2009 = Being thrown into a spin cycle. Can anyone else relate to that?

Job loss, reputation in tatters, our church without a shepherd, lack of spiritual direction, disunity, trust irretrievably broken, resentment, disappointment and extreme vulnerability amongst the people of God, emotional scars galore, friendships pulverized as if by magic, financial mayhem, security under major threat, pandemics, verbal persecution from our dearest relatives and a strong sense of the heat being turned up on everyone and everything Christian.

How can I possibly feel like celebrating Christmas when there has been so much going wrong over these last 12 months? How can I have any joy within me when I feel like my whole life has been taken over by aliens and I have absolutely no control over the passing of time which seems to take place faster and faster everyday that goes by? Have we all just gone completely mad? We wish the days away as if we had million more days to spare and enjoy. Where has November gone? Where is December going? Each day blends into the previous one and there is only one end in sight: getting to the 25th in one piece. The Christian Spirit which should take center stage during this significant time of the year shines for its absence as we all get caught up in the whirlwind of shopping, presents, over-indulging, Christmas cards, Christmas concerts, Christmas parties, more presents and more shopping, all thrown in the same cocktail at 100 miles per hour. Will someone please stop this ride? I think I am going to be sick!

Yes, many of us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, but with our farewell to the year that is about to end we also seem to say farewell to the short-lived realisation that the birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning of a huge miracle, the first event which changed the course of history for eternity.  Have we forgotten that the miracle continues during and well after each Christmas? I cannot understand the hype, the tension and the sheer hypocrisy of all things Christian round this time of year.  Is Jesus not still alive the rest of the time?   Perhaps if we all led lives which clearly manifest the presence of Jesus Christ within us right throughout the year, we would not feel the need to kick up such a fuss on the run up to Christmas. 

I want to live out the Christmas spirit every day of my life.  When the tree and the lights have been put away, I want to continue being a light in my community, I want to turn the power up, increase the intensity so that the world can see that Christ does not die with the end of Christmas, but can grow ever more powerful and more glorious in our lives if we let him in.  I want to produce fruit and have a thankful heart for each day the Lord has made.  I want to labour for the Kingdom from every sun rise til every sunset.  I want to honour the God I worship by being faithful with little, and not insult Him by getting caught up in the worldly frenzy that leads up to Christmas to then leave Him out of my every thought, my every decision, my every undertaking the rest of the year.  Each day is a glorious new opportunity to get to the fields, plan for a new harvest, nurture those in need with the love of Jesus and propitiate the growth of the seeds previously planted. 

Has 2009 been a shaky year for you too?  Perhaps God is trying to wake us up out of our slumber or misunderstood Christianity.  Perhaps He is allowing things to take place that will mold us into the right shape to face the much more fiery furnace that is yet to come.  For His word assures us that God will discipline those whom He loves, and that judgement begins in the House of God.  Without pain, there will be no growth.  Without the uncertainty about our own ability and self-sufficiency, the humbling process that is required for us to draw nearer to God cannot, will not take place.  I intend to embrace all the bad things that have happened to me and my family this year, because I know there is a purpose to it all.  Each trial has removed a layer of pride and idolatry in my life; each trial has ignited a stronger current in me to follow Christ’s lead with more determination, integrity and consistency than ever before.  Each blow has made me more aware of my own mortality and the miracle that each day that I have been given on this earth really is, and so as a result, from every adverse circumstance, I have been able to rise from the ashes with multiplied strength and a purer heart for the things of God.

As I sit here writing this post, I can hear the words in one of Selah’s song which say: “Bless the broken road that led me back to you”.  Do I wish that this past year was taken away from my memory and that I was granted the opportunity to relive it without all its trials, challenges and disappointments?  Absolutely not! It is no surprise that for Christians who draw nearer to God in their pursuits, their worship and purpose, they will also become a more visible target in the spiritual realm for the forces of darkness which try so hard to extinguish the light in this dark old world.   

In the midst of evaluating what has been the toughest of years yet, I am suddenly struck by what God has been able to do in me and through me this year.  Apart from Him I can do nothing, and so it is that in my most obvious weakness, His strength and power have shone.  I don’t know how my family and I could have gone through these past few months if it was not for the fact that Christ is at the center of our lives and we live each day knowing that every blessing comes from God alone and that it is by His grace that we were once lost and we have now been found; it is by His grace alone that we no longer live caught in the frenzy of living without really being alive, alive in the Spirit.   

Happy Christmas, blessed Jesus!

  

 

Bus with a view. How to turn darkness into light!

 

Last weekend my husband and I went to a Trade Fair in Paris.  We had a lovely time away without the children.  Don’t get me wrong.  We love our children more than life itself, but my husband and my marriage is as important to me as they are, and so having the opportunity to get away without them is something we cannot afford to miss out on.  God knows how hard the evil one works to come between a husband and a wife.  He will throw all sorts of distractions our way to take our eyes of each others’ needs, and he will allure us with all sorts of alternatives which we fool ourselves into believing are so much more important than nurturing that relationship. 

