Deep waters

When you go through deep waters,
   I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty.
   You will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression.
   You will not be burned up;
   The flames will not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2 NLT

Wonderful verse to read in the Bible and most encouraging - a true word for our Lord and God  YET....

When we are actually going through some really rough times often it is so hard to keep trusting God.

When you have just been diagnosed with cancer and you are facing a huge operation or like my friend Rick who was told there was no hope and only had weeks to live, when your child is killed in a horrific accident on the way home from school - where is God?

When you lose your job and your whole family is depending on your income, when you, like me had been sexually abused as a teenager and the person responsible has never been brought to justice ~ in fact the other extreme has happened where he has seemingly gone on to bigger and better things in life - where is God?

When your siblings refuse to believe you, when your best friend suicides and you are left to wonder if you could have done something to prevent it, when you are accused wrongly of something and no one stands up for you - where is God?

It's hard to come to terms when all you hear is that God is loving and kind and He always has your best interest at heart.

The thing is that death and suffering is the punishment for sin - God said that would happen when Adam walked away from God way back after creation The whole world went bonkers after that and sin and death went wild.

Not our personal sin! - I believe strongly that God doesn't punish us by sending tragedy in our lives for our sins, past or otherwise - It's just that sin is rampant in our world and we are part of that world and with that comes all the other horrible things that happen.

We as Christians are certainly not exempt from all these things happening to us. It's part of being in a fallen world and living in a broken world where sin, death and tragedy reign supreme.

The real realty is that undeserved suffering can pounce on any of us at any time - often blowing us away with the severity of each and every blow. None of us not even one of us is perfect, bad things can still happen which are definitely not the direct result of some sin we have committed. This of course raises the issue of why God allows this to happen?

Seemingly undeserved suffering happens! In this respect, it's how we respond to God when it happens and how we as Christians react to this suffering is far more important. Jesus sets us an example to follow here recorded for us faithfully in 1 Peter 2: 19-23 quoted here in the Contemporary English Version.

"God will bless you, even if others treat you unfairly for being loyal to Him. You don't gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good. Christ did not sin or ever tell a lie. Although he was abused he never tried to get even. And when he suffered he made no threat. Instead, he had faith in God, who judges fairly."

We may never understand why bad things happen and why we have to face trouble and often the very unthinkable things that happen to us. But on saying all of that we as Christians also have something that the world with all of it's terror and tragedy can't take away from us and never will.

Jesus tells us that we will face these troubling things in the world but He goes on to say "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" John 16:33. Jesus died to provide the solution to death and punishment - He rose again to smack death and punishment on the head, never to rule over us.

We have the answer this hurting old world of ours needs - we have hope in the risen Saviour, now and for eternity.

Life can be so so confusing at times. Unexpected bad things can happen in a twinkling of an eye just like good things can happen in exactly the same time. We may have to go through long long periods of struggle, anguish, grieving and flat out misery. There will be times when we just wish God would tell us what is actually going on here? But he doesn't - very frustrating but that is exactly what life here on earth is all about.

All this mystery and frustration can serve to reinforce to us that if we want to live this life of ours to the full, it's really not a matter of knowing why things happen: it's a matter of knowing THE God who knows why these things happen.

Life can be surprising and sad, confusing and happy ~ none of which we may never understand fully. I believe the way through it is not to try to nail down the meaning of every event and to have all the answers but to know the God who knows everything. The way to negotiate life is to know Jesus.

For this reason, when bad or good things happen to us is not to grapple with "Why is this happening to me? " Rather let's consider this:- "Since this is happening to me, how can I use it to know God better through Jesus?"

Life is about staying close to God and trusting Him even when bad things happen because staying close to God is far more valuable than not suffering.

No matter how deep the wound is

Wow! when I look back on my past (which is something I really try not to do) in lots of ways my childhood and teenage years were fraught with anxiety, confusion and a load of guilt that was often unbearable.

I had heaps of struggling times but through it all I reckon I have come out of it a better person thanks to the one who was my Saviour and Lord - only through the spilled blood of Jesus can I stand firmly today and proclaim that no matter what happens in the future I just know that God is with me 100% and even when I stuff it up I know He has my back and He will not let me fall away.

I had a pretty strict childhood with a dad obsessed with singing and cricket - and anything that got in the way of that......well it just wasn't worth even considering in his eyes. He was blessed with a magnificent voice that I grant and he did sing around a lot with choirs and solos and all sorts of gigs but only in churches and he maintained that he used his voice for God - which was amazing I must admit.

Going through and visiting all of these churches when I was a little tyke actually stood me in good stead spiritually I feel,  because it was there I actually heard a lot about Christianity and what it actually meant to be a Christian and I reckon it was a good grounding in what was eventually going to be my future life as it panned out. God has his plans.

All through this time there was a nagging question in my life and that was - there has to be more?

There has to be more than just going to church and going through traditions - singing - going to Sunday school and me just 'being good'.  In my mind there had to be more than that!

As I was feeling this way there was also the nagging question in my mind and hanging over me all the time and that was "I'm just not good enough to be a follower of Jesus".

Yes! I went through the motions of being a Christian. I could talk the talk with the best of them - I was great a putting on face and hiding my true feelings. In fact all of our family was and a lot of them still are unfortunately.

Being a Christian is far more than fronting up to church on Sunday - it is far more than direct depositing your 'tithe' each week or slaving your guts out working 'for the church' in some capacity that you really don't feel very comfortable in.

Yes! we can do all of that and feeling like we have to 'do' something to somehow earn your right to be called a 'Christian'.

I was a classic victim of religiosity - you know - that feeling of trying so hard to be good - doing the 'right' thing and being seen by others to be doing the right thing.  Which is fine on Sundays but living like that really has no depth and things just revert back to where they usually are through the week.

In lots of ways that's exactly where I was growing up! It was hard and as I discussed in a previous blog things hit the fan big time when I was thirteen.  Doctors and counselors now tell me that thirteen probably is THE WORST time trauma can hit a person, The brain of a thirteen year old is just on the grow emotionally and if a huge trauma comes along it is like a volcano eruption in the brain which can can have disastrous effects that can last a life time.

Putting all that aside God through his amazing grace spoke to my heart big time. He saved me and made me realise no matter how many times I thought I was garbage, through His grace, the cross of Jesus and in His eyes I am actually perfect.

The very day you came to Christ - you became a brand new person and took on a whole new persona never to be the same again. God sees you through the very person of Jesus the one who took the nails for you - the very one who rose from the dead and defeated death. We can have victory through him regardless of our past.

No matter how many wounds and scars we have - no matter who we have slept with in the past - no matter what we have done or where we have been - no matter how many times we have messed up we ARE brand new and we will remain BRAND NEW for eternity.

The evil one - our enemy satan will try so hard to tell us we are unworthy - that we have 'stuffed it up again' - that we are anything but forgiven and washed clean by Jesus BUT nothing can take the shine off our new life as far as God is concerned. Satan will also try to put as many obstacles in our paths to try to dissuade us that God is not real and even if He was you will have no part in His promises.

I can tell you from experience that satan is the father of lies and he will try to make your life absolutely miserable because he knows that he can do nothing about your eternal life with Jesus and what you have done in coming to Christ and calling on His name.

So the upshot of it all is that no matter what life throws at us the real truth of the matter is that the cross of Jesus, His sacrifice for us has really made us clean beyond measure. No matter how deep the wound is as Mercy Me's song FLAWLESS explains so well.

Google the song for yourself - it's there on youtube and it really does spell it out so plainly - that Jesus died and the grace of God is so amazing that we can be washed clean and that when we stand before God for real He will see us as "Flawless".

Does that ring a bell?

"Does that ring a bell?" - How often have we heard that saying? - some long time memory forgotten maybe? Something that has just been brought back to your mind?

