Saturday 26 March 2011
Have you buried Jesus deep inside?...
"Have you ever tried to bury Jesus? Many Christians do. They receive Him in their youth, then the world begins to seep in. Slowly their Christian beliefs erode, like water can to rock over time. They bury Jesus deep inside, seal Him up and walk away. They try to deal with the world on their own, ignoring what once spurred their souls"............For more read....Roll away the stone
Thursday 24 March 2011
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!
"See if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed!" (John 8 v 36)
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galations 5v1)
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corin 3v1)
Do you really believe that there is freedom in Christ from things that hold you in bondage? This week in our midweek Church group we found ourselves being led back to the Cross and I believe the Lord was reminding us of all that Christ accomplished there. I think often we know that we have been saved from our sin through Christ's death but we forget that his death also was to provide liberation and freedom from the bondage and slavery caused by sin in our lives. In Col 2 v 13-14 it says “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sin, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood apposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” As we worshipped I had a picture of people coming to the cross with sacks on their backs weighing them down that He wanted them to give up. I felt that the people in the picture were those who knew the Lord. You see I think sometimes as Christians we know that God has saved us but we continue to walk around with things that He wants to set us free from! We can do this for years and years and years and it can stunt our spiritual growth with the Lord. How He longs for us to be truly free!
I will give worry and addictions as an example…..
I know a lot of people consumed by worry. Not just fleeting worry but continuous worry that exhausts. I know what fear is like. I've experienced fear so intense it was nauseating. I meet a lot of people who are busy. So busy that their minds don't have time to stop. If this continues they rarely feel peace. I know what busy is. Busy leaves little space for Jesus. I heard it once said that the words BUSY could well stand for 'Being Under Satan's Yoke.' This sounds heavy but I think there is truth in this. If we are too busy then Satan has a field day because we have no time for Jesus.
In Isaiah the prophetic words of the lord are spoken, “He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61v1). Are you broken-hearted? Are you fed up of being captive by things in your life that keep stopping you run in your relationship with God? Is your mind so full that there is no room for God's light to shine? Well don't despair there is freedom! This is what Christ died for!
But how? I understand this dilemma. I was captive to an addiction for years...I knew all the theology but couldn't quite see how to be free. What was the answer? I think the first thing was that my fear of God grew greater than my addiction. I wanted to please God and honour Him and this eventually outstripped my unhelpful behaviour. Every time I gave into that behaviour I realised that I was giving in to the lies the devil was saying about me I was not worth anything. People often think of addiction in relation to drugs and alcohol. But there are many addictions. It may be a body addiction but it could also be the mind…..worry itself can be an addiction...
I think it is natural to worry from time to time but constant persistent worry is a big hindrance to the move of God in our lives. Persistent worrying can be related to CONTROL i.e.“God I don’t quite trust you to fix this so I’m going to control it myself!” I realised that was pride.When we realise that we can totally trust God there is freedom. We no longer have to sort it all out ourselves.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corin 3v1)
OK so you say…I get all of this and I’m really trying very hard to stop the things that are keeping me in bondage. But I’m still stuck! Well I think the HOLY SPIRIT is the key. We can’t live life without recognising that we need “the demonstration of the Spirit’s Power” (1 Corin 2v4). When we let God in by allowing the Spirit to do work and not our human effort there is freedom from bondage. This is particularly difficult with worry because that is all about our effort! But we need to come to the place where we say, "Lord I give up! I need help and cannot do this alone! Please send your Spirit to help me..!" I spent weeks just saying this prayer over and over again a couple of months ago and I often still need to do it! The more we allow the Spirit to do and the more we soak in God's love for us we will not want to try and solve these problems anymore.... in fact the act of soaking and receiving will bring freedom in itself.
