Do Not Fear
How easy is it to read the above statement? I guess for anyone older than about 5, it
would be pretty easy to read and understand those 3 monosyllabic words.
Think again though, how easy is it to read this statement and take it on board?
The Bible says 'Do not fear' or words to that effect around 366 times (God didn't
forget about leap years either..) so that's more than enough for every day of the
year!
We all experience fear in some sense every day of our lives. These can range from
fear of spiders to darkness to flying to rejection, illness and death.
The thing is, a lot of the time, fears are the blighters that overcome us.
It's OK to be fearful. God knew, and KNOWS that we're going to face fears, hence
his sprinklings of encouragement against the spirit of fear all the way through the
Bible. What's not OK is when we acknowledge our fears and refuse the rebuke them.
Thinking that it’s OK to not do the things that God has for you because you’re scared.
It’s not.
I’m not arguing that fear is a sin. In fact I don't believe that for a second. However,
I do believe that fear is a lie. It is a lie that can often stop us walking into our calling.
Each time God tells us to do something, and we don't do it, that’s when it becomes a
sin.
Many people have a fear of visiting doctors, not because of the actual physician
himself, but more about his knowledge, when a patient opens their mouth and
begins to explain their symptoms, the doctor can begin to investigate the cause
of these symptoms. A fear of doctors is more to do with a fear of diagnosis. A fear
that the oblivious mind is enlightened as to what is wrong. In combating the fears,
we could question what lies underneath this fear. More fear? Probably. Mostly
suppressed memories and emotions whose fear has become the scar.
In order to remove the thorn that has been imbedded into your foot that causes you
great aggravation, a further incision has to be made. Yes, for a while, it will cause
more pain and discomfort, but once the thorn has been removed, and the wound
has healed, the hurt from the thorn is gone, it ceases to exist.
The road is never easy, you first have to acknowledge that the thorn in your foot
shouldn't really be there in order for it to be removed. If ignored, the thorn starts to
be the cause of so much aggravation and discomfort and can prevent you from doing
so much.
The sin then, you could suppose, is to let the fear overcome you, to let the lies of
the enemy rule over the calling of God. ‘Do not fear’ in the Bible is often followed
by ‘For I am with you’ ( Isaiah 41:10, for example) The comforting voice of your
Heavenly Father gently whispering; ‘Come on child, don’t be scared, It’s OK, Daddy’s
here.’
Proverbs 27:1 says 'Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day
might bring' We fear the future, because we have so little idea about what is around
the corner, we do not know exactly how an order of events may pan out, or exactly
what we will be doing in a years time. We will ALWAYS have fears to overcome. We
will always have to go that place which is just that little bit further out of our comfort
zone that we might like in order to reach those goals.
Do not fear, do not worry.
I believe in a God who knows me better than I know myself and loves me, in spite of
that. I believe in a God who is ALWAYS faithful to me, no matter how many times
I muck up, or deal with things in my life in the wrong way. I believe in a God who
longs for me to trust that He knows what He’s doing, and will often shock me by
doing things in my life that I can’t even begin to imagine. I believe in a God who is
kind, compassionate and will always come to me, day and night, in my sorrow and
joy. And most importantly, I believe in a God who did not give us a spirit of fear and
timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
Shockingly, this God who I believe in, believes in us too!
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
This is my God
If only. If only you knew my God!
The thing is you think you know Him; He’s the Christian God, the one who loves churches, organs, hymn books, being well behaved, and hates sex, rule breakers and modern technology. But in fact you’ve got the wrong guy.
My God loves crazy risk takers, sinners, bad singing and dad-dancing, disorganisation, parties, science, he even loves Richard Dawkins!
In the same way people seem to have the wrong idea about the Christian message. The Bible can be read in many ways, but I believe that the Christians I share life with are getting to grips with the right way of understanding the Gospel. Jesus was not concerned with whether people followed religious rules; he had much more pressing priorities. Jesus came to fulfil the prophecy foretold in Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”. Jesus declares this in Luke 4:18-19, but not only does he just open a scroll and read out this historical message, he goes out into the towns and villages and does just as it says. He tells the poor they can have riches, he releases people from their burdens of sin and heals the sick; making the lame walk, the blind see, and even the dead rise. On top of this he tramples upon the Jewish rituals he was brought up to respect; he works on the Sabbath, comes into contact with those deemed unclean and sees no need for animal sacrifices.
Jesus’ message? Forget trying to please God, he’s not impressed with piety and fake politeness. Go and find the people who are so sick and sinful that they are unable to repay you. Find the people who don’t value your kindness and be compassionate to them anyway. Turn culture on its head and pray for your enemies instead of punish them. Sit down on the street with that homeless woman rather than trying to bring her up to your ‘ever so desirable’ social level. Understand the criminal’s motives rather than condemning his actions. Invite the deviant to sit with your friends instead of locking them away and deeming them unacceptable.
Do you get it? With Jesus there’s no one you cannot love. If we fully understood God’s love and loved like Jesus does, we’d never be able to walk down a street without being compelled to sit down with the beggar or lay hands on the woman with a walking stick! The only thing that would ever get done would be the Kingdom. And bingo – we’ve got it!
The Kingdom is not some future ideal dreamt up by religious leaders as a carrot on a string for Christians desperate to see fruitfulness. The Kingdom is in fact at your fingertips. Jesus told us exactly what to do, he didn’t leave us guessing, he wants to see the Kingdom come so much he laid it out plain and simple for us simpletons to understand. You want to see the Kingdom? Believe in your God-given authority over the darkness of this world - then love people! Surely it’s got to be more complicated than that? No. Sorry. Just love. Think about it, if everyone showed love to everyone else, this world would be a lot less broken. I know what you’re thinking, but maybe Jesus was a bit of a hippy (if you ask me that’s much more desirable than some other things he has been labelled as).
Scrap religious language, spiritual eliteness and deep philosophical quandaries, the Christian message is in fact a whole lot less mystical and delusional than some make out. Love is the resolve of evil. There are two ‘kingdoms’; God and Darkness. Plainly, there is good and bad, and if everyone always chose good over bad then we’d see a dramatic transformative effect upon our world. We know that as soon as people start to talk like this they are laughed at. For the new atheists of our time, thinking that love and faith will save this messed up rock hurtling meaninglessly through space is an absurdity, believed in only by the unintelligent and unthinking. But this is only because the culture we have grown up in has conditioned us to think we are all beyond help; that those too dysfunctional for society should be locked away for life or just put on death row. But spare a little faith! Try believing that we are all capable of being saved and the future prospect of this globe will start to look a little sunnier.
