The Gimme's

Our society makes it so easy to abandon responsibility.

Tired of your job - then walk away ! Up to your neck in bills - then declare bankruptcy! Tired of your family - then leave - abandon them - walk away the world says - you are the master/mistress of your own destiny - your responsibility ends with you and you alone.

Christmas is upon us once again - time to spend what we haven't earned and buy what we can't afford - all as long as "we are OK" - the world can keep on spinning -
I can do what I like as long as I am happy, after all I can do what I want when I want and how I want I don't have to answer to anyone because I am the centre of my universe I, I, I, I....  ad nauseam

Consumerism and the "ME FIRST" attitude  declare loud and clear their own "Christmas message"  - Spend and you will be happy!!

The acquisition of 'things' all designed to stir up in our hearts and minds just what will make us/me/I  'happy' - and pleased with myself - the accolades of others in the family when they see just how much "I" spent on them how much food "I" was able to provide and just how  big "MY" Christmas tree is PHEW!!

The "Gimme Gimme Gimme - ME FIRST" attitude only fuels a selfishness which can lead to the abandonment of family, jobs and security.

The Bible is full of stories that help us recognise the damage a "ME FIRST" attitude can do - to others and to ourselves.

Taking responsibility for others in our care, for those we love, putting them and others ahead of us in everything we do and everywhere we go is how God originally programmed us to be - That is the very reason He sent His Son to die for us on Calvary - to show His love to a hostile and "ME CENTRED" earth.

Paul refers to selfishness or "ME FIRST" as "empty conceit" - a term that I reckon could be translated as "Vanity" or "arrogance". However you see it, the term obviously refers to an overly high opinion of oneself. "ME FIRST", then is akin to narcissism, and there is no room for that in the Christian's life.

Selfishness or "ME FIRST" is really only empty conceit. The "ME FIRST" attitude or selfishness caused the children of Israel to "willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved". They wanted that food more than anything - where they happy when they got it? NO! They wanted more - the more they got the more they wanted.

It's the same with us today, we are so focused on "US" that we can so easily forget what it cost Jesus to save us from this very problem of "ME FIRST".

The very opposite of "ME FIRST" is found in Philippians 2:2 "Being united with Christ, having tenderness and compassion, being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."

So this Christmas - let's see if we can whack the old 'ME FIRST' - smack it right out of the door.
Let's be sure we know where our treasure is.

As Christians we should hold the things of this world loosely because we are, when all is said and done, laying up our "Treasures in Heaven"

Making the possible impossible!

"Red tape" - don't you just love it - I love this quote from R.A J. Philips

"To get the attention of a large animal, be it an elephant or a bureaucracy, it helps to know what part of it feels pain. Be very sure, though, that you want its full attention."

Must say I had to have a laugh at that one - because quite frankly dealing with a bureaucracy, no matter what that bureaucracy may be, is like trying to grab a whirlwind by the tail!

Never ceases to amaze me but like Philips intimates a bureaucracy knows where your 'pain' may be and that's where inevitably the pressure lands.

Being tied up in 'red tape' is just SO frustrating - even in the little things - there are hoops to jump through and unimaginable hurdles to cross to get what seemingly is such a simple exercise - I guess we have all been there and done that.

When was the last time you had to deal with a bureaucracy? Mine was yesterday, but that is another story!

Whether it is with your insurance company, your work, your mobile service Company or some government agency, their rules and seemingly endless regulations and paperwork are ceaseless!! Real head-spinning stuff!!!

Few things are more frustrating to try to work with someone who doesn't have the right authority or even the motivation to help you with your problem whatever that problem is.

There is an endless army of bureaucrats all churning out paperwork and ideas that dazzle and confuse. The red tape flows redder and more and more consistent as the ideas keep coming from endless, often clueless middle managers all outdoing each other to reach that important goal.

Sometimes bureaucrats can go that 'extra' mile - in Phoenix a Pastor called Michael Salmon violated a zoning and building code, would you believe, when he invited friends and family into his home to talk about Jesus and Christianity.

It seems an over-zealous bureaucrat quoting rules and  throwing around red tape shuffled him off to court where he ended up doing time for his "crime"

Yes, so bureaucracy has its up side I guess but it seems we all have felt the down side.

Fortunately bureaucracy isn't an issue when it comes to God. 

We can take a problem to Him without having to deal with red-tape, rules, books, legal jargon, committees or voicemail - YAY!!!

You won't get the "Press button 1" to leave a message - He is there all the time; on time all the time.

You won't have to deal with middle managers who really don't know a thing about what you are talking about. You have direct 24-7 access to the one who has ALL the authority. The one who can and will get things done.

So don't let bureaucracy, no matter where it seems to be, get you down - we as Christians have a one-stop shop when it comes to problems.

You may have to deal with bureaucracies of all sorts here and to be honest you have my deepest sympathies and very best wishes when you have to, BUT we have a much higher court we can appeal to.

God is with us constantly, no matter where we go, what we do or whatever we are facing. 

.....and we used to be so close!

"We used to be so close"  I wonder how many times we have used that phrase?

Even now I still use the old age adage - " I wonder how we drifted apart".

Usually when we use that "and we used to be so close" phrase - it is usually followed by a long and rambling excuse as to what actually happened in your view to make the relationship collapse even disappear.

sometimes the problem is simply two people friends/relatives just drifting apart - my friend and I are like that - just didn't keep up the conversation and before you know it - years have passed and the tie between you slowly disintegrates and becomes untenable. Sad but OH so true.

More often though the problem goes deeper much deeper. The problem between two people often can be traced back to a specific incident. Something that drove a wedge between their relationship and so often very sadly the wedge is driven between family members.

Once the wedge is driven, pride can set in, unforgiveness and anger take up residence. Feelings once offended can become a festering sore; never healing and never being forgiven.

Often both parties sit back and "wait for the other one" to apologise and move toward a reconciliation.

Sadly one party may never want to forgive and that is when the rot sets in - one of them may try and try again for reconciliation but to no avail.

The unforgiving party may not realise that are trapped - trapped by their own hard and unyielding heart - they can be actually oblivious to their plight because they are totally 100% focused on their hurt either real or perceived.

It's through these horrible and testing times that Jesus has the answer. The Bible clearly States that being hurt and being offended is pretty well impossible to avoid (Luke 1:17) it is how we, through the Holy Spirit, handle the 'impossible' that will set us right not only with others but with God Himself.

Jesus didn't die so that our relationships would be tron apart by pride, hardness of heart and an unforgiving spirit.

Satan on the other hand hopes we will take the 'hurt' feelings and make them our own - that way he has this great foothold to rule in our lives and make us his. Being unforgiving and hard hearted will only play right into his hands and we stop looking to Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith not just some ideology that makes us feel 'good' when the chips are down.

If by any chance Satan had the ability to destroy us he would have done so long before this - his power is broken - he has lost the war. The only thing he can do now is try to get as many people as possible to follow him before Christ comes again and finally puts the finishing nail into his coffin and send him and his followers to that awful/special place designed for them.

So what do we do? - It is so easy to love those who do you no wrong - that's sort of like a fluffy "you are so sweet " sort of love - flitting along on the surface. To love someone who really hates you and you have been the victim of their unforgiveness, that's when the rubber hits the road.

How do you cope? Jesus was the epitome of being a victim of unforgiveness - He didn't flinch - He gave His all to God - what a great example!

If we ask Him, He will give us the strength, wisdom and patience to share his love as much as possible even with those who openly and often refuse to have anything to do with us.

