Right willing is a foundation for right knowing

Over the last week I've been thinking particularly about the will of God and the Glory of God. I listened to a sermon by John Piper (Willing God's Will.............) which revealed a part of scripture to me I'd previously rushed over, and set me thinking on the subject of my will, God's will and how we can know truth, and what a revelation I found!

I don't know about you, but I love to think and reason through things. God doesn't go against attaining knowledge or using our brains but with reason and rationality comes this basis of thought, 'If I can work through this problem I will know the truth!'  But you know something Jesus seems to say in John ch 7 v 1 - 24 that our knowing and working things out has little to do with knowing what is true! In fact Jesus turns it all on its head as he so often does!

In John Ch7 v 14 - 18 it says Jesus went up into the temple to teach and the Jews marvelled saying "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but he who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood."

So what is this passage saying to me? The bottom line is this:
'Before you can know Christ and that he is true, you're will must be in alignment with His. And your desire must be to exhort Him above yourself.' 

The Jews in this passage are so like we are today when it comes to leaders, pastors, celebrities.  They marvelled at Jesus because he did miracles (7v3), because he sounded learned (v15). They only saw the shell. So often we do the same, we see a great pastor speaking and think 'His teaching is very learned...he is very intellectual....he speaks very articulately!' We see a beautiful worship singer we say 'how beautiful she is, what an amazing voice.' We see celebrities and envy their looks. We compare ourselves to these standards. In our natural humanness we are 'shell seekers' as John Piper put it.  And we crave for praise. I don't know about you but I used to be such a people pleaser. I still can be sometimes, can't we all? But often people pleasing has a hidden motive. It's about self-exhortation. We want to be liked. 

But this is where Jesus is different. He didn't care about being 'liked.' He said to his brothers in 7v6-7,"the world cannot hate you" (cos they were people pleasers!) but he said of himself that the world, " hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil." And the great thing about Jesus is he didn't have an academic qualification, he spoke truth and was truth. Sometimes we seek for beauty and intellect. But neither of these things can bring us to God in themselves. We can be impressed by teachers and speakers, and by their words but not touched by the truth at all. Scary thought. 

In the Bible it says that God doesn't care one jot about our outward shell. 1 Samuel 16 v 6-7  describes Samuel looking at one of David's brothers as they search for a new leader, "When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." This verse was my favourite as a child and teenager and I believe God gave it to me for good reason. I was crippled by comparing myself to others. By the beautiful girls in my youth group, by the intelligent people on my courses and God taught me a precious thing, 'I take no value, absolutely no value in those things. What I care about is your heart.'

Jesus modelled the perfect manhood. In John 7v16 he says this, "my teaching is not mine but he who sent me." This blew me away! So here is Jesus, son of God, who could have easily said, 'this teaching is mine!' After all He is God! But no, Jesus chose to align himself to God's will in everything, he only desired to give His father glory. Whoah! And he was God's son!! 


So how does that bring us back to the verses above? Why does this all shake me up so much? For this reason: that if I align myself with God's will before anything else...if that is the way that I will know truth and know Him better, it takes me totally and utterly out of control!! Bang go my rational theories, my systematic thinking! 


What am I left with? I'm left with faith, faith to believe that the most important thing for me to do is to align myself to God's will. By giving Him glory above anything else. This is all I need to know and do. This means a huge trust and surrendering going on. No what-ifs, or what if he doesn't show up! It doesn't mean an easy life either. Jesus did the Father's will but people despised Him. But there is a great safety, a great peace, a great joy in being right in God's will, in His arms! I is better than anything else, so much better than doing things through my own might and thinking!


Oh how I need every single day to bring Him glory alone. No wonder he taught us these words first in the Lords prayer, 'Hallowed be thy name, thy will be done, thy kindgdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.' Because everything else hangs on that. In John Piper's Sermon (from much of which this is taken) he suggests that we need to pray these words daily and ask God to help us to desire His will and His glory above anything else. 

Do you ever wonder what is going on with God's timing?