Maybe a phrase or a word or especially a name can bring good or bad memories flooding back to our hearts and minds - often overwhelming us with joy - or bringing us into dark despair.

My life has been one of topsy turvy feelings when I look backwards - which is something I do with uncertainty and often BIG regrets and something I try to avoid doing on a regular basis.

Just a few months ago I wrote about the elephant in the room and I figure sometimes it is so much better to address the obvious in your life so that we can eventually put it behind us - we can so easily dodge around the hard things in life - knowing they are there and quite clearly stopping us from moving forward as it were but so often we decide to ignore the truth and just press on anyway.

So it is with many of us  - never quite game to evict the elephant and grow stronger especially in Jesus - NO! we decide to dodge the obvious and let the elephant thrive and continue to grow until like my problem, it becomes really huge and hard to evict.

I was sexually abused as a child of 13 by an older brother and the guilt I carried around with that was enormous and it still is - now that I have grown old myself it has become even harder to expel from my life until I have had to admit that it really is time I have put it to rest.

I had no idea my guilt feelings were effecting my own family until just recently when all sorts of things and events start happening which pointed the light fairly and squarely at the good old elephant in the room and I found myself breaking down at the slightest provocation and finding it hard to continue.

My faith in God has seen me through probably THE most toughest year of my life so far and yet I still find myself needing reassurance and positive thoughts so that my immediate family is not scarred further with how my own life has played out.

Seeing professional help is certainly not a wrong thing to do and I know deep in my heart that God has given people amazing gifts and talents and I really feel that they may be able to help, to a certain degree, in outing the past and to live purposefully and in victory.

There are a lot of Christian psychologists and psychiatrists out there but even there they are unable to give you the perfect answer to complicated and long ago problems. They can certainly help us identify long hurts and grievances and maybe even to put to bed old wounds and scars that have tripped us up over and over again.

The real truth is that there is only ONE place that you will get the real answer to your problems and that is on the Word of the Living God - it is here that you will receive the tools and ability to really get behind that elephant and give it the heave ho out of your life for good.

I am just so sorry that I didn't realise the entire truth of the God's amazing Word years ago which would have saved me so much heartache and despair and also stopped putting my own family through turmoil and distress.

Do I blame the perpetrator? - I must say I have struggled with this question over and over again - I have approached him and tried communicating over the years to no avail whatever - I have, many times brought to it God in prayer. To be completely honest with you and myself, I often wonder what I would have done if he had reciprocated and returned my overtones? Would I have truly forgiven him?

Forgiveness and putting things behind us is amazingly and overwhelmingly HUGE and a problem that can only be solved through the incredible work of the Holy Spirit living inside of us - I honestly don't know how I would have survived these past years without His work in my life.

So where do I go from here? If you have faced or are dealing with your own elephant in the room, where do you go from here?

I personally am about to receive counselling which probably at my age can help - it's certainly not out of the question but ultimately it is really up to the individual. You and you alone are responsible for taking seriously the Word of God - you and you alone are the only one to allow God to transform you into the person He wants you to be.

Our personal growth in Jesus depends on just how willing you are to want God to change you which He can do in remarkable ways. I know because he has changed me.

Yes! I am still in the woods and sometimes my days can be dark and foreboding - but you know deep down - deep way way down is a real peace that this world and our pasts can never take away from us.

Jesus is alive - He is so willing to love you in such a special way that your past and what ever happened to you along the way will start fading in miraculous and spectacular ways that you would never think possible.

Yes! I will receive counselling and Yes! I am looking forward to it helping me somewhat - but the real lifeline through all of this is how Jesus is slowly transforming me into His likeness which I guess is what Christianity is all about anyway.

So as you trundle along in today's world, maybe carrying along with you your own guilt or trouble, if something keeps 'ringing a bell' with you, take it Jesus - I wish I had I earnestly do, because I really feel that He could have worked miracles in my life much sooner than I had let Him.

God bless you this week as you address your own problems or guilt feelings. Just please remember that any counselling you receive must be filtered through your own knowledge of the Word of God. Yes, people can assist, they can motivate and help us put things into perspective but it is ONLY Jesus that can ultimately put our hearts and souls at rest in Him.

Singapore, Australia, World War 2 and Radji Beach

In was 12 the February, 1942 and Singapore was in the grip of a mighty Japanese invasion that would see hundreds of people scrambling onto the wharves to flee.

Among those were 65 Australian Nurses serving their country through the last days of the fall of Singapore.

They boarded a coastal freighter called the SS Vyner brooke but it was not meant to be as the doomed voyage was attacked by Japanese aircraft and sunk.

A group of  survivors including the 22 nurses eventually were washed up on Radji beach a remote beach off the coast of Singapore and due to their onerous plight voted to surrender to the Japanese rather than to starve to death.

A Japanese patrol found the nurses but did not accept their surrender and divided them into three groups and the executions began.

The Australian nurses were in the last group and died in a hail of bullets as they walked abreast into the sea.

Miraculously, there was one survivor, Vivian Bullwinkel, who in spite of a bullet wound which actually passed right through her side, missing vital organs and feigning death she endured 13 days in the jungle before surrendering to another Japanese patrol.

Vivian was re-united with the other surviving Vyner brooke nurses in a makeshift camp and these 'beyond' courageous women went on to experience the internment camps, starvation and disease over the next 3 and 1/2 years. Twenty four including Vivien made it home to their beloved Australia.

(excerpt from ON RADJI BEACH  by Ian W. Shaw)

What a courageous, amazing and gutsy women these nurses were in the 2 World War, suffering so badly there in Singapore - not really all that far away from their homeland Australia.

Their story touched my heart enormously when I read it and filled me with an overwhelming sense of pride to be an Australian - what fortitude - what bravery.

Even while the SS Vyner Brooke was sinking these nurses were assisting the wounded and the dying. absolutely astounding!

During the bombing raid Vivien recalled how many many passengers and crews were thrown into the water. She continued "No sooner had the passengers hit the water than the enemy aircraft returned, firing into the water and causing utter chaos, devastation and torturous and lingering death to many"

Vivien eventually made it the shore of Radji Beach by holding on to the side of a lifeboat. Vivien had watched many of her colleagues swept away in make shift rafts never to be seen again, she had seen many of her friends brutally killed by machine gun fire and many others drowned horribly that fateful night.

After her remarkable repatriation to Australia Vivien was awarded numerous awards for her contributions to nursing, only accepting them to keep the memory alive of her fallen comrades.

I know it is hard to believe but after 50 years on from the massacre on Radji beach, Vivien returned with fellow nurses who were with her aboard the SS Vyner Brooke and unveiled a memorial on the beach to her friends and colleagues whose bodies were never recovered from the terrible massacre.

To my mind Vivien was a real commander in chief - a woman destined to lead - a women strong, brave and courageous - always putting others ahead of her own needs - keeping alight encouragement and always building up never tearing down - a positive and confident young woman showing incentive and fortitude in one the most horrible and soul destroying places on earth.

When I think of Vivien and her attributes I can't help but think of another young man who at only 33 years of age gave His all to save us - He was our very own Commander in Chief - our own Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world.

That same Jesus is coming again one day - he will come in a twinkling of an eye and every person will see Him - not sure how but Hey! I truly believe what the Bible says and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is indeed the Lord the Saviour of the world.

During that horrible and horrendous experience that Vivien and her nurses went through one message kept them going and that was "just hang on". Even though they were brutally treated - even though towards the end their skin was stretched over their skeletons and you could see every bone - even though they were all sickly and frail that message of "just hang on" rang true and clear.

They did indeed hang on and were eventually rescued - we so need to 'hang on' through today's world.

