Okay, I've finished the Russia blog entry, it's listed as Monday August 22nd which is one or two below this one. Yaaay, I can now blog about current events at last, it's been a bit strange making and editing old posts, and it's kind of against the whole idea of blogs but heey, I'm special :)

Well, I do have a post in my mind which is semi-thought semi-rant which I'll post later because I'm going to church in a few minutes.

That's all for now.

God bless

I'm updating the blog now with Faith Camp stuff and Russia stuff (keep looking at the Russia blog because I'll be slowly updating it during this week so don't read it now and think it's not finished. I'll hopefully have it finished by Sunday 28th August (hopefully much before then).

So, I'm also thinking about my final year project and I have hardly any idea as to what to do. I also have to think about getting into gear for doing my essay for the school of ministries, I can't get up and find the title of what I'm doing but I'll post more when I get started (any comments when I've started will be greatly welcomed).

I'm totally addicted to podcasts now. I love the Adam Curry podcasts and I'm now listening to the Cinecast which is a movie review cast. I keep meaning to listen to the Ravi Zacharias casts which is a christian cast along with the rock and roll geekshow and also the podfinder which will probably get me into more podcasts. It was pretty cool to do podcasts as they are meant to yesterday when I went to London to get Barry, Sue's, Pete and Chrissy's Indian visas but listening to podcasts on the train and in the embassy.

I took a de-tour on the way home via the Apple Store in Regent Street. It was my first time using Tiger and I was totally blown away. It's an amaizing operating system, running on amaizing hardware. One down-side came when I used the Mighty Mouse. I'd read a review previously and it mentioned a few things and so I was hoping maybe the reviewer had a dodgey mouse, unfortunatly to right-click, you need to take your left finger off the mouse :S and the side buttons are kinda mis-placed so you can't click properly. Maybe on the next revision problems will be sorted out.

I'm so got to get an iMac before they all switch to Intel. I can see the speed of the processors going up at least once this year and possibly once or twice next year which will be before the Intel switch. I've probably just confused everyone who reads this - but needless to say next year, Apple computers are totally going to change and you shouldn't really by the first revision of a new product which is what this will be.

So, I'm off now.

S'la'a

So, this will kinda be the Russia blog I hope but I doubt it will all be here so it will probably be changed a number of times before it's final, also the final will be put into the church magazine - yaay I'm getting published. Pictures are on the left hand-side under 'Russia Pictures' - they're on Flickr and I'll be adding more in the next few weeks whilst I pick out the best ones and also as my quota allows. This eventually weighed in at 5 pages, so much editing will occur before it's ready to be printed, so this is the whole Directors Cut version.

So, getting back to Russia, it was really cool.

When we got to the church after a bumpy landing and a bumpy bus journey we were met by lots of people from the church and it was so great to see all the people I'd met two years ago and they all remembered me (and that I was Chris's son which was a shame) [just kidding mum].

We were straight away made to feel welcome and it felt great to be back amongst friends. We were then taken to our families. Mike McClean and I were to stay with a lady called Valia who's grandson (Nikita) lived with her. It was a typical Russian persons flat, small with every inch of space used not for the sake of it but just because that is how these places are built. As much as I like Mike, thankfully we didn't have to share a bed, we had separate beds in what was probably the lounge normally. We were made very welcome by our host and it felt very nice to be there.

The first day of work started and we started off with worship (a great way to start the day). Work started off and the new members of the team found our jobs and settled into the pace fairly quickly. The day passed quickly and a big thanks to Miz who was not only working very hard with everyone but who also supplied us with tea and coffee.

On Thursday evenings there is a church meeting and it was really good. The Russian worship band are fantastic and it was really great to be worshipping with people in another language and but spirit of God was really there and it was very worshipful. Then our band came up and continued in the flow of worship, after that, Barry preached.

Friday was another work day and we were fully in the flow of what we were doing (after a great worship session) and it was great to be working with all the Russians again. After the work and a much needed shower we were fed (and BOY were we fed) by our hosts and then we walked to the church building for a trip to Prevazenka (one of the drug centres). It was really interesting to be there, it was originally all trees and swamp area but now it's like a farm. They breed some of the biggest rabbits any of us had ever seen and also had a garage. There was also a banya there - a banya is like a sauna but you get whacked with tree branches as well as the heat, and then you jump in the local river. We then had a meeting with some of the recovering addicts there. Claire Pitcher did some preaching, and Claire Mizen and Mike McClean acted out the 'Full Armour of God'. To finish, Barry preached about God being a father and when it came to an alter-call, most of the people either wanted to come into a relationship with God, or to strengthen their relationship with God, it was truly great to be there and to see something like that happen.