You may think I was taken to Paris under false pretenses of a romantic weekend away, and I then suddenly found myself walking round a Construction Fair in the middle of one of the most romantic cities in the world.  No, it wasn’t like that.  I was fully aware before setting off that the primary purpose of our trip was to get me more involved in my husband’s new business and to learn about the products.  However, one could not go to Paris and do just work and so on Friday night we walked round the streets of Paris hand in hand, full of excitement and experiencing that oneness that couples experience when they know that they have found that other half that makes them complete.  It took me back to the first night we went out together, and as we returned from a night out in London to the university campus, we realised once we came out of the underground station, that we had missed the university’s minibus, the only mode of transport which would take us back to the halls of residence.  We decided to walk the whole way through an absolutely beautiful wooded area which led from the village into the campus.  As we set off, snow started falling heavily and what initially seemed like a scary and daunting walk, something I would have never done under normal circumstances, turned into the most romantic 30 minutes of my life.  There was I with this guy I had fancied for weeks prior, holding hands, snow falling in the stillness of night, surrounded by the beautiful English countryside.  The darkness and fear suddenly turned into light and hope, and my heart felt so full I thought it was going to explode.  I will always cherish that memory and that is why I feel it is so important to grab every opportunity that comes our way to relive the romance and the magic that we experienced together that day.  Life goes by all too quickly and it is amazing how as parents we so easily forget that before the children came into the scene, we had a life together, a wow, a bond, a promise, a Godly connection. 

We spent the whole of Saturday at the Fair and after 8 hours of non-stop walking, except 20 minutes we took for lunch, I thought I could never get into my shoes again.  But amazingly, we went back to the hotel, rested for an hour, and then changed to go back out and become immersed in the Parisian scene again.  We had dinner in a lovely restaurant, and had an opportunity to unwind from the pressures of the day.

On the Sunday, the weather was not particularly great.  It was cold and it was raining on and off.  We both felt tired from the previous day and so we decided to jump on one of those double-decker tourist buses which give you a thorough tour of the city and offer the opportunity to get off at any of the stops in order to explore the sights further.  We had both been to Paris on other occasions, but neither of us had been on a sightseeing double-decker bus in Paris before.

God spoke into my heart loud and clear that weekend on two counts:

Firstly, he gave me a stern reminder of how instrumental the “Feed the Homeless” initiative has been and is to provide the right conditions for the healing of the needy and broken-hearted in our community.  If you want to read more about this initiative, go to my post entitled “It definitely does what it says on the tin”.  As we strolled round the streets of Paris, we were impacted to see a homeless person either sleeping or begging in every single street we set foot on, and believe me we got around quite a lot.  I have travelled round the world a fair amount  and seldom have I seen such a stark contrast in a society between the wealth and lack of it of its members.  I felt like I had just jumped into a time machine and been transported to the streets of London during the times portrayed in one of Charles Dickens’ books.  In fact, it felt more like all the homeless and the beggars had been transported from 18th century England to the year 2009 in Paris.  It was a surreal scene, like something out of Michael Jackson’s ”Thriller” video, where the homeless are coming towards people who are in the street, and people walk straight past them without giving them a second glance as if they were completely invisible.  I suppose that is because to the majority of us who live comfortable lives, they are indeed invisible.  And as I picture that, I am reminded of the scripture in Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus tells us about the Final Judgement.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. 

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.  Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.   For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.  They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?  He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.  Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

Seeing all that need and all that opulence in the same city allowed me to have the confirmation in my heart that if it wasn’t for the sacrificial and selfless service that some individuals give at the Salvation Army, to name but one of the many organisations that dedicate themselves to this charitable work,  our streets would be full of the painful reminders of how unevenly wealth is distributed around the world, and of how inhumanely many of us can behave when we assume that these people are only enduring what they have brought upon themselves.  How foolish and arrogant are those who blinded by their pride believe they have earned the blessings they enjoy; their hearts are hearts of stone and only by the grace of God will they receive a new heart of flesh, a new revelation of man’s standing in relation to God, who thought us into existence. 

The second realisation that God imprinted on my heart last weekend took place during our tour round the city of Paris on board the double-decker bus.   It was absolutely freezing and being my weak self, I insisted to my husband that we should sit on the lower deck, warm and under cover.  One of the many qualities I love about my husband is that he knows how to live life to the full, but at the same time he will abandon everything at the drop of a hat in order to come to the rescue of someone who needs his help.  There are so many things I would have not experienced in life, had it not been for his zest for life and his fearless attitude towards the unknown.  In this instance, I was only being challenged out of my comfort zone to travel on the upper deck of a bus exposed to the elements and to a potentially very uncomfortable ride, and yet before even contemplating the options, in my heart I had already given up.  BUT, and this is one of the reasons why I refer to my husband as a Godly connection, my husband filled me with the strength, encouragement, vision and perseverance which I lacked at that very moment.  Within seconds of putting by backside on a lower deck seat, I had been persuaded to go to the upper deck.  Of course the front seats which have cover had already been taken, and so we sat further back where it felt like the temperature had dropped by 10 degrees due to the wind, and every time the bus stopped we were going to be propelled forward into a building to never be seen again.

Despite all of that, God broke into my self-pity party and helped me to see once more the world through His eyes.  Sitting in the lower deck was uninspiring, dark and quite frankly not worth paying to get on that bus in the first place, but suffering all the elements was so worth it, as suddenly the beautiful city of Paris began to reveal itself as this wonderful myriad of amazing architecture, bags of history and atmosphere.  It was a sublime sight and one I would have missed had I remained down below.  God spoke to me at that moment and I could hear Him say:  If only my people looked up more often; if only they risked a little, they would gain so very much; if only they lifted their mind out of the daily trials and challenges that drown their hope and saw themselves and their journey the way I see it, from a Finishing Line perspective; if only they could take their eyes of what they are lacking and got a good long look at The One who intercedes to the Creator of the Universe on their behalf; if only they could silence in their soul the “what ifs” and replaced them with “If God is for me, who can be against me?”; if only they could really trust me and they sacrificed their comfort for a life of wonder, awe, light and revelation; if only they could pick up their own cross, sacrifice a little at a time, and followed me to the upper deck of God’s glory, infinite love and wisdom.

