Good afternoon! How are we all? It's been quite a busy week this but a week full of blessings and challenges. Want to know more? See below!
So a real blessing this was Wednesday evening during our Hi-5 (kids club), for those that don't know we get around 30 kids a week. But this week, myself and my housemate were asked to lead Hi-5 for the first time. We focussed the evening on Prayer and I asked the kids what type of prayers does God like and how do we pray. They all came up with their own answers and they were good answers. We then went on to watch a prayer Jesus made at a time when He was struggling. We watched a clip from the miracle-maker (that alone took all the courage I have to watch it. I admit, I have a slight fear of the film) and the scene where Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane and we all came to the conclusion that Jesus prayed a very real prayer and that actually although God does like the happy and joyful prayers we make, He also likes to hear the prayers where we are scared and are struggling. The thing that really blessed me about Hi-5 was one of the songs we sung at the start of the club. Some of you may know the song, "The Way it's gonna be". it's ultimately a Kid's song but I think that every person should sing it at least once in Church... with the actions! There's a lyric in their that says "I Just want to praise you..." and to see 20 to 30 kids singing that at the top of their voice really blessed me. I pray that that will be case for their lives, that they will just live their lives always praising Jesus.
The biggest challenge that came to me last week was once again the work Eston salvation Army does with the community in regards to the Emergency Food Parcels. We had many people come through the doors and just as I am writing this now we have had some more people come for help. More and more people are needing our help and not only are they needing help for food and utility bills but they are coming to us as broken people. We can do all we can in giving them a food parcel but actually they need to be spiritually healed and the way that can happen is for them to come into a knowledge of God and the love He has for each of us, no matter who we are or what we've done or where we have come from. I have had many God blessed moments with these people and I thank God for putting me in that place just at that time as I was able to minister Grace to these hurting people. I pray that God will continue to use me in whatever situation and with whoever I may come into contact with.
In case you haven't already realised. We have entered into our time of lent, now I can honestly say that I have never given up anything for lent and I haven't really ever taken it seriously. But this year I am making a commitment throughout lent and it's not to give something up but it is to simply give. The 40 Acts of Lent is an incentive created by the Christian charity- Stewardship. It focuses on being generous over this Lent period, what happens is that an email is sent to you at the start of the day with a task to do. I think it tries to get us to reflect on how privileged we are and being grateful for that and in turn then give to others out of that gratitude. Lent is a time when we aim to focus our hearts and minds towards Easter and the sacrifice Jesus made for us. I hope in this small way that I will be able to give and show Love to those I come into contact with and somehow through my life show how grateful I am for what Jesus did for me on that cross on Calvary.
Have a great week.
God Bless
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Monday, 10 March 2014
Monday, 3 March 2014
To know your face, to know your place
Good evening. Another week has come and gone and so another blog is here, enjoy!
It was a good first week back at Eston after half term and another busy one at that. We began the week with our prize-giving meeting for our kids who are connected to the Salvation Army. Eston are so blessed to have such a big ministry focussed on Children. I have said before that on a Wednesday night we get roughly around 25-30 kids come to kids club and it is such a blessing to see them want to come to the Salvation Army, these kids want to come to Church and that's what they do every Wednesday. They may not realise it but Eston Salvation Army is their Church, this is where they come to meet God, even though they may not realise it.
On Friday we went to Crewe for the weekend for FORGE, which basically was a conference for anyone who works in the Salvation Army with youth and it was such a good weekend. The worship was fantastic, the seminars that were offered were interesting and the company was great. Although the weekend focussed on youth, some of the lectures did speak broadly about youth work and included children's ministry and what they had to say was fascinating. A session led by Professor David Voas focussed on the numerical decline of the church in regards to young people and basically the message from the talk was that young people are essential for the Church, I quote "The Church must retain it's young people if it is to survive" (Professor David Voas). That is such a challenge and maybe for some churches such a reality check, the church needs kids. There are even statistics that there is far more significant church growth when there are children in the congregation, in a study conducted by professor Voas he found that if there are more than 2 children to every 10 adults then the church growth is up by 25%. We need to focus on Children, the other lecture I went to was led by Reverend. Doctor Steve Emery-Wright and he says that "Youth and Children ministry must be at the heart of the vision..." It's such a challenge and the weekend definitely allowed me to focus on that challenge for the coming months, here at Eston.
