Is God your 'Genie'?

 It never fails to amaze me how so many people approach God as if He were a “genie in a bottle”. They feel that if they do all of the “right stuff” then God will, naturally of course, “bless” them with health, wealth and all’s right with their world! I mean, come on!! Their entire attitude to God is one of “He owes them!”  I suspect that one of the reasons that this approach has crept into the minds of so many ‘Christians’ is because of the ‘Name it and Claim it’ preaching that gets done nowadays in order to help fill the empty seats in church buildings!

The fact that so many people have this approach to God, is, unfortunately, a by-product of our society. We are all encouraged to be strong and independent, to be a ‘self-made’ man or woman and that all the good things in life are ours to claim simply because ‘we are worth it’!  Just spend an evening watching the advertisements on television and you will see what I mean.  We are bombarded by messages that tell us that we can have silky smooth skin with blah soap, because we deserve it; insurance / investment companies taking care of our needs because we are worth it; vehicles that offer us luxury, affordability, and every little knick-knack that makes them special because we are.  So it goes on, a constant barrage of information that tells us constantly how much we deserve and how much the strong, independent, go-getter is admired for their success.

So when it comes to God, so many people find the Bible’s instructions very difficult to swallow. Obedience; submission; faithfulness; trust in an ‘unseen’ Saviour; and all the other requirements for a life fully immersed in doing the will of God. Therefore, large chunks of Jesus’ teachings are ignored and only the ‘good stuff’ is taught.  ‘Believe and you will receive.’  ‘Whatever you ask for in my name will be added to you.’  These are verses that people hang on to as they pray for a new vehicle, washing machine, a bigger house, and whatever else their hearts’ desire.  These people forget verses like ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…’

Yes, our God is a generous and loving God! He loves to provide for His children and to give them good gifts. God has on many an occasion provided a car, or other item that was beyond the means of the recipient, and He does this for His glory. But God wants our hearts. He wants our love and our trust. Yes, He does want us to give Him our troubles and trust Him to get us through them or miraculously solve them for us, but He wants us to love Him whether we live in a mansion or a shack. He wants us to trust Him when loved ones die, or when the doctor tells us we have cancer.  He wants us to be willing to walk with Him through every facet of our lives and not to just call on Him with our ‘prayer shopping list’ whenever we feel like it, and to then declare that we no longer believe just because He hasn’t provided us with the comfortable lifestyle we feel we deserve!!

So today, when you go to Him in prayer, firstly thank Him for what He did for you - the cross was not a walk in the park! Then praise Him for who He is because He deserves it! Finally, throw out your shopping list; lift up those you know of who are going through difficult times and then, thank Him for all that He has provided you with! Remember, that as He is the Creator, everything in this world belongs to Him – all you have is only on loan.    

Let GOD be your Hero!

How often have you made someone in your life your hero? Your spouse, a parent, sibling, or even your best friend? Someone whom you look up to more than anyone else for all kinds of reasons and you love to spend time with them whenever possible. You feel that when you are with them, all is right with the world even if only for a little while.  And the reason that this person is your hero is because they never put you down, they always encourage you, always make you feel as though you matter and that you actually do have something worthwhile to contribute to the world! They are there for you when your world seems bleak and depression throws its dank, heavy cloak around your shoulders, they visit you when you’re sick and always remember your birthday.

 But they’re only human and they will let you down inevitably and that’s when you get hurt and relationships get damaged.  Even if they never signed on for the role of hero in your life, you have burdened them with it and placed them on a pedestal that is not a safe place for them to be. These people, no matter who they are, your spouse, friend or family member, will suddenly find themselves at the receiving end of your pain or anger with absolutely no idea of what they have done wrong! It really is an unfair and unhealthy position in which to place anyone else – except for God.

Childlike adoration!

 Too much 'spotlight' can hide a person from you.

God will never let you down. He says that He will never leave you, or forsake you. He knows your very thoughts and every single thing about you and yet still loves you just as you are. You can go to Him with your problems day or night and it doesn’t cost a cent! You can learn from Him every day from the Book that He wrote for us, the Holy Bible, and discover new life lessons as He reveals them to you as you need them.  God will not grow tired of you, nor will He have other things on His plate that makes it impossible to get to spend time with you. He is always with you, always encouraging you and always strengthening you to run the race of life and finish it well. He wants you to shine for Him! He doesn't mind that you stutter, walk with a limp, or don't look like J-Lo. You are His precious child, He made you to be uniquely you and He is so proud of you! Make Him the Hero in your life – He will never let you down!

Then take the person you had made your hero off of the pedestal you had placed them on and let them be who they are.  Enjoy the wonderful way they treat you, but don’t see it just as ‘being nice’ on their part, consider that maybe they DO actually like you and consider you someone special in their lives as well – it could just start a revolution in how you think about yourself! 