 

Learning to live as God intended us to live

DO YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP? WATCH, LEARN AND BE INSPIRED!

The content of this video challenges me a great deal!

Do you think I feel sorry for this person?  Quite frankly when I watch that video, I feel sorry for myself, because that guy is doing the most with what God has given him.  He is not wallowing in self-pity and worrying about what he lacks, but instead, he is picking himself up, drawing strength from God and using ALL he has to bless others.  What is Christianity? THAT IS.  What have we made it into?  Everything except that.   Is that why so many do not have the time for church and what Christians have to say?  Quite likely.

Do you want to know what faith that moves mountains is? It is the power of God which dwells within this man and many other, and which supernaturally allows him to see himself not as the world sees him: disabled, dependant, needy, desperate, inferior, pitiful, BUT AS GOD, his creator and Father, created Him to be: a fighter, a warrior, an apostle, victorious, strong as an ox, determined, unbreakable, a far superior being than any of us, the apple of God’s eye, destined to conquer in battle and to receive a glorious crown and eternal joy when he goes to meet His Father. 

Why is he happy?  Because he is living out God’s vision for His life.  Why does he come across as complete when in the world’s eyes he is lacking so very much? Because he is walking into the life which God gave him with acceptance, joy, faith and a clear sense of purpose.  He is maximizing the power of what God has blessed him with and using it to bring praise and glory to God.  He is walking by faith and not by sight and when we do that, our heart and soul line up with the heart and spirit of God with such symmetry and harmony that we become partakers of what God is; we begin to see our life and the world through God’s eyes.  When that happens, there is peace within and nothing to fear.

IT DEFINITELY DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN – PART 3

Continued from Part 2 in previous post

And so, armed with the confidence that God had placed a similar burden amongst other members of our house group, I decided to get in touch again with that same lady a few months after our initial meeting, and enquire of her whether she knew of any other community initiative where she felt we could serve as a group.  I specifically mentioned the idea of putting together some food parcels on a regular basis which could be handed out to the needy.

When I read her reply, every bone in my body felt the peace of knowing that right at that very moment my life and its course lined up with God’s will.  It is not something I often have absolute conviction of, but at that very point, I just knew only God could have brought us two together in such a timely manner.  This is an extract of her reply to my email:

“It is good to hear that you have a strong home group, not only for you and its other members but with a real heart for mission.  I think your idea of putting a box of provisions together is great.  I am, as it happens, due to meet a local organisation this Friday to discuss its plans to help the homeless in Guildford through the winter months – as you say, God often connects people for a purpose, and the timing of your email is perfect!  So I will try to find out from the people there what opportunities there might be for your idea to take shape and an appropriate link person.  I’ll let you know what I can find out for you.”

Eureka!  A door was finally opening, a vision which had long ago been planted in a few hearts was beginning to take shape, and in my heart I had a tremendous peace knowing that this had birthed as a result of solitude in God’s presence, fellowship and individual as well as group prayer; it had nothing to do with the limiting and constraining influence of a leader or leaders within our church, but all to do with intently seeking God’s lead through a personal relationship with Him, a relationship with no hackers trying to steal the dream away or with well meant chaperones trying to reap what they had not sown.

Two days later, this lady had already met with representatives from all the major providers of services to the homeless in that town.  In other words, of all the people I could have possibly got in touch with to bring to fruition the vision that God had planted in our hearts, this was THE ONE, the best connected person who could establish the bridge between us and the homeless and needy whom we wanted to help.  During that meeting, she mentioned our group to the representatives of the different charitable organisations, and how we were interested to start helping the homeless, and as a result she put me in touch with two different organisations dedicated precisely to that.  Having discussed it with the group, we chose to go with one of the two:  The Salvation Army. 

To learn about their excellent track record and broken heart for the needy go to:

 http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-sublinks/3E95CEC593B614B680256FC0005A3951?openDocument

I got in touch with the Commanding Officer at the Salvation Army and he was delighted that we had volunteered to help.  He explained how during Harvest time, people are quite generous, but then outside of that time, people tend to forget that the need is still there.  He also told me that they had no funding at all to purchase any food for the homeless and so they fully relied on people’s donations.  Needless to say that for us this was yet another confirmation that we were in the right place at the right time.  As a group we agreed on the date of our first donation of food to be taken to the Salvation Army, and we were so inspired and excited to see a dormant vision come to life in such smooth and timely manner.  It was not long before we realised that if we were going to really have an impact on contributing to the selfless work that the Salvation Army were carrying out by dealing first hand with homeless people, single parents, victims of abuse and addiction, etc, we really needed to become more ambitious in our vision and to pluck up the courage to approach others and inspire them with the desire that God had placed in us.

Weeks after our initial delivery of food to the Salvation Army, I approached other Bible Study Groups at our church and invited them to come on board our initiative.  An advertisement also went into our church bulletin, and so before long, 6 more groups and various individuals started donating food parcels on a regular basis.   It is difficult to describe how I felt at the time, other than by saying that I really felt like I had finally found that elusive pair of shoes I had dreamt of, which fitted me perfectly, effortlessly.  Again, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and not a sense of guilt or of failure because you are not meeting the expectations everybody else has for you and the ministry you should or shouldn’t be doing.  A few months later I felt the call to involve our children’s primary school.  I produced nearly 400 flyers inviting parents and school staff to join the initiative and donate food.  Seven families joined the initiative.  One might think that out of over 200 families at the school, seven is not that great, but each family meant one more person fed. and so to me taking that leap of faith and asking parents at the school, people who in their majority do not necessarily have faith or are “practising” Christians, meant I could end up getting a lot of stick for putting the suggestion to them, and so I saw each family who joined as a massive blessing to the initiative who in turned would be greatly blessed by their compassion and generosity, and to date I believe that has been their experience.

