God chasing - Tracks in the sand!

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

God's rules are outdated; outmoded and frankly I've had enough of rules rules rules!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perfect to pathetic!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what about His creation??

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liar Liar

Cutting corners, fudging with facts, telling 'little white lies' - the Bible says God hates all these things.

Anything less than the whole truth is loathsome and abhorrent to the Lord, who is truth personified

(John 14:6).

The implications for believers are clear. Refuse to 'spin' facts or shade the truth.

Be forthright. Insist on your integrity in your own heart and in the actions of your family.

God cannot be honoured or represented by dishonesty.

Every time we tell a lie or misrepresent the truth, we do harm. Not just to our reputations and not just to our relationship with God, but to anyone we have deceived.

If we can't be trusted to tell the truth about everyday things, how can anyone believe what we say about Christian things and living for Jesus? When we start to tell others about how Jesus has worked in our lives or about the truthfulness of the Bible, if we haven't been completely up front in our own lives why should anyone believe what we say.

So basically we can't play fast and loose with the truth.

To be called a liar is probably one of the most insulting things someone could say about us. We hear it every day though - you just have to turn on the TV set especially for "question time" in Parliament - if it isn't the Government calling the Opposition liars then it will certainly be the other way around.

The thing is, we have all lied at some point in our life; we have deceived and we have conned we may have even betrayed others and probably all for a 'good' reason, or so we thought.

Satan is the father of lies - he will tell you things that makes everything look so good, so innocent, so easy and 'it won't hurt anyone".

John 8: 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Look what he did to Jesus - the very Son of God!  Tempted and lied to Him for 40 days in the desert. Satan attacks us now in telling us that what the Bible says is not right - That God will not judge us if we do wrong - "Do that thing - God will forgive!!"

Are you a sitting duck for Satan's lies? Are you caught up in a sin? Do you struggle with lies, sexual temptations and sins, on-line pornography? Do you struggle with urges to lie just to make yourself look good?

All of the above come directly from Satan who will tell you that what you are doing is OK - God will forgive you; He will not judge you - after all isn't He a merciful God always willing to forgive?

Well, yes God is a forgiving God and yes he is so willing to forgive us BUT deliberate and conscious sin tells me that you are not one hundred percent devoted to your Lord. We can't just deliberately sin and sin, and tell lie upon lie and not be changed.

God WILL judge - we will have to give an account of every sin we have ever done which is not covered  by the blood of Christ.

God hates lies and it is impossible for Him to lie (Hebrews 6:18). He commands us in Psalms 34:13 "Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!"

Back in 2010 I personally had to come back to God after spending 14 years in a desert place far removed from God; far removed from any truthfulness; far removed from any integrity.

I could sin over and over and over and truly believe that God would forgive me somehow someday!

He brought me back with a HUGE jolt and I prayed a prayer similar to this one:-

Here is my life Father, I give it to you; I place it in your hands; forgive me Lord; take everything my thoughts; my loves; my anger; my frustrations; my money; take the lot Lord it is no longer mine. Fill me with your Holy Spirit - I want to live for you and you alone.

Don't ask me how this miracle took place? - I was and still am in total awe of Christ - he actually found me buried beneath all this garbage and lies I had told myself for years and years - He dragged me out and cleaned me up.

If He can do that for me - He will certainly do it for you.

Our God is indeed a consuming fire; burning Holy flame from His very glory; our God is indeed and righteous Judge - ruling over us with kindness and wisdom.

Our God is a mighty fortress; He is a sacred refuge for us; His kingdom is unshakable BUT

He is also a wrathful judge for those who ignore and scoff at His free gift of salvation; the liars, the deceitful and the deceived of Satan.

We need so much to keep our eyes on Him; give him our one hundred percent; our everything.

We will still falter sometimes because we are human BUT not deliberately!!

Please read over the prayer I prayed back in 2010 - please take the time and I challenge you to pray it to God from your heart and mean every word.

His Holy Spirit will work the same miracle in your life as He did in mine - God bless you.