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

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

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.

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."

Have you encountered the love of God? Because if you do you'll never be the same!

10 years ago this month I had a massive bout of sickness which left me off studies for a year, a forced gap year. Even though I was a Christian at the time, I learnt through that experience more of His love and presence. I am still learning this even now and continue to do so. We always need more of His love. I've realised this month that I would actually rather live all that hell again 10 years ago for the difference it made in my relationship with God. I am a different woman now. Through suffering the Holy Spirit changes us. I'm totally different from the person I knew 10 years ago. Yes I knew Jesus then but now I am more whole, closer to God. Perhaps it took me being broken to get me to this place and make me more surrendered to Him. Believe me I'm not all there. God continues to encourage me to surrender and plug deeper into Him and submitting to Him is a continuous process.

For those of you suffering from sickness out there be encouraged. I don't believe that God causes sickness but He can use it to bring us closer. The apostle Paul was the most gifted and intelligent guy around and wrote a large part of the New Testament yet he had a 'thorn in the flesh' - most probably some sort of sickness. However he realised that through his weakness God's power and glory could be more powerfully revealed. He said, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12v10). Perhaps it was this weakness of his that made him realise that it wasn't about his eloquent or superior wisdom (and he had lots!) but resolving to know nothing except Jesus Christ cruicified and the supernatural power of God (1 Cor  v1-5).You see as my good friend Andrew said at a conference this weekend "Freedom from pain should not be our highest goal but glorifying our Lord Jesus." Phew! That's hard stuff! Especially when your going through it but this is truth.

These last 10 years I have been reminded time and time and time again of God's love for me through different circumstances. As a teenager I was an A- type personality, a driven work-aholic who didn't know how to stop and thought their relationship with God was dependant on 'doing.' Not all this doing was necessarily wrong. I was actually reading the Bible in a yearn at the time...but even that was a lot about me 'working' and not enjoying Christ. Sometimes the times when we are broken, desperate, at the end of one's tether is when we realise that ultimately its not about what we do, our theology (or thinking) or even our love for Jesus but HIS LOVE FOR ME AND THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. 1 John 4 v10 says "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

Why does it take so many life experiences for us to get to the state of dependance?! We are so fickle!!...And guess what the best bit about it is? We can always recieve more and more of God's love! It quite simply never stops! Jesus wants to love us so there is no control left in us, no got-to, have-to, ought-to, must-do. Even in the things of the church! He wants to completely wreck us with his love so we are changed forever. His love is causing me to become a completely different person. I easily over busy myself and go into legalism even now, but God is changing me to become more of a peaceful, relaxed person who is growing to be more confident in who I am in Christ because its not about what I do but HIS LOVE and Jesus' amazing sacrifice on the cross. As I call out to the Holy Spirit again and again He reveals more of God's love to me and more about Jesus' sacrifice.

Don't get me wrong the Bible is clear that we are to live what we preach and not simply sit back and do nothing. The book of James clearly talks about how the way we talk and act is important to God and living righteously is worthy goal. But what we do should be the outpouring of our understanding of His love for us and what He did on the cross... and not the other way round (i.e. we do so we can get a better relationship with God...) You see if we really encounter the love of God, we'll want to live right, walk right, talk right because we can't do anything else! We're that in love with Him that we simply don't want to do anything else!

Spent 10 minutes of your time listening to this song and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you the deep love of God!! See  Jesus Culture - How He Loves Us

Let me also take this opportunity to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all those people.. friends, family and church folk who supported me and loved me 10 years ago when I was sick that year. You know who you are! I'm not sure I would have been able to have got through some of this and still be following the Lord if it wasn't for you!

A Series on the Holy Spirit: Part 1: Manifestations of the Spirit and a Changed Heart

Early on in my blog I started writing about the Holy Spirit. I want to continue that now and run a bit of a series of entries on the Holy Spirit. I've been on a bit of a journey the last few months in growing in my awareness and understanding of the Spirit and would like to share that with you.