A few more weeks went by and I decided to write a little article based on the flyer I had produced, and have it published in our Parish Magazine which is distributed to over 2,000 houses in the area.  That did not get much response and so I decided that I should deliver the flyers individually to each house instead.  I started printing dozens of them and walking round the village distributing the flyers.  Soon I started getting phone calls each week with people who congratulated us on the initiative and who felt it was a fantastic thing to do but they just needed the prompt from someone else to begin to make a difference themselves.  I was so excited by how this whole thing was starting to touch the hearts of people I had not even met before.  Complete strangers coming to our house and humbly leaving bags of food on our doorstep.  I was so encouraged I decided to use the momentum and invited 12 members of our church who all live in different streets round the village to deliver flyers on my behalf, as I knew it was a gigantic task for me to cover the whole village on my own and I also felt God telling me that this would open up many doors for others to serve in a similar way and to give back of the love and innumerable blessings they themselves had received in the first place.

These twelve friends delivered over 600 flyers and so the phone calls kept coming and the number of bags left on our doorstep kept increasing.   The Church Leadership begun to recognise the initiative as a worthy effort which deserved endorsing and encouraging, and so a member of the Salvation Army was invited to come to our Harvest Service and to take away with them the donations that members of our congregation brought to the service that day.  It was a delight to see the lady from the Salvation Army loading her car to the roof tops with bags and bags of food.  She spoke to the congregation and shared that their Food Crisis Center had not long been running, probably just a few months before our initiative began, and yet they had gone from an average of 4 people attending the Center during the Food Crisis days to 40 individuals.  Days after that my husband and I hosted a meeting at our house with two members of our church leadership who were beginning to buy into the vision and also with the Commanding Officer at the Salvation Army and a lady volunteer whose testimonies that day left us all speechless and broken, but also so passionate and zealous to see the initiative progress.

This lady told us of the perils that many of these people who attend the Food Crisis Center have to endure.  She spoke of a lady who used to be abused by her father as a child and who then after the trauma of all those years, witnessed her own dad committing suicide.  This sent her over the edge and she began to take heroine, which meant she soon found herself living in the street.  But the story does not end there.  We also heard of the wonderful transformation that this lady went through as a result of the love, care and attention that she received at the Drop in Center and how she went from rudely demanding her food parcel on that first day to lovingly greeting all the volunteers and developing relationships with some of the regulars.  I get upset when I mention the initiative to some and their reply is:  “Well, I think that what you are doing is great, but I have no sympathy for those people”  which is actually a contradictory statement, but apart from that, the one thing this lady insisted on was that the vast majority of people they dealt with found themselves in awful circumstances through no fault of their own but as a direct consequence of the evil that someone else had forced upon their life.

The most encouraging message we heard that day was that as a direct result of the increase in food supplies, more people were visiting the center.  This in turn meant that there was more opportunity for relationships to develop amongst the homeless but also between the homeless and the volunteers at the Salvation Army.  I must take this opportunity to express that I am in absolute awe of the work and service that these volunteers do for the needy.  They have to put up with rudeness, hurt, lashing out, violence at times, addictions, pain and the worst of human traits which come to the surface as a result of their brokenness, and yet they will patiently accept these people where they are at with a heart of love and compassion which oozes Christ-likeness.  That kind of faith in action blows me away and it also challenges me daily.

God has also opened another significant door through the initiative for people to actually serve hands on at the Food Crisis Center and to engage with the needy on a more personal level.  This is a much more challenging commitment than giving food once a month, and so only those who feel truly called by the Lord to give of themselves in this way should undertake this, otherwise the consequences may be disastrous.  But the opportunity is now there for those with the right heart and the right gifts to go that much deeper in their faith and their commitment to Christ’s undeniable heart for the broken and the needy, for the orphans and the widows, for the poor in spirit and in body.  Opportunities are constantly arising through the people who are joining the initiative and the wonder of it and where I see God’s will and heart all over it, is that those who have now become part of the initiative are starting to come up with new ventures of their own to put to good use their own spiritual gifts, talents,  energy and time.  There is no limit to what God can bring to pass when we obey his call and abide by his principles.   And I have no doubt that a year from now things will look somewhat different from when we first captured the vision that God revealed to us as a group.  It is wonderful to witness believers and unbelievers alike coming together and sharing in the vision to nurture those in our community who are not as privileged and blessed as many of us are.   It is refreshing to see that something which birthed from Christian faith is not causing division and strive as religion has done all over the world for centuries past, but bringing members of a community together, developing relationships and friendships amongst people that perhaps would not have considered doing so under normal circumstances.

We have a couple more ideas in the pipeline, so watch this space! 

I thank the Lord for every bag of food and for every person whose heart has been stirred to join this initiative, but most of all I thank Jesus Christ for putting me in contact with the amazing individuals who have inspired me and challenged me to the extent of no longer being content with spiritually remaining where I was at, and of fully trusting that when God places a desire in your heart, He will not let your spirit rest until it comes to pass, and He will not abandon you to fend for yourself, but He will equip you with everything you need for that particular journey.  PRAISE GOD FOR HE IS FAITHFUL AND HIS PROMISES ARE TRUE (and in case you are still wondering the reason for the title of this very lengthy post, that is it: HIS PROMISES ARE TRUE!)

IT DEFINITELY DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!! PART 2

Continued from Part 1, which you can find in the post written before the last two.