Saturday meant no work, but instead, the opportunity to go to St. Petersburg. The first stop was at Peterhoff (Peter the Great's *** Palace). It's a beautiful place, the buildings are covered in gold and the gardens are beautiful with many fountains. I'd been there two years ago, however it's such a beautiful place to go and I'd like to go again some time. After the palace we went into St. Petersburg, again somewhere I'd been before and would love to visit again. We had lunch in a bistro and then ice-creams. It was great to have a chance to relax and talk to the other English people but also to be able to socialise with the Russians (about 5 of the youth came with us).

The Sunday meeting was really good, so with the other meetings, the Russian worship band kicked things off, and the England band continued excellently. Dan preached with Sasha (the pastor of the Russian church) translating. It was a very good meeting. After the meeting, Matt and Tina came back to our flat (Matt and Peter had previously stayed with the host who was looking after me and Mike), the sense of family between us all was so great and it was obvious that Valya considered us all family. We cooked an extravagant 3 course meal, knowing full well that we'd be eating in 2 hours time at the Shaslik (which is BBQ chicken or lamb in a spicy coating), the meal was prepared with so much love and it's typical of the Russians to cook even knowing that we will be eating shortly after. After lunch, we all walked to the fountain in the middle of the town which is a usual meeting place for Russia and we all walked to the Dom where we were going to have the Shashlik. We had a good time all eating together and joking and it just re-enforced the whole sense of friendship and closeness that develops when you are away. After the meal we went to play football with some of the Russians, okay not everyone played football some of us (like me) sat around talking and enjoying the company of each other and the Russians. The evening ended with most of us going to the church building which was open and having tea and cake, again it was so great to be totally welcomed into the youth of the church.

Monday was the same as most other work days, we did some worship and then work, there were so many jobs including digging up fence poles, making or moving existing holes, weather-proofing fence panels, putting panels up, the Russians were working on the roof and many other jobs. The evening was the youth meeting which we were asked to lead. Dan and Mike spoke about the strength and the meekness (each had one topic) of Jesus. After the meeting, we chatted and socialised with each other and it just served to re-enforce that we were part of the group.

After the work on Tuesday, we went to a hospital. The guys went into a room with 4 or 5 men in and Dan shared some of his testimony, we then gave out some wash stuff for the men. The girls went into another room and I assume did the same thing we did. The girls sang to the women in the room they went to and it was after that, we got kicked out. I don't think any of us got a proper explanation but I didn't think their singing was that bad (just kidding). So we were taken out of the hospital by a scary looking man wearing a uniform. We were then taken to another hospital and split into groups of 3s. Me, Claire Mizen, Tina, Irina and another Russian lady went into a room where 2 ladies were. Both had Osteoporosis. First, the other Russian lady spoke, followed by Irina who spoke with passion. Claire then gave part of her testimony for which Irina translated, Irina then continued to speak. When she had finished, the first lady wanted to pray for forgiveness and to re-commit her life to Jesus (she was previously a Christian but wanted to re-give her life). I was then asked by Irina to pray for healing, and the power and spirit of God came down and really lead the prayer, it was a fantastic experience. Then, the other lady wanted to give her life for the first time, and again after she prayed, I was asked to pray for healing and again, the spirit of God came. It was a fantastic experience.

After the hospital visit, we went to a cafe in the town, Alyona, the girl who was friend, guide and translator called some of the Russian youth to join us. It was a great evening, what the cafe mostly sold was pancakes, so we had pancakes and talked to each other until it was closing time, we were then walked home because none of us knew our way back.

Wednesday evening was an evening to stay in and it was much needed, after working so much and being out every evening it was nice to stay in.

Thursday was our final day of work, we all worked hard up until lunch. After lunch, some of the youth went to the museum in Kingisepp and some of us continued to work for a bit and also clean up the site. By about 3pm it we decided that there wasn't much else that could be done and me and Claire we up to the roof to see the work that had gone on up there. The Russians had worked very hard on the roof, they were adding another floor to the building and they'd got quite a bit of the outside wall completed over the 9 days that we were there. They had been working very hard on it and a couple of times when we had gone to the church for a meeting in the evening, Russians were working there on the roof which would have been gone 7pm (we would have left by 5pm, but they continued to work).

The evening meeting was very good, the worship was great and it yet again showed that you don't need to know the language to worship, but that when the Spirit of God comes, worship just happens. Claire Pitcher and Dan preached, they were both very good.