Back in October I wrote a blog   http://itsbygracealone.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/what-did-you-do-princess-atta-quote.html   - which describes how I personally had to deal with a similar situation and how God has worked in my life since.

How are you at forgiving? Have you been hurt and feel you can't possibly forgive? Do you feel some sort of invisible line has been crossed making forgiveness impossible? Are you waiting for the other person to come around first? Are you waiting for them to 'make the first move'?

Jesus says clearly through His word that we "MUST forgive others" not 'if we feel like it to make us feel better". Forgiveness is essential if we walk with Christ.

So if you are affected by the "We used to be so close" syndrome - God is telling you to do something about it before it is too late. Even if you are not to blame - you MUST try to put things right.

You never know - your act of forgiving could change the whole scenario and restore broken lives and set prisoners free.

Knowing God - One who watches!

Ever thought "I am quite alone - no-one understands me at all"  - even in a crowd we can be lonely!

Loneliness is awful - even the word Lonely sounds sad and desolate.

We can be lonely anywhere - work, home, surrounded by family and friends anywhere - no matter what we are doing or where we are.

A guy called Tim Hansel put it this way:-

"Loneliness is not the same as being alone. Loneliness is feeling alone...no matter how many people are around you. It is a feeling of being disconnected, unplugged, left out, isolated."

Simply put - we can be in a crowd supposedly enjoying ourselves and still feeling desperately lonely.

Kendra Cherry puts it this way:-

"While common definitions of loneliness describe it as a state of solitude or being alone, loneliness is actually a state of mind. Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone and unwanted."

So what are some of the causes of loneliness?

Reading a research article by John Cacioppo, a University of Chicago psychologist, loneliness is strongly connected to genetics.

Other contributing factors according to Cacioppo can be moving to a new location, divorce, the death of someone significant in a person's life, low self esteem and/or confidence. People who lack self esteem and confidence believe that they are unworthy of attention or regard of other people. This alone can lead to feelings of isolation and chronic loneliness.

According to Kendra Cherry and I have no doubt she is absolutely spot on; - Loneliness can sometimes lead to all sorts of troubles including, depression and suicide, heart disease and stroke, stress, decreased memory/learning loss, antisocial behaviour, poor decision making and even alcohol and drug abuse.

WOW!! and all through Loneliness. makes you think a bit eh? - I feel there are not too many people around who haven't felt lonely at some stage of their lives.

So what can we do about loneliness? When I feel lonely, I go back to the source of my greatest help - the Bible. Through the Bible we can find amazing truths and promises. Promises that blow us away with their honesty and encouragement.

Jesus himself felt lonely - He knew what it was like to be all alone - even his best friends betrayed, disappointed him and left Him.  Of course the ultimate loneliness for Jesus was when he cried out from the cross "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus endured absolute separation from God and why? Because he didn't want any of us to know that same ultimate separation.

You know nothing escapes God's attention. He sees the little accomplishments that no one else notices. He notes the things you do to please Him.

He also sees the things we do in private - He sees how we speak to people and how we treat people at work and at school.

He sees our mistakes that wreck our self esteem and blow our confidence to pieces. He sees all! - all of our loneliness, all of the times we are 'left-out of the clique", all of our family foibles and secrets.

Although that doesn't make God the ultimate spectator! Far from it. When the action starts, God's place is right next to you, fighting, protecting, guiding, comforting and encouraging -  YES and WATCHING!!

None of us need ever fight our battles alone and knowing that God has your back, allows us to look loneliness fair in the face, recognise it for what it is, acknowledge that Jesus was there before us, put our hands in His and move onward.

Jesus died to spare us the agony that He experienced and amazingly He still lives today and is so willing to help us solve the problem of our loneliness.

Living in a cut-throat world

It's a cut throat world all right!

If you don't have a 'win-at-all-costs' attitude you can't really survive - I know some would immediately disagree but basically that's so true.

No matter were we are - at sport, in the office, school or even the gym if we aren't operating at peak performance levels, we not really considered a 'player'.

That mindset exits pretty much everywhere - competitiveness and striving to be the BEST at all costs. We see it everywhere - from the soccer field to the board room - the "power suit" and the "high heel brigade" will leave you eating their dust if you don't keep up with the game and 'shoot a few goals' of your own.


Pretty hard playing field when you take a good long look at the players and what you are up against. Their expertise and obvious confidence can leave you speechless.

They never seem to get flustered, always so cool and calm in a crises. They are always playing their "A" game.

So what do we do? Do we look for opportunities to 'tilt the playing field' in our favour - just to even things up a bit of course.

Insider information, rule bending, sucking up to the right and influential people, working all hours of the night and day, not because you have to but just to beat the person ahead of you to the post.

Steroids/drugs in sport, endless hours at the gym - it's all competitive and all fair game. Whatever it takes to be No 1 - that's for me and that's the goal!

If we buy into the win-at-all-costs mindset, anything goes - right? we can and must do what it takes in this cut-throat world.

Well - hate to be the one to say it but No! As Christians none of that is right for us - absolutely none of it.

In Proverbs 11:3 it says "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them."

"Treacherous" WOW! strong word!! - God looks at the "win-at any/all-cost"as treachery. Treachery at the worst, cheating at the best.

Proverbs 20:7 says. "A righteous man who walks in his integrity; how blessed are his sons after him"

So what God is saying here is that integrity and fairness leaves a legacy - a path, if you like, for your children to follow. Now we all want to leave a legacy so what will yours be? - "integrity" or "it doesn't matter who you walk over as long as you win".

If we look deeper, the Bible is choc-a-block full of references to Godly behaviour, integrity and how to live according to God's will in your life.

God thinks it is far more important to live with these traits rather that winning!

1 Chronicles 29:17 - "I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there."

So our God actually rejoices when He finds integrity in our hearts even if we don't 'win' according to the worlds standards.

Let me say this though - integrity and truthfulness are not just 'good habits' thumped into us by caring Mums and Dads. Long lasting and faithful integrity, fairness and truthfulness can only come from a heart and soul changed permanently by God's Spirit.

It is only through the leading of the His Spirit that we can ever hope to show these traits in our lives permanently

Now nobody is perfect - I am not referring to that, but integrity is a determination of the heart; a heart changed by God to reflect His character.

So where are you on the 'win-at-all-costs' scale? - What are you prepared to do to get that goal, win that contract or come out smelling like a rose?

We all need to take a minute, inhale deeply and see what traits Jesus showed while He was here with us and let them be our yardstick and prop.

Jesus was filled with God's spirit which enabled Him to live a life full of integrity and truthfulness. Our lives need to be filled with the same Spirit, given to us freely by a loving, merciful and truthful God.

WHAT DID YOU DO??!! (Princess Atta quote - "A Bugs Life")

Ever seen the movie "A Bugs Life" ?  - I love it; great story; seen it heaps of times - and well with five Grandblessings that would have to be inevitable.  It  would have to be No 1 on their hit parade.

Good story; great punchline; good vs. evil sort of thing and the underdog comes out on top WHOA!!

Princess Atta made those memorable lines "What did you do??" when Flick accidentally destroyed the offering stone filled with goodies that the poor old ants had worked so hard to fill for the marauding grasshoppers.

AND... having the five Grandblessings the question "What did you do?" as you can guess comes up pretty frequently at our house.

Well the question I would ask of you today isn't "What did you do?"  but rather "What WOULD you do?"

Think seriously now  - What would you do for say $5 million Dollars?

Before you answer that question can I refer you to an article by one of my fellow contributors to http://inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com/ and read what Neil Anderson wrote entitled "The Process of Forgiveness" on 29th October 2013.

