One of the things I like about life is food!
Food is cool. Good food makes me feel good….
Some of my favourite things to eat include Veal Scallopini, Cheesecake, Roast Turkey…(I am getting hungry just thinking it...hehehehe)

Isn’t it cool that something we need to consume each day to live can taste so good and even give us pleasure.
In fact lots of the most exciting things we do in life are associated with food.
For birthday’s we have cake.
At weddings we have a feast.
And even at sad occasions, like funerals, there is normally something to eat afterwards.

Someone the other day asked me where I get fed…
Now they weren’t meaning, where do I get the food I have just been
mentioning.
They were meaning to ask, where do I get fed from God?

I can ask you the same question...
Where are you being fed at the moment?
Are you getting enough to eat?

Just as your natural body needs and enjoys natural food.
Your spiritual body, your spirit, your soul...they need food as well.
If they go hungry or even starve, you will find your life quite difficult to cope with!

One day Jesus was talking to his disciples. He said that he had food that they didn’t know anything about. That his food came from a supernatural source. That he even gained sustenance through doing God’s will. (John 4:31-34)

Here are some places where you can get some food from God...

Communing with God
Simply by spending time talking to God like you would anyone else...except that he is God. Reading some of the Bible. Read good Christian books.

Church
This is a great place to worship with other believers. Plus the bonus of
someone sharing something from God and his word. It will help grow and develop you.

Connect Groups
Spending meaningful time with other believers and being real with them will help fill you up. You will feel connected!

Contributing
Just like Jesus recognized...contributing to the Kingdom of God will feed you. Whether that be through serving in some way and tithing...you will grow!

Again...where are you being feed?

We have a great buffet of places and ways for you to be fed!
Don’t just do one...do them all!
You will not regret it...

Locky

As I drove home from work the other day I suddenly remembered a terrible thing I did many years a go.
Now it wasn’t as if I had never dealt with it before…
Or that I had never asked God to forgive me…
It just was so random and made me feel stink!
Nothing I had been thinking about or listening too, or even looking at related to the thoughts that flooded my brain.

So after a great day at work, here I was pulling up to some lights feeling quite bad about myself.
It seemed to make me feel like I was someone who didn’t deserve God to bless my life or even love me…

I started to think about why I was feeling that way.
Reminded myself that I dealt with that issue many years ago.
Reminded myself that when we ask God to forgive us of something that he does… In fact he says he removes our sin as far as the east is from the west!

I then chose to pray!
I thanked God for forgiving me years before.
...and then I felt great again...

After thinking about this event I remembered that the Bible talks about the devil wanting to shoot flamming arrows or darts at us.
Obviously they are not real arrows but something spiritual.
I think they are sometimes little reminders of your past.
Because he wants to make you feel bad.
To stop you being all you can be for God.

But you have to fight and you have to defend yourself!
And then you will always WIN!

Read this famous passage of scripture.
Let it encourage you and give a plan when the enemy tries to put you off...

Ephesians 6
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

God bless!

Locky

The Bible talks a lot about gifts.

The Bible even says that each one of us has at least one gift (1Corinthians 7:7), something special that will make a difference in our world.

I been thinking a lot about this during the week and have broken my
discoveries about God’s gifts to us into 5 levels.

Level_1_Salvation
Ephesians 2:8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
This is the most basic level and the foundation of our faith.
God’s foremost gift to us is Salvation.

Level_2_Holy Spirit
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
God wants to give you the power to live out the life he planned for us. He wants us to have the same anointing Jesus had as he walked the earth.
Now that is cool!

Level_3_Natural Abilities
1 Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received
Many people are born with abilities in certain areas. Whether it be sports or academics or working with your hands...God has implanted something into your dna.

Level_4_Life Basics
All of us need some basic stuff to help us enjoy life.
And God wants to give that stuff to you freely!
For example...
Peace
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts
Wisdom
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Level_5_Spiritual
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

1 Corinthians 14:1 says that we should eagerly desire the spiritual gifts…
That it is something to desire and ask God for.

God wants to give…that is his heart!
We simply have to receive / accept what he wants to give us.
It is not about deserving it, it about what the giver wants to give you.