The final part of the evening was a festival in which we all took part. The Russians did some performances which included the grandson of the lady who was our host (he lived with her) who did a dance (he did dancing in competitions with a girl who was the granddaughter of a friend of our host). We also took part. Claire, Mike McClean, Steve McClean, Artum (the band's bass player) and I joined together and performed Wonderwall (by Oasis). Claire sang, Mike was on the bongos with me (my debut performance) and Steve was on the drums. It was a lot of fun and I usually dread having to do things like that.

At the end of the meeting, it was the time for us to say goodbye to a majority of the people there as we would most likely not see them again because not everyone would be able to get to the church when we left on Saturday. It was sad saying goodbye to our friends knowing that it would be at least a year until we'd see them again.

It was a fantastic 9 days for all of us, and it was so good to see friends again and to also see people that I'd forgotten but soon remembered when I saw them again. We did some hard work and had some great times together and we were made to feel very welcome and part of not only the church but also the youth group. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we all took something away with us which will stay with us forever and I believe we gave them something (not just a fence) but love and friendship and I look forward to seeing them all again and I think we all do.

Okay, so tomorrow is the off for Russia at 5am - this is going to mean getting up at an obscene time 4am (just to make sure I get up).

I wish I could take my iPod with me, but it's probably not the best idea, also the battery would probably only last for the plane trip one way - I'd love to listen the the Daily Source Code which I have saved up (I'll blog about my new obsession with Podcasting when I get back). What would have been better is if I'd put all my tapes from Faith Camp onto it which I'll try and do when I get back (after I've edited the School of Ministries tapes).

So much great stuff happened at Faith Camp, and I'm looking forward to blogging everything (I'm going to fiddle the post dates so that the Faith Camp entries will appear under this hehe).

I was going to be meeting up with Matty from Germany either Yesterday or Today but she decided to not come to England in the end, it sound like Teenstreet was very busy for her and she's going to e-mail me soon. Tania is in Romaina (I'm waiting for a text or for a postcard). I feel so blessed to know these two girls / women, they are totally amaizing. They are such an inspiration to me and I hope to some day move in the same sort of things that they are because their faith is so big!! WOW!!

Firefly news (if ya into it) - I got Issue 2 of the Serenity comic, it's really really good and it's such a shame I have to wait for a month between issues as it only takes about 20 minutes to read the issue. But it's so great to see Firefly again and I can't wait for the film, it's gonna be good.

Anyway (and I've GOT to stop ending these posts with 'Anyway.....') I'm off now.

Oh oh - if ya want to see the Love Southend pictures on my site you can go to http://www.urbanoutreach.tk and then click on 'Gallery' and then choose your day (I'll add 'Day 5' when I get back from Russia) - all photos were taken by my digital camera on my mobile phone.

I'm off then.

See ya after Russia (9 days time).

God bless you all.

Faith Camp - Friday

The Move - Glin Barrett
Those who know God will do great exploits.

God is looking for a bold generation. The righeous are as bold as a lion.

We need to be autatious: bold, fearless, free, original

God is rising an audatious generation

Attributes God is Looking For
Know you are part of the Royal Family. When the world tries to cut us down and put us in a box, we need to say but. We need to have buts. "You can't start a Christian Union", our response is "...but".

God owns the planet, country, town, uni, we need to walk around like we own the place because God does (1 Cor 10:26).

I am born to be royal. I don't need to look at or take part in filth.


Understand there's no better time than now
We are where we are because it's where God has put us. Don't wait, do what God wants now. Just get on with it.

The Bible says arise, shine, get up and start living. I have no excuse.


We are in the King's service
Dan 1:5 - I am not just at university, but I'm in the King's service.

We wont follow the crowd, we'll lead the crowd. We need to round up others to come into the King's service.

We can't wait!! We need to be passionate now!!


Understand, someone needs me
We need to be truthful - people need us to tell them the truth.


What do people say when I come into the room? "Yaay!" becasue they know I have the answer, or "Oh no" becasue I wont help them.

Unsaved people are actually dead. We see dead people (like in the Sixth Sense) - My city is dead, it is a valley of dry bones.

Eze 32 - The hand of the Lord is on me. It is on me already. - As he was prophesying, the dry bones were comming back to life.

I want to see my university come back to life. I want to see people saved and come into the things God has for them.

Faith Camp - Friday - 2

Claire Pitcher
I am at the university because God wants me there. God has called me to my university.

