This was so satisfying to watch. You might not think you can write like this but with practise you can. Something to keep you busy during the summer break or isolation.
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Binging is a word you hear a lot - we binge on chocolate, fast food, Netflix, social media, alcohol... I know a lot about binging, I used to have an eating disorder. I know for a fact that in most cases, neither binging or completely denying ourselves is good. God intended us to have balance in our lives. There is nothing wrong with chocolate, fast food, Netflix or alcohol as long as it is part of a balanced life (and you are over the legal drinking age).
Luke 9:23 says, Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. When we binge, we are thinking only of ourselves and how to gratify our selfish desires. So how do we stop? Ephesians 5:18 talks about binge drinking. Paul said, Don’t be drunk with wine, which will ruin your life, but be filled with the Spirit. Here's my paraphrase for the 21st century, Don't binge on wine, chocolate, chips, Maccas, cake, Netflix, Instagram or Snapchat. Instead binge on the things of the Spirit - reading and studying your Bible, prayer, worship, giving thanks. You get drunk on wine by drinking too much of it, so it follows that you become filled with the spirit by feeding it - reading the Bible, praying, meditating on God's Word, singing songs of worship, giving thanks to God for all that he has done for you... Often binging is triggered by certain emotions or feelings such as despair, hopelessness, depression, guilt, shame, pain... Ironically, binging usually increases these feelings, rather than relieve them. One of the most effective ways of getting our minds off of ourselves is to do something for someone else. Being kind to someone else can be a great release valve to those negative emotions. In Ephesians 4:32 Paul instructed us to Be kind and compassionate to one another. Next time you feel yourself spiralling towards another binge session, do something for someone else - ring or visit a friend (don't just text or message them), make someone a nice card and send it to them, help your mum with the chores, play a board game or computer game with your brother or sister, write positive, encouraging comments on people's social media posts, bake a cake and take it to your neighbour... It's obviously a bit more complicated than what I've outlined above but next time you feel yourself spiralling out of control and tempted to binge on [insert your weakness here], fill up on the spirit instead of chocolate and be kind to someone. It might not solve all your problems, but it might help. Worship is not a style of music or song. It doesn't just happen at church on a Sunday. According to Tim Lucas at https://worshipdeeper.com, worship is declaring the greatness of someone or something. Delesslyn A. Kennebrew at www.christianitytoday.com defines worship as the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities. So basically, worshipping God is making him our number one priority. It starts with an attitude and flows to our actions. If we really love God with all our body, soul, strength and mind we will live a life devoted to him. How we spend our time and money, what occupies our thoughts and attention, what we consume will all reflect this. We will worship him with our songs, with our financial offerings, by spending time reading his word and talking to him in prayer, we will worship him by serving others.
If God isn't your number one priority, something else will be. Money, fame, success, self, music, entertainment, sport, looks, alcohol, drugs or another person will fill that spot. God said that we are to worship him only - and that shouldn't do that out of fear, but out of love. CHALLENGE: What is your number one priority? Does how you spend your time or money reflect that? This video is a bit longer than we usually share but Sadie shares the best advice she got from the guests on her Whoa That's Good Podcast in 2020. I love her southern accent! 19 year old Sara Barratt lives a life on fire for Jesus and has written a book to help other teens do the same. In a nutshell, it is a book about loving other people and telling them about Jesus. She uses stories from her own life plus the lives of others as an example. I highly recommend it.
Easton's Bible Dictionary defines a vision as a vivid apparition, not a dream. In plain English it is a visual message from God. I like to imagine that it's a bit like the holographic messages in Star Wars but that is entirely from my imagination and not the Bible. Visions are one way God communicated with his people in both the Old and New Testaments. He used visions to warn people of coming events, to encourage them, to warn people of their disobedience, or to instruct someone what to do. Visions are different to dreams as they can occur while you're awake.
I am fairly certain that God still speaks to people in visions but I think that most of us are too busy to be receptive. In the passage in Acts 2 it was the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came on the disciples. Peter was quoting a passage from the book of Joel in the Old Testament. This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. My understanding is that we are in those last days now (that is, the time between Jesus' first coming and when he will come back again. I don't think Peter was implying that only men will have visions and dreams but that men and women will proclaim his message, see visions and have dreams. He was saying that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on everyone regardless of race or gender. |
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