Psalm 133:1
How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity....
It is important as Christian Brothers and Sisters that we build each other up. It pleases our heavenly Father.
But what's more, it is very important that we hold each other accountable to stay on the path that was set out for us. Not to tell each other what our 'opinion' is, but to remind each other of scripture and what the Lord says to us.
Hebrews 10:25 - "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good works. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the day approaching."
What happens when we don't like someone... Is that really an option for a Christian? After all, some people are just hard to love... aren't they??
Christ Jesus loved a prostitute, He loved a 'wee little man' - Zacheus (I imagine he was quite annoying), He loved the man with Leprosy (obvious disease), He loved the complaining Tax Collectors (greedy, snub and arrogant) and lets not forget the difficult to love people who never stopped whinging and complaining - the Israelites..
He calls us to be imitators of Himself, to love unconditionally.
There are only two commandments in the New Testament - Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbour as you love yourself.
In fact, when Jesus was questioned by a teacher as to what is the Greatest commandments, He answered with -
"‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”
So if Love is the greatest commandments, are we being obedient to the Lord?
We cannot love someone if we do not know how to love them. Everyone is different but some things don't change - all people need to feel special and genuinely loved for who they are. All it takes is a listening ear, an encouraging word and an act that is selfless towards another. Try to not talk about yourself sometimes...
Choose today to love another person without seeking any praise for yourself.
A challenge for myself that I now share with you.
Let's walk together in this valley and encourage each other along the way. In my blog, I share a few of my own thoughts and experiences as I navigate this life's journey. I am not a professional writer and I certainly do not promote anything other than my own life lessons, If they can benefit you, great! If not please pass by peacefully.
Monday 25 March 2013
Sunday 10 March 2013
A Mediocre Existence
Jesus came to give us life and life to the fullest... John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal, kill and Destroy...
Even for a Christian we can have a mediocre existance. Our choices to clutter our life with the things of the world and to hold on to our self-centred comforts steal from us the joy and riches that come when we spend time getting replenished by the word of God.
It is too easy for us to choose not to fellowship or read the word, usually it is because we "just don't feel like it at the moment".
I pulled out a Bible with a friend once and she rolled her eyes.. I just wanted her help to get motivated to get into a study I was doing, but she saw it as work and didn't want to get deep, reluctantly we started reading..
After the study she apologised for being so opposed to the word. She loved the conversation we had and we talked about it for weeks. The study was on finding our rest in the Lord.
Sometimes we don't want to be in the Bible, even though it should be our book of preference as a Christian. I know Christians who have this same attitude. They would rather not hang around after Church, they never invite people over to their house and if you do discuss the Word, they always make it into a joke so as not to look too much into their own sin.
A mediocre existence...
God's plan is to turn old thoughts that defeat us into new thoughts that encourage us.
2 Co 10:3-5 "take every thought Captive"
Prov 23:7 "For as he thinks inside himself, so he is.."
Phil 4:8 Think on these things and put them in practice...
Corrie Ten Boom wrote "I've learned that we must hold everything loosely, because when I grip it tightly, it hurts when the Father pries my fingers loose and takes it from me!"
There are some Christians you simply cannot put a bomb under, they are consumed with their own life, the comfort of their own four walls, they tell themselves that they are fine. They are convinced that they are living the life God called them too.. I believe when the Bible says there will be weeping, that we will see the life we could have lived if only we had listened to His voice calling us along the way.
Our choices steal from us.. unfortunately some of us choose to to exclude ourselves from the race, to disqualify ourselves because it is simply too hard to deal with 'myself'. I have seen the attitude "I am happy doing what I am doing and just wish people would leave me alone to keep doing it"...
Well Christian.. If that is you - all I can say is - YOU ARE DABBLING IN SIN! Christ came to give you life, but you are supposed to Love Him, Obey Him and love others as He has loved you..
If you are stuck in your own existence, within your own safe four walls because that is what makes you comfortable, then you have been defeated by the enemy who came to steal joy and life from you, who comes to kill your spirit, who came to destroy all the blessings that the Lord Jesus has for you.
When Paul says he is running the race, he says 'forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead - Phil 3:13-14; he leaves the hurt behind, the lessons behind, he doesn't stumble then go back to the beginning again, he gets up and runs from that place.