Now... what would you do for $5M.? - maybe spend a year in solitary confinement, amputate an arm or a leg, circumnavigate Australia barefoot or even lower yourself into a pit on venomous snakes??

How would you decide whether something was worth $5M or not?

Pretty hairy question eh?

Thing is "What is the most extraordinary thing you would do to obey God?"

Would you set aside blocks of your time out of your busy week to help someone? Would you risk your reputation at work by talking openly about Jesus and His amazing extraordinary saving grace?

Would you admit and seek help for an addiction or secret obsession whatever that addiction/obsession is?

Wonder how far any of us are REALLY willing to go?

Now that sort of brings me back to my colleague Neil Anderson and his article "The process of forgiveness"

His article hit home to me especially when he spelled out so plainly how to forgive someone who has hurt you in the past.

Neil finishes his article like this:-

"When appropriate, accept your part of the blame for the offences you suffered. 

Confess your failure to God and to others (1 John1:9) and realise that if someone 

has something against you, you must go to that person (Matthew 5:23-26)"

Well... there it was - my life in black and white before me - laid out so plainly. A family member who had been so offended in me that he hadn't spoken to me in over 13 years. All over a perceived offence committed by me to him.

Over the years I have tried to apologise, accepted that maybe I WAS to blame after all even if I couldn't really work out what the actual problem was! Apologies not accepted.

The time had come for one last try on my part. So armed with my Matthew 5 verse and a BIG prayer to my Father God,  I phoned. You guessed it!! - No joy only a lot of poison and HUGE pent-up feelings of hurt and anger.

I was bewildered at first; God plainly had spoken to me to do this Hadn't He?

Thinking about it after the event I realised that Forgiveness is not the same as TRUST.

Forgiveness means to set aside your own confusion, bewilderment and any signs of vengeance, but it does not necessarily mean to give the other person the freedom to keep on repeatedly hurting you.

As a Christian we need to show God's love to others. We are called to forgive, but not to be foolish.

To allow someone to repeatedly do the same wrong over and over and over again is foolish. If they are never willing to forgive you, then I'm afraid there is not much we can do after we have exhausted all lines of communication.

We just really have to hand it over to God - Continually and earnestly pray for that person, asking God to fill us with His love and ensure that our motives are pure and honourable.

May I end this article with another quote from Neil Anderson:-

"It's okay to forgive anther's past sins and, at the same time, take a stand against future sins. Forgiving is not a co-dependent activity."

Father, Precious Lord, I pray that you will forgive my sins and where I have hurt please forgive. Help any for us who are struggling with being forgiven or forgiving others to be strong in you. Strengthen our resolve to try our best to 'put it right' as commanded by you in Matthew 5. Amen.

Wolves in the dark

Ever thought about wolves??

Ravenous, mean, cunning, cagey, crafty and insidious just about sums 'em up. They are all about one thing and one thing only to destroy, kill and eat.

But the wolf that comes in the darkness as the sun is going down is the worst! After a day of infuriating hunger, it is more fiercer and ravenous than in the morning. The wolf is ready to pounce and kill.

It can creep up slowly and alone, stalking, stealthily catching the scent of the innocent and unwary or it can come in packs, howling hideously, striking the foe with a force unparallelled, surrounding and tearing the victim/s with a torturous ferocity.

When I was thinking about wolves especially wolves in the dark and their cunning, my mind wandered to how like the wolf is our doubts and fears.

After a big day at work, or minding kids, or worries about finances, or concerns for ill family members etc, after our minds have been bombarded and distracted with all sorts of 'things' along comes our wolves with their fangs ready to attack.

Maybe our wolves in the dark come calling after a huge loss in our business dealings or crashing superannuation or maybe even sarcasm and derision about our faith.

"Where is your God now'? Our thoughts and minds tell us - 'Why wasn't He there when I needed Him"?

How ravenous and voracious are our dark wolves - filling our minds and hearts with apprehension, confusion and dilemmas.

How greedy are these dark shapes all around us when we let them in? they gobble up any suggestion of well-being and rest. They can completely annihilate our confidence; smash reliance on our Lord and utterly destroy any thread of our resoluteness to our God.

Wolves love to gash and mutilate the unwary sheep supposedly safe and warm in the fold. They love to attack at night when the sheep are sleepy and non-watchful.

We are so much like those sheep - so vulnerable to attacks by the wolves in the dark. When we are distracted and have taken our eyes off the Shepherd. when we have wandered away from Jesus and away from the main flock.

Our doubts and unbelief can overwhelm us if we listen to the lies of Satan - the fangs of the wolves are so ready to tear us down if we don't stay as close to God as we can.

The dark wolves of doubt and fear won't come anywhere near us during the 'faith-filled' days when we have our hearts and minds centred on our Captain.

It is only in the dark days when we are weakened by circumstances that the wolves of doubt and despair come rushing to wipe us out, encircling us with uncertainty, rejection and indecision.

Doubt and despair can paralyse and debilitate even the strongest of Christians. Pressures come at us constantly; sometimes it feels like we have been hit by a Mac Truck; they bowl us down with relentless regularity.

It is in these very same times we MUST turn to our God; the God who wants so badly to have a REAL relationship with us; to love us; to comfort us and to help us to regain our focus on Him.

Amazingly as it sounds God sees us a "treasure" and if He sees us that way then that is precisely what we are - let God's truth help us to re-focus on the treasure that is within us and not look at the dark wolves of despair and doubt circling around us with drooling fangs.

When we take our minds off Him and start to concentrate on our frail little lives then despair and desperation will be the natural result.

But when we see ourselves as God's "Treasure" we can be reborn and revived in Him. Not only that but our "treasure" can 'slop' out all around us for others to see.

What an amazing transformation we would see; and it would certainly exterminate any wandering dark wolves that may come a-calling one dark night.

Cosmic Killjoy??

God has taken lots of bad raps throughout history. He has been labelled and ridiculed as being unfair, bizarre, foolish, preposterous and ludicrous.

He has been assumed to be conceited, egotistical, imperious, lofty and even narcissistic.

Yet, I reckon one the most unfair assumptions of our Almighty Father is that He is some sort of "comic killjoy' sitting up on his towering throne high above the heavens - throwing lightening bolts at us when we dare step out of line!

Daring us to make mistakes, laugh or even giggle. Just waiting for us to make a snicker and then pouncing on us with condemnation and damnation.

Heaps of people think that God is anti-fun and they think the Bible is just one big rule book - where we have to be super religious, pious ecclesiastical and sanctimonious. That is just so far from the truth.

God is far removed from what we may envision as the grimacing judge of the universe banging His holy gavel, pointing out our faults and stifling any sense of joy in our lives. So sad and so unbiblical.

On the contrary God is far from a cold, disagreeable grouch, instead He is the very one who restores us to Himself and gives us pure joy - a joy unknown to most of us.

Jesus came and people flocked to see Him - children came to Him voluntarily - That alone tells us what sort of man He was - If He was a grouch would children come to Him - hardly!

John 10:10 tells us that Jesus said that He came to give us life and life to the fullest - not a life of drudgery, rule keeping and religiosity.

Of course it certainly doesn't mean that we will have a life free from trials, strife and struggles, BUT what it does mean that deep down we have a sense of peace and yes! even joy knowing that He is with us - every inch of the way - guiding us as we follow Him.

We sometimes get the idea that being 'joyful' in a Christian sense only relates to meditating, serving in church and reading the Bible, which does and can of course give us joy, but joy is not exclusively found in these and these alone for us.

