Ali's Page

Posted by Ali on April 26th, 2008 at 2:11am
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By nature, I'm easily one of the most impatient people in the WORLD, but as a Christian, this isn't great because I searched on Bible Gateway and there are 44 different verses that mention 'patient'or 'patience'!

I've realised that patience goes hand in hand with faith. We can't really have one without the other and if we try, we fail. Now many of us are waiting for husbands, so I'd like to encourage anyone who is a bit like me - a bit of a finger tapper, always waiting with one hand on the hip, trying not to tap your foot... to first repent (because it's not good!) and then meditate on scriptures about this and about trust. (Use Biblegateway, it's GREAT!).

When the urge comes back to worry or to doubt that God is even listening, these verses will pop up in our minds and faith will strengthen.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day and let's keep trying to be PATIENT! :0D

Posted by Ali on April 5th, 2008 at 6:32am
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Do you have any needs?

Any needs at all?

Sounds like a trick question doesn't it?

Recently James 5:16 has been on my heart so I thought I'd share it's context with you:

James 5

vs 13-16:
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

If you're anything like me, you come across Bible verses like this alot -verses that tell you how you should be behaving, how you should think and how you should turn to God always. Then, if you're like me, after reading these verses sometimes you close your Bible with a sigh: If only life was really that simple...

Guess what?
It is!

Like many of you, I'm currently praying about marriage. I pray about my future husband every day. In fact I pray about this so often that I would not be at all surprised if one day, God sent an angel down to tap me on the shoulder and say:

"... Listen mate, I've got an URGENT message for you. God wants you to know that He has heard your prayer. In fact He heard it the very first time you said it and He wants you to know - that'll do. Enough with the quoting of the same scriptures. Enough with the believing and receiving. ENOUGH already!..."

But God hasn't done this yet, so I'm going to keep praying! :-)

You see there's something special about fervent prayer. God likes us to sometimes press through a situation, until we see a result. Now, let it be said that I do not know why this should have to happen. Why should we have to keep praying the same thing? God knows our needs. He knows what we are going to say, before we even open our mouths - so why, why, why, do we have to drone on and on and about the same thing? I am 100% persuaded that God is 100% capable of answering every single one of our prayers in a nanosecond. Can you imagine if it went like this:

Lord I need healing for... and ! ZAP ! Instantly healed.
Lord, I have this unexpected bill that I can't pay... !ZAP! Extra funds appear.
Lord, I need... ! ZAP !

How easy would that be? It'd be GREAT! Why doesn't it happen like this? Do want my honest answer? I don't always know! I've no idea why we can't sometimes get answers much quicker than we do. But I tell you what I do know for sure - Jesus said in Luke 11:9-10 (King James Version) "...And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened..."

Jesus said that. This means that He's designed it to be this way - on purpose!

Because Jesus said this, I'm now encouraged that the droning on isn't just droning - it's building my faith and developing my trust in God. He really does have the answers and He really can fulfill our needs, it's just that sometimes we have to demonstrate our faith by not giving up at the very first hurdle.

I hope this encourages you. My prayer is that today you'll pick up that Bible, find every verse that applies to your situation and make up our mind to believe them. If you want more scriptures to pray over feel free to ask - there's probably 20 on my list! Just stand on them and make them your authority, not the circumstances that you see around you. Whatever you do: Just. Keep. Praying!

Posted by Ali on March 14th, 2008 at 2:12pm
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The devil is a liar!

Ephesians 3:20 says: "Now to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (KJV)

If you have a need today, God can help you. Not only can He help with what you ask if it's in line with His word, He can do exceedingly abundantly more than you ask, according to the power that works within us. The New International version puts it a different way. It says he is "... able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.."

Do you believe this?

Many of us are praying for husbands right now and God's provision applies to this too. It doesn't matter what we feel or what the likes of eHarmony's Marriage Quiz says (have you tried it? You have to laugh!). Despite what everyone says, HE CAN do it!

Be encouraged!

:oD

Posted by Ali on March 12th, 2008 at 7:20am
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I was reading 3 John 1:2 this morning and pondering how our soul prospers.

Now I think prosperity means lots of different things and I tend to focus more on prosperous relationships with people than I do finances. What struck me today is the importance of putting the right things in to get the right things out! If we feed our soul (mind, will and emotions) with doubts, fears and naysaying, that get into our hearts via what we see and hear, then the only thing that can come out is a harvestful of the same.

How major is that?!

As we're praying for our husbands and for those of others, it's dawned on me of the importance that we focus our minds on what God says about marriage, His will for our lives and His awesome power to do what is ordinarily impossible. We're surrounded by tv statistics that tell us about divorce, the (un)likelihood of marriage over a certain age, and our well-meaning friends and family members often churn out the same stuff.

Well thank God that we can look at things that are not seen and have a 100% assurance that God can be trusted!

My hope for you today is that you feed your soul on good things. I'd encourage you to switch off the television sometimes, as it feeds our minds on bad news, immorality and violence.

We serve a mighty and faithful God!

Have a great day.

Ax

Posted by Ali on March 8th, 2008 at 8:53pm
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To a beautiful person