RUN THE RACE SET OUT BEFORE YOU!
So what if you have been hurt by someone at Church!
So what if you got caught in sin!
So what if you are tired!
So what if you just don't have those skills!
So what if you think differently to others!
So what if you don't have enough money or the nicest house!
Get off your backside!!!!! Nicodemas, come down from that tree and stop observing other people's lives! Be involved! Serve! Offer your body as a living sacrifice, set aside for Him and acceptable by Him! Get off your backside!!! Get over yourself and get back on the right path...
I get so sad for Christians who choose to do their own thing, to stay home and watch tv, who would prefer to leave Church early so they don't have to fellowship.
If following Christ Jesus is to love Him, know Him, serve Him, share Him, walk as He walked....
How on earth can a person call themselves a Christian if they are not doing that??? Simply put, they are no different to an unsaved really nice person.
WAKE UP!!!
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!!!!! And the Joy of the Lord will be my strength to do all things....
Please brother or sister.....PLEASE choose to walk with Him today, start by reading the book of James over the next week.. for God is good and he loves you, so draw near to Him and watch him draw near to YOU.
I realise I am being really forceful and in your face, I make no apology, if you are my sister or brother in the Lord, and this is the life you have chosen to live, then you need to take a different direction, it is not as hard as your mind is telling you, that is the voice of the enemy building a brick wall in your mind. Tap into the power of the Holy Spirit by asking for forgiveness and healing of your heart.. then run the race towards the goal for which you have been called by the Lord Jesus, you answered Him once, now do it again but with conviction.
May your ears be opened to His still small voice that calls you out of the wilderness....
The thief comes only to steal, kill and Destroy...
Even for a Christian we can have a mediocre existance. Our choices to clutter our life with the things of the world and to hold on to our self-centred comforts steal from us the joy and riches that come when we spend time getting replenished by the word of God.
It is too easy for us to choose not to fellowship or read the word, usually it is because we "just don't feel like it at the moment".
I pulled out a Bible with a friend once and she rolled her eyes.. I just wanted her help to get motivated to get into a study I was doing, but she saw it as work and didn't want to get deep, reluctantly we started reading..
After the study she apologised for being so opposed to the word. She loved the conversation we had and we talked about it for weeks. The study was on finding our rest in the Lord.
Sometimes we don't want to be in the Bible, even though it should be our book of preference as a Christian. I know Christians who have this same attitude. They would rather not hang around after Church, they never invite people over to their house and if you do discuss the Word, they always make it into a joke so as not to look too much into their own sin.
A mediocre existence...
God's plan is to turn old thoughts that defeat us into new thoughts that encourage us.
2 Co 10:3-5 "take every thought Captive"
Prov 23:7 "For as he thinks inside himself, so he is.."
Phil 4:8 Think on these things and put them in practice...
Corrie Ten Boom wrote "I've learned that we must hold everything loosely, because when I grip it tightly, it hurts when the Father pries my fingers loose and takes it from me!"
There are some Christians you simply cannot put a bomb under, they are consumed with their own life, the comfort of their own four walls, they tell themselves that they are fine. They are convinced that they are living the life God called them too.. I believe when the Bible says there will be weeping, that we will see the life we could have lived if only we had listened to His voice calling us along the way.
Our choices steal from us.. unfortunately some of us choose to to exclude ourselves from the race, to disqualify ourselves because it is simply too hard to deal with 'myself'. I have seen the attitude "I am happy doing what I am doing and just wish people would leave me alone to keep doing it"...
Well Christian.. If that is you - all I can say is - YOU ARE DABBLING IN SIN! Christ came to give you life, but you are supposed to Love Him, Obey Him and love others as He has loved you..
If you are stuck in your own existence, within your own safe four walls because that is what makes you comfortable, then you have been defeated by the enemy who came to steal joy and life from you, who comes to kill your spirit, who came to destroy all the blessings that the Lord Jesus has for you.
When Paul says he is running the race, he says 'forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead - Phil 3:13-14; he leaves the hurt behind, the lessons behind, he doesn't stumble then go back to the beginning again, he gets up and runs from that place.
RUN THE RACE SET OUT BEFORE YOU!
So what if you have been hurt by someone at Church!
So what if you got caught in sin!