We can't survive on our own, we can't be by ourselves. We need to be a community. Meet up in the mornings, talk, pray, disciple Christians.

Learn verses, listen to God, have quiet times.

Get to the freshers

Build deep relationships with the Christians, don't just say "Hi" to each other, actually meet and do stuff together.

Pray for the uni

Put up a photo of yourself saying "I'm a Christian, ask me why"

We need quiet times though, we need to read the bible and to listen to God.

We need to iknow our God, know who He is, draw from Him every day.

Be prepaired to lay stuff down, to give up stuff for God that He says to give up.


It was so great to hear a good friend talking about God, she did the same in Russia and was great there. It's so good to see how a friend is growing in God and doing amaizing stuff. Okay, Claire I'll stop now.

Faith Camp - Friday - 1

Mark (Claire's friend from Roffey)
We have momentum and fire and we need to keep hold of the fire and momentum and to give it to others too.

Prophetic vision is essential, get a vision and direction from God. He has a strategy for every city and uni. Ask God for direction!!

Don't be silenced!! Don't let people silence you. Cry out to God.

Isaiah 62:6 "Don't keep silent!!"

He wants us to be watchmen at our uni.

We need to take time to sit and do nothing, just listen. Rest and wait on the Lord. Rest in God.

TV has no external value, it can hinder our listening to God.

For a few weeks at uni in my first weeks at Chatham I didn't have TV and it felt really good not having it. I'd like to go back to not watching it but with DVDs and my family here it would be next to impossible to not encounter TV. My parents and brother watch it a lot, and there programmes that I do enjoy watching. Thinking about it now, I do need to make a decision, listening to God, or TV. The same applies to the 'net. I spend a lot of my time keeping track of different news/geek sites and I should really be spending that time reading the Bible or listening to God. What's more important to me?

Gal 5:16
If you feel even slightly prompted by the Holy Spirit, do it. Your mind will always try and reason, don't listen to it. Even if you're only 10% sure, do it. It's by getting it right and wrong that we learn to hear God's voice more clearly. We need to live by the spirit.

Heb 6:11-12: "Have faith and patience"

God prompted himto talk to people randomly. God would give him a description of someone to talk to . Ask God if there is someone he wants you to talk to.

Ask God for fear of the Lord.

Faith is made complete by deeds. If you pray for the whole uni to be saved, you're going to need to do something.

Prophetic Evangelism: Make yourself available and be quiet and listen.

We need to get prophesy and to pray it over our university, town, school etc.

Faith Camp - Thursday

The Move - Glin Barrett
1 Cor 9:24 - "Run to win"

The devil will try and take us away from what God wants for us. There are many things he'll try and convise us of, they are all lies.

He would:

Tell me it's too late


Make me a victim and not a victor
Sometimes stuff happens to think we can't rise up - he wants to make us think this isn't true. You learn to be a victim and say things like "I can't" or "I'm no good". God can help us unlearn stuff and we are forcefully advancing. God is bigger than any obsticle. We need to know this.

We can do anything because of who Jesus is.


Help me find excuses
I didn't mean for that to happen.... yeah, I get that one. He'll try and tell us that it doesn't matter and present sin as something that is okay and to just use our past or experience as excuses to sin. This is one that happens a lot to me and I'm hoping to be moving out of that place soon with the help of the Holy Spirit.


Compare myself to other people
It'll go wrong if you try and be like someone else. There is a gap for us in history. He's make me to be me, here and now. Psalm 133 says "I am wonderfully made." God has a plan for us which wont work if we try and be someone else. He empowers us to be like ourselves.

I'm flipping awesom!! When God made me, He broke the mold!! I am unique!!!


The enemy camps where we are supposed to be great, and will try to put us off. We now know his strategies so we now know what to look out for.

Faith Camp - Thursday - 2

Eric Casto
2 Cor 6:17 "Come out from among them." We need to set the standard by the Holy Spirit in your life - don't judge people by it - live it!!

We can't mix things - don't touch what is unclean.

Jesus is a giver, He holds nothing back, we just aren't ready to receive it all yet.

When we see Jesus in heaven, we are going to want to give Him the fruit of our life. I want to have something great to give Him, Jesus gave His life for me, I want to have something great to give Him.

Living a Holy life is the key.

There are things make unclean intentially, don't touch them.

We can't go to the 'wrong place', watch and do the wrong stuff and ask for protection because we shouldn't be there.