Every day it seems it is getting harder and harder to be a Christian. Every day more and more of the world is turning against our faith and our beliefs. Here is Australia we are certainly getting the message of hatred and enmity against Jesus and what he taught and stands for.

My message to you is just to "hang on" we need to be true to Jesus and true to ourselves. We need to show the world out there that whatever they throw at us it will not dampen our wills and our love for the Lord who saved us.

Jesus will come back - we do not know when but we can rest assured that He will one day and when that day comes we can claim the victory through Him.

No matter what you have done or where you have been Jesus loves you with an amazing and constant love that can far outreach any human love here on earth.

Come to Him without delay, ask his forgiveness and accept His free gift of eternal life. It certainly isn't going to be an easy ride but what Jesus does do is give you a deep down peace that can surpass anything you have ever experienced before.

His very own Spirit will come and live inside of you giving you a joy and love for others that you never thought possible. Also your past is gone - gone and forgotten. You won't have to keep dragging it around behind you any more. Jesus died to take away that past with all of its twists and turns and guilt.

So hang in there and stride out with Jesus. With Him by your side your life can change in the most miraculous ways.

My prayer this week:-

Lord when the path seems crooked and I stumble, remind me that you are 

always just ahead of me leading the way. Amen

A clear conscious is a soft pillow (French proverb)

Ever gone to bed with this huge worry on your mind that gives you this amazing knot in your stomach?

I have and I know it can be an absolute horrible and trying night - that's for sure!

There are just so many things that can play havoc with our conscience. Addictions, offences to another, family breakups, violence, repetitive sin and even greed can mar our minds and give us anxiety and a sense of unrest in all aspects of our lives.

The world is literally awash with examples of man's feeble attempts to appease his/her consciences but I'm afraid to say all to no avail.

There are all sorts of people in this world and all of us have a conscience and whether that conscience is all clear is whether we can control what we say and do and whether we can really rest easy in our beds at night.

Maybe you are the type of person who has unhelpful self-statements and thoughts and they have become a habit hard to break. If we constantly use our unhelpful self-statements to ourselves we can cause ourselves no end of emotional stress and trauma marring and scarring our consciences which could lead to serious depression and even self-harm.

Personally I am a 'tiger' for catastrophising - that is blowing little things out of all proportion. I can view a small problem as huge, terrible, horrible, awful and full of dread and woe.

This can have a huge effect on my conscience and then the feeling of guilt of things gone on in my past often things I had and have no control over whatever. I can take on the responsibilities of people I hardly know and feel responsible for many and varied slip ups resulting in a huge burden of guilt that I carry around and again, can mar and spoil my conscience.

Maybe you are the type of person who places really unreasonable demands or pressure on yourself and even others. The "I should - I must" syndrome is alive and well and living in you. But putting these demands and pressures on yourself can create very unrealistic expectations and when you can't fulfill these unrealistic pressures,  huge guilt takes their place.

Once we start carrying around with us unrealistic and huge pressures, stress comes streaming in, causing us to have any number of side effects that could easily spoil our relationships, work life and even our home situations.

All sorts of things can cause us to have low moods and if it goes on unchecked can cause depression. Everyone has from time to time low moods caused by just every day living in this topsy turvy world of ours. But when that low mood is allowed to fester, then it can effect our entire body causing emotional and physical symptoms.

Depression can cause anything from loss of interest in activities to disturbed sleep - insomnia, poor eating or no appetite at all to overeating. Lack of energy and feeling 'the guilts' over nothing.

We can become obsessive in our behaviour. Letting our minds go to unwanted thoughts that occur over and over again with no respite.

Uncertainty over the future can cause a lot of us to spoil and destroy the harmony we had with each other. Guilt can also cause us heaps of troubles feeling like we are not what we ought to be.

If you are suffering from acute depression or anxiety, please don't try to control it on your own - you may need help from professional people and please don't put yourself down if that's what you have to do. There is really nothing wrong with seeking help from someone with the tools to help us cope.

Whatever has caused a troubled conscience, our Lord and God has an answer - we can come to him with anything and everything no matter what we have done, who we have upset, what symptoms we are showing and just how bad we can be feeling.

It says in the bible to seek God while he can be found. He does really forgive all of our sins. Please don't let a troubled conscience stop you from seeking God. He gives you confidence in his presence and restores joy to your life. Once you repent of your sins God can give you great confidence in your life - all fears can be gone.

Your conscience can be clean when you know God. Own your mistakes face your troubles with assurance and confidence.  God can completely clean the broken garbage of our lives.

So today if you are suffering from a seared conscience, maybe an absolute condemning of yourself, feeling that nothing you do is good enough or a  feeling of total guilt, please pour it out to God. Come to Him in confession and true repentance.

There is no need to put on a front with God, Faith in God is not just knowing - Faith is  responding in obedience to Him - remembering that "THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN".

That seared conscience that we can't get rid of ourselves, the blood of Jesus cleanses it all.

I pray that God will work in your heart today and that you will find peace, comfort and a deep down joy that can never fade regardless of whatever you have been or are carrying around with you.

The Barn Dance

Oh the Barn Dance and variations thereof!

Right side, left together, right side kick and
repeat
Then:
Left step forward, right kick across (scoot to the left), Right step forward (scoot to the right)
then Do-Si-Do and around you go

and so it goes on and on and on ad nauseum.

Ever been to a Barn Dance? - they can be quite a lot of fun and quite exhausting.

For us, after our grown son got married and moved away it took quite a bit of getting used to - He was our first born and he and I did quite a lot of activities together from soccer to fishing to cricket to guitar playing, he and I were inseparable as he was growing up. We were "team Dad and Dan" and we loved to spend time in each others company.

Of course through the teenage years things changed, girls came on the scene and growing up, studying, going to Uni and finding a job all took it's toll on our relationship but we always seemed to be able to 'get it together' and virtually take up where we had left off wherever that happened to be.

One girl seemed to stick around a lot longer than the others and it's a funny feeling as a dad to see a relationship blossom between your son and this pretty young sweet thing suddenly appearing on the radar seemingly from nowhere.

As a dad I found it particularly strange. Completely expected on one hand and yet bowling me completely over on the other.

She was so sweet, she was so pretty, she was kind and attentive that Dan was completely swept away. Even our 'normal' conversation suddenly seemed different - here was my boy, my team mate, my confidant, my only son being slowly and deliberately led away and I must say I didn't blame him one little bit.

Of course things changed and the inevitable happened - they married and moved away - not too far away but still far enough away for me to lose the vitality of our relationship that we once enjoyed all those years ago.

That's when the 'barn dance' started for me anyway.

When we met up as a family, of course the talk mainly went around in circles and that's why I labelled it "The barn dance" because to me that's exactly what he and I did or so it appeared to me.

The conversation would open the answer would come then around we'd go and do-si-do.

After a few years of do-si-doing this way I decided it was high time Dan and I got back to basics and communicated to each other man to man and father to Son. So I arranged to meet him alone one day.

Over the years we had avoided the real issues in life - like our faith and what Christ meant for us personally. We had continued the barn dance and we had perfected it to a point where that is how we communicated - through programmed steps and movements without really addressing the "elephant in the room" syndrome.

We all know what an "elephant in the room" is - a situation where everyone avoids important issues even though everyone is fully aware that the issue is there yet no-one talks about it.

If we don't address the "elephant" then it can foster wariness, confusion and stilted conversation.

Team Dad and Dan's elephants were many and varied - there they were all grazing in the room, happily munching away in full sight yet invisible and I was determined to scoot them out permanently.

Recognising your elephant is probably the most important first step and then looking at the elephant and making sure that the strategies you put in place to address your elephant won't disengage anyone especially the very one you want to engage in the first place.

Make sure that the elephant is really an elephant and not a personal and private matter best kept to the one who is bearing it. If we don't realise this important step you could alienate the very person you want to bring close to you.