As a conclusion to the weekend we had Lt.Col Alan Burns lead the final session. He focussed his message on John Chapter 1 and how Jesus was in the community, "the word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us...", if we are going to be effective in mission and bringing Jesus into the everyday lives of people in our communities we minister to, we need to be there. It was such a powerful message and really got me thinking, am I myself, individually, fit for mission? Alan Burns went on to say that we need to "be", we need to be who Jesus wants us to be, to take up our identity in Christ. We need to be like Jesus and let Him do what it says in John Chapter 1, let Him "in dwell in us". I personally need to be more like Jesus, for it was Jesus that made transformation happen and it was Jesus who ultimately changed lives. If I am not like Him, showing the love and compassion to all people like he did then I am not going to be effective or "fit for mission". The colonel went on to preach about being "there". Jesus knew exactly where his place was, it was with those who were suffering. He didn't stay in the temple, He was out there with the lepers, the tax collectors, the prostitutes. We as a church need to know where we should be and that is not in the church. Mission is about being sent and to quote what Alan Burns was saying, "the here (inside the church) to 'there' journey is the biggest journey." Do I know my place? Am I personally placing myself out there, am I meeting people who need me to tell them of God's love rather than the people who I feel comfortable with being around? I need to be more like Jesus and "Be there", I need to know who I am in Christ and then go out and spread that message to those who are suffering.
I hope you have a good week this week and don't hesitate to ask any questions about the blog. Do get in touch!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
It was a good first week back at Eston after half term and another busy one at that. We began the week with our prize-giving meeting for our kids who are connected to the Salvation Army. Eston are so blessed to have such a big ministry focussed on Children. I have said before that on a Wednesday night we get roughly around 25-30 kids come to kids club and it is such a blessing to see them want to come to the Salvation Army, these kids want to come to Church and that's what they do every Wednesday. They may not realise it but Eston Salvation Army is their Church, this is where they come to meet God, even though they may not realise it.
On Friday we went to Crewe for the weekend for FORGE, which basically was a conference for anyone who works in the Salvation Army with youth and it was such a good weekend. The worship was fantastic, the seminars that were offered were interesting and the company was great. Although the weekend focussed on youth, some of the lectures did speak broadly about youth work and included children's ministry and what they had to say was fascinating. A session led by Professor David Voas focussed on the numerical decline of the church in regards to young people and basically the message from the talk was that young people are essential for the Church, I quote "The Church must retain it's young people if it is to survive" (Professor David Voas). That is such a challenge and maybe for some churches such a reality check, the church needs kids. There are even statistics that there is far more significant church growth when there are children in the congregation, in a study conducted by professor Voas he found that if there are more than 2 children to every 10 adults then the church growth is up by 25%. We need to focus on Children, the other lecture I went to was led by Reverend. Doctor Steve Emery-Wright and he says that "Youth and Children ministry must be at the heart of the vision..." It's such a challenge and the weekend definitely allowed me to focus on that challenge for the coming months, here at Eston.
As a conclusion to the weekend we had Lt.Col Alan Burns lead the final session. He focussed his message on John Chapter 1 and how Jesus was in the community, "the word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us...", if we are going to be effective in mission and bringing Jesus into the everyday lives of people in our communities we minister to, we need to be there. It was such a powerful message and really got me thinking, am I myself, individually, fit for mission? Alan Burns went on to say that we need to "be", we need to be who Jesus wants us to be, to take up our identity in Christ. We need to be like Jesus and let Him do what it says in John Chapter 1, let Him "in dwell in us". I personally need to be more like Jesus, for it was Jesus that made transformation happen and it was Jesus who ultimately changed lives. If I am not like Him, showing the love and compassion to all people like he did then I am not going to be effective or "fit for mission". The colonel went on to preach about being "there". Jesus knew exactly where his place was, it was with those who were suffering. He didn't stay in the temple, He was out there with the lepers, the tax collectors, the prostitutes. We as a church need to know where we should be and that is not in the church. Mission is about being sent and to quote what Alan Burns was saying, "the here (inside the church) to 'there' journey is the biggest journey." Do I know my place? Am I personally placing myself out there, am I meeting people who need me to tell them of God's love rather than the people who I feel comfortable with being around? I need to be more like Jesus and "Be there", I need to know who I am in Christ and then go out and spread that message to those who are suffering.
