Are you sure you Know Him at all??

John 17:3-4

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

How close is your God?

This question is probably one the most important questions we as mere humans will have to face as we go through and live our ordinary lives in our ordinary world.

There are heaps of so-called Christians today who have cast off the 'fear' of God completely disregarding Gods principles, His plans for Eternity and God's very righteousness.

They can actually acknowledge God mentally but deny His existence in their hearts and in turn it is reflected in how they live.

A healthy dose of the 'FEAR' of the Lord is what keeps our hearts, wills, love and commitment all within reach of the Holy Spirit.

If we lose the very "fear' of the Lord then there is not much hope for us. Acts 13:26 says:- "Those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent."

So what do we mean when we say "Fear the Lord?"

Our God is amazing, He is incredible, He is loving with a love that knows no bounds, He is merciful and His grace is from everlasting to everlasting.

God is also Just and rightly to be feared. The fear of God, for the believer, includes understanding how much God hates sin and fearing His judgement on sin - Hebrews 12:5-11 says - "Son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you."

While God's discipline of the believer is done in all love it is still a fearful thing. Saying that Believers are not to be 'SCARED' of God - there is absolutely no reason to be scared of God - we have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us - and that nothing can take us out of His hand.

Fearing God means having a super reverence for Him and that super duper reverence will have a vast impact on the way we live our lives.

Fear of the Lord is also having a huge respect for Him - obeying Him 100% of the time, listening to Him when He rebukes and disciplines us and worshipping Him in awe and wonder.

God isn't like the children's favourite story  "The Wizard of Oz". God is not here granting wishes and unlike the Wizard of Oz - Our God is definitely NOT a fake - there is no little man pulling levers behind the curtain.

Our God is to be revered with a reverence almost beyond our understanding.

Do you personally know the revealed God in Scripture? Or do you believe in a God who is kind of like the wizard in OZ.

Satan is the most effective liar - that what he is best at - lying and deceit are his main weapons - God is not warm and fuzzy - He is just and holy and fearful as well as being merciful and full of grace.

God is ready to forgive us of our sins - we need desperately to repent - to revere God as He is Holy and Just and rightly to be feared.

We don't have to be scared of God - we certainly can look forward to eternity with Him - that is if we have given our entire lives to Him and that he has taken up residence in our lives.

BUT we are to have utmost reverence for God - holding Him in awe and wonder.

So where are you? - Do you know Him at all? He is far far more than "a granting wishes god".

"I will NEVER speak to you again!"

Offence is one of those things that affects most of us at some time or another - it is also used by Satan and is one of his most useful tools in driving and alienating people from one another and God.

I'will never speak to you again!!

We can get offended over the most trivial things or we get offended when people don't do the things we expect them to do.  Sometimes that person may be completely unaware of what we were expecting of them in the first place.

Taking and giving offence is a sin - it can be a two way race - giving offence is sometimes inadvertently done to someone who is super sensitive but does that make it ok? Not at all! It is still a sin and we as Christians should be extra careful in the way we approach people.

When we are talking to people we should become super-sensitive in our approach, language and conversation - taking huge amounts of care in the way we are talking and acting.

Taking offence is something that we are probably all guilty of at some time. Offence can drive families apart - can ruin churches and lead to all sorts of mayhem and disasters.

As John Bevere put it in one of his books - it is "The Bait of Satan"

Satan loves to use offence - he knows that offence is one of those personal sins - And because it is so personal it can cut at our very hearts where we hold our innermost thoughts and sensitivities.

If we are offended we feel let-down, victimised, bullied, disappointed, angry and revengeful.

All or at least some of these feelings usually come to the fore when we are offended - all of them wrong - all of them are sins and all with the potential to cause arguments, to seek vengeance and retaliation. Offence will ultimately cause separation from that person but more importantly from God.

We will get to the stage of complete estrangement from family, friends and acquaintances. But more importantly it can become total estrangement from our Lord and Saviour.

Jesus has the answer to this moral dilemma - But it takes a big commitment from us - a commitment to give ALL or yield EVERYTHING over to God, including our very nature - God can and will change us dramatically.