Listen to this song and recieve....Freedom Rains
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galations 5v1)
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corin 3v1)
Do you really believe that there is freedom in Christ from things that hold you in bondage? This week in our midweek Church group we found ourselves being led back to the Cross and I believe the Lord was reminding us of all that Christ accomplished there. I think often we know that we have been saved from our sin through Christ's death but we forget that his death also was to provide liberation and freedom from the bondage and slavery caused by sin in our lives. In Col 2 v 13-14 it says “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sin, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood apposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” As we worshipped I had a picture of people coming to the cross with sacks on their backs weighing them down that He wanted them to give up. I felt that the people in the picture were those who knew the Lord. You see I think sometimes as Christians we know that God has saved us but we continue to walk around with things that He wants to set us free from! We can do this for years and years and years and it can stunt our spiritual growth with the Lord. How He longs for us to be truly free!
I will give worry and addictions as an example…..
I know a lot of people consumed by worry. Not just fleeting worry but continuous worry that exhausts. I know what fear is like. I've experienced fear so intense it was nauseating. I meet a lot of people who are busy. So busy that their minds don't have time to stop. If this continues they rarely feel peace. I know what busy is. Busy leaves little space for Jesus. I heard it once said that the words BUSY could well stand for 'Being Under Satan's Yoke.' This sounds heavy but I think there is truth in this. If we are too busy then Satan has a field day because we have no time for Jesus.
In Isaiah the prophetic words of the lord are spoken, “He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61v1). Are you broken-hearted? Are you fed up of being captive by things in your life that keep stopping you run in your relationship with God? Is your mind so full that there is no room for God's light to shine? Well don't despair there is freedom! This is what Christ died for!
But how? I understand this dilemma. I was captive to an addiction for years...I knew all the theology but couldn't quite see how to be free. What was the answer? I think the first thing was that my fear of God grew greater than my addiction. I wanted to please God and honour Him and this eventually outstripped my unhelpful behaviour. Every time I gave into that behaviour I realised that I was giving in to the lies the devil was saying about me I was not worth anything. People often think of addiction in relation to drugs and alcohol. But there are many addictions. It may be a body addiction but it could also be the mind…..worry itself can be an addiction...
I think it is natural to worry from time to time but constant persistent worry is a big hindrance to the move of God in our lives. Persistent worrying can be related to CONTROL i.e.“God I don’t quite trust you to fix this so I’m going to control it myself!” I realised that was pride.When we realise that we can totally trust God there is freedom. We no longer have to sort it all out ourselves.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corin 3v1)
OK so you say…I get all of this and I’m really trying very hard to stop the things that are keeping me in bondage. But I’m still stuck! Well I think the HOLY SPIRIT is the key. We can’t live life without recognising that we need “the demonstration of the Spirit’s Power” (1 Corin 2v4). When we let God in by allowing the Spirit to do work and not our human effort there is freedom from bondage. This is particularly difficult with worry because that is all about our effort! But we need to come to the place where we say, "Lord I give up! I need help and cannot do this alone! Please send your Spirit to help me..!" I spent weeks just saying this prayer over and over again a couple of months ago and I often still need to do it! The more we allow the Spirit to do and the more we soak in God's love for us we will not want to try and solve these problems anymore.... in fact the act of soaking and receiving will bring freedom in itself.
Listen to this song and recieve....Freedom Rains
Wednesday 9 March 2011
The blubbering controller learning to trust again....
Tonight I blubbered all the way down the motorway as God humbled me and made me realise how my attempt at trying to 'control things' had got me in a twist over the last 2 weeks. Worries about the future - what am I doing next year? Worries about my health. Worries about relationships.....Each time I think I've surrendered something, other things come a long and I learn once again how I need God's help in trusting Him about the future and not planning so much...
As I drove down the motorway from visiting a Bible College I felt God remind me that He knows everything. He knows the number of hairs on my head, He knows what I'll be doing in the next 10 hours and where I'll be in the next 10 years. He knows what I need. He knows me better than I know myself. So why O why do I feel the need to control and analyse and figure out everything!!!! How gracious He is at persisting to teach me to trust over and over again!