In Dan and my case the elephants were many and varied - probably the major one was our faith - something that we hadn't talked about for many many years.

Faith is absolutely central to the Christian experience and without faith it is impossible to please God. A point I desperately wanted to get through to my boy and something we really needed to discuss.

And so we chatted about things as normal - the usual barn dance commenced and then I prayed and started really chatting about things that we hadn't looked at for years. As the conversation evolved we became more and more like the Dad and Dan Team from way back. The elephants slowly started to make their way out of the room and the more and more we really stated to talk as Father and son and man to man.

The "Faith Elephant"seemed to be the hardest one to move - I think Dan was a little startled when I drew it to his attention but finally even that one decided enough was enough and vacated the premises.

You know, Jesus had no elephants in the room - He didn't barn dance and do-si-do around with anyone he said what he meant and meant what he said - he laid it out plainly for all to see.

His words were sometimes hard to take in because they were the truths and the plan for salvation that would eventually save us. Jesus is truth and honesty personified. There is absolutely no falsehood in Jesus, no pretences, no half truths and certainly no compromises.

All Jesus relationships were based on honesty and truthfulness there was absolutely NO deceit in him at all.

Jesus also looked at things head on - how about the crucifixion? He went willingly to one of THE most excruciating types of executions - as SELAH puts it so well in one their songs "Crucifixion was the most cruelest creation of man"

Jesus didn't even hesitate.  He met his challenge and with truth, honest, courage and boldness he won the day for Himself and for us his followers.

Do you have a challenge today? Of course the very easiest thing to do is to ignore it and pretend it doesn't  matter - do a barn dance variation and do-si-do your way around it or pretend it doesn't even exist and Da Da an elephant in the room has just entered.

Elephants can be fun to watch and barn dancing can be fun to do but when they take the place of great communication they can have devastating effects. Take ownership of your problems, and help face up to them. I am so grateful and glad that team Dad and Dan did just that - it may not have been easy but our relationship has thrived because we did.

God's answer to the elephant in the room? Let Him guide you through it. As Christians and true followers of God we should not be concerned about pointing out blame or being backward in showing the elephant in the room. We shouldn't be prepared to just keep barn dancing around problems either.

Let's take ownership of the problems staring everyone in the face. Let's get with God because between Him and us we CAN fix it.

God bless you this week as you figure out what elephant you are going to evict in your life, family and friends and also let's decide not to do-si-do around anymore - let's be honest, loving and truthful, brave and courageous yet ever so diplomatic in our conversations and friendships.

Requesting - v - Demanding

It was the case of the missing computer that got my mind in a bit of a twist!

My 17 year old Grandblessing lost his work at school just the day before the pre-lims tests for the year 11 finals - as you imagine disaster struck.

Not only did the computer hold all of his work going back through the year but it also held vital papers he needed to complete studying that he had planned for that night.

Realising the computer was not at home, as he thought, a quick dash was called for as he and I zoomed over to school to search in vain with the help of one of the so-obliging cleaning staff.

Off home we set dejectedly to be confronted by a lecture from dad and a mum wringing her hands hoping it would help I presume.

The poor lad was, up to this stage, holding up so well. But then, overwhelmed by the circumstances of the events unfolding at home, just about lost it and went tearing off to his room, there to be flinging things around and hoping to 'remember' all the things he had documented in the folder inside his computer case.

That night was pretty hard on them all as they sat with him pretty well all night helping and encouraging him though it.

As it turned out, one of the teachers had locked the errant computer safely away in some obscure cupboard and he was able to locate it the next day - a tad late for the exam but nevertheless it was found.

My point through all of this was how I (of all people) reacted to this!

As soon as my grandson and I started off to the school I started to pray honestly and feverishly. The whole gist of my prayer centred on "Lord you know where this computer is - please find it for us" then as the night wore my prayer changed from 'Please find it for us "to "Why aren't you finding it for us"?

My prayer subtlety changed from a request in all humility to somewhat of a demand on God and a big question WHY?

You know we can often be demanding in our prayer life and in my opinion achieve nothing - God won't be dictated to and being able to go into the very presence of God does not give any of us a licence to be arrogant or rude in our approach to Him.

Yes! We can pray to Him with respect and honour remembering that here we are approaching the very God of Creation, the God who made us and created us all unique, who gave us life in the fist place.

My prayer to God on this occasion bordered on the DEMAND rather than the REQUEST made out of panic and somewhat anger rather than accepting His will in this situation.

When we pray, none of us have any real idea what God's plans are for us personally or for that matter any of us. His ways are far beyond ours in every respect.

So what have I learnt through this time? Well, not to be so demanding of God - accepting His will and trusting in faith that His will be done.

There is no doubt in my mind that someone who prays authoritatively is a person who knows that there is no need to be afraid to come boldly into the presence of God and ask with faith and expect what has been requested according to God's will.

That is so different to my prayers about the computer where I was demanding from God an answer. A person who demands something from God in this way in my opinion should expect nothing from God.

Often our answers from God are quite unexpected. But should that stop us from praying and keep on knocking at Heavens door to open wide and let us in? certainly not! That's the very time we should be praying.

When we pray we should be very aware that we pray according to His will and not some demand, stamping our feet and commanding that he do something right now!!

In prayer we can be bold and assert our FAITH, rather than assert our IRON WILL. If we assert our faith I really feel that God will move on our behalf, wanting us to seize HIS will for our lives rather that us demanding OUR will be done.

As a man, I often 'want' things done in my way when I want them done and not a moment before or after. I'm afraid God doesn't work like that - His way is FAR more superior.

I have learnt that to really feel the very presence of God in our prayers that we come to Him seeking His way, His kingdom FIRST, then everything else will be provided in His time in his will and His way.

Big thing to learn and in lots of ways I thank him for the "computer incident" which again showed up my futile prayers for what they were.

Just in conclusion let me reiterate that our approach to God MUST NEVER be rude or abusive, arrogant and self-filled.

Let's allow God to be the REAL authority, renewing our lives and our prayers in accordance with His will and plans, never being afraid to approach the very Creator of the universe but coming to Him with boldness and courage, full of faith and believing that his will for us is true and right.

As we come to God in prayer this week let's not hold off on our requests to Him - he really does want to hear them from us His children. But let's not presume we know better than him and try to take over His role, demanding and asserting our own authority and agenda.

And.....The cow tripped over the moon

Whatever would we do without our Grandblessings? That's  the question I asked my wife SueAnn as we both commented on Amelia excitedly telling us about this amazing book that was her reading material for the BOOK WEEK special.

Amelia is in Grade 2 at the local school and was so excited as she relayed all of the book and it's moral to us in graphic and a very amusing way.

THE COW TRIPPED OVER THE MOON was written by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Laura Wood and tells the story behind the famous nursery rhyme The Cow Jumped Over the Moon.

If you get a chance it is a MUST to read and is jammed full of great things to learn not just for the younger generation but for all of us.

The Cow tripped Over the Moon, is a story of perseverance, endurance, training and triumph.

Tony Wilson is a great author and on his website he has a video clip of him reading to his son Jack, who has cerebral Palsy. Indeed the book is dedicated to his boy with these amazing words "To my beautiful Jack - you will jump moons."

It's a very moving clip and I must admit that it made me fill up a bit.

The book explains how the cow tried and tried to actually jump over the moon and it took her eight attempts but hey! She did it in the end. She contended with meteorites, sunburn, tripping, and all sorts of hurdles in "moon attempts - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 "until at last on moon attempt 8 she made a successful jump just as dawn broke.

It's a very funny yet moving story especially when you know about Jack and his Dad and the special bond they have going.

So I thank our Amelia for bringing it to our attention and I am so glad that she did.

Perseverance, endurance, training and triumph - what great words and what great accomplishments - so what can we learn form all of this and through this amazing and thought provoking children's book?