The sin of offence can be replaced with a peace and love for others that you would never think possible - YES God can change our hearts to that degree, so that offence will have no part in our lives at all.

Don't be deceived confession and repentance is great and so necessary BUT if we haven't yielded our ENTIRE life to God then we get caught in the sin-confess-sin-confess syndrome with sin having a BIG foothold in our life.

If God isn't everything in our lives - then he hasn't got any place in our lives at all.

It is one thing to say "yes" I will accept Jesus as my Saviour and Lord BUT if we still want to hang onto our old life with all the hang-ons then Jesus hasn't got the complete control that He needs to fully change our lives.

If you focus on immorality you will become immoral - If you focus on mud you will become dirty - If you focus on jealousy guess what? you become jealous and if you focus on offences you will become offended BUT... If you focus on Holiness you WILL become holy.

You become what you focus on -

The on-going consequence of sin in our life can alienate us entirely from our Lord and Saviour who so desperately want to hold us near

Satan gains most ground in our lives through our own attitudes of unforgiveness and taking offence.

We struggle hard to get the speck out of our brothers eye when all the time we don't notice the log of offence in our own. We easily see all the wrong in others - we easily take offence at what they may say, do or even think.

Giving and taking offence should have no part whatever in the Christian's life - If you are offended with someone or you know someone is offended in you - then it is up to you, with our amazing Lord's help, to make sure it is put right.

Confess Jesus as your Lord - give your life ENTIRELY to the Lordship of Him. Ask Him to change your life through His Spirit and to change you into a child of God.

Renounce the things of darkness - things like taking offence - stop living for yourself and start living for God - it is a freedom that you never thought possible.

Please don't interrupt now Lord - I'm praying

What an amazing verse is Hebrews 8:12 "For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more"

That is a pretty awesome statement.

To think that God is willing and able to forgive our sins - no matter where we have been or what we have done!

Of course we have to come to the place in our lives where we are willing to ask God's forgiveness, claim the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as a full pardon for our sins and ask Him to take over the control of our lives.

An amazing sense of freedom will come into our lives at that moment as the Holy Spirit of God works the age old miracle of transformation and justification in our lives and we are forever changed!

There can be a problem through!

Sometimes we feel we have lived such a rotten and unholy life that we can't possibly ask God or anyone else for that matter to even think of forgiving let alone forgiving and then forgetting.

God promised that He will "remember our sins no more". That simply means  forgiven and FORGOTTEN - Forgotten - that's right - no memory of them at all.

Are you in a situation where you can't possibly think that God can forgive you? - or maybe handing your already-forgiven sins over to God again and again? Maybe you just simply can't forgive yourself.

Gods love, grace, faithfulness and promises are boundless and free - God has smashed your past sins - don't cart them around your neck like some putrid old carcase.

Claim God's promises that He remembers your sins no more! They may kick, squeal, bite and struggle but ultimately they are doomed - they have no real hold over you any more.

So yes! claim those promises that your sins are forgiven - don't keep dredging them up all the time.

Every brand new day is a special gift and a blessing from God. We are forgiven. The chains of sin are broken. Don't continue to go stumbling around lost in the darkness of guilt.

Dry your tears, don't continue to be embarrassed by your weaknesses, feeling abandoned in this on-going fight against already forgotten sins.

Boldly come to the Father, He is also a friend who is eager to hear and willing to help you.

Every time you cry, every time you hide your face, every time you run away, every time you turn your back on God, He is saying "I'm still here - I've always been here - I love you - I remember your sins no more."

Accept His offer of forgiveness - keep breathing - keep believing - hang on tight to His promises that the chains of your sins are broken.

Listen to what Jesus says - Listen to His promises - don't rush around praying over and over for forgiveness that has already been given - It's like saying to God "Please Lord, don't interrupt me now I'm praying."

You know gazing into the face of Jesus is gazing into wondrous love and grace - what He says He will do - He will certainly do - you can bank on it - rest in Him.

Satan is the one who says can't while God says can - Satan says won't while God says will - Satan says GUILTY while God says INNOCENT.

Don't listen to Satan - the king of liars.