I would like to dedicate this post to my dear friend Bonnie. 

It was around last February when our lives took a turn for the worst as my husband lost his job as a result of lying tongues, hearts that devised wicked schemes, false witnesses who poured out lies and men who stirred up dissension among brothers. Within the space of 24 hours our lives were truly turned upside down, and both my husband and I felt like two people who had been thrown into the sea during  a stormy night of ferocious waves and strong winds. 

Soon after we received the bad news, God placed Bonnie in our path, together with another person to whom I will dedicate another post in the near future.  I got to know Bonnie through my blog and by reading hers.  God brought together two people as only God could do and in His perfect timing.  Ever since that first email we exchanged, we have been writing to each other regularly, and I dare to say we know quite a lot about each other, although we have never met.  During this last year, Bonnie has been our “guardian angel”, for not only has she given us prophetic words, encouragement and prayer, but in the middle of her own battle against breast cancer, she has never failed to answer our cry and share Christ’s love and compassion with us.  Now, that is what I recognise as selfless Christ-like love.  Anything else is just empty words and vain attempts to ensure other people’s love and approval.

Bonnie, this one is for you

PART 2

As I mentioned in Part 1 (two posts ago) of this post, for the last two years I had been feeling an increasing burden to stretch out my faith, to act out that faith, to impact with the Spirit of God and the love of Christ the lives of all those who, for whatever the reason, will never make it through the church doors.  Most churches today seek to bring more and more people in, when in reality we are called to be apostles, the “sent ones”; we are called to step out of our convenience and to reach the needy where they are at, both physically and spiritually.

There has always been something in me which has reacted to anyone in our church attempting to recruit me as a “leader” or place me in a prominent role where there is always the temptation to lord it over the rest and to rein in the freedom that the spirit of the Lord brings into people’s lives to put into good use the gifts and resources which God has blessed them with in the first place.  I have always shied away from becoming involved in those ministries or church environments which are understood or seen to be the most worthy of note or recognition.  There is something in my spirit which strongly reacts to the notion that members of a congregation are to follow without questioning the prompts, agendas, or vision of one or a team of so-called “leaders” within a church.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and any form of blind submission even if it is to those who are acting in the best interest of a church, quenches that freedom and ability for every single person to go out and become an intricate and essential part of the harvest.  “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” Jesus said, so when I sense the jaws of a controlling spirit fast approaching, warning lights start flashing in my spirit and I run back freely to the streams of LIVING water.

Because of my reluctance to become part of the church leadership and to elevate what they do above the service of any other Christian, I have often been accused of being overcome by the fear to step out and take on a leadership role within a ministry, when in reality, I was fighting the temptation to succumb to man’s fleshly nature which will often drive us to do things in order to be admired, praised, recognised and accepted by others.  There is a huge price to be paid when you refuse to become an intricate part of the machinery that keeps a local church ticking:  you become ostracized and alienated from the “accepted” majority, the very things that we are called to be known for not doing, but hey,  if Christ thought we were worth that sacrifice, I am prepared to pay that price too.  Over the years I have witnessed so many follow another person’s lead and counsel to go into ministries which they were not equipped or called by God to get involved in.  The results can be disastrous for the workings of the Body of Christ: burnout, a sense of failure, guilt, bondage and ultimately, the inability to embark in all the wonderful things that God has in store for us.

With all that in mind, I have always remained in the fringes of our church, praying and waiting for God to reveal His will for my life, and because of that detachment, I have been able to come to understand the gifts and abilities which the Lord has bestowed on me; the vision the Lord, and not another human being, has for my life.   And so, I started seeking, searching, praying about ways in which the Lord could use me to actually impact our community for HIS glory, but without having to conform to the rules and regulations of the church structure.  Often in our church and I am sure in hundreds of others too, people hear the Lord place a specific burden upon their heart and they will put it to their “church leadership” only to have that Spirit crushed against a ceiling of opposition, objections and ultimately, the wish to control, which extinguishes the raw faith that blindly relies for provision and deliverance on God ALONE.

The Holy Spirit is often portrayed as a dove, and true to that comparison, it will often nudge us gently by giving us prompts and bringing into our life opportunities to serve.  “Seek and you shall find” constantly echoed in my heart, and one day I came to hear simultaneously from two different sources about a local community initiative called Street Angels, which caught my imagination.  I chose not to run it by my local church leadership, but to seek from the Lord whether this was an initiative in which I could be of any use.    In my heart I knew this was the case, but often we will only get confirmation that we are on the right track, when we take that leap of faith and pursue the desire that the Lord of the Harvest has put into our heart in the first place.  I googled the name of this initiative and I was able to find a contact number for the lady who together with her husband gave birth to the local branch of this wonderful Christian Initiative called Street Angels:

http://www.gtcc.org.uk/StreetAngels.aspx.  

I made the call and arranged for this lady to come to my house and tell me more in detail about the nature of the work and the vision that her and her husband had for their local community.  The moment we met and she shared of what they did, I knew instantly that I was living a moment which God himself had ordained in my life with precision and a purpose.  It felt right, it felt natural and it felt exciting.  Whilst during our chat I realised that becoming part of that particular initiative would not be possible due to the hours involved, she gave me the inspiration and the encouragement that I so needed to continue to pursue the desire that God had placed in my heart. I knew at that point that giving up was not an option and I also knew that having met that lady was an essential piece of the jigsaw in my journey of discovery of God’s vision for my life.  Interestingly, now that I had no doubt that God was in this, I decided to share with two members of our church leadership how I felt God was leading me to the beginning of something exciting; something that would stretch me and others way beyond the comfort of the four walls of our church, but just as I feared, one of them tried to box me into a specific ministry within that initiative, which I did not feel at all called to pursue, and even went as far as mentioning to the lady in question about me and how he thought my gifts would fit into their initiative, and the other one expressed how though he strongly had felt called himself to lead our church into  putting our faith into action, he candidly told me that I should apply my efforts to our very own immediate community first with a view to eventually adding more numbers to our church membership list.  Please note that the initiative is based in a town only a few miles away from our village.  If that is not man’s kingdom building, I do not know what is.  Red lights began flashing after that and I decided to steer clear of both these people’s influence and counsel about my spiritual journey.