The thing is you think you know Him; He’s the Christian God, the one who loves churches, organs, hymn books, being well behaved, and hates sex, rule breakers and modern technology. But in fact you’ve got the wrong guy.
My God loves crazy risk takers, sinners, bad singing and dad-dancing, disorganisation, parties, science, he even loves Richard Dawkins!
In the same way people seem to have the wrong idea about the Christian message. The Bible can be read in many ways, but I believe that the Christians I share life with are getting to grips with the right way of understanding the Gospel. Jesus was not concerned with whether people followed religious rules; he had much more pressing priorities. Jesus came to fulfil the prophecy foretold in Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”. Jesus declares this in Luke 4:18-19, but not only does he just open a scroll and read out this historical message, he goes out into the towns and villages and does just as it says. He tells the poor they can have riches, he releases people from their burdens of sin and heals the sick; making the lame walk, the blind see, and even the dead rise. On top of this he tramples upon the Jewish rituals he was brought up to respect; he works on the Sabbath, comes into contact with those deemed unclean and sees no need for animal sacrifices.
Jesus’ message? Forget trying to please God, he’s not impressed with piety and fake politeness. Go and find the people who are so sick and sinful that they are unable to repay you. Find the people who don’t value your kindness and be compassionate to them anyway. Turn culture on its head and pray for your enemies instead of punish them. Sit down on the street with that homeless woman rather than trying to bring her up to your ‘ever so desirable’ social level. Understand the criminal’s motives rather than condemning his actions. Invite the deviant to sit with your friends instead of locking them away and deeming them unacceptable.
Do you get it? With Jesus there’s no one you cannot love. If we fully understood God’s love and loved like Jesus does, we’d never be able to walk down a street without being compelled to sit down with the beggar or lay hands on the woman with a walking stick! The only thing that would ever get done would be the Kingdom. And bingo – we’ve got it!
The Kingdom is not some future ideal dreamt up by religious leaders as a carrot on a string for Christians desperate to see fruitfulness. The Kingdom is in fact at your fingertips. Jesus told us exactly what to do, he didn’t leave us guessing, he wants to see the Kingdom come so much he laid it out plain and simple for us simpletons to understand. You want to see the Kingdom? Believe in your God-given authority over the darkness of this world - then love people! Surely it’s got to be more complicated than that? No. Sorry. Just love. Think about it, if everyone showed love to everyone else, this world would be a lot less broken. I know what you’re thinking, but maybe Jesus was a bit of a hippy (if you ask me that’s much more desirable than some other things he has been labelled as).
Scrap religious language, spiritual eliteness and deep philosophical quandaries, the Christian message is in fact a whole lot less mystical and delusional than some make out. Love is the resolve of evil. There are two ‘kingdoms’; God and Darkness. Plainly, there is good and bad, and if everyone always chose good over bad then we’d see a dramatic transformative effect upon our world. We know that as soon as people start to talk like this they are laughed at. For the new atheists of our time, thinking that love and faith will save this messed up rock hurtling meaninglessly through space is an absurdity, believed in only by the unintelligent and unthinking. But this is only because the culture we have grown up in has conditioned us to think we are all beyond help; that those too dysfunctional for society should be locked away for life or just put on death row. But spare a little faith! Try believing that we are all capable of being saved and the future prospect of this globe will start to look a little sunnier.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Where do you keep your confidence?
I was going to post a talk that I wrote a few weeks ago for a holiday camp because I got a lot out of it, and then I was going to send a picture that I got a week ago at church, but then I decided what I really wanted to share was what’s currently on my mind.
On what are you basing your confidence? Does your faith rely on your circumstances? What would you say if you met yourself 30 years from now and you were no longer a Christian?
My dad, who has brought me up going to church, who has often led talks, who was always a very strong and committed man of faith, is no longer a Christian. I found out that he was struggling with things a couple of years ago and this hit me really hard. It has forced me to stand on my own two feet and figure out where my faith lies. Despite being a strong Christian family, we were never very open about speaking about our faith together at home; we have never really discussed what God is doing in our lives. This now makes it more difficult when I want to ask my dad why he no longer believes and what his problems are. And despite trying to talk to him about it, I always find that I get choked up and can’t get very far.
I finally spoke to my mum a bit about it more recently as I didn’t really know where she stood and found out that she had also been very upset by this change, but this is about all I know. So it’s a slow process to get deep in my family and I struggle to attempt to.
But what this has made me do, is be all the more determined to get to know God more myself. And I am so thankful to being part of a different kind of family at Canterbury Vineyard. Starting afresh and asking ‘How have we learned Christ?’. Not getting to know the idea, not the concept, but getting to know the Man. Seeing how real and alive he is in so many people. I encourage you all to write down your prayers, then we can see so clearly that God is active and answering. And as Paul says in Philippians, I try to give all my worries to Him with thanksgiving, as I know that all things are possible through Him. And not to just get to know one part of the Bible, but to get to know all of it, to see all the different sides to our omnipotent, unconditionally-loving God.
I encourage you all to think about what your faith relies on. And not only to think, but to write it down. Can you put it into words? Would you be able to tell yourself years from now? And then, as you learn what your confidence is based on and as you learn who you are in Christ, take heart and get active. We can’t go half way with this guy.
On what are you basing your confidence? Does your faith rely on your circumstances? What would you say if you met yourself 30 years from now and you were no longer a Christian?
My dad, who has brought me up going to church, who has often led talks, who was always a very strong and committed man of faith, is no longer a Christian. I found out that he was struggling with things a couple of years ago and this hit me really hard. It has forced me to stand on my own two feet and figure out where my faith lies. Despite being a strong Christian family, we were never very open about speaking about our faith together at home; we have never really discussed what God is doing in our lives. This now makes it more difficult when I want to ask my dad why he no longer believes and what his problems are. And despite trying to talk to him about it, I always find that I get choked up and can’t get very far.
I finally spoke to my mum a bit about it more recently as I didn’t really know where she stood and found out that she had also been very upset by this change, but this is about all I know. So it’s a slow process to get deep in my family and I struggle to attempt to.