Two weeks ago I attended two different church services where the Holy Spirit's felt presence was clearly evident. In the evening service I went to people demonstrated different manifestations of the Spirit which as one on-looker said, "Seemed pretty bonkers!" Some were laughing, others crying, some jerking, some on their knees/faces. As for me, I was trembling so much with the awareness of the Spirit's presence I had to ask a friend to help me find a scripture passage I wanted to read out. That whole weekend for me though wasn't so much about the manifestations of the Spirit itself but the affect the experience of His presence had on my heart and soul. I felt like God pierced my heart with his truth (see Heb 4 v 12-12) and revealed to me God's greatness and my great need of Him in an even more powerful way. I felt like Isaiah in Ch6 where he sees a vision of God's throne room and says "Woe to me..I am a man of unclean lips!...my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!'" (v5). I was so aware of the need for the Holy Spirit to change me and my character and at the same time so in love with and in awe of God. 

You see true works of the Spirit must change our hearts. In Guy Chevreau's book "Catch the Fire" on the Toronto revival he quotes the great 18th Century preacher Jonathan Edwards in the Great Awakening revival as defining four clear signs of the true and right Spirit (as apposed to wrong spirits or the work of Satan)....

·         Firstly, "If the spirit that is at work amongst a people is plainly observed to work so as to convince them of Christ, and lead them to Him...it is a sure sign that it is the true and right Spirit' 

·         Secondly “are there signs that the interests of Satan's Kingdom are assaulted?”As Edwards puts it, "Are persons drawn off from the world and weaned from the objects of worldly lusts… taken off from worldy pursuits, by the sense they have of the excellency of divine things, and the affections they have to spiritual enjoyments?"

·         Thirdly, “is there evidence of a greater regard to the Scriptures, establishing believers more and more in truth and godliness?..The devil certainly isn't doing to have us fall in love with the Word!”

·         Fourthly, “ is there a greater spirit of love to God and man?”Citing 1 John 4v12-12 Edwards takes Christian faith back to basics and says,

“the last mark which the apostle gives of the true Spirit he seems to speak of as the most eminent: love to God and men....The surest character of true divine supernatural love - distinguishing it from counterfeits that arise from a natural self-love - is that the Christian virtue of humility shines in it; that which above all others renounces, abases, and annihilates what we term self. Christian love or true charity is a humble love."

So for those who are frightened by the manifestations of the Spirit (and I will provide scriptural evidence for these later in this blog), when you see others having spiritual manifestations you find unusual ask yourself are they bearing the above fruit. For as Edwards says, "The devil neither can nor will give men a spirit of divine love, or Christian humility and poverty of spirit....these things are as contrary as possible to his nature.” 

He goes on to describe people’s reactions back in the 1700’s, "Many felt unsettled by the manifestations accompanying the Great Awakening. And so the accusation was rendered, 'God cannot be the author of it, because He is the God of order, not of confusion.'" During the much more recent Toronto Blessing revival in the early 90's Baptist minister G Chevreau also witnessed this and commented, “regrettably those bringing forth the accusation rarely stay around long enough to interview those who are the subjects of the unsettling behaviour, and in so doing, are drawing conclusions prematurely." 

Thus the sign of true works of the Spirit are that they are heart changing ones. A manifestation of the Spirit is only temporary, heart changes are enduring and eternal. As to manifestations don't dismiss them as they did in the Great Awakening and Toronto. Ask yourself am I drawing conclusions prematurely? You may well miss out! You see my experience is that when I am awed by the presence of God, my physical strengths are sometimes sapped. When the Holy Spirit comes he touches not only our minds, but our bodies and souls and hearts. 

My next blog will explore this a bit more and will be addressing “physical manifestations of the Spirit...is there scriptural precedence for it?”

 (Quotes taken from 'The Toronto Blessing: An Experience of Renewal and Revival' by Guy Chevrau pages

105-108)

Guard your heart Part 2 - On relationships with the opposite sex

What to look for when finding someone who will guard your heart in a relationship and has a desire to be like Jesus and develop a godly character. This is not meaning a perfect person!! Only Jesus is perfect! But someone who desires to be more like Him…..

·         Someone who desires to be patient and self controlled in the relationship by taking time to get to know you. This doesn’t mean just not rushing into the physical (your probably thinking about all those youth group talks too!) It’s also guarding their emotions by not sharing your deepest desires and thoughts too quickly! See passages below which highlight the importance of having a character that is self-controlled..

