Praise and Worship…

I’m not talking about the praise and worship done on a Sunday morning that usually includes singing, although I do thoroughly enjoy that type. 

The other day some circumstances arose that caused me to be frustrated and so I was saying to God ‘well what do we do now?’  And I did not find myself any less frustrated for doing so. 

I had read an article by Walter Beuttler called A Holy Solemnity not long before so decided that instead of complaining to God, I would begin to praise him and forget all about the circumstances.  After only a few minutes I felt so much better and being able to let go of all the stuff I know God has control over anyways, gave me a much clearer vision of things ahead.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above… Colossians 3:1.

I really don’t spend nearly enough time praising and worshiping – a few minutes every now and then is about tops and so I’ve been challenging myself to be at it throughout the day.  Instead of picking up a book to read or watching t.v. or getting on the internet, I give that time to God who deserves it.  I’m not saying I’m perfect at it, but boy does it feel good when I take the time to really set my heart on things above.

In fact, while I was spending some time in worship I was thanking God for his Holy Spirit because –well – it’s pretty awesome.  The H.S. gives us the ability to know God in a way that we could never know another person whether friend or lover.

For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  1 Corinthians 2:11,12

It has made me wonder if, perhaps, that is why the world is constantly seeking the spiritual, because we were made to have a spiritual relationship with God.  He is the only one who can give us what we crave because he is the only one who can give the Holy Spirit.  We can’t find it from another person and we certainly can’t find it from any other gods whether they be nature or otherwise…

Faith

I was reading 1 Samuel last night…still on the Old Testament…it’s really fascinating. 

If you haven’t read, recently or otherwise, 1 Samuel 14, have  a look.  The Israelites are basically surrounded by Philistines and grossly outnumbered.  The army is freaking out and running away, but Jonathan (King Saul’s son) decides to have a go.  So he leaves camp with his armour bearer and says ‘let’s go show ourselves to that group of Philistines and if they ask us to come up to them then we know the Lord has handed them over to us’ (I’m paraphrasing). 

So that is what happens and Jonathan and his armour bearer climb up to the group of Philistines and kill them all (about 20).  Following that, the Philistines get scared and start killing each other and in the end the Israelites win the battle.

What I found so incredible about this passage is that first of all, Jonathan stepped out in faith into a situation where any normal person would expect to be…well…killed.  He had confidence that God would hand that group over to him and so he climbed up and took them out – 2 men against 20.  A big step of faith, that, when looking at the ridiculously large number of the Philistine army, doesn’t really even make a mark…20 men killed among ‘soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore’ and Saul with about 600 men.  If I were Jonathan I don’t know that I would have bothered…such a huge risk for so little result?  It created barely a dent in the Philistine army…and yet, because of Jonathans faith, God gave the whole army into the hands of the Israelites.

I’ll let you make your own comparison in your own life.  All I will say is that when Jonathan stepped out on a limb for God…even though his initial impact was small, the world was changed.

Life and Death

I was thinking about a young man who passed away recently from cancer.  He was a Christian and was confident of his destination.  I started to wonder why God took him at such a young age.  I am no better than he is and yet I get to continue living.  Why am I blessed in this. 

Then it occurred to me that perhaps I have it all backward.  Perhaps that young man is the one that is blessed.

He does not know pain or sorrow any more.  And whether or not he is in heaven now, or just sleeping until the time comes when Jesus returns (depending on your theology).  He is at peace and will be now and forever.  I’m thankful that I feel blessed to remain alive and have a part in the work that God is doing on earth now, but I wonder how many things we understand so differently to God. 

When we stand before God and have a better understanding of  reality will we be constantly smacking ourselves on the forehead wondering how we could have missed it so many times…

The Old Testament

I am currently reading the Old Testament.  I’d give you a reference but I’m movin’ all over the shop.  I’ve read it through before, although it has been a while.  It’s taken me a while to get back into it.  However, it is fascinating stuff – the beginning of stuff.  I was reading in 1 Chronicles yesterday and there are some crazy stories in there.

I was getting frustrated at the kings that would follow God, but towards the end would do something extremely selfish or stupid – usually because they get full of themselves.  I couldn’t understand where they could go wrong, but then I realized we all do the same thing.  The Old Testament is full of literal stories of the stuff that goes on in our heads.  It’s just that most of us don’t rule nations so when we do something of that sort it doesn’t make such a difference to the world. 

The main thing I’ve noticed so far is that fact that whenever God’s people cried out to him – he always responded with compassion and mercy…I’ll let you know more thoughts as they come.

My Granola

I put together my very own granola recipe…I think this would have to be the only recipe I’ve ever made – I used another recipe and chopped and changed until I got it just right…and you can make it as cheap or as expensive as you want depending on what nuts you use.