But what this has made me do, is be all the more determined to get to know God more myself. And I am so thankful to being part of a different kind of family at Canterbury Vineyard. Starting afresh and asking ‘How have we learned Christ?’. Not getting to know the idea, not the concept, but getting to know the Man. Seeing how real and alive he is in so many people. I encourage you all to write down your prayers, then we can see so clearly that God is active and answering. And as Paul says in Philippians, I try to give all my worries to Him with thanksgiving, as I know that all things are possible through Him. And not to just get to know one part of the Bible, but to get to know all of it, to see all the different sides to our omnipotent, unconditionally-loving God.
I encourage you all to think about what your faith relies on. And not only to think, but to write it down. Can you put it into words? Would you be able to tell yourself years from now? And then, as you learn what your confidence is based on and as you learn who you are in Christ, take heart and get active. We can’t go half way with this guy.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Stepping into the Storm
But Jesus spoke to them at once, “It’s all right,” he said. “I am here! Don’t be afraid.”
...”Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you...”
“All right, come.” Jesus said.
There are moments when we feel like the storms of everyday life gather around us and we feel like the only option we have is to retreat to the boat, close our eyes, cross our fingers and hope we make it through (after all, that’s what the disciples did). The passage of Jesus walking on water has been used numerous times to further show us the miraculous power that Jesus had on this earth, I mean walking on water is unfortunately not a natural occurrence in today’s society. However there’s a much deeper symbolic lesson to learn from this passage; like I said earlier, we all have ‘comfort zones,’ boundaries we have set in place around our lives to shelter us from harm. Unfortunately in today’s society we feel this need to shelter parts of ourselves from other people, but when this mentality affects our vision and experience of the kingdom it is detrimental to the progression of our faith and hinders the invasion of Heaven on Earth. Now this is the point where I say something that could upset you:
God is not a God of comfort.
You can search, but you will not find a verse that describes God as one of comfort, or a passage that says he brought comfort to an individual; the reason for this is because to bring comfort signifies a level of passivity with the state of current events. Instead God is the bringer of peace; he brings peace to sorrow, to anger, to heartache. If you want a tool to help further grasp this, think of these words and what are the first things to pop into your head? Personally when I think of comfort I think lying back on the sofa with a cup of tea in my joggers and a hoodie; when I think of peace I think of stillness, stillness with the possibility of action. The disciples were more than happy to sit in the comfort of the boat while the storm raged on around them, but Peter knew different; Peter knew that Jesus isn’t in the boat, Jesus is out there in the storm and if he wanted to fully experience the power of God he had to be out there too.
Now, if you want to have the courage to step out of the boat, there are three things you must grasp, the first is an observation. Ask most people what they think Heaven looks like and they’ll say it’s a massive castle with a moat around it, probably made of gold and shiny; the defining characteristics of the kingdom that come up time and time again is that it is a well structured, defensive fortress. Everything about it is trying to keep evil out and in doing so gives more credit to the enemy than they deserve. There is nothing, and there should be nothing about the kingdom that is defensive, it has absolutely no reason to be. We read in Revelations that the kingdom of Hell will not stand against us, it is they who have the strong gates, the moats, the high walls; they’re trying to keep us out. How does that make you feel? We need to stop being defensive Christians who feel they need to bow the knee all the time in an effort to feel accepted, we need to begin to understand that the battle has already been won and strive forth in confidence and take back ground for the kingdom. Our society is calling for a group of people who will stand up for justice, for peace, for grace, for truth, for what they believe in and we can be that people.
Secondly we need to stop making excuses in order to stay in our comfort zones; Dino Rizzo gives a couple of examples of this in his book ‘Servolution,’ I’m going to give two examples of the main reasons for staying in the boat:
Statement 1: Our church just doesn’t have enough people to do that or our people aren’t motivated to do that
Dino’s Response: It starts with leadership – if you lead the way, the people will follow.
Note Dino didn’t say it starts with ‘the’ leadership; you don’t have to wait for you pastor or your smallgroup leader to take kingdom initiative before you feel you can do it. If you have a churning in your gut and a passion to get out there, then go, you’ve been given the authority to do so.
Statement 2: We don’t have the money to do outreach like that.
Dino’s Response: Do what you can with what you have and see what God does.
You don’t need to have a savings account full of money to do outreach, if you can only spare £1 then use that £1 to show God’s love to someone in a practical way; pay for someone’s parking ticket at the shopping centre, buy a coffee for a stranger. If you can see the kingdom come in the small things you’ll be given the kingdom to do big things.
The final thing is we need to improve our ability to realise our own potential and understand more the authority we’ve been given here on Earth. Jesus said we could move mountains with only a mustard seed of faith, he gave us authority here on Earth, and he commissioned us to do as he did. Therefore if you read about Jesus doing something in the Bible, then you’ve been given the authority to do it too. This is more of a progressive thing, once you begin to step out in faith your confidence will build and your faith will strengthen, but it takes that first step to spark it off.
The nails that pierced Jesus’ body have pin-pointed our destiny, and if we run with it we'll see the kingdom move like never before. I hope you’ve found these words helpful but more than that I hope that after reading this you take the risk and step out of the boat. After all, it’s the only way you’ll get to walk on water.
...”Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you...”
“All right, come.” Jesus said.
There are moments when we feel like the storms of everyday life gather around us and we feel like the only option we have is to retreat to the boat, close our eyes, cross our fingers and hope we make it through (after all, that’s what the disciples did). The passage of Jesus walking on water has been used numerous times to further show us the miraculous power that Jesus had on this earth, I mean walking on water is unfortunately not a natural occurrence in today’s society. However there’s a much deeper symbolic lesson to learn from this passage; like I said earlier, we all have ‘comfort zones,’ boundaries we have set in place around our lives to shelter us from harm. Unfortunately in today’s society we feel this need to shelter parts of ourselves from other people, but when this mentality affects our vision and experience of the kingdom it is detrimental to the progression of our faith and hinders the invasion of Heaven on Earth. Now this is the point where I say something that could upset you:
God is not a God of comfort.
You can search, but you will not find a verse that describes God as one of comfort, or a passage that says he brought comfort to an individual; the reason for this is because to bring comfort signifies a level of passivity with the state of current events. Instead God is the bringer of peace; he brings peace to sorrow, to anger, to heartache. If you want a tool to help further grasp this, think of these words and what are the first things to pop into your head? Personally when I think of comfort I think lying back on the sofa with a cup of tea in my joggers and a hoodie; when I think of peace I think of stillness, stillness with the possibility of action. The disciples were more than happy to sit in the comfort of the boat while the storm raged on around them, but Peter knew different; Peter knew that Jesus isn’t in the boat, Jesus is out there in the storm and if he wanted to fully experience the power of God he had to be out there too.
