why did I laugh? Because I could not believe the tagline of the ebook "Devotions for the Hunter & Fisherman" Now I come from Northern Ireland and we have few hunters here. Even when we lived in the US for 3 years we did not live in an area known for a lot of hunting. Northern Ireland does have a lot of Fishermen though but of the ones I know I could not imagine any of them looking for a devotional book specifically for them. Anyway after I laughed the next thing out of my mouth were the words "Next we will have Bibles produced specifically for people of all different interests" and yes I was still on my own and no-one could hear me but have you never talked to yourself? Then I realised that we had already reached this ridiculous point in life. Yes already we had reached the point where the publishers of Bibles as well as devotionals were specifically targeting all the different sections of the community to sell more books and Bibles. I had to wonder why? Was the bible written with different verses for a man than for a woman? Was the bible written with different verses for a single person than a married one? Was the bible written with different verses for a Pentecostal than an Anglican? Was the bible written with different verses for a teenager than for an adult? Was the bible written with different verses for a hunter than for a doctor? Did we need to have a different Bible for an engineer than for a teacher or a housewife? Because if so then my husband the Mechanical Engineer and I a Mathematics Teacher turned Housewife, could not read the same Bible together because of our occupations and of course also because we are not of the same sex. Just think- We could not have read the Bible as a family together when the kids were teenagers. We could not read the Bible together as a family now because some are Pentecostal and some are Anglican. We could not read the Bible together as a family now because some are single and some are married. What would be next? Would we have to have different Bibles for people of all different race or nationality? Let's put some pink or purple covers on them because that will appeal to the females they had decided at one stage. Well I certainly didn't get hooked in then because I much prefer black or brown or blue books so no pretty feminine looking Bible for me. But of course this was nothing to do with it at all - they simply wanted to sell more Bibles. Now I know I'm sounding a bit extreme but my main problem is not with all the different speciality bibles or devotionals so much as with the purpose of our bibles. When the Bible was written I am so thankful that it was written for all of us regardless of gender, age, race, intelligence etc. When Jesus came to this earth He came for one specific reason to do His Father's will and be the ransom for each one of us, the one who would take all our sins on himself and die in our place I am so thankful that He did not differentiate between us. So this inspired Word of God which was written for all of us to know the Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and be set free from our old self and renewed by God's Spirit; was written for each and every one of us. And it doesn't matter how many bibles we have, what size they are, how expensive they are, how many notes are included in them, how used or how new they are, or what colour they are. The important thing is that we read our Bible and we grow in the Grace of our Lord and Saviour as we do so. So the question is - Are You in Pursuit Are you reading your bible? Are you praying for understanding of what you are reading in your Bible? Are you praying for direction and guidance by the Holy Spirit as you read your Bible? Are you actively, regularly, hungrily, reading your Bible? Are you looking to gain insight and truth as you read your Bible? Are you praying that you will rightly apply what you read in your Bible to your everyday life? Are you depending on God for your nurture from your Bible (His Word) and not just listening to what other people say about it. Are you looking to preachers and teachers of sound doctrine when you need more help to fully understand some passages from your Bible? Are you in PURSUIT of the truth and edification in God's Word? I know I'm not in pursuit of God's Word as much as I should be. Are you? Let's be encouraged today to go read that passage we have been meaning to read. Let's be encouraged today to relax & drink in from God's Word no matter what colour our bible might be.
There are so many more reasons to Praise God every Day than just these 10 especially when we think of all that happens to us during each minute of each day BUT Here I'll concentrate on 10 of those marvellous things that we know from His Word. 10 Biblical Reasons to Praise God Every Day I know if you are reading this then you want to praise God and you have already been praising God and perhaps for a long time but it always does us good to focus ourselves at different times on specific aspects of God and how He is constantly involved in our lives. 1. He has redeemed you - Romans 5 v 8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 2. He promised you a home - John 14 v 3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 3. He loves you forever - Psalm 107 v 1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." 4. He gives you the gift of salvation - Ephesians 2 v 8 - 9 "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast." 5. He gave you His Word - 2 Timothy 3 v 16 - 17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for all good works." 6. He provides for all your needs - Philippians 4 v 19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 7. He secured your Peace - Romans 5 v 1 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 8. He is worthy of our Praise - Psalm 145 v 3 "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable." 9. Praise brings us into the presence of God - Psalm 100 v 4 "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name." 10. The Bible commands us to come to Praise God - Psalm 150 v 6 "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord." What a wonderful Psalm to finish off with, how could we not but praise Him as we read through it.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
Come read and be encouraged by my choice of the 5 best Quotes on Thankfulness and get a free printable
A Dose of Encouragement around family memories and loving your children wisely.