I'm growing to understand that surrender seems to be a life long thing and I think I've realised there is always more to surrender, always more that God can do to bring us to greater dependance on Him so there is less of Me and more of Him. It would be so much easier if we could learn this in one full swoop, in a blink of an eye, like a flash of lightning. But life doesn't work that way and maybe the process is essential to understanding ourselves and God in greater measure.
So as I put the my blubbering controller self to bed I can rest assured that GOD IS IN CONTROL and everything is going to be OK because He has got me right in His hand and that is the safest place to be.
As I drove down the motorway from visiting a Bible College I felt God remind me that He knows everything. He knows the number of hairs on my head, He knows what I'll be doing in the next 10 hours and where I'll be in the next 10 years. He knows what I need. He knows me better than I know myself. So why O why do I feel the need to control and analyse and figure out everything!!!! How gracious He is at persisting to teach me to trust over and over again!
I'm growing to understand that surrender seems to be a life long thing and I think I've realised there is always more to surrender, always more that God can do to bring us to greater dependance on Him so there is less of Me and more of Him. It would be so much easier if we could learn this in one full swoop, in a blink of an eye, like a flash of lightning. But life doesn't work that way and maybe the process is essential to understanding ourselves and God in greater measure.
So as I put the my blubbering controller self to bed I can rest assured that GOD IS IN CONTROL and everything is going to be OK because He has got me right in His hand and that is the safest place to be.
Friday 4 March 2011
Because of God's love we are not consumed. He absorbs all our why's and what-if's....
....I have not blogged for a month! The last two weeks I have been back at full time work and didn't realise how much energy it would take out of me. I've just finished my second week though and think I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. The first week I managed to go to work, get home, feed myself and pretty much go straight to bed! Over the last week an old song came back to me...a golden oldie in fact! It goes "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, great is thy faithfulness." As I searched the scriptures wondering where this came from I found Lamentations Ch3 v19-24 and this is what I read....
"I remember my affliction...and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope; because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfullness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."
Even when are days become full of work and threaten to consume us the Lord's love overflows and his grace and faithfullness are with us again and again. They are new every morning.
Today I sensed His presence with me and His compassionate love as I had an unusual interaction with one of my patients. A man who rarely speaks about his past was for 30 minutes coherently able to articulate how a horrifically abusive past had affected the man he is today. A man who so often presents chaotically and delutionally was able to explain himself and as I prayed for listening ears I struggled to not show the tears in my heart. I could so easily ask "God how could a guy have gone through this much pain?" but somehow I saw that God's great love and faithfullness is still there and maybe my listening ear was enough for that moment.
God's love is all consuming and seems to flatten the 'Why's' in me. God's love is able to consume all our why's and what-ifs. What if this man's life had been different? What if...what if......As I walked on this beautifully sunny afternoon all I could say was "OK God I don't understand but I love you so much and I trust you anyway."
"I remember my affliction...and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope; because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfullness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."
Even when are days become full of work and threaten to consume us the Lord's love overflows and his grace and faithfullness are with us again and again. They are new every morning.
Today I sensed His presence with me and His compassionate love as I had an unusual interaction with one of my patients. A man who rarely speaks about his past was for 30 minutes coherently able to articulate how a horrifically abusive past had affected the man he is today. A man who so often presents chaotically and delutionally was able to explain himself and as I prayed for listening ears I struggled to not show the tears in my heart. I could so easily ask "God how could a guy have gone through this much pain?" but somehow I saw that God's great love and faithfullness is still there and maybe my listening ear was enough for that moment.
God's love is all consuming and seems to flatten the 'Why's' in me. God's love is able to consume all our why's and what-ifs. What if this man's life had been different? What if...what if......As I walked on this beautifully sunny afternoon all I could say was "OK God I don't understand but I love you so much and I trust you anyway."
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