I’m just home from being part of an SU team at New Horizon (7 day Christian conference) in Coleraine.  I’ve truly had an amazing week working with an amazing team and we encountered some amazing young people.  A song that I sang for the first last week is left ringing in my ears. I’ve included the lyrics and a link below for you to look at.  You’ve maybe heard it before…worth a read and listen…

We saw and we encountered the unfailing love of God last week in all that we did and I truly believe that God was with us every step of the way and that great things will happen in the lives of many who were part of what went on.  No matter where you are at in your own faith journey, read these verses, read these lyrics and listen to the song…this is a love that never fails.

Psalm 36:7
How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 52:8
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

Psalm 107:8
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men…

Psalm 130:7
…put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

Your Love Never Fails

Verse 1:
Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes, but
You have new mercy for me everyday
Your love never fails

Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night
But joy comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that you love me
And your love never fails

Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water’s deep, but
I’m not alone here in these open seas
Cause your love never fails

The chasm was far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But your love never fails

Bridge: You make all things, work together for my good

For a link with lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVPr1fI7acM

Let’s be honest, sometimes the Bible isn’t always that easy to understand.

When you read the Old Testament and then turn ahead to the New it sometimes seems hard to see exactly why things happened the way they did and why God in the Old Testament seems to be so different to God in the New Testament.  It can sometimes seem a bit like this picture – it’s difficult to see how all the lines and paths exactly meet up…

So far this summer, I’ve had my head into the book of Lamentations.  Yeah, not always top of the Bible reading charts but I’ve persevered and managed to get through it with the aid of some good study notes.   At first glance the book of Lamentations seems to be all depression & gloom. But, as my notes pointed out, ‘the deeper the gloom, the more brightly the light shines’. As you read a book like Lamentations you confront the horror & terror of God’s wrath/judgement but alongside that you see the wonder of his mercy, and we can then see Jesus more clearly as the One who ultimately rescues us from that terror.

The Truth is, the God we read about in the NT is the same God with a new way.  That way was and is Jesus.  And when we look to Him and think of how we can be rescued from the doom and gloom that encloses us as people who are exposed to a world of so much evil, hurt, pain and sin, then in that gloom the more brightly the light shines.

I’m seeing again in a very fresh way how amazing God’s Word is.  Amazing and perfect.  And when you look closely enough into the Old stories, told so vividly and sometimes so graphically in a book like Lamentations, then if you spend long enough there, looking and listening, you will be pointed to the great Redeemer and Saviour:  Jesus Christ. It’s all about Him.

And in Him is where life and freedom are found.  Go and discover more of this for yourself…