God created us us to experience recreation. He delights in us experiencing fellowship with others, using our gifts He gave us to enjoy sports and creativity etc.

Our main aim here on earth is to glorify God but also to enjoy and appreciate His marvelous creation.

On saying that, we must take great care not to make an idol of pleasure. We can so easily fall for the trap of making idols of all sorts of things in our lives and certain pleasures can become addictive.

The very sad truth is that we live in a world where pleasure itself has become a god to worship it has become perverted and so what God intended us to enjoy has become our master.

There are many 'pleasures' that the world deems as 'legal' and yet God sees them is sin. Drunkenness, adultery, pornography in fact anything that takes us away from Him and onto our 'idol', whatever that may be, God will not condone nor tolerate.

These 'pleasures' are wrong and will certainly not produce long-term joy. They are seasonal and will not bring lasting happiness or joy.

So rather than killing fun or becoming the 'fun Police', God is actually protecting us by giving us boundaries much the same way as we give our own children boundaries that will ultimately only benefit them.

Our lives in Christ have such a deep deep meaning. Jesus paid such a HUGE price for our salvation that we must be careful to give Him utmost respect and reverence. We were created to delight in God and to enjoy His creation BUT we must not consider life to be joyride either.

We can have fun, joy and happiness; appreciating all the great and good things he has given us to enjoy, BUT our focus has to remain on Him the Creator of the gift not just the gift itself.

So, is God a killjoy? Short answer - NO! He is the creator of joy; The Holy Spirit that He gives us at salvation produces joy in our lives and contentment in our souls whatever we are going through at the time.

Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

The world promises a temporary joy at best and often with long-term consequences; God on the other hand offers full time and long-lasting joy no matter what life dishes out to us.

Enjoy His marvelous creation. Maybe we can call or get together with a friend who is going through a rough time and encourage them to find joy in Christ - a long-lasting and fulfilling real joy.

The Evil Twin

Just read a book by Daniel A Brown entitled "Embracing Grace" - if you can get hold of it I thoroughly recommend it.

He deals a lot about on-going guilt in our lives. Even though we may know we are forgiven and have been washed clean by the blood of Christ; we sometimes still carry around with us this foreboding horror and spectre of past sins hanging over our heads like an axe ready to fall.

He walks us through why and how the past is forgiven and forgotten and how it is actually a sin to keep beating ourselves up about sins that are gone forever.

He strongly believes that God is a God who desperately wants to have a relationship with us and it's not His desire to punish us, now or ever.

The Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus' time were all about condemnation, judgement, guilt and blurting out religious wrongdoings. Jesus on the other hand teaches about the great and loving grace of God.

In the ending of the book is a chapter Brown calls "The Evil Twin" and it really struck a chord with me  especially when he says and I quote "I feel like I have an evil twin inside of me - one that looks like me but is actually another me inside of me"

He grabbed my attention straight away because that is exactly how I feel heaps of time and it's obviously how the Apostle Paul felt when he said in Romans 7: 19-25 "I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do"

So where do we go from here and what do we do with verses like 1 John 3:9 "Those who are born again because of what God has done will not keep on sinning. God's very nature remains in them. They can't go on sinning. They have been born again because of what God has done."

Reading those verses and others like them only go on telling us that we are GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!!! because we go on sinning deliberately or unintentionally.

So, that is the very reason why I along with Daniel A Brown, the Apostle Paul and I dare say millions of other Christians feel like they are co-joined with an evil twin; a split personality; a look-alike, sound-alike person who does these amazingly horrible and devastating things and gives us the "I can never be saved" attitude.

As earnest believers aren't we ashamed of our weakness to resist temptations? Ashamed of those times when anger, jealousy, pride and lust  barge seemingly uninvited into our lives and tend to take over!!

We feel like (or at least I do) Spiritual imposters, thinking and doing what we know is wrong. How can we be such hypocrites??

Daniel A Brown points out that the reason why we feel we have such an evil twin is because biblically speaking, we do. How else could we account for doing the very things we don't wish to do?

When we are born again - we become a New Creature in Christ - 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!"

The "born-again you" cannot sin - THAT is the incredible; life-changing promise that hit me like a mac truck. THAT PART OF ME CANNOT SIN! WHOA!!!

As a believer in Christ, a new-me was born.  That day when I gave my all to Jesus, I was re-created in righteousness, holiness and truth.

The old me, which unfortunately I will have to cart around with me until Jesus takes me home, is dead and cannot affect my eternity with God.

Old me which the Bible refers to as 'Flesh - me" still raises it's head and tries to control me but to no real advantage.

Old "flesh-me" remains full of unrighteousness and death and will always be a sinner.

1 John 2 tells us that if we do sin and we will!! we have an Advocate. WOW!! that is just so important it makes me tremble.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. BUT if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

The Holy Spirit of God sent to us when we accept Jesus as Lord will certainly remind and convict us of sin in our lives - we need to come immediately to Christ to ask and receive forgiveness.

When I accepted Christ as my Saviour I became a new creation; a new being in Christ and my new being cannot sin because it is "No longer I who lives BUT Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:19-21.

The life I live now in the flesh or in my humanity, I live by faith in Jesus who gave His life for me.

The old has gone; the new has come!! WHOA!!!

Call your next witness!

The justice system! Where would we be without it?

Angelina Jolie made this quite famous quote:-

I don't believe in guilt, I believe in living on impulse as long as you never 

intentionally hurt another person, and don't  judge people in your life. 

I think you should love completely free.

Well... That's one way of looking at it I suppose.

Guilt, justice and the pronouncing of sentences; all part of modern day life; - what some see as wrong others see as right. We can travel the world and get  five million different versions of what is 'right and wrong'.

Like Angelina we can live on impulses and forego all the 'guilt' feelings. We can extinguish our consciences and harden or hearts to the hurts we have given others and live as we please.

In some parts of the world for example women have no rights at all, If a woman is sexually assaulted, that assault has to be witnessed by four adult males and the offender has to 'confess' before any sort of 'conviction' will take place.

The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Portugal, Mexico and Canada all permit same sex marriage while other countries totally forbid even the suggestion of same.

And while the Netherlands, with it's famous coffee shops, is best known for the decriminalization of marijuana, you can find yourself on death row for possessing the same thing in Bali.

Every country is different in their laws and their justice systems. What is totally OK and fair in some is totally so wrong in others. You may walk down the street in tee shirts and shorts in some countries BUT find yourself behind bars for doing the same thing in another.

Surf the internet to see 'laws upheld in different countries' and before long your brain will be swimming in confusion and questions - all different and all correct in view of cultures and living conditions.

Which ones are right and which ones are wrong?? There are 'expert witnesses' and there are all manner of 'expert opinions' - all divided and all with their own slant on things.

We can be so sincere in our thinking and I truly believe that every other system in the world is truly sincere in theirs - the thing is we can all be 'sincerely' wrong.

Unlike us, our neighbours or our local justice system, God and only God has the unique ability to judge people perfectly.

He, in His ultimate wisdom, doesn't have to rely on eyewitness testimony; He sees everything.

He isn't swayed by 'expert' opinions when it comes to motives; He knows every thought running through a person's brain.

And because He knows our motives; our thoughts and our actions it is very important to keep that in mind because ultimately God's 'verdict' is the only thing that matters.

Living your life to please yourself or to please others is a really bad idea. The consequences can be devastating. It will lead to an alienation from God, which is probably the main reason not to live for self, but it can also lead to a self-righteousness or I-can-do-nothing-wrong attitude that will eventually alienate you from friends and even family.