So what if you are tired!
So what if you just don't have those skills!
So what if you think differently to others!
So what if you don't have enough money or the nicest house!
Get off your backside!!!!! Nicodemas, come down from that tree and stop observing other people's lives! Be involved! Serve! Offer your body as a living sacrifice, set aside for Him and acceptable by Him! Get off your backside!!! Get over yourself and get back on the right path...
I get so sad for Christians who choose to do their own thing, to stay home and watch tv, who would prefer to leave Church early so they don't have to fellowship.
If following Christ Jesus is to love Him, know Him, serve Him, share Him, walk as He walked....
How on earth can a person call themselves a Christian if they are not doing that??? Simply put, they are no different to an unsaved really nice person.
WAKE UP!!!
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!!!!! And the Joy of the Lord will be my strength to do all things....
Please brother or sister.....PLEASE choose to walk with Him today, start by reading the book of James over the next week.. for God is good and he loves you, so draw near to Him and watch him draw near to YOU.
I realise I am being really forceful and in your face, I make no apology, if you are my sister or brother in the Lord, and this is the life you have chosen to live, then you need to take a different direction, it is not as hard as your mind is telling you, that is the voice of the enemy building a brick wall in your mind. Tap into the power of the Holy Spirit by asking for forgiveness and healing of your heart.. then run the race towards the goal for which you have been called by the Lord Jesus, you answered Him once, now do it again but with conviction.
May your ears be opened to His still small voice that calls you out of the wilderness....
Sunday 3 March 2013
Lost? Who is the real you?
"I hate being me!" my girlfriend said as she spoke about how her life was going quickly and she still didn't think she was good at anything..
The words rattled through my mind, the sound of them was so familiar.. it was not long ago I had thought that very same thing about myself...
Is this you?
Christ healed me! He healed my inner self. He showed me who I was in Him, not in the world. I had always compared myself to others: they are nicer, they have more to offer, they have a better memory, they are more skilled, they seem to have direction, they succeed at their plans, they are financial, they are attractive, they are thinner etc.
By comparing, I just couldn't stand looking at myself for who I was because I always felt lost and out of place.
When I started searching for my purpose in life, I was drawn to the creator, and when I saw myself in Him, I saw that I was designed...
Ps 139:13 "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my Mother's womb"
Designed????
This didn't happen straight away when I became a Christian, It was when I was in my 30's that I realised that it is ok to accept the love on offer.
It meant accepting that every stitch of my life was deliberate, that my life is a beautiful creation... a master piece that will never be duplicated.
Luke 19:10 "The Son of man came to find the lost people and save them."
What is it to be lost?
Basically, you don't know who you are or what you are put on earth to do. You are not happy with yourself but have no idea of how to be happy in yourself so you look to others. You do not like your own choices and wish someone would just fix it. You look for answers in others, but only see that you fall short of your own expectations. In a room full of people you find yourself wanting to sit in the corner and not make eye contact with people just incase they talk to you.
Hopefully I can help you... Instead of looking at what you would like to be.. why not look at what you were created to be, drop the grand notions that life would be better if....
YOU have been created to have that specific temperament , that specific personality, however, your life is stunted by your own fear of your own failures.
Your personality is moulded from a young age, your values were passed on to you, your choices in life have been within what you think you are able to do and what you think of yourself has been founded in what you were told you were like by so many.
I want to encourage you to drop all of that off at the foot of the Cross and walk into the truth, the truth is freeing.
The first truth is that you were created just the way you are in your heart (not the persona you put on for the world to see).
The second truth is that you are a sinner, someone who falls short of what a Holy God created you to be, you have not made choices that God would approve of and this makes you unclean which prevents you from understanding Christianity in it's entirety. Your worldly thought processes (which were forced on you by the world) is what makes you fight God's plan, and ruins the relationship you could have with him. What I am trying to say in it's simplest form is that your sin keeps you from having the relationship with God that you were created to have.
