Have faith and continue.

We all have times when life is up and down. Sometimes everything is good, we don't need anything, God seems to be right beside us and all we try to do goes well. Other times life is hard. Something we need has broken down down and we don't have the money to repair or replace it. Maybe we have fallen out with friends or colleagues and God seems to be far far away from us.

In James chapter one, James says it is a good thing to go through trials. God is testing our faith. Going through hard times make us stronger in faith and in life. God doesn't make us go through trials to hurt us, just the opposite, to build us up in our faith. If we find ourselves in the same situation later on in life we know we can overcome because because we did the first time. Also sometimes we go through trials to help others. If we know someone who is struggling through something we have experienced we can get alongside them, knowing how they feel, and encourage them through to the end.

To get through times of trouble we need to stay close to God. We need to decide to stay close to God. We cannot serve two Gods. In Revelation chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 God says to the church of Laodicea "Because you are luke warm I will spit you out of my mouth". God requires us to make up our minds to follow Him, live our lives holy and clean and to stick to that decision. If we don't we are double-minded and can not receive anything from God.

To have a stable life our faith must be shown in every part of our life. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 it says "Without faith it is impossible to please God".

Faith is not just for times in church, itis for every part of our lives. Where do we get our faith? From reading, meditating and living the word of God. Read the Bible and take it in and use it as a manual for life.

To live a stable life we must submit to God. We always want to do things our way, to live our lives as we want to. But God's ways are not our ways. As we live our lives for Him we have to give Him the glory not ourselves. Doing things our way gives us the glory because we are in the forefront of what is happening but if we allow God to work through us we will do things that can only come from Him.

If we pray for someone to be healed and God performs a miracle and that person is healed we are just the tool that God uses when we prayed. We can not heal people other than through God's power, God gets the glory.

We also need to lovingly look out for each other. Not by condemning them but by gently showing them their wrong doing and being there for them, helping them to overcome the problems they hare facing.

Like a pond that in the winter gently freezes bit by bit so our hearts harden towards God just a bit at a time. Maybe we fall out with someone, then have a small problem and blame God, we don't go to church one week and then it is a few weeks that we don't go to church. Because we are not spending time with God and His people we drift into old habits and bit by bit we slowly turn away from God.

Instead we need to forgive each other, bring even small problems before God and watch what we are doing as well as watching out for each other but out of love not condemnation. God does not condemn He forgives.

The world nowadays teaches us to get and keep all that we can. Take care of yourself was not one of God's teachings. Jesus always preached look after one another, give to the poor and needy and look after your neighbours.

Psychologists say that grasping and holding onto things and people only makes us anxious, possessive, controlling and hard to live with. That is why Jesus said in Luke chapter 17 verse 33 "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it but whoever loses his life will preserve it". To lose your life is not to die, but to invest it into God's plan for your life. You might lose your worldly life but you will gain a better life with God.

We need to give our whole lives to God 24 hours a day seven days a week not just the bits when we go to church or spend times with our Christian brothers.

Do everything in a way that pleases God and you will have a better life, and God will use you in ways you can not imagine or have seen before.

What is church ?

We normally think of "Church" as the building.

We are all "The Church". Each one of us, when we become Christians we become part of “The Church”.

There is nothing wrong in having a church building, it is somewhere where we can come together and worship God. The early church in Bible times did not have church buildings and met in each others homes. I wonder if any church congregations today would be able to fit into one of our homes. I suppose we have grown too big to fit in a home. When we visit each other at home we are part of the church meeting in a home.

The church is also a family. The Family of God.

God is our father, our heavenly father, and we are all His children.

We have to love each other as a family, meeting each others needs lovingly as God meets our needs. The more God gives us the more we have to give away to people worse off than ourselves.

The early church in the Bible listened to God and the Holy Spirit and when prompted sold possessions to meet others needs, and gave away other items they had that other people needed.

The church is also formed not for ourselves to be an inward looking group of people, but looking at ways to help others outside of the church both materially and spiritually. God's great commission to all Christians is to "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" Mark 16:15. (NIV)

Not all of us have to stand up and preach from a pulpit. There are many ways to preach the good news, sometimes without words but with good deeds.

Some people have been called to go to foreign lands to preach the good news, but others are called to stay at home and witness to their friends and neighbours and tell them the good news.

We have all been called to be witnesses and this is done by talking and doing good to others.

Part of being a witness is to show God's love to one another. People will be drawn to God's love by the way we act and react to each other both inside and outside of the church family.

Where ever we go and have come into contact with other Christians, we have found more family and we have found God's love. This can be sometimes visiting friends and friends of friends, visiting other churches and even meeting total strangers.

One time we were going back to the UK from one of our many trips to Romania and stopped at a restaurant in Hungary. There was only one other couple in the restaurant. They heard us talking about Romania and the visit and asked why we had been to Romania. It turned out they were on their way to Romania and worked there too.

They were French and we were English and we only knew a small amount of each others language. It ended up with us both, (English and French) having a conversation in Romanian, sharing a meal together and sitting at the same table in a Hungarian restaurant. We often wonder what the waitress thought.

There were no barriers between us because God brought us together through His love, we were all part of the same family.