I personally loved it - I loved reading it through the second and third time as well,  and the illustrations by Laura were magnificent and sort of said it all and enhanced the story greatly.

I would just like to share with you the very inspiration I personally took from the children's book - Those words of perseverance, endurance, training and triumph are all so important in our Christian walk with God. We certainly need perseverance and endurance to face the world out there, especially in today's world where Christianity is scorned, mocked and ridiculed as old-fashioned and useless.

In Romans 8 Paul talks about the feelings of perseverance and endurance when he describes the world as a pre-season workout.

We will have, and continue to endure, all kinds of pain, suffering, exhaustion and yes! even misery. But it's not for nothing.

Not only does God use our pain as a tool to make us stronger in our faith and character, but he also promises that our endurance will pay off.

Just like our Cow heroine, we will need perseverance and endurance to fight the good fight and to be victorious in the end.

God will use all of these trials for our good and we will, one day, reap the benefits of our patience, endurance and faithfulness.

The cow in our story trained hard to become an expert JUMPER over the moon - she failed many times but hey! she kept on training.

You know, as a Christian we have to train hard to counteract satan as he tries so hard to pin us down, make us fail and then spit us out broken and believing that we are just too bad for God, that "He couldn't possibly love us because look what we did here and or look what we said there."

We can't just keep on 'training'ourselves. We just can't do it by ourselves - many have tried to pull themselves up by their boot laces, and failed miserably - It is only when we become increasingly aware of the areas in our own personal struggles and start relying on God's strength and His alone that we can overcome.

In the end we will be triumphant IF we decide "enough is enough" and stop thinking that "we can do it." Unfortunately many of us Christians still think we can do it on our own and it's in those times when satan will target us because it's obvious he has had success there so why wouldn't he keep on keeping on?

It's a never ending cycle of trying so hard not to fall into the ditch of failure when all we really need to do is to believe that our God, our Saviour, who died for us, is way bigger than all of these 'ditches' that we keep falling into.

To break the cycle of continuing sin, we need to realise that we just can't do it by ourselves - what we have done in the past isn't working. Satan knows we will fail so he keeps on flaunting it at us.

I was told a story once of a guy, when he was off to work in the morning, fell down a ditch. He dusted himself off, climbed out and went on his way.

The next day, he went past the ditch, looked at it and would you believe it, he fell in again. Once more he clambered out, dusted himself off and went to work.

The next day, he walked around the ditch, and thought to himself  AHA I did it, patted himself on the back and promptly fell into the ditch.

The next day he went past the ditch, looked back over his shoulder, chuckled to himself, fell into a hole and ended up in the ditch.

Finally, the next day he walked on the other side of the street. What did he learn? That He couldn't do it.

Many of us, lose our triumph because we really do believe we can overcome the wiles and temptations of satan on our own - believe me we can't! Change your strategy, God is so much bigger than your stumbles.

God will give us the victory and the triumph, if we choose to believe that he can. But, if we choose to believe that we can rely on our own strength, then we will like that guy in our story keep falling into the ditch.

John 15:5 says:- "We can do nothing apart from God"

So when you have your own moon the jump over, you will only achieve success, when we truly believe that God is our strength and he is our mainstay. Through Him and Him alone will we have success. We can't rely on our own strength - there are far too many ditches out there.

God bless you this week as you hand your 'ditch falling' and 'moon jumping' over to your Creator God - the only one who is far far bigger than any addiction and continuing sin in our lives.

The Letter

The letter arrived quite unexpectedly and Alex wished with all of his being that he hadn't opened it at all because then he wouldn't have known exactly what had caused it.

Could he have lived with himself then? A question he often asked himself over the years and even today he still balks at.

Cindy was all he ever wanted - Cindy was his world - then Why?

It took only a split second on her part to decide exactly what to do and the reasoning behind her decision was in her mind quite plain, yet I suppose, if she had had time to think about it and maybe just put it off for another couple of days, then maybe just maybe the decision would have taken another and different path altogether.

They started out as normal as any other young couple - just enjoying each others company ~ a harmless and enjoyable time for both of them - Cindy enjoyed Alex's company and relished each moment spent in his care and indulgences. Alex on the other hand enjoyed having this pretty young thing paying him so much attention. He wasn't sure of these mixed up feelings and messages he was getting, but just loved the attention.

And so it went on ~ their relationship grew more and more serious as the weeks went by - well it did for Cindy. In her mind there appeared to be problems and to her this meant that this amazing relationship she had with Alex wasn't going anywhere and she craved and wanted it to so much.

They seemingly adored each other and they got along great but it seemed to Cindy that Alex wanted a little more freedom, not necessarily to see anyone else, but just to be able to 'do his own thing' and not to be accountable to her alone.

She honestly believed that if he loved her deeply and truly then he would be content just to be with her, giving himself only and fully to her choosing to be with her over any other option. After all isn't that what other people do when they care deeply for each other.

That little doubt grew in her mind and became a stumbling block in their relationship no matter how hard she tried to just put it off her mind. Alex, on the other hand, wondered what had happened to their idyllic times because previously they were seemingly so happy.

Then the letter!

Cindy had dropped the letter off late one evening and then gone home and taken her own life.

The letter explained to Alex that she felt she couldn't leave but then she couldn't stay. She realised that he needed his own freedom, that she felt alone in the world and that no-one really understood her at all. She felt that Alex would be so much better off if she were dead because she loved him so much she didn't want to be a burden to him at all.

Of course the news of her death by suicide spread quickly. Alex was devastated and to add to his devastation all eyes seemed to be fixed on him as the culprit/reason for this tragedy.

This story is so so sad yet indicative to just some of the guilt many many people carry around with them on a daily basis often moment by moment. Perhaps you know of similar stories and incidences in your own life and can relate to this one so well.

Guilt is THE ONE emotion that, almost all of the survivors of suicide will tell you, becomes THE greatest obstacle to overcome. WHY? Because often there is nowhere to turn. You can FEEL the guilt, you can, like Alex, often be BLAMED for the events that happened even though these accusations are completely false.

Like Alex, you are NOT to blame, regardless of the individual circumstances that lead to the tragedy in the first place.  You are human after all, and cannot be blamed for anyone else's actions, regardless of how much you may love them and want to protect them.

The real truth of the matter is that no one is to blame except the victims themselves. This in itself is tough to acknowledge, so we do the reverse and blame ourselves which in the long run is often easier to cope with.

No one really copes with the suicide of a loved one well. Obviously we are faced with anger, guilt and myriad of other emotions all battling with each other in our own minds.

Even being able to move forward in your life after a loved one has committed suicide is fraught with guilt. It often feels like we are letting that person down if we dare have the audacity to laugh or feel comfortable in other people's company. So we are stuck in the middle of nowhere unable to re-do the past and yet unable to move to the future.

Living here on earth is a fabulous and often amazing if sometimes mysterious gift from God. A real gift is what it is, bestowed upon us by a loving and giving God and we should savour every second of it regardless of what happens in our life and what tragedies thrust themselves onto us.

Unfortunately as Christians we are not exempt when it comes to loved ones committing suicide, but what we can do is to hang onto the truths in the Bible which promises that NOTHING can separate true Christians from the love of God in Christ our Lord (Romans 8: 38-39). That being said we also have to realise that the victim must have been in a terrible and distressing place to even contemplate such a disastrous move.

It is certainly not our right to take life. It is God alone who makes such decisions and only His prerogative.

NOTHING is more powerful that the saving grace of Jesus and that includes suicide. In my opinion God will not reject anyone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

Grieving for a victim will take it's own due course - many will come to terms with it far quicker than others.

Giving ourselves completely over to a loving and caring God, in my view, is the ONLY answer to coming to real terms with guilt and grief attached to the gaping hole of tragedy brought on by the suicide of a loved one.