Well in a way it all started with my sister and a minister. Of course it was all before I was born many years ago. Fred's parents were trying to choose a name for this their third child, their second boy. In the end they decided to call him after an uncle & a minister so he got Frederick S.... but has always been known as Fred (except on some occasions when I'm a bit annoyed at him or really want him to know that I need his attention and then he gets a very long drawn out Frederick!) So what has my sister got to do with the minister then? Nothing personally, but just as the minister was responsible for one of Fred's names my sister was somewhat responsible for my name. My sister was 10 years old when I was born and there had been no other brothers or sisters and later were no other children born to my mum and dad. When my parents were choosing a name for me they thought they should let her have some say in the matter. Each name they suggested she didn't like for one reason or another, some because she didn't like people she knew at school who had the same name. Then when they suggested Sandra apparently she said that would be ok because there was a girl at school called Sandra and she was ok. So I was named Sandra. And I am thankful that they named me Sandra. Lots of people have said at times that they don't particularly like their name but I have always liked mine although I do remember as a child trying to imagine that I had a different middle name from the one my parents had chosen for me. Many years later Fred and I met and fell in love and got married. The only other person that I had known with the name Fred was my mum's cousin who I always called uncle Freddie but my Fred was always Fred. When our children were born we thought it was important how we chose their names and we wanted to make sure we gave them the names God wanted them to have so we got a book of name meanings and read it through. Of course I checked out Fred's name to see what it meant and found it was of Germanic origin and meant Very appropriate for my husband. But I could not find the meaning of my name. I could find Alexandra and some suggested my name was short for that but I had been named Sandra not named Alexandra and then had it shortened. I tried other ways but could not find anywhere that would simply give the meaning of Sandra. However I was convinced that one day I would find the meaning of my name. A few years afterwards when the 2 boys were small and I was basically a wife, a mum and a teacher, I got to thinking about what role I should have - what did God intend for me. I clearly remember praying and asking Him what is my role and I also clearly remember the answer that came me. Perhaps I had better explain. Fred became an elder in our church before our first child was born and about 6 months later he became the leading elder. It was a small church so we were both involved in a lot of things and he was also the worship leader. So I sort of accepted what I felt I had heard as my answer for that time and was ok with that. Some years later after we had had our third child our girl, I came to thinking about that same topic again and so again I prayed to know from God what I was supposed to be. Again I heard and again I accepted that. Shortly after this we moved to live in America for 3 years and then back to Northern Ireland and back into the church we had previously been in. Then raising three children with a husband who was now travelling often with his work and still so busy with church was not always easy but I suppose you could say we settled into a routine and coped with it all. However there came another time when other ladies in church were talking about what roles God had for us all in life so again I went to God with the same question as before and this time I got the same answer Well I reckoned that this had happened three times now so maybe I should just truly accept this and I have never asked this question of God again. Now I did not ever consider that God was telling me that I was not of as much worth as Fred and Fred has never made me feel like that. I also did not think that I was in a second rate role. Nor did I think that it meant that I was to sit back and not do anything while Fred did everything, and I certainly did not believe that I could only do things to support Fred. As well as actively supporting Fred wherever I could I also supported him by being the wife he could rely on to make the right decisions while he was travelling with work and giving a good stable home situation for our children. This did not mean that I did not use the other talents God had given me so I was active in the women's prayer group in church, the craft club and also led the children's work. Later when our children were teenagers I was still interested in crafts and joined a group of ladies in a "Country Market" organisation. One of the things I made was a selection of Name meanings and so again I was back in the position of looking for the meaning of my name. This time I finally found it, Sandra is of Greek origin and means Well I was right and I am thankful that I had heard properly from God. I was also thankful that I had listened and accepted and acted on it. Just because I did not play an up-front, titled, leadership role or preached to everyone in the church (I did lead women's meetings and speak occasionally at them) I never felt that I was not of value or not using the talents I had. Our children were as important to us as the people within the church and our responsibility was first to them and then to the church so between us we had plenty to do to bring them up in the nurture and knowledge of Jesus. God's purpose for each of us is unique but it is always within the boundaries of scripture because His Word does not change as He does not change.
Day 1 of a series on The Acts of the Apostles called 31 Days in Acts where we see we should be thankful to Luke and be careful to read everything.
Encouragement about thankfulness, happiness and Love with the effects in our lives and the lives of others
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
A Sunday Scripture looking at 1 Thessalonians 5 v 16-18 and considering what we should be doing in life.
A Dose of Encouragement as a reminder to be thankful in a family situation when we are miles apart.
A post about the thankfulness I feel and am reminded about by things in our home and little interactions there.
Sandra's Ark is a Blog of Christian Encouragement in your Heart and in your Home with a welcome to all women and some fun along the way.
There are 2 things we ought to do and that is to keep a thankful heart and share it and to do so we must focus on one thing.
