what has God done for you lately?

big things, little things. it's always good not to forget to be thankful. sometimes we can rant on with requests for ages and then forget that what we asked for was actually answered.

just a very small thing to start. i thanked God today cos me and rach were in norwich and she had to get back to dereham for work and it was way busy, and she got the very last place on the bus. if we'd have been about 5 seconds later she'd have ended up late.

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MEGA
LOLZ
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thats sweet

lotsa stuff has been goin on lately, it really feels like a transitional period for me atm. but yeah... specific stuff...

well, a dude at my church, a big black guy called Ron, has been gettin loads of images for me atm. very cool. so far he's had a clock, a calendar, and then a clock in my hand. so whatever it all means, theres something to do with time in there.

at church last week we had a massive healing session, which was awesome, coz a lot of people got healed, but today we were told there was unfinished business, so we had some more healing. my mum got prayer for her back, and she got taken out in the spirit, and was on the floor for about half an hour. it was awesome. i looked over at Ron who was standing near her, and we just grinned at each other. church is flipping awesome.

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the original fashion victim

i've told james a little about this, but basically, God is super caning my exams for me. obviously i pray about each exam before i do it, but i've been praying for certain aspects of courses to come up, and certain questions, coz i know i could cane them, and likewise i've been asking that certain parts dont come up. and God has answered EVERY request. it's like the exams are tailor made for me. even if my request is specific and obscure, its happened. its quite amazing.

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the original fashion victim

AWESOME! sounds the best dude.

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MEGA
LOLZ
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Well I'm off to Romania this morning, and when we had our team meeting just over ago it was brilliant. Really looking forward to it. Me and several other people got the sense that we were all being called out there for very different, very individual reasons...it's going to be exciting to see. this guy was praying for me a few days before that and got the image of a violin, with all it's intricacies, but it was focussed on the curly bit at the end of them. He said he felt God was gonna be doing things in the small details of my life while I'm out there.

I've been really really busy this whole term, with dissertation and then straight into exams, which was by far the hardest exam period I've done. So i've been very busy, and it's easy to forget to put God first sometimes, or even when I try if my heads full of stuff and I'm stressed, I gotta actually want to spend time with him rather that be doing it out of duty cos actually I'm thinking I should tbe revising or whatnot. But of course he has stood firm, and really helped me through with his peace.
I thought one of my exams was in the afternoon the next day once, and found out it was morning only at midnight! but having thought it was morning I went to this park on a hill in Sheffield with some people for the evening to chill out have some food, have some fun, and worship to the most beautiful sunset. I wouldnt have done it if I knew my exam was in the morning, but I didn't find out til later, and the exam went really well! Ever since then I hadn't been stressed at all about my remaining exams.
There's also been this group of friends, which has formed from different people's different friends, but we all seemed to click when we met and we've been doing stuff for the last few weeks since then, had some brilliant conversations about all sorts and stuff. They've been amazing, when I've spent time with that it's been explicitly time spent not worrying about other things, again really helping me through all the hard work! me and Asha (from my church, the only one I really know before I met the others) both think it's God's doing, and it's been really encouraging.

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eat my hoody

thats all really awesome dude. i hope it all goes well in Romania, i'll be praying. and i'll get that money to you at some point.

God did it again for my exams today. nuked. and like josh said, its been amazing how much peace i've had through these exams. i used to get really quite stressed about exam periods, but during this one, my most serious up til this point, i've just handed it all over to God, and the peace and calm that i've felt is amazing.

there's gonna be a lot going on this summer. i have no idea what, but i can tell big things are gonna happen. times are a-changin'. heh, i'm listenin to history maker atm. how apt.

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the original fashion victim

i go on a lot of walks, and there are two things that i've noticed that God does for me each time...

first of all, i'm sure you're all aware of how ridiculous some of the drivers are around here on such narrow country lanes. well it seems that whenever i'm walking down a road, there will always be a verge i can step onto at the exact time i need to. its not like i'll see a car way off in the distance, get on the nearest verge and wait til the car passes, i can just keep walking and there will be a place for me to get out of the way at just the right time. the timing of it all is often uncanny. so i thank God for that.

secondly, God always keeps me dry. for instance, last night i was on a walk and it came over cloudy. there were drops of rain in the air, so i started praying. a few minutes later i looked up and the clouds had parted above me. i continued walking a praying, and it became overcast again, to the point where it should have been raining, the clouds were thick and grey. however the rain held off. and again, this kind of thing happens whenever i go for a walk on a bad day. there's been many times i've been on walks and the clouds have changed direction and things like that. so praise God!

