Jesus came for the broken hearted...Look at the Beatitudes...
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
They all aim at people that are broken, hurt, suffering, meek....
I had this little revalation the other Sunday at a Church service when I felt God more because I was feeling hurt and I was raw and real with my emotions and how I felt. Normally I find the blockage in worship and connecting with him is not dropping our crap and worshipping him for who he is and allowing him to come into our circumstance. I think of it like a fight between two people, let's say parents. If they don't both tell the truth about how they feel they aren't going to get anywhere or grow more close, more intimate.
I have had a pretty rough year this year, and looking back I have grown in my relationship with God with most in those tough times. When I was getting panic attacks at the beginning of the year I had no choice but to seek God (although this was hard sometimes because of the anxiousness but I had a plan that everytime I felt anxious or had a panic attack coming on I would quote Phillippians 4:6 to myself and let God's truth change the situation.
God is a Father and he loves us, he loves me, his heart cries out when he sees me upset or hurt and wants to come to me in my brokeness. Like a Mother or Father that sees their Child fall over and runs to them. But we must let him help us, let him love us.
I thank God that he calls sinners, the world is a judging world and it is nice to know that God seeks us! (All of us, cause we are all sinners!) And doesn't judge but loves us and through loving us we get helped out of our crap.
I only overcame anxiety because I let God, I let him love me, I cried out to him, litterally, I got on my knees and humbly told him I can't do this in my strength and that I need all of his strength and none of mine because "I give up", giving up is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength and a sign of allowing God, who is all powerful to take control of my life and put things back into order (and he did, I was healed)....
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
CAUTION: Deconstruction in process
Read this at your own expense, I may offend :)
Ok, so I can't concentrate on my Marketing assignment because I need to let this little rant out, here it goes!
I feel like I have been living a lie. I know I haven't been, it is just that my eyes have been opened and God is taking me on a journey where I am challenging all the beliefs, life routines, things I do and now I am asking questions of them. Things as simple as "Am I a bad Christian if I miss a week of Church?" or "Am I doing this because it is what a Christian does?". All my thoughts make me seem like I am rebelling against the Church (not my Church, the Church in general). But it isn't I am re-looking things with eyes of - What would God want and what DID Jesus do? Just from spending a lot of time in the gospels I have noticed that Jesus didn't come to create programmes and encourage people to cross the line so they don't go to hell, then sign up to a Church (go to 3 new believers courses) then join 6 ministries and give your life to the establishment of the Church and "build" the "kingdom" (kingdom being translated to growing the church and building more "ministries" --> Where did that come from anyway? I thought Jesus had one ministry and it was to Love people?). Nope, he came to freakn LOVE people! With NO AGENDA! They just ended up following him because they couldn't resist his love!
They saw who he was (not the title he carried, remember the priests didn't believe he was the Son of God) they followed him because of who he was. And the miracles he did, that was out of the intimacy he had with his Father and the love that overflowed out of that. I heard a saying "nothing is birthed without intimacy" and well that means practically like Children can't come into the world without a man and a women....you know the story... and the same with God, nothing can be birthed without us and God being in a relationship.
So I challenge you, strip back all your beliefs that you have been conditioned to believe and go back to the Bible and see what Jesus said and did about everything, then re-construct. It's great, my life has changed and to be honest is more exciting because it has challenged me to live for a cause greater than filling seats on Sunday. It has challenged me to love people, 24/7 with no agenda and then see the miracles overflow out of that.
Ok, so I can't concentrate on my Marketing assignment because I need to let this little rant out, here it goes!
I feel like I have been living a lie. I know I haven't been, it is just that my eyes have been opened and God is taking me on a journey where I am challenging all the beliefs, life routines, things I do and now I am asking questions of them. Things as simple as "Am I a bad Christian if I miss a week of Church?" or "Am I doing this because it is what a Christian does?". All my thoughts make me seem like I am rebelling against the Church (not my Church, the Church in general). But it isn't I am re-looking things with eyes of - What would God want and what DID Jesus do? Just from spending a lot of time in the gospels I have noticed that Jesus didn't come to create programmes and encourage people to cross the line so they don't go to hell, then sign up to a Church (go to 3 new believers courses) then join 6 ministries and give your life to the establishment of the Church and "build" the "kingdom" (kingdom being translated to growing the church and building more "ministries" --> Where did that come from anyway? I thought Jesus had one ministry and it was to Love people?). Nope, he came to freakn LOVE people! With NO AGENDA! They just ended up following him because they couldn't resist his love!
They saw who he was (not the title he carried, remember the priests didn't believe he was the Son of God) they followed him because of who he was. And the miracles he did, that was out of the intimacy he had with his Father and the love that overflowed out of that. I heard a saying "nothing is birthed without intimacy" and well that means practically like Children can't come into the world without a man and a women....you know the story... and the same with God, nothing can be birthed without us and God being in a relationship.
So I challenge you, strip back all your beliefs that you have been conditioned to believe and go back to the Bible and see what Jesus said and did about everything, then re-construct. It's great, my life has changed and to be honest is more exciting because it has challenged me to live for a cause greater than filling seats on Sunday. It has challenged me to love people, 24/7 with no agenda and then see the miracles overflow out of that.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
A Big Fat RANT!
Why should we be hungry for God? Isn't it much less effort and easier to be a Christian, go to Church, be in a life group and sing some songs in worship. And have Christian friends...
Spending time with God, reading the Bible and praying involves taking time away from our lives. We could be spending that time with Church friends or planning the next big Church event. We could spend it practising guitar for the worship team or you tubing all the Christian bands that have "made it".
What is the point? Leading the Christian life is way easier than living like Christ.
Recently I have been reading the Bible with a different pair of eyes, I have started looking at it realisticly...Here are some of my thoughts:
1) Jesus is awkward.
2) Jesus makes you get uncomfortable
3) Love affects someone most when it costs the person giving it
4) We live a watered down version of the gospel.
1) JESUS IS AWKWARD.
As I have been reading Matthew with eyes of realistic-ness (not sure if that is a real word....) I have been thinking about these things happening in real life, which I suppose makes sence because they did. Like for example the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9 where he gets mud and rubs it in his eyes, imagine walking along the street down by the beach and this Chrsitan nutter guy called Jesus grabs some watery sand off the floor and rubs it in this blind mans eyes then tells him to go wash it off himself... To be honest I get freaked out with just someone else with me evangelising with words let alone doing weird miracles...
But don't get me wrong, and think the mud is the secret to blindness. No, only doing what the Father is doing is the key. See Jesus was in such a intimate relationship with his Father that he heard clearly from God and did and the man was healed.
And the kingdom of God is opposite to the kingdom of the world, hense the mud. So of course Jesus is going to do something that seems mental to us.
2) JESUS MAKES YOU GET UNCOMFORTABLE...
Following on from above, he makes you get uncomfortable, life is sweet when you don't feel challenged and need to change. As humans we are searching for ways to make our life more comfortable, and easier.
I can be a bit of a clean freak and love cleaning my teeth, I can't stand not brushing them I sometimes brush them 3-4 times a day if I am home. Same with showering, I love feeling clean and comfortable, somedays I can't wait to get home and into fat pants. I love hot water bottles, blankets and wheeties (and couches with a cup of tea...) ahhh bliss. As current I am in my PJs under a blanket on my bed all comfy with a couple of books. In my natural habbitat. I feel COMFORTABLE here. Alone, reading the word and resting my body. But life isn't about finding our comfortable place.
Speaking of being comfortable as I was just about to write this section I got a call from my lovely friend Molly asking to stay at my place and I had a split second to think "Ahhh I am in my zone with my books in my own little space I don't really want disturbance" or "of course!" and I choose the later. Being Molly I would always choose to say yes just cause I love her company but you get the jist of what I am saying. He gives us opportunities to stay in our comfort zone or step out of the boat. Last week I promised myself I would talk to a homeless person in the next week, now I actually haven't been down lampton quey to do so yet but I am still planning on it cause it will be uncomfortable cause well there will be everyone walking past and probaly judging...
3) LOVE EFFECTS SOMEONE THE MOST WHEN IT COSTS THE PERSON GIVING IT
Don't you love that warm fuzzy you get when someone has re-arranged their schedule to fit you in, or taken the time to write you a letter or taken you out on a date that has involved thought and time to plan?
That is when love touches people, I heard a saying "fire always falls on sacrifice" I think it was Bill Johnson who said it...anyway what it means is that when there is sacrifice involved that is when it starts the fire!! So when we give up something of ours for God or Jesus dies on the cross for our sins the fire falls on that and it is like there is now a supernatural element to it.