I hope you have a good week this week and don't hesitate to ask any questions about the blog. Do get in touch!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Monday, 24 February 2014
It's Jesus
Good evening. I hope you are all well and happy, after a week back at home I'm now once again back in Eston. Simply, just wherever He needs me my Lord has placed me, so I'm ready to get on with the work that is ahead of me here in Eston.
Last week was half term and had chance to catch up with everyone back home in Wellingborough and I thought I would be able to have a rest but I ended speaking in Over 60s and doing the Home League. Not complaining though, love my home corps. So I had chance to talk to the folk about what's I'm doing in Eston and how I am getting on and it was great to be able to feedback to the people who have loved and supported me not just in the run up to essential but actually since I first arrived at Wellingborough as a nine year old boy. As I was explaining to the lovely people of Wellingborough home league about Eston Corps and all the things that go on, I did get this feeling that actually what has happened over the last six months has been really significant! I have developed, I have seen things that has rocked my pre-conception of how people live in this country and I have seen God really work in this community. It was only when I had the chance to reflect and tell others about what has gone on did I realise the enormity of what has happened. So am very happy that I was able to share with the Home league on Thursday, it helped me just as much as I hope it was interesting for them to listen to.
I've called the blog; It's Jesus. Over the last few weeks we have taken part in a course that covers the basics of Christianity called START. One of the tasks the course asks us to do is look at some images if Jesus and see what we think of them. There was this one picture that really stood out to me and it was a forensic image of what Jesus would most likely have looked like.
Here's the link to the picture- http://www.bible-reflections.net/resource/this-is-what-jesus-really-looked-like/2853/
This picture really intrigued me and still does. Not only does it slightly scare me but it really makes me think. This man we love called Jesus was a very real man. He would have looked like an ordinary bloke from Nazareth, nothing to say that He was the Son of God and yet there must have been something with this ordinary man that people would flock to His side and when He commanded people to follow they got up anf left everything behind. I don't know if Jesus actually truly looked like that or whether that is scientists trying to be clever but I look upon that image and see a Man who represents my Jesus Christ. A person who loves me, even though I do not deserve it, so much that He would endure the pain of the Cross and die for me. Who is this man? It's Jesus. I know him, I love him, I wish I could serve him beter but I know He lives in my heart. All things of this world may be thrown at me, I may be in the darkest hour in my life, I may feel that all is falling around me but all I need is Jesus. For He is the embodiment of the Love and Grace of God and through Him my many weaknesses are made strong. It's Jesus, the ordinary man, the Son of God and my friend. May I have the faith to live my life with courage and conviction and become more like Christ.
Have a good week. God bless each one of you!
Get in touch
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Last week was half term and had chance to catch up with everyone back home in Wellingborough and I thought I would be able to have a rest but I ended speaking in Over 60s and doing the Home League. Not complaining though, love my home corps. So I had chance to talk to the folk about what's I'm doing in Eston and how I am getting on and it was great to be able to feedback to the people who have loved and supported me not just in the run up to essential but actually since I first arrived at Wellingborough as a nine year old boy. As I was explaining to the lovely people of Wellingborough home league about Eston Corps and all the things that go on, I did get this feeling that actually what has happened over the last six months has been really significant! I have developed, I have seen things that has rocked my pre-conception of how people live in this country and I have seen God really work in this community. It was only when I had the chance to reflect and tell others about what has gone on did I realise the enormity of what has happened. So am very happy that I was able to share with the Home league on Thursday, it helped me just as much as I hope it was interesting for them to listen to.
I've called the blog; It's Jesus. Over the last few weeks we have taken part in a course that covers the basics of Christianity called START. One of the tasks the course asks us to do is look at some images if Jesus and see what we think of them. There was this one picture that really stood out to me and it was a forensic image of what Jesus would most likely have looked like.