Listen to the one who can set you free - free from the on-going guilt of dragging around already forgotten sins.

We will all keep on sinning while we live in this world - unfortunately that is the price we pay - It is the on-going work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of these sins so that we can bring them to God. BUT...

Forget the past sins - Jesus died so that we can live  - He nailed them to His cross. Claim God's promise and start to really trust Him.

I won't sing that!

How are you at compromise?

In the world in which we live, we are taught from an early age that compromise is good.

We learn from a very early age that we can't always have what we want or when we want it.

When, we as children, argued with our siblings maybe over toys or whatever, generally we had pointed out to us the need to compromise, maybe take turns - you have it today and whoever has it tomorrow - so that placates our desire to be the No 1 and we learnt to share, to give in, to compromise.

So we live our lives - well most of us anyway - prepared to compromise - prepared to share - prepared to give in when appropriate - and in that way life can go along pretty smoothly.

There is one area in our lives though that demands there is, never will be and never should be compromise!

We can never compromise our Lord and Saviour - Jesus said I am the Way the Truth and the Life - no one comes to the Father except through me - no compromise here!

There is no other way to get to God - not by doing good or being 'holy'.

Jesus also said - we are in the world BUT we are not of this world - amazing - we can live in this world but basically we are not part of the world out there - we are set apart - set apart to live for Jesus.

So in effect Jesus is telling us - actually commanding us not to compromise - no compromising Him, His Word or our Christian faith.

Pretty big call when all through our lives we are taught to compromise and in life that is what it is all about.

Being a Christian isn't easy - God said it wouldn't be - we have to stand up for what we believe and not compromise our faith by bending to the world's wishes or standards.

This was brought home to me just last week when I again learnt a lesson from my family - I have shared recently how my daughter in law shared a book with me by John Bevere. The book changed my life and made me realise how much we need God and how we can make our life count today and forever.

Well this time it was Elyssa my 9 year old Granddaughter  (or Grandblessings as I now refer to my Grandchildren).

She was at her singing lessons - she loves singing, dancing and all things musical - and auditioning for musical theatre when musical lyrics for a certain number were being performed.

The lyrics and music were great and she was enjoying singing when suddenly words on the page jumped out at her - they were just "not right" and belittled and downgraded the name of God.

Afterwards she went to her coach and quietly but determinately advised her that "I can't sing those words".

Elyssa - making a stand

I was amazed as was her teacher, who phoned Elyssa's Mum to talk about it. As far as Elyssa is concerned - there is NO compromise - amazingly she is prepared to forgo her chance at singing that part because she knows that it is "just not right."

We may have to compromise throughout our lives here on earth BUT God says where He is involved there is absolutely no room for compromise - If we don't give God 100% then we haven't given Him anything.

When we make Jesus king in our lives - then He MUST be King over EVERY aspect of our lives - not just a little bit.

We can't hold back some little part and say to God 'You can have this part but not that - I want to keep that and keep saying this" - No doesn't work like that.

Make Jesus king over everything.

If we try to compromise Him an any way then that makes us open to His wrath. Why? because then He isn't really Lord of our life at all and God demands everything.

So how are you at compromise? - Is there anything you are holding back?

Once again my family have shown me amazing truths - God is never through with us no matter how old and crotchety we get.

Nine year old Elyssa, by her courage and determination not to 'put God down' has been a huge lesson to me. That lesson has enabled me to say with all certainty - "Father take ALL of my life - I don't want to compromise you any more."

Father I thank you for my family - thank you for the lessons you have shown us through them - I praise you Lord for your faithfulness. Give us the courage of our convictions and help us to give you 100% of our lives.

So again the question is asked - how are you at compromise - the decision and action is yours - the grace and assistance is Gods.

Who am I?

Who am I that the Lord of creation should bleed and die for me?

This was brought home to me recently and made me think very carefully - Who indeed am I? - Certainly never ever worthy of such grace and love as this!

That the son of God the most high Lord went to the cross for me is almost beyond the realms of possibility that He could leave His home above, take on the form of a man, come to earth to save me blows me away.

When you think of it - the King of the Universe - A King!! THE King - bleeding and dying to take my punishment and why?

