Tag Archives: Christianity

Are You Fearful of Success

Posted in Motivational, Uncategorized by

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Why is it that Christians are so quick to judge the successful? What, exactly, is it that they’re afraid of?

I first noticed this as a teenager. Why was it that the smaller churches were often openly critical about larger ones? They would accuse them of attracting large numbers because they were only saying what people wanted to hear, that they weren’t preaching the gospel, and at times, that the leadership weren’t even Christians.

And yet, when you questioned anyone about this, they would never have any evidence to back up their claims. Instead of being thankful that churches were growing; instead of being encouraged; instead of assuming this was happening because people were actually going out and telling other people about Jesus, they just had to believe it was something far more sinister. Because, after all, if they weren’t experiencing success, what right did anyone else have to it!

Unfortunately this idea isn’t just limited to church growth. When people are doing well, others are quick to criticise.

And I’ll admit it: I’ve joined in with this thinking as well. After all isn’t the Christian life supposed to be the hard option? The heavy cross and the narrow road?

How can these concepts that are drummed into our heads right from our Sunday School days ever fit with the idea of being successful? How can we remain humble and yet experience success?

For so many years I had failed to grasp that God actually wants us to do well. He commands us to try our hardest, and he even rejoices with us in our successes.

I was like that man in the parable of the talents. The one who, when his master left him with money, buried it. Too afraid to use it. Too afraid to invest, and when his master returned, had to explain why he hadn’t done the best with what he had been given.

And still I tell myself that not trying is the best option, that hiding is the best option. That it’s the most humble option. But It’s not. It’s false humility. And false humility is really just fear in disguise.

God  gave us our gifts and talents so that we could use them, not bury them. And if has given us what it takes to become successful, he will give us everything we need to handle that success. And if we don’t succeed, he will give us everything we need to handle that as well.

Are you afraid of success? Why?

Is there something that you are too afraid to try your hardest at?

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corninthians 9: 24-25)

Sounds of Freedom Week 3

Posted in Real Life Stories, Sounds of Freedom, Uncategorized by

In Christ alone my hope is found

This week Margaret shares her favourite worship song, and how it has encouraged her through hard times.

It wasn’t hard for her to decide. When I asked if she wanted to share, she responded within seconds.

My Favourite worship song is In Christ Alone. For me it says everything about what God means to me: he is my rock and my comforter in times of trouble. That sums him up for me.

He is my strong anchor when things are going rough, I can depend on him to protect me, he will keep me strong in times of trouble ….I stand complete in him!

What a powerful answer! I followed up by asking if there was a time when this song was especially important to her. I guess you would think that someone with such an obviously strong faith might have had an easy life.

We have been through years of illness with my husband Peter, looking back I can see a pattern of God’s grace to us, supplying our needs in all sorts of ways. When I sing this song it has great meaning, only through him can I be strong, his love has always been there for us. And it always will be.

Isn’t that a fabulous reminder that even in the toughest of times, we can put our trust in God and that through him we can be strong.

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Margaret was born and bred in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, and is fond of this little place. She is part of the Worksop Gospel Community Choir and loves music with a passion. She also enjoys worshipping at her local church, St Johns in Worksop.

 

Girls do Brave too

Posted in Motivational, Uncategorized by

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Sometimes I’m not sure if I want to be brave. Brave is scary. When you’re brave, you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and brave isn’t exactly girly, is it?

I mean aren’t all girls supposed to want to be rescued by prince charming. How are we ever going to have that fairytale ending if we just go ahead and rescue ourselves?

And we do need rescuing. Even if we don’t want to admit it, we are all damsels in distress. We all can’t do this life on our own. Even the men!

But none of us need to sit around eating cupcakes and drinking tea, waiting  for that perfect rescue, that fairy-tale ending. Not because it’s never going to happen, but because it already has.

We have already been rescued.

We can stop living as damsels in distress, and start living as the brave, because brave isn’t just for boys.

Brave sounds scary. Brave sounds messy. But brave sounds like an adventure.

When you know that you have already been rescued, when you know who is on your side, you can do things you never dreamed of. You can climb mountains and travel continents. You can pray bold prayers, stand up for the vulnerable and be honest right where you are. You can speak to your neighbours, give to the poor and share your faith. You can can crush an army and you can scale a wall.

Sometimes you just stumble across things at the right time. That happened while I was writing this post. I found this blog in which the author lists four reasons why we don’t need to be afraid:

God goes ahead of you. We can be brave.

God will be with you. We can be brave.

God will not fail you. We can be brave.

God will not leave you. We can be brave.