Now, if you want to have the courage to step out of the boat, there are three things you must grasp, the first is an observation. Ask most people what they think Heaven looks like and they’ll say it’s a massive castle with a moat around it, probably made of gold and shiny; the defining characteristics of the kingdom that come up time and time again is that it is a well structured, defensive fortress. Everything about it is trying to keep evil out and in doing so gives more credit to the enemy than they deserve. There is nothing, and there should be nothing about the kingdom that is defensive, it has absolutely no reason to be. We read in Revelations that the kingdom of Hell will not stand against us, it is they who have the strong gates, the moats, the high walls; they’re trying to keep us out. How does that make you feel? We need to stop being defensive Christians who feel they need to bow the knee all the time in an effort to feel accepted, we need to begin to understand that the battle has already been won and strive forth in confidence and take back ground for the kingdom. Our society is calling for a group of people who will stand up for justice, for peace, for grace, for truth, for what they believe in and we can be that people.
Secondly we need to stop making excuses in order to stay in our comfort zones; Dino Rizzo gives a couple of examples of this in his book ‘Servolution,’ I’m going to give two examples of the main reasons for staying in the boat:
Statement 1: Our church just doesn’t have enough people to do that or our people aren’t motivated to do that
Dino’s Response: It starts with leadership – if you lead the way, the people will follow.
Note Dino didn’t say it starts with ‘the’ leadership; you don’t have to wait for you pastor or your smallgroup leader to take kingdom initiative before you feel you can do it. If you have a churning in your gut and a passion to get out there, then go, you’ve been given the authority to do so.
Statement 2: We don’t have the money to do outreach like that.
Dino’s Response: Do what you can with what you have and see what God does.
You don’t need to have a savings account full of money to do outreach, if you can only spare £1 then use that £1 to show God’s love to someone in a practical way; pay for someone’s parking ticket at the shopping centre, buy a coffee for a stranger. If you can see the kingdom come in the small things you’ll be given the kingdom to do big things.
The final thing is we need to improve our ability to realise our own potential and understand more the authority we’ve been given here on Earth. Jesus said we could move mountains with only a mustard seed of faith, he gave us authority here on Earth, and he commissioned us to do as he did. Therefore if you read about Jesus doing something in the Bible, then you’ve been given the authority to do it too. This is more of a progressive thing, once you begin to step out in faith your confidence will build and your faith will strengthen, but it takes that first step to spark it off.
The nails that pierced Jesus’ body have pin-pointed our destiny, and if we run with it we'll see the kingdom move like never before. I hope you’ve found these words helpful but more than that I hope that after reading this you take the risk and step out of the boat. After all, it’s the only way you’ll get to walk on water.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
challenge yourself.. consistently
Yesterday was one of those days where everything went wrong. I woke up late, forced myself to hit the gym solo at 7:00am, forgot I had a two hour meeting that cut into my scheduled study time, the meeting times got changed over and over, I didn’t have petrol money, the microwave died on me, I spilt ketchup on my favourite jumper, was late to the meeting, didn’t study enough, found out my phone bill was a whopping £100, went overdrawn with the bank… the whole day was a pain in the ass. That hasn’t happened to me in a while. It’s funny though, that such trivial things can make you feel like punching a hole in the nearest wall. I mean it wasn’t that bad was it?
Whenever I have days like that I remember this quote from a beloved mentor/pastor of mine. “The strength of a man is determined by how much it takes to discourage him”. I love how that challenges me. Especially when I’m in one of those moments; one of those “I hate the world!” moments and I get unnecessarily annoyed at people that are just trying to encourage me. It calls me to live to a standard that I have not yet managed to build my foundations upon. That place where you aren’t affected by your circumstances but instead, you consistently affect the atmosphere around you. And sure, we mostly understand this concept on an intellectual level but I think there’s a dynamic that we just don’t seem to see in how we live day-to-day. Our lives are consistently producing something. No matter the time of day or the activities we’re involved in. Your spirit never sleeps.
But often enough we only seem to pull out the big guns when life goes wrong. It takes a serious level of discomfort and threat for us to begin “doing the stuff” i.e. manifesting Heaven on earth and ensuring that God’s goodness is more dominant than the sinful junk around us. As soon as we feel comfortable again, our focus shifts to living life. We stop. And until the shit hits the fan again we don’t do anything more than what “is required” of us. Two of the most powerful things about DaddyGod to me are His consistency and the fact He is eternal. God never changes, but at the same time He is an eternal God and we will never experience the fullness of who He is. The four cherubim described in the book of revelation are worshipping in His throne room always singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty!”, [I believe] because they are seeing a new side of His glory with each passing moment. He is constantly growing. That, to me, is NUTS! Totally blows me away.
And that’s what we’re called to - to growth. It’s our destiny to become more and more like an eternal God. Doesn’t that excite the crap out of you?! I love it! Our inheritance is so freaking BIG that we get to embrace and en-grain new aspects of God into the very essence of who we are, making it completely unique to our character and seeing it affects everything and everyone around us. AAAAHHH! Okay so I’m getting carried away, but hopefully you are getting this. It’s an every day thing. Not just when we get hit with temptation, confrontation or failure. We can grow more and more so that what it takes to discourage us is no longer trivial and our strength can extend into actually changing the world. We can love people beyond their differences and see God’s heart in the situations that hurt us. But this means we need to challenge ourselves. We need to see where we’re at, recognise the good, understand the lack and find out how we can grow more.
A lot of this comes down to your hunger for more. That hunger will compel you to ask God how you can do better, how you can love more sincerely, how you can step out and take the risks that scare you the most. Communicate with your God. Ask the Holy Spirit these questions. Listen. Act. And again, don’t be afraid of failure. Thomas Edison when asked why he didn’t quit after failing to make a light bulb 3,000 times said this, “I didn’t fail. I just discovered 3,000 ways NOT to make a light bulb”. There’s only one direction in the Kingdom - forward. Get steppin’!