Pray, Pray, Pray

Today I stand with head bowed down, troubles on my heart but at peace with the knowledge that I am powerless to do anything about them. I personally cannot remove the tumour on my sister's brain, I cannot make my friends in hospital heal any faster or suffer less. Nor can I heal the hearts of the hurting when they come to me for counsel. That is why my head is bowed. Not with the weight of troubles - but in prayer.
I cannot do the surgery my sister requires but I know that God has equipped others who can, and placed the right people in the right place to do exactly that. I cannot mend broken hearts and shattered dreams but I can help pick up the pieces. God has said that when we bring our prayers to Him he will listen and answer and that when two or more of us gather in His name - well then powerful things happen!
So I don't want to waste time imagining what could go wrong when I could use that time thanking God for that person and for the fact that He is taking care of them right at that very moment. As much as you or I may care for and love someone who is suffering, we must never forget that God's love for them is even greater and He has only what is best for them in His heart.  So today I bow my head, bend my knees and lift my heart to the most Almighty God, who created the Universe and yet loves tiny little us so completely.  I ask our heavenly Father to have His Hand on their lives to heal them, to make the Surgeons steady and sure in their actions and to keep these wonderful people with us here on earth for a much longer period. I thank God for the gift of life that He has given to each and every one of them and I ask Him to give them all a much longer time in which they can bring glory to Him and witness of His amazing love and supreme healing powers.
We are never helpless. We have prayer. The most amazing, awesome gift that you can imagine and yet which is so under-rated. God hears the prayers of the righteous. So when your heart is filled with the right intentions, and you present your requests before God, He will hear you and He will answer you. He may not always give you the answer you want but He will always give you the BEST answer.

A "Mighty Men" conference where men gather to worship and pray!
May God hear their voices - the voices of South Africa!

Out of the Ashes.......

"Out of the ashes, beauty will rise, and we will dance among the ruins, we will see it with our own eyes" so sings Steven Curtis Chapman in his song Beauty Will Rise. All I can do, is hope that it is true. This year has been a nasty one filled with death and illness and destruction.
I will be attending my third funeral tomorrow for the year that makes it one a month so far since the year began - I hope the trend now stops. The devastation that has wrecked Japan recently as well as Christchurch in New Zealand and the other countries that have been battered by natural disasters have numbered more in three months than what we generally get worldwide in as many years! Now the countries in northern Africa and the middle east are at the brink of civil wars, with innocent women and children getting caught up in the crazy political battles. I agree that it is time for the despots like Gaddaffi to be removed from power, such a pity though that so many innocent people have to die to achieve it.
To add to all of this there is the small day to day problems and hurts like finding out that a friend that you counted as really special, doesn't consider you important at all. Or the work you have been doing with such enthusiasm gets 'rubbished' by the people you were doing it for with one or two nasty comments.  I'm sure that you can add to the list, but I'm not  going to - it's too depressing and right now I want to put my hope in Jesus because I know that only by walking with Him, trusting Him and letting Him be my guide am I going to make sense of all the madness in this world....

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The True Friend!

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Friendship can be a tricky business, it’s not like marriage where you’ve made a commitment to each other and declared your love for each other both publicly and privately. No, friendship can be far more complicated and difficult than any other relationship. In fact, I’ve often wondered why Jesus used friends and not family or spouse. Perhaps it’s because the loyalty and love of a friend is a constant unknown, never declared, always presumed, always uncertain.

I know a few people (myself included) who have (or have had) a friend that they were totally committed too. If this friend was in trouble everything was dropped or put on hold while their needs were met; extra care was taken when buying them birthday gifts, but if they remembered your birthday you could see they’d just grabbed something and hoped it would be ‘okay’.  You’d make dinner arrangements and they’d casually cancel at the last minute because they were tired but if this friend called and said “lets meet for coffee”, after getting over the shock (because they were never the one to initiate anything) all other arrangements were quickly cancelled – even the urgent one that you’ve waited a month for! 

Not all friendships are like this, thank goodness! Most of them are more evenly balanced with a mutual amount of give and take and yet, these friendships are the ones that we never forget, the people that we pour our hearts into, that we want to care for, nurture, encourage, support, love. The problem with these friendships is that very often a time comes when we realize that we are putting ninety percent into the friendship, the other person is benefitting tremendously from all our attention and so, to keep us at their side, they will do their ‘share’, they will put in their ten percent just to keep us satisfied.  When the ‘ninety-percenter’ suddenly realizes what is going on, they very often confront their friend angrily and invariably walk away from the friendship feeling hurt, used and confused.

I have to ask myself ‘why?’ Why walk away from something that you have built up? Except for in a marriage, nowhere in a relationship with another person, is it demanded that what you feel for someone is what they should feel in return. If you have declared your affection for that person, have they ever reciprocated? Did you inform your friend that you had certain expectations of them in return for the things that you did for them? Under most circumstances people will respond in kind, but if they don’t after the first few occasions, you can be sure that they probably never will.  I am fully aware that in my own particular case hell would freeze over before my friend even made it into the ten percent bracket, but I am prepared to live with that as it is my choice and until such time as I feel God saying ‘enough’ then that person will continue to have my full commitment. 