These promises are for everyone.  No one needs to be afraid. We can all be brave. We don’t find that bravery within in ourselves, but through God, the one who is with us, who fights for us and who loves us.

Brave isn’t just for boys. Girls do brave too.

In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. (Psalm 18:29) NLT

 

 

 

Sounds of Freedom Week 2

Posted in Motivational, Real Life Stories, Uncategorized by

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This week I am sharing some of my testimony as part of the Sounds of Freedom series.If you would like to be involved in sharing some of how one of your favourite worship songs has impacted your faith then please get in touch.

Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat remembering some stupid thing I said, about five years ago, to someone I don’t even know anymore,

It’s like I’m right there again, and the guilt washes over me anew.

I’ve got regrets of friendships I didn’t put more effort into and exams I didn’t try hard enough at.

I’ve got some bigger regrets as well. Like, when I was a teenager I was determined to work as a missionary in New York. I thought about applying to work with a ministry over and over, but in the end Idid’t because I was just too scared.

It’s easy for me to think that if I had tried harder, if I had been braver, then my life would be in completely different. Sometimes I feel like I have missed my chance. Because I didn’t listen to God’s voice that one time, he won’t ever want to use me again.

That’s not true.

God’s grace is so much bigger than that. It’s bigger than our circumstances, bigger than our past mistakes. His Grace is huge, and it covers everything.

Matthew West’s song sums it up perfectly: “Grace wins every time.”

The mistakes we made in our past may impact our future, but they don’t define them. Jonah was swallowed by a whale, not devoured by one. And God still wants to use us. No matter how much we messed up in the past.

He wants to use you if you’ve made the biggest mistakes imaginable . He wants to use you if everyone thinks you’re the perfect little Christian girl, but deep down you know that you’re not. God’s grace covers it all.

Throughout the bible we see God use imperfect, messed up people, time and time again. Moses was a murderer and yet God used him to lead his people out of the promised land. David was an adulterer,and still he was called a man after God’s own heart.

God’s grace covered their sins and it can cover yours as well.

 

 

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This weeks Sounds of Freedom was written by Alice, she loves works as a teaching assistant and love Christ, chocolate and crochet.

Sounds of Freedom 1

Posted in Real Life Stories, Uncategorized by

In the first of a new series, David Gaskell shares his favourite worship song, and how it has impacted his life.

When I was asked to write about my favourite worship song loads came to mind. At present the Elevation Worship album; Here as in Heaven, many songs in it point towards God and show thanksgiving. Also I’ve been reading Matt Redman’s book 10,000 reasons, which explains amazing stories surrounding his heaven sent worship song, and since watching the movie God’s Not Dead I’ve really enjoyed the song Like a Lion by David Crowder Band or God’s Not Dead By The Newsboys. But the one song that always inspires me and takes me to a place of worship is the song How He Loves By David Crowder Band.

I first heard this song when Alice (my youth leader at the time) took our church youth group to Soul Survivor in 2012 (don’t look at the photos, I don’t look that good in them). The song was played and instantly I was taken aback at actually how much God does love us and me. The song sings about how “great his (God’s) affections are for me (us all)” and his love is better and stronger than any other kind of love song by Adele, Beiber or any other secular artist; past, present or future. The song says “He Loves” 22 times within the 5min 19secs of the song, which really hits home actually how much he does love and no body could out love God. The one line within this song that does cause “conflict” is the infamous “Sloppy wet kiss” line Vs “Unforeseen kiss” line. In my view both do work; the unforeseen line brings the image of someone kissing you unexpectedly and leaving you thinking: “Dude, did you just kiss me?” as it was unexpected and in someways undeserved. The sloppy wet kiss line was explained to me by Katie at my church in York, that it’s like getting a kiss off your Nan. She gives kisses that are wet, sloppy and are in no way dignified, but behind every Grandma kiss there is so much love, you get over the fact you’ve had your second shower of the day courtesy of your grandparent’s spit.

This song spoke to me so much that I decided to have it played at my full emersion (re)baptism as I came up put of the water. The song hit me in such a way because it reminded me that God loves me so much that he took all my sins away, meaning when I came up out of the water I was made clean again. This song will go with me wherever I go, when it’s forgotten and I’m the only one who remembers it, it will be just as powerful then as it was the first time I heard it.

The song is one of the greatest love songs about the greatest love story ever, where I am the princess being saved by prince charming (Jesus on the cross).

David Gaskell is a Physiotherapy student from the North West of England.

 

 

 

If you are interested in sharing what your favourite song means to you, please leave a comment below, or get in contact through the contact page.