Ingredients:
6 cups rolled oats (just use the cheapest brand you can find)
3 cups nuts (whatever you feel like – you can do 3 cups of walnuts if you’re on a budget)
1 cup seeds (sunflower, sesame etc)
1 cup wheat germ
2 cups shredded coconut
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs Cinnamon (or not, if you don’t like cinnamon)
1 cup veg oil (you could probably use whatever oil you like)
3/4 – 1 cup honey
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
raisins (and/or other dried fruit)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 165 C  (325 F) -  If you have a fan forced oven as I currently do, set it to 135 C.
2. Mix oats, nuts, seeds, wheat germ, coconut, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. In a small pan over medium heat stir the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until they are blended.
4. Pour the heated mixture into the nut mixture and stir until well combined.
5a. If you want a crunchier granola (my preference): spread mixture on a cookie sheet with baking paper on it to no more than 1/2 inch thick and bake it in the oven for about 35 min.
5b. If you like a chewier granola: spread mixture thickly on the cookie sheet and bake for about 20 min. (it also helps if you use more honey, but I don’t like my granola that sweet).
6. Remove the granola from the oven and sprinkle over as much or as little dried fruit as you like.  use a fork to mix together on the cookie sheet, then spread out to cool.
7.  Once your granola is cooled store in an airtight container (zip lock freezer bags work as well as anything).

This granola is great for changing to suit your taste, so if you make it and it’s not quite the way you like it - add or subtract different ingredients to get it the way you like…

“But How’s He DO That?”

My three year old son is now fully into the “why” stage…usually followed by “how”.  He started asking me where things come from…

Seth: Mummy, where’s this apple come from

Me: Jesus (or God) made it.

Seth: How’s he DO that? (read wonder and amazement into that question). 

Now he pre-empts the answer

Seth: Did Jesus make this table?

Me: Yes

Seth: How’s he DO that?

Me: Well, he gives people ideas, creativity and ability so they can do it.

Seth: OOOooohhhh!

Seth is also really into ‘best friends’.  Every kid that turns up at the playground is his new best friend so I told him Jesus wants to be his best friend…that put a huge smile on his face…then I told him when Jesus is his best friend he lives inside of him…(what am I getting myself into)…Seth swiftly responds “how’s he DO that”  After a brief pause searching my brain for some sort of response I said “the Holy Spirit (yes, that’s right, I’m trying to teach my 3 year old about the trinity) is the part of Jesus that can live inside of you, that way you will never be alone and he can help you to not be naughty”.  So now when he’s having trouble doing something I tell him to ask Jesus for help…problem is when he’s frustrated he’s not interested in asking for help, he just wants to sulk.

Now he talks about the Holy Spirit living inside of his tummy…which is about the right spot…and I just trust that God will give him enough understanding to make up for the bits that I try to explain a bit wonky!!

Thoughts

I was just reading this morning in Acts 14 particularly verse 3 which says “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 

Then I read in 1 Corinthians 2:4 which says “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…”

I am eager to see God’s power at work…do I forget about God’s message coming first?  And taking that backwards, do we speak God’s message but have no expectation of God’s power following?

…just my thoughts for the morning…

Matt's August Sermon

Matt spoke again at church a few weeks ago...if this all works properly you should be able to listen below!

Miraculous Healing

I’ve thought about healing a lot over the past few years.  I have no understanding of it really except that the disciples healed as they went and I know there are miracles today.  I’ve been in healing meetings, have seen numerous people prayed for and know of people healed, but as far as my own ability goes (or rather, any ability the Holy Spirit has given me) I am at a bit of a loss.

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a walk down by the beach and saw a woman who was obviously disfigured from birth.  She was too short and looked awkward in her stance.  I walked a bit further down the beach and sat down in the sand with my daughter.  As we sat there I looked back up the beach and saw this woman walking with crutches to get into the water and it just about broke my heart.  It was an incredible day and there were people running and playing everywhere…and she slowly made her way to the water among this.  I knew she had never known what that was like… but being a grown woman I figured she had probably already dealt with those feelings of missing out.

I asked God, “Would you heal her?”  …hypothetically meaning - if I went and prayed for her healing would she be miraculously healed.  Then I realized God would now ask me to go pray for her.  But I’m a chicken and I knew God knew it.  I told him if he wanted me to go pray for her he was going to have to give me a big push.  I knew God ‘could’ heal her, but I just didn’t know if he would.  He didn’t give me a push, and then I begged God not to let her miss out of being healed simply because I wasn’t brave enough to be the one to pray for her. 