I did not get in touch again with the lady in charge of this initiative until about 6 months later when I received the next nudge from the Holy Spirit to continue looking for that next door which once opened would lead me into the next stage of my calling.   Our Monday evening Bible Study group was by now in full swing and God was beginning to put a similar burden in the hearts of many in our house group.  There was a general consensus that we were all too busy doing church but failing to actually be the church, and so to me that was the final push to get the ball rolling onto the path of “Faith in Action” .  All members of our group agreed that none of the stuff we were learning and discussing every Monday evening meant anything, unless we were prepared to put that knowledge into practice and our full trust in God to guide us into doing something of any significance and impact on the kingdom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to be continued in Part 3

THE DAY WHEN THE MONSTER OF IDOLATRY WILL REVEAL ITS UGLY FACE

A dear friend left the comment below on my last post.  I would like to use this new post today to reply to her comment, but before you read it, I would urge you to watch the video I published on that last post so that you can understand where we are coming from.

She wrote:

It’s interesting you would write this.  I believe the Lord is truly at work in His church to be the church and not just go to church or “do church”.  I know He’s up to something good in the body of Christ if we would only listen and cooperate with what He desires to do through us.  Just last month, God dealt with me and laid it on my heart to sponsor a child through another organization, and although I just recently started writing and praying for this child, it is such a blessing to do so.  This is not something I ever dreamed or thought of doing, but God placed  this little boy on my heart, and I couldn’t say no, and at that moment I was determined to do it.

The video is very touching, and maybe some day I’ll be able to meet the child I’m sponsoring.  I don’t know, but for all I know, the Lord may be working in me to sponsor yet another precious child, and if that’s what He wants, then I know He will provide.  Poverty may seem so overwhelming to us, and we may think “what can I possibly do” but I believe God is showing me that even one person CAN make a difference.

May the Lord Jesus help us not to be complacent or take for granted what we have been given that others do not have.  Has not God blessed us to be a blessing?  The Lord has challenged me lately with this statement…

“If ALL my earthly possessions were removed, would Jesus be enough?”

I replied:

I couldn’t agree more.  People often ask why is there suffering in the world?  Why does God allow for so many to suffer so much?  I certainly do not have the answer to that question, but I do understand why he allows suffering and trials in my own life.  Without them I would not have God in my life today, so as painful as they are, I rejoice in the fact that by his grace HE FOUND ME in the midst of my indifference and selfishness.

I cannot explain why a loving God allows for such tragedies to take place in our world, and so I often try to turn that question around and ask myself: Why is it that I am on this side of the world, with so much, so many blessings which I have done nothing to earn or deserve?  How am I different to the poor child who is dying of starvation in Africa or to the child who out of basic needs is driven to prostitution in Brazil? The answer always comes back loud and clear:  I am no different to any of God’s other children, but it is through his grace and mercy that I live where I live and that I have the blessings that I have, and so when that realisation really sinks in, I feel ashamed, remorseful and then compelled to share of what I have.  To keep all our blessings to ourselves would be a travesty, a serious offence against humanity and worse still an abomination to our Lord who gave it all so that we could live with our Heavenly Father in eternity. 

You are absolutely right, if the day comes when all Christians, churches, ministries and pastors are stripped away of all their resources and financial support, will they then still be able to fulfill their purpose solely through their faith and love of Jesus?  Will their zeal to spread the gospel and to touch others’ lives be so on fire, so driven or will the house that was built on sand (money, glory, self-edification, others’ approval and praise, men’s own agendas) collapse and be washed away by the current  of culture, lack of faith and rampant evil in our world?   Will it drown by the weight of submission and surrender to the pressure to conform to the wishes and convictions of the vast majority?

And despite the simplicity and clarity of this revelation, Christian leaders, of all people, continue to invest millions in buildings, programs and more infrastructure to ensure the preservation of their roles within the system, instead of using ALL of God’s financial resources to rescue the orphans and the widows, the poor and the hungry.  Yes, wealthy people need the love of Jesus too and they need to hear the gospel, but as Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  In other words, so long as we continue to cling to material wealth, we will be unable to understand God’s heart.  You can talk to a wealthy person about sharing until you are blue in the face, but so long as that person’s wealth remains, you will be engaging in a really up-hill struggle.  Money and possessions become an impenetrable wall between Jesus and people.  Sometimes it will take God’s mercy and grace to bring judgement upon his people and break down that wall, withdraw that security AND THEN, AND ONLY THEN, you acquire a new heart, new eyes, a new understanding, a revelation of the need that is drowning so many in despair; ONLY THEN, will your heart be torn and turned from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.

The day is coming when God will strip His Church away of all that is not of Him, of all that has been built by the hand and hearts of men and not by the Spirit.  A day will come when the layers of The Church as it stands today will be peeled off and the ugly face of pride, apostasy, idolatry and disobedience will finally appear for everyone to see.  On that day, it is only those whose heart has been broken by the things that break the Lord’s heart, who will stand; it is only those who will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who LOVE HIM ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND LOVE EACH OTHER AS THEMSELVES.
   