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3v1)

Do you sometimes look back on a period of time and wonder, "What was that all about, God?" I do! As I filtered through my emails earlier today and realised the majority of it was junk mail, I thought I could do with filtering through the last two weeks in my mind too. The last two weeks have gone by in a bit of a blur. I have  moved the majority of my belongings to two different places, attended a wedding, visited sick friends, prayed over family situations and made a new friend. Lots seems to have gone on and I'm looking forward to the next week of rest and R&R to process and filter through it all. I've not really had time to sit down and spend quality time with God over the last few days but the verse above has been ringing in my head.

I don't know about you but I often associate Ecclesiastes 3 with funerals and find the passage rather depressing. Is the writer of Ecclesiastes an atheist or existentialist? He sometimes expresses some confusing theology. The book reminds me more of 'The Outsider' by Albert Camus than the Bible! However he has a point. There seems to be times when God decides things are meant to happen and times when they are not. In other words his timing is perfect! Sometimes this is absolutely frustrating! Why do I make a new friend down south when I'm about to move up north? Why is my friend sick when I'm moving away from her? Why why why?

I think the writer of Ecclesiastes is reminding us that God knows that there is a time and place for every activity. We may wonder why this thing happened when it did, but he may have another plan, completely different to the one we intended. Maybe even better than we imagined. God only knows and once again what do I have to do??? Trust Him!!! Ahh back to that again. My blog seems to have a repeated theme: Surrender!

Lean not on your own understanding.....

As I was praying and fasting yesterday I found this passage creep into my mind:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3: 5-6)

I have been meditating on this verse as I go about doing things and asking myself questions like 'What does it mean to really trust God?' 'What does it mean to lean on God and not our own understanding?' 'What does it mean by acknowledging Him?'

I'm the sort of person that when I have to think about an important decision I can sometimes find myself relying more on the wisdom of my good friends than going straight to God. Having counsel from others can be important but God wants us to ask Him before anyone else. Often the advice of our own minds and that of others may sound good, great common sense and seem totally rational but the Bible is clear that man's wisdom is not the same as ours . In fact in 1Cor 3:19 it says, "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with (or to) God." That means that the counsel of God and His wisdom may not seem wise to the world and those around you. God thinks differently.

So what does it mean to acknowledge God? I think it means to recognise his presence and sovereignty over all things. As we worship Him and lift our eyes off ourselves and the decisions we have to make, we are laying ourselves open to recieving His wisdom and direction. Sometimes this makes us vulnerable and we will be asking questions like "will He really speak to me?" but God loves us to spend time in His presence and so desire His wisdom above all else. Even as we focus on His glory and praise Him we are looking away from ourselves.

In the Bible wisdom is closely associated with the fear of God, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Prov 9v10). I don't think this is a fear that makes us run away from the Lord like a scared rabbit! It's a spirit of reverance and awe and desire to do what He wants above anything else. Proverbs 3 goes on to explain that Wisdom is worth far more than worldly riches (v13-14), it brings life, peace and health (16-18, 22), and that the wisdom from God also allows you to walk securely without fear (v23-26) so your sleep is sweet because your confidence is in Christ (v26). Wisdom from above always ultimately glorifies God and not man (1 Cor 1v17, 2 v 1,4,7). Wisdom from above is also extremely powerful. It says that by wisdom God created the world (Jer 51v15) and that having wisdom is better than weapons of war! (Ecc 9v18).

So how do we recieve more godly wisdom? Well, the bible includes it amongst the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthinas 12v8 and clearly states that it is a gift from God. However we can all ask the Lord for more wisdom and the bible says its something that we should certainly seek (James 1:5). Wisdom appears to be also given to the humble and not the proud (Jer 9v23, James 3v13) so my prayer is that I will have a contrite heart and learn to come to Jesus assured that He knows best and not me!

Spiritual conviction is about a tugging of the heart

Gosh I haven't blogged for so long! I've missed the opportunity to write and express thoughts and ideas and musings. Life becomes so busy sometimes there is little time for writing.

This week I've been thinking about the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Often I think we can assume that the Holy Spirit speaks through our mind, that its synonymous with our conscience. When I first became a Christian I assumed the Spirit would speak through my mind. But though he can use our mind to convict, I don't think we should rely on our conscience all the time. Our minds are a busy place, not only influenced by the Lord but by other forces....the morals we have been brought up with, popular culture, the evil one...When we understand the Spirit and learn to live by the promptings of the spirit we will recognise a heart and soul tugging as our witness of the Lords promptings.