We should ask ourselves when looking at what we watch or where we go. "Do I need it?" "Will it cause me to stumble?" If the answer is 'yes', then don't do it. We need to ask Jesus to set us the standard.

We need our minds as clear as possible. We don't need to add anything to it which may distract us. We need to keep fear out of our minds and to ask for grace.

The greatest life is ahead of you, don't try and get it all at once.

This was an amaizing talk given my a great preacher and I don't think I've done it justice here. I'm going to listen to the tape again and maybe post some more as a seperate post later on.

Faith Camp - Thursday - 1

Mark Ruolff
We need to respond to words of truth. Agree with what God and preachers say. We need to be saying "Amen", "Hallelujah" when preachers speak the truth. We need to get excited.

Note: I find it easy to get excited about the truth at Faith Camp because of the way it is presented, but also what is said, and because everyone else is saying it. It's harder at church when no one else is, and when it's a difficult word to understand and when it's not really being preached charismatically. I got the post-Faith Camp thing the day after I got back, there was hardly anyone at church, the worship wasn't as I had been worshipping for a week and the preaching was totally different. I went to church full of beans and bounsing off the walls, I came away just limp.

Vision
God has a plan and a vision for my life. We are here to fit into God's plan You can fulfill everything becasue you're a new creation.

We've got to be excited when we talk to others.

God allows really bad stuff to happen to draw people to Him. When bad stuff happens, people cry out to Him.

I remember hearing somewhere that the Israelits would forget about God when He gave them what they wanted, but they cried out to Him when everything went wrong.

God doesn't want us to be weary, we need to keep loooking for Him, searching for Him and His words. God will sustain us in the vision He has over us.

Matt 11:4 "God back and report on what you see and hear."

John 15:5 Abide in Jesus and you will bear much fruit!!! yeah!!!

Ask what you wish and it will be given to you. You need to be part of a team.

We need to be foolish for God. When we step out in faith and are foolish for God, stuff will happen.

We need to "see" it, then God will make it. Ask for vision.

Acts 26:13 Break in with a clear vision for my life. God has a vision from heaven for my life. Ask Him to show it.

Encouridge yourself for the Lord. Speak the word over your life. Speak your/His vision over your life. and be obedient for the vision. If we have a prophesy or a word over our lives we need to read it again and again and speak it over ourselves. I have an amaizing prophesy over my life and I must admit, it is sitting on my desk and I need to read it and speak it over my life because it's so awesom.

I know that most of these bits I'm posting from Faith Camp are mostly random notes, but I hope these help anyone reading. Faith Camp was so great and it's changing me and I want it to continue.

God bless ya

Faith Camp - Wednesday

The Move - James Malone
Yada [Greek] (To KNOW - a real knowing)

We are a yada generation.

We will have a real heart knowledge of God. We need to expose our heart to Him and He will reveal himself to us.

Matt 7: "...I never knew you" (in the yada way)

If my hear is engaged with God, then I'll have no fear. I'll be so secure in who I am with Him that nothing can stand in the way. They that know their God shall be strong and do exploites. I want to do exploits!!!

Faith Camp - Wednesday - 1

Mark Ruolff
We need to be clear about who we are and where we are going for God.

We need to let God get on with it. Know what He wants and listen and go where He says.

God set us apart from birth. Even before we were saved, God had a plan for us.

We are called by His grace.

"God is pleased to release Jesus in You!!!"

We can all preach to anyone. We can preach to just one person. We are all called to preach to the world.

Paul needed preperation and training, God wasn't in a rush.

Acts 17:24 - I am here in time and this place becasue God has desired it. It is part of His plan.

Desperate times will call for determined people.

Faith Camp - Tuesday

The Move - Eric Casto
2 Kings 2:19
The city looks nice but the land is barren. The new bowl is a new church.

Salt:
Purifys, cleanses and remove infection
Flavours
Preserves

Rise up a generation that wants to live purely and holy.

He wants us to be attractive to the outside world. We need to look at people and let them know we love them. We are kind to people even when they don't deserve it. We give to people even when tey don't deserve it.

The amount of salt was totally out of proportion to the water. Even though we are small we can still be effective. Don't live by what you've seen. Live by faith.

We see the world as the Christian World and the Secular World. God doesn't see it like that, He only sees one world. The new church needs to go out into the world and impact it and to not have fear.

We can't stay in our own little world and shout to the world. Jesus came to us. Christianity is the only faith where God came down to us.

We don't just want church in four walls, this generation wants to see it happen on the streets and in society.

Faith is where we go into situations where nothing is happening and make stuff happen through our faith.