An on-again, off-again effort won't do when it comes to honouring God - we need desperately to 'get over' ourselves, see others as God sees them; love them as God loves them.

God wants you to give Him your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind - lukewarm won't do!

We show our love for God by loving others and glorifying God in what we do and say - it's a pretty poor show trying to keep the commandments because all of us fail miserably in that one!

The Bible tells us that God looks into our hearts, seeing our purity of motives. Not judging; but loving. That can be hard because quite frankly some people are downright nasty - God is the only one through His Holy Spirit who is able to assist us in loving the un-lovely.

Not judging also includes yourself. If you have asked for forgiveness and truly repented of your sin to God, then your past is gone; continually re-asking God for forgiveness of your past sins and beating yourself up about them time and time again makes you the Judge and not God.

Our goal should be to please the One who can pass sentence on us. Not us passing sentence on ourselves or others.

If we are judged faithful and true to Him - we are set forever. Eternally forever.

I love this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:-

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. 

By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace 

which others are just as entitled to as we are."

Bracing as a slap on a sunburned back!

Ever come to a place of realisation that brings you up with a jolt! I do often but the latest 'jolt' I had was just this week.

We were fortunate to have squirrelled away a week where we were able to set aside all work stuff and go away with two other couples and just relax.

Playing tennis, relaxing in a hot spa, eating outrageous food and generally just taking time to be with each other and God; amazing really! and so encouraging to be with others who are of like mind and appreciate where we are coming from.

We also brought with us heaps of books and DVD's . Daniel A. Browns' book "Embracing Grace" was one that I picked up just prior to going away and one that has had a profound effect on me, especially after I had been thinking along the very same lines and hence had written a blog "Blood Stained Pages' just days before.

Our God works in Miraculous ways indeed and then to top it all off, our friend Rick had brought along a DVD of Louie Giglio's "Grace (the one and only)" which just re-inforced to me that God was definitely giving me this message loud and clear.

Well! with all those prompts I was more or less forced to re-think where I was as a Christian; what was God trying to tell me and then coming to terms with my on-going sin, guilt and bad feelings.

Probably one of the first lessons of the week was that God does not want to punish me He is not a forbidding God sitting on His throne; staid and stern; more interested in his 'rules' than in me!

I must admit that prior to this week away, even though I knew God was merciful and kind, the very fact that I kept on sinning and having to come back time and time again to beg forgiveness, made me think that God must be so sick and tired of my sin.

How much further could I push him before He said enough was enough! "You have gone too far this time"  and I had crossed the invisible line beyond His amazing grace.

Jesus paid an incredible ransom to get me released from judgement and shame; He is faithful and so ever ready to forgive me every sin and cleanse me forever from every stain.

NOW THATS' AMAZING!! God isn't a big stick wielding God ready to whack us at every mistake we make being deliberate or otherwise!

We don't have to be afraid of coming to God when we mess up - That's what He wants of us. He is my ADVOCATE not my ADVERSARY!

Nothing absolutely nothing can worm it's way between me and God's love. Now when I pray I have a new vision of God from one ready to JUDGE to one ready to LOVE! That's what God is like.

We must be so careful to avoid what Daniel A Brown calls the "Spirit of the Pharisee" - and you will recall Jesus reserved the harshest condemnations for the Pharisees!

The Pharisees expected Jesus to agree with their low opinion of sinners and their high opinion of their own spirituality; instead Jesus shocked them by mixing with people whose very sinfulness were condemned by Pharisaical  law.

They, like a lot of Christians think of evaluating God on the basis of standards and scores; winning brownie points for their performance rather than on the basis of love and faith.

We shouldn't condemn ourselves or others for mistakes made now, in the future or the past but rather celebrate what Jesus did for all mankind on the cross. Judging and condemning ourselves and others only points out our insufficiency instead of Gods' all-sufficiency.

Yes; God will judge but His judgement for those who believe and accept will be a judgement of deliverance. The goal of God's judgement is to unlock peoples chains, not to imprison them!

So when we do sin, God, through the Holy Spirit corrects us to enable us to become more like Him. His correction expresses His love, not His wrath. It develops not damns!

So when we come to God, there is no need to come in fear and trembling; God is there to love and nurture not accuse and condemn.

All of us who judge or look down our noses at others or take on the 'holier than thou' attitude are really playing into the hands of Satan our accuser. This attitude will warp God's truth of love and forgiveness and replace it with the law and commands, hijacking God's love with threats of judgement and wrath!

So now when we do sin we don't have to keep our distance from God for a few days until He cools off - on the contrary - that is the very time He wants us to come to Him - he is NOT going to punish us - He wants to forgive.

That certainly doesn't mean that sin no longer matters at all because God's love and grace magically eliminates any need for coming back to God and asking forgiveness! No way!

Nor does it mean that we should be so focused on our sin that we are always constantly feeling inadequate and even unqualified for Gods grace so that each sin we commit brings us closer to the inevitble "chopping block" of God! - Again No way!

Confess our sins as they bombard us; genuinely come to God and repent; turn to Him knowing that He loves you and is so ready to forgive and forget.

The law and the "Spirit of the Pharisee"presses for the guilty verdict where Jesus came to suspend judgement not hurry it along!

So don't fall for the trap of thinking that God is a 'whip holding' God - that only re-inforces what Jesus did on the cross all those years ago was not quite enough!

Unfortunately Gods awesome grace doesn't remove sin from the world; what it does do though is to remove it entirely before the judgement seat of the our Holy God!

We can be assured of our future in Him; sin free because of Gods's forgiveness and love.

When doubts overwhelm you as they do me - draw closer to Calvary

Now THAT is a pretty bracing thought!!

Another amazing 'bracing' thought is that God makes us righteous when we accept Jesus's sacrifice as payment for our own sinfulness - RIGHTEOUS! can you believe it??

In God's mind, righteousness is determined by what we believe, not by how we behave. WOW! This is a game changer.

Frankly, our behaviour even when we try so hard to be good has never been very impressive to God.

So... The great gobsmacking - bracing lesson to be learned here is not found in our human 'behaviour' BUT in God's.

God in His almighty grace made salvation a free gift and from then on believing not behaving is the one and only possible pathway to righteousness.

Blood Stained Pages

We have some really beautiful Christian friends and I praise God for them - they are such a blessings to us.

When we are together the conversation invariably turns to Christ and we encourage each other in the Lord.

Some of them however are pretty scared and might I say terrified to meet our Lord when the time comes for us to gather around the judgement throne - for all of us will be judged according the Scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

So should we be scared to meet God? God in His awesomeness? The very word awesome actually can mean terrifying, so our friends may have a point!

Yes! I truly believe that our God is awesome and terrifying in some ways and I have no doubt that I personally will fall flat on my face when I come into contact with Him on the wondrous day.

But God is also faithful and true to His promises and I praise Him for that fact.

So should we be scared to Him? I firmly believe we shouldn't be. And I can say that with confidence because God spells out very plainly that anyone who comes to Him, confesses their guilt and turns away from their sins; trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus to cover ALL past and future sins, then He will show us compassion, mercy and love.

Believing that the amazing gift offered to us at Calvary when Jesus died to cover our sins, we can come before the awesome Creator of the universe with all confidence and assurance that He will accept us into the place he has prepared for us with Him.

Now some Christians view the judgement seat of Christ in abject terror, a place of intense scrutiny  and sorrow where all of our past sins will be on display for all to see and that we will experience suffering and punishment at God's hands for those sins.

They believe that Jesus, as Judge, will examine in careful and minute detail every word and motive and every past sin through this examination and although forgiven will have to explain in detail every sin committed.