In the context of my life this is like the difference between me fitting things into my life nicely and giving to people up to the point where it hurts or is awkward or is uncomfortable. For me this is like choosing not to ask someone out for coffee who probaly needs a talk because I feel "weird" about it... or don't think I know them enough to ask them (that really should be a good reason for a coffee!) it is love when I push past those things and do them anyway cause then the fire will fall on it.
When I am down to my last $10 with two days til payday and a young person asks me for $5 and I say yes. It is pushing beyond which keeps us comfortable that is love. And of course in all this God calls us to look after ourselves because our bodies are temples so we should not do so much that we burn out, and to not do so much that you burn out you must allow the relationship between you and God to be the life line and listening out for what he is saying to do and not to do.
I have discovered this week that I feel the most alive and full of joy, love and happiness when I am giving out to people and engaging with his call in my life. Not when I am "relaxing" at home...
4) WE LIVE A WATERED DOWN VERSION OF THE GOSPEL
As Children we read and learn the Bible stories and that is what they are...stories.
But we are not to stay in that place of "stories" we are to engage with the Word as if it is real. Which kinda makes sence, because it did happen and is real.
The Church today (and this is a huge generalisation of the Church as a whole and probaly very critical) is living a watered down version of the gospel and settling for "cool services" "commitment numbers" and how many famous speakers or worship bands we can get to visit our Church. We are settling for the Worlds version of Church to be honest. We have watered Jesus down so that non christians feel comfortable because the lifestyle difference isn't a hue change instead of challenged to really engage with how Jesus lived and calls us to live.
Be CHALLENGED to wear a difference pair of eyes when reading the word and allow the gospels stories to challenge you to live the life Jesus did.
Spending time with God, reading the Bible and praying involves taking time away from our lives. We could be spending that time with Church friends or planning the next big Church event. We could spend it practising guitar for the worship team or you tubing all the Christian bands that have "made it".
What is the point? Leading the Christian life is way easier than living like Christ.
Recently I have been reading the Bible with a different pair of eyes, I have started looking at it realisticly...Here are some of my thoughts:
1) Jesus is awkward.
2) Jesus makes you get uncomfortable
3) Love affects someone most when it costs the person giving it
4) We live a watered down version of the gospel.
1) JESUS IS AWKWARD.
As I have been reading Matthew with eyes of realistic-ness (not sure if that is a real word....) I have been thinking about these things happening in real life, which I suppose makes sence because they did. Like for example the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9 where he gets mud and rubs it in his eyes, imagine walking along the street down by the beach and this Chrsitan nutter guy called Jesus grabs some watery sand off the floor and rubs it in this blind mans eyes then tells him to go wash it off himself... To be honest I get freaked out with just someone else with me evangelising with words let alone doing weird miracles...
But don't get me wrong, and think the mud is the secret to blindness. No, only doing what the Father is doing is the key. See Jesus was in such a intimate relationship with his Father that he heard clearly from God and did and the man was healed.
And the kingdom of God is opposite to the kingdom of the world, hense the mud. So of course Jesus is going to do something that seems mental to us.
2) JESUS MAKES YOU GET UNCOMFORTABLE...
Following on from above, he makes you get uncomfortable, life is sweet when you don't feel challenged and need to change. As humans we are searching for ways to make our life more comfortable, and easier.
I can be a bit of a clean freak and love cleaning my teeth, I can't stand not brushing them I sometimes brush them 3-4 times a day if I am home. Same with showering, I love feeling clean and comfortable, somedays I can't wait to get home and into fat pants. I love hot water bottles, blankets and wheeties (and couches with a cup of tea...) ahhh bliss. As current I am in my PJs under a blanket on my bed all comfy with a couple of books. In my natural habbitat. I feel COMFORTABLE here. Alone, reading the word and resting my body. But life isn't about finding our comfortable place.
Speaking of being comfortable as I was just about to write this section I got a call from my lovely friend Molly asking to stay at my place and I had a split second to think "Ahhh I am in my zone with my books in my own little space I don't really want disturbance" or "of course!" and I choose the later. Being Molly I would always choose to say yes just cause I love her company but you get the jist of what I am saying. He gives us opportunities to stay in our comfort zone or step out of the boat. Last week I promised myself I would talk to a homeless person in the next week, now I actually haven't been down lampton quey to do so yet but I am still planning on it cause it will be uncomfortable cause well there will be everyone walking past and probaly judging...
3) LOVE EFFECTS SOMEONE THE MOST WHEN IT COSTS THE PERSON GIVING IT
Don't you love that warm fuzzy you get when someone has re-arranged their schedule to fit you in, or taken the time to write you a letter or taken you out on a date that has involved thought and time to plan?
That is when love touches people, I heard a saying "fire always falls on sacrifice" I think it was Bill Johnson who said it...anyway what it means is that when there is sacrifice involved that is when it starts the fire!! So when we give up something of ours for God or Jesus dies on the cross for our sins the fire falls on that and it is like there is now a supernatural element to it.
In the context of my life this is like the difference between me fitting things into my life nicely and giving to people up to the point where it hurts or is awkward or is uncomfortable. For me this is like choosing not to ask someone out for coffee who probaly needs a talk because I feel "weird" about it... or don't think I know them enough to ask them (that really should be a good reason for a coffee!) it is love when I push past those things and do them anyway cause then the fire will fall on it.
When I am down to my last $10 with two days til payday and a young person asks me for $5 and I say yes. It is pushing beyond which keeps us comfortable that is love. And of course in all this God calls us to look after ourselves because our bodies are temples so we should not do so much that we burn out, and to not do so much that you burn out you must allow the relationship between you and God to be the life line and listening out for what he is saying to do and not to do.
I have discovered this week that I feel the most alive and full of joy, love and happiness when I am giving out to people and engaging with his call in my life. Not when I am "relaxing" at home...
4) WE LIVE A WATERED DOWN VERSION OF THE GOSPEL
As Children we read and learn the Bible stories and that is what they are...stories.
But we are not to stay in that place of "stories" we are to engage with the Word as if it is real. Which kinda makes sence, because it did happen and is real.
The Church today (and this is a huge generalisation of the Church as a whole and probaly very critical) is living a watered down version of the gospel and settling for "cool services" "commitment numbers" and how many famous speakers or worship bands we can get to visit our Church. We are settling for the Worlds version of Church to be honest. We have watered Jesus down so that non christians feel comfortable because the lifestyle difference isn't a hue change instead of challenged to really engage with how Jesus lived and calls us to live.
Be CHALLENGED to wear a difference pair of eyes when reading the word and allow the gospels stories to challenge you to live the life Jesus did.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Overwhelmed by Love ♥
I can't sleep. And it is because I'm in love!!
With who you say? A cute boy, Dan Carter maybe? Nope... He is actually quite old...and wise...
Aproximately 2011 years old. Tall, brown skin, deep eyes, beard....
His name is Jesus.
For the past couple of weeks now I have been having trouble getting to sleep and I thought it was due to an increased coffee consumtion due to increased amount of catch ups over coffees the past while, but I realised tonight, it was Jesus knocking on the door of my heart saying "let me in, my beloved". I just hadn't opened up the door til tonight.
So, I grabbed my journal and went for it, prayed out my true heart and feelings towards God, concerns, worries, everything and lied there and asked for his presence... And I got it. I felt him in my heart, like that feeling of being in love but more overwhelming. I had soft tears, not those tears of despair, but tears of "Daddy I love you!"
Funny thing is, I have spent the past week freaking out about moving, money stuff involved with that, assignments and other things and now have just realised it is now Friday and everything has come together and I don't need to worry cause Daddy has it under control. I am sitting here now, thinking wow, I couldn't have worked everything all out better myself, I am glad I have given it all to you!
He said to me in my Spirit that he wants to take me to a new place, that it is going to be different to what I already know of him. And that it is a new season.
That stirred in me excitement and freaked out-ness...But, I will not allow the scaredness to dictate my actions. I will walk in faith.
Tonight is my last night at home with my parents (at least for this season, it's not as if I am getting married tomorrow! So I will probaly move back in at some stage...) so I am a bit nervous about moving out, with not being exactly the richest person in the world it is a bit of a faith step and with Zeal and all this other exciting stuff going I feel like there is so much going on that moving is just stupid and doesn't make any logical sence... but then neither do miracles. Jesus isn't logical to be honest. And I feel like I am stepping in the right direction with all of it so I just have to trust in God he has it all sussed out! Living by faith!!
A couple of months ago I spoke at FITE Youth about Luke 9 and the story of the disciples wanting to follow Jesus and how they had to be prepared to leave things behind, not look back etc and all of which required faith in Jesus that it was the right thing to do, and it is like I am now having to live out this message I preached!
Anyway this blog probaly makes no logical sence, I am surviving off about 4-5hours sleep and 2 coffees today.
I pray God's overwhelming love over your spirit...
Amen and God Bless!
With who you say? A cute boy, Dan Carter maybe? Nope... He is actually quite old...and wise...