That experience has stuck with me and so I was praying about it the other night, trying to figure out why that question ‘would you heal her’ had felt so intense, because God had not said ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  Then he revealed the answer he had given me and I understood why it was so heavy at the time.  His answer had been, “you won’t know unless you go and pray for her”…

Reflection

I was thinking back to a time just after Ada was born (August 2010) when life was in such turmoil.  We had been seeking direction from God for the past 2 years, and thought we had found it.  The opportunity had arisen (or so we thought) to be part of a church on one of the islands off the top of Australia.  After seeking God for so long and having opportunities come up that we knew where not the right doors to walk through we were relieved to finally know what we were going to be doing.  It felt so right, and even though we would have been living out of a camper (this at a time when I was desperate to make a home for my new daughter), we couldn’t deny that everything in us pulled in that direction.  Then the door closed and we were like a couple of stunned mullets.  (If you are finding yourself in a wilderness a great book to read is Elijah and the Secret of His Power by F. B. Meyer, it gave both Matt and I so much encouragement – even in just the first few chapters)

Because we had spent 2 years seeking, before that opportunity arose we were fine about continuing on the ‘seeking’ road.  We knew it well.  But when we stepped off that path into a clearing only to find that it wasn’t, it was as though we had lost the path and were now lost in the woods.  Matt got a job and we rented a house and we felt so out of sorts.  Filled with confusion we found ourselves in a very bleak time. 

The reason for writing this is not to make everyone feel depressed, but more to the point – here I sit more than 6 months later and I am so relieved at God’s wisdom and patience.  I can now look back and be grateful for God’s gentle hand in all of that.  That lost opportunity gave me the ability to see that I was willing to live on a dirt floor as long as I was in God’s will – because when you are in God’s will you can do anything.  God used that missed opportunity to make very clear to us our motivation and desire to serve God, but in his infinite wisdom he held us back because he knew there was still work to be done on us.  God has taken me closer and closer to him over these last months.  I can now see that I sit before the King of Kings when we talk, but more importantly I sit before my Father.

We continue to seek God, but there is so much more peace, contentment and joy.  We are eager to see what God has laid out before us, but are more able to take a deep breath and wait…

You Do Not Have Because You Do Not Ask

I was debating whether or not to put pictures up of all the clothes I’ve made now that I have my sewing machine back (I’ve figured out how to make pants and they actually look really good!).  But I need someone to take pictures and I’ve just been lazy about it.  So instead I have this thought.

I’ve been spending a lot of time talking to God about prayer because I reckon there is a lot about it I don’t know.  I was thinking about how the Bible says that if you ask God for anything that is within his will – he will do it.  Then I put that with the verse that says ‘you do not have because you do not ask’.  I figured I had better start going to God in prayer about EVERYTHING (making sure to include thanksgiving and praise and all the other good stuff).  At least that way God has the chance to say no to a prayer…and who knows what he will say yes to…that way I don’t miss out on anything.

Seth (my 3 year old) has been taking swimming lessons for a few months.  Some kids have no problem going under water - it doesn’t seem to bother them.  And because my son is the most amazing boy in the world, I figured he’d take to it…but he didn’t.  He HATED putting his head under water.  This had gone on for a couple months of swimming lessons and I was growing concerned because swimming is an important skill to learn… especially when there is so much water around.  Two weeks ago at his swimming lesson he again was hating to put his head under and so I asked God to give him confidence so that he could learn to swim well.  This was about half way through a half hour lesson and at the end of the class the teacher was going to get the kids to go under water for several seconds.  That day Seth did it and came up with a big smile on his face.  And only a week later he is like a fish, constantly hanging off the teacher and swimming around him under water.  He even swam by himself a few metres under water from one teacher to the other…and I wonder had I not asked God to give him that confidence when would he have gotten it.

Sewing Machine Update

For anyone who’s keeping track – I just got my sewing machine back…fixed under warranty (thank goodness, otherwise I’d be without).  And it really is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder…

A Funny Thing…

Actually, it’s not funny.  A few days ago I broke my sewing machine.  I’ve had it for 4 months and was sewing away on a fairly light knit fabric when it got caught up.  So I took the fabric out and started to sew again, but the machine was suddenly labouring to move…

To supply a little bit of background, I’ve been wanting a sewing machine for about 2 years and finally got one for my birthday this year.  And whether it is all in my head or not, I have felt that God has stirred this interest in sewing in me.  It’s a great hobby for extracting creative juices and also for having something to do besides looking after the little ones, but I have felt that it’s for more than that…sort of like, someday, somehow, there will be an opportunity for ministry. 

I am pleased to say that my first response when the machine broke was…’well, if God wants me to sew then it will all work out’ so I wasn’t really too concerned.  Yes, very pleased indeed…needless to say, it wasn’t long before the devil (and when I say the devil, I don’t mean the actual devil…I’m sure he’s way to busy to bother with me…) began to put thoughts of ‘it’s not fair’ in my head.  Yes, I began to pout, and I felt quite deserving of my grumble…after all, I’m just trying to follow God’s leading, and now look what’s happened! 