I feel this is contrary to the life and death of Jesus who died once and for all sins. He paid that penalty for us and if we have to give an account of those sins again then that would be contrary to the teaching of 1 Thessalonians 5: 9 "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us".

So Jesus' death paid that penalty for us - we don't have to pay it again at Judgement; isn't that saying that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough?

I personally believe that the Judgement seat of Christ will be a truly serious examination of our past lives yet the emphasis will be on the importance and necessity of faithful living. I also believe that any good works done purely under my own power will be regarded as worthless while anything done in the power of His Holy Spirit will be rewarded.

Now "rewards" smack of merit instead of grace and as we know works mean nothing unless they come from a heart and life fully committed to God - but rewards are freely and often mentioned in the Bible and even though we may feel unworthy about even the idea of rewards they are a real part of the necessity of Judgement.

We should serve God out of love and for His Glory; but the fact remains that the Bible promises rewards.

So I believe where the Judgement seat of Christ will be much more than a 'rewards ceremony' it WILL BE a place where we stand glorified before Him minus our old sin nature! There will be no need for further examination and/or punishment because Jesus has taken the wrath of God away from us who believe.

So let's be very sure about this just in case some us will draw the wrong conclusions. Jesus teaches us plainly that there are very serious and very specific consequences, both here on earth and for eternity for sin and disobedience.

Although, I feel that we as Christians won't be judged for past and forgiven sins, since Jesus did that for us, and we are now a child of God saved by grace, (see John 3:18) we must never, under any circumstances, take sin lightly!

I believe that our sins which were many are all washed away by the blood of Jesus. We don't know or need to know the details of the judgement only to know that the Judge is righteous and just (2 Timothy 4:8) and only He will be able to balance all the variables; individual gifts and uncertainties of life and the opportunities we are given.

I am reminded of Crystal Lewis' song "Bloodstained Pages" which goes like this:-

Whenever I stand before my maker

And the book is open wide

And the deeds of men both good and bad

Are recorded there inside

there won't be a sinful way beside my name

Or a time I let Him down

For the crimson blood of Jesus

Kept my wrongs from being found.

Oh the pages have been stained

By the blood He shed for me

Praise God I can't read  them

Neither can He

What's been forgiven is forgotten

And impossible to see

Bloodstained pages stained by blood

He shed for me

Whenever I stand in wait of Judgement

To account for all my sin

And a diary of the life I've led

Is the evidence brought in

There will be no need of that log of deeds

No conviction handed down

For the crimson blood of Jesus

Kept my wrongs from being found

Oh the pages have been stained

By the Blood He shed for me

Praise God, I can't read them

neither can He

What's been forgiven is forgotten

And impossible to see

Bloodstained pages stained by blood

He shed for me

Only the weak need support!! Don't they?

Don't know what has got into the world at large out there!!

The new word is "accountability" and everyone is on the bandwagon.

You need to be accountable for this and accountable for that - even churches have gone completely bonkers with the whole 'accountability' thing.

From men's meetings to morning tea rosters we need to hold each other accountable. We need to talk about our lives and keep tabs on each other.

So, methinks, why do we need programs like this? Do I need to be reminded to do the obvious things?

We get the car serviced, we mow lawns, we brush our teeth, we take the dog out for walkies, get the dinner on the table in fact we do all the right stuff and never go to meetings about it and hold each other 'accountable', just in case we don't remember!!

NO! I don't reckon we need people to keep telling us "Hey! don't forget.....it's wrong to cheat on your wife or steal from your company!  Don't do things like that"

C'mon guys!! isn't that pretty obvious!!

So I don't get it. Aren't we all accountable to God? Aren't we supposed to look out for our own souls? Watch over our own lives?

LET'S JUST THINK ABOUT THIS!

All of the above is absolutely right and correct: we are all accountable to God. One day each of us will have an appointment with Jesus to discuss the way in which we've lived.

We have to get over the very modern and 'in' thing to do and I may add the very Western World idea that we are independent, autonomous entities.

We are linked eternally to Jesus Christ and in so doing we are also linked to other believers.

We are told in Hebrews and Thessalonians that we need to 'encourage' one another in the faith - doesn't that also imply some sort of 'accountability"?

As Christians we need to hold each other accountable - someone with whom we can confide in our battle to overcome sin and temptation.

If David had had an accountability partner - His adultery with Bathsheba and the resulting murder of Uriah would never have happened.

An accountability partner can be there to encourage us; rebuke us; teach us; grieve with us and to share our happiness and sadness. A shoulder to cry on and to confide our inmost secrets.

An accountability partner also is there to warn of impending dangers as they see it - them to you and you to them.

If Solomon of the thousand wives had had an accountability partner he or she would have seen impending danger and warned Solomon of his folly.

Many years ago my Sister and her friend learned a poem about the "Ambulance in the Valley" about how the cliff edge of this town was so slippery and how many many people had fallen to their doom.

The cry went up "a fence at the top or an ambulance in the valley" - the ambulance won the day and every day the rescuers picked folk up from the valley floor and scuttled them off to hospital.

Until the idea hit them " If the cliff we will fence, we might also dispense with the ambulance down in the valley."

Phew! they got it - the moral of the story: Prevention is better than cure.

So it is with our Accountability partners - both partners are responsible and hold each other accountable to keep our eyes focused on our Lord and not on ourselves.

Accountability partners can keep us looking forward to prevent the consequences of our bad choices and not just being there to pick up the pieces as we fall into a heap at the bottom of a valley of our own making.

We all will give an account to God one day and that thought alone should sober even the most hard-hearted among us into living right.

Unfortunately, the prospect of standing before God later doesn't always motivate us to live now in a way that honours God, nor does it deter us from wrong choices.

We need each others help in our walk along this rocky road - don't let your pride dictate the terms.

Be prepared to share your aspirations; dreams; secrets; and on-going temptations with someone with whom you can talk and trust.

Romans 12:10 commands Christians to be devoted to one another in love. Can we really do this from a distance, as strangers?

How to avoid a torpedo attack!

Hmmmm! Torpedo attacks are instant destruction.

Torpedoes can't be angled downwards - they are designed to do as much damage as possible on the surface - completely obliterating the target.

And if that wasn't bad enough; torpedoes now have gyro angles.

With the old fashioned straight running torpedoes it was necessary to aim at the target or where you estimated the target was going to be by the time the torpedo reached it but by setting GYRO angles the torpedo turns onto the proper track after it is fired.

Thus it hits the target every time - sort of like a homing device - BANG straight into the target causing maximum damage.

So it is with us - there are all sorts of torpedoes aiming at us most days. These torpedoes can come from work, sport, friends, family and even in church. They can come from the most unexpected sources and can blow us out of the water every time.

Some of the most amazing torpedo attacks come from sources that we thought were the most truest and trustworthy.

Satan is out there as well - fuelling any sort of troubles with his cunning and making it harder and harder to avoid being hurt even devastated when things or people rock our boat so badly that we literally sink beneath the waves and, in some cases, never to rise again.

Have you ever got to the stage where you ever feel like you must have a target painted on your back? Do you ever get bombarded with unfair accusations, unrealistic expectations or unmanageable situations?

If you are a person of faith and you have given your will and life completely over to God then Satan hates you; in fact he hates all things that even smack of God.

He hates your job, your family, your marriage, your spouse in fact everything about you is, in his mind, fair game and he will try to torpedo you as much as possible.

Satan comes to steal and kill so if you see anything that resembles, stealing, killing and destroying in your life - you can rest assured that Satan is behind it.

