Let it Shine!

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“Light has dawned that ever shall blaze
Darkness flees away
Christ the light has shone in our hearts
Turning night to day
We proclaim Him King of kings
We lift high His name
Heaven and earth shall bow at His feet
When He comes to reign” – Graham Kendrick

Today is October 31st; and like in our previous blog post; I am well aware of the fact that tonight lots of children will be dressing up as ghouls & goblins etc.

Whilst doing some research for last week’s blog post, I came across the video that I have posted below.  It was created by Glen Scrivener and can be found via the Christian resource website: https://www.10ofthose.com

I really loved the message that it brought; one that really declares the truth of how great and powerful our God and Saviour Jesus is; and how darkness is no match at all for the Light. That is why I put the lyrics of Graham Kendrick’s song ‘Light has dawned that ever shall blaze’ from 1988 at the top of the post. As it says; ‘Darkness flees away’.

So tonight is not a time to hid our light under a bushel, or be fearful of this ‘spector-full spectacle’ that ‘All Hallows Eve’ (Halloweeen) has become. ‘Christ the Light has shone in our hearts, turning night to day’. So there is no-room for darkness and fear, where love and light have taken up residence.

Be a light in the darkness around you; not with the voice of judgment or the finger of condemnation; but with words of truth and love (See Isaiah 58:9-12).

Shine!

Love!

Be Fearless!

Enjoy the video.

Here is the transcript of the words used in the video:

“Vast armies undead do tread through the night and
In hordes march towards hapless victims to frighten.
They stumble in step with glass-eyes on the prizes;
Bunched hither, hunched over in monstrous disguises;
In sizes not lofty but numb’ring a throng;
To unleash on their prey the dreaded DING DONG.
Small faces with traces of mother’s eye-liner,
Peer up to the resident candy provider.

And there to intone ancient threats learnt verbatim;
They lisp “TRICK OR TREAT!” Tis their stark ultimatum.
Thus: region by region such legions take plunder.
Does this spector-full spectacle cause you to wonder?
Just how did our fair festive forebears conceive,
Of this primeval practice called All Hallows Eve?
The answer, if anyone cares to research,
Surprises, it rises from old mother church.

On the cusp of the customary All Saints Day
The Christ-i-an kinsfolk made mocking display.
These children of light both to tease and deride;
Don darkness, doll down as the sinister side.
In pre-post-er-ous pageants and dress diabolic,
They hand to the damned just one final frolick.
You see with the light of the dawn on the morrow,
The sunrise will swallow such darkness and sorrow.

The future is futile for forces of evil;
And so they did scorn them in times Medieval.
For this is the nature of shadow and gloom;
In the gleaming of glory there can be no room.
What force is resourced by the echoing black?
When the brightness ignites can the shadow push back?
These ‘powers’ of darkness, if such can be called,
Are banished by brilliance, by blazing enthralled.

So the bible begins with this fore-resolved fight;
For a moment the darkness…. then “Let there be Light!”
First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East.
First valley of shadow, then mountaintop feast.
First wait for Messiah, then long-promised Dawn.
First desolate Friday and then Easter Morn.
The armies of darkness when doing their worst,
Can never extinguish this Dazzling Sunburst.

So… ridicule rogues if you must play a role;
But beware getting lost in that bottomless hole.
The triumph is not with the forces of night.
It dawned with the One who said “I am the Light!” – Glen Scrivener.

“Fear-Less, Love-More”

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“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – 1 John 4:18

As we are coming up to the annual celebration of Halloween; a time where we now traditionally dress-up in costume as scary monsters such as vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches & werewolves. People decorate their houses with cobwebs, spiders, bats and other things to give it that ‘haunted house’ look, and hold ‘Halloween’ parties with food and drink to match the occasion.

On the TV and in the Cinemas there are a plethora of films and programmes all designed with one thing in mind, to give us a fright. To shock & to scare.

To make us afraid.

Fear.

Fear is the watchword of October 31st.

Fear; that feeling of dread that comes upon us when we perceive a danger of threat and gets us ready to fight or flight. However, unwarranted fear or irrational fear, which is called a phobia, can negatively impact our lives, and today, so many people are crippled by so many different phobias ranging from Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing, through Logizomechanophobia- Fear of computers, to Zoophobia- Fear of animals.  There is even Phobophobia- Fear of phobias.

Thanks be to God who has given us the solution to our modern world with all of its fears and phobias.

In the Bible, God says to us ‘Fear Not’ on several occasions; although not the 365 as is sometimes erroneously quoted to state that there is a ‘fear not’ for every day of the year; but it is still a command God encourages us with, knowing that fear will come into our lives and that He has not called us to live in fear, but to be brave and courageous.

Listen to God’s encouragement to Joshua before he took the children of Israel into the promised land; “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.“

God calls His people to NOT fear, but be strong and courageous.

How do we do this?

The scripture at the top of this post is the key.

‘All you need is love.” or more accurately “All you need’s His love.”