Aproximately 2011 years old. Tall, brown skin, deep eyes, beard....
His name is Jesus.
For the past couple of weeks now I have been having trouble getting to sleep and I thought it was due to an increased coffee consumtion due to increased amount of catch ups over coffees the past while, but I realised tonight, it was Jesus knocking on the door of my heart saying "let me in, my beloved". I just hadn't opened up the door til tonight.
So, I grabbed my journal and went for it, prayed out my true heart and feelings towards God, concerns, worries, everything and lied there and asked for his presence... And I got it. I felt him in my heart, like that feeling of being in love but more overwhelming. I had soft tears, not those tears of despair, but tears of "Daddy I love you!"
Funny thing is, I have spent the past week freaking out about moving, money stuff involved with that, assignments and other things and now have just realised it is now Friday and everything has come together and I don't need to worry cause Daddy has it under control. I am sitting here now, thinking wow, I couldn't have worked everything all out better myself, I am glad I have given it all to you!
He said to me in my Spirit that he wants to take me to a new place, that it is going to be different to what I already know of him. And that it is a new season.
That stirred in me excitement and freaked out-ness...But, I will not allow the scaredness to dictate my actions. I will walk in faith.
Tonight is my last night at home with my parents (at least for this season, it's not as if I am getting married tomorrow! So I will probaly move back in at some stage...) so I am a bit nervous about moving out, with not being exactly the richest person in the world it is a bit of a faith step and with Zeal and all this other exciting stuff going I feel like there is so much going on that moving is just stupid and doesn't make any logical sence... but then neither do miracles. Jesus isn't logical to be honest. And I feel like I am stepping in the right direction with all of it so I just have to trust in God he has it all sussed out! Living by faith!!
A couple of months ago I spoke at FITE Youth about Luke 9 and the story of the disciples wanting to follow Jesus and how they had to be prepared to leave things behind, not look back etc and all of which required faith in Jesus that it was the right thing to do, and it is like I am now having to live out this message I preached!
Anyway this blog probaly makes no logical sence, I am surviving off about 4-5hours sleep and 2 coffees today.
I pray God's overwhelming love over your spirit...
Amen and God Bless!
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Open the eyes of my heart Lord...
"The Lord is calling for servant lovers who will call in the outcasts, who will go into the dark corners of the world and compel them to come home. And they will come. Who will go and leave their life of comfort and call in the broken? Who will go and be a learner? Who will go amoung those who are mourning and lay their life down for Jesus? The Lord wants his house to be full. It is time for us to go to the poor, to the broken, to the homeless, to the dying, and to the lonely and call them in..."
-Heidi Baker (Compelled by Love)
What really is being like Jesus really about? What does it really reflect to be like him, to do what he did, to love like he loved, to walk in the purity he walked in?
I think it all begins at the bottom, when all things are stripped away, when there is nothing else to rely on but God, when there is no resource or ability to bring hype, when there is no social group to put the outcasts in, when there is no food to feed the hungry, when there is no technology to distract us, no friend that knows how to comfort your hurts properly, and no comfortable environments to sit in where life has the ability to become less than what God had intended for it.
You know God has intended so much more for everyone. He always wants us to be growing to know Him more, for our hearts to be enlargened, for us to be taking on more territory for him, for us to be in relationship with more people, to be living in the prophecies that have been prophecied over us.
I heard this awesome quote the other week, "You are either in or out, the fence belongs to the devil".
This has messed with my head! I know so many people (and have been there myself) where the fence hasn't
necessarily been "un-decided about God" it has been more of a "un-decided about fully giving EVERYTHING to God" because when the devil has you coming to Church weekly and ticking all the boxes but not choosing to engage with the word, prayer and all of which grows your relationship with God and enables you to hear what God has for you and empowers you to carry out those special plans has for you, he has you trapped, stuck and comfortable with not giving everything...
What is everything?...well, duh it is everything! It is not just your heart, it is your plans for your future, your desires to earn heaps, desires to hurry up and find the one and get married, the list is endless...It is living each day, choosing his will over ours.
It is reflecting the life Jesus led, which takes me back to the beginning of this. Jesus lived everyday in sacrifice, humility and love and ended his life in the same way.
And this is the life he has called us too, it is the life he has called me too. To call in the lost, to bring hope to the needy, to love on the outcasts. And it requires me to be decreasing and for enabling him to increase in me every second of the day.
So Lord, open the eyes of my heart, may I see your children the way you see them, to love them as you love them, increase in me and help me to decrease, help me to choose you and your will everyday and to believe in the promises you have for my life. In Jesus name, Amen.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
The beginning of a new adventure!
Almost a month ago I went to a confrence with other leaders from my Chruch (The Rock, Wellington) where Pastor's Bill Johnson, Danny Silk, Martin Steel and Worship Leader Kim Walker-Smith gave amazing testimonies of God. Danny Silk talked about dreams and about how God our Father wants to treat us just like any other Father would want too. And Kim Walker talked about her journey of how God had everything all planned out and it all happened in his timing and not her's.
I have spend a lot of the past 2 years wondering what was going to become of my life, I have had heaps of prophecies over me that I am going to do BIG things for a small person and at Manifest I was prophecied over that I would be someone who would bring people out of things and into new things and that I would bring messages to people that would encourage them and stir them up and that I would work with youth....
I remember when she was praying all this (she was a random from America, who didn't know me from a bar of soap I might add...) I had a couple of tears and just knodded and smiled because it was just so right and what I felt God has been leading me into and growing me for.
I got back from confrence with an opportunity to work at Zeal as a female youth worker, working with teenagers that are stuck in "crap" and need bringing into newness. (The job description pretty much fitted exactly with was prayed over me) and I felt this sence of excitement that I was stepping into something big, scary, exciting and challenging. I of course prayed about it and talked about it with a couple of trusted friends and felt to take the job. Funny thing is I was askedby them about it about 2 months before but had kinda put any thoughts or chances of it on hold cause I had just started uni and wasn't in the head space to think about it. But God's timing is all pefect, over those 2 months he was preparing my heart for it as well, I went through some broken times which I feel has made me more compasionate towards others and will greatly help with this new role.
I felt God is going to use this role as a step into my dream to start a youth ministry in Feilding one day, don't know how it will happen, but I have learn't through all this that God does!! All I have to do is get to know him more and he will reveal things to me the more I get closer to him, kinda like two best friends sharing secrets and trusing each other with stuff :)
And to be honest, I couldn't have made this all happen in my strength, it could only have been God's!
So, if you have dreams, visions, or just want to do something huge for God, just remember we are all his vessels, it s not about us being super duper and doing awesome things, it is about serving a BIG God who wants to use us to do mighty things and the more we get to know him the more of his dreams etc he entrusts to us. Don't be afraid to dream, seek first the kingdom (kingdom being not the building of the Church, but heaven on earth, your relationship with God etc) and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Pslam 37:4 and Matt 6:33)
Have a think about the prophecies, prayers, words of encouragement you have been given and pursue them. They are more than just words :)
I have spend a lot of the past 2 years wondering what was going to become of my life, I have had heaps of prophecies over me that I am going to do BIG things for a small person and at Manifest I was prophecied over that I would be someone who would bring people out of things and into new things and that I would bring messages to people that would encourage them and stir them up and that I would work with youth....
I remember when she was praying all this (she was a random from America, who didn't know me from a bar of soap I might add...) I had a couple of tears and just knodded and smiled because it was just so right and what I felt God has been leading me into and growing me for.
I got back from confrence with an opportunity to work at Zeal as a female youth worker, working with teenagers that are stuck in "crap" and need bringing into newness. (The job description pretty much fitted exactly with was prayed over me) and I felt this sence of excitement that I was stepping into something big, scary, exciting and challenging. I of course prayed about it and talked about it with a couple of trusted friends and felt to take the job. Funny thing is I was askedby them about it about 2 months before but had kinda put any thoughts or chances of it on hold cause I had just started uni and wasn't in the head space to think about it. But God's timing is all pefect, over those 2 months he was preparing my heart for it as well, I went through some broken times which I feel has made me more compasionate towards others and will greatly help with this new role.
I felt God is going to use this role as a step into my dream to start a youth ministry in Feilding one day, don't know how it will happen, but I have learn't through all this that God does!! All I have to do is get to know him more and he will reveal things to me the more I get closer to him, kinda like two best friends sharing secrets and trusing each other with stuff :)
And to be honest, I couldn't have made this all happen in my strength, it could only have been God's!
So, if you have dreams, visions, or just want to do something huge for God, just remember we are all his vessels, it s not about us being super duper and doing awesome things, it is about serving a BIG God who wants to use us to do mighty things and the more we get to know him the more of his dreams etc he entrusts to us. Don't be afraid to dream, seek first the kingdom (kingdom being not the building of the Church, but heaven on earth, your relationship with God etc) and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Pslam 37:4 and Matt 6:33)
Have a think about the prophecies, prayers, words of encouragement you have been given and pursue them. They are more than just words :)
These Word of the Day things are freaky sometimes!