Can we fight world poverty? YES, here is a start

I will soon be writing the second part of my post entitled “It definitely does what it says on the tin”, but I just wanted to draw your attention to a very moving video I found today.

Do you ever wonder whether it is possible to wipe out world poverty? Well, Jesus did say that the poor we will always have with us, but he also commanded his followers to look after the orphans and the widows, to feed the poor, and so I invite you to watch this video and grasp the vision that although it may not be possible to erase all poverty in the world, we can certainly have a good shot at it. Compassion is an organisation which has been dedicated to this very crusade for years now and is doing a wonderful job of establishing relationships between those who want to help and those who need that help.

When we touch a life by financially supporting it, we are doing so much more than just giving away of our money. We create a domino effect which becomes unstoppable because the heart of God is at the center of it. As we help one life to overcome the claws of poverty and neglect, that life becomes empowered and inspired to in turn touch in equal measure the lives of those who find themselves in a similar predicament to that of that very person. The miracle that takes place is such, the evidence of a life redeemed from the pit is so clear that the person’s testimony becomes the catalyst for change in that family, that village, that community, that city and eventually even a country. I believe that it is possible. I believe that God is more than able, if only we were willing.

Do you want to change the world or at least contribute to making it a better place? It takes more than just wanting, it takes putting our words into action, and so I invite you today to begin a new domino effect in the world by sharing of what you have with those who have nothing. When we leave this world, we leave it and everything in it, but the domino effect triggered by your compassion and generosity will continue to take its course long after you are gone. Wouldn’t you like to leave something behind that amounts to more than just your family, friends and possessions?

If you have been touched by this video and would like what you saw to become a reality in your own life, click on the link below and become a child sponsor, get that first domino into motion.

www.compassion.com

IT DEFINITELY DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!! – PART 1

THE PROMISE THAT WILL DELIVER!!

 

It is one thing to hear someone else speak of God moving in their midst, making things happen as if by chance at the very moment when His intervention made the crucial difference between success and failure.  It is quite another to experience God’s power and intervention first hand, right in front of one’s own eyes; to be the witness of a chain of events unfold with such precision, perfect timing and intelligent design.  It is an incomparable emotion when you start seeing the evidence of a vision becoming a reality, a dream becoming the here and now, a hope  no longer deferred.

For the last two years or so now something has been stirring up in me to do something out of the ordinary, to embark on something so much bigger than my immediate reality, to push the boundaries and to aim higher, to soar with the eagles and to get a glimpse of how the term “goals and objectives”  translates in God’s kingdom.  I am tired of being counted as yet another Christian who understands church solely as an organisation which is constantly racking its brains to come up with fancy and appealing ways to ensure self-preservation and self-enhancement; and organisation where membership growth is perceived as the ultimate goal and where individuals are seen soon after the initial welcome and polite introductions as workers with the potential to increase the numbers.  I am tired of belonging to a collective of people who are just content with professing their faith in God and Jesus Christ but who will go out of their way to avoid any contact with the very kind of people who Jesus loved and dedicated his life and ministry to.  I am tired of dreaming small or even not dreaming at all; I am tired of being part of a body which is constantly shouting about God’s power to redeem and restore but will not venture out into their community to see that awesome power into action.  How easy it is to be sure of our faith and our convictions when nothing inside the four walls is challenging us to trust beyond our own abilities and truly walk by faith. 

The world shouts out: HYPOCRITES! And who can blame them?  Even the very Church leadership many Christians revere and submit to is scared to walk away from religious lies and well-established hierarchical models because by doing so they will be questioning the integrity and validity of the very hand that feeds them and their families.  But then they will have the audacity to preach to everyone else about trusting the Lord for provision and deliverance.   I think there will be many of us on judgement day who will fall flat on our faces with shame when we see clear as crystal the millions of pounds/dollars which went to feed the expensive lifestyles of the very ones who were called to lead by the example of a frugal life; the millions which went to adorn churches and ministries, programs and agendas when the majority of it should have gone to mission, to alter the lives of the very ones we claim to love and to want to reach.  How will we justify that most of our churches only gave 10-20% of its funds to mission, be it local or international, because much of it went to finance a gym membership, endless conferences and spiritual retreats, private medical care or private school fees?  It is not the unbelievers who will feel shame and remorse, but those of us who supposedly follow Christ and who should know better than to short-change the very people who we were called and chosen to help.

A great shaking has been taking place for a while now inside the walls of The Church.  Judgement does begin in the house of the Lord, and many like myself are no longer able to continue living the lie that churches are having a major impact in touching the lives of those around us who are desperately seeking God although they do not know it.  Yes, much of the work churches do is wonderful and yes God knows there are many churches who are not after the big numbers and puffing up their own kingdoms, but reaching the lost, feeding the poor, healing the sick, loving the unlovely is all we have been called to.  Why is it then that 80% of what a church and its members invest their time, money and effort in is to do with the church itself and ITS VISION (often the vision of a fair few who run the show), and the very small percentage left goes to the one thing which matters most?  Our calling is to serve GOD AND NOT THE CHURCH ITSELF; our call is to touch the lives of others with the love of Christ which should flow through us if we are truly HIS.  Why are there not more Christians deployed into our communities using their gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and restore, to love and to nurture?  May it be because the majority are caught up in following the vision of one leader and not following God’s will instead? 

Did not the Apostle Paul clearly state the different gifts and roles that God gave to his church?