Romans 5:7&8  says (NLT) Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good, but God showed his love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Hard to believe! - that Jesus died to take away the sins of the whole world - He didn't die just for the holy and 'good' people of the world - He died for the sin laden the world - Jesus died for me - the worst of sinners.

Now matter where you are - no matter how dark the place is where you are - no matter where you have been or who you have been with - no matter that your sins are forever before you - no matter that you are weighed down with the guilt of your sins............

JESUS loves YOU - yep - loves you with the deepest of love - a love that drove him to Calvary and beyond - a powerful all consuming love - a love so powerful that it broke the chains of death and the grave couldn't hold Him any more.

A love that burst through the very portals of death and confirmed the promise that we too can be victorious over death, sin and all sorts of temptations in fact anything that Satan can throw up at us.

Satan can have no hold over us - Yes it's that simple.

All we need to do is accept and believe that Christ died us and be willing to give Him our entire lives and no longer live for ourselves.

We are not and never will be saved by our good deeds. Good deeds will never earn us a place in Heaven.

If that was true then Jesus died for nothing - He died in vain - We are only saved by His grace. A free gift that no one can earn. All we have to do is to accept that gift, renounce living for ourselves and commit our lives to Him as Master and Lord.

So who am I that the Lord of Creation should bleed and die for me?

I am a child of God - bought by His sacrifice and blood spilled on Calvary - The King of creation and Lord of the universe.

I was bought by His blood - I live by His promise - I have conquered death by His resurrection

Two mules and a heap of dirt

I was reading in 2 Kings chapter 5 recently and was blown away (again) by the story of Naaman and the little Israeli girl held captive by old Naaman and his wife.

This little girl was obviously far away from home - taken as a slave to Syria and made to work hard for Naamans wife.

I expect that life wasn't easy for her - she must have missed her Mum and her home and it doesn't really bear thinking about what atrocities she witnessed as her family was separated and her whole way of life changed.

God was using this little girl to change in a most miraculous way the entire household in which she found herself.

God can use anyone and anything at any time for His holy purpose - He can even use you and me! The thing is we may not realise what is happening at the time. God's big picture is seldom seen by those he is using.

For example - You may be working hard to win others for Christ and seeing no results whatever - or you may be completely in the dark not even realising that God is using you.

Remember that sharing with others is a Holy Spirit Job - Their response to you is the Holy Spirit's responsibility - Your job is to do the sharing bit. In one way you become the Holy Spirit's mouthpiece.

So ...... getting back to the story - poor old Naaman, that big strong Syrian soldier - the Commander of the army to King Aram - the one everyone looked up to - the ever valiant Naaman - hero of the nation - had leprosy!

Yes - the old dreaded skin disease - killer of that time - and still a scourge today - had struck down the mighty, courageous and looked-up-to Naaman and he was devastated!

The little slave girl plucked up enough courage to go to her mistress and suggest that Naaman go to her home country and visit Elisha the prophet - not only that but she was emphatic that if Naaman should go then Elisha would definitely cure him of his leprosy - What faith was that!!

Can you imagine what would have happened to her if Elisha wouldn't have helped?

What faith was that??? How is our faith? - I have been convicted only this week of how little faith I have - I look at friends who have given up family, jobs and security to go to another land without all the mod cons - to raise their young family in squalid conditions and why? because they know deep in their hearts that God will look after them.

They trust God with their future - not even considering the 'big picture' just trusting God and having faith to follow through with the conviction that God has placed in their hearts.

Oh Lord - please give us the faith to follow you more closely - to trust you more and to hand everything over to you.

......Back to the story - so anyway Naaman's wife told him about the young slave girl and old Naaman went to the king and asked him leave to travel to see Elisha the prophet from Israel -  The king agreed - but instead of going to Elisha - the king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel introducing Naaman and more or less demanded that HE cure him of his leprosy!

It is interesting to note that the little slave girl disappears from the picture - I wonder whatever happened to her? - God used her to get Naaman to Israel - she did an amazing job - Was she ever rewarded? I doubt it.