This is just what I feel I have been going through lately...God Is Getting You ReadyWritten by Bob & Debby GassWednesday, 14 September 2011 '...first sit down and estimate the cost...' Luke 14:28 NIV SoulFood: 2 Cor 1-4, Matt 25:1-13, Ps 78:56-64, Pro 20:25 |
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Always moving forward!
I feel like God is teaching me how to be everyday looking to Him. In the last week I have felt him tugging on my heart saying "look to me! look to me!" everytime my mind starts wondering to worry or things not of Him. I now understand what he means by he is a jelous God! I have had a bit of a revealation on what it means to be always moving forward in life and not settling for the moment your living in. I have a few "life decisions" to make at the moment including moving out and flatting and a new job which is more than paid income but a chance to impact young people's lives and to be quite honest I have no idea what to think about either of these things because they are both such changes in my life than as it is at the moment. But God is always moving us forward and opening doors and closing them... So I need to be open to it if God does want me to walk into those things.
I want to be always seeking Him first and doing what he would have me do and never settling for the present and things and crap I am stuck in. To be changed and moulded by God requires one to be humble. Without humility we cannot admit to God being right and us being wrong. Humiltiy is putting God as more important than us, as human's we always put ourselves first and humiltiy is placing God back in his rightful position.
When stuck with the crap in the present, sit down, humble yourself, lay everything in your life aside and ask God "what need's changing in my life? how do you want to mould me today?" .... doing this will allow you to always be moving forward :)
I want to be always seeking Him first and doing what he would have me do and never settling for the present and things and crap I am stuck in. To be changed and moulded by God requires one to be humble. Without humility we cannot admit to God being right and us being wrong. Humiltiy is putting God as more important than us, as human's we always put ourselves first and humiltiy is placing God back in his rightful position.
When stuck with the crap in the present, sit down, humble yourself, lay everything in your life aside and ask God "what need's changing in my life? how do you want to mould me today?" .... doing this will allow you to always be moving forward :)
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Trusting the one who loves you the most ♥
I always avoid writing on here when I feel like I am going through things I don't understand, and then I start to get through something and God reveals something I feel I have to share with people so they too can have it revealed too them.
I feel like at the moment God is teaching me how to trust Him with my life. Now, this sounds pretty cliche but it's deeper than what it sounds like. I have always been a worrying and stressed person, it has become my identity.. God didn't create me like that though, he say's to not be anxious about anything but to pray about everything.
I heard Kim Walker-Smith's testimony last week and she went through a time where she didn't know what to do with her life but she seeked God and put her trsut in him that he had it all worked out and would work out for the best and it did. I feel like I have been trying to make things happen in my own strength, life/future things, relationships etc and I have worried about them not working out right unless I make them happen and put all MY energy and efforts and power into them. I got this revelation that God is GOD and he LOVES me more than I can comprehend and he is MY DAD and wants the best for me! He knows me better than I know myself and has the perfect plan for my life in every area. And in that I do not have to worry because I can TRUST the one who loves me.
This revalation has released me from worry, stress, anxiety, heart break, dissapointment, doing things in my strength and most of all it releases me into walking in his ways and being able to focus on him because from focusing on him comes the ability to see how he see's and then from that walk in what ever he would have me walk in. It is like as I look to God it makes everything clearer!
Everyday I must remember, God my Father LOVES me and wants the best for me, trust Him. And as worries come up I must pray and release them too God and trust that he will reveal to me the way to go.
I feel like at the moment God is teaching me how to trust Him with my life. Now, this sounds pretty cliche but it's deeper than what it sounds like. I have always been a worrying and stressed person, it has become my identity.. God didn't create me like that though, he say's to not be anxious about anything but to pray about everything.
I heard Kim Walker-Smith's testimony last week and she went through a time where she didn't know what to do with her life but she seeked God and put her trsut in him that he had it all worked out and would work out for the best and it did. I feel like I have been trying to make things happen in my own strength, life/future things, relationships etc and I have worried about them not working out right unless I make them happen and put all MY energy and efforts and power into them. I got this revelation that God is GOD and he LOVES me more than I can comprehend and he is MY DAD and wants the best for me! He knows me better than I know myself and has the perfect plan for my life in every area. And in that I do not have to worry because I can TRUST the one who loves me.
This revalation has released me from worry, stress, anxiety, heart break, dissapointment, doing things in my strength and most of all it releases me into walking in his ways and being able to focus on him because from focusing on him comes the ability to see how he see's and then from that walk in what ever he would have me walk in. It is like as I look to God it makes everything clearer!
Everyday I must remember, God my Father LOVES me and wants the best for me, trust Him. And as worries come up I must pray and release them too God and trust that he will reveal to me the way to go.
Monday, 1 August 2011
It has been a while...
So it has been a while since I last stuck something up here. And a lot can happen in one person's life in a month.
In this last month of my life I feel like I have been grabbed against my will and pushed around a bunch of bullies. I have felt that feeling of "what have I done to deserve this pain" and the feeling of not being able to exscape.
About 3 weeks ago I felt the deepest sence of hurt that I have ever felt/can remember ever feeling. And it is crazy to think that right now 3 weeks later I can be sitting here at my desk with a sence of peace. I strongly believe that God heals and that he is our provider of ALL things. In the past few weeks he has provided me with comfort in the midst of pain and a sence of peace.
I had this revelation that sometimes you just have to get to such a broken place to get desperate for God to intervene in your circumstances or in your heart or emotions. I remember having this big cry the other week where I physically felt pain in my body from the pain I was feeling, I felt desperate so desperate for God cause there was no one that could understand me in that moment I was in. In that moment no one in the whole world would have felt the same pain I felt because no one else has lived my life and felt the same pain I felt. The only other person in the world that understood my pain was Jesus. Yes, other people in the world have properly had worse things happen to them and felt more pain then me BUT no one else has been me or is me and has the same emotions or heart as me. The only other person that can FULLY understand my pain in Jesus cause he took ALL the pain of the world upon himself and felt it all.
It sucks that sometimes you have to get to those moments where you are so incredibly desperate for God cause it would be cool to just be desperate for him in the happy moments too but I guess we are all on a jouney...
Romans 8 - We share in His sufferings then share in His glory.
Through suffering and pain we experience what Jesus experienced on the cross, we will then experience sharing in his glory. For Gold to be refined ir must go through the fire.
My Dad always say's how he takes joy in suffering, just like the Aposlte Paul did. I have started to do this too and look ahead to what he is calling me too and who he is moulding me to be and what he is refing me to be, what he is burning off me....
In this last month of my life I feel like I have been grabbed against my will and pushed around a bunch of bullies. I have felt that feeling of "what have I done to deserve this pain" and the feeling of not being able to exscape.
About 3 weeks ago I felt the deepest sence of hurt that I have ever felt/can remember ever feeling. And it is crazy to think that right now 3 weeks later I can be sitting here at my desk with a sence of peace. I strongly believe that God heals and that he is our provider of ALL things. In the past few weeks he has provided me with comfort in the midst of pain and a sence of peace.
I had this revelation that sometimes you just have to get to such a broken place to get desperate for God to intervene in your circumstances or in your heart or emotions. I remember having this big cry the other week where I physically felt pain in my body from the pain I was feeling, I felt desperate so desperate for God cause there was no one that could understand me in that moment I was in. In that moment no one in the whole world would have felt the same pain I felt because no one else has lived my life and felt the same pain I felt. The only other person in the world that understood my pain was Jesus. Yes, other people in the world have properly had worse things happen to them and felt more pain then me BUT no one else has been me or is me and has the same emotions or heart as me. The only other person that can FULLY understand my pain in Jesus cause he took ALL the pain of the world upon himself and felt it all.
It sucks that sometimes you have to get to those moments where you are so incredibly desperate for God cause it would be cool to just be desperate for him in the happy moments too but I guess we are all on a jouney...
Romans 8 - We share in His sufferings then share in His glory.
Through suffering and pain we experience what Jesus experienced on the cross, we will then experience sharing in his glory. For Gold to be refined ir must go through the fire.
My Dad always say's how he takes joy in suffering, just like the Aposlte Paul did. I have started to do this too and look ahead to what he is calling me too and who he is moulding me to be and what he is refing me to be, what he is burning off me....
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Doesn't matter how small I am or what challenge I face, God is on my side!
So everyone knows the story of David and Goliath right? David was the smallest and youngest of his brothers and looked after the sheep, he wasn't a "warrior" but he stepped up and took on the challenge of killing Goliath, the giant. It says in 1 Samuel 17:34 that when a lion or bear came near the flock he would strike it and rescue the sheep from it. He then says "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the paw of the Philistine" in verse 37.