Here's the link to the picture- http://www.bible-reflections.net/resource/this-is-what-jesus-really-looked-like/2853/
This picture really intrigued me and still does. Not only does it slightly scare me but it really makes me think. This man we love called Jesus was a very real man. He would have looked like an ordinary bloke from Nazareth, nothing to say that He was the Son of God and yet there must have been something with this ordinary man that people would flock to His side and when He commanded people to follow they got up anf left everything behind. I don't know if Jesus actually truly looked like that or whether that is scientists trying to be clever but I look upon that image and see a Man who represents my Jesus Christ. A person who loves me, even though I do not deserve it, so much that He would endure the pain of the Cross and die for me. Who is this man? It's Jesus. I know him, I love him, I wish I could serve him beter but I know He lives in my heart. All things of this world may be thrown at me, I may be in the darkest hour in my life, I may feel that all is falling around me but all I need is Jesus. For He is the embodiment of the Love and Grace of God and through Him my many weaknesses are made strong. It's Jesus, the ordinary man, the Son of God and my friend. May I have the faith to live my life with courage and conviction and become more like Christ.
Have a good week. God bless each one of you!
Get in touch
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Random Acts of Kindness
Good Morning all. I must apologise for not writing this last night but it is here this morning and that is what counts! So another busy week has come and gone and once again much happened.
So the week was a rather normal week. The programme carried on and people continued to come into the Salvation Army, although they may not be regular attenders, it is there church. One thing that really touched me and blessed me this week was an activity during our kid's club, Hi-5. Gary asked me to lead an activity which had the children threading beads on a bit of elastic string to make a bracelet. However, each bead represented something about Jesus. For example; one bead meant that Jesus was the Son of God and another would mean that Jesus did many miracles and I thought that the kids really responded to the task. But what really hit me was when after the club had finished, there was this lad, sitting on his own with his bracelet going through each bead and almost memorising each one. The kids that come to Hi-5, apart from a couple, none of them are "Army Kids", they don't come from a Salvation Army background and for some a church background whatsoever. So it was such a blessing to see this happen. The Salvation Army here in Eston are reaching out to Children and teaching them about the Gospel and about Christ but to see and hear a child really take in the message that was shared that evening, I found it incredible and such a moving experience.
Some of you this week may have seen on your social media sites a craze sweeping the nation called "Neknominations", where people are drinking large amounts of alcohol in a single glass by downing it in one go, videoing it and then nominating others to do the same. Now this isn't the time or place to go on a rant about it but it is quite simply stupid behaviour. But there has been a reaction to the viral stunt and it is called "Raknominations", standing for Random Acts of Kindness. People have videoed themselves doing random kind acts and nominating others to do the same. Something far more positive in my opinion. I thought about these Random Acts of Kindness people are doing and I thought I would like to do one of those but someone. put me in my place and said that actually why should we need to film it and post it all over the internet, we should just do it without looking to receive recognition and praise. The Salvation Army does it everyday, here in Eston with our food parcel ministry our acts of kindness are becoming almost a daily thing. But the difference is that the acts of kindness we show on a daily basis are not random, they are acts that have to be done because Christ compels us to do so. It says in scripture that "...Love your Neighbour as yourself...", we need to love the unlovable and we need to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. For when we do it for one those people who struggle, we do it for Jesus.
So that's this week's blog, I hope you enjoy it. I have this week to do then I'm back home for a week, I'm looking forward to the break with my family and my girlfriend.
Have a good week!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
So the week was a rather normal week. The programme carried on and people continued to come into the Salvation Army, although they may not be regular attenders, it is there church. One thing that really touched me and blessed me this week was an activity during our kid's club, Hi-5. Gary asked me to lead an activity which had the children threading beads on a bit of elastic string to make a bracelet. However, each bead represented something about Jesus. For example; one bead meant that Jesus was the Son of God and another would mean that Jesus did many miracles and I thought that the kids really responded to the task. But what really hit me was when after the club had finished, there was this lad, sitting on his own with his bracelet going through each bead and almost memorising each one. The kids that come to Hi-5, apart from a couple, none of them are "Army Kids", they don't come from a Salvation Army background and for some a church background whatsoever. So it was such a blessing to see this happen. The Salvation Army here in Eston are reaching out to Children and teaching them about the Gospel and about Christ but to see and hear a child really take in the message that was shared that evening, I found it incredible and such a moving experience.