We, may never know what we have sown in this life - whether good or bad - Have we encouraged or convicted others of their need for Christ? - have we maybe put others off the very thought of becoming Christians? - a sobering thought! Like the little slave girl we may never know.

Well you can imagine the King of Israel's surprise - fortunately Elisha heard of the commotion and had Naaman brought to him. Elisha knew that God was going to work a miracle in the man's life.

Well whatever old Naaman thought was going to happen - didn't! He figured he would be treated with respect - that Elisha would maybe bow and scrape - tug at his forelock, fall down at Naaman's feet and generally be subserviant like everyone else.

Instead Elisha send his servants out to tell Naaman to go wash in the Jordan river and dip himself down seven times and he would be free of leprosy.

Naaman was disgusted - not only didn't Elisha show respect, but he told him to go wash in the dirty Israeli river - He had much better and cleaner rivers back home - so off he flounced?

How do we go when God tells us to do something? - or when we are convicted about something or someone - do we obey straight away? or are we like old Naaman - flounce off and ignore God!

Anyway, once again a servant spoke up (luckily for him he had these amazing servants) and convinced him to turn around, dry his tears, toughen up and go throw himself in the river Jordan seven times.

Well, to cut a long story short - the miraculous happened and he was cured - what a shock!!

When God answers our prayers like we thought - do we get a huge shock!! Again our faith is questioned! Faith in God is believing what he says in His word over anything we may see, hear or experience.

Good old Naaman all cured, pink and fluffy went back to Elisha and wanted to pay the prophet heaps of cash to say thank you - But Elisha would have none of it. The more Naaman insisted the more adamant Elisha got - He would not accept payment for something that God alone had done.

Like Naaman from way way back how often do we try to buy our way into heaven? - maybe not so much with money and wealth but even thinking that there is more we have to do to somehow secure a place.

Jesus did it all - there is absolutely nothing we can do - God cannot love us more and He cannot love us less - He paid the price for our salvation on the cross.

Because of His great sacrifice God sees us as spotless and blameless - Our sins have been buried in the deepest sea and God has planted a sign over them saying 'No fishing' - in other words no dredging up your sins once they have been buried.

God forgives our sins and then forgets them.

Anyway, old Naaman finally got the message - God and Elisha finally got through to him -  I guess he looked at his new pink skin and praised the God of Elisha and Israel and this is where the mules and dirt come in....

Being an over-the-top kind of guy, he asked Elisha for as much earth as a pair of mules could carry so he could build an alter to God in his own homeland - He still didn't realize that God can be worshipped anywhere at any time - nevertheless that what he wanted.

How are we at worshipping God? Do we worship Him at all? We should and can worship God in everything we do - Glorifying Him in everything - mundane or important.

Give God the glory in everything and he will give us the assistance to make things happen and/or get through any trials or tribulations.

So old Naaman finally got going back to his own country - with his glowing new skin - and his new found faith in God. It was a worry though that before he left he asked that God would forgive him for those times when he must accompany his king in the temples of Rimmon (their idol god) .

God accepts no rivals in our lives - He will not have anyone or anything ahead of Him. Naaman didn't understand that - makes me wonder if he ever did!

God wants all of our lives - He won't play 2nd fiddle to anyone or anything.

It's absolutely no good by handing over your vessel to God and saying 'here fill it up Lord' when He can't because it's already crammed full of all sorts of stuff.

Let's get rid of the 'stuff' in our lives then ask God to re-fill our lives with Him - True freedom only comes by complete surrender to God's will.

worthless as a half-baked cake!

What a strange thing to say "Worthless as a half-baked cake" - and yet that is how God sees us if we do not give him everything we have.

Cooking is not one of my strong points.  Especially cooking cakes leaves me in total bewilderment.

How could you ever add all those odd ingredients together, none even resembling the other, mix it all around until it looks like a disgusting mess, throw it into a pan - sometimes with paper of all things on the bottom put it in a red hot oven  and leave it there for an X amount of time.

It never ceases to amaze me that out of the oven comes this cake - it miraculous!! - Well it is to me anyway.

God says in Hosea chapter 7:8 that the people of Israel mingled with foreigners, obviously destroying their close relationship with Him and in so doing became as "worthless as a half baked cake".

