Far too old to move on with Jesus? Step out with Christ

I have been so convicted lately of our need to be always on the lookout to what God would have us do and where He would have us go not what we would like to do or where we would like to go.

We have to be always ready to do His will no matter how we are feeling or what we are doing or whoever is on our life's horizon.

It's just so easy to please ourselves and actually ignore God's pull on our lives, His prompting and His guidance.

I found myself in this position just recently, well at least over the last 12 months.

Its amazing just how many excuses we can find not to do the will of God. We can just plainly be too busy to even think that God may want something more of us that what we're prepared to give.

Must admit I was a tad gobsmacked when I, at last, realised that God was indeed talking to me! Really what did I expect? I know what I maybe needed - a smack across the back of the head may have got my attention but our God doesn't work like that - maybe more to the pity.

As I said, for the last 12 months I was feeling disorientated in our church. I say "I" when actually I mean "we" for both Sue and I had been feeling the same way for completely different reasons,  but the outcome was the same.

Amazing is our God that He uses different methods of communication for different people. For me personally it was a feeling of unrest, like I had left something undone or forgotten, For Sue it was more definite but hadn't been going on and on for as long as my feelings of unrest and incompleteness.

When we finally gave in and really listened to what God was saying we were both completely taken aback that he wanted to use us in this most unexpected way and at our time of life.

Here was I being happy to sit back in our huge church in our huge auditorium soaking up the amazing messages. Sitting on my blue plastic stackable chair listening to one talented artist after another extolling praise and worship with extraordinary songs with astounding lyrics that blew me away Sunday after Sunday.

I was comfortable (well as much as one can be on a blue stackable chair) warming my place each week, paying my dues and making friends . No one bothered me much and I loved worshipping God and joining in on the social side of things with folk my age doing what folk my age do - just enjoying each others company and attending growth groups.

Still underneath all of that there was this feeling of something missing.

You know God isn't finished with any of us! If you think you may have completed your work here on earth then like me you may have to think again! You may retire from your employment but never from the work and servitude of working for God.

I like to jog (in fact I feel I am addicted: sigh)  and one cold wintry day at 5am I jumped out of bed. a quick word of prayer, pulled on my jogging clothes, wired myself to my NanoPod and my inspirational music and set off.

The gloom was pretty heavy that early morning, the moon had waned and no-one was around, a slight mist but not that heavy. Not far from our home is a busy road that winds itself through a good old fashioned Aussie bush. Beside the road and running alongside the bush is a straight footpath and that is where I concentrate my jog.

At that hour of the morning there is very few traffic and I guess it is just a bit gloomy with mist emanating from the bush and just a few street lights trying to shine through. I usually tune off and listen to the music and have my quiet time with Jesus - it's our special time together and often I completely "zone out'.

On the opposite side of the road there is no footpath just a rough verge of stones and potholes and I noticed through the gloom a young guy jogging on that side. "Strange" I thought and wondered why he didn't cross the road to the more level path.

When he was opposite me I was surprised when he called my name. At first I couldn't make out who he was though the darkness but soon realised it was a friend that once had also been at our church.

He told me how he never jogs down this way and how he had actually been lost in the bush and finally stumbled out onto the very road and very place where I was jogging. I had never seen him there before and I have never seen him there since.

We jogged together and as we did we chatted about our families and our churches and he shared with me about this tiny little 'church plant' that his congregation had commenced, would you believe, in our very next suburb.

I knew immediately that was where God had intended us to go - I knew with utmost certainty He was leading us there to this little church.

Feeling a bit like Moses, my first thought had been, no Lord - I'm way too old - what can we possibly offer - I'm comfortable where I am in this sterile wilderness of my own making - I can't speak or sing - I can contribute nothing!

We stepped out with Jesus - scary to leave friends and move out of your comfort zone but God is such an amazing guide - He tells us just to follow that's all! - Just do your very best for Him and He again promises us that he will indeed take care of everything else.

Since leaving the huge and joining the tiny, we have indeed been blessed - honestly there is no better feeling in the whole world than to know that you are in the place where God wants you to be. His will and plan for us is perfect and in Him there is fulfilment and satisfaction.

So, don't get too comfortable where you are and never be surprised by God no matter how old or young you are. In the words of the Late Keith Green  "Just keep doing your best and pray that it's blessed and Jesus takes care of the rest"

My prayer for you this week is that you will be open to God's leading in your life. Be completely honest with Him - tell Him your anxieties and fears as to where and how He will lead you but be super sure you have counted the cost.

