‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’
We live in a world all about seeing and touching and feeling and having and owning and proving; a world all about now . Having now, satifying now, seeing now, touching now, owning now. Why spend hours cooking when you can just buy it ready and have it now? Why be slow to speak when you can just blurt out what you want to say now and let off steam and apologies later? Why wait till you get married to have sex when you can just have it now? Why worry about the consequences of life when you can just live how you want now? Why think about heaven when you can see earth now?
If you read Hebrews chapter 11 you will realise that, yes it’s all about faith, but more than that, it’s all about heaven, eternity, the hope that that is, the bigger picture.. Having faith that the bigger picture actually exists…
It’s about Abraham longing for and believing in a city with foundations where the builder and architect was God, even though he spent his life as a nomad, as a stranger in a foreign land, living in tents in a place where the streets deffinety where not made of gold. Despite this, he didn’t just hope for something more but he believed in it, he was sure and confident of it and because of that he journeyed on.
It’s about Moses who saw past the luxuries offered to him as the pharaoh’s daughter’s son and chose to see the sin and injustice surrounding him and to see the Lord calling him to rise above. It’d about Moses knowing that there are greater things beckoning him than the riches surrounding him in Egypt. It’s about him having so much faith and hope in that that he is able to take on the disgrace in the hope of the coming Messiah.
It’s about not being satified with what the world offers, it’s about seeing past what’s being offered on the plate and getting up, not just making do with what the world is serving you. But it’s not just about despairingly wanting more and feeling unsatisfied. It’s about a continuous hunger and longing for more, receiving from the Lord and being sustained to continue forwards. It’s about refusing to believe that what we see is all there is. Refusing to believe that pain is all there is, that hunger will have the last word, that war will have the last word, that injustice will have the last word, that lies will always deceive…
It’s about being ok with not being of the world, being ok with being an alien, being ok with sticking out, surrending to the fact that we are different and stopping trying to be accepted at the expensive of pleasing the Lord. Being ok with this because we have the hope written in our hearts that there is a better country, a country where we have come from, a place where we will never again experience the feeling of being rejected or alienated. A place where we will experience complete and utter acceptance. It’s about not giving in to the things of this world but continuously seeking for a better country. Seeking to bring heaven to earth.
‘ and for them God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them’
It’s about wanting it enough and not allowing any substitutes to numb the hunger, or to blind us, no matter how painful the longing and hunger can be, no matter how long and hard the journey may be. And it’s about believing that you hunger and hope and longing will be fulfilled.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Monday, October 8, 2007
keep your eyes to the skies!!!
Acts 7 .55 'but Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look he said 'I see heaven open and the Son of God standing at the right hand of God.'
Even in the face of death and chaoes, even when surrounded by the enemy and pressed on all esides, Stephen was still looking above, still looking to the Lord, continually seeking the face of Jesus and not looking away and being lost in the fears and storms around him. C.S. Lewis talked about how when we look up to heaven , and when we keep our thoughts towards heaven it completely affects the way we walk on this earth. Before we can get to the place where Stephen was, of being completelyt focussed on the Glory of God that death pales and fades away because all he see if Jesus, before we get to that place we need to have our heads raised high to the sky in every situation of our lives, in the little stressful moments and in the darkest hours may we keep out eyes raised towards the heavens and may the Lord protect our eyes from being blinded by the thick darkness, but instead may we look up and see the glory of the Lord.
Even in the face of death and chaoes, even when surrounded by the enemy and pressed on all esides, Stephen was still looking above, still looking to the Lord, continually seeking the face of Jesus and not looking away and being lost in the fears and storms around him. C.S. Lewis talked about how when we look up to heaven , and when we keep our thoughts towards heaven it completely affects the way we walk on this earth. Before we can get to the place where Stephen was, of being completelyt focussed on the Glory of God that death pales and fades away because all he see if Jesus, before we get to that place we need to have our heads raised high to the sky in every situation of our lives, in the little stressful moments and in the darkest hours may we keep out eyes raised towards the heavens and may the Lord protect our eyes from being blinded by the thick darkness, but instead may we look up and see the glory of the Lord.