Whenever I have days like that I remember this quote from a beloved mentor/pastor of mine. “The strength of a man is determined by how much it takes to discourage him”. I love how that challenges me. Especially when I’m in one of those moments; one of those “I hate the world!” moments and I get unnecessarily annoyed at people that are just trying to encourage me. It calls me to live to a standard that I have not yet managed to build my foundations upon. That place where you aren’t affected by your circumstances but instead, you consistently affect the atmosphere around you. And sure, we mostly understand this concept on an intellectual level but I think there’s a dynamic that we just don’t seem to see in how we live day-to-day. Our lives are consistently producing something. No matter the time of day or the activities we’re involved in. Your spirit never sleeps.
But often enough we only seem to pull out the big guns when life goes wrong. It takes a serious level of discomfort and threat for us to begin “doing the stuff” i.e. manifesting Heaven on earth and ensuring that God’s goodness is more dominant than the sinful junk around us. As soon as we feel comfortable again, our focus shifts to living life. We stop. And until the shit hits the fan again we don’t do anything more than what “is required” of us. Two of the most powerful things about DaddyGod to me are His consistency and the fact He is eternal. God never changes, but at the same time He is an eternal God and we will never experience the fullness of who He is. The four cherubim described in the book of revelation are worshipping in His throne room always singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty!”, [I believe] because they are seeing a new side of His glory with each passing moment. He is constantly growing. That, to me, is NUTS! Totally blows me away.
And that’s what we’re called to - to growth. It’s our destiny to become more and more like an eternal God. Doesn’t that excite the crap out of you?! I love it! Our inheritance is so freaking BIG that we get to embrace and en-grain new aspects of God into the very essence of who we are, making it completely unique to our character and seeing it affects everything and everyone around us. AAAAHHH! Okay so I’m getting carried away, but hopefully you are getting this. It’s an every day thing. Not just when we get hit with temptation, confrontation or failure. We can grow more and more so that what it takes to discourage us is no longer trivial and our strength can extend into actually changing the world. We can love people beyond their differences and see God’s heart in the situations that hurt us. But this means we need to challenge ourselves. We need to see where we’re at, recognise the good, understand the lack and find out how we can grow more.
A lot of this comes down to your hunger for more. That hunger will compel you to ask God how you can do better, how you can love more sincerely, how you can step out and take the risks that scare you the most. Communicate with your God. Ask the Holy Spirit these questions. Listen. Act. And again, don’t be afraid of failure. Thomas Edison when asked why he didn’t quit after failing to make a light bulb 3,000 times said this, “I didn’t fail. I just discovered 3,000 ways NOT to make a light bulb”. There’s only one direction in the Kingdom - forward. Get steppin’!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Panic Prayers and Awesome Answers
So I'm taking a break from my assignments to share a couple of really relevant truths, aware that I have lots to do and I can’t play football for Canterbury Vineyard Football Club at the weekend if it isn’t all done. So this may be brief and to the point; a first for one of my blogs.
I had a mass panic on Sunday night where the devil crept in and brought up some thoughts and fears I really didn’t need. What they did was mask the reality of God’s nature. Basically I woke up fretting because as I saw, or as the enemy had made me see I had a bucket load of work to do. I am possibly the worst organised person in the world. When God gifted people with administrative skills, I missed the cut, so I was panicking because I had two essays to write, stuff to organise for the university
hockey team, plus training and a game and stuff to do at the Canterbury Vineyard warehouse this week, I also had to work some shifts in my part time job to earn a little bit of cash to eat and of course I had some lectures to go to and bits to prepare for the seminars. I didn’t sleep.
I prayed. Not for the first time in panic and desperation, asking for some sort of help because as far as I was concerned I’d left it all too late and seriously messed this one up. I told my girlfriend, and wisely she helped me plan out my week/time management. Effectively what she really said was ‘you have more time than you think’. I have no doubt that her answer was God’s answer to my prayer.
The bumper-sticker-cliche that is, ‘Dont worry about tomorrow, God is already there’ is another one of those underrated and ignored sentiments. What has he done since? Kicked me up the bottom for one.
I remembered something that happened while I was at the warehouse a couple of weeks ago. What thought I was praying into was whether or not I should do a Cause To Live For Year internship at CV next year. I basically wanted convincing that I am ‘qualified’ to do it to be honest. Instead what I got from God was an essay title. Now along with my lack of organisational skills, I also have a relatively
short attention span, my mind wanders. So for a moment I was like, ‘woah here we go again’, before I realised I hadn’t really wandered at all. What my prayer had actually ended up being wasn’t ‘Shall I do this internship? Is this what you are calling me to do?’ but more of a ‘What shall I do?’ If there is any proof that God is a joker then look no further. He knew what I was praying for, instead he took
my vague question generally and told me to write an essay. I was like, ‘Eh?’
Where I was debating things far off in the futureish (September), my focus on the immediate had been lost. Hence why I was in a panic frame of mind. God refocused me for the here and now. I have work concerns which are as much His concern as mine. Incidently the essay title He gave me was to explore the ‘role of religion in Shakespeare’s Henry V’. So Monday morning when the panic subsides
I realise that actually God has this whole thing under control. He has my future in His hands and I don’t need to worry about it yet. Let’s just get this out of the way for now. So with His backing I got a 2000 word essay done in, probably a day if you put together the hours including research. Which to my mind is absolutely ridiculous. I look for magnificent signs and wonders and miracles, and get
discouraged when I don’t see them, especially as our expectation levels are raised higher and higher. Some times is easy to pass of simplistic and relatively mundane events, such as motivation to write an essay as our own doing. But hey, I pray for help because I'm despairing that I have too much on and within two days I’ve got life sorted to a manageable, OK level. God is really, really good.
And when praying into the whole internship and trying to recognise in myself that I have pastoral giftings my prayers have also been answered to an extent. I wanted to know if this was me, so what did God do? Presented me with situations in which I could be pastoral. Nothing big and shiny and in your face. Just reoccurring situations where people have needed to chat, hang out, needed a wise word (the wisdom of course having nothing to do with me). I’ve been there to do God’s business. OK big man I get the hint.
Finally if I wanted any more evidence that God is just freakin’ awesome then I look at my girlfriend. Before Christmas she didn’t necessarily know God. Now she is hearing His heart. Just last week she said to me she felt God tell her to pray for someone.
The devil spreads lies like wildfire, no more so than when he is feeling threatened. Experience shows he is feeling threatened. Aslan is on the move. Know the goodness of God and remember it during the hard times. The hard times are there because what you are doing is good.