A half baked cake would be useless - it would still resemble the gooy mess in the pan that went into the oven in the first place.

What does your life resemble? - You know we can put on an appearance of superiority- of holiness - we can go off to church resembling a Christian - we can talk the talk and walk the walk - we can act like christian, we can talk like a christian - we can look like a christian - but if God hasn't got full control of our lives - we are as 'worthless as a half-baked cake'.

As a "Christian' we can be a true saint in public - doing all the right things - going to all the right places - being seen by people as doing the right thing.

But the saint in public is usually a Devil in private - Spurgeon once said of a Christian like that, that "They deal in flour by day and soot in night".

In James 1:8 it says that a "double minded man" is unstable in all that he does."

Double minded! - pretending in one world living in another - They divide their loyalty between God and other things - they are inconsistant, unstable and unsettled.

They have one foot in Christianity and one foot in the world - a half baked cake and pretty worthless to God.

They are uncertain about God and I'm pretty sure uncertain about life wavering between the two worlds - partly believing in God and partly disbelieving - they lack certainty in their lives and certainly have no decided purpose.

Both their spiritual life and secular life must be chaotic to say the least.

How are we shaping up with all things considered?

Do you look to God for your resources through your faith in Him? or do you flounder along like a ship without a rudder trying to serve two masters.

In Psalm 12:2 David says "With flattering lips and a double heart they speak"

It is well time we settled our convictions! the longer we wait the more power we lose in our Christian life.

We can't please God and the world - Let's get a grip on our faith and our Christian life. True faith does not operate with open options - God's got everything or He has nothing.

Are you as 'worthless as a half baked cake'? - don't let any opposing desires rip you apart spiritually - Give it all to God today.

Misunderstood?

Ever been misunderstood?

There was once an old couple in their 90's sitting on their veranda gently rocking back and forth in their rocking chairs.

The old man looked at his wife and sighed - 'I'm so proud of her' he thought.

He gently put his hand over and held his wife's and said:- "I'm so proud of you"

"AY!" was the reply he received.

So he gently put his hand over and held his wife's and said a bit louder:- "I'm so proud of you"

"AY AY What did ya say?" was the reply.

So trying again, he gently put his hand over and held his wife's and said really loudly "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU."

She turned to him, glared and said "YES! AND I'M TIRED OF YOU TOO"

Being misunderstood can be really terrible - misunderstandings can be trivial and they can also be very serious indeed - Misunderstandings have caused job losses, people leaving churches, marriage breakups and even wars.

When we are misunderstood something inside of us craves to put it right and sometimes we can't and so the feeling of frustration can sometimes lead to depression and even suicide - so you see misunderstanding can have serious and sometimes deadly implications.

Trying to put misunderstandings right can also lead to disaster - people doing the misunderstanding sometimes don't want to hear what you have to say - some people approach the problem and try to explain why it all happened but unfortunately some people just don't want to hear what we have to say.

For example - a child is called out at school for bulling another - BUT the child in question was not the child doing the bullying - no matter how hard the child tries to explain - sometimes the teacher/principal doesn't want to know - and the child is punished for something they didn't do.

So how do we cope with being misunderstood?

Well, we certainly have to try to put it right - Jesus said in Matthew:-

"If another person sins against you (and this includes misunderstandings) go privately to them and point out the offence"

But sometimes no amount of talking and pleading can help in a situation like that.

Once we have tried to put it right - and the person/s invloved don't or won't listen to you, then really there is not much we can do - we have to trust our Lord and Saviour who knows our thoughts, minds and motives. We have to throw all out troubles on Him - after all he knows more of us than we do ourselves.

We need to tell Him openly and honestly - cast our burden of frustration onto Him and let Him handle it.

If anyone was misunderstood it was Jesus - he went through His life being misunderstood - even by those who claimed to know Him best.

So if anyone knows about misunderstandings it is Jesus - "The Author and Finisher of our Faith".

So if you have done everything you can then throw your cares onto his shoulders - And then simply trust Him to do the rest. He carried the burden of the cross and all of your sins on His shoulders - he understands your frustrations, your worries and your cares.