It's easy to have faith in places where stuff is happening but t takes real faith to go o places where nothing's happening and to have the faith to know something is going to happen.

Faith Camp - Tuesday - 2

Judith Buttler
1 Sam 17:1
David and Goliath
The enemy makes the obstivles seem bigger than they are. He wants it to become so big in my life that it overwhelms me.

v11
After all the training and equipping from Saul, it didn't mean anything. We are the army of god - We are more than conquerers.

v32
David was so young but he had genuine faith. He got that not by age (he was 18) but by the word.

He did it naturally. He lived by it and didn't rush in. He came by faith. Even when you don't feel God is there, He is.

Faith is an attitude, we have it as a person. You don't need to shout and scream at the devil. Just do it normally, quietly.

I don't want the storm to wake me. I want to have faith that God will make it okay. God has given us faith and power.

"Resist the devil and he will flee"

We need a confidence and faith that will embarras others.

My battle is His battle and I need to rely on God's love.

God's love is unconditional. I don' have to do anything. It is a passionate love, He loves us so much that He never sleeps but watches us every day. If I have something I need, He'll give it to me. God is prepaired to act on my behalf. He looks for us to take the initiative. Knowing God will back us to the hilt.

David didn't pray, He did it. It's not "Jesus take this away", it's "Go away in Jesus' name."

God an me, we can do it!!! God is with me, in every area.

When you're full of faith, the word, and truth, the enemy is tiny and no problem.

Faith isn't proud, it bigs God up. Only God's power can do it.

We are not here to watch the enemy do what he wants. We have the spirit of faith!!!

Faith Camp - Tuesday - 1

Judith Buttler
God wants me to win - you can only win through the Holy Spirit.

The devil will put obsticles in your way but by the Holy Spirit we can move them out of the way. As a believer I am Satan's master, sometimes He'll try it on, but we can tear it down. The obsticles are real even though you can't see them.

Fear affects our behaviour. Fear is a demon.

1 John 5:4 says "Our faith overcomes the world."

If you have a bad day or year, God stays 100% committed to us.

We need to be pouring out our lives and love into peoples' lives.

Study the truth so you can know what is counterfit. You can only know the truth by reading the word.

Faith always needs to grow, more faith = less timidity. Know God has given you power. I have power given to overcome negative emotions.

I'm not going to try to manage my fear. I'm going to tell it to GO!!!

God has adopted me, I know it. I'm in his house and not only should I play by his rules and do what He says, but I want to.

I can feel joy!!! MAN it feels good!!

I don't deserve anything but God's adopted me AND He also wants great things for me. He wants me healed and free. WOW!!! He not only wants them but He can and will give it to me!!!

This is the revelation I wanted when I came here. God is so great!


As a side, Eric said something really encouriging: God wants to set us on our way so he can bring the right girl beside me. Not me to go off and find her

Faith Camp - Monday - 1

Rachell Hussey
God doesn't speak about something you are already implementing. If it is being said again, you aren't doing it.

God is interested in us as individuals, He wants to be in relationship with us.

Gen 32:22 - Jacob is waiting to see Esaw and it's dark, in the middle of no-where. He's sent his family off. Esaw wants to kill him. Then he gets jumed and wrestled with. He is fighting for his life. They wrestle all night. Jacob realises the person isn't there to kill him. The struggle then changes from trying to get away to trying to hold on.

We need to be tenacious - we need to hold on tight and not let go.

If God is challenging us, it's because He loves us.

Jer 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you" We need to call upon Him and He will listen to us. We will seek Him and find Him.

If God is for us, God will fight for us. Anyone who starts on us will rue the day they started on us. We need faith that is true. We wimp out too easily. Jacob had a promise from God that he was holding on to.

We worship God as God but speak to Him like a man. We need what we worship to be inside us and as a part of us.

Seek God. Be tenacious. He is worth it.

I NEED TO READ THE BIBLE AND LET IT DWELL IN MY HEART!!!

We can't live off the dreggs of other peoples faith.

Let to work of God live in you - make it welcome in your life - give it a cup of tea. (For all you non-English people reading this - we Engish feel the best way to make people welcome in our homes is to give them a cup of tea) - We need to give the word of God a cup of tea and welcome it into our lives.

It's difficult to trust someone you don't know, we need to know the word of God so we can trust in Him.

God can deliver us from a situation by we also need to trust Him to keep us. Believe and take God at His word.

When someone hurts us, what comes out of us? We need it to be streams and rivers of living water which can only come from knowing and living in Gods word.