Several days went on after this.  I have dropped my sewing machine off at the store and will hopefully get it fixed under warranty.  However, on the way home I was thinking of my response and was a little disappointed in myself for letting those second thoughts push their way in and so I apologized to God  and will endeavour to have the, and KEEP the first response I had, in all situations…and that’s when thoughts flooded into my head of all the times ‘it’s not fair’ was my first and only thought in MANY things in my life.  It seems somewhat easy to have a good response when you feel you are following in God’s leading, but what about all the times in life when life has just plain been not fair?  Oh, I’ve got my work cut out for me…being a Christian is not easy!

Confession

Sounds intriguing doesn’t it?  Well, perhaps not…

Over the past several months I have been making an increased effort to spend more time with God.  Praying, reading my Bible and just sitting quietly and listening.  Then about a week ago, I heard a message at a church meeting.  We had visiting missionaries and one of the ladies who spoke talked of Deborah in the book of Judges.  Deborah was married to the king and she was a prophetess.  She received a word from the Lord and said to her husband the king “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you…”  I don’t need to go further because the point she made was, why was Deborah so confident of the words she spoke?  She knew she had a word from God…why? Because she was a woman of prayer.  She KNEW the sound of Gods voice. 

I have to say with some confidence that if God gave me a word as big as the one he gave to Deborah, I would not feel so confident.  And so, with that, I knew that I needed to step up my time with God even more…no time for slacking off.

Then, over the past couple of days I’ve not been spending so much time with God, - so this morning I knew I needed to, but I found that as I sang a worship song in my head, and as I prayed a few little prayers as I went about getting the kids fed and dressed this morning, there was a little bit of resistance.  I didn’t really feel like it.  I wasn’t enjoying it.  In fact, I would have been a whole lot more comfortable leaving it alone and just getting busy in the day as I had been the last few days.  I’ve felt this way before in the past and never really thought much about it…usually I’d just leave it for a while.  But this time I became curious as to what that feeling was all about.  Then I realized, it was my conscience.  I was feeling convicted, because the truth is, the reason I haven’t been spending much time with God is because I’ve been a bit lazy and selfish with my time.  This may seem like a small thing and no reason to get so bothered…but I don’t think it’s a small thing to God. In fact, as soon as I realized where the feelings came from and made a mental effort to change things (also known as repenting) I felt so much better and just about fell into my time with God this morning.

So why the confession?  Well, partly because I felt so different after I realized what was going on I felt like sharing, and partly because I thought it might breathe some insight into someone else’s life.

Judges 4:23 – On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Isrealites. 

If you can hear the voice of God, you can be a part of changing the world.

Impossible

Now, there is a word I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.  Perhaps it is because I just spoke for Communion and that was the subject…but in reality, the reason I spoke about it for Communion is because that’s what God has been chatting to me about lately.  The reason I used it for Communion is because we celebrate a man coming back to life after 3 days…which is impossible.  After a Doctor declares someone dead in hospital they let the morgue know.  They don’t say “well, lets leave him here for a few days just in case he comes back to life.”
It’s a bit like that question:  Could God create a rock that’s too big for even him to lift?  The answer being:  Yes he could, but then he’d be able to lift it.  We, as humans can’t really understand impossible because there are things that are impossible to us…but there is nothing impossible for God.
I read a book recently called Mission Possible.  The story of a woman who worked for Wycliffe.  She lived in a tribe in PNG with people who did not even have a written language.  She told a story about a time when she took some young men from the tribe to town in a motor boat.  The boat took 5 cans of fuel to get home and the young men, thinking they were saving money only got 4 cans of fuel, so when they were about an hour away from home the boat motor stopped.  This meant they would have to spend the next 4 days floating back to town.  Marilyn was exasperated, but the men said ‘why don’t we just ask God, he’s got more than enough power (I’m paraphrasing)'.  So they began to pray that God with make the boat motor run.  Marilyn got tears in her eyes for the sentiment, but was not expecting anything to happen.  After the men prayed they tried to start the motor which sputtered a bit, so they prayed again, and again tried to start the motor…that time it started.  Marilyn figured it had started off of fumes and would soon cut out again, but it got them all the way home and she was reminded of Matthew 18:3 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  These tribal men knew that nothing was impossible for God.
I think sometimes we get a bit jaded as we get older.  We’ve seen to many empty dreams, hopes dashed etc. that we don’t want to hope in anything any more.  Or we try to make things as easy on God as we can so he will make things happen.  But children see the world differently.
My son said to me recently (he was two at the time)
“Mum, I have a big idea”  I chuckled and said “Oh yeah?  What’s your big idea”.  He replied “I’m going to fly to the moon.” 
It would never even occur to me to have an idea that big, because I know it’s impossible…but not to the mind of a child…
In another book I read recently (see I told you God has been chatting to me about ‘Impossible’) called Elijah and the Secret of his Power.  The author, F.B. Meyer, says this (if you aren’t sure of the story, you can read it in 1 Kings 18):
His (Elijah’s) faith was exuberant. He was so sure of God, that he dared to heap difficulties in His way, knowing that there is no real difficulty for infinite power. The more unlikely the answer was, the more glory would there be to God. Oh, matchless faith! which can laugh at impossibilities and heap them one upon another, to have the pleasure of seeing God vanquish them -- as a steam hammer cracks a nutshell placed under it by the wondering child.
The altar was reared, the wood laid in order, the bullock cut in pieces; but to prevent any possibility of fraud and make the coming miracle still more wonderful, Elijah said, "Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the sacrifice and on the wood (1 Kings 18:33). This they did three times until the wood was drenched, and the water filled the trench, making it impossible for a spark to travel across.
Alas, few of us have faith like this! We are not so sure of God that we dare to pile difficulties in His way. We all try our best to make it easy for Him to help us. Yet what this man had, we too may have, by prayer and fasting.
What a challenge to my own faith…I know I have, on many occasions, tried to make things easier for God…
Let’s make sure, when it comes to God’s Kingdom, that we change our hearts and become like little children.  Let’s have faith that can fly to the moon.