Some of you this week may have seen on your social media sites a craze sweeping the nation called "Neknominations", where people are drinking large amounts of alcohol in a single glass by downing it in one go, videoing it and then nominating others to do the same. Now this isn't the time or place to go on a rant about it but it is quite simply stupid behaviour. But there has been a reaction to the viral stunt and it is called "Raknominations", standing for Random Acts of Kindness. People have videoed themselves doing random kind acts and nominating others to do the same. Something far more positive in my opinion. I thought about these Random Acts of Kindness people are doing and I thought I would like to do one of those but someone. put me in my place and said that actually why should we need to film it and post it all over the internet, we should just do it without looking to receive recognition and praise. The Salvation Army does it everyday, here in Eston with our food parcel ministry our acts of kindness are becoming almost a daily thing. But the difference is that the acts of kindness we show on a daily basis are not random, they are acts that have to be done because Christ compels us to do so. It says in scripture that "...Love your Neighbour as yourself...", we need to love the unlovable and we need to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. For when we do it for one those people who struggle, we do it for Jesus.
So that's this week's blog, I hope you enjoy it. I have this week to do then I'm back home for a week, I'm looking forward to the break with my family and my girlfriend.
Have a good week!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Monday, 3 February 2014
Where Jesus leads I'll follow on?
Hello there! Once again welcome to my blog for this week.
So what happened this week? Well other than the usual routine of the week, we have been focusing on a research project we have to do for this year. Without giving too much away, we are focusing our research on the youth around the community of Eston and surrounding areas. The one thing that has struck me whilst doing my research by talking to people or reading case studies is the obvious disadvantage the people who live in the area are in. There are high levels of unemployment, alcoholism and anti-social behaviour. But I believe that these are the type of areas that the Salvation Army should be and are reaching. If you look back at my vlog, I spoke about distribution day and how I felt it was the very reason why the Salvation Army is on this earth in the first place. In Isaiah it says:
Isaiah 61:1 NIV
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..."
What a mission. God has sent us, I believe as a Salvation Army to go and do that because what it says in Isaiah is still relevant today, there are still people in poverty who need the good news of the Gospel and there are still people who are suffering in the darkness of their situation. If one thing has really challenged me this year is the vulnerability and the poverty people in this, compared to others, rich country are living in.Seeing people having to choose to go hungry or keep warm, seeing people sleeping on a cold floor because authorities have not taken care to make sure they have a bed to sleep on, walking around estates which look run down but yet people call them home. Is this fair that people live like this? Throughout all of this, my God is Lord of it all. May He give me power, may He give individual corps power, may He give the whole Salvation Army power to make a difference in the world we live and the strength to challenge the injustice we see around us.
Gary preached this Sunday a sermon that got me really thinking. His theme was 'Hitting the wall' and that through our Christian lives we are going to hit a wall of pain and suffering but do we hit the wall and go on and grow from that or do we hit the wall and get stuck and fail tomove on in our spiritual life? This really got me thinking of the walls I hit and almost the ups and downs of my life. But I know that God was with me throughout it all. I suppose that's the thing about following Jesus, being his disciples means following Him no matter where Jesus leads. If you read very carefully in Scripture, the amount of times He led his disciples up the mountainside and then back down again. That's like our lives, following Jesus will take us to the peaks ans the great times, but it will also take us down to the valleys where our faith is tested. But like Gary said in his sermon on Sunday, we can either get stuck in the valley or at the wall or we can use it to grow and have a greater acceptance of the mystery of God because when we are down in the valley, we have to trust God that He'll get us back onto the mountainside through His mysterious and wonder workingGrace.
So I suppose that's my thought for the week. Now it's easy for me to write it in a blog, now I have to go and live it. Trust in God and know that His Grace is sufficient.
God bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
So what happened this week? Well other than the usual routine of the week, we have been focusing on a research project we have to do for this year. Without giving too much away, we are focusing our research on the youth around the community of Eston and surrounding areas. The one thing that has struck me whilst doing my research by talking to people or reading case studies is the obvious disadvantage the people who live in the area are in. There are high levels of unemployment, alcoholism and anti-social behaviour. But I believe that these are the type of areas that the Salvation Army should be and are reaching. If you look back at my vlog, I spoke about distribution day and how I felt it was the very reason why the Salvation Army is on this earth in the first place. In Isaiah it says:
Isaiah 61:1 NIV
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..."