I also cannot help feeling that many ‘Christians’ have a relationship with Jesus that is very much like the “ten percenter’s”.  They like to keep Him around for when they need Him in an emergency, but otherwise they never talk to Him, never visit Him at His house, never do anything that He needs done, but know that they don’t have to do anything at all, because He is the truest of all friends, because He laid down His life for us!  The other wonderful thing about Jesus is that, although so many Christians are ten percenter’s, He is always a one hundred percenter! He will never walk away from us no matter how badly we treat Him, his love remains steadfast and true. He never lets go no matter what we are going through or how we behave.

John 15v17 “ This is my command: Love each other.” 

No Limitations....

How many of us go through life saying “I can’t”.  No matter how big or small the “can’t” is, by saying this we are setting a limitation not only to what we can do with our lives but we are limiting God by stopping   Him from working through our lives.  Now I know that God is a limitless God, capable of doing anything, but God will not work through us if we are not willing to be open to taking the steps and doing what He wants us to, and that excludes the ‘cannot’s and will not’s.

We so often see stories of people who have overcome enormous obstacles of physical disabilities, serious illness, tragedy and loss to go on and become winners in life, the type of heroes that we can all look up to.  These people should make those of us with excuses for not doing things, look seriously at what we are saying – are the “cannot’s” not perhaps, in truth “will not’s”.  Is it not perhaps our own fears that are holding us back and preventing us from doing something rather than an actual lack of ability?

What would happen in our lives if we were to decide to change the way we look at doing things and say “Yes, I can”. You know, you don’t have to do everything perfectly but just doing it can make an enormous difference to how you face life, how you feel about yourself, and how you face life’s challenges when they come your way.  If you decide to throw out all your self-imposed limitations you would be amazed at how your life will change so you need to decide if you want to continue the way you are or would you like to start making a difference in the lives of some of the people around you?

When it comes to doing something that God is wanting us to do, you can be sure that He will be your strength, He will provide you with what you need to carry out His work and He will always be at your side as you step out to do His work.  All you have to do is say “Yes” not only that but “Amen” which means “So Be It”.  So do not put limitations on what God is wanting to use you for, say Yes Lord, so be it, and live a life of no limitations, filled with the joy of seeing what God does in this world as you let Him use you to do some of His work, as you step up, throw out your limitations and make the difference.

Being God’s Samaritan

Have you ever been in a situation where you have been helpless and had to be rescued by someone? Did you feel embarrassed that someone had to help you out or were you so filled with gratitude that you realized that nothing you ever did could fully repay this person for what they had done for you? So often the person who comes to our rescue in our time of need is a complete stranger. A person who, is in no way tied to us physically, emotionally or financially and thus has no 'reason' to stop and assist us. Admittedly there are people who make rescuing others their occupation and get paid to do so, but I am not talking about the firefighters, or paramedics, or police.

Our response to help another person is an indication of our true character, and if we are unable to walk on by when someone is in need then we are reflecting the heart of God. However, except for in the case of emergencies, we should not be dependent on strangers when we are in situations where we need to be helped. God has called us to live in community, not in isolation. He has made us a part of His family, we are His children. As much as we should feel honoured when someone calls on us in their hour of need, we should not feel as though we are a burden when we have to turn to someone when we too have difficulties to face. If we were to live in community as God has called us to do, there would be far less suicide, sickness, divorce and depression in this world than what there is now.

Rescuing someone is not always needed only in traumatic situations like an accident or illness. Very often a young mother may need rescuing with some baby-sitting or an elderly person may need a hand with some transport to get their shopping done. Situations are all around us but, unless we are in community with others we are not going to be able to see them and therefore not going to be able to be the hands and feet that God wants us to be.

Whenever we think of helping someone our first thoughts are always 'monetary'. Then we realize that we don't have very much of that commodity ourselves, and so we lose heart and give up. Most people would be embarrassed at a financial handout, but if you know someone is struggling, invite them around for a meal, or drop off a bag of groceries. I could type pages and pages of suggestions and still not have an ending, because there will always be a new need – but God's storehouse is always full and all He needs is willing hands to carry the 'supplies' to those who are in need. It may even be you who has a need to be met!

Recently my youngest son called me to find out if it would be okay if he brought home a kitten, if he could catch it! He had gone to the post office and found this tiny creature trying to fend for itself on a traffic island in a busy street. He was able to catch it by feeding it pieces of bread. The poor little thing was only 4-5 weeks old and in a bad way. However, she is now a lively and active part of our lives and is my son's little shadow. The funny thing is, my son has never particularly liked cats! However, he said he could not live with himself, or consider himself a human being, if he just walked off and left the kitten in the street. The changes she is making in him and in his heart are amazing!