Showing Off

I’ve recently gotten into sewing and have been amazed at the creativity you can find on the net.  More experienced and brilliant crafty types out there are generous enough to share their ideas for free, which means I get to make nice things without having to pay for it!  I’ve just made some things for a friends baby shower and now that she’s received these items I can’t help myself…I have to show them off.  Keep in mind I am no photographer so don’t be too disgusted at how poorly I’ve taken these photos…that seems to be another thing that brilliant sewers can do…all these people sharing their wonderful things can also take really good photos of them…sigh**

 

these are some little kimono booties.  Pattern supplied by Homespun-threads here.  She makes hers on a sewing machine…I had to hand sew mine…I don’t know how she manages.

 

 

 

       Next up is the baby burp blanket with little tabs on them to hold a little toy or a dummy (pacifier).  This idea is from Merrimentdesign here,

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                  

And lastly is a little elastic headband…a bit hard to see in the picture, but you get the idea.  This one I just made up myself. 

 

Ok, done showing off now, just thought I would share something a bit different than what I normally do!

Invaluable

Who would have thought that waiting on God could be such an indispensible lesson.  That’s where we are…still…waiting on God.  In the past when we have had to wait on God, it always felt like all we were doing was…well…waiting.  What I have now come to realize is that the waiting is actually a training ground.  I want so desperately to do big things for God, but what I have failed to realize in the past is that you can not do the great things of God without first going through the preparation that only waiting on God can give you.  Yes, I still have times of frustration.  I get impatient for the future, but those times are getting fewer because I can now remind myself of the importance of this time and take advantage of every opportunity.  When i get aggravated I can turn myself around and soak in the presence of God and simply say ‘teach me’.

Numbers

For those of you who are interested in this kind of thing…below is a quote from a book written by Stuart Allen called God's Word - Written (or The Purpose of the Bible). 

(1) Numerics  - Underneath the Hebrew and Chaldee of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New 
Testament there is hidden an extraordinary disposition of numbers which cannot be explained away on human grounds.  In order to understand this we must remember that none of these languages had symbols for numbers such as we have (1,2,3,4, etc.).  Instead of this they made use of the letters of their alphabet so that a=1, b=2 etc.  One can easily see then that a word could be looked at in two ways, either as a word or as a series of numbers which could be added up to a total.  For instance, the Greek for ‘word’ is ‘logos’.  If looked at from a numerical standpoint its value would be l=30, o=70, g=3, o=70, s=200: total 373.  The numerical value of ‘logos’ is therefore 373.  If we were to look at the Greek text of the first eleven  verses of the New Testament (Matt. 1:1-11), we should find an elaborate scheme of sevens underlying the words, which could not have been put there by chance, or even arranged by any human cleverness on Matthew’s part.  These verses contain 49 words (7x7).  
Of these 49 words, 28 (4x7) begin with a vowel, and 21 (3x7) begin with a consonant.  These 49 words have 266 letters (7x2x19); this number is itself 38 sevens, and the sum of its factors is 28 (4x7).  Of these 266 letters, 140 (20x7) are vowels, and 126 (18x7) are consonants.  Of these 49 words 35 (5x7) occur more than once in the passage and 14 (2x7) occur only once.  Seven occur in more than one form and 42 (6x7) occur only in one form.  The 49 words are divided thus: 42 (6x7) are nouns (the name of something) and seven are not nouns.  Of these nouns, 35 (5x7) are names of people and seven are ordinary nouns.  Of these names, 28 (4x7) are male ancestors of Christ and seven are not.  Thus, an elaborate system of sevens occurs in these few short verses of the Bible.  If Matthew was not writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what a headache he must have had trying to
arrange all these sevens!