You know, having faith in God does not require an amazing amount of self-control or exemplary intelligence and, in my opinion, faith in God is THE only answer to the burden of guilt you may be carrying around with you because of the suicide of a loved one.

Faith and the grace of God is a free gift and all we have to do is to accept that gift and rest on the promises of God alone to do the rest.

Sure, we will still often be on an emotional roller coaster and have extraordinarily bad days BUT we can rest assured on the saving grace and mercy of God to eradicate the guilt and burden of sin that we find so very hard to cope with.

I love how the Message puts it in Psalm 55:22
"Pile your troubles on God's shoulders - He'll carry your load. He'll help you out. He'll never let good people topple into ruin"

Yes, we can throw our burdens, whatever they may be, on the shoulders of God and he will carry them for us - he can rid our lives of the crippling emotional burdens of grief and guilt.

Let's just own up to and name our guilt or grief, recognise it for what it is, hand it over not worrying too much as to how the world will label it and just rest in the God who saves. After all it is he and he alone who can remove our guilt to enable us to press on with Him.

If you know of anyone suffering from such a family tragedy or even someone contemplating suicide I would suggest you may get some help through TweetingGodsLove.com This is a ministry through social media/Twitter.

On the 1st Monday of each month there is a prayer hour for victims and families dealing with depression and Suicide. The USA times are 4.00 pm PST and 7.00 pm EST and in Australia 9.00am AEST Tuesdays. Use the hashtag #GodsPrayerRoom




Any resemblance to persons alive or dead in this blog is purely coincidental and unintentional. The names of the above have been altered to protect identification.

Going in reverse

How is your Christian life progressing? A question that has been asked a few times through my life and each time I have replied "OK I guess".

Although to be perfectly honest, often I feel far away from God and I know that I am so open to temptation and, if I can put it another way, I sometimes feel I am in reverse as my progression in my spiritual life in concerned.

So what do we do when our life and walk with Jesus seems to be going in the wrong direction than what we expected when we first committed our lives to Christ?

I feel the late Keith Green put it in a most memorable way in his song "Grace by which I'm Saved".
The link to which is here just copy and paste to your browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF2xD2bNkts

The key lines for me and the ones which I can relate to so much in my own life is that "Nothing lasts except the grace of God by which I stand in Jesus - and by which I am saved". Keith goes on to say that as Christians, without the very grace of God we would most definitely fall away.

So where does that leave us if we feel our faith in Christ is in reverse and not progressing the way we thought it would? Are we or have we already fallen away from the one who came to save us? Are we doomed because we keep falling into the same old temptation time and time again? When is enough enough and when does God 'pull the plug' on our lives and simply give up on us?

There are a couple of ways we can go in reverse when following Jesus. We can DELIBERATELY follow our hearts desire and let go of the hand that has been guiding us. We get to the stage where we ignore the holy spirit's leading in our lives and jump in anyway ignoring completely the prompting of God's voice in our lives.

Going in reverse in this way can have huge disastrous effects and even consequences that can ruin our own life plagued and burdened with guilt and despair.

Going in reverse can also be brought on by neglect of following Jesus as passionately as we did when we first came to Him in the first place. As Keith Green stated so plainly, feelings may come and go but the grace of God is never-changing it is the only real constant in our lives. We can start neglecting to draw close to God, becoming less trusting, letting doubt grow where dependence once existed.

We may get so busy doing 'things' that we just stop seeking God's will in our lives and just haven't the time to read the Bible and start depending on our own strength to see us through the hard times and forget about our need to focus on God and what Jesus has done for us to bring us to salvation in the first place.

Well, when is enough enough as far as God is concerned? Here is some amazing news for us who have found ourselves in reverse, sometimes even hurtling in reverse! GOD DOES NOT CONDEMN US! He will keep on bringing us back to Him through the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

If you are anything like me, I certainly know when I am not walking with Christ, when I have stepped away and done my own thing. My conscious tell me exactly what my condition is. I am so riddled with guilt and such a feeling of wandering away that I have to end up getting right with God again.

I am reminded of the parable that Jesus told us in Matthew 18: 12-14 the Shepherd (Jesus) leaves the ninety-nine sheep (those of His secure in His love) safely in the fold and searches diligently and constantly until he finds the lost one (those of us in reverse) and brings them back to the safety of His fold.

Amazing truths and one of which I can identify so readily. Way back in May 2012 I wrote a blog titled Roaring Lions and Bungee Jumping. During that time in my life, I had huge struggles with temptation and being so easily tempted by satan. Have things changed? Of course they have but I am still tempted and I still fall and God is still hanging onto me as if by a bungee line but best of all the line has never broken. He has never let me fall and he has never failed me.

God constantly seeks those of us who have wandered away. His loving concern for us master drivers of going in reverse, is sure and steadfast. He calls us back to Himself time and time again.

Once we have committed our life to God then we are changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that once we are in Christ we are NEW creatures - the old has gone the new has come. This simply means the old life has been changed forever the new life in Jesus has begun. Even though we may often wander away, God's Holy Spirit which he gave to us when we came to Him originally will keep on prodding us back. That is THE calling of God in your life - Please don't ever ignore it.

What about the person who keeps on denying Christ? Christians should live daily for Christ, regardless of where we are or who we have been with. We should be growing progressively in Christ. We should be growing more and more Christlike every day. More and more Holy - more and more like Jesus. Sure we may often fail but we can be restored just like the lost sheep.We are forgiven time and time again.

But the person denying Christ is unfortunately a completely different story. We should have our doubts about a person who claims to be a Christian yet lives their lives completely and utterly without a hint of change in their life. They can sin and feel nothing. If they disown Jesus as Lord then Jesus unfortunately will disown them. (2 Timothy 2: 13).

So how about you? Are you going in reverse at this very moment? Are you the one lost sheep that has wandered away from the fold? Are you feeling the weight of sin on your life? Are you concealing it from others and yourself? The message is plain and simple. Come back!

God will never leave you ~ he never has. It's you who have walked away. Turn around, get out of reverse gear and let God put it back into first. Drive forward with God, let Him take the wheel and get your life moving forward again. I know I did and I haven't regretted it for even one second. Of course we all still fail and fall BUT he will be there to keep hauling us back to Him. Just ask His forgiveness and re-start.

Does reading the Bible feel like a chore? Then maybe just start in the New Testament and read one chapter every day, no more no less BUT make sure you pray first then start. It's a great way to revitalise your time with God and I'm sure it will bless your life abundantly.

Circumstances change in our life constantly and we change too as circumstances direct but as Keith Green reminded us the grace of God, that saves us, never changes.

God bless you this week as you let the Master driver get you out of reverse and put you back into drive.

Tilting at Windmills

Over the years I have heard the saying "Your tilting at windmills again" but I never really understood what the saying meant - so when I read it again just this week and in the context in which it was written I decided to check it out further.

Of course when I'm in a quandary as to what things mean and when confusion or questions appear in my life of course I do what most people do and 'google' it.

Must admit I was a tad surprised by the answer I got - "tilting at windmills" could mean you are interpreting situations wrongly or exaggerating the real truth of the matter and it can even mean that you are attacking imaginary enemies.

All of these are great examples apparently of what tilting at windmills infers. Wikipedia tells me that the "phrase derives from an episode in the novel DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes, wherein protagonist Don Quixote fights windmills that he imagines are giants".

Well armed with that knowledge I somehow couldn't get the phrase our of my mind and God somehow amazingly used it to speak to me so now I am sharing it with you - God is awesome don't you think?

Whatever tilting at windmills means to you, the thing is that we have to KNOW THE TRUTH and LOVE THE TRUTH  - we have to be so careful to know what is true and love/cling to that truth no matter what.