It talks in the New Testament about the Sword of the Spirit. In Ephesians 6v7 Paul writes "take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." In Hebrews 4v12 it is written "for the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

You see the Spirit is not just the written Bible sitting on our laps it’s the truth of the word penetrating the very depths of us...the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. It makes me think of the image in Ezekial 3v1where the angel of the Lord said to Ezekial, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." The word has to be in us by the Spirit. Have you recieved the truth of the Word through the Spirit like that?

So often the Church and Christian culture is so full of popular culture that we no longer live by the promptings of the Spirit. Our minds our full of the cultural norm and we don't know what is right or wrong or holy living. This is why we need the Spirit. Without the Spirit scripture and the truth are just words, churches are just business and relationships are not communities and environments where we are living out Spirit filled lives.

So what is the answer? How do we live Spirit full lives that our holy? I think the Lord has been speaking to me a lot about clothing myself in Him. Reading Colossians 3 and Ephesians 6 has made me think about the importance of regularly clothing myself with the armour of God. Ephesians 6v12 says clearly that our battle is not against flesh and blood but the powers of this dark world. Sometimes I go to work and I feel that oppression of the world around me. It is not in my imagination, it’s real and that’s why I need the clothing of the Spirit and the armour of God as my protection.

 You see once we know Christ I believe we already have that Christ like clothing readily available. In Colosians 3 it starts "since then you have been raised with Christ"...note the 'have' this is something that has already been done!  We need to remind ourselves daily 'You belong to Jesus, you are filled with his Spirit because you have been raised with Christ!' And that clothing...those spiritual fruits of compassion and peace and truth etc..can so often get left in the wardrobe. We go out into our daily lives without the knowledge of the Spirits presence because we haven't daily clothed ourselves in resting before Him. So lets believe the truth that we are saved and walk in the Spirit and allow him to convict and comfort and strengthen us and so become more Christ-like.

Where is my allegiance?

I recently had to write an essay on the subject of Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom of God, with particular reference to 'The Sermon on the Mount' (Matthew 5-7) and Matthew 13 (sometimes called 'the Parables of the Kingdom'). Since then I can't get these passages out of my head! I've stopped reading the Bible through from Genesis as I was doing and seemed to have stalled quite literally in the Sermon on the Mount for weeks! But in a good way! God is revealing things to my tough-skinned mind and heart and trying to soften me, humble me and teach me things I've not yet grasped. I think the sum of what I'm being challenge about is this:

"Where is your allegiance?"

Ok I know I'm in a relationship with the Lord, he has saved me..but it's more than that. As Stott says on the Sermon on the Mount, "the citizens of heaven are called to put God first in their motives and their actions, in their business and their language, in their thought life and their priorities. All life comes under his royal control" (p89 of BST The Message of Matthew, 2009, 7th ed). Jesus' teaching is clear that citizens of heaven enter the Kingdom through repentance and belief in Christ (Matt 3:2). However Jesus clearly shows there is more to it than that. The mark of a believer is a life that lives out and practices the teachings of Jesus. Our Christian walk is a journey and living Kingdom lives is about obedience to Christ and putting Him first above all other things.

We can have allegiance to lots of things and put our value on those things over Christ. I find myself asking questions like 'Am I putting greater value on being respected and approved by others? Am I putting too great a value on my possessions and what I own? Where is my primary love? Is it for Jesus and His Kingdom or other things?'

The Sermon on the Mount is best summed up in Matthew 6:33:

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you........."

I don't believe that this means that we will never suffer or have hard times...after all it says in the Beatitudes "blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness" (Matthew 5:10) and Jesus himself felt the pain of those cruel nails in his hands on the cross. But I do think that if we have His Kingdom and His righteousness as our primary focus then we don't have to worry about the necessities of life (what we will eat, wear, etc.....see Matthew 6 v 19-32).  

Reading passages like the Sermon on the Mount can leave us thinking 'is this lifestyle attainable, realistic?' However if we are in relationship with Christ and have the indwelling of the Spirit we do not need to fear. As Paul says in 1 Corin 4:20, "the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of Power" and the Spirit will help us in our weaknesses and provide us with victory in areas of our lives that put a drag wind on our walk with Him.
 