There is also a system of elevens in the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Scriptures and so wonderful is this that the chance of these figures occurring by accident rather than design (that is by the inspiration of God) is 1 in a number followed by 30 noughts, a billion million taken a million times!

Matt's Turn take 2

I've only just published a post on humility below, but apparently there has been some trouble downloading Matt's sermon from the link I posted previously so I've given Grooveshark a try...if this works you can listen here...p.s. ignore the song titles I forgot to change them from what the computer decided they were.

Humility

It’s good stuff…if not a little uncomfortable.  God has been dishing it up to me by the plateful lately and I’ve found that it’s terrible going down, but has a wonderful aftertaste – I think it’s one of those Godly things that doesn’t make sense but because God made it, it is good.

The Oxford Dictionary defines humility as the quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance.

I’d like to suggest that the biblical definition is quite different.  In Philippians 2:3 it says ‘in humility value others above yourselves.’

I think the humility that God desires is not about thinking low of yourself, but simply putting others above you.  The bible often talks of Jesus’ humility, and while he did make himself low by becoming human…he knew what he was on earth for and it wouldn’t have given him a low view of his importance.  Because of that he always put others ahead of himself.  You will read that he had compassion for people constantly and would go out of his way to teach or to heal. 

We have a lot of work to do on this earth and our importance is anything but low.  However, if we want to get the work done that God has for us, then in our humility we must do as Jesus did and put others above ourselves.

Psalm 22:4 Humility is the fear of the Lord; it’s wages are riches and honour and life.

Matt’s Turn

Matt preached a few Sundays ago and I thought I would put it here if anyone is interested.  He preached on Nehemiah.  And because I am computer illiterate about trying to attach his sermon to this post I attached a link instead.

http://www.mediafire.com/?71kxwd5a7hcat

It is in four different parts because that is how it came on the CD…sorry this is so messy!

Find Your Own Way

I have heard it said that Jesus is one way, of many, to God.  ‘Because’, it is argued, ‘why would a loving God make only one way to heaven’?  As I was thinking about that this morning I came to a shocking conclusion.  If this is true, if God in order to be loving, has made many ways to him, then he has sent his son to be tortured and murdered as just another of many ways…In my opinion that makes for a much less loving God than if God was willing to allow his son to be tortured and murdered because it was the only way.

Compassion Vs. Miracle

You may wonder why I would use ‘vs’ instead of ‘and’ between two seemingly compatible words, but that would hardly make my point.

In Mark 6:30-34 it says

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.

I gotta say, if I was one of those disciples, ‘compassion’, would not have been the verb running through my head.  With this in mind I’ll continue with verses 35-37

By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him.  “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late.  Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 

But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages!  Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

The disciples had a good point.  Not only was Jesus asking them to show compassion when they were very tired, but now it seemed he wanted them to give away all of their money as well.

Jesus never promised a miracle.  The disciples knew that he could do them, but all they could see was what they had to give of themselves, which was every ounce of energy they had left and every spare cent (does that ever sound familiar?). What Jesus asked them to do was to act on compassion (notice the word ‘act’).  This is what follows in verses 38-44

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked.  “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five-and two fish.”

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.  Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people.  He also divided the two fish among them all.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.  The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Jesus never asked them for more than they had, but I wonder sometimes as we seek to see miracles are we missing the opportunity because as Jesus moves us to act, we give excuse after excuse?  ‘I’m too tired’, ‘I don’t have enough’, ‘that’s somebody else’s job’.  And then we wonder why we never get to see miracles.

**Important side note!  After this amazing miracle, please notice that Jesus Immediately made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him while he dismissed the crowd.  Times of rest do come and are important and Jesus made sure they had the rest they needed!

A Quick Thought

Was just reading Acts, in particular chapter1 verse 23.  Perhaps everybody already knows this, but it just occurred to me. 

They cast lots to choose who would take Judas’ place, and it’s the last time they cast lots – it was obviously a way that they sought to receive God’s leading on an issue.  So why is this the last time?  Well, following this they receive the Holy Spirit, so they don’t need to cast lots anymore because they have leading from within, instead of without.

Something to keep in mind if you are waiting for God to give you an outward sign.  If you are a Christian you’ve got the Holy Spirit, so start looking for it from the inside.