We should all learn from misunderstandings though.

Is there someone who feels like they have been misunderstood by us?

Maybe they have been misunderstood by people and they need a friend - may we are that friend.

Jesus loved us enough to go to Calvary - Do we love him enough to be a friend of the friendless, a listener to maybe someone who has no one to turn to.

Jesus wants us to come to Him with our burdens - he is the only one really who understands what we are going through.

Please - Come Back to Me!

Recently I watched a movie with my 2 year old Granddaughter Amelia - it was riveting (as you might expect) The movie...

Winnie the Pooh's Christmas! A very Merry Pooh Year

Poor old Winnie and the gang - you know Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Eew-Aww, Kanga and Roo all gathered in Winnie's house for Christmas Eve.

All the talk was about Santa coming and giving out the presents - when suddenly they remembered that they hadn't asked for anything -so quickly they wrote down their dearest wants and sent old Winnie and Piglet to make sure it went to the 'North pole.'

On the way to the 'North Pole' the wild wind blew the dastardly letter away and the last we see of Winnie was crying piteously:-


"Come back to me" - I need to take you home."

I'm not sure what happened after that - I think I had a Poppa snooze and missed the end.

Funny little story and yet...

You know God is calling us - always to "Come back to me - I need to take you home."

Heaps of us need to turn back constantly- every day we need to renew our commitment to our Heavenly Father - He sent His son to die for us - a horrible excruciating death it was as well!

Jesus took my sins on his shoulders - burdened as he was already with the weight of the cross - He became even more burdened with the weight of the sin of the world.

Your sin and mine -  and He died there at Calvary for you and me - amazing at that sounds - He did it for love and through that love we could be reconciled to our Heavenly Father God.

Maybe you are like I was going up and down on a roller coaster - believing God and trusting Him sometimes - doubting Him sometimes - Just about ready to give up the walk of being a "Christian"

On a roller coaster experience with God?

Thinking it is all too hard - making excuses why you can't do this or that - Trying to masquerade the fact you are not as close to God as you were once.

God is not at all interested in masquerades - putting on a face doesn't win any brownie points with God either.

It says in proverbs that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" - that to me is an awesome proverb.

The fear of the Lord!! Wow - Yes God is someone to be feared as well as revered.

If we are truly aware of God's spirit in our lives - leading us through the tangled web of our day to day dealings then we have nothing to fear from our Heavenly Father BUT..

If we have turned our back on Him, excluding Him, not even being the least bit sorry for things done and said to others - not even thinking of Him or talking to Him - then we should be justly terrified to meet Him and rightly so - Our God is merciful and loving - He is also Just and Holy!

I thank the Lord for my beautiful Daughter In Law who out of love for me and concern  gave me a book - not a special book but a book by John Bevere called "Driven By Eternity" - In the book Bevere outlines the outcomes of not following our Gracious Father. Fortunately he also outlines the outcomes if we do.

It opened my eyes as to the severity of not following our Lord - the outcomes are terrible in the extreme.

On the flip side the amazing love of our Lord and His graciousness blots out all of our transgressions and He sees us as holy and unblemished through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus who took our sins and killed them on the cross.

Are you walking a long was off from the Lord you once knew and Loved like I was?

Jesus wants you to "Come back to Him" - it is never ever too late - no matter what you have done - no matter what you are feeling - no matter where you have been.

Don't leave it too late - Come back to God Now - All he wants to do is to take you home.

Arks, trials and God's amazing promises

Noah Built an ark!

Have you ever imagined what an amazing and mammoth job building an ark (of all things) would have been in those days - even today the thought of building an ark would be monstrous.

Over the years a few people have replicated the ark to the dimensions given by God in Genesis and it is one huge undertaking even with today's technology.

A modern day ark built in Holland - huge eh!

Given what poor old Noah had to work with the entire job must have been nothing short of a miracle.

The size of the thing alone is mind boggling.

Up until that promise of God that He was going to destroy the earth it had never rained! - The firmament above and below the earth kept the temperature even all year round the earth and all creatures were, if you like, automatically watered by a perfect system created by God so...

