Rap up your life in soul music!

The insatiable desire of the soul for God - only God can satisfy the soul

Psalms 63 - A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:

my soul thirsteth for thee,

my flesh longeth for thee

in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

To see thy power and thy glory,

so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,

my lips shall praise thee.

Thus will I bless thee while I live:

I will lift up my hands in thy name. 

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;

and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

When I remember thee upon my bed,

and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Because thou hast been my help,

therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

My soul followeth hard after thee:

thy right hand upholdeth me.

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,

shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

They shall fall by the sword:

they shall be a portion for foxes.

But the king shall rejoice in God;

every one that sweareth by him shall glory:

but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

Psalms 143:6

I stretch forth my hands unto thee:

my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

Psalms 33:20

Our soul waiteth for the Lord:

he is our help and our shield.

Psalms 25:1 - A Psalm of David.

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

Psalms 103:1-2 - A Psalm of David.

Bless the Lord, O my soul:

and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits:

Psalms 103:22

Bless the Lord, all his works

in all places of his dominion:

bless the Lord, O my soul.

Psalms 63:8-9

My soul followeth hard after thee:

thy right hand upholdeth me.

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,

shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

Psalms 62:1 - To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.

Truly my soul waiteth upon God:

from him cometh my salvation.

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Home again Home again jiggity jig

Home again Home again jiggity jig! It's good to be away, especially on holiday, but there's nothing quite like getting home again!

Every now and again we all need a break from the routines of our daily life. We need some new scenery. The drudgery of repeatedly doing the same things week after week can wear us down. So it's time for a break. 

Health experts advise stopping what you are doing regularly and having a short break. Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours can be soul destroying!

Get up go for a walk, change your viewpoint, relax. Take a break!

All good advice, especially when you are weary and need a change, a rest or a complete break. I have thoroughly enjoyed my ten days in Tenerife. It was a privilege to get that type of a break. I know everyone can't do it so I appreciate God's grace in allowing me to - along with my family. 

But, I am not writing this piece to focus on my break but on the principle of rest. We all need rest but rest comes in different guises to meet differing needs. 

For instance our bodies need regular rest. Whether it's a brief break during the day, or a good nights sleep we need regular rest for our physical frames. We are made of dust and at the best weak and dependant. Psalm 103:14 says "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust".

Maybe this has dawned on you. If not it will one day. It reminds me of the fragility and brevity of life.

We (our souls) long for rest. Only God can provide that rest through His Son, Jesus Christ. The words of the Lord Jesus express the answer He has to the human need for rest - Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".

This rest is only possible because Christ died for our sins, he was buried and rose again on the third day, 1 Corinthians 15:3.  

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What would you ask Jesus?

You owe God everything!

He gave you life and breath!

He gave you free will!

We have sinned and broken God's law!

He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to take our punishment!

Christ died for our sins, he was buried and he rose again on the third day!

God will forgive you if you turn from your wrong doing and wrong beliefs and accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour.

You owe God everything but if you got the chance what would you ask Jesus? Would you try to out-smart him as the people in today's passage did? Or would you ask him why, if he is God, he came down to earth to die for ungrateful people like us? Why he chose to take on our suffering and death? Why he left the utopia of heaven to come to a sick and sad world like this. 

The answer is already in the Bible - He came because he delights to have company with people like us. Because he loved his Father, in heaven, and God loved this world and sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. The bottom line is he loved us because he chose to love us.

What love! 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!

Here is love vast as the ocean!

Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us........

Before you go please read this passage from the Bible.

Mark 12King James Version (KJV)

12 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.

5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.

6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.

7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.'

8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.

9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.

10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:

11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.

13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?

15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.

16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.

17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,

19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.

21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.

23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

The claims of Jesus!

Can I say first that the Lord Jesus was most humble and unassuming!

You will search in vain to find any proud, arrogant, assertive statements about himself. 

BUT you will never find a denial about who He is. 

All of this is a fulfilment of another bible prophecy - Isaiah 42:2 "He shall not cry, nor lift up, not cause His voice to be heard in the street". 

Note when He had carried out a miracle he often instructed the person not to go and broadcast what had been done, see Mark 7:36 "And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it".

THE LORD JESUS LEFT ANY RECOGNITION AND ACCLAIM TO BE GIVEN BY HIS FATHER, GOD, MEN AND WOMEN WHO RECOGNISED HIM FOR WHO HE IS - HAVE YOU?

God spoke from heaven - "this is my beloved Son/Thou art my beloved Son as recorded in Matt 3:17, Matt 17:5, Mark 1:1, Luke 3:22, 2 Peter 1:17

Men said - Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God - Matthew 16:16

Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel - John 1:49

I perceive that thou art a prophet - John 4:19

Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ - John      

                        4:29

This is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world - John 4:42

You have to decide who you think Jesus is? This is not an option! Either you decide in life and come to know Him as your Lord and Saviour or you leave it or ignore it and find out that He is the Son of God when it is too late to accept him as your Saviour. 

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk