Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Rest?


Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11 v 28 - 30


Sometimes when I read these words of Jesus I think - Really? Are you serious Jesus? 


Yes I am my own worst enemy at times. Often I find myself in a self imposed prison of the performance trap that Jesus has destroyed but I with monotonous regularity try to rebuild. Jesus presents me with an open door of his grace that leads to grace and I choose to ignore it. Instead I opt for the futility of more works to please a God that is already pleased with me but I steadfastly refuse to rest in this grace.


But finding myself as a church leader I want to shout back at Jesus nothing about this is easy or light! But Jesus words gently talk back to me not telling me WHAT to do but WHO to follow.


The reason for my unrest and stress can often be because I am obsessed with doing something else for Jesus instead of LEARNING from Him.


Jesus said that one of the ways to find rest for to be "Gentle & lowly of heart".


Jesus didn't give us a 3 point strategic plan to obtain rest he MODELLED Character to us.

Monday, February 27, 2012

IF...... THEN...... AND.....


IF you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, THEN shall your light rise in the darkness AND your gloom be as the noonday. AND the Lord will guide you continually AND satisfy your desire in scorched places AND make your bones strong; AND you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. - Isaiah 58 v 10 & 11

God's promises continually seem to be contrary to conventional wisdom and totally unbalanced.

The key to provision, guidance, understanding, strength & prosperity in God's economy is a simple act of unselfish humility those who are poor or in trouble.

This doesn't make sense to a workaholic driven person like me. It, like so much of God's Kingdom, still deep down in my Psyche seems a little weird. When I look at just one of these areas, God's guidance, I realise I'm still hooked on obtaining it through my performance. If I read His word just a little more, if I talk to him a little more, if I behave myself a little better maybe then I will gain guidance.


God's equation is a little simpler. IF I pour myself out for the hungry & afflicted THEN I get the gift of God's guidance CONTINUALLY. But not only that we get the multiple AND's of God. AND understanding AND provision AND strength......



Thursday, February 09, 2012

Forget Valentines Day......


And make your marriage AWESOME every day!

Below is a post by originally by Perry Noble of Newspring Church its dynamite!

#1 – Stop Fighting IN IT and Start Fighting For It – as long as you see your spouse as the enemy your home will always be a battlefield, and EVERYONE loses when you fight with each other and not for one another.

#2 – Stop Asking God To Fix Your Spouse And Ask Him To Fix You – no one in any marriage is perfect…and when we stop pointing out all of our spouses perceived inadequacies it really does make us a much better person to be around.  (Psalm 139:23-24 is a GREAT prayer to pray when asking God to show you your very own “opportunities for improvement.”)

#3Ask For Help – you are NOT the first married couple that has ever struggled, you WON’T be the last.  The problem is that (especially in church) we are so obsessed with what people may say or think that we will allow our relationships to implode.  We cannot allow our desire for appearance to distort the reality that we need help! (WORD!)

#4 – Ask The Lord To Allow You To See Your Spouse Through His Eyes – this can/will absolutely CHANGE your perspective on who you are married to…because you see them less and less as your spouse and more and more as a son/daughter of the KING!!!  How do you think He wants His child to be treated?

#5Choose Right Now That You Are Always Going To Believe The Best About Your Spouse - Love always assumes the best about a person (see I Corinthians 13,) if you are always assuming the worst about the person you are married to then you have a major problem and are placing them in a no win situation.

#6 – Stop Seeing Your Spouse As Your Servant But Rather Your Opportunity To Serve – As long as you see them as your servant you will always be tempted to point out their shortcomings in regards to the ways they are not meeting your perceived needs.  However, if you see them as your opportunity to serve it will completely change the dynamic and temperature of the relationship.

OK you can still buy the flowers, chocolate and the card but if we don't act on at least some of the above it may be better to save your cash.