Remember when you were a kid and people probably asked you questions like…”what do you want for your birthday or Christmas?”
How about approaching God the same way?
Ask him for the gifts he wants to give you?
- Salvation
- Holy Spirit
- Peace / Wisdom
- Spiritual
Whatever you need?
Ask him for it if you don’t have it!

It always amazes me how complicated we make our faith!
I come to that conclusion each time I read or hear about someone younger than me sharing their thoughts on God...

Someone I know who is a missionary in Russia sent me an email and this is how part of it went...
An eight year old boy named Nikita came to one of our team’s interpreters and had said...
“I would like to become a God’s son”. The interpreter then prayed with him and after that Nikita had said to her: “Now I am a God’s son and I’m going to go and tell the whole camp”.
The interpreter had then told him that this might not be a wise thing for him to do as the other kids might tease him. Nikita had been quiet for a
second and had then said: “Then I will go tell all foreigners that I am now a God’s son”. The
following day he went and told every team member of how he was now God’s son. Two days later he returned with his brother and said to the
interpreter, “My brother would also like to become a God’s son”. They then prayed together, and Nikita along with his brother ran off to play with the other children, jumping, rejoicing and kicking up their heals.

The Bible says we are supposed to have
something called ‘childlike faith’.
It is this idea that as we get older, God wants us to think younger.
It is truly a strange paradox.

As we grow up, we all strive to think older.
We want to grow up as quick as possible and be big people, doing whatever are hearts desire.

While you were growing up I bet you did crazy things like ‘dress ups’ or role
playing some adult pursuit.
For me it was riding my bike around the
garden arresting people committing
driving offences...I was truly on the set of ‘Chips’. (A tv programme some of us grew up with)

Our faith will make more sense if we think like a kid.
Where we question what doesn’t make sense
instead of just accepting someone else’s opinion.
Where we want to experience stuff not just read about other peoples experiences.
Where we don’t complicate how God feels about us by our human experiences.

Kids get it!
And God wants you to get it as well…
Kids trust so easily
And God wants you to trust him just the same...

Just take onboard what God says as he says it.
If he says he loves you...it simply means he loves.
If you are confused or scared...go to him with that, and see what he says.

And hey...enjoy being a ‘kid’!

This week someone stole a dead body!

A family in Christchurch lost a husband and father to an early death.
While he lay in state at a local marae, some family from up north came in and stole away his body…
Now it has turned ugly!
The grieving family are left without someone to say goodbye too.
The extended family are ready to defend their ’right’ to the body because of the family connection.
The courts are involved.
The police are involved...well sort of.

When I first heard the story I was angry to be honest.
My initial reaction was to be resentful towards the extended family because they robbed his current family.
Then I had a chance to think and look at why not just what happened...

Most of it comes down to belief and perception.
The extended family talk about things like the need to be buried with his
father, to be buried near where his umbilical cord was buried…
It is a picture of life being more than the what exists breathing now.
It is about something after life. A connection to something else beyond this natural world.
While I might not agree with these beliefs, at least they consider life to be more than the here and now.

In an email from preacher J John I read this story recently...
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky told the story of the time he was arrested by the czar and sentenced to die.
The czar liked to play cruel psychological tricks on the people who rebelled against him by blindfolding them and standing them in front of a firing squad. The blindfolded people would hear the gunshots go off, but would feel nothing. Then they would slowly realise that the guns were loaded with blanks.Dostoevsky went through this experience himself. He said that going through the thought process of believing he was really going to die had a transforming effect on him. He talked about waking up that morning with full assurance that this would be his last day of life. He ate his last meal and savoured every bite. Every breath of air he took was precious to him. Every face he saw, he studied with full intensity. Suddenly, every experience was etched in his mind.
As they marched him into the courtyard, he felt the heat of the sun and appreciated its warmth like never before. Everything around him seemed to have a magical quality to it. He was seeing the world in a way he had never seen it before.
He was fully alive!
When he realised that he had not been shot and that he was not going to die that day, everything about his life changed. He became thankful for everything about his life. He became grateful to people he had previously despised. It was this experience that persuaded him to become a novelist and write about life in a way that before would have never been known to him.

Please don’t forget that your life is more than just the here and now!
You were created to live forever…
Let that flavor who you are and how you live your life today...