Building an ark?? one huge boat thing away from any water - the people must have thought Noah and his sons completely 'off the planet'.

It is interesting to note that God didn't promise Noah an easy time of it - He didn't make the ark for him!

Noah had to line it inside and out with pitch!! Just spare a thought.

Inside and out! PITCH Yuk you can imagine what he looked like after months and months even years lining that barge with pitch on both sides - what faith did Noah have!

God didn't do the lining for him - He didn't make the job easy - God didn't stop the jibes from neighbours and the community - Noah still had all the usual, and I imagine, great health difficulties - God didn't ease the pain.

You know we are a bit like Noah - God doesn't promise us an easy ride through life.

When my Soul Mate and great love of my life - my wife Sue was diagnosed with cancer last year- we were devastated - but you know through that journey and the on-going journey that we are both on  - we know for sure that God is ever with us.

God has promised that he will never leave us. In Hebrews he says "I will never Leave you or forsake you" - through our journey we have claimed that promise time and again and we both can glorify God for his provision for us.

No matter what happens on our journey through life - we know that we can take shelter in God and cling onto His promises - We will always look to Heaven - we won't expect God to soften the blow.

Poor old Noah didn't have an easy time of it both physically and emotionally - he faced his trials with courage, determination and endurance.

When the moment of truth comes for you what will you do?

Will you give up and throw in the towel - life all too hard?

or...

Will you like Noah look beyond you immediate circumstances to what lies ahead and take courage to endure regardless of the personal cost to you?

God bless you and may He strengthen you with His grace and truth.

Anger!!!! Is it ever justified? How do I control it?

Is anger ever justified?? Is there room in our lives for feelings of anger?

Is Anger  a sin - Jesus got angry!

Jesus' anger was a righteous anger fuelled by those in the Temple of God using this most holy place to make money for worldly gain. These people had counterfeit godliness - they were passing themselves off as having a rightful place and duty being there. They were so called 'helping' others to attain sacrifices and changing money - but their main aim was to feather their own nests and grab as much money as they could.

They had abused the Temple and perverted the intention of it entirely.

Jesus was furious! he made a whip and drove them off - scattering the money on the floor - which was a good place for it - He certainly didn't keep any of it at all - His intentions wasn't to gain money but to purge the place of the vial sinful nature that had permeated thoughtout the Temple and  so return it to it's rightful status - and that was to be a place of the Most high God.

It is interesting to note that the very next thing Jesus is doing is healing the blind in the temple the very place he was whipping and expelling those that profaned it - Jesus shows that all are welcome in His house and he shows mercy and love to those who humbly seek his face.

So, Jesus sees straight through our pretentions - he sees our motivations (scary when you think of it) He knew what those guys were up to - He knew their hearts - and so he was justly angry!!

So How about us?

Satan is a pro when it comes to temptation and one of those ways he uses to tempt us away from God is our anger - Don't know about you but my anger can sometimes get the better of me.

Our anger can cause us to lash out at a loved one - usually as strange as it sounds at the one you love the most!

Our anger can make us do reckless and sometimes dangerous things maybe behind the wheel of  a car. We can go ballistic in front of strangers and family.

In sport we can resort to pushing or taunting. At school, uni or work,  jealousy can lead to anger and anger to violence - I'm afraid it is all too common.

So being angry isn't a sin . There are plenty of injustices in this world that deserves our anger. However, sin comes bounding in when we allow that same anger to stir up feelings of vengeance and hatred.

Tragedy and grief can also cause anger - in fact anger is one of the classic stages of grief.

For believers and non  believers alike - God is a favourite target of our anger! We can blame him for doing or not doing what we perceive as our right,  and the proper way the problem should have been handled.

Either way the end result is a damaged relationship with God.

The next time you are tempted to get angry with God - look at the long term- instead of anger give Him your feelings and take a step closer to Him whether you feel like it or not,

Are you suffering, like me, with anger - Don't let it simmer away in your life.

Take it to God as soon as it hits you - recognise it for what it is - call it by name - verbalise it.

Ask God to help you to let go of your feelings - because that is what they ultimately are - just feelings.

Do something with them - lay them at the feet of Jesus before you do something you'll regret.