18 "Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, 'Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'
20 "Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
22 Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.'
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
I am sure we all remember September 11th and the questions it aroused. People from all over the world were crying out for answers and one of the biggest questions was why would a loving and powerful God let this happen? Where was He? Where was his love? These were the same questions that Israel cried out to God. They cried out and asked why the Lord did this to them. And the response is this: They had ceased to fear the Lord, they had turned their backs on him, they had forgotten all he had done and had committed adultery and idolitry with other gods, they had chosen gods of wood and stone instead of the Lord God Almighty. And then they wonder why these things were happening.
It is exactly the same today. Just after September 11th in a press conference the question ''Where was God when this happened?' was asked. Silence came over everyone and no one knew what to say. Until Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's wife, spoke out. We have seperated God from the state, we have pushed Him out of the schools, we have pushed him out of our homes, out of our lives and yet we will allow him back in in the face of trouble only to push him out again as soon as we are ok on our own, and then we blame Him for the wrongs in this world, ignoring God's own word which says that it is peoples wrongdoing and sin that deprives us of good.
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
20 "Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
22 Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.'
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
I am sure we all remember September 11th and the questions it aroused. People from all over the world were crying out for answers and one of the biggest questions was why would a loving and powerful God let this happen? Where was He? Where was his love? These were the same questions that Israel cried out to God. They cried out and asked why the Lord did this to them. And the response is this: They had ceased to fear the Lord, they had turned their backs on him, they had forgotten all he had done and had committed adultery and idolitry with other gods, they had chosen gods of wood and stone instead of the Lord God Almighty. And then they wonder why these things were happening.
It is exactly the same today. Just after September 11th in a press conference the question ''Where was God when this happened?' was asked. Silence came over everyone and no one knew what to say. Until Ruth Graham, Billy Graham's wife, spoke out. We have seperated God from the state, we have pushed Him out of the schools, we have pushed him out of our homes, out of our lives and yet we will allow him back in in the face of trouble only to push him out again as soon as we are ok on our own, and then we blame Him for the wrongs in this world, ignoring God's own word which says that it is peoples wrongdoing and sin that deprives us of good.
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
I want a holistic gospel!
I am being come and more aware of how much we (humans) have sought to mold and control Christianity in the way that we hammer parts of the Bible and tend not to like to look to closely at other parts. I was in a bible study the other day we happened to look at psalm 37 and immediately I saw verse four; 'delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart'. As soon as I saw it I said something like 'well, everyone knows that verse'. And it's true, most Christians you meet can quote that verse to you. But as soon as i said this i wondered 'why?'. Why this verse? And my answer is because even in our Christianity (which is meant be all about love and others and sacrifice and selflessness, even death to self) we are selfish! We want comfort! We want assurance! We want blessings! Don't get me wrong, blessings and assurance from God is good! God tells us in his word that he wants to bless and love on us, he desires that He alone and His word will be our assurance. But his word also tells us that we need to look after the widows and the orphans, that we need to daily pick up our cross, that we need to be holy as God is holy, that if we dont obey God we don't love him, that we are to be slaves to righteousness, that if we dont remain in him we are like a branch that is plucked out and thrown into the fire and burned, that we need to love our enemies, that we need to turn our cheek and let the person who slapped our left cheek slap our right cheek too, and the list goes on.
I want a holistic Gospel!
I want a holistic Gospel!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Standard
Jesus set the bar for us. He set the bar, showing us what the standard is that God requires. But church has lowered the standard, men came and bit by bit the strandard has been lowered and lowered until almost anyone can just walk right over the bar, it's that low! Now almost anyone can be a 'Christian' i mean what does it actually mean? That you go to church once a week? that you were baptised? That you said the prayer for salvation at some point in your life? Or does it actually mean that you are a little Christ, that you are imitating Christ, that you are a slave to righteousness? A slave! A slave to righteousness. Slaves don't obey their masters when they feel like it, thats what they do, thay are in continual obedience to their masters.