God’s perfect love casts out ALL fear. There is not a single phobia that God’s love cannot overcome and cast out of our lives.

The more we allow the truth that God loves us to permeate our thinking, the more we are freed from Fear.

This Halloween, let’s not let Fear have the rule of the roost, but let’s boot Fear out with God’s anti-dote; ‘Love‘.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” – 1 John 4:16

“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100:5

“Selah vie!”

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“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

The title for this blog post is a little bit of a tongue in cheek one.  A little bit of word play; instead of ‘c’est la vie!’ (That’s life in French) it’s ‘Selah vie!’; with Selah being a Hebrew word that occurs in two books in the Bible; Habbakuk and more prominently in the book of Psalms.

In trying to understand what ‘Selah’ means, scholars have come up with a few possible translations; one being that it relates to the Hebrew word ‘calah‘, meaning to hang or measure/weigh in the balance; check out Job 28:19. Another way to look at ‘Selah’ is that it takes its meaning from two Hebrew root words; ‘s’lah’ meaning to praise; and ‘s’lal‘ meaning to lift up. Other scholars believe it comes from the Hebrew word ‘salah‘, meaning to pause.

It could actually encompass all three explanations.

‘Selah’ indicating that we pause and value the words that have just been declared in the Psalm; and in that place of contemplative reflection upon the truths of God, we naturally lift up our hands and voices in praise to God.

That’s why I chose the verse from Psalm 46 above.

In the busyness of life and all that we are doing, when things get tough and we don’t know where to turn; instead of shrugging our shoulders and saying ‘c’est la vie!’ That’s life and there is nothing we can do about it; instead lets ‘Selah’; pause and think about God’s truths, God’s promises, God’s faithfulness, God’s power, God’s love.  Let us take time-out to spend gazing in wonder at our great Creator and Saviour; our God and King Jesus Christ.

In that place of awe and wonder, we cannot help but lift up our heads, lift up our hearts and lift up our voices in praise and adoration of our amazing Lord.

“In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:10

So this half-term let us take time-out and pause, reflect upon the value of God, and also the value He places upon us, and lets us lift up our hearts to Him in praise.

Be blessed.

Heroes Day!

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On the 20th of October in Kenya, they celebrate ‘Heroes Day‘, or ‘Mashujaa Day’ –“mashujaa” is Swahili for “heroes”. This is a national holiday in Kenya, which is observed to collectively honour all those who contributed towards the struggle for Kenya’s independence or positively contributed in the post independence Kenya.

It is a day for all Kenyans to honour those who have worked and contributed towards the peace and prosperity of their nation.

It made me think of the list of Heroes of the faith that are described in Hebrew chapter 11. The write of Hebrews then goes on to encourage his readers that “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1

The example given by the heroes of the faith, who despite, opposition, setbacks and persecution that in some cases even led to their deaths, they stayed faithful to God and followed His call upon their lives right until the end, encourages us to do likewise.

Today we have even more heroes of the faith whose lives we can look at to give us encouragement and courage to stay strong and faithful in trials and temptations. People such as  Hudson Taylor, William Wilberforce, Gladys Aylward &  Mary Slessor. Heroes that blazed a trail of faith and devotion as they followed their Saviour.

But we also have heroes of the faith in our own personal lives, people whose faithful obedience has impacted our lives, such as the person who first told you about Jesus.

Today, on the 20th of October, spend some time thanking God for those people that He sent into our world and into our lives to make a difference.

Thank Him for those who selflessly serve and obey Him.

Thank Him for those He has placed in leadership over us, both spiritually and also nationally.

Pray for them too, that God’s will would be done in their lives.

Who are your heroes today?

How can you honour them and thank God for them?

Ultimately let us remember and thank the greatest hero of them all; Jesus.

“Asifiwe Mungu, Baba wa Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo! Kwa rehema yake kuu ametufanya tuzaliwe upya ili tupate tumaini lenye uzima kwa kufufuka kwa Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo kutoka kwa wafu” – 1 Peter 1:3 in Kiswahili (the national language of Kenya).

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”  – 1 Peter 1:3

“You can’t do life alone”

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“As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.“ – 1 Corinthians 12:20-27

We held the last of our ‘We Believe’ series nights at Redefine.

It was yet another great night, where we looked at the importance for Christians to be in fellowship and community with each other.  We looked at how God had made it so that we had to work together to see His Kingdom come and will be done, both in our lives and the lives of our local community.

As a Christian ‘You can’t do life alone.”

The above passage from the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth uses the metaphor of a body with its many different parts to illustrate this point. We need every part of the body functioning properly in its right place for the whole body to work.  If one part is missing or not working correctly, then the body will not function correctly.

We are all important in God’s kingdom and in His church, and we all have a vital part to play. In the human body we have some parts that are hidden and not very well known, such as the spleen.  However, without it our body would be much more susceptible to infection, amongst other things.

So too in the church.  If one part is missing, there is a life and vitality that is missing, and we all need to play our part.