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the original fashion victim

as people might know i get nosebleeds quite often sometimes, and i think it's usually when God wants to really grab my attention. it makes me rely on him really, because there's nothing i can do about it myself. yesterday morning i had one, and i hate getting them because it's just messy and nasty (i do normally happen to be close to a bathroom when it happens though), and yesterday i was just on my way to one which was convenient. anyway, i was struggling with it for a while and not geting anywhere, and it was as soon as i lifted my hands and just started worshipping God that it stopped immediately. which was very cool. it reminded me of when moses was watching the battle between the israelites and the amalakites and whenever he lifted his hands the israelites were winning and whenever he put them down they started losing.

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MEGA
LOLZ
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thats awesome. i never knew about that.

church was awesome yesterday. i was at my grandmas church, which is CofE, and as jacko would call it, pretty beige. however they had a guy speaking who used to go to the church but had moved on, and basically he had started youth alpha in the school he worked at, and they were pretty much seeing revival at this school. they were having healings in classrooms and things like that, and it was awesome. i got me so excited i was basically shaking in my seat. it inspired me to think about whether i should start something in my school/sixth form in september. the awesome thing is, the focal verses of the talk were John 4:34-38, which is basically saying, dont wait for the crop to be ripe, open your eyes and you'll see its already ready to harvest. when i did my bible notes in the evening, the same verses came up again, so i think God may be trying to tell me something, so i'll pray into that a bit more. also, the guy talking used the phrase 'stepping out for God' a few times, which reminded me of family week a couple of years ago, with the whole 'stepping out of the boat' theme, which is the first time i really felt God challenging me. so there we have it. very exciting times.

james, how did watton go yesterday?

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the original fashion victim

watton was wicked. when everyone came in for the service i was thinking that it could be terrible, cos there were probably only 20 or 30 people there and almost all of them were quite old. but straight away they were completely into it and really worshipping. it was pretty awesome.

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MEGA
LOLZ
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recently, god hashad a few minor victories in my life. e.g. healing head aches as soon as i ask and really ask in faith, college mates asking me stuff about christian music ( as im on a music course ) and just little things like that but it all worht to be very thankful for!!! also i have been getting more involved with worship which is really encouraging!!!

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whammy!

i'd forgotten about this thread...

i've been really blessed by all the opportunities to lead worship lately. its amazing to think that basically all i did was ask God if i could lead worship last autumn, and a few weeks later i started getting people asking me if i'd be up for doing it at events.

i guess i've been spared from seeing some pretty horrific things the last couple of days what with almost seeing a car accident, and potentially walking past a corpse... so i'm thankful for that.

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the original fashion victim

Over the past few months when i have been penniless God has really been providing for me, by random moneys appearing in my bank; unexpected gifts such as more money, a holiday and a free car!
I don't want to sound like i'm obsessed with having money or anything but lets face it, you do need a bit to get by, and i'm really grateful for receiving all that stuff.

mrjudderman wrote:

Well I'm off to Romania this morning, and when we had our team meeting just over ago it was brilliant. Really looking forward to it. Me and several other people got the sense that we were all being called out there for very different, very individual reasons...it's going to be exciting to see. this guy was praying for me a few days before that and got the image of a violin, with all it's intricacies, but it was focussed on the curly bit at the end of them. He said he felt God was gonna be doing things in the small details of my life while I'm out there.

wicked

When I was in Romania I asked quite a simple question about the importance of prayer to a couple friends. I can't even remember the question anymore: it wasn't a doubting question but it's something that can be talked for years about from many different angles, and I wanted a little more understanding. I can't remember the response of my friends Tom, Elle and Asha who I asked...but God responded too and still is.

To cut a long story short, I had no idea when I asked that naive question that 9 months later I would have learnt so much about prayer, seen so much of the power of prayer, learnt about intercession and God breaking our hearts for what breaks his, and the inextricable links betwen prayer and justice, prayer and mission....prayer as the very foundation of church because it's prayer that allows God to move in us as individuals and as a body.

I've seen a movement of prayer build up within the university to begin to breed new visionary and encouraging relationships, to build on the prophetic and to release action from a place of intimacy with God. I've seen prayer become rife through the everyday spaces of university life: clubs, cafe's, parks. I think it's gonna have a big impact next year.

