Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The world is full of questions…
Some are real serious. Maybe you have some right now?
Others are a little less serious.
Let’s start with some of those...

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
Source Unknown

Maybe you have some questions about your life?
What to do next? What is going to happen?

Something that I hope will give you some comfort is that God knows your questions. And he can answer every one of them.
The Bible talks about God knowing our thoughts.
That his ear to turned towards us.
That the steps of a righteous person are sorted by God.
That he wants to speak to us.

This week, if you have questions that need answering…
Take to them God.
And see what he might say to you.

Something to think about...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Did you know that one of the best things about you is whatever is your greatest weakness?

Now that I have your attention please let me explain?

I think one of the things we get wrong about faith in Jesus is that many think it is a ticket to utopia.
A ‘divine’ opportunity to escape trouble.
A ‘divine’ opportunity to gain resource.
A ‘divine’ opportunity to true happiness.
While some of that is true. It is not the whole truth.

Paul wrote these profound words…
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Your relationship with God isn’t all about wholeness.
It is all about wholiness.
It is keeping your eyes on him no matter what.
It is saying to whatever bothers you or you holds you back…“all I want to focus on is Jesus”

Faith is completely wrapped up for me in Trust.
You can’t have faith without trust.
Faith is trusting that God is true and the devil is a liar.
It is knowing that God will strengthen you where you are weak so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

May this week be for you a week where you determine in your own heart to trust God completely.
Know he is on your side. That he will give you the strength you know, and he knows, that you need...

Something to think about...

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I guess one of the things painfully obvious about this whole ‘love dare’ thing is that marriage can be like a parabola.
Maybe you ignored this maths lesson at school...but essentially it is a bell curve. Where you start on the left travelling right up and up till you reach a pinnacle and then curve back down again.



What I am trying to say, is marriages and relationships can seem to be on one of these many times.

You get to know someone, fall in love...it just keeps getting better and better to the point you don’t know where the top of your parabola is.
And just as subtly it heads back down the other direction.

We seem to only notice something is wrong when we are hitting the bottom.
Like when we are near the level we first started.

I think many Christians find the same thing happening with their relationship with God.
It grows and grows as you get more and more hungry to learn and develop.
Then you get comfortable.
Then one day you find things aren’t quiet the same.

Just as your relationship to a partner is not limited to some ‘maths’ idea, nor is your relationship to God. Both don’t have to succumb to this fate.
But you can’t just hope that they won’t.

Any relationship takes some effort.
If you want to grow in God you need to feed the relationship. You need to take some time out for each other.

My encouragement to you this week is take some time out for just you and God.
Shut everything else away.
Do the ‘Jesus’ thing and withdraw for a time.
Pray.
Read.
Think.
Talk.

Don’t settle for less.
Go for everything in this relationship with God that he has for you.
And don’t be limited to a parabola.

Something to think about...

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Maybe I was little influenced by the event we hosted last night, but I have been thinking about common phrases we use when we pray.

One I have thought about for some time is one that talks about hedges.
Do you know the one I mean?
Where people pray that God would build a hedge around someone.

When you think about it, it does seem a little strange…
A hedge is a collection of closely planted trees or shrubs that interlink to form a wall of plants.
Why would you pray that someone has a wall of shrubs around them?

It is actually in the Bible.
Amazing aye?

If you look in the first chapter of Job you see this amazing story of God and satan having a conversation.
They are talking about a guy called Job and how honourable and blessed he is.
Satan challenges God as part of this conversation.
“Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” Job 1:10 niv

Hedge is all about protection.
A hedge can give you shelter from storms.
A hedge can give you shade from heat.
A hedge can protect you from attack.
And a hedge can keep what you have from disappearing.

God hadn’t just build a physical hedge around Job and all he had. It was a spiritual hedge.
A circle of his protection around all he was and had.
So I think it is a cool thing to pray for someone or even yourself.

Why don’t you pray that for someone today.
Why don’t you pray it for yourself and your family.
That God would hedge you or someone else about.

Something to think about...