God never changed the bar. God is never changing. It is men who change and compromise not God. To him the bar is still as high as it ever was and it is his bar and not the worlds that we need to be reaching. After all, it is God and not man who will be judging us on that final day! It seems so easy to be a Christian today but we look in the Bible and it sure didn't seem like a breeze for them! They were stoned to death, shipwrecked, put in prisons, crucified, beaten, given to lions, put in fires, ran out of towns.... It is a sacrifice, it is going against everything that the world is saying is ok, it is seeking to be an imitator of EVERYTHING that Christ was. But today some 'Christians' can't even give up cigarettes for God, never mind give up their lives for God.
God never changed the bar. God is never changing. It is men who change and compromise not God. To him the bar is still as high as it ever was and it is his bar and not the worlds that we need to be reaching. After all, it is God and not man who will be judging us on that final day! It seems so easy to be a Christian today but we look in the Bible and it sure didn't seem like a breeze for them! They were stoned to death, shipwrecked, put in prisons, crucified, beaten, given to lions, put in fires, ran out of towns.... It is a sacrifice, it is going against everything that the world is saying is ok, it is seeking to be an imitator of EVERYTHING that Christ was. But today some 'Christians' can't even give up cigarettes for God, never mind give up their lives for God.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
psalm 63
O God, you are my God,
Lord, you alone are my God and there is no other.You alone are the one I choose to serve and worship, you alone are the one I will seek to please. May my whole life display your glory and cry out that you alone are God, that you alone are the one I follow. May it be obvious that the gods of the world are not the gods of me.
earnestly I seek after you;
May I seek after you, really seek, seek out your way, seek out what is right and not just go along with whatever is presented to me. May I seek you out, even in the darkness, may I remember and cling on to your promises that there is always hope and his name is Jesus and may I seek you out, even in the darkest times. May i not be so overwhelmed that all i see is evil and despair but may I seek you out and find you.
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
May every part of me thirst and long for you Lord. It takes no time at all for people to get physically hungry and thirst. We understand our physical needs so well and we give our body what we need. We feed ourselves three times a day, we make sure people drink lots of water. Yet we know that our earthly body is just temporary, it is the condition of our soul that really matters, it is the condition of our soul that is going to depend on where we spend eternity and yet we feed our body so much and so often starve our spirit, our soul. Lord may we thirst and hunger after you and your righteousness, may we understand how much we need your Word as our food and may be hunger for me, for more of you.
In a dry and weary land where there is no water
Lord whether we are going through hardship and are in a desert, or whether the sun is shining down, may we always thirst after you as if we were in a dry and waery land where there is no water. May we alwatys be aware of our immense need for you.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
You are so glorious and poverful and yet you allow us to see you, you allow us to converse with you, to be friends with you! You reveal your power and glory to us and yet we still turn away! We still get distracted by other things! Have mercy on us Lord! May we not be blinded by the enemy and by the god if this age but keep the veil removed from our eyes so that we may see you and your glory and power always!
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
Your love is better than life. Better is one day in your court than a thousand elsewhere. May my lips glorify you no matter the cost because your love is better than life. Even if it costs me this life here may i choose to glorify you. Help me noe to glorify you no matter what, may i learn to always choose you now, even in the little things. May i choose to share the gospel to people even when I am afraid of the reaction and in this may i declare ;your love is better than life!' I have to be able to do this in the little things for me to be able to do that is the big things- to choose to glorify you even if it costs me my life if that circumstance arises.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Yes Lord we are to hunger and thirst but you promises to satify! And you are so much more satify than anything the world can ever offer us! You last, you are eternal, your food, your water will last forever! And your blessings, love and friendship is rich, oh so rich!
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
You mean more to me that food! You mean more to me than sleep! May you Lord be the one I dream about, dwell on , think about, may you be the one who consumes my mind!