The third truth is that this relationship has been fixed, you just don't know it yet. The world is a very noisy place, almost like static on the radio when you are trying to listen to something important. If I were to tell you that you needed to be a Christian to find yourself, your mind instantly draws on all the things you think you know about Christianity based on your own wisdom and all the sarcasm and criticism that has been planted in you, and you instantly laugh and mock it. You are carrying other peoples fears and they are holding you back from finding true inner peace. You have a notion of what you think Christianity looks like but without ever having picked up a Bible yourself or researched evidence ... Have you questioned your trust in the people around you that have encouraged you to not believe (even influenced you to stay far away from it based on their unbelief - like parents, friends) based on their own wisdom and experience? Do you know for sure that they have read the Bible and understand it and are right enough for you to base your own eternal life on it??????
The fourth truth is simple - Jesus promises to heal the broken hearted, to find the lost, to forgive the sinner, to never leave us, to make us strong when we are weak, to bless us, to love us. He speaks the truth to us, that is why he had such a strong following that has been growing since His walking on Earth, as people realise they cannot do 'life' by themselves, they search for the truth which can lead them to another lie because they fear love.
The world hates the truth... no-one wants to see themselves as a sinner.. we innately see ourselves as good. There is good in all of us, however, it is not good enough to be near a Holy God.
1 John 1:19 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
The fifth truth is this: You can be free from all the junk and live a rich full life. In your own quiet time, tell God that you have been living a sinful life but you just want to be made right in Him and ask Him to forgive you. Then invite Him into your heart and ask Him to change your life. Then believe and you will be free. It will not take the reality out of your life, but you will start to notice God's hand in different things. Your conscience will be pricked and you will notice small changes. Read the book of John in the Bible and start thinking on it.
Only after doing this can you truly find the real you, the one you were created to be, because you need to see yourself in light of the way God sees you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you!!! All He wants to do is have a relationship with you, talking to Him is called prayer - no fancy words, just a normal conversation.
Ditch all the lies that were ever told to you by another, your parents, your friends, your teachers, YOURSELF!
You are a precious person. Stop holding yourself back, take a step to finding the peace that Jesus promised to leave you - John 14:27. See yourself as created to be this way and don't let anyone or anything tell you otherwise!
Lastly, do something for yourself that you have never done before, something that you would like to do but do not think it possible.. a painting class, a short course at Tafe, join a walking group, get your truck licence, or a motor bike licence. Go pay for someone to teach you to play golf.
Make yourself do something with your life that will give you funny memories and interesting experiences. And do something for another person - volunteer for Meals on Wheels, or volunteer to go to a Nursing home and do the feeding for a lunch.
It took me 18 years of being a Christian before I finally realised that I AM special, now I enjoy a blessed life, not without troubles and struggles, that is par for the course being married with 6 children...but my trust and peace when those troubles come, help me to ride it out prayerfully and confidently that I will be ok.
I really hope I have helped you. if you don't like it then i suppose it will feel like 5 minutes that you will never get back....lol
But this is how I choose to live my life - believing in a God who proved Himself by sending His only Son to die on a cross for us, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life and have it to the fullest. John 3:15
May God Bless you with all His goodness and Love, so much that you cannot contain it.
On a final note, this is the God who loves you and wants JUST YOU!
The words rattled through my mind, the sound of them was so familiar.. it was not long ago I had thought that very same thing about myself...
Is this you?
Christ healed me! He healed my inner self. He showed me who I was in Him, not in the world. I had always compared myself to others: they are nicer, they have more to offer, they have a better memory, they are more skilled, they seem to have direction, they succeed at their plans, they are financial, they are attractive, they are thinner etc.
By comparing, I just couldn't stand looking at myself for who I was because I always felt lost and out of place.
When I started searching for my purpose in life, I was drawn to the creator, and when I saw myself in Him, I saw that I was designed...
Ps 139:13 "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my Mother's womb"
Designed????
This didn't happen straight away when I became a Christian, It was when I was in my 30's that I realised that it is ok to accept the love on offer.
It meant accepting that every stitch of my life was deliberate, that my life is a beautiful creation... a master piece that will never be duplicated.
Luke 19:10 "The Son of man came to find the lost people and save them."
What is it to be lost?
Basically, you don't know who you are or what you are put on earth to do. You are not happy with yourself but have no idea of how to be happy in yourself so you look to others. You do not like your own choices and wish someone would just fix it. You look for answers in others, but only see that you fall short of your own expectations. In a room full of people you find yourself wanting to sit in the corner and not make eye contact with people just incase they talk to you.