What a mission. God has sent us, I believe as a Salvation Army to go and do that because what it says in Isaiah is still relevant today, there are still people in poverty who need the good news of the Gospel and there are still people who are suffering in the darkness of their situation. If one thing has really challenged me this year is the vulnerability and the poverty people in this, compared to others, rich country are living in.Seeing people having to choose to go hungry or keep warm, seeing people sleeping on a cold floor because authorities have not taken care to make sure they have a bed to sleep on, walking around estates which look run down but yet people call them home. Is this fair that people live like this? Throughout all of this, my God is Lord of it all. May He give me power, may He give individual corps power, may He give the whole Salvation Army power to make a difference in the world we live and the strength to challenge the injustice we see around us.
Gary preached this Sunday a sermon that got me really thinking. His theme was 'Hitting the wall' and that through our Christian lives we are going to hit a wall of pain and suffering but do we hit the wall and go on and grow from that or do we hit the wall and get stuck and fail tomove on in our spiritual life? This really got me thinking of the walls I hit and almost the ups and downs of my life. But I know that God was with me throughout it all. I suppose that's the thing about following Jesus, being his disciples means following Him no matter where Jesus leads. If you read very carefully in Scripture, the amount of times He led his disciples up the mountainside and then back down again. That's like our lives, following Jesus will take us to the peaks ans the great times, but it will also take us down to the valleys where our faith is tested. But like Gary said in his sermon on Sunday, we can either get stuck in the valley or at the wall or we can use it to grow and have a greater acceptance of the mystery of God because when we are down in the valley, we have to trust God that He'll get us back onto the mountainside through His mysterious and wonder workingGrace.
So I suppose that's my thought for the week. Now it's easy for me to write it in a blog, now I have to go and live it. Trust in God and know that His Grace is sufficient.
God bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Dry Bones
Good afternoon! I hope you are well. Another week has come and gone and it is once again time for my blog.
I think it could be said that I wasn't quite ready for the week on Monday, apparently Monday was the gloomiest day of the year in the sense that it's the day where people are more likely to be miserable than not. I wouldn't say I was any more miserable than I normally am but it was a busy week and part of me was still in the relaxing, festive mood. That mood has certainly gone now and I am back to the reality of routine, not that it is a bad thing at all. The usual routine of the week once again presented many opportunities to meet and talk to people, on a Wednesday we have two lots of Parent and Toddler sessions, great opportunity to get to know people around the community. On Thursdays we have a coffee morning and again a great chance to meet people I would never have had the chance of meeting. Then Thursday afternoons we go into the local school and again help build a relationship with the Salvation Army and the school. So yes, things may have gone back to routine but that doesn't mean to say things go back to being boring! The Gospel never changes so why should the shifting of a season change the attitude in which I share it? God is working, He is moving. It may take time but I know the efforts to build relationships with the community will pay off, just in His time. Certainly not in ours, as frustrating as that can be.
This weekend, the Alove and essential team attended a territorial prayer gathering in Swanick. The theme of the weekend was all about "Prophecy" and the spiritual gift of prophesying. It was very interesting and I definitely felt that I was blessed coming away from the weekend. Although I felt that the whole idea of Prophecy, yes it helped me to understand it but I did not feel like it was relevant for me. It just isn't one of my spiritual gifts and that's okay! But the Prophet that was focussed on during the weekend was Ezekiel and the part of Ezekiel's story that really stood out for me was the well known passage in scripture when Ezekiel was led into the Valley of Dry bones. This really got me thinking, the message of this story is so straight forward. Has there ever been times in your life where things seem dead and stagnant? Or the Church/Corps you worship at and love seems to be lifeless and needs reviving? Do you look at yourself or your church and just see nothing more than Dry Bones? Well look what happened when God intervened and spoke to Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind to bring life to the bones, when God breathed upon these bones not only did they spring to life, they created a "vast army". When the spirit of God is upon us or when the spirit of God dwells within our churches and Corps and the whole Salvation Army look what can be done. God can revive and He can, and will, equip us for everything. It fascinates me to think what happened after this event, where did the army go? What did it do? Did God's presence continue to stay within them? I think these are the same questions that can be asked about our army. Where will the Salvation Army go? What is it going to do? Will we continue to seek God's presence within us? I do not know the answer to those questions but all I know is that we have a faithful God and a God whose Spirit can create an army out of bones, so what can God do, what is He doing with a worldwide Salvation Army who are not made out of bones, but people who claim to love and serve Him?