I had a mass panic on Sunday night where the devil crept in and brought up some thoughts and fears I really didn’t need. What they did was mask the reality of God’s nature. Basically I woke up fretting because as I saw, or as the enemy had made me see I had a bucket load of work to do. I am possibly the worst organised person in the world. When God gifted people with administrative skills, I missed the cut, so I was panicking because I had two essays to write, stuff to organise for the university
hockey team, plus training and a game and stuff to do at the Canterbury Vineyard warehouse this week, I also had to work some shifts in my part time job to earn a little bit of cash to eat and of course I had some lectures to go to and bits to prepare for the seminars. I didn’t sleep.
I prayed. Not for the first time in panic and desperation, asking for some sort of help because as far as I was concerned I’d left it all too late and seriously messed this one up. I told my girlfriend, and wisely she helped me plan out my week/time management. Effectively what she really said was ‘you have more time than you think’. I have no doubt that her answer was God’s answer to my prayer.
The bumper-sticker-cliche that is, ‘Dont worry about tomorrow, God is already there’ is another one of those underrated and ignored sentiments. What has he done since? Kicked me up the bottom for one.
I remembered something that happened while I was at the warehouse a couple of weeks ago. What thought I was praying into was whether or not I should do a Cause To Live For Year internship at CV next year. I basically wanted convincing that I am ‘qualified’ to do it to be honest. Instead what I got from God was an essay title. Now along with my lack of organisational skills, I also have a relatively
short attention span, my mind wanders. So for a moment I was like, ‘woah here we go again’, before I realised I hadn’t really wandered at all. What my prayer had actually ended up being wasn’t ‘Shall I do this internship? Is this what you are calling me to do?’ but more of a ‘What shall I do?’ If there is any proof that God is a joker then look no further. He knew what I was praying for, instead he took
my vague question generally and told me to write an essay. I was like, ‘Eh?’
Where I was debating things far off in the futureish (September), my focus on the immediate had been lost. Hence why I was in a panic frame of mind. God refocused me for the here and now. I have work concerns which are as much His concern as mine. Incidently the essay title He gave me was to explore the ‘role of religion in Shakespeare’s Henry V’. So Monday morning when the panic subsides
I realise that actually God has this whole thing under control. He has my future in His hands and I don’t need to worry about it yet. Let’s just get this out of the way for now. So with His backing I got a 2000 word essay done in, probably a day if you put together the hours including research. Which to my mind is absolutely ridiculous. I look for magnificent signs and wonders and miracles, and get
discouraged when I don’t see them, especially as our expectation levels are raised higher and higher. Some times is easy to pass of simplistic and relatively mundane events, such as motivation to write an essay as our own doing. But hey, I pray for help because I'm despairing that I have too much on and within two days I’ve got life sorted to a manageable, OK level. God is really, really good.
And when praying into the whole internship and trying to recognise in myself that I have pastoral giftings my prayers have also been answered to an extent. I wanted to know if this was me, so what did God do? Presented me with situations in which I could be pastoral. Nothing big and shiny and in your face. Just reoccurring situations where people have needed to chat, hang out, needed a wise word (the wisdom of course having nothing to do with me). I’ve been there to do God’s business. OK big man I get the hint.
Finally if I wanted any more evidence that God is just freakin’ awesome then I look at my girlfriend. Before Christmas she didn’t necessarily know God. Now she is hearing His heart. Just last week she said to me she felt God tell her to pray for someone.
The devil spreads lies like wildfire, no more so than when he is feeling threatened. Experience shows he is feeling threatened. Aslan is on the move. Know the goodness of God and remember it during the hard times. The hard times are there because what you are doing is good.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Unlimited. Freedom.
Unlimited. Freedom.
These are two words that have really resonated in my heart over the last months in our worship at Canterbury Vineyard, and particularly so in the worship at our Cause to Live For events. Initially the words were pertinent in my head as individual words, really feeling that God was speaking His illimitability over us, the illimitability of his grace, love and mercy. Unlimited, to me suggested an imminence and accessibility of Him, of His affection, of His desire to love on us, to protect us, to secure us. But as the worship progressed, I could feel God just opening this up further- it goes beyond what we perceive is “unlimited”. It is quite easy to believe that God is unlimited, because unlimited suggests infinite, eternal, and I think that there can be an ease to lose sight of something so big. When Louis Giglio spoke about the sheer magnitude of creation and God’s part in that (in the talk titled “How Great is Our God” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKMw1ndl-EY), I can’t help but feel swallowed by it all, to the extent that I was tempted to shrug it off- yeah God’s big, cool. But unlimited in this moment suddenly meant more; it meant an accessibility, an infinite accessibility to our creator. It meant being able to ask Him for things too big for me to handle, or to comprehend and we as a family were stepping into it, asking for More in the worship, asking for More in our lives.
And stood there, thrown into the presence of Jesus with this incredible worship, I just felt the sense that God was asking me, and us as a family to be unlimited for Him. To be unlimited to Him, baring our souls and hearts to Him, but also going out and telling people of what He has done for us in a way that knows no bounds or restrictions.
Which is why I couldn’t help but laugh when Freedom was the next word that popped into my head, you have to know that Jesus has a great sense of humour. It resonated as the means to the end. You are free to be unlimited, you are free to access more and more of the infinite God that you will never be able to get too much of, or not enough of. Everlasting. Never ending. I could break into a Hillsong song round about now... Suffice it to say, worship is a key tool in helping to access that, and it is a privilege to be a part of something so effective, so moving, and so incredible as worship of our Father enabling us to reach Him and access everything that He has for us.
Vicky Beeching sang “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”, and when God put the word on my heart, it was through singing that bridge. I opened my bible and found it in 2 Corinthians 3:17. How awesome it is to know that we can just ask for God’s spirit, and with His spirit comes the freedom to access His everything.
These are two words that have really resonated in my heart over the last months in our worship at Canterbury Vineyard, and particularly so in the worship at our Cause to Live For events. Initially the words were pertinent in my head as individual words, really feeling that God was speaking His illimitability over us, the illimitability of his grace, love and mercy. Unlimited, to me suggested an imminence and accessibility of Him, of His affection, of His desire to love on us, to protect us, to secure us. But as the worship progressed, I could feel God just opening this up further- it goes beyond what we perceive is “unlimited”. It is quite easy to believe that God is unlimited, because unlimited suggests infinite, eternal, and I think that there can be an ease to lose sight of something so big. When Louis Giglio spoke about the sheer magnitude of creation and God’s part in that (in the talk titled “How Great is Our God” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKMw1ndl-EY), I can’t help but feel swallowed by it all, to the extent that I was tempted to shrug it off- yeah God’s big, cool. But unlimited in this moment suddenly meant more; it meant an accessibility, an infinite accessibility to our creator. It meant being able to ask Him for things too big for me to handle, or to comprehend and we as a family were stepping into it, asking for More in the worship, asking for More in our lives.