As Christians we have an enemy, an enemy who is out to get us and will virtually stop at nothing to confuse us and send us tail spinning into doubt and uncertainty.

In the book of Revelation God sent messages to the churches warning them of the wrath to come if they didn't heed the truths and turn from their ways and follow Him. The people were listening to lies, ignoring God's truth - and today in our topsy turvy world we are so much worse.

The Christian Church is being attacked more than ever before and lots of people I have talked to take the approach - "it will be OK - you are tilting at windmills - it's not nearly as bad as you are making out". I'm so sorry but I disagree.

As Followers of Jesus we MUST believe and love the truth that is found in the Bible. The truth about who Jesus is, what he has done for us and how we are to live.

God has given us a blue print if you like - a perfect example of how we are to live - yet we have, like those churches of long ago, become 'lukewarm' in our love for Jesus and 'lukewarm' will not cut it with God - what does He say in Revelation 3:16 if we are lukewarm? That He will 'spit us out of His mouth'. Can't get much plainer than that!

My message to us all is to watch out for anyone who does not teach us the truths found in the Word of God - there are many out there who dearly love to label us a weirdo's or cultists all because we dare to follow the teaching of Jesus and have given our lives to Him - we are born again in Jesus and the world out there does not like that one little bit. As far as they are concerned we are indeed 'tilting at windmills'.

God has indeed given us a very special map, if you like, of how to plainly get to the very special place he has promised to His followers. The world at large will be screaming at us that it is completely futile and what we are believing is false and wrong.

Just this week here in Australia the 7.30 Report (a  current affairs program) reported false and misleading information about evangelical men who are supposedly the worst sort of domestic violence perpetrators in the world, when in actual facts the opposite is true according to the latest New Zealand statistics.

There is a virtual war on Christians even as we speak and as I write this blog - a war to discourage, humiliate, belittle and condemn any who claim the name of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

When we turn our lives over to God we begin immediately to live with a completely different set of values to the world. Values that come directly from God. the world on the other hand bellows loud and long what their values are and demands our utmost attention and anyone who declines to bow before that is set of values is slandered and labelled.

The world as we know it is full of lies and we are called to fight against them - and that my friends can be extremely difficult!

Once saved we need to put on the whole armour of God to protect us from the fiery darts of Satan - the ruler of this world of ours. Like salmon migrating to their breeding spots we are fighting an up-stream battle with wild waters and our own set of hungry and pernicious bears just waiting to snatch us, chew us up and spit us out.

So the world looks at us and labels us as foolish daydreamers, living a futile and silly life content to live in fairy land, where in fact the opposite is true.

We so need to follow the truth that God has set down for us with all of our might and with all of the fight we have in us regardless of the consequences of what the world can do to us.

So no matter what will happen to us - our families may question what we do and our associations, friends may forsake and even abandon us or at the best no longer understand us. But the power of Jesus Christ now lives within us and we can be overcomers, even warriors for Him - unafraid, brave and courageous.

Not sure about you but I'm personally going to hang onto the promise in 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9
"we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

Yes, being a Christian in today's world is getting to be a pretty hard thing. But you know, Jesus overcame so much more and if we are His then there is really nothing the world can throw at us that can take that away.

So are we "tilting at windmills" as the world will charge? Certainly not! We are the living proof as to what Christ has done in our lives - we are changed for the good and for eternity. Let's show our candles to the world and charge into the darkness with confidence knowing we are His and His alone.

God bless you all this week as we step out with Christ armed with the helmet of salvation and His breastplate of righteousness.

Feeling Disqualified, Ruled out, Suspended?

Following Jesus was never meant to be an easy road!

We are told that God wants 100% of our lives not just lip service - not just some ordinary howdy doody kind of faith that saps your energy in TRYING to do 'things' that will get you in the back door . NO! God means it when He says that he wants 100%.

God is so so serious when He says that we must "count the cost" of following Him before we make a commitment to Him - If we aren't willing to sacrifice everything that we have then it's absolutely no use in following Him at all.

Strong words indeed  - but in Luke 14:27 Jesus Himself says 'and whoever does not carry their cross and follow me CANNOT be my disciple'. If we commit to Jesus - we must give Him ALL of our allegiance.

Lack of allegiance, lack of commitment, occupied with other things and other lives and not handing them over to God are things of which we MUST count the cost before giving our allegiance to God.

Of course we love our families, our spouses, our Grandblessings and many other loves - Jesus Himself loved in many and extraordinary ways and we are indeed commanded to love BUT when the rubber hits the road our ultimate allegiance MUST go to God.

Once we have decided that we are indeed His and accept Him as our personal, and I mean PERSONAL, Saviour and Lord - once we have come to the cross of Calvary and left our burden of sin there - once we have asked God's forgiveness of our sins no matter how obtuse, disgusting, scandalous or obnoxious they may be - once we have decided that to follow the Lord is to gain freedom the likes of which we have never known, then God won't let us go.

I know I walked away from God for 14 long years- I thought I knew better than anyone else and I knew deep down that how I was living was wrong but I wanted to 'do it my way' - Praise God He brought me back to Him! - In lots of ways we can walk away from God - it is a dangerous and stupid thing to do but many have, and alas, many have just 'gone through the motions' of being a Christian with no real 'heart change' at all.

If you have truly become of Christ's followers then you WILL change - your life will be completely different - you WILL have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Sure we have the old life living there as well but you will find that when you are tempted or fall into a sin trap then the Holy Spirit will immediately convict you and you really can't continue until you have confessed your sin and repented (turned away from) that sin and asked God's forgiveness.

So let's re-hash what we have chatted about here:- If you have truly turned to God and given to Him 100% of your life - If you have given to Him your total allegiance. then He won't let you go, even if you think your finished, even if you have felt that you have 'hit your limit' and that it's all over - you WON'T  be disqualified - you just won't.

If you keep on falling into sin and keep on being convicted of it over and over again - if you reckon deep inside your heart that you  'just can't get past this one' - if you feel like you are fighting a constant war - then please take heart - that is exactly what it is all about - we are in constant warfare.

Satan walks around trying to persuade us to 'give it up - throw in the towel - you are just TOO bad' - that's exactly why we keep on fighting - and if we do that's exactly why we won't get disqualified!

God is saying over and over again to us that HE is manifestly GREATER than our sins - Romans chapter 5 says that 'where sin abounds, God's grace abounds much more'. God's amazing grace and forgiveness is HUGELY greater than our sins not matter how gross those sins may be. God can QUALIFY us even if the world out there DISQUALIFIES us. P
pretty cool eh?

Please don't get discouraged in your walk with God - keep trusting Him - don't let your stumbles tell you that you are somehow disqualified from a life walking and trusting in God.

Take heart this week as you walk with God - Let His Holy Spirit guide and direct you as you go - Take heed to listen,  ready to act on the promptings that He gives - He only wants to best for you - Let Him encourage, inspire and restore you to Himself - no matter what you are going through.

Assumptions

I heard once that "assume makes an ass out of U and me".

It has been brought home to me recently just how easily we can assume something and so easily be so wrong in our assumption.

We can assume someone is guilty and then so quickly we can judge - we may not mean to but there it is ~ we can assume almost anything and sometimes assumptions can take us down some really scary paths indeed.

Because sin is offensive, intolerable and unacceptable, God opposes it. He punishes and judges.

Just as fire consumes all that is combustible, so God destroys all that is contemptible. BUT we must let God be the judge of others NOT US!!  It is not right for us to ASSUME we are so right and others are so wrong - even when we know that God has led us through His Holy Spirit to come to a place where we know that he is living in our hearts and souls.

We just can't ASSUME and we certainly can't JUDGE.

