Matthew 7: 21-23

I was reading this passage the other day, and as that happens with many who read the Bible, this was not the first time I have this scripture but this time I learnt something new from it.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

I thought to myself I try to do things in Jesus name, just as that verse describes, and I worried that one day Jesus would say to me 'I never knew you'. I think what this passage means is that if you do things (in the name of Jesus) but you are not really doing them for His will and glory, then you must be doing them for yourself and you will never get to truly know Jesus

I tried to apply to this to where I am at in my own life at the moment. I am trying to make big decisions now that I have finished Queen's in what to do next, and my big fear is that I will make a decision based on what I would like to do and not God's will for my life. For example I have had some ideas of things I would like to do in the future, and then I have prayed about them. I wish I had of prayed first, and then came up with those ideas, so that I could know they were from God! I don't want to pray about something because it is what I want. I would hate to wake up some morning and realise I've really been doing things for my enjoyment and not for God's pleasure and have Jesus say to me 'I don't know you'.

So please pray for me so that I can make decisions without being blinded by my own human ambition and that God would reveal His will to me and also that I would know Jesus more everyday.

city centre 24-7 prayer

I was hugely encouraged by the sight of a prayer room in the main shopping area of the city centre of the capital of northern ireland...that's right Belfast!! In the old accessorise shop, the methodist church in Ireland had set up a temporary 24 hour, 7 day a week prayer room. It was amazing to see open doors and windows and being able to watch people pray from the busiest street in northern ireland. Curious people who maybe had no faith were able to get their first possible taste of their maker.

It's a shame it's only temporary, but wouldn't it be great if we could encourage a more permanent one in such an amazing location? Thank you Lord though, for what you have given us! For more check out this

Armageddon like

One would have to be inhumane not to be moved by recent disasters in first burma and then china. So far the death toll is 40,000 (including many crushed school children) in china and 78,000 in burma with many more displaced and desolate. To many that is just a number but try to let that sink in for a while. They were human beings just like you and me with lives and families and there were enough of those people to fill wembley stadium twice over. That is tragic... in fact there are no words.

Once again the shallow western media haven't made a big deal out of this. They have barely made a front page yet the scale of the death and human displacement is tsunami like. When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we heard about it for over a month. Don't get me wrong that disaster was also terrible and it was right that we were made aware of the devastation for so long, but surely then don't china and myanmar deserve the same respect? Sure both are very closed countries, burma more so than china, but that should make us want to make even more effort.

China have actually got quite an impressive military regime that will have the worst affected areas up and running again in no time but the picture is bleak elsewhere, especially in burma. The UN chief Ban Ki-Moon is there today trying to force the issue of international aid. Please pray that the burmese government will give in to international aid so that the many left broken and homeless can get help they so desperately need. Also pray for the millions left behind from the disasters, that they would find help to rebuild their lives and comfort from loosing the ones they loved. You can also give at Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) by clicking here.

That's not all however. In South Africa angry mobs have broke out killing at least 40 and displacing up 15,000 other people. Read more on the BBC Website. Also at the start of the month there was the massive volcano eruption/electric storm which brought about some awesome fearworthy pictures. It is believed the volcano had been dormant for thousands of years! With all these disasters occurring in such a short space of time - that is weeks! - for me it all had very much an armageddon feel to it, with reference to Matt 24:7 (and various other scriptures) "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places."

Check out this amazing photo of the chaitan volcano