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Why then have we allowed for pastors and teachers to have all authority over churches?  Won’t the spiritual anointing and gifts of many fall into atrophy if only the pastors, teachers and/or evangelists exercise their spiritual muscles over the rest?  What about the prophets?  What about the apostles?  What about the saints?  And have we not misunderstood scripture when we interpret the works of service to mean any activity, money or ministry which serves to perpetuate the well-being of a local church as an entity, and not so much the well being, spiritual and physical of its members and specially of those outside the church walls?

James, Jesus’ brother gets to the bottom of what I am trying to get at in the following passage: James, 1, 27:

Religion that God our Father accepts as PURE and FAULTLESS is this: TO LOOK AFTER ORPHANS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR DISTRESS AND TO KEEP ONESELF FROM BEING POLLUTED BY THE WORLD.

In the first century orphans and widows had very little means of economic support.  So in God’ eyes, His people were called to put God’s commands into practice.  How else can we be told apart from the rest of the world, if not by doing the very things that truly show a servant’s heart because they are done unconditionally, not to woo people into joining our congregations, not to give people a false sense of security so that so long as their money is on the plate, we act as the loving shepherd, but if for any reason the money ceases to come in, the shepherd becomes the wolf.  These things must be done out of an overflowing spirit of love which cannot be contained within and is crying out to restore the broken-hearted and forgotten souls in our communities.

Despite the fact that many church leaders publicly admit that their role is to equip the saints for service, the churches they run are all about their vision, their sermons, their authority.  Whilst I am not questioning they have been chosen by God to have such spiritual authority, has God not anointed with the same authority and in equal measure His prophets, His apostles, His teachers, His evangelist and ultimately all His saints?  What are we doing but drowning the spirit of God that is crying to display its power in our communities through every single vessel who has already accepted Christ as Lord and is therefore a partaker in His power, gifts and ability to touch, if not transform, the lives of those who are at rock bottom and who are ripe to accept God into their lives?

I often wonder about the scripture in Matthew 9, 35-38:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  WHEN HE SAW THE CROWDS, HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE HARASSED AND HELPLESS, LIKE SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD.  The he said to his disciples, ” The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to SEND OUT workers into his harvest field.”

Again, why have we misinterpreted such a clear message?  When Jesus spoke of the workers being few, he did not mean people serving on a Sunday morning putting out the chairs for the congregation, making coffee for people after the service or even spending hours organising art and craft for the children, as good as all these things are.  We have to be honest with ourselves and our calling and ask:  Are these things absolutely paramount for a successful  harvest, for a glorious kingdom?  Do you suspect like me that we will look back one glorious day and realise that much of the harvest rotted in hell, because we fooled ourselves into believing that putting out a chair was as essential to the kingdom as actually seeking out to find the harassed and helpless sheep who is hiding in a corner frightened to death of its peril and waiting anxiously to be found?  Will the church of Jesus Christ stop meeting because only one person instead of 4 put chairs out?  Will our children walk away from the faith because they did not attend Sunday school? Will a person feel less loved or touched by the Spirit on a Sunday because coffee was not offered to them after the service?  If we had kept our services simple and if our heart was truly for the lost and for exalting and bringing glory to God rather than our own achievements, then we would not need to try and embellish what we are trying to achieve by creating unnecessary activities and responsibilities which send us off course; which deviate us from the true harvest that is crying out to be found and welcome into the kingdom.  As good and well meant as Sunday school is for children, many of us parents will often use it as a masquerade to pass on the bucket of our responsibility as Christian parents to bring up our children in the love of God and others, in the faith in Jesus Christ.  God knows that is one area where I often feel tempted to throw the towel in and expect someone else to do the hard work, but our children are the hope of the future, our first port of call and if we cannot be bothered with and for them, why do we spend so much time trying to keep everybody else in our local churches content and satisfied with the Sunday service? Who are we trying to fool?  God certainly sees through all our fleshly attempts.  We look at appearances; we are content with just how things look from the outside to outsiders.  God, however, only sees the heart and will judge us accordingly.

Can we for once and for all begin to see the hypocrisy inherent in all these things; the lack of integrity; the hollowness; the fleshliness which utterly lacks the power to inspire those outside the church walls, and sadly many within too?

to be continued in Part 2

 

 

A GLIMPSE OF WHAT LIES BEYOND

It is a beautiful autumnal day here in the South of England and my peace has been threatened by some family issues back in Spain which are causing disagreement, friction, harsh words, pride and all the other “maladies” which abound where the Spirit of the Lord is not present.  My emotions were reaching boiling point, and so I stopped what I was doing, and decided to do what I always do when I feel like I am gasping for air and my heart is being crushed.  I stepped into my kitchen and played a song, a beautiful song which inspires me and takes me to a different place, a place where there is no striving, no hurt, no evil, but peace, joy, love and hope.  When I get that glimpse of what lies beyond my immediate reality, no hurt, pain or worry can touch me anymore, because my armour is back on.

May I invite you to listen to this song and fill your heart with all the good things our Lord Jesus Christ died to give us?  And if you are not a believer, please humour me, listen to it with your eyes closed and share with me what you see.

One day eyes that are blind will see you clearly
And one day all who deny will finally believe
One day hearts made of stone will break in pieces
And one day chains once unbroken will fall down at your feet
So we wait for that one day come quickly

Chorus
We want to see your Glory
Every knee falls down before thee
Every tongue offers you praise
With every hand raised
Singing Glory
To you and unto you only
We’ll sing Glory to Your name

One day voices that lie will all be silent
One day all that’s divided will be whole again
One day death will retreat and wave it’s white flag
One day love will defeat the strongest enemy
So we wait for that one day come quickly

Chorus

We know not the day or the hour
Or the moments in between
But we know the end of the story
When we’ll see

Chorus