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Yesterday on the train home i started writing, and I ended up writing a lot. it ended with talking about prayer, here's the last bit:

So where to start? Jesus. The vision is Jesus. Jesus as friend, as saviour, and as Lord: friend that we might know him, saviour that we might trust him, and Lord that we might obey him. And it leads to prayer.

What inspires love for others better than prayer? Where we make space, make ourselves available for the Spirit of God to overwhelm us, that we might know God's heart for people and places, and respond in true intercession, in "groaning beyond words". That God will breath life into our love and breed action.

What builds community better than prayer? Faith groups living for eachother and for Jesus, people sharing to let the light and grace of God shine more deeply through them, bringing about transformation and deeper discipleship. People living as a light to those around, bringing the Kingdom of god to earth.

What builds love for God more than prayer? Where we talk with our friend, and experience his love for us. Where we hear or see his response to us, where we can have faith that God moves. Where we can be raw, open and honest in the presence of God and others, where God brings his healing, his compassion and his grace. Where God disciplines us as a loving Father, leading us to repentance and a fuller more sacrificial life.

What builds faith better than prayer? Where we see God on the move, fufilling is promises that we can know that we can stand on Christ the solid rock. Where stories are birthed, stories that are a testament to God's love and power. When lives are changed and the barriers strengthened over a lifetime fall with one cry to the ultimate history-maker. Where "my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself."

What, more than prayer - spending time with our Father in whatever context - can bring about a greater foundation on God in humility, sacrifice and discipline - setting our eyes on Jesus day by day, the eternal pillar of cloud and fire that leads us through the desert place.

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i'm reading a book called red Moon Rising atm, a fantastic book about how God has initiated a prayer movement across the world, completely illogically and out of control of the people who happen to be at the forefront of it. By admission: "people have often tried to call me the founder of 24-7 prayer and give me other grand titles, but the embarrassing fact of the matter is that I only ever started one prayer room and I tried to shut it down before the movement was even born. Thankfully somebody didn't let me and as a result many hundreds of other peope around the world have now also started prayer rooms in which many thousands are meeting with God 24-7."

The story is quite amazing, and one of the tools God used is a poem this guy wrote in this prayer room at 3 o'clock one night when he wandered why he was doing it and the thoughts tumbled out of his head like this.
http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/resources/28
All he did was leave it on the wall of the prayer room along with all hte other writings and artwork etc....yet somehow (illogically again) it helped inspire so much.

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eat my hoody

dude, i am ever stunned and encouraged by you. everytime i talk to you, you seem to be going deeper and growing in God rapidly, and its so exciting. it puts me to shame when i see people like you, and compare it to my own walk with God, but at the same time i know God is working in us all, whether we know it or not. so praise God for His plans and works.

are you gonna be hitting up Fountain of Life while you're back in norfolk?

something that i've been finding really encouraging and exciting at the moment is something that Jacko told james and me recently:
in languages like Chinese etc, they have symbols for letters, but also these symbols are words in themselves, so the symbol for the word 'Cliff' is also a letter, and so words can be comprised of these symbols which are also words, so one word may be made up of several other words, if that makes sense. this means a word may have several meanings behind it.
the same is true for Hebrew. so if you take a hebrew word and look at the individual meanings for letters, there are sometimes further messages within the word. the Hebrew word for God's name is Jahweh as i'm sure you know. Hebrew didnt have any vowels, so Jahweh would have consisted of 4 symbols. the meaning of these symbols translates into 'Hand Behold Nails Behold'. so when the word was created 4000 years before the birth of Jesus, God's name itself was prophetic of the crucifiction of Jesus. one thing to bear in mind, is that by hand they actually meant the wrist, as they had seperate words for palm etc, so its even the exact place he would have been pierced. all in all, i find that mind-blowing.

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the original fashion victim

	Phil Mitchell wrote:
	dude, i am ever stunned and encouraged by you. everytime i talk to you, you seem to be going deeper and growing in God rapidly, and its so exciting. it puts me to shame when i see people like you, and compare it to my own walk with God, but at the same time i know God is working in us all, whether we know it or not. so praise God for His plans and works.

thanks for the encouragement. I'm learning, and im struggling with myself trying to live it more and more.
I don't put you to shame at all man, we're all on our own journey with God, and when i look at my life before I came to uni, you are so much more spiritually mature than me.

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eat my hoody

lets call it quits

well we've put our move to ashill in God's hands, and He is doing His stuff. our house went on the market this morning and in the space of a few hours we've had three people say they want to view the house tomorrow. extraordinary.

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the original fashion victim

as of this morning 4 people want to view the house today...

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the original fashion victim