7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Yes Lord, you are our help. May I run to you as my help before i run to anything else, may you always be the one than i run to, may i run to you for comfort before i run to firends, may i run to you and your Word for wisdom before i ask other people opinions, may i run to you for guidance and not just go along with pther people. And by doing that may i know the comfort of the shadow of your wings, may i allow you to comfort me, may i allow myself to dwell in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
I need to cling to you Lord. I want to cling to you, life is big and scary without I aknowledge that i not some big queen than can conquor on my own, i need you, i cling to you, my soul clings to you.
Your right hand upholds me;
The hand that holds the world, the hand that designed the stars, that same hand holds me!
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
May you never have to silience me but may the words from my mouth be life sweet honey to you, may they be a pleasing fragrance, may they glorify you Lord. Amen.
Lord, you alone are my God and there is no other.You alone are the one I choose to serve and worship, you alone are the one I will seek to please. May my whole life display your glory and cry out that you alone are God, that you alone are the one I follow. May it be obvious that the gods of the world are not the gods of me.
earnestly I seek after you;
May I seek after you, really seek, seek out your way, seek out what is right and not just go along with whatever is presented to me. May I seek you out, even in the darkness, may I remember and cling on to your promises that there is always hope and his name is Jesus and may I seek you out, even in the darkest times. May i not be so overwhelmed that all i see is evil and despair but may I seek you out and find you.
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
May every part of me thirst and long for you Lord. It takes no time at all for people to get physically hungry and thirst. We understand our physical needs so well and we give our body what we need. We feed ourselves three times a day, we make sure people drink lots of water. Yet we know that our earthly body is just temporary, it is the condition of our soul that really matters, it is the condition of our soul that is going to depend on where we spend eternity and yet we feed our body so much and so often starve our spirit, our soul. Lord may we thirst and hunger after you and your righteousness, may we understand how much we need your Word as our food and may be hunger for me, for more of you.
In a dry and weary land where there is no water
Lord whether we are going through hardship and are in a desert, or whether the sun is shining down, may we always thirst after you as if we were in a dry and waery land where there is no water. May we alwatys be aware of our immense need for you.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
You are so glorious and poverful and yet you allow us to see you, you allow us to converse with you, to be friends with you! You reveal your power and glory to us and yet we still turn away! We still get distracted by other things! Have mercy on us Lord! May we not be blinded by the enemy and by the god if this age but keep the veil removed from our eyes so that we may see you and your glory and power always!
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
Your love is better than life. Better is one day in your court than a thousand elsewhere. May my lips glorify you no matter the cost because your love is better than life. Even if it costs me this life here may i choose to glorify you. Help me noe to glorify you no matter what, may i learn to always choose you now, even in the little things. May i choose to share the gospel to people even when I am afraid of the reaction and in this may i declare ;your love is better than life!' I have to be able to do this in the little things for me to be able to do that is the big things- to choose to glorify you even if it costs me my life if that circumstance arises.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Yes Lord we are to hunger and thirst but you promises to satify! And you are so much more satify than anything the world can ever offer us! You last, you are eternal, your food, your water will last forever! And your blessings, love and friendship is rich, oh so rich!
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
You mean more to me that food! You mean more to me than sleep! May you Lord be the one I dream about, dwell on , think about, may you be the one who consumes my mind!
7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Yes Lord, you are our help. May I run to you as my help before i run to anything else, may you always be the one than i run to, may i run to you for comfort before i run to firends, may i run to you and your Word for wisdom before i ask other people opinions, may i run to you for guidance and not just go along with pther people. And by doing that may i know the comfort of the shadow of your wings, may i allow you to comfort me, may i allow myself to dwell in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
I need to cling to you Lord. I want to cling to you, life is big and scary without I aknowledge that i not some big queen than can conquor on my own, i need you, i cling to you, my soul clings to you.
Your right hand upholds me;
The hand that holds the world, the hand that designed the stars, that same hand holds me!
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
May you never have to silience me but may the words from my mouth be life sweet honey to you, may they be a pleasing fragrance, may they glorify you Lord. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