If Satan thinks he can torpedo anything in your life he will have a go at it. If he can undermine your faith, he will; if he can beset your marriage with problems, he will; if he can use the sin of offence in your life, he will.

Maybe you feel emotionally strong and just maybe you can handle a lot of pressure, maybe you are the anchor of your family - you feel you can withstand any torpedoes coming your way - well that's great!

But... there are many kinds of strength and the most important strength we have is our need of God - He is the one who gives you strength. True Christian strength is of the spirit and God is Spirit and He wants us to be strong; strong in Him.

We can all fall - no matter who we are, David fell; Solomon fell; Samson fell - Yes we can all fall into Satan's traps.  None of us are immune; none of us are strong on our own - we need the full armour of God to protect us; even if we have been Christians for years and years.

It is Satan who apposes us; he is the one who wants us to join him in eternal separation from God; yet it is the very sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary that guarantees our deliverance from that awful end.

You know, God is our protector. he is a divine shield to guard against the slings and arrows and yes! even torpedoes fired at us on a daily basis.

Arm yourselves with his armour; His truths; His promises. Staying close to Jesus is the ONLY way to avoid torpedoes.

Filling our lives with him on a daily basis; asking Him to re-fill us with the awareness of His holy Spirit living inside of us on a daily basis; being aware of his guiding and drawing on His strength daily is the only possible way to avoid being blown away by torpedoes of every kind.

First one to blink loses!

Most of us here on earth like to win! We are the ones that have to end up being the one who was right!

I grew up in an extremely competitive family - A Dad who could sing like Pavarotti, play cricket and others sports like a pro; a Mum who was so organised it would make your head spin and siblings with talents and confidence galore.

I tended to be the odd one out, lacking in the social graces, unable to make myself heard or even make a point, but nevertheless with a goal in mind to WIN!

Whether its fighting for promotion, jockeying for position in traffic or playing video games with a friend, most of us have a strong desire to come out on top.

AND... that's what makes CONFLICT such an explosive issue. We treat it like a competition - the first one to blink loses!!

Conflict at work, with individuals, with your partner and/or children can put us well and truly in the back seat when it comes to 'winning'. We then feel left-out, mad, vengeful, surly and offended.


So the conflict can grow; If we feel we have 'won' the conflict, we feel proud, sure of ourselves and successful - at least in the short term.

One of the most important skills you can learn and develop is how to deal successfully with conflict, and I can tell you right here and now without the workings of our great God and Saviour; conflict will keep on reappearing in our lives over and over again.

Being in the business world for 38 years of my working life I learned to manage conflict from text books, seminars and the like and YES! I achieved a measure of success and worked through heaps of conflicts in the Industrial arena, dealing with unions, employees and equal opportunity problems.

All of these 'conflicts' I felt were managed well by the team and myself and I prided myself that I was the one to be called on if something need resolving! How wrong could I be.

When I fully handed my life over to God; holding nothing back; and stopped being a "Sunday" Christian, one of the first lessons I learned was that God views life differently and so did I after His amazing Holy Spirit entered my life.

God understands that not every 'conflict' has a winner and loser.

What God does care about more than winning or losing conflicts is our attitudes toward other people.

God changed my 'winning at all costs' attitude! Now when I look back I shudder at some of the things I did and said to win a conflict or how I put people at such a disadvantage that they had no option other than give in. Very strategic; very professional AND very wrong!

God put a new attitude in my heart - It is far better to lose a conflict to gain peace with a person.

So now! Even if I lose a conflict I have actually won if by doing so has restored peace to the situation.

Saying all of that I have also learned that conflict for a Christian is well to put it bluntly inevitable!

Paul tells us that "all who desire to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). So to those of us who see conflict as a sin I would suggest strongly that as Jesus taught us 'conflict is exactly what we should and will expect'.

Conflict as a Christian is inevitable because our accuser, Satan, engineers all conflict whenever and wherever possible, especially among our Christian brothers and sisters. Sowing discord and discontent, causing offence and conflict with each other and our God.

So understand this: we knowingly enter into conflict and dare I say even 'initiate' it whenever we proclaim the gospel of holiness, kindness and forgiveness. The world will not it kindly and Satan will use every opportunity to make us cease and desist, undermine and intimidate.

Conflict for the Christian is here to stay I'm afraid to say and we must learn to identify and manage it until that final day when our Lord will return and all questions will be answered and all conflict will fly straight out of the window!

So how do we as Christians manage this impossible-to-avoid conflict? Well firstly I have learned that to take offence is probably the very worst thing we can do. My beautiful daughter gave me a book by John Bevere called "The Bait of Satan" - well worth the read.

In this book Bevere describes in detail just how subtle Satan can be and how he uses offense to drive us away from God and our fellow believers.

The next thing I have learned is to grab hold of the truth that our God is bigger than the problem we are facing. Pray heaps about it and certainly don't say or do anything on the spur of the moment without first taking it to God.

The third thing I would do is to 'act in the opposite'. Example: if a person is mean be generous; if aggressive then you be passive; and so on....

God showed us amazing, stunning and incredible love when He sent Jesus to die on that beautiful/terrible/gruesome day.

This unique kind of love endures rejection and misunderstanding to bring about peace, healing and reconciliation.

This is the kind of love and respect Jesus commands even DEMANDS of us.

So conflict is to be expected - it's how we handle it through Jesus' love that will see us true to Him and ourselves.

A Beautiful Terrible Day

Jesus was only 33 when He died.

He was condemned to die by execution on a cross - Crucifixion.

At that time Crucifixion was reserved for the very 'worst' of criminals.

I will say at the outset that every time without fail that I think of the death of Jesus and how He died it literally brings me to tears; a fact of which I am not ashamed.

Jesus' death on Calvary on that terrible/beautiful day is a bracing slap in the face to any believer who has been lulled into taking their salvation for granted.

We should never underestimate what it cost for our salvation to be available.

The false accusations; the rigged trial; the flesh-gouging flogging; The vicious punches to His face; His beard pulled out by the handful;  the irate crowds mocking, spitting and throwing rocks; the vicious outrage of the Sanhedrin; the excruciating two kilometre journey to Golgotha carrying the huge weight of the wooden cross; the nails in His hands and feet; the crown of thorns; the crushing weight of hanging on the cross.

And worst of all the sheer horror of being abandoned by his Father God.

Jesus: impaled on that monstrous tree; man's very worst creation of human suffering - bleeding and in abject agony.

He hung there tortured with the crown of thorns pressed into His scalp and down on His brow; more than likely piercing through his eyebrows. His flogged back rasping against the rough wooden cross as he gasped for breath heaving His pain racked body and pushing up by his nailed pinned feet. The whole picture of it overwhelms me.

It took three hours for him to die! YES: three hours hanging there torturously speared in the side, naked, crying out to His father in His pain and suffering as the mocking crowds spat on him and even gambled over His clothes.

The human body holds around three and half litres of blood and Jesus poured it all out for us. He could bleed no more. Towards the end of the three hours and just before he died he was simply pouring out water from His wounds - he gave everything for us to the very last drop.

Jesus had to die to open the gates of Heaven so that you and I can have access to God. So that our sins can be washed away.

It was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross; our mocking voices screaming obscenities to Him that day; our hand that held those nails. All of us are guilty, none can escape judgement.

God knew that without punishment none can ever even hope to see Him - all of us have sinned and fallen short of his standard.

God knew that by the death of Jesus, the holy and spotless one, was our only hope of redemption; our only hope of forgiveness and acceptance into heaven.