I don't think David saw Goliath as "any bigger a challenge" than the lion and the bear. He knew that the LORD his GOD would deliver him from any challenge, because no challenge is too big for his God. He had this revelation in him that there was no fear when he saw the giant.
So, the significance of this story is that it was prophecied over me just over a year ago and I am only coming to grasp it's true meaning in my life now. I am realising that what I am facing now is nothing for God to overcome. That it isn't any more of a challenge for God than the last challenge I went through.
It is so easy to just read that and be like "yeah that is true" but there is more to it than that if you want to REALLY have it be truth in your life. Reading a verse once a week for a problem you are facing is NOT gonna cut it! Lately I have been reading and re-reading the same verse everyday and through out the day, I have stuck it in places I see regularly, I have memorised them so that I cain remember and speak them out in times of need.
I am getting it in my head his promises.
If you feel like you are facing a giant bigger than you, something bigger than you think you can handle then remember that no challenge is too big for God.
Remember also 2 Chronicles 20:15 "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours but God's".
:)
I don't think David saw Goliath as "any bigger a challenge" than the lion and the bear. He knew that the LORD his GOD would deliver him from any challenge, because no challenge is too big for his God. He had this revelation in him that there was no fear when he saw the giant.
So, the significance of this story is that it was prophecied over me just over a year ago and I am only coming to grasp it's true meaning in my life now. I am realising that what I am facing now is nothing for God to overcome. That it isn't any more of a challenge for God than the last challenge I went through.
It is so easy to just read that and be like "yeah that is true" but there is more to it than that if you want to REALLY have it be truth in your life. Reading a verse once a week for a problem you are facing is NOT gonna cut it! Lately I have been reading and re-reading the same verse everyday and through out the day, I have stuck it in places I see regularly, I have memorised them so that I cain remember and speak them out in times of need.
I am getting it in my head his promises.
If you feel like you are facing a giant bigger than you, something bigger than you think you can handle then remember that no challenge is too big for God.
Remember also 2 Chronicles 20:15 "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours but God's".
:)
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
♥ "Nothing is gonna change my love for you" God our Father says!
So I shouldn't really be blogging, I am currently on Jury Service this week and next and have limited spare time in the evenings to get through assignments and camp work for FITE camp in 2 weeks but you know what, it is more important to "be" than "do". And writing is my out, it is my way of working through what God is teaching me and a way of teaching others.
This blog is about a love song written and sung by a non christian but I am taking it from the angle of God singing it to us :)
"Nothing is gonna change my love for you" by George Benson
This song is a classic, my Dad use to always play one of his CD's in the car all the time and this was his, mine and my niece's favourite song. We thought it was a great song and could easily be changed to be sung from us to God or God to us.
I was listening to this song because I heard it come on from my Dad's computer and thought I would youtube it and find it, when I listened to it I was so touched by the words and of course the beautiful music as well.
What touches me so much is "nothing is going to change my love for you" these words reach into the depths of my heart. I really feel these words because I growing up I felt like I had to prove myself to be loved, I had the mindset of if I did something wrong like break my brothers toy by accident I wouldn't be loved by my parents anymore and this created a mindset of I had to perform for love and I wouldn't believe my parents really cared about me (even though they did and still do!) Parents aren't perfect and yeah it hurt at the time but God makes all things work out for those who love him and now I am learning that God's love is unconditional!
Unconditional means he has no conditions on his love, he doesn't care how messy we are, he doesn't care if I have cried for an hour and have snot everywhere and puffy eyes, he loves me even when I am angry, he loves me when I tell my brother to leave my room (he might not be terribly impressed by these things but he still LOVES ME!). Cause nothing is going to change his love for me.
Knowing that nothing will change his love for me has enabled me to find rest..It has given me the "ahhh I can stop trying now!"
So if anyone out there needs a deepening what God's love for you is like listen to this song, put it on repeat and pretend it is God your Daddy singing it to you :)
This blog is about a love song written and sung by a non christian but I am taking it from the angle of God singing it to us :)
This song is a classic, my Dad use to always play one of his CD's in the car all the time and this was his, mine and my niece's favourite song. We thought it was a great song and could easily be changed to be sung from us to God or God to us.
I was listening to this song because I heard it come on from my Dad's computer and thought I would youtube it and find it, when I listened to it I was so touched by the words and of course the beautiful music as well.
What touches me so much is "nothing is going to change my love for you" these words reach into the depths of my heart. I really feel these words because I growing up I felt like I had to prove myself to be loved, I had the mindset of if I did something wrong like break my brothers toy by accident I wouldn't be loved by my parents anymore and this created a mindset of I had to perform for love and I wouldn't believe my parents really cared about me (even though they did and still do!) Parents aren't perfect and yeah it hurt at the time but God makes all things work out for those who love him and now I am learning that God's love is unconditional!
Unconditional means he has no conditions on his love, he doesn't care how messy we are, he doesn't care if I have cried for an hour and have snot everywhere and puffy eyes, he loves me even when I am angry, he loves me when I tell my brother to leave my room (he might not be terribly impressed by these things but he still LOVES ME!). Cause nothing is going to change his love for me.
Knowing that nothing will change his love for me has enabled me to find rest..It has given me the "ahhh I can stop trying now!"
So if anyone out there needs a deepening what God's love for you is like listen to this song, put it on repeat and pretend it is God your Daddy singing it to you :)
Monday, 20 June 2011
The cry of my heart
Pain hurts, circumstances hurt, life hurts. Why does crap happen in our lives, why do we go through things that seem too much for us and we feel like were feeling more hurt and pain than any human is suppose to ever feel.
I keep on asking these questions in my head, why God! Why me! Why do I feel like this?
And you know what, I got the realisation that Jesus felt it all, 10000000000 x worse than me.
I feel like I am growing in compassion through all of this, my heart now cries out for others that are going through stuff. I feel like through it all I am learning to get DESPERATE for God. Because when I am at the end of myself and can't control or fix anything that is going on around me, I can't cry for an hour and it will get better, I can't do anything that will fix it. I actually am left with no choice but to pray, and it sucks that I would choose to fix things myself before giving it to God, that isn't right, but I am learning. I am learning to give it to God.
Almost 2 weeks ago I started speaking in tounges everyday and since then I feel like I have grown spiritually and God is edifying me and growing his heart in me for him and others. Yesterday I didn't speak in tounges, I slacked off (being a Sunday I must of thought it was alright) and I felt so discouraged about life all day, it is like I was a happy little floating balloon for the past 2 weeks then I poped. I feel like I am back to square one but I am not. I realised that sometimes you can start to "heal" from something and then a challenge comes your way and although I didn't exactly have victory yesterday I learnt a lot from it. I learnt to REALLY rely on God. Spiritually day to day. That reading a verse in the morning, or a good Bill Johnson book isn't going to cut it. I realised that once you enter the spiritual realm and decide to get serious in the spirit the devil isn't going to like it and will attack the moment you let your gaurd down. It is like having a lot of expensive items in your house and people can see into it and see that you have treasure in there then the moment you leave your house un-locked the local robber called satan comes to kill, steal and destroy.
So be careful, pain hurts, but it is worth it once it is over, it is worth the glory that is revealed (Romans 8) it is worth God's love and pressence you experience, it is worth sharing in his pain.
God bless :)
I keep on asking these questions in my head, why God! Why me! Why do I feel like this?
And you know what, I got the realisation that Jesus felt it all, 10000000000 x worse than me.
I feel like I am growing in compassion through all of this, my heart now cries out for others that are going through stuff. I feel like through it all I am learning to get DESPERATE for God. Because when I am at the end of myself and can't control or fix anything that is going on around me, I can't cry for an hour and it will get better, I can't do anything that will fix it. I actually am left with no choice but to pray, and it sucks that I would choose to fix things myself before giving it to God, that isn't right, but I am learning. I am learning to give it to God.
Almost 2 weeks ago I started speaking in tounges everyday and since then I feel like I have grown spiritually and God is edifying me and growing his heart in me for him and others. Yesterday I didn't speak in tounges, I slacked off (being a Sunday I must of thought it was alright) and I felt so discouraged about life all day, it is like I was a happy little floating balloon for the past 2 weeks then I poped. I feel like I am back to square one but I am not. I realised that sometimes you can start to "heal" from something and then a challenge comes your way and although I didn't exactly have victory yesterday I learnt a lot from it. I learnt to REALLY rely on God. Spiritually day to day. That reading a verse in the morning, or a good Bill Johnson book isn't going to cut it. I realised that once you enter the spiritual realm and decide to get serious in the spirit the devil isn't going to like it and will attack the moment you let your gaurd down. It is like having a lot of expensive items in your house and people can see into it and see that you have treasure in there then the moment you leave your house un-locked the local robber called satan comes to kill, steal and destroy.