A great opportunity for playing your part in the body of Christ is in prayer.  Supporting one another in prayer.

This coming Sunday we will be holding our monthly prayer meeting for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre and we would like to extend an invitation to you to come along and fellowship with us and as the write of the book of Hebrews says “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.“

The prayer meeting we be held on Sunday 23rd October from 7-8pm.

We hope to see you there.

Volunteer Of The Year

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We’re immensely excited and proud to announce that our good friend and team member Dewi has been shortlisted for the 2016 Youthwork Awards, Volunteer Of The Year Award. He is very deserving and a great example to us.

We nominated Dewi earlier this year because of his ability to encourage young people, his enthusiasm and consistency, his teachable nature, and his passion for teaching music. Dewi has been involved in our work for five years, and has always been a good friend and role model.

We’re excited that he’s on this national shortlist, and will look forward to hearing about how the ceremony in London goes in November.

If that wasn’t enough, Tim has also been shortlisted for his blog youthworkhacks.com for a 2016 Premier Digital Award for Most Inspirational Leadership Blog.

So why get involved in Llandudno Youth For Christ? Because God does immense work through this ministry, helping young people meet with Jesus and go on with Him. Consider joining our family an being part of of impactful movement that is getting recognition from across the UK.

If you’d like to consider joining our team, why not fill in an application form and start a conversation with us. Or just get in touch and chat!

Pray for Dewi – give thanks for all his work – and pray for even more fruit from his continued ministry.

“I will weorthscipe with all of my heart”

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Last Sunday night with our ‘Redefine’ youth Bible study evening we looked at the statement ‘Everyone is a worship leader‘, and this blog comes out of the teaching given during the evening.

The title of this blog comes from David Ruis’ song ‘I will worship‘, but I have inserted the Old English spelling of the word worship: ‘weorth-scipe‘ or ‘worth-ship’.  This is the state or quality of having value or worth.  Or to convey the worthiness of something.  So we can look at worship of God as being conveying or acknowledging the worthiness or value of God.

When we turn to the first time that the word worship is mentioned in the Bible, we see the Hebrew word שָׁחָה – ‘shachah’ used.  This is in Genesis 22 when Abraham has been asked by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac; a son that God had promised to Abraham. The hebrew word here means to ‘bow down’ or ‘prostrate oneself’ before a superior or God. Abraham’s worship was not singing songs, doing a dance or painting a picture.  His worship was a sacrifice. His worship was obedience in the face of adversity. His worship was doing what God had asked him to do.

Worship comes from a place where we know that God is God and we are not.

We naturally bow down before our amazing God in the awe and reverence for all He has done for us and because of how great He is.

This awe and worship leads to action and obedience, as in the case of Abraham.

In the book of Isaiah, we see God paint a picture of the kind of worship He looks for: “Set free those who are held by chains without any reason…. Break every evil chain. Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family… Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong. Stop saying harmful things about them…Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed. Then my blessing will light up your darkness...You will be like a garden that has plenty of water... ” Isaiah 58 (excerpts)

God doesn’t want long ceremonies or religious parades; He wants us to love Him and love each other.

Simple.

It all boils down to relationship and focus.  What or who we spend time with and on not only shows what is important to us, but it also shapes us.  So, if we spend time focussing on God, talking with Him in prayer and worship, we will naturally want to spend more time with Him; to use a quote I recently discovered; “As you know Jesus more, you naturally love Him more. The less you know of Him, the less you love. To know Jesus is to love Him.” – Eric Samuel Timm.

Our worship will direct and lead us in the way we live and in turn this will impact upon the lives of those around us.

So it can be said that ‘Everyone is a worship leader’

Let’s lead more people to know and discover our great God, so that they too can give Him ‘weorthscipe’.

 

 

 

 

post about worship following on from Sunday eve’s Redefine.

The Monthly Meet!

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“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25

For the past 4 years, here at Llandudno Youth for Christ we have held an event called ‘The Monthly Meet’. It is held on the 3rd Monday of every month during term time.

At the Monthly Meet we have gathered together a small group of full-time, part-time and volunteer Christian youth workers from around North Wales.

We meet together to share experiences, pray, network and drink good coffee. Each session is focussed around a specific training theme or topic. These nights are discussion driven and try hard to strike a balance between solid Bible theology and relevant application.

Our director here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, Mr Tim Gough, has personally been involved in Christian youth work for over ten years and knows just how easy it is to become isolated. In that spirit, of combatting isolationism and fostering a community spirit of Christian fellowship and partnering with each other, we would love to extend an invitation to you and your team to join us at the Monthly Meet.

You can find us on Facebook here: facebook.com/groups/monthlymeetwales/

We meet, as stated above on the 3rd Monday of every month during term time, from 7-9pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Llandudno, LL30 1LA. There’s plenty of free parking, and we’ll have good coffee waiting for you.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1

Our first get together this term is October 17th.

Hope to see you there.