God bless you as you leave your future entirely in His care trusting and following Him - the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

Hit your limit? Can't go on?

Mistakes from Ella's past loomed over her head - she was so aware of the botch-up job she had made of her life.

The voices kept telling her and reminding her of the myriad mistakes she made and how she has reaped what she has sown and how now she has to live with those consequences.

The sins of the past kept worming their way into Ella's life - disrupting and spoiling everything she tried to do and everything she touched.

Years before she had those three abortions and even further to when she somehow became the surrogate sex partner shared around by anonymous groups of teens, Ella had been a Christian or so she thought.

Her husband of four years knew vaguely of part of her past but even to him she had never disclosed her entire story.

The life she had lived back then and decisions she had made were eating her up inside and in her panic and feelings of unworthiness she was on the verge of depression and isolation.

Ella and her husband had tried to conceive a child - she wanted so much to become in her eyes a 'real' family. Many doctors had said it was completely unlikely that she would conceive normally and of course Ella blamed herself and those abortions from years ago.

Her guilt and self-condemnation haunted her every move and nothing would take those feelings of dread, regret, remorse and shame away.

In her early years, Ella had committed her life to Jesus, she had been challenged to learn more and more about Him. '

She had found herself wanting to go to church and meet with others of like mind and keep on learning from His word. She believed that in God's grace and mercy Jesus had forgiven her sins and she was so thankful to Him.

Somehow over the years she had slowly slipped away - a little at first and then the more she missed handing each day over to Jesus the easier it became to become a follower of the world out there and bit by bit the ways of Christianity seemed to slip through her fingers.

In her desperation, Ella found herself sitting in church one Sunday - her mind a total blank - her heart breaking and not knowing where to turn or who to turn to.

She vaguely heard the songs- she vaguely heard the message - she rarely even lifted her head to look around - then she somehow heard these words.

"I don't know what happened in your life all those years ago but I do know what regret and guilt over past actions can do"

Her breaking heart skipped a beat - she felt like crying out "can you repeat what you just said?'

She kept her head bowed low and listened probably for the first time to what this stranger was saying.

The minister kept on - she seemed to be speaking to Ella personally "Every so often I find myself cringing at the sudden recall of things done or said from my past."

Ella became like a sponge, absorbing every word and syllable. It was like God himself had sent her to this church on this very day.

The minister went on to say how particularly hard it is when our past comes back to hurt and disappoint those we love the most.

She opened God's word to Romans eight and from there expounded the Gospel of how Jesus came to die for us all - everyone - no one excluded. no matter what we have done or failed to do. No sin is too gross that God will not forgive if we TRULY repent.

She went on to say that does not mean that we are free of the consequences of such actions. Often the sins of the past have major consequences that effect our future and we have to deal with them in very individual ways.

These consequences as sad and damaging as they may be, do not in any way affect our salvation but they do affect our lives.

Ella re-committed her life to Jesus that very hour. Did things improve? - the consequences didn't - she still had the past and what that meant but the guilt had been washed away - she was a new creation - a new person in Jesus.

I have no idea what has happened in your life - I know I have a past and I know only too well what that past can do - BUT I also know that I have a future and my future is so wound up in Christ and what He has done for me.

How you deal with past mistakes and the consequences of them is entirely between you and God. You may need to ask for forgiveness, you may need to give forgiveness from your heart and that can be extraordinarily hard.

It may go deeper than that - you may have to own your sin - that is own up to what you have done and bear the consequences - again truly hard and agonisingly sad. All these things need to be taken to the throne of God - He will show you through the work of His Spirit what you should do and how you should act.

Let me assure you that nothing you have done can come between you and God. Nothing is too hard for God to forgive. Of course we have to repent, which is far more than 'being sorry'. True repentance comes from the heart and it is a 'turning away' from that sin.

Charles Spurgeon said " Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it and a  resolution to forsake it"

So have you hit your limit? Are you feeling you can't go on? These voices inside your head and in your heart telling you "you won't get past this one - you are defeated - it's not real- you are a failure?"

Please take heart - it's certainly not over yet - God has far greater things than this waiting for us. Far greater than our past and far greater than our uncertainties.

Turn your life over to Him right now; right where you are. Don't give you past a foothold in your life.

With Jesus we can do anything and achieve so much more.

Life is a race we run so let's run till the race is won. Don't look back - keep looking to Jesus - after all He keeps looking at us.