So be careful, pain hurts, but it is worth it once it is over, it is worth the glory that is revealed (Romans 8) it is worth God's love and pressence you experience, it is worth sharing in his pain.
God bless :)
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Thoughts on Worship to GOD
I was thinking a lot today about what it means to worship in Spirit and in Truth... So it says in the Bible to love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul (Matt 22:37) so I suppose this is like saying Love God with everything in your body that can (Heart, mind and soul) and then in Romans 12:1 it says "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your Spiritual act of WORSHIP" So our spiritual act of worship is offer our bodies as sacrifices to God...Now what the flip does that mean... Bill Johnson says "fire always falls on sacrifice" and that worship is suppose to cost us, the lady with the alabaster jar (which was all that she had) that she spilt on Jesus and wipped his feet with, that cost her, it cost her her only source of money (selling the jar), it would of cost her the dignity (wipping Jesus's dirty feet with her hair and this oil). This act of worship was sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
I looked up what worship meant and it meant to prostrate yourself before God so to lie down before him (note: spell it right before you google it otherwise you get prostate cancer for men...) and to lie down on the ground, face on the floor before someone would be costing you a bit of dignity and it would be pretty much humbling yourself before someone bigger and better than you I suppose? That is why people would bow down before Kings in the towns back in the day.
The English dictionary meaning of worship is to be devoted to something/someone, so for us as Chrsitians it would be to be devoted to God, loving him with every part of our being and living pleasing and holy lives.
So that is our Spiritual act of worship, and to worship Him in truth, from what I understand that means to worship him in our actions, not just the songs we sing or the things we speak but to honour him in truth, in words. It says in the word that the word was God and that he is the way and the truth. So to worship Him in truth would be to worship him through the word and living out the word and living out the way he has called us to be?
I looked up what worship meant and it meant to prostrate yourself before God so to lie down before him (note: spell it right before you google it otherwise you get prostate cancer for men...) and to lie down on the ground, face on the floor before someone would be costing you a bit of dignity and it would be pretty much humbling yourself before someone bigger and better than you I suppose? That is why people would bow down before Kings in the towns back in the day.
The English dictionary meaning of worship is to be devoted to something/someone, so for us as Chrsitians it would be to be devoted to God, loving him with every part of our being and living pleasing and holy lives.
So that is our Spiritual act of worship, and to worship Him in truth, from what I understand that means to worship him in our actions, not just the songs we sing or the things we speak but to honour him in truth, in words. It says in the word that the word was God and that he is the way and the truth. So to worship Him in truth would be to worship him through the word and living out the word and living out the way he has called us to be?
Monday, 13 June 2011
Outward or the inward, what are we more concerned about?
Yesterday at work I got talking to a customer for almost an hour about a lot of heavy stuff which has really hit home to me and is hanging round in my head and won't go away!
One of the things were tithing and how the Bible doesn't say that we must give 10% but that we desires all of our heart and from that we give him whatever he tells us too and that comes from a love relationship with him, so if he says I want 25$ of your weekly income you can give it to him. If he says I don't want your money I want all your time and I want you to quit your job and move to Africa then you will.
The other thing we talked about was how this generation at Church things that are pushed are attendance at services and life groups, and that generally that is pushed more than time with God.
This mother and daughter that I talked too go away to fix up their rental property in Feilding quite a bit and don't make it to Chuch and life groups week to week, however they said they still have a strong relationship with each other and they make sure they are still surrounding themselves with christian fellowship (each other and friends).
This made me think, how many times have I asked someone why they wern't at a Church event verses how many times have I asked someone how their personal relationship with God is?
I bet we spend more time (myself included) at Church or doing "Churchy" things verses spending time with God. Now there isn't enough hours in the week to spend more time in the word verses the Church commitments they might have for some people but what are we prioritising?
Am I more concerned about doing stuff or spending time with God? I am a Christian and that means choosing a relationship with the creator of the universe. It is like marrying someone then ignoring them, never talking to them, never wanting to hang out with them for the rest of the marriage... which I imagine wouldn't last long if that was the case.
So here is a challenge, if you are reading this and you are a Christian... How is your time with God going? Do you spend regular time talking to him (also known as praying...), do you spend time reading his love and encouragement letters he has written you (aka the bible) and are you aware everyday that you are in a relationship with the creator of the universe?
I am going to start asking everyone I am in relationship is how there personal relationship with God is going from now on and change the culture of the concern of the outward to the inward :)
Excuse all spelling, grammar and bad punctuation and all lack of capital letters, I wrote this very quickly cause I am suppose to be working on a assignment....
One of the things were tithing and how the Bible doesn't say that we must give 10% but that we desires all of our heart and from that we give him whatever he tells us too and that comes from a love relationship with him, so if he says I want 25$ of your weekly income you can give it to him. If he says I don't want your money I want all your time and I want you to quit your job and move to Africa then you will.
The other thing we talked about was how this generation at Church things that are pushed are attendance at services and life groups, and that generally that is pushed more than time with God.
This mother and daughter that I talked too go away to fix up their rental property in Feilding quite a bit and don't make it to Chuch and life groups week to week, however they said they still have a strong relationship with each other and they make sure they are still surrounding themselves with christian fellowship (each other and friends).
This made me think, how many times have I asked someone why they wern't at a Church event verses how many times have I asked someone how their personal relationship with God is?
I bet we spend more time (myself included) at Church or doing "Churchy" things verses spending time with God. Now there isn't enough hours in the week to spend more time in the word verses the Church commitments they might have for some people but what are we prioritising?
Am I more concerned about doing stuff or spending time with God? I am a Christian and that means choosing a relationship with the creator of the universe. It is like marrying someone then ignoring them, never talking to them, never wanting to hang out with them for the rest of the marriage... which I imagine wouldn't last long if that was the case.
So here is a challenge, if you are reading this and you are a Christian... How is your time with God going? Do you spend regular time talking to him (also known as praying...), do you spend time reading his love and encouragement letters he has written you (aka the bible) and are you aware everyday that you are in a relationship with the creator of the universe?
I am going to start asking everyone I am in relationship is how there personal relationship with God is going from now on and change the culture of the concern of the outward to the inward :)
Excuse all spelling, grammar and bad punctuation and all lack of capital letters, I wrote this very quickly cause I am suppose to be working on a assignment....
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Hanging out with JESUS through Prayer!
Today I was writing a lesson on Prayer for JC Rock (the intermediates, or inter-midgets as Peter calls them) for Sunday.
I thought it would be cool to chuck up on here as it is something I am learning about personally at the moment too. Last year at FITE Camp the guest speaker prophecied over me that I am a intercessor. Pretty much an intercessor is someone who prays from the depths of there heart, that feels the prayers they are praying and prays and hears from God for people.
I have always felt like I feel emotion quite deeply so when I found this out it made sence. I just have to steer the emotion into the right place and into prayer/interceding.
Prayer...
I thought it would be cool to chuck up on here as it is something I am learning about personally at the moment too. Last year at FITE Camp the guest speaker prophecied over me that I am a intercessor. Pretty much an intercessor is someone who prays from the depths of there heart, that feels the prayers they are praying and prays and hears from God for people.
I have always felt like I feel emotion quite deeply so when I found this out it made sence. I just have to steer the emotion into the right place and into prayer/interceding.
Prayer...
Prayer is simply talking with God, we get to know people through talking with them and just like God we get to know him through talking to him, God is very interested in our lives, he is our perfect Father and wants to hear all about our day, the down parts, the high parts, our achievements and everything else! He loves us and has a Father heart towards us!
God doesn’t want us to just come to him when we have problems but when we have good things happen to us too.
Just like any relationship if you don’t communicate you aren't really going to have a relationship and if you are always complaining about bad stuff it isn’t going to be a positive relationship (as much as he cares). So to have a healthy prayer life with God we must share good and bad things with Him.
He wants us to come boldly to His throne, it says in Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in a time of need”.
God wants us to boldly approach his throne of grace with confidence of the things we are asking him for.
A couple of things from this, it says “when you pray” not “if you pray”, also it says to go away and pray to the Father and close the door. This does not mean to say that praying with others or in front of others is a bad thing but it is to say that our main praying should be one on one to the Father. It should be intimate between us and him.
Jesus also teaches not to babble on like pagans, what he is saying here is that we are not to “show off our spirituality” through praying babbling prayers.
In Mark 1:35 it says “ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed”. Jesus would get up early in the morning to spend time with his Father, this verse always challenges me. If Jesus had to get up early to spend time with God and draw strength from him for the day then how much more do we need to follow his example.