I hope you have a great week this week. Please get in contact with me if you have questions about anything, I will try to answer them!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
I think it could be said that I wasn't quite ready for the week on Monday, apparently Monday was the gloomiest day of the year in the sense that it's the day where people are more likely to be miserable than not. I wouldn't say I was any more miserable than I normally am but it was a busy week and part of me was still in the relaxing, festive mood. That mood has certainly gone now and I am back to the reality of routine, not that it is a bad thing at all. The usual routine of the week once again presented many opportunities to meet and talk to people, on a Wednesday we have two lots of Parent and Toddler sessions, great opportunity to get to know people around the community. On Thursdays we have a coffee morning and again a great chance to meet people I would never have had the chance of meeting. Then Thursday afternoons we go into the local school and again help build a relationship with the Salvation Army and the school. So yes, things may have gone back to routine but that doesn't mean to say things go back to being boring! The Gospel never changes so why should the shifting of a season change the attitude in which I share it? God is working, He is moving. It may take time but I know the efforts to build relationships with the community will pay off, just in His time. Certainly not in ours, as frustrating as that can be.
This weekend, the Alove and essential team attended a territorial prayer gathering in Swanick. The theme of the weekend was all about "Prophecy" and the spiritual gift of prophesying. It was very interesting and I definitely felt that I was blessed coming away from the weekend. Although I felt that the whole idea of Prophecy, yes it helped me to understand it but I did not feel like it was relevant for me. It just isn't one of my spiritual gifts and that's okay! But the Prophet that was focussed on during the weekend was Ezekiel and the part of Ezekiel's story that really stood out for me was the well known passage in scripture when Ezekiel was led into the Valley of Dry bones. This really got me thinking, the message of this story is so straight forward. Has there ever been times in your life where things seem dead and stagnant? Or the Church/Corps you worship at and love seems to be lifeless and needs reviving? Do you look at yourself or your church and just see nothing more than Dry Bones? Well look what happened when God intervened and spoke to Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind to bring life to the bones, when God breathed upon these bones not only did they spring to life, they created a "vast army". When the spirit of God is upon us or when the spirit of God dwells within our churches and Corps and the whole Salvation Army look what can be done. God can revive and He can, and will, equip us for everything. It fascinates me to think what happened after this event, where did the army go? What did it do? Did God's presence continue to stay within them? I think these are the same questions that can be asked about our army. Where will the Salvation Army go? What is it going to do? Will we continue to seek God's presence within us? I do not know the answer to those questions but all I know is that we have a faithful God and a God whose Spirit can create an army out of bones, so what can God do, what is He doing with a worldwide Salvation Army who are not made out of bones, but people who claim to love and serve Him?
I hope you have a great week this week. Please get in contact with me if you have questions about anything, I will try to answer them!
God Bless.
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
Monday, 20 January 2014
Onwards!
Good afternoon and I suppose a Happy New Year to you, even if we are now coming to the end of January. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas but now it's back to routine and normality. I am now back up at Eston and ready to carry on the work I began last year and ready to pick up my weekly blogging, did you miss me?
So, my first week back and the week once more provided me with opportunity to meet people I would have had no chance of meeting before and on top of that to talk to them about faith and about Christ was just a blessing. I look back at the last 5 months and I have had so many opportunities to talk to people about Jesus, it's quite incredible. Whether that be with fellow Christians or through School assemblies or by simply talking to the person who has come to the Salvation Army for help. There is a lovely song called "God be in my Head" and a lyric in that song says "God be in my mouth, and be in my talking". A way for us to communicate God is by talking about Him, not hiding him away and pretending to get on with our lives. In November during a week of training with ALOVE (Youth department for the Salvation Army), we were on Oxford Street handing out leaflets inviting people to visit the Christmas Fair in Regent Hall Salvation Army. As I was doing this, a man walked past me very quickly and said "Jesus loves you!" and I heard him tell that to everybody he walked past on that street. I saw some people have quizzical look on their faces and some even laughing but has he not got the right idea? Okay, his methods are probably not the best but this man was telling everybody about Christ. What does it say in Matthew Chapter 28? "...go and make disciples of all nations...", "All nations", that means everyone should know about Jesus and the love He has for them. I echo the prayer of that song may God continue to be in my talking, may I have the courage to speak of Him to all people of all nations.