·         They will be seeking to develop a godly character by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit (and not their own might!). They will see this as more important than developing their gifts and talents. Something I’m learning is that the Bible is clear that character is more important than gifts and talents. Time and time again men and woman in leadership positions, even with amazing spiritual gifts have fallen away behind the scenes because the character stuff is lacking. I think of it like a beautiful blossom tree. People see the blossom first, i.e. the gifting but the branches of the tree are only there because of the trunk supporting it i.e. the character. If you have a strong leadership position or gifting but a weak trunk, your ministry or gifting may well topple because the tree is not supported by those godly characteristics outlined below. Often gifting is the stuff we see in the public arena but character is in the private places so work on your relationship with God in the private places first! That is your relationship with God in the private places before your relationship with God on Sunday mornings. Your relationship with your close family and friends before those who see you in a public arena. Oh how we need God to therefore transform our characters by His Holy Spirit so we can be made more into His likeness!

·          In the Bible it says the gifts and call of men are without repentance (Romans 11v29.) 1 Corin 13v1 and 8 is clear that we can speak in tongues of angels and prophecy but these will cease whereas love never does. In fact v1 implies that you can speak in tongues of angels and not have love. You might think ‘but that person has an amazing gifting!’ Don’t just go for the gifting if you’re looking for a relationship. Ask yourself what are their character traits and how does this show in the fruit of their relationships with others. For love and the fruits of the Spirit endure when a man or woman is leading a godly life whereas gifting can still carry on even when a man or woman has fallen in the things of God.  The Bible is clear that godly men and women and particularly godly leaders need to demonstrate a sound character before anything else. If you want to look more into this check out what the bible says about the characteristics of godly men and women in the following passages. What I noticed is that none of these passages said, ‘he or she must be an amazing speaker, prophecy well, worship excellently.’ Instead they highlight the enduring character traits that are required e.g. self control, being temperate, worthy of respect, sound in faith, love and endurance, kind, pure, not malicious talkers, trustworthy etc....

-          For men in leadership…1 Tim ch 3 v 1- 10, 12-13

-     For men  in the church.. Titus 2v1-2 and 6-8

-          For women in the church..1 Tim ch3v11, Titus 2v3-5, 1 Tim 2v9 (note in 1 Tim 2v9 when it talks about modest dress it is not saying its wrong to wear nice clothes. The woman in Proverbs 31v22 was dressed in fine purple clothes. I think God just wants us to know that having a beautiful, God desiring heart is of more importance than outward appearance..see    1 Samuel 16v7).

-          For both men and women– Titus 2v11-15 and 2 Tim 2 v22-26

·         Look for someone who desires greater humility because humility is protection against so many ungodly characteristics. Someone who doesn’t act like they know it all but has the humility to say, “I’m sorry I was wrong” and accept rebuke and correction with grace.

·         Look for someone who seeks after righteousness.The bible is so clear that this is of greater importance than gifting and outward things. For righteosness guards the man (or woman) of integrity (Prov 13v6)

So in regards to ‘how far can I go sexually?’ and all those youth group talks on relationships!!! You’ll see, like I am noticing, that a man or woman who desires godly characteristics won’t need to think so hard about this question! If they have self control, patience and are able to guard their own heart and that of yours then this question will be easier to address! The bible is clear that sexual immorality is not good. Check out 1 Corinthians 6 v9-20 and that will keep you guarded!...

God is clear in this passage that as Christians we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (v19) and we are ‘not our own.’ Paul gives this illustration “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unit them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with him in body? For it is said, ‘the two will become one flesh’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in Spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his own body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.”

I would argue, using this illustration that sexual union is a spiritual as well as a physical act. That as a consequence there is something that happens in that intimate place that we must keep for marriage therefore. Does that mean we can do as much as we like as long as we don’t go ‘all the way’. By no means! We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and let us not get into ‘sexual immorality’. Keep the sacred and the intimate for marriage!

But remember God is a redemptive and forgiving God. If you’re reading this and know you’ve messed up in any of the areas outlined i.e. not guarding yours or others hearts emotionally, physically, mentally. (By the way we all have in at least one of these areas!)  Remember God can heal and forgive our damaged hearts and our mistakes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lets ask God to help us to keep ourselves holy and not repeat our past mistakes by leaning on the great guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Wow! You may be thinking this is all rather a tall order! I’m writing this blog entry as someone who has struggled to guard my heart and am learning that I need to be character stretched and humbled! So by all means I’m still working through all of these things too!