And stood there, thrown into the presence of Jesus with this incredible worship, I just felt the sense that God was asking me, and us as a family to be unlimited for Him. To be unlimited to Him, baring our souls and hearts to Him, but also going out and telling people of what He has done for us in a way that knows no bounds or restrictions.
Which is why I couldn’t help but laugh when Freedom was the next word that popped into my head, you have to know that Jesus has a great sense of humour. It resonated as the means to the end. You are free to be unlimited, you are free to access more and more of the infinite God that you will never be able to get too much of, or not enough of. Everlasting. Never ending. I could break into a Hillsong song round about now... Suffice it to say, worship is a key tool in helping to access that, and it is a privilege to be a part of something so effective, so moving, and so incredible as worship of our Father enabling us to reach Him and access everything that He has for us.
Vicky Beeching sang “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”, and when God put the word on my heart, it was through singing that bridge. I opened my bible and found it in 2 Corinthians 3:17. How awesome it is to know that we can just ask for God’s spirit, and with His spirit comes the freedom to access His everything.
Words for church, Words for mission, Words about God.
Words for church, Words for mission, Words about God.
I am passionate about words. A little about words themselves, but mainly for the use of words. Probably a combination of: the in-depth study of the English language I’ve done in the past, and the consciousness and [sometimes troublesome] social awareness I feel; in that I see when words are misused, when context or tones are misjudged and I feel the pain of those words so often.
I am also deeply passionate about encouragement – words of encouragement, and affirmation. For what could be more godly than these types of words? They are words of praise, of love. Of truth. And truth cuts through - as it says in Ephesians 6, it is the sword of truth. This is not just a nice metaphor; you hear words of integrity and of God’s truth shout amongst a cacophony of worldly nonsense. God’s voice is distinctive, it is heard above the crowd – this is how it has power. It is distinctive because it is the truth.
What is it about the prayer that creates desire for an all-encompassing Amen? Because I want my prayers to be those communal acts of worship. It’s not the Marks and Sparks-esque voice of the one who leads it, it is God’s distinctive voice spoken. It is like when a child hears her mother’s voice, his ears open at the recognition of her voice.
Words have immense power, they are both a tool and a weapon.
They can be the most effortless, but significant form of building up community, and building up Godly men and women. In a troubling time, Job’s wise friend Eliphaz reminds him “Your words have comforted those who fell…” Job 4:4 – it’s two-fold: the doubting Job’s faith in himself is restored by the comforting words of Eliphaz.
Moreover, when a compliment isn’t just a compliment, it’s a revelation of character (as Eliphaz’s was) and focuses on the interior, it is no doubt what God knows and loves about that person. As the Lord tells Samuel, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart…” 1 Samuel 16:7. That’s just one of report of God’s good news!
Now, I am regularly challenged by the witness of my words. Because if we take the power of words seriously, in the achievement of good, we have to acknowledge the affect a misused word may have. Out of one phrase our whole attitude can come, equipped with the subtleties of tone, and soon the depths of the ugliness of our heart too can be revealed. Your responses to ‘dangerous discussions’ can utterly shape the way people perceive you. As Jesus says, written in Matthew 15:18, “But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean.” We cannot be perfect, but we can still aim to model Jesus.
People notice positivity. Thankfully that also means that people can notice the joy of the faith within us (even if they don’t connect the two.) Not always do people gather straight away that I’m a Christian, but fairly quickly they notice the hope in me, the joy of life, the optimism; even if they can’t identify why I’m like this. Before my flatmates even knew my fellow flatmate Dave, and I were Christians, they spoke about our ‘endless happy aura’. That I think an exaggeration! But, the subtleties of words, and how you use them to respond to people really speak volumes. Clearly I’ve been ‘happy’ considerably enough for a contrast to be seen. A negativity fast has got one of the hardest, but most rewarding things I’ve done…try it.
Secondly: honesty. How often are words used falsely? Truth shines through - Truth is godly. To be honest with people is to reflect God. To be open with people, to be frank in a way, which is humbling and not aggressive, is unexpected, refreshing, and undeniably godly.
Hear these words of encouragement, that God can give in your words, in your conversations, fleeting exchanges and deeper discussions; and know how little you need to make of words (ineloquent, but intentional), for them to have great impact.
I am passionate about words. A little about words themselves, but mainly for the use of words. Probably a combination of: the in-depth study of the English language I’ve done in the past, and the consciousness and [sometimes troublesome] social awareness I feel; in that I see when words are misused, when context or tones are misjudged and I feel the pain of those words so often.
I am also deeply passionate about encouragement – words of encouragement, and affirmation. For what could be more godly than these types of words? They are words of praise, of love. Of truth. And truth cuts through - as it says in Ephesians 6, it is the sword of truth. This is not just a nice metaphor; you hear words of integrity and of God’s truth shout amongst a cacophony of worldly nonsense. God’s voice is distinctive, it is heard above the crowd – this is how it has power. It is distinctive because it is the truth.
What is it about the prayer that creates desire for an all-encompassing Amen? Because I want my prayers to be those communal acts of worship. It’s not the Marks and Sparks-esque voice of the one who leads it, it is God’s distinctive voice spoken. It is like when a child hears her mother’s voice, his ears open at the recognition of her voice.
Words have immense power, they are both a tool and a weapon.
They can be the most effortless, but significant form of building up community, and building up Godly men and women. In a troubling time, Job’s wise friend Eliphaz reminds him “Your words have comforted those who fell…” Job 4:4 – it’s two-fold: the doubting Job’s faith in himself is restored by the comforting words of Eliphaz.
Moreover, when a compliment isn’t just a compliment, it’s a revelation of character (as Eliphaz’s was) and focuses on the interior, it is no doubt what God knows and loves about that person. As the Lord tells Samuel, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart…” 1 Samuel 16:7. That’s just one of report of God’s good news!