Hopefully I can help you... Instead of looking at what you would like to be.. why not look at what you were created to be, drop the grand notions that life would be better if....
YOU have been created to have that specific temperament , that specific personality, however, your life is stunted by your own fear of your own failures.
Your personality is moulded from a young age, your values were passed on to you, your choices in life have been within what you think you are able to do and what you think of yourself has been founded in what you were told you were like by so many.
I want to encourage you to drop all of that off at the foot of the Cross and walk into the truth, the truth is freeing.
The first truth is that you were created just the way you are in your heart (not the persona you put on for the world to see).
The second truth is that you are a sinner, someone who falls short of what a Holy God created you to be, you have not made choices that God would approve of and this makes you unclean which prevents you from understanding Christianity in it's entirety. Your worldly thought processes (which were forced on you by the world) is what makes you fight God's plan, and ruins the relationship you could have with him. What I am trying to say in it's simplest form is that your sin keeps you from having the relationship with God that you were created to have.
The third truth is that this relationship has been fixed, you just don't know it yet. The world is a very noisy place, almost like static on the radio when you are trying to listen to something important. If I were to tell you that you needed to be a Christian to find yourself, your mind instantly draws on all the things you think you know about Christianity based on your own wisdom and all the sarcasm and criticism that has been planted in you, and you instantly laugh and mock it. You are carrying other peoples fears and they are holding you back from finding true inner peace. You have a notion of what you think Christianity looks like but without ever having picked up a Bible yourself or researched evidence ... Have you questioned your trust in the people around you that have encouraged you to not believe (even influenced you to stay far away from it based on their unbelief - like parents, friends) based on their own wisdom and experience? Do you know for sure that they have read the Bible and understand it and are right enough for you to base your own eternal life on it??????
The fourth truth is simple - Jesus promises to heal the broken hearted, to find the lost, to forgive the sinner, to never leave us, to make us strong when we are weak, to bless us, to love us. He speaks the truth to us, that is why he had such a strong following that has been growing since His walking on Earth, as people realise they cannot do 'life' by themselves, they search for the truth which can lead them to another lie because they fear love.
The world hates the truth... no-one wants to see themselves as a sinner.. we innately see ourselves as good. There is good in all of us, however, it is not good enough to be near a Holy God.
1 John 1:19 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
The fifth truth is this: You can be free from all the junk and live a rich full life. In your own quiet time, tell God that you have been living a sinful life but you just want to be made right in Him and ask Him to forgive you. Then invite Him into your heart and ask Him to change your life. Then believe and you will be free. It will not take the reality out of your life, but you will start to notice God's hand in different things. Your conscience will be pricked and you will notice small changes. Read the book of John in the Bible and start thinking on it.
Only after doing this can you truly find the real you, the one you were created to be, because you need to see yourself in light of the way God sees you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you!!! All He wants to do is have a relationship with you, talking to Him is called prayer - no fancy words, just a normal conversation.
Ditch all the lies that were ever told to you by another, your parents, your friends, your teachers, YOURSELF!
You are a precious person. Stop holding yourself back, take a step to finding the peace that Jesus promised to leave you - John 14:27. See yourself as created to be this way and don't let anyone or anything tell you otherwise!
Lastly, do something for yourself that you have never done before, something that you would like to do but do not think it possible.. a painting class, a short course at Tafe, join a walking group, get your truck licence, or a motor bike licence. Go pay for someone to teach you to play golf.
Make yourself do something with your life that will give you funny memories and interesting experiences. And do something for another person - volunteer for Meals on Wheels, or volunteer to go to a Nursing home and do the feeding for a lunch.
It took me 18 years of being a Christian before I finally realised that I AM special, now I enjoy a blessed life, not without troubles and struggles, that is par for the course being married with 6 children...but my trust and peace when those troubles come, help me to ride it out prayerfully and confidently that I will be ok.
I really hope I have helped you. if you don't like it then i suppose it will feel like 5 minutes that you will never get back....lol
But this is how I choose to live my life - believing in a God who proved Himself by sending His only Son to die on a cross for us, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life and have it to the fullest. John 3:15
May God Bless you with all His goodness and Love, so much that you cannot contain it.
On a final note, this is the God who loves you and wants JUST YOU!
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