In proverbs 18:2 King Solomon writes "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing their own opinion" ~ in other words it is so foolish to ASSUME you understand other people and then turn around and find huge delight in airing your opinion to all and sundry around the place.

Judging and assuming can lead us into sin quicker than we even know.

We have NOT been called to judge others, much less punish those who oppose our God, however, we should develop a strong and vigorous aversion to sin.

Matthew 7:1 tells us NEVER to JUDGE because if we do then we will be judged accordingly ~ pretty sobering thoughts.

In our daily lives, as we more and more rely on God's wisdom and might, we can love ALL people - un-judging and un-assuming ~ without ever approving of their sin.

As a BIBLE based Christian I believe what it says - and try to live my life according to God's principles set down in the Bible - God is emphatic when he says that we DO NOT JUDGE - and assumption can be virtually judging!

God is the Judge and he alone - we cannot even ASSUME to put ourselves in the seat of judgement over anyone! There is certainly a HUGE amount of evil in this world of ours ~ there is absolutely no denying this but we can overcome evil ~ not with our fiery judgments, but with good (read Romans 12: 17-21)

Another dangerous path in ASSUMPTION is ASSUMING that God will lead us down amazing and wonderful paths of fulfillment - we are NOT and never have been guaranteed health, wealth and success!

We often ASSUME that if we obey God then all will be well for us in this life  ~ that our marriages will be perfect, that new jobs will come easy or that our family will grow in love and harmony.

God has never promised us a life of happy-ever-afters here in fact quite the opposite - we will suffer here and we can't ASSUME otherwise.

Another HUGE ASSUMPTION we make when we come to Christ is that we will live perfect lives for Him constantly - we all fall and sometimes we fall a looooong way - I know I did for fourteen long years  I walked away from the Lord who saved me.

In fact we mess up all the time - in this life we will never be perfect for God not ever - BUT the thing is we can come back to Him each and every time we do mess up and return, repent and be restored by the very grace and mercy of God.

OK so where does all this leave us? - Assumption can be dangerous - assumption can lead to judging - assumption can lead us to misunderstand God and His plans for us - Assumption can often, through misunderstanding, lead us away from God and assumption can quickly lead us down wrong, dangerous and very scary streets.

God alone is our strength and our understanding - Give to God what he wants most of all - our lives and our very souls - he wants 100% nothing less.

Let's not assume anything as we go this week - Let's not judge anything either - at the same time let's not bury our heads in the sand. Let's trust God openly and honestly, being very aware that His plans for us give us hope not rejection regardless of what happens around us.

We are all so unique

We are all individuals and all unique - something that has come home to roost with my brain this week.

How can God in this vast universe with our planet just the tiniest speck in the hemisphere know or even care about one unique individual with all our faults and foibles?

Well He does! How about this is Psalm 147?

"He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by name - He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds - He lifts up the humble and takes pleasure in those whose hope is in His mercy!"

WOW!! all that in one Psalm - God knows when we fall and when we are really struggling - He knows when we feel we just can't go on and we feel like giving up.

Everyone is unique in their own way - some, like me, have tried to blend in with the majority but here we are - we are all still unique! Some people actually 'wallow'in their uniqueness - they accept who they are and are unconcerned with any 'labels' the world might try to stick on them.

How many times have we tried to 'fit the mold' of the world and then get depressed because we just can't - speaking personally I have tried countless times to try to fit in - I've tried to change myself and my lifestyle all to no avail whatsoever - I am just different - I feel it and I know it. Are you the same?

What makes us unique? Well, we can be anything - we can be introspective, or an idealist or caring & hospitable - maybe driven by success or spontaneous in our life and thinking. Maybe  an extrovert or an OCD specialist.

Whatever is in our genes can make us individual and unique we can be funny, intense, boring even threatening. We can be pacifists or violent - we can be a daydreamer or a go-getter. Our entire makeup can be in-built or learnt from an early age.

God says that He knows all about us in Luke 12: 7 God says that the very hairs on our head are numbered - that means that he is intimately aware of every aspect of our life - our uniqueness and our individuality.

In families most of us are unique and we love our children for their uniqueness - so just imagine how God loves us even the more. After all He created us with our uniqueness and all of our differences.

God even says in the Scriptures that we are indeed one body of believers but that one body is made up of many vital parts or individuals. God is saying here that we are indeed all different.

God has wired us all differently to that there is no question! but He also says that each of us are wonderfully yet fearfully made. Made in the likeness of God Himself - so if you see yourself just as as ordinary or even above average - then take a closer look.

Look at your individuality through the eyes of God - you are the result of a divine creation and that truth is overwhelming - You are God's UNIQUE design.

God's design goes way beyond physical appearance - it even transcends the dimensional, setting us all apart as the most amazing and unique of God's Creation. Even in the face of the evolution theory that we have all grown up with, we as humans are vastly unique.

So even if you feel you are in a minority group in this topsy turvy world of ours - take heart - you are indeed unique probably in more ways than you will ever know.

God bless you this week as you look again at your uniqueness and then praise God for those very special things that go to make you the person you are.

Seeing the heart

Have you heard of the saying "Talking the talk but not walking the walk" - well that can just about sum it up for a lot of us Christians.

Many of us are in that situation as Christians and that was brought home to me just recently as I sat in church listening to a pretty blistering sermon.

Many of us just go from day to day - many of us don't even think about what it cost God to send His Son to die for us - Many of us live completely different lives from Monday through Saturday as we may do on a Sunday when we put on the face mask and become HOLY.

I include myself in this situation so please don't think I am judging anyone when I say this . The whole idea of this blog is to accurately as possible write down how the Lord is dealing in my life and to be completely honest in that valuation.

So here we have it - do I just talk the talk without really walking the walk??

I wonder how my non Christian friends would react if they heard the lyrics of songs I sing as I worship in church?

Would they nod in agreement, having seen me living the truth that I profess on a Sunday? Or would they shake their heads in amazement at the way I am able to turn my Christian commitment on and off as it suits me?

Do you sometimes feel like a Christian impersonator? You know the right words to say, the right things to do in church and the right image to present to the world - but are you just putting on an act?

If so, your performance may be good to fool the people around you, but there's one who can see straight through you and into your heart.

If our faith isn't pure and genuine God knows it.  Maybe it is time for us to look at whether we are being hypocrites to ourselves and to our Creator God.

In Amos chapter 5 and verses 21-24 God signals very much what He hates and despises and guess what?? Hypocrisy is way up there on His hit list.

Yes! when we put on a face and live completely different lives to what we profess as being Christians then that is exactly what it is - Hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is not only loathsome to God but it also has a HUGE negative impact on any unbelievers and it can totally ruin churches, dividing and splitting Christian communities.

Our hypocrisy can cause other people to doubt the very saving grace of Jesus and His amazing ability to change lives for the good.

As I am writing this blog I am becoming more and more aware of just how slack I have been personally and I have been praying right now that God will cleanse my heart and forgive me of my sin of hypocrisy and that He will come afresh into my life and fill me anew with his Holy Spirit.

I have been really thinking hard about the way I live. That is the things I say versus the things I do - do they line up?

We can't possibly change this on our own - I'm not even going to try. It is only through the very strength of God that we have any hope of changing.

Hypocrisy is a tricky thing  - Its so easy to spot in another persons life but really hard to spot in our own - I have been so convicted lately of this very thing! I have deiced that the very time I am tempted to dismiss someone as being a hypocrite then I am going to turn the spotlight fully on me.

We can't go easy on ourselves here - and it certainly won't be an easy process.

Thinking all of this through, Our best bet is to cut the act completely and ask God to work in our hearts so that we can serve Him, worship him and live for Him with every part of our being.

God bless you this week as you take up the challenge and rid yourself of any hypocrisy in your life.

Repent of the past and turn to Him - asking Him to take over your life completely, holding nothing back.