Now, I am regularly challenged by the witness of my words. Because if we take the power of words seriously, in the achievement of good, we have to acknowledge the affect a misused word may have. Out of one phrase our whole attitude can come, equipped with the subtleties of tone, and soon the depths of the ugliness of our heart too can be revealed. Your responses to ‘dangerous discussions’ can utterly shape the way people perceive you. As Jesus says, written in Matthew 15:18, “But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean.” We cannot be perfect, but we can still aim to model Jesus.
People notice positivity. Thankfully that also means that people can notice the joy of the faith within us (even if they don’t connect the two.) Not always do people gather straight away that I’m a Christian, but fairly quickly they notice the hope in me, the joy of life, the optimism; even if they can’t identify why I’m like this. Before my flatmates even knew my fellow flatmate Dave, and I were Christians, they spoke about our ‘endless happy aura’. That I think an exaggeration! But, the subtleties of words, and how you use them to respond to people really speak volumes. Clearly I’ve been ‘happy’ considerably enough for a contrast to be seen. A negativity fast has got one of the hardest, but most rewarding things I’ve done…try it.
Secondly: honesty. How often are words used falsely? Truth shines through - Truth is godly. To be honest with people is to reflect God. To be open with people, to be frank in a way, which is humbling and not aggressive, is unexpected, refreshing, and undeniably godly.
Hear these words of encouragement, that God can give in your words, in your conversations, fleeting exchanges and deeper discussions; and know how little you need to make of words (ineloquent, but intentional), for them to have great impact.
Sunday, 27 February 2011
A not so mysterious God
'God works in mysterious ways' is a saying I have heard quite a lot over my short-ish journey as a Christian. At the moment however God seems to be working in breathtakingly obvious ways in a sort of smack-you-round-the-face obviousness that leaves little room for error. I find this comforting as stumbling down the wrong path is all too easy for me.
Sometimes in my walk with God its felt as though I am walking around a darkened room with my hands over my eyes trying in vain to work out what it is that I'm meant to do next. At the moment though God is being very generous and very clear on some stuff, one area of which I'm going to have a whirl at unpacking here briefly.
Getting in real relationship.
Over the last couple of months I have had the same conversation with six different guys on the same cluster of topics: Insecurities, loneliness, betrayal, boundaries and the feeling that they don't have what it takes to catch up with the calling God has put on their lives.
When God wants us to understand something He really drives it home. If I had only had the conversation with one other guy I think it could have just settled in my head as something that a mate of mine and I have in common, but, because the same conversation was replicated over six different occasions, it meant that I began to see the pattern and came to realise that something is changing in me and in my friends. That God wasn't happy for it to take up home in my head but that it was something destined for my heart straight from His. While the topics on the surface all seem pretty negative on the face of it, the fact that we are all coming to realise the same things and have the same issues weighing us down is overwhelmingly positive and so completely real.
For a man to admit to his insecurities is no simple thing. We like to project a calm confidence out to the world and lets be honest guys, most of us are very good at acting that out. Probably too good. Yes we all know deep down that we aren't as collected and as together as we like to show the world, but the better the projection, the better we keep our true nature hidden.
This outwardly fake confidence has started to break down between some of my mates and I and the fruit being born from this is exciting, fresh and new. This is not to say that we spend our time together in floods of tears and dwelling on our human failings. There is precious little better in that than being all fake and 'fine' to the world whilst being beaten up inside. What it means is that we are being real with each other. We laugh about what makes us happy, we joke about, do stupid things(in the name of banter) but we also come together and pray in such a brutal and honest way that stuff gets dealt with, vocalised and each one of us knows he is being looked after by the others.
Over time I'm going to try and unpack insecurities, loneliness, betrayal, boundaries and catching up with calling here but for now I'm going to bring this in to land with what I have come to perceive as Jesus' model of real relationship.
To understand how to be in real relationship we need to look to Jesus, our model for how to do life with one another.
Jesus loves. Love is honest, brutal, nurturing, supporting, trusting and forgiving.
As my mates and I begin to reach into this real relationship and as we grow to trust one another more deeply, the closer we are becoming to the ways Jesus modeled so perfectly for us and the more of His Kingdom we are going to walk in.
Sometimes in my walk with God its felt as though I am walking around a darkened room with my hands over my eyes trying in vain to work out what it is that I'm meant to do next. At the moment though God is being very generous and very clear on some stuff, one area of which I'm going to have a whirl at unpacking here briefly.
Getting in real relationship.
Over the last couple of months I have had the same conversation with six different guys on the same cluster of topics: Insecurities, loneliness, betrayal, boundaries and the feeling that they don't have what it takes to catch up with the calling God has put on their lives.
When God wants us to understand something He really drives it home. If I had only had the conversation with one other guy I think it could have just settled in my head as something that a mate of mine and I have in common, but, because the same conversation was replicated over six different occasions, it meant that I began to see the pattern and came to realise that something is changing in me and in my friends. That God wasn't happy for it to take up home in my head but that it was something destined for my heart straight from His. While the topics on the surface all seem pretty negative on the face of it, the fact that we are all coming to realise the same things and have the same issues weighing us down is overwhelmingly positive and so completely real.
For a man to admit to his insecurities is no simple thing. We like to project a calm confidence out to the world and lets be honest guys, most of us are very good at acting that out. Probably too good. Yes we all know deep down that we aren't as collected and as together as we like to show the world, but the better the projection, the better we keep our true nature hidden.
This outwardly fake confidence has started to break down between some of my mates and I and the fruit being born from this is exciting, fresh and new. This is not to say that we spend our time together in floods of tears and dwelling on our human failings. There is precious little better in that than being all fake and 'fine' to the world whilst being beaten up inside. What it means is that we are being real with each other. We laugh about what makes us happy, we joke about, do stupid things(in the name of banter) but we also come together and pray in such a brutal and honest way that stuff gets dealt with, vocalised and each one of us knows he is being looked after by the others.
Over time I'm going to try and unpack insecurities, loneliness, betrayal, boundaries and catching up with calling here but for now I'm going to bring this in to land with what I have come to perceive as Jesus' model of real relationship.
To understand how to be in real relationship we need to look to Jesus, our model for how to do life with one another.
Jesus loves. Love is honest, brutal, nurturing, supporting, trusting and forgiving.
As my mates and I begin to reach into this real relationship and as we grow to trust one another more deeply, the closer we are becoming to the ways Jesus modeled so perfectly for us and the more of His Kingdom we are going to walk in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)