I've called the blog "Onwards", and my thinking of this comes from the idea of onwards we go into the new year. Now, I may upset a certain generation of people who read my blogs but I am not a big fan of the song, "Onward Christian Soldiers", I like the words but the tune really annoys me. But sticking to this idea going onward really hits me. 2014, apart from the 20 days that have already been, this year is unknown, no one knows what it is going to bring and for some people, including me to an extent, this scares them. The idea of them not being in control and not knowing what lies in store really bothers them. But my message for this blog is very simple, although we don't know what lies ahead and things may change and this year may bring all sorts of concerns and surprises, God's love remains the same. Gary picked an excellent song yesterday written by the late General John Gowans which says those words, "His Love remains the same". So why do we fear the unknown of 2014 if we know that God's love won't change. The year may have changed but God's love hasn't. I pray for myself that I may go onward into the unknown of this year with the confidence that God loves me and I pray that you reading this will too know the unchanging, unfailing, unconditional, incomprehensible Love of God.
I'm looking forward to this year, so many exciting things are going to happen and I am so thankful for the situation I am in; I have the most wonderful people who love me in the form of my family and Sophie, I have the privilege to be here to learn from the wise and lovely people Gary and Lorraine and I have a God who has been faithful and has got me this far, I think I'll trust him for the future.
God Bless.
Get in touch-
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
So, my first week back and the week once more provided me with opportunity to meet people I would have had no chance of meeting before and on top of that to talk to them about faith and about Christ was just a blessing. I look back at the last 5 months and I have had so many opportunities to talk to people about Jesus, it's quite incredible. Whether that be with fellow Christians or through School assemblies or by simply talking to the person who has come to the Salvation Army for help. There is a lovely song called "God be in my Head" and a lyric in that song says "God be in my mouth, and be in my talking". A way for us to communicate God is by talking about Him, not hiding him away and pretending to get on with our lives. In November during a week of training with ALOVE (Youth department for the Salvation Army), we were on Oxford Street handing out leaflets inviting people to visit the Christmas Fair in Regent Hall Salvation Army. As I was doing this, a man walked past me very quickly and said "Jesus loves you!" and I heard him tell that to everybody he walked past on that street. I saw some people have quizzical look on their faces and some even laughing but has he not got the right idea? Okay, his methods are probably not the best but this man was telling everybody about Christ. What does it say in Matthew Chapter 28? "...go and make disciples of all nations...", "All nations", that means everyone should know about Jesus and the love He has for them. I echo the prayer of that song may God continue to be in my talking, may I have the courage to speak of Him to all people of all nations.
I've called the blog "Onwards", and my thinking of this comes from the idea of onwards we go into the new year. Now, I may upset a certain generation of people who read my blogs but I am not a big fan of the song, "Onward Christian Soldiers", I like the words but the tune really annoys me. But sticking to this idea going onward really hits me. 2014, apart from the 20 days that have already been, this year is unknown, no one knows what it is going to bring and for some people, including me to an extent, this scares them. The idea of them not being in control and not knowing what lies in store really bothers them. But my message for this blog is very simple, although we don't know what lies ahead and things may change and this year may bring all sorts of concerns and surprises, God's love remains the same. Gary picked an excellent song yesterday written by the late General John Gowans which says those words, "His Love remains the same". So why do we fear the unknown of 2014 if we know that God's love won't change. The year may have changed but God's love hasn't. I pray for myself that I may go onward into the unknown of this year with the confidence that God loves me and I pray that you reading this will too know the unchanging, unfailing, unconditional, incomprehensible Love of God.
I'm looking forward to this year, so many exciting things are going to happen and I am so thankful for the situation I am in; I have the most wonderful people who love me in the form of my family and Sophie, I have the privilege to be here to learn from the wise and lovely people Gary and Lorraine and I have a God who has been faithful and has got me this far, I think I'll trust him for the future.
God Bless.
Get in touch-
@peggo36
pegg.j@hotmail.co.uk
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