In Matthew 7: 7-8 it says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”
Jesus wants us to be like an annoying child who bangs on the door knocking for his parent. He wants us to be persistent in prayer.
In Mark 11:24 it says “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”.
Ultimately when we pray we must believe we have received it. Remember that Christ did not die on the cross in vain, he died to so that we may receive.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
New day, new life.
There is beauty in going to sleep and waking up the next morning. It makes all things new, each day is a new start. Today I am CHOOSING PEACE and JOY!
And if today I don't experience all the peace and joy I want to, it is ok. There is tomorrow, and the day after and the day after and I will journey forward and forward til I experience it.
Take each day as a chance at new-ness. Choose GOD more everyday, each day want him more, desire him more.
And if today I don't experience all the peace and joy I want to, it is ok. There is tomorrow, and the day after and the day after and I will journey forward and forward til I experience it.
Take each day as a chance at new-ness. Choose GOD more everyday, each day want him more, desire him more.
In the Desert... There is Silver and Gold!
Second blog of the day!
Did you know that God is good in every circumstance?! Yup, right now in the midst of craziness, GOD is GOOD.
"My God is the God who provides"
I know God is a provider of life, of freedom and of healing. He is my Dad who gives me good presents. He loves me and wants to provide for me, so he will provide me with healing.
"So refine me Lord throgh the flame"
I was "google-ing" what it meant to be "refinded through the flame" and came across the process of how silver is refined, have a read of this! It is fasinating!
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment.
Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy—when I see my image in it.”
This is where the Lord is when we are going through the fires. This is what He is doing. He is there right beside us and refining us until He sees His image!
http://earnestlycontending.com/maranatha/?p=5080
Right now, in my life I feel like God is refining me through the flame. The craziness and the pain/anxiety I am feeling is like the flame, but God has his eyes on me the whole time and he won't leave me in the flames a moment too long cause he doesn't want me destroyed but he wants all the bad stuff burnt away. He wants the the stress burnt away from me.
And until I reflect God's image of peace and joy then I will know that the work is complete :)
Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord"
"I will bring praise"
Today I decided I need to make a better effort to praise God everyday, to focus on him, what he has done, is doing and not on my feelings. Cause in being negative I am giving the devil praise... and he doesn't deserve it the nasty piece of ****!
"The seed I've recieved I will sow"
Once through this I will be able to help others in the same place :)
Did you know that God is good in every circumstance?! Yup, right now in the midst of craziness, GOD is GOOD.
"My God is the God who provides"
I know God is a provider of life, of freedom and of healing. He is my Dad who gives me good presents. He loves me and wants to provide for me, so he will provide me with healing.
"So refine me Lord throgh the flame"
I was "google-ing" what it meant to be "refinded through the flame" and came across the process of how silver is refined, have a read of this! It is fasinating!
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment.
Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy—when I see my image in it.”
This is where the Lord is when we are going through the fires. This is what He is doing. He is there right beside us and refining us until He sees His image!
http://earnestlycontending.com/maranatha/?p=5080
Right now, in my life I feel like God is refining me through the flame. The craziness and the pain/anxiety I am feeling is like the flame, but God has his eyes on me the whole time and he won't leave me in the flames a moment too long cause he doesn't want me destroyed but he wants all the bad stuff burnt away. He wants the the stress burnt away from me.
And until I reflect God's image of peace and joy then I will know that the work is complete :)
Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord"
"I will bring praise"
Today I decided I need to make a better effort to praise God everyday, to focus on him, what he has done, is doing and not on my feelings. Cause in being negative I am giving the devil praise... and he doesn't deserve it the nasty piece of ****!
"The seed I've recieved I will sow"
Once through this I will be able to help others in the same place :)
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Stress + Anxiety was my label. Peace and Joy is mine now.
These past while I feel like I have lost the plot. I have always struggled with getting stressed easily but over the past while I seem to have become very anxious. Anxiety is "distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune:" (taken from dictionary.com). Last night I had to decide to say "ok, this is how I feel and it is alright to feel like this, God doesn't want his child to be a stress head anymore, he wants his child to be living in freedom and to have peace and joy". This is the hope that I am clinging onto when this anxiety comes. That God is taking me through this and out of anxiety and stress and into freedom and peace.
To anyone reading this that is struggling over any problems in the mind, cling onto God and his truth. Read the word, speak out the word. Know his truth and remove satan's lies.
God says in Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will gaurd your heart and minds in Christ Jesus"
He also says in Galatians 5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery".
I am preaching to myself here, and half of writing this is to help me to understand this idea of living in freedom. It is hard to remember that Christ has set us free and to not submit to the lies of the devil that inslaves us because in the moment satan's lies feel so real, but we must chose God, we must chose his word, his truth and remove all lies from the devil, we must cling onto verses like Philippians 4:7 and speak it to ourselves when we are feeling anxious.
We must remember Christ has set us free and stand firm in the fact that Christ died so that we would not have to live in stress and anxiety but in peace and joy.
To anyone reading this that is struggling over any problems in the mind, cling onto God and his truth. Read the word, speak out the word. Know his truth and remove satan's lies.
God says in Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will gaurd your heart and minds in Christ Jesus"
He also says in Galatians 5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery".
I am preaching to myself here, and half of writing this is to help me to understand this idea of living in freedom. It is hard to remember that Christ has set us free and to not submit to the lies of the devil that inslaves us because in the moment satan's lies feel so real, but we must chose God, we must chose his word, his truth and remove all lies from the devil, we must cling onto verses like Philippians 4:7 and speak it to ourselves when we are feeling anxious.
We must remember Christ has set us free and stand firm in the fact that Christ died so that we would not have to live in stress and anxiety but in peace and joy.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Love, Love, Love ♥
1 Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the tounges of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal"
1 Corinthians 13:3 "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing"
CHECK YOUR HEART CONDITION!
The heart is the root and your actions and thought patterns are the fruit, to change you need to dig deeper to the root problem, to weed out what is not of God and waterit and feed it with good seed and living water so that ou too would carry God's heart for His people. God is after the heart, a heart positioned towards Him, for Him, in LOVE with Him.
We must choose to position our hearts towards Him.
- Without LOVE we are nothing, have nothing.
- Without LOVE we are opperating out of the wrong Spirit, the wrong heart.
- Without LOVE we are doing and not being.
- Without LOVE we are not being what Jesus came down to earth for
1 Corinthians 13:3 "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing"
- In what Spirit are we serving, doing "good" things for people?
- In what Spirit are we "doing" ministry?
- Are we seeking God's heart fod His people, to love and not too judge those that the world judges so easily?
CHECK YOUR HEART CONDITION!
The heart is the root and your actions and thought patterns are the fruit, to change you need to dig deeper to the root problem, to weed out what is not of God and waterit and feed it with good seed and living water so that ou too would carry God's heart for His people. God is after the heart, a heart positioned towards Him, for Him, in LOVE with Him.
We must choose to position our hearts towards Him.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Freedom
Recently God has been teaching me about FREEDOM. Over the past few months (probaly the past 6months) I have been suffereing with Anxiety and have had a couple of minor anxiety break downs. On Saturday night I had one for 2 hours and it requried me to press into God a whole lot more to bring me peace. I found myself praying and on my knees in desperation to bring peace over my mind...
The mind is such a important place and if we are listening to the lies of the devil (which I was) then it becomes clouded and we don't feel free and it gets in the way of walking in God's way and plan for your life. So in order to be discerning the lies of the devil and to get rid of them we must know God' truths. I feel like I need to push into God to know Him more and to be able to disern what he say's about me to be able to discern what is of God and what is of the devil. And to know God's truth I must be in the word more.
Freedom is found in God and nowhere else. So therefore we must push into Him for freedom over our minds.
The mind is such a important place and if we are listening to the lies of the devil (which I was) then it becomes clouded and we don't feel free and it gets in the way of walking in God's way and plan for your life. So in order to be discerning the lies of the devil and to get rid of them we must know God' truths. I feel like I need to push into God to know Him more and to be able to disern what he say's about me to be able to discern what is of God and what is of the devil. And to know God's truth I must be in the word more.
Freedom is found in God and nowhere else. So therefore we must push into Him for freedom over our minds.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
SHEEP + the ULTIMATE Sheppard
Sheep, yes, sheep. We are sheep. God is the sheppard. In fact he is the ULTIMATE Sheppard.
Over the past few weeks I have been reading and re-reading Ezekiel 34.
Did you know that God cares about you more than people do? More than the closest person to you does?
He says "I myself will search for my sheep and look after them"... God SEEKS us out, he is stalking us, on the look for us and searching us out. He is pursueing us.
Have you ever been in an upset state and run off from somewhere and someone has run off after you to find you and look after you? God does that too. He is tugging on our heart and if we would only still ourselves we would realise that God is there looking after us wanting to be with us.