Ok, ok…

I have been reading a few articles by, and have begun reading the testimony/life story of, a man named Walter Beuttler.  He says this:

Several years ago, the Lord asked me to shut myself in with Him. I found a place where I could be totally alone with the Lord, in fasting and prayer.
Sunday afternoon, I realized that I had spent 48 hours in prayer, fasting, and seeking the Lord, with no results. I had neither felt nor received anything, nor was I aware of His presence. I knew the Lord wanted to speak, but He did not do so.
Then I said within my heart, “It takes God a long time to speak.” No sooner had I said this, than the Lord spoke to me in a voice that was as clear as a bell, and as sharp as a razor. This was a voice which was not audible, but a voice that I heard. He said, “To hurry God is to find fault with Him.”

‘To hurry God is to find fault with him’…it seems God has to remind me of that a lot lately.

The End of the World??

Due to all the drama happening around the world there has been a lot of talk about Matthew 24.  I hadn’t read it in a while so had a look through and thought it was important to post it here so that those who haven’t had a look can see for themselves (NIV translation).

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Notice in verse 6 it says ‘but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come’.  These things have been happening and will continue to happen, the end is yet to come. 

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

you could argue that that is happening now…but I reckon it’s going to be a lot worse than things are now.

¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equalled again.

It continues, but I’ll leave it there.  After reading that I was a lot less alarmed, and will remain that way until ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ is seen standing in the holy place…er…whatever that means, but that sounds pretty specific.

That One Again.

I was having a look back through my posts and had a read of one called ‘The Other Bit…’ from 2 June 2009.  It kicked my butt…again.  I reposted it again below:

The other bit...

I have, more times than once, found comfort in the scripture 2 Timothy 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (NIV)

At times when I have been afraid, God has reminded me of the part that says 'God did NOT give us a spirit of timidity'. And I have found great strength in that. However, more recently God has made a statement out of the other bit...the bit about self-discipline.

When I am stressed or overwhelmed, and I go into my 'self preservation' mode, my tongue tends to become very sharp. I find fault with most things said by those closest to me (I imagine there may be a few of you who know me well reading this and nodding in a knowing sort of way).

Over the past few months, I've had a hard time of it and have therefore reacted in a not so nice way to those closest to me...mainly my husband Matt. Once I noticed the way I was acting I spent time asking God to change my circumstances so that I could get back to my more normal pleasant self. That's when He reminded me that He has given me a spirit of self-discipline...

'But I don't want to discipline myself to be nicer I just want you to change things so I don't react so poorly'

God wasn't having any of it, and so, every time I found myself reacting in a bad way, that part of the verse would pop into my head. I'm sorry to say, I did a pretty poor job of it. But I think I'm starting to get the hang of it...hold on, let me just ask Matt what he thinks...

How to Get Men to Volunteer for Sunday School

I wanted to share this because my husband is the coolest.  He wanted to do something for the boys at church in the 10/11 year old age bracket who are too young to do youth group, but too old to play in the crèche/nursery.  On Sunday just past he brought his welder and grinder to church and made 3 pronged spears with the boys…you should have seen their eyes light up (only to be used under adult supervision boys).  Of course, those who were in the church service were a little curious about the strange noises coming from outside.  Next he’s going to have them over on a Saturday to add a bamboo handle and they will go reef walking on a still evening to spear crayfish (crayfish in Australia are like lobster in the states).  A few of the men came out after church and seeing what was happening were eager to get involved…

Bananas, Oranges, Grapes, Apples…

Insert big *sigh*.  It’s been a rough few months…wondering what God is doing (what are You doing by the way??).  We still don’t know, but there has been one thing that has given us hope and joy and that is fruit. 

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

(Notice the word ‘remain’, that sounds long term to me)  So we’ve seen some fruit which gives us confidence that we are where we are supposed to be.  We are in him and he is in us.  In saying that, do not misunderstand; there was a time when we couldn’t see an apple within a million miles, which doesn’t mean we were apart from God.  If you go back a little ways in the book of John to verse 2 you read “…while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  So there are always going to be those pruning times…insert another big *sigh*.  But oh the joy when you are doing the work of the father.  It’s a bit like getting a big breath of fresh air after being under water, or a drink when you are soo thirsty.  I can’t believe I wrote that, I hate similes.  Anyways…there is oh so much more I could say on the subject but I will finish with Colossians 1:9-11

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.

The bible is so good…

Knowing God

Woke up this morning at 4am to Matt’s work alarm going off (oops—Matt is not at work).  When I jumped up to get it I jinked my neck and ended up back on the bed in pain…it was an early start.  After a massage from my amazing husband and a hot shower it was coffee time, and luckily the kids had a sleep in (6:30am) so I could sit and rest my neck.  That was the start to my Sunday morning.  All of that doesn’t really have anything to do with the title of this post, I just thought I’d share about my poor neck before getting on with it, cause I was on to do communion this morning and thought I’d share it here as well, it’s about knowing God which won’t be a big surprise if you’ve read the previous post…

John 14:6-9.  I’ll let you read it yourself but it’s basically Jesus saying he is in the father and the father is in him…whoever knows him knows the father.