All of us will have to give an account of our sins either by accepting what Jesus did on that terrible/beautiful day, falling at the foot of the cross and asking forgiveness and accepting Jesus' sacrifice as our own and claiming it as full payment for our own sins or....

At the very throne of God himself when it will be too late for forgiveness; mercy or excuses!

It is just so easy for us to go along with the world - pass jokes about the Holy one of God; ridicule Him, and pass him off as some sort of lunatic! Atheists do it all the time - you just have to turn on the television to cop an eyeful of the what the world thinks of Jesus. Using his holy name as blasphemy and profanity.

BUT what do you think of Him?

I know what I think! - each and every time I sin I come back to the cross; I see him hanging there for me; His blood washing me clean and I can claim that forgiveness again - so amazing so awesome!

Come to Him or maybe come BACK to him without delay - His nailed pierced hands are waiting just for you in welcome.

God chasing - Tracks in the sand!

Always doing the right thing is far too hard - far too boring!!

God's rules are outdated; outmoded and frankly I've had enough of rules rules rules!

Sound familiar? - Well who hasn't wanted to ignore God's standards and do something immediately satisfying? I know I have - heaps of times - sometimes in what seems to me to be a never ending circle of What if? OK do it? OH Sorry Lord and then off we go again!

And... who hasn't wanted to take full credit for personal accomplishments.

For all of God's love and generosity there is one thing that He will not share and that is His Glory.

He alone is God - No one can sit in His place and your best bet is to not even try!

Sure! it is just so tempting to take the reigns off God and do the 'moral shortcut' thing when simply doing the 'right thing' is just too hard.

However if we believe that God alone is all powerful; all knowing; and all loving, you also have to conclude that he is the only one with the credentials to guide our lives and basically HE is the only reason we have a life in the first place.

Now that all sounds great when you read it off like that! - easy - just hand it over to God and DaaDaa there you go - magic all accomplished! But it isn't as easy as you may think.

We can go "God chasing" as I like to call it! - Simply I mean we can do all the right things and 'chase' after God all we like but get nowhere in the long run.

Chasing God or trying to be a 'good' christian is a waste of time take it from me  - I have been there and done that. For donkey's years  I did the right things and went to all the right places.

Amazing really the more I tried to catch God on my own the harder it got until one day - the One I was trying to catch actually caught me!!

He is the only one that can change you - You can't possibly change yourself - you can try - you can bust a gut trying - you can give it 100% and still fail - because humans are so fallible and fickle - we change our minds as the wind changes.

If you try to 'chase' after God using your own strength all you will get is frustration; disappointment; embarrassment; abuse and heaps of misunderstandings.

We carry around with us our dark little secrets; our doubts and our despairs! Some weighty problems no doubt; sometimes we feel like we are walking under really dark clouds and storms about to burst right on top of us.

We simply can't do it on our own - Chasing after God is like trying to grab a whirlwind by it's tail - it is pretty pathetic to even try and if you do you will flat on your backside in the attempt.

What is interesting about feeling like this is that they cause us to focus and centre on US! The very thing that God does not want us focusing on: Ourselves.

The world loves to tell us that we 'Need to do what is right for me; I need to focus on myself.'

BUT when we stop looking at ourselves and start focusing on God - miracles can happen. He can transfer our selfish ways to His selfless ways.

After we have given up the attempt to change ourselves and come to the realisation that we aren't going to win; it is then that God can work a miracle!

The change He can make in our lives is incredible - stunning actually - amazing and awesome because God is an AWESOME God - terrifying, yet merciful and gracious - always willing us to keep going with Him, trusting and obeying him more and more.

Trade in chasing after God and become a follower of His instead - such a difference - we can't strive on our own to catch him BUT we can follow in His footsteps.

Open our hearts and wills to God - Give Him all - Love Him more than anyone or anything else - your whole life will change and change forever.

Sin will no longer have it's hold on you - you will be able to move on with your life but with a whole new meaning and purpose.

God chasing or God following - both so different; and both leaving a legacy! Choose to follow!

Following leaves clear tracks - chasing only leaves skid tracks- skidding off the path; crashing and burning!

Leave tracks as a FOLLOWER not as a CHASER! - Tracks for others to see; a lasting legacy.

You CAN make a difference as you submit to God's will; carrying the Glory of God with you as you travel the path after Him.

Leave tracks that will give a lasting impression of Jesus on everyone you meet this week.

Perfect to pathetic!

If you have ever taken the time to read Genesis you will have to agree that this amazing book written 1000's of years ago captures the sweeping story of a world that swings from perfect to pathetic; from flawless to fallen in one easy lesson.

In Genesis the reader will find a world of lust, murder, incest, lying, cheating, stealing and power grabbing.

Sounding familiar? Yes all wrapped up for us neatly in Genesis is the watershed day of just why the world is as the world is today!! What a mess.

Underneath all the mayhem though, lies the incredible story of a perfect world; a world gone wrong.

An overarching theme resonates through the tragic stories of Genesis; the hope that the perfect world of Genesis 1 and 2 will one amazing day be restored.

The making of a perfect and unstained world by an omnipotent and mighty Creator blows our tiny minds completely out of the water by it's sheer magnitude and magnificence.

The painted desert; the northern lights; the great whales; the milky way; the genetic codes that make each and every person that has ever given breath, unique, God brought them all into existence with just one word from His mouth.

You would have to be some kind of a fool not to respect a Creator with that kind of power.

But what about His creation??

The creation that was perfectly made; no rain; no direct blazing heat; all contained in what the Bible describes as a firmament, above and below - so creation existed in a kind of insulted bubble; perfectly controlled temperature and moisture. No illness, no death and no war.

Then the enemy showed us sin and we loved it - the creation was marred beyond recognition; everything went pear-shaped never to be the same again.

The firmaments above and below were shattered by God's wrath; sin, war, tragedies, illness and death reigned and will continue to do so forevermore.

And so all through the book of Genesis the reader can be transported from the heights of perfection to the depths of despair in matter of chapters and it's all so so familiar.

The world today is just a sad reflection of what happened all those years ago. There is countless wars; countless illness; death at every turn; murder; child abuse; slavery; addiction of every kind; predators; thieving; lying; deceit, world economies failing, jobs lost, families shattered apart, divorce, abortion and the list goes on ad nauseam.

The book of Genesis isn't that far removed from today's world - only the characters have been changed.

So, how do we, you and I, cope with the mess we have been landed in?

Well the great and amazing change happened 2000 years ago when God sent Jesus to make atonement for the sins of the entire world. WHY?

Well we have to pay for our sin one way or another and God knew that Jesus was the only one that could pay the price - the sinless one; only Jesus could do what Jesus did.

Instead of us paying for our own transgressions and waywardness, Jesus paid for them and for us and all we have to do is commit to Him, ask forgiveness and ask him into our lives.

Now this commitment thing is a tricky issue on it's own, especially if you have burned in the past.

It's tough to commit yourself to another person who may ultimately reject you, let alone the Creator of the universe!

God won't take your commitment for granted. He won't lose interest in you. God won't panic or reject you on days when your commitment level isn't what it should be!

Committing yourself to God may feel like a risky proposition BUT it is a risk worth taking and one that I took years ago and Hey!! He has never let me down - I've let Him down but he has never left me ever!!

Taking a risk and committing 100% of your life to God pays off 100% of the time!!

So when the tragedy of Genesis slams into your own private world and knocks you for six! - Remember who actually paid the price - JESUS!

Commit to Him and this world with all your personal tsunamis will fade into insignificance. This world is NOT the end - we have been created for Him and can look forward to eternity in perfection.