Random thought.

Recently I have been doing a reading plan for the bible, titled "why could we read the bible?" I have found it quite interesting. Yet today, this verse really caught my eye.

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. (Ezra 7:10 KJV)

Are we doing the same?

It really made me think and question how much I have prepared my heart for the word and law of God. Have I embedded God's message on my heart? Am I actively seeking the word? If I'm honest I would say it is far easier to prepare your heart to just listen to the word than to actively seek it.

The second part made me think even more.
...and to do it...

Ezra had prepared his heart to do the word. Of course there are some parts of the word which are easy to do, others not so easy. In James, we are called to be doers not just hearers of the word.Are we acting on what we hear and read?

But I think what caught my attention the most was that Ezra was prepared to teach the word. He was prepared to share the word, to help people understand it. Are we prepared to do the same? It can be particularly difficult to teach the word, especially when we know it already but it is so important. People need us to explain the bible to them, to help them to understand God. We need to be prepared.

If we just seek Gods word, we will help nobody. But even if we just start acting on what we hear we will be showing others and teaching others. We need to be people who are willing to step out and teach others, help them to understand.

So Jesus, please help me when I seek your word. Please prompt me every day to prepare my heart. Help me to be a doer of your word. Please help me to be a good teacher of your word. Amen. X

Dry Bones

It has been a really long time since I last posted a blog. So much has happened:

• I am learning to drive :)
• I have finished all of my AS exams.
• I have started to look around several universities - hugely scary! 
• I have been to Auschwitz on a history trip - very eye opening.
• I have preached at LIFE.
• And loads more exciting things!! :D

And this is just some of the things that I have been up to recently. So much has changed, yet so little has changed... I still love to write and I still feel I have so much to say so I have decided to start writing this blog again, as often as possible. 

A little while back I was listening to Hillsong and their song 'Bones' really spoke to me. It says, "You can take my dry bones, breathe life into this skin..."

I decided to look into the passage that inspired the song, Ezekiel 37. 

God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Master God, only you know that."

He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"

God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"

(The Message Version)

God gives Ezekiel a vision of the people of Israel, a valley of dry bones, emphasising the way in which they no longer have true life - Jesus (the way, the truth and the life) - as a part of their lives. Equally though this picture is also true of all of us. It is true of all people who do not know Jesus, and people who are not living life to their full potential.

God tests Ezekiel's faith saying, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Today God asks us the same thing, in things that seem so hopeless, so dry and so dead, God questions whether we believe that they can live. More importantly I think that God is asking us whether we trust him to bring our dry bones to life, and whether we trust him to bring our friends and family back to him.

But this is not supposed to be a picture of despair and desperation, no it is a picture of hope. When Ezekiel prophesies over the bones to 'hear the message of God,' God starts work. He starts to take the bones, he breathes life back into them and he fits them together. God will fix our dry bones, if only we would believe that he could. 

But this is also a huge picture of hope for our friend and families, for the LIFErs and for anyone who does not know Jesus. God can bring true life to them. 

We are all dry bones to some extent, struggling in some areas of our life. We all need God. 

So let God grab your attention, listen to him, believe him and tell your dry bones to 'listen to the message of God'.

'He can take your dry bones, breathe life into your skin...'