Then the shocking fact that Christianity isn’t a religion…some of you already know this, but for those who don’t – religion is man-made, Christianity is God made.  Christianity is a relationship with God and with that comes eternal life.

I was listening to a message the other day by a Pastor named Bayless Conley (he has a TV ministry as well that is seen around the world).  He shared a story about his daughter travelling around Europe with a friend.  In Switzerland they found an out of the way Inn and were talking to the old lady that owned the place trying to decide whether or not to stay there.  As they were talking, the topic of God came up and the lady said she didn’t know much about God, but she did watch a show with a guy named Bayless Conley, to which his daughter replied ‘I know him, he’s my dad!’.  Bayless made the point that that should be our reaction when we hear the name of God ‘I know Him, He’s my dad!’.

Often though we get side tracked with our own stuff.  When we pray we are asking for our own needs, when we read the bible we are looking for answers to what we are dealing with in life and when we sing praise and worship we are hoping for those warm fuzzies.  There is nothing wrong with any of this.  In fact The bible tells us to bring our worries to God.  But we need to make sure that that is not all we do.

Jesus did not die so that we could have warm fuzzies, he did not die so that we could have a nice car or a big house or lots of money.  He didn’t even die so that we would never know suffering or pain or tears.  Jesus died so that we could have a relationship with God.

I finished by saying that we should take the opportunity of sharing in communion to make a new effort to get to know God better, so that when someone say’s the name of God we can say ‘I know Him, He’s my dad!’

Seed

I’m currently on the topic of ‘Knowing God’.  What I mean is, it has been impressed upon my heart to get to know God better.  I ask God for plenty, but I don’t often take the time just to spend it with God…When I read my bible I am often looking for inspiration in regards to my life, not usually just to get to know God better.  When someone mentions the name of God I want my response to be ‘I know him!!’  So that is the seed that is currently growing inside of me.  I mention this so that you can ask yourself what seed the Holy Spirit has put into your heart.  Is there something that is getting your attention?  Make sure you seek it out, get it into you.  There is no better time than when the Holy Spirit is trying to show you something, because then you’ve got supernatural powers to have it revealed to you.

Missions vs. Evangelism

The title of this post isn’t actually accurate, but it seemed the closest I could come to my point.  Seeing as I am the Missions Coordinator for our church I tend to spend a little bit of time thinking on the subject.  I consider all Christians to be missionaries, but it seems that our ‘named’ missionaries seem to be doing ‘missions’ better than those who do not own the title.

Trying to understand it in my own head, I have long thought that missions on the home front looks a lot like evangelism.  In third world countries, missionaries can feed the poor, give medicine to the sick, build houses for the homeless, but in first world countries we just don’t have the same sort of needs (after all, our neighbours live in houses and buy their own food), so we do evangelism (tell people about Jesus and invite them to church)…then it suddenly dawned on me.  The difference between what ‘they’ (the missionaries) are doing and what ‘we’ (at home) are doing, is that they are showing the love of Jesus and we are just telling people about it.  The truth is, there is a lot of need everywhere around us.  It may not be as obvious, but it is most certainly EVERYWHERE and goes beyond food and shelter. 

Now, I’m not saying stop doing evangelism, but we really need to mix the two together.  Everyone knows there is a big difference between telling someone you love them and showing them.  I just want to put it out there that if we are going to make the name of Jesus famous (some of us will know the song), then lets get out there and show people why He’s a God worth knowing.

Inspiration

I thought it was important to write ‘something’ seeing as it has been a while.  I haven’t really had time to be inspired for something to write…or perhaps I have been inspired, but haven’t had the time to think about it and jot it down.

We’ve finally moved into our own home after 8 months in one bedroom (there was a lot of travel mixed in to that 8 months as well), so most time has been spent unpacking and organising, and because we have plenty of room in this house, we’ve also taken the time to SPREAD OUT.

God has been working, building, changing etc… He has been very busy with us, but it is hard to keep ‘rejoicing in our suffering’.  When I have a bad day with two kids and unpacking I try to remember that my capacity has been enlarged and not diminished (even though sometimes it feels that way)…and I am trying to be ok with that fact that sometimes being a mum is hard (thought comes to mind of recent time cleaning poo off of the carpet).  But I continue to try to remember that there are great times ahead to be had and they will be even better if I let myself be grown and changed.  Can’t have ‘new wine in old wine skin’…