So as I blog on the Kingdom of God, starting with the Beatitudes next, I hope and pray that the Lord will challenge and change me. I want a re-focusing in my life. Hopefully it will bless and encourage you too.

Ladies...Men need our respect!!!!

This is a subject I've been thinking about for some time. Through observations of couples in my life and the differences between men and women I've noticed something that I think perhaps as women we need to understand and grasp better in order to encourage and affirm the men that we know. This is particularly pertinant to marriage and those in relationships with the opposite sex but also I think in general we need to know these things as we interact with the guys around us. I am talking, I know, from the place of a single, unmarried lady so do bear with me and comment if you disagree! However I think from my observation of others and what I've read in the Bible it is a subject God is teaching me about too........

As women (and I'm one myself so I can say it!!) we can be controlling, critical, nagging and wanting to 'fix' the men in our lives. Too often we do these things totally unintentially and not realising the affect it has on them.

In the Bible it says many times husbands 'love your wives' but wives 'respect' your husbands (see Ephesians 5v 33). It really emphasises it this way round. Why?? I think for the very reason that respecting men is intrinsically linked to loving them and perhaps God knew that women are not very good at grasping this. In Shaunti Feldhahm's book 'For women only: what you need to know about the inner lives of men' (2004) a survey was carried out with over 1000 men. What they discovered was this...

'Men would rather feel alone and unloved than inadequate and disrespected'

She gave an example of this from a retreat she went on. The speaker divided the room in half placing men on one side and women on the other. He said,

"I'm going to ask you to choose between two things,".... "If you had to choose, would you rather feel alone and unloved in the world OR would you rather feel inadequate and disrespected by everyone?" Shaunti explains that she recalls as a woman thinking, 'What kind of choice is that? Who would ever choose to feel unloved?!' But the speaker turned to the men's side of the room and a sea of hands went up when he asked "would you rather feel alone and unloved?" The women watched in utter bemusement! (see pages 21-23 of Shaunti's book).

In the book Shaunti goes on to explain that in the survey many men found it incredibly hard answering the 'unloved verses disrespect' questions because to them they equate the two.i.e. 

'If a man feels disrespected he is going to feel unloved'

I think deep down most women do respect the men in their lives they just often convey the opposite. Even things that might seem silly to us like not allowing the man to take a lead in the directions on a journey (does it really matter if he's going to be late as long as he has your respect and trust?!!!). Or nagging them about fixing something in the house can say to them 'actually I don't trust your're good enough to do this' and therefore respect you. A common one that really hurts guys is critizising them publically...you might be thinking you're just teasing them in front of others about something silly they have done but that is the worst insult for their need for respect. For women we forget these things.....

In the book of Proverbs in the Bible it says quite a few things about a 'nagging wife'...
-Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife. (Prov 21.9)
-Better to live out in the desert than with a nagging, complaining wife. (Prov 21.19)
-A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip on a rainy day. How can you keep her quiet? Have you ever tried to stop the wind or ever tried to hold a handful of oil? (Prov 27.15)

Don't you just love the last one! But it's serious stuff and I wonder if it really does cripple relationships.
For me I've always thought of Genesis 3 when it comes to this subject. In Genesis 3 it talks about the 
well known passage when Eve in v8 takes the forbidden fruit and just goes right in there and eats it. 
She doesn't consult her husband, she just bulldozes right in! And he stands back and lets her do it! Not only 
that she persuades him to join her by giving him some of the forbidden fruit....

I think this passage tells us a lot about the weaknesses of both sexes but its also related to this subject. 
As women we can be quite controlling and think 'well he might not do that thing so I'm just going to go
in there and do it myself.' However as a consequence the man don't have a chance to say 'actually
that's not a good idea, or this is what I think....' I think the weaknesses of men can be that they 
don't step up to that challenge and lead us...and instead sit back and watch. But if we as women bulldoze
into situations we are not helping them to step up to leading us, making decisions and entrusing situations
into their hands......


So lets learn to entrust things a bit more to the men in our lives so they feel respected and loved!

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