He also says "I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkenss" He wants to be that person that rescues us from pain and hurt. He wants and desires to bring us in close to him. He doesn't want us scattered and lost like a lost sheep. He wants us close with the other sheep and close and under the care of the sheppard. The ultimate sheppard. God.
He desires us to be close to him, safe in his care and protection.
We have to let him be close to us. We can run away from his protection, run away from his care, run away from his guidance but we have to position ourselves close to him so that we can recieve his love, care, protection and guidance.
Over the past few weeks I have been reading and re-reading Ezekiel 34.
Did you know that God cares about you more than people do? More than the closest person to you does?
He says "I myself will search for my sheep and look after them"... God SEEKS us out, he is stalking us, on the look for us and searching us out. He is pursueing us.
Have you ever been in an upset state and run off from somewhere and someone has run off after you to find you and look after you? God does that too. He is tugging on our heart and if we would only still ourselves we would realise that God is there looking after us wanting to be with us.
He also says "I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkenss" He wants to be that person that rescues us from pain and hurt. He wants and desires to bring us in close to him. He doesn't want us scattered and lost like a lost sheep. He wants us close with the other sheep and close and under the care of the sheppard. The ultimate sheppard. God.
He desires us to be close to him, safe in his care and protection.
We have to let him be close to us. We can run away from his protection, run away from his care, run away from his guidance but we have to position ourselves close to him so that we can recieve his love, care, protection and guidance.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
More tree metaphors!
Last night in Bible class I was struck with some more tree metaphors and verses and thought I would add to my last post about trees!
Trees.
John 15:1-8
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
Recently I have been thinking about being transformed by God and allowing him to get rid of (or cut away) things from my life that are not of him. In John 15 it says in verse 2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful". He also says in verse 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing". This led me to think about trees and how we (as branches) stem out of the vine and that he will cut off bits of us (if we allow him) and prune us into being beautiful trees. Just like a gardener that doesn't want dead branches on his trees.
Also a branch can not survive without a vine, as the branch stems from the vine. We are also only fruitful through him.
Some questions I have been thinking about are... Am I allowing the gardener to prune me? (God to cut away bad things in my life) Am I remaining in him and producing fruit? I can always tell if the time I am spending with him and being in his word is paying off because of the fruit that is being produced in my life. (See Galatians 5:22 for fruits of the Spirit) you will be growing to become more beautiful as your Father the ultimate gardener prunes you and you produce delicious fruit that is your inner beauty :)
Hope this makes sense! My mind is a really exciting, deep but messy place to be!
Trees.
John 15:1-8
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
Recently I have been thinking about being transformed by God and allowing him to get rid of (or cut away) things from my life that are not of him. In John 15 it says in verse 2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful". He also says in verse 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing". This led me to think about trees and how we (as branches) stem out of the vine and that he will cut off bits of us (if we allow him) and prune us into being beautiful trees. Just like a gardener that doesn't want dead branches on his trees.
Also a branch can not survive without a vine, as the branch stems from the vine. We are also only fruitful through him.
Some questions I have been thinking about are... Am I allowing the gardener to prune me? (God to cut away bad things in my life) Am I remaining in him and producing fruit? I can always tell if the time I am spending with him and being in his word is paying off because of the fruit that is being produced in my life. (See Galatians 5:22 for fruits of the Spirit) you will be growing to become more beautiful as your Father the ultimate gardener prunes you and you produce delicious fruit that is your inner beauty :)
Hope this makes sense! My mind is a really exciting, deep but messy place to be!
Monday, 14 March 2011
Rooted and Established in LOVE
Ephesians 3:17-19 "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
I have been thinking about this verse the past few days and here are my thoughts... Trees are watered from the roots, the roots suck in the water and the tree flourishs from the inside out. Just as we should feed our selves with God's word and start flourishing from the inside out.
Tree's are captivating in beauty they cry out "I have been made by God, I worship him through my beauty", this is what I want to be like, that God's fine art work would display through me and that would be worship to him.
Tree's are also grounded/planted in the ground and are almost impossible to just pull out. Being rooted and established in LOVE means that you are so stuck in His LOVE that it is pretty much impossible to be up-rooted from it. You can only start to understand LOVE through experiencing it. So to grasp how long, how wide his love is you must experience it and be in it, like the tree is in the soil, feeding off it. Which will strengthen you to start to understand his love more.
I want to be more like the tree, so deeply rooted in God's love that I am not swayed or uprooted by the storms of life.
Phippians 3:13b says "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forwards for what lies ahead" we must not look behind to the past because otherwise we risk tripping up and falling over, just like a man runnning race, if he was to look behind while running he would run the risk of not seeing where he was going and falling over. We must fix our eyes on what lies ahead, which is God in us in his fullness. I have found this so much in my life that I dwell in the past and not look to Jesus who is what we are desiring to become like. It is so easy to do because we are human but we do not want to look to what the devil has done but to what God is done, doing and is going to do!
Friday, 11 March 2011
The end of the world?
I was just thinking, we don't really plan a youth service on a Friday night with for "plan b - natural disaster" ... What happened tonight was incredable, everyone got desperate because they didn't know what was going to happen, it felt like the end of the world, with another natural disaster so soon after Christchurch. I thought it is because the physical no longer matters anymore, in a natural disaster when you have the risk of loosing your life you wouldn't be concerned with your laptop or your clothes anymore you would be thinking about your life and where you are going when you die, or you pray to a higher power because you know there is nothing you can do in your strength to stop it, you call out to the God of the universe because you know deep down that he is in control and you need him in that moment. So tonight in the desperation we saw somewhere between 4-6 lives be given to God! I think normally we are so caught up in the physical we forget that life is more than the moment we are living in and life is more than the physical.. we forget that God created us to spend eternity with Him.
Anyway, hope this makes sence to everyone that reads this, it is almost 1am after a Friday night youth service and my thoughts and words are all jumble.
Anyway, hope this makes sence to everyone that reads this, it is almost 1am after a Friday night youth service and my thoughts and words are all jumble.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Putting God back where he belongs
Yesterday I had a bit of a empifiany, I was walking through town and simply just watching everyone going about their daily lives and had the realisation that we have placed materialism and people where God belongs. On my visit to JB Hi-Fi I watched about 8 "nerds" geak out on ipads, eyeing them up with hungry eyes and a desire for the next piece of technology which is going to do "everything" you know just like God can...This lead me to the thought...are they going to try and make iGod? I carried on through town and watched how people in clothes and make up shops were looking so hungry for something that would complete them, that would give them the perfect look, that would make them the "hottest person in the world" you know like "number one" in the universe, where God belongs. Then I walked past some bars and watched again how some of the men looked so hungry for the women, and the women so hungry for the men, ready to throw a few hundred bucks away on drink so that he could loosen up to become someone he is not and take someone home that night...desiring intimacy is all he is after.
After I thought about this I realised that all everyone is after is GOD. Whether or not they realise it or not they desire...LOVE, and God is LOVE, he is perfect un-conditional love, he is PROVISION just like the Apple products can provide you with everything for life, God can provide you with so much more. God is SECURITY, the security that people in business seek and strive so hard to get in their job and position and their income. He can secure you so much more, in fact he has a life-long security plan in eternity!
God secures you in Him, when you put him as number one in your life and take yourself out of that spot you are loved on by him because you are His precious child and making you feel like an adored child!
And most of all God is INTIMACY - this intimacy that everyone in the world desires, a deep sence of connection with another, a desire to know the other more, a closeness. God desires us to get and be intimate with him, he wants us close to him. He wants us intimate with Him.
So at the end of the day, everyone desires God, it's whether or not we put Him where He belongs determines the outcome of a realtionship with him or a relationship with the world. A relationship with un-conditional love and real security, provision, intimacy and much more or a relationship with stuff that will give up on you...It is your choice...
After I thought about this I realised that all everyone is after is GOD. Whether or not they realise it or not they desire...LOVE, and God is LOVE, he is perfect un-conditional love, he is PROVISION just like the Apple products can provide you with everything for life, God can provide you with so much more. God is SECURITY, the security that people in business seek and strive so hard to get in their job and position and their income. He can secure you so much more, in fact he has a life-long security plan in eternity!
God secures you in Him, when you put him as number one in your life and take yourself out of that spot you are loved on by him because you are His precious child and making you feel like an adored child!
And most of all God is INTIMACY - this intimacy that everyone in the world desires, a deep sence of connection with another, a desire to know the other more, a closeness. God desires us to get and be intimate with him, he wants us close to him. He wants us intimate with Him.
So at the end of the day, everyone desires God, it's whether or not we put Him where He belongs determines the outcome of a realtionship with him or a relationship with the world. A relationship with un-conditional love and real security, provision, intimacy and much more or